After a twenty minute drive, Bucky and Steve pulled up in front Sam's Bar. Looking at the sign neither of them were surprised to find it named The Falcon. Being a Tuesday night, the bar was fairly quiet. As the two friends made their way inside they were greeted by some old high school friends who had also just moved back into town. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, the science brothers. They had finally gotten their laboratory up and running. Tony was testing a new artificial heart, and the early results were slow but promising. Bruce was busy with his own tests on gamma radiation as a possible way to treat cancer. They all caught up on the intervening years, Tony had finally settled down and married a girl he met while on break from M.I.T, Pepper Potts. He was the last person Steve ever expected to commit to one woman, excluding Bucky. Bruce also brought his on again off again girlfriend Betty Ross. Her father; General Ross still disapproved of him. While Steve and Bucky make their way to the bar to order their drinks, Tony, Bruce and Betty move to a table, and save their friends some room. At the bar Bucky is immediately infatuated with the new bartender, Sharon.
"Excuse me Ma'am, but my friend and I would both like a beer. Oh and uh…we w-were also looking for Sam," Bucky stutters.
Steve's jaw drops in shock, he has never seen his best friend get gun shy in front of any girl. He was always the ladies' man. With a slight smirk, Sharon is amused by the stuttering.
"Sam's in his office. He'll be out in a few minutes. Let me guess, you're Steve. Sam told me you occasionally have a hard time talking to women."
Steve breaks into loud laughter at Sharon's comment and Bucky turning beet red.
"Actually Ma'am, I've Steve. This stuttering, red faced guy is Bucky. Don't worry, once he downs his first beer, he'll be his usual charming self."
Now Sharon is embarrassed at her mistake. Like Bucky, she gets flustered and her face turns red.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought…never mind. Let me get you those beers."
She turns away, trying to regain her own composure, while pouring the drinks. As she hands Steve and Bucky their drinks, she gives Bucky a shy smile, while Sam exits his office having heard the loud laughter.
"Hey Guys, glad you two could make it out. Welcome home Steve. How's life out of the service?"
"Well it's my first night back Sam. I was trying to get adjusted to being home after the twelve hour flight, but Bucky wouldn't have it."
"Come on Stevie, every time we came home on leave you cooped yourself up in your bedroom. I know you did that because you were thinking about her. I wasn't going to let you sit on my couch and mope all night."
Bucky always knew how much Steve cared about Natasha. When they first started dating in college they practically became inseparable. The night Steve enlisted they had a major fight about why he felt he needed to go fight someone else's war. As always when there is even the slightest mention of her, Steve gets tense.
"Buck, you know that's in the past. She and I went our separate ways. She made her choice and I always respected that. Anyway you mentioned on the drive over here that we would be meeting some girls."
"Yeah, and I also said you have blue skin and ears like an elephant. You just kept nodding along. When are you going to admit to yourself that you haven't gotten over her?"
Steve doesn't reply. He silently gets up and walks to a corner booth where he can sit and drink on his own. Before Bucky can get up and follow, Sam places a hand on his arm.
"Buck, let him be. I never met her, but you know as well as I do that Nat was the one for him. You don't get over a love like that easily."
Bucky knows Sam is right. Thinking back he remembers Steve describing his first of two encounters with the red head. It was right after he made his way out to register for classes.
"Buck, you should have seen her. When I accidentally ran into her coming out of the art history building, her green eyes flashing with anger, she was definitely a pistol. I've never met a girl like her before."
"Oh yeah, was she hot?"
"Come on Buck, there's more to a woman than just the question of how hot she is."
"Yeah, whatever. What's her name?"
"I didn't get her name. When I tried to apologize she stormed off."
"Then forget about her. Odds are you'll never see her again. This is a big campus. There are plenty of college girls all over the place. Hey, I have to go. I need to find out when football try-outs are. See you later, buddy."
"Hope you make the team this year."
Following his map towards the new literature building, Steve runs into the mystery girl again. As she turns around, green eyes meet his embarrassed blue eyes.
"Seriously, do you ever you watch where you're going?"
"I could watch where I was going if they hadn't built a new lit building since last year. By the way, do you always get this angry when someone accidentally bumps into you?"
"That depends, how many more times do you plan on 'accidentally' bumping into me today?"
Steve doesn't often get angry, but for her to suggest he's doing this intentionally upsets him.
"Well if you wouldn't stand in the middle of the sidewalk like you're the queen of campus, expecting everyone to kneel before you, maybe people wouldn't run into you. While they're going about their own business, I might add."
Natasha didn't expect this guy to call her on out on her attitude. The anger in her eyes turns into amusement. Most of the guys she knew in high school backed down immediately when she acted like this.
"No guy has ever dared call me out like that. Who are you?"
Steve begins thinking he screwed up. Half expecting her to call campus police, he starts to walk away. He didn't expect her to grab his arm and pull him back.
"Wait a minute. Where do you think you're going? I asked you a question."
"I know how this works. I tell you my name, and then you call campus police and report me. No thanks."
Natasha is confused, first he calls her out, and then gets all sheepish. She finds herself intrigued by him now.
"I'm not calling the campus police. I just want to know your name."
"It's Steve…Steve Rogers," he replies while nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"I'm Natasha Romanoff. So you're looking for the new lit building? I know where that is. You want me to show you?"
Steve doesn't get to reply before she takes his hand and drags him down the sidewalk. After a ten minute walk, he's standing where he needs to be.
"Here we are," Natasha says. "I hope you get into the class you need. It was nice to actually meet you. Hope to see you around campus Steve, Steve Rogers."
Walking away, she looks back and gives him a little wink. As he makes his way into the lit building he lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
Still sitting at the bar, Bucky remembers that when he heard these stories he knew then that his best friend was going to fall for this girl.