Hey Girl

Tyler sat at the table his best friend from home, Freddy, and his new teammate, Jamie Benn, had grabbed. He looked around the bar they let Fred choose and came to the conclusion that it was just like any other bar, except it was what else but country themed.

"Seriously, bro? A honkytonk?" Tyler laughed.

Freddy in turn laughed at the twenty-two year old. "Dude, you've been down here for eight months and you start talking like them!"

Tyler rolled his eyes and laughed. He didn't care where they were as long as he got to hang with his friend from home and they had good drinks, he wasn't going to complain.

"No seriously," Jaimie said, "Why here? I've been down here forever and I don't think I've ever been here or heard of people coming here."

Freddy shrugged and waved down a waitress. "I figured a little distance from the city and places you frequent would be a good idea." He paused and checked out the trio of girls that sauntered past their table. "Plus, have you seen what these girls are wearing?"

Tyler and Jamie both took a more deliberate look around the bar and saw what Freddy meant. Almost every girl had a pair of Daisy Dukes on with some sort of form fitting top, ranging from simple tank tops to long-sleeve plaid shirts tied just below their busts. Also a good number of people, both male and female, had cowboy boots on.

"Alright, I'll give you this one Freddy" Tyler caved, watching two girls dressed just like everyone else in the bar, walk in and stop just inside the door. If he had to guess he would say both girls were about twenty-two or twenty-three. One of the girls had a smile on her face as she took in the atmosphere of the bar, while the other girl looked out of her element. He took his time studying the girls and ignored whatever his two friends were arguing about.

Tyler’s attention was drawn to the girl who seemed to be enjoying the country feel of the bar. She was wearing short jean shorts that hugged her like a second skin. His eyes traveled up her body and saw that she had a simple brown tank top; that too hugged her, along with a sleeveless stripped cover. It was a simple outfit that looked good on her while also fitting into the crowd. Her friend, despite looking uncomfortable, fit in just as much as she did. She was wearing a long-sleeve, western style shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She was also wearing tight jean shorts and cowboy boots. He could see the comfortable girl talking to her friend and dragging her towards the bar.

Without taking his eyes off the duo of girls, Tyler took a healthy gulp of his beer and finally joined the conversation his two good friends were having as they argued who the hotter girl was, their waitress or the bar tender.

"Who do you say, Segs?" Jamie asked, noticing his line mate was unusually quiet.

"Her" was all he said nodding towards the girl who finally got her friend to the bar. Finishing his beer in two long pulls, Tyler stood and readjusted his Bauer hat. "Anyone else need another drink?" He looked around the table.

Jamie was shaking his head with a smirk and Freddy was downright grinning. "If you're going to the bar, sure I'll take another" Freddy said.

With a nod Tyler made his way towards the bar and more importantly to the girls he watched walk in. As he got closer to them, he noticed that they were about five-four maybe a little taller in their boots. He noticed that the girl who grabbed his attention had long, light brown hair that had some curl to it. Whether they were natural or not, they looked good on her. She also had the front of her hair pinned back. Her friend’s hair was black and straight, again he wasn’t sure if it was natural or not.

"Come on A, please? Just one?" Tyler heard her beg as he approached the bar.

Her friend shook her head, sending her straight black hair flying. "I've told you a couple times now I don't like it and I don't really like shots."

The girl huffed, but still had a smile on her face. "You don't have to do Fireball then. How about vodka? I've seen you down those a few times? Come on! You need to lighten up a little! It's spring break for crying out loud!" She countered.

Tyler smirked and waved the bar tender over. "What can I do for you handsome?" She purred and he fought to not role his eyes.

"I'd like four shots of Fireball, a shot of your top shelf vodka, two Miller Lites, a Corona, and whatever those two ladies two seats to my right order. Except their shots" he winked, handing his credit card to the stunned girl. "Keep a tab open, would ya?"

He smiled and looked over at the table where Jamie and Freddy where watching him like hawks. He motioned to the girls next to him and waited to see his friends' reactions. Jamie gave him a thumbs up and Freddy quickly agreed. Tyler couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at his friends’ antics.

