They were late and the club was packed and they were not going to be getting a table any time soon just as Bianca had predicted. She was not pleased. “Okay, let’s at least get drinks. Maybe we’ll see someone we know and we can get in on their table.”

The bar was three deep and it took forever to get to the front. Finally Bianca turned back with the drinks and looked around for a table but saw no one she knew.

“Would you like to join our table? We’re only two?” A tall, dark and decidedly handsome man said to Bianca. He pointed to a table in the corner hidden behind a crowd of people.

Not one to pass up a seat or a good looking man Bianca said, “Sure.”

They pushed through the crowd and saw the table, a booth, with one lonely blonde man sitting in the corner. Bianca tuned back to Kendra and mouthed, “That one’s yours.”

Kendra smiled. She’d play her role but they both knew 1) blonde was not her type, 2) she was starting something with Asra and was not interested in anyone right now and hopefully for some time and 3) she was still fuming over Will’s impending fatherhood. She got two jelly shots along with her gin and tonic, a drink known to make her surly. She downed the shots and hoped for the best.

She squeezed into the booth next to Mr Blonde and immediately made a mental list of all the ways this man was nothing like Asra. Almost blow-away-in-the-wind thin. An atrocious dresser, not as bad as Will, but pretty close. Watery green eyes and far too long, limp yellow hair. No, this fellow did not stand up to Asra, but then he smiled a weak, uncertain smile and Kendra felt bad about her mental list. Who was she to judge? Had her mother taught her nothing- the outside did not define the inside, one of her most repeated bits of wisdom. He seemed friendly enough and a bit unwanted, like the ugly puppy at the pet store. She could at least be friendly. Was the new Kendra a bitch? Of course not!

“Hi I’m Mike,” he said holding out his hand.

“Kendra,” she shouted over the loud music.

Bianca shouted over the table at Kendra pointing at Mr Dark and Lovely. “His name is Devin, he’s a doctor.”

The tall, dark, handsome one nodded his head, smiling. “Plastic surgeon, actually.”

Bianca rolled her eyes impressed. “Well that might come in handy.”

“I don’t think you’ll be needing my services any time soon,” Dr Devin said. He was a slick one Kendra thought, too slick. What he didn’t know was that no man could stand up to Bianca. Unlike all of Kendra’s other friends. Bianca had no interest in getting married- ever. She was the head buyer at Elaine’s. It meant a huge salary and travelling all over the world looking for the most exciting fashion trends. A steady boyfriend would cut into her me time and she was not going to allow that even for a handsome plastic surgeon. Selfish was nearly her middle name when it came to men. He might be slick, but he never met anyone like Bianca Kendra imagined. Slick would wither and die up against her.

Bianca and Dr Devin disappeared into the throbbing crowd on the dance floor and Kendra turned to Mike, “So what do you do?”

“I’m sort of between things now.” He fiddled with the label on his beer bottle. Kendra wondered what mental process brought him to the conclusion that a white button down oxford with a green jersey and trousers that looked very much like they came as the bottom half of a school uniform was adequate clubbing clothes. She was not a fashion Nazi but if he was out to be a chick magnet, his strategy was very flawed. She almost felt like she should give him a bit of advice, though she guessed Bianca would say she had no fashion sense either. Kendra wondered how someone like Mike was friends with someone like Dr Devin. Dr Devin was Mr Successful and Mike seemed to have given up at the start line. Kendra felt sorry for him.

“Between what things?”

“I was working for the circus for a while.”

That sounded hopeful. Maybe he was a trapeze artist or a magician. How cool would that be, to date a magician? “Doing what?” she asked hopefully.

“Cage cleaning mostly.”

Nice, Kendra thought. She almost wished she’d stayed home and had a picnic of brown rice and tofu and watched the Woodstock DVD for the 767th time. She looked out on the dance floor. At least Bianca and Devin were having fun. She was really being unfair to Mike she knew. Between being dead annoyed about Will and his baby and thinking about Asra and wondering when he’d be back in London, Mike didn’t really stand a chance. She decided she’d try the best she could.

“So, Mike, would you like to dance?”

She was pleasantly surprised to find he did not dance the way he dressed. Eventually she forgot a bit about Will the Wanker and had a fairly good time.