Mouse.

It turned out that things could in fact go wrong. Things like meeting Ben Gardner in person. In my inebriated state of mind I figured I would just walk up to the guy and say, "Hey, wanna have sex?" But that's not how real life worked. I had to make a plan and it had to be a good one too. Bee was so excited about it that she had been sending me texts all week asking how it was going. My stupid idea for revenge had been the perfect distraction for her. And of course Pencil was no help at all. She had laughed when I told her what (or in this case whom) I planned on doing and told me that this was going to blow up in my face. I couldn't let her be right. I had to have sex with this guy! But I should probably start with meeting him first.

According to his Facebook page the bar he worked at was only a few blocks away from my apartment. One night I had gone in guns blazing, meaning I shaved my legs and wore a matching set of bra and panties, but he wasn't there. The night after that I worked late and then the night after that I had to go visit my mom.

So, in summary, phase one of my plan was not going well.

I sat on my bed and decided to check his profile again. I was on there so often I was starting to memorize all the small details of his profile picture, it was bordering on stalkerish, but the picture always brought a smile to my face. In the image he was sitting on a couch with a black cat on his lap. He wore a big grin and a blue T-shirt with the words "you've cat to be kitten me" scrawled on it. It was cute.

Further down his page were his most recent posts. My attention was drawn to a picture of him surrounded by bottles of alcohol with a Psyduck sitting on the bar. It was captioned: Does Misty know about his drinking problem?

Damn Pokemon Go.

I laughed and checked the upload date. 8:36 PM.

My heart started hammering in my chest. That picture had been posted the very same day. I turned my head to check my clock to see that it was only ten PM. The bar was still open which meant he was probably there!

"Shit!"

In a record breaking twenty minutes I had managed to change into a cute pair of underwear, throw some makeup on, get dressed, and leave my apartment.

When I got to the bar I had to stop a few feet away from the door and catch my breath. Running the entire way there like the Devil was nipping at my heels wasn't the smartest idea, and it probably scared the shit out of the tourists I passed too, but I couldn't miss him again. I couldn't risk it.

My heart was hammering hard in my chest as I got closer to the door. I gripped the knob tight but my palms slid. Jesus Christ. I was sweating like myself in church. Why was I so nervous? I've hooked up with worse dudes for less.

"Come on, Mouse," I whispered to myself, "Bee's counting on you. You can do this."

It was time to make one friend proud and prove another wrong.

I opened the door and stepped in.

The bar was like any other bar I'd been to. It was small with only a couple tables, five or six booths, a jukebox in the corner, and a long stretch of bar along the wall. There were a few people sat around nursing their beers. None of them even spared a glance in my direction. Behind the bar was a tall, older man with a full beard. That certainly wasn't Ben.

I couldn't hold in my defeated sigh. Fuck it, I thought to myself. I'd rushed all this way, might as well stay and have a drink.

I sat down at the bar a few seats away from a man that may or may not have been homeless and tried to regulate my breathing. My fingers drummed a steady rhythm on the polished wood as I waited for the bartender to notice me. He looked in my direction and then looked away with a roll of his eyes. Jeez. I thought I had bad customer service skills.

"Don't mind Bart, he isn't really warm to newcomers," said a deep voice from my right.

I jumped, not expecting it, and turned to look at the stranger.

Holy shit. It was Ben Gardner in the flesh!

His profile picture had to have been old because in it his brown hair was short. It was long now, long enough to tuck behind his ears, it framed his heart shaped jaw perfectly. His eyes were a warm hazel and his nose was small and button shaped. He was a lot cuter in real life. There were definite feminine traits apparent in him but he managed to pull it off.

I must have looked as shocked as I felt. He huffed a laugh and leaned against the bar.

"Didn't mean to scare you," he told me.

On the inside I was panicking. Once my hopes to see him had been crushed I had let all my guards down. I rushed to say something.

"It's totally fine! I get scared all the time, like, too many times! My mom wouldn't let me watch a scary movie until I was twelve!"

Smooth. Any minute now he'd be begging to hook up.

Thankfully he didn't seem weirded out by my sudden word vomit. Ben laughed again and shook his head.

"My mom wouldn't let me watch scary movies either," he admitted.

How despicable. What kind of mother would do such a thing? Diane, that's who! Sure, my mom did too, but she had her reasons. Diane probably did it just to be spiteful.

I couldn't think of anything witty to say so instead I dumbly said, "Moms, right?"

Ben nodded along with a small smile.

"What can I get you to drink?"

That was an entirely new thing for me to freak out about; what to drink. Maybe I should order something cool like a Manhattan or something sophisticated like a Chardonnay. Guys liked cool, sophisticated girls, right? Or did Ben prefer down to earth chicks? The kind that was 'one of the guys' and drank beer and played stupid drinking games. What if he liked really feminine girls that dranks Cosmopolitans? I hated those!