"Excuse me." A feminine voice said. "Are you the guy that covered our drinks?" Fireball Girl asked, coming closer to him.

Tyler sneaked a glance at his friends who were now watching even more intently, waiting for his next move with the girl. "Tyler." He smirked, holding out his hand.

She sent him a smile that he felt right in his gut. "Hannah and that's Avery. Thank you for the drinks, but that wasn't necessary."

"Don't worry about it." He looked at the bar when the bar tender placed the tray with his order on it. He smiled at Hannah. "You have to join my friends and me though. Especially because I have never seen someone so enthusiastic to do a shot of Fireball."

Hannah blushes and brushed some of her long hair behind her ear. "You heard that, huh?" She chuckled. "What do you say, A? We can at least join them since Tyler here was nice enough to buy our drinks."

Tyler glanced over the girl's shoulder and saw her friend standing there with wide eyes. uh oh, I know that look. he thought to himself. He suddenly had second thoughts about inviting the two girls to join them.

She shook her head and smiled, clearly breaking out of her trance. "Yeah, totally. Thanks" With a smile, Tyler led the two girls through the growing crowd and to the table where Freddy and Jamie had already pulled two more chairs up. Tyler silently thanked his friends.

"Guys, this is Hannah and Avery." He said walking up to the table. "Hannah, Avery these are my friends Jamie and Freddy."

Hannah's smile seemed to grow as she started talking to the guys. Tyler glanced at Avery and noticed that she had not moved, her vodka soda suspended in air as she took in the table.

"A, come sit down!" Hannah commanded and gave her a hard glare.

"Yeah, A." Freddy added. "We have shots to do!"

Avery blushed at Freddy using her nickname and took the open seat between Hannah and Jamie. She seemed to tense up when Jamie gave her a smile while her friend laughed at how excited Freddy was to do shots.

"Alright, chill dude" Jamie laughed. "We have four Fireballs and what I assume is vodka. Who does the Fireball belong to?"

"That'd be me." Hannah smiled, taking the shot off the tray. Tyler chuckled at his friends' reactions to the girl's answer. i like her[\i] he thought to himself, glancing at her once again.

"Are we toasting to anything or just starting a countdown?" Hannah asked, holding her shot in the air while her elbow rested on the table.

"I say we just count them down." Avery spoke softly, but loud enough to be heard over the music.
Hannah shrugged and looked around the table. "That alright with y'all?" Avery smirked at her friend. She was met with a collective agreement and started the count down. "Three-two-one!" She brought the plastic shooter to her lips and tipped her head back like a pro. Tyler and the rest of the table quickly followed.

"Holy shit that burns!" Freddy yelled, reaching for his beer and quickly finishing it off. Jamie was doing the same thing as Tyler tried to hold it together, but the burning got to be too much.

"Fuck." He cursed with a laugh, taking a pull on his beer.

Avery's face said all that needed to be said about her shot, along with her quickly disappearing drink in her hand. All the guys were staring at Hannah as she adjusted the bobby pin in her hair.

"Yes?" She giggled, causing Tyler to smirk. She was adorable.

"How did you do that without a chaser?" Freddy inquired

"Or not feeling like you're going to start breathing fire at any second?" Jamie added taking another sip of his beer.

"Hannah is like immune to Fireball. I think she just killed all her senses to it on her twenty-first birthday." Avery teased her best friend.

"You make me sound like a partier!" Hannah shrieked. She glanced around the table. "I swear I am not a hard core partier. It was my twenty- first birthday and it's like mandatory to get shitfaced. Tonight I may go a little overboard, but that's because I am on spring break and I have a shit ton waiting for me back at school in a week."

"Hey, you get no judgment from Ty and me when it comes to partying." Freddy laughed, slapping Tyler on the back.

Jamie shook his head at the outgoing guy while Tyler plotted his death. Tyler tried to steer away from the reason why he is in Dallas, but it seemed to stick with him. He knew it was going to, but he had hoped it would die down.

