Accompanying soundtrack: Five – "If Ya Getting Down"

They met as agreed, and the bar wasn't too busy considering it was a Friday. Jen had attempted to make an effort, although this was usually restricted to a flowery dress, ankle boots and a short denim jacket. H on the other hand looked no different than usual. Jeans, fitted t-shirt, trainers, leather jacket and well-styled short hair. She was almost too casual for going out, but this seemed to have been 'the look' of recent, and it was clearly working for her.

Jen chewed at the end of her straw nervously, something which H didn't miss.

"You", she said quietly, "need to forget about women and just realise that you and I are out for a nice evening, where we will simply appreciate the beauty that is around us if it happens to be there. This is not a challenge where if you don't pull then you've failed. It's about helping you reinvent yourself – find your confidence with a few little tricks I'm going to teach you."

Jen looked at H inquisitively. "How can anyone be as confident all the time like you are?"

"Jen, babes, it's not always about actual confidence – sometimes it's just about pretending to be confident. And subsequently pretending to be confident actually helps you develop more real actual confidence! You need to develop an alter-ego to find out what your other side is actually like. Your brash, sexy side that you keep so painfully well hidden but must be under there somewhere! So tonight, why don't you pretend you're me", H continued. "I don't mean that I'm not going to be me to give you the edge, but I want you to pretend you're someone like me. Be confident - not afraid of throwing in a few cheesy lines, willing to put their neck on the line but isn't bothered if it gets chopped off a few times. And eye contact – oh my, the number one is eye contact – I can reduce a woman to a shaking wreck with the right look alone. You need to look at these girls and smile. They WILL smile I back I guarantee."

"But… I'll feel so stupid. I can't do that… I'm too self-conscious", Jen stuttered.

"If you stop thinking like you, and start thinking like me then that won't even be an issue. At some point tonight I want you to talk to someone at the bar whilst you're buying a drink – offer to buy them one even! But the key is that you simply walk away when you've got your drink. You're dropping some subtle, and some not so subtle signs. Helps if you fancy them of course, but 9 times out of 10 is a success and they'll come over to you after a short while if you maintain the eye contact." Jen looked mortified. Without giving her a chance to speak, H continued.

"Your problem, Jen, is that you wait for people to come to you. That makes you THEIR choice. You, of course, feel flattered but this means that she is never YOUR choice. You need to turn the tables, babygirl. You need to let them know you're interested in them – it's their turn to feel flattered. I'm successful with women because I'm confident with my actions knowing I'll get the result I want. If you're making the moves, you're controlling the outcome, and you know how you like to be in control". She winked with a naughty glint.

Jen looked down at her feet as if she was thinking over H's comments. She looked back up and straight at H, looking her square in the eye. "Alright, you win. I'll give it a go. I have nothing to lose I guess, except possibly my dignity and my marbles".

H leaned in and whispered closely into her ear "It's questionable as to whether they were ever present anyway".

It didn't take H long to spot someone she wanted to make a bee-line for.

"Just watch me – take it in. I'm just going to get her number tonight, and then she'll keep for another time. You're my priority tonight….", and with that she skipped over to the blonde that caught her eye.

H's body language was a master class in the art of female persuasion. She slipped onto the bar stool next to the blonde and, as bold as brass, just started a conversation with her via a compliment. In no time the blonde had an ear to ear smile on her face and whilst H was paying for her drink she was writing down her number on a napkin. Touching her hand, H slowly extracted the napkin, winked, and slid off the barstool and back towards Jen.

"You are some kind of sodding wizard" said Jen, despondent at the challenge ahead of her.

"I am not – it's all in the confidence, babe. I believe she'll give me her number if I ask for it, so when I ask for it she sees no fear in my eyes. Confidence is sexy!"

H sees the disbelief in Jen's eyes "Look, just go chat to someone and see what happens, woman! I'm giving you my full attention tonight, but I've not got anything to work with yet. Which is a shame, because you've got plenty to work with…" and she bit her lip and raised an eyebrow, looking Jen up and down. Jen spotted how H complimented her with the intention of making her feel good, with a slightly suggestive edge. It was starting to make a bit of sense.

"Oi, Pack it in! Damn cheesy you are H. OK… strike whilst the iron is hot, the first quarry is.." Jen said looking around, "…the short brunette on the left", and taking a deep breath she tentatively set off towards her.

She stood next to her at the bar.

"Er… Hi, could I buy you a drink?"

Looking Jen up and down, "I'm OK thanks" the brunette said, turning back to the barman.

'Fuck' thought Jen. '0 for 1' and she quickly sloped off back towards H.

"What the hell was that?!" H barked.

"Oh God, I dunno!" Jen said looking at the floor again.

"'Er' is not an opening line you numpty. No bloody confidence that's what! Put your mind into it for God's sake. You didn't give her a reason to want to find out anything more about you, or what you look like without clothes!"

"Again - all about sex with you H, huh?"

"Shut up and have another go you jerk".

Jen looked around the room again. "OK, next time she goes to the bar I'll try, but I'm so out of my comfort zone it's not even funny", she said, pointing to a woman sitting by the window.

"And when you do, you better get me another bloody drink 'cos this is going to be a long night".

It was around 20 minutes before the woman approached the bar, and Jen, having run a thousand scenarios and opening lines in her head thought, 'I can't do it'. Seeing her frozen to her chair, H kicked her in the shin.

"It's now or never" and nodded towards the woman. Jen reluctantly raised herself from her chair and headed in the woman's direction.

Standing just behind the woman, Jen heard her order her drink, and then she moved alongside. "Bacardi and coke, a good choice!" she said and beamed widely at the woman, looking straight at her eyes. To her surprise the woman responded.

"Yeah, my discerning palette hates beer and wine so spirits it is!" the woman said, smiling back.

Taken slightly aback by a positive response, Jen tried to focus on some more small talk without sounding like a complete idiot. "And of course it's a pleasure to see someone NOT ordering diet coke. I never understood the need to try and save calories when drinking anyway!" Jen realised that she'd lost the initial impact of the compliment and needed somehow to stop a derail. "Er, not that you need to watch the calories anyway, because you're pretty cute as you are".

The woman looked back "Well thank you", she said, and smiled once more. As the barman had brought her drink by now and she'd paid, she slightly raised her glass in Jen's direction and said "see ya", before walking back towards her window seat.

Hanging her head slightly, repeating "idiot, idiot, idiot" quietly to herself, she heard the barman ask "Are you being served"? Jen looked up, smiled weakly and placed her order. She then turned to look at H, who was stupidly beaming at her like a Cheshire cat. "Uh God" she mumbled, and now in receipt of the drinks headed back towards her.

"Heeeeeeey Gilmore – SCORE!"

"Not exactly my idea of score, H. Still 0 for 2 as far as I'm concerned."