"Hey, you okay?" Hannah asked.

Tyler looked around and realized they were the only two at the table. "Uhh" he scratched the back of his neck.

"Jamie and Avery went to get more drinks. Freddy said something about Daisy Dukes and took off for the dance floor" she shrugged with a laugh.

Despite his sudden dark mood, Tyler laughed. "Yeah I'm good. Are you? Did you really take that shot without any reaction?"

This got a full laugh out of Hannah. "Yes and despite what my best friend may have said, I did not kill my senses to it." She looked around briefly before leaning into Tyler so their conversation would be someone private. "Just so you know, A and I do know who you all are. I nearly shit myself when the bar tended pointed you out."

Tyler pulled back and took another look at the brunette next to him. "You did? That explains the weird look Avery gave me and the reaction when I brought you guys over." He chuckled.

Hannah chuckled at her friend’s expense. “Yeah, she’s not as good at keeping her cool when it comes to meeting athletes and such. She means well and usually recovers quickly.” Tyler saw a humorous gleam in the brunette’s eyes. “It also helps that I’m practically pouring alcohol down her throat. That should loosen her up some.”

Tyler laughed and nodded his head, understanding what she was talking about. The two fell into a comfortable silence. Tyler took this time to really look at the girl sitting next to him. She really was good looking, she wasn’t necessarily ‘hot’, but she was cute if not beautiful. Tyler found himself drawn to her eyes. They were a light green color that also had browns and oranges mixed in. They were eyes that he would guess would change colors with her emotions. In that moment, Tyler found himself wanting to know everything about her.

“You said you had a lot waiting for you at school. What are you studying?” He asked, turning to face Hannah.

She sighed and took a sip of her rum and Coke. “Well at the moment nothing.” She gave a dry laugh. “I’m in the process of changing my major or rather thinking about changing my major. I haven’t been having the best of luck with it though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had originally gone to school for journalism, but my school doesn’t offer that as a major. So, I decided that communication studies would be the next best thing since I could minor in journalism. What I didn’t know is that in order to be a communications studies major you have devote your entire social life and sleep schedule to the major. I spent more nights reading pointless and repetitive articles than actually sleeping.” She groaned and finished what was left of her drink. “So I went to my advisor and talked about changing. She was giving me these bogus majors that I had zero interest in. Eventually we came to an agreement on one we think would work for me and I set up an appointment to meet with the head of that department to see if it is something I want to do.”

“Do you think it will be?” Tyler asked.

She shrugged. “Maybe? At first glance it looks like something I would like, but it’s going to put off my graduation by a year possibly more.”

“I didn’t think choosing a college major was that difficult or stressful.”

“You and me both. You know how disappointing it is to have a goal in mind and then be told you can’t reach it the way you thought you’d be able to?”

Tyler nodded, truly understanding what she meant. “I do. It’s the worse feeling in the world, but it motivates you to do better the next time. To attack the challenge head-on and at full force.”

Hannah’s smile was sweet and understanding, but also thankful. “I guess you would know that, huh?” She said quietly.

Before Tyler could answer, Jamie and Avery returned with a try full of fresh drinks and more shots for everyone. With a sly glance, Hannah reached for the Fireball and with a quick wink, threw it back. Tyler laughed and took his shot, noticing that he didn’t feel the burn as much this time around. Freddy returned to the table and without a word downed his shot and mentioned about needing another and Tyler knew his friend struck out.

The group fell into comfortable conversation. Tyler was truly surprised how well Hannah and Avery fit into the group. She was not star struck and talked to Jamie like he was a long lost friend. Avery was chatting with Freddy about something random and laughing. Tyler could really see these girls being a part of their lives and deep down he hoped they would be.

That thought made him pause as he was taking a drink of his beer. Freddy glanced at his best friend and raised an eyebrow in question. Tyler sampling gave his friend a shrug before turning his attention to the story Avery was telling the group, ignoring the thoughts of Hannah his brain was cooking up.