He was waiting patiently while I mentally debated what kind of drink to order. I was acting like such an idiot. It's not like I needed to impress the guy or anything. All I had to do was sleep with him and get it over with.

For some reason that reminder wasn't helping me.

"Something cheap on tap," I finally answered.

Ben nodded and rapped his knuckles on the bar, "Got it."

He left me alone and went to the other end of the bar to poor my drink. I took that brief moment to try and compose myself but I kept getting distracted by my thoughts. My mind was coming up with new creative ways for this to go wrong. He would find out who I am, he already had a girlfriend on the hush hush, maybe he would think I was hideous and kick me out of the bar to spare everyone from my grotesque face.

I had only succeeded in making myself even more nervous. Pencil was right, this was blowing up in my face. I was supposed to walk in here and seduce Ben with my feminine wiles, he would be in total awe of me, then we'd go back to my place and have sex. Instead I was freaking out over drinks. Bee would be so disappointed.

"Oh shit!"

I snapped my head over to Ben where he was holding his phone and staring down at the screen in shock.

Oh no. That was Diane and I knew it. She somehow found out about my plan and was telling him all about it. God damnit, Diane!

Bart, the bartender with the big beard, glared at Ben.

"I swear to God, kid, if that's your fucking Pokemon game again I will wring your neck," he threatened. He looked serious too.

Ben's face fell, "But Bart-"

"No," Bart barked. "I don't give a shit what it is. You're at work so do your job and serve drinks."

Ben nodded sadly and tucked his phone back into his pocket. He made his way back over and set my drink down in front of me.

"Sorry about that," he apologized.

"Pokemon Go?" I asked sympathetically.

He nodded again and rested his elbows on the bar. This close I could see he had the faintest freckles dusting his nose.

"There's a Snorlax nearby," he explained sadly, "I've been wanting to catch him since the game was released."

A light bulb appeared in my mind. I knew exactly how to win him over. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and set it down on the counter.

"Give me your phone," I demanded.

Ben tilted his head in confusion, "Excuse me?"

"Give me your phone and I'll find the Snorlax for you. You can hold onto my phone as collateral."

He handed his phone over to me but before I could grab it he pulled it away. He eyed me suspiciously and leaned in close. I could feel his warm breath as he spoke.

"Why are you doing this?"

Time to look cool. My hand grabbed the forgotten beer and brought it to my lips. I took a long drink from it and smirked at him.

"You're cuter when you don't look like someone just kicked your puppy."

With that I plucked the phone out of his hands and started walking out of the bar.

Don't look back, I told myself, cool people never look back in movies.

When the door shut behind me I started jumping up and down in excitement. I had my chance, I wasn't going to blow it. It was time to hunt down a Pokemon.

-

I'm not going to lie, I've never been interested in Pokemon. Not when I was a kid, a teen, or even now as an adult. The series was probably decent and the games were more than likely a lot of fun, but I could never get into it. But right then and there I had to make myself interested for Ben.

No, Bee. This was all for Bee. This had nothing to do with wanting to impress a cute guy.

Luckily for me I knew my way around the neighborhood. I had raced between streets, cut through alleys, and even jumped a fence just to find this illusive creature. Fate wasn't on my side. It had been half an hour and I still hadn't found him. Looks like I'll be letting two people down in one night. I had accepted my defeat and started walking back to the bar when the phone buzzed in my hand. I looked down at the screen and jumped, there it was, there was the Snorlax!

The next few minutes were the most intense minutes of my life. I had found the Snorlax but I still needed to capture him. Maybe I should have practiced catching them with the weird bird looking Pokemon that kept popping up. I threw ball after ball but it wasn't working.

"Come on," I cursed, "Get in the God damn ball!"

More balls were thrown at him and it was looking like I'd never capture the damn thing. Then it happened. The ball shut with a resounding click.

"I caught it," I said quietly, "I caught the Snorlax."

A large grin settled over my face as I pumped my fist into the air.

"Yeah! Suck it, Diane!"

I raced back to the bar as quickly as I could. I threw the door open and seeked Ben out with my eyes. He was behind the bar wiping down glasses. The sound of the door caught his ear and caused him to look up at me. He almost dropped the cup in his excitement and hopped over the bar.

"Did you get it? Did you get the Snorlax?" He asked urgently.

I grinned proudly and handed the phone to him. Ben eagerly grabbed it and stared down at the screen in shock. The corners of his mouth lifted into a disbelieving grin.

"I can't believe this. You actually got it."

He looked down at me with awe. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of his soft smile. I wanted to blame my hammering heart on the fact that I had just run four blocks but it wasn't true.

"Sit down, please," he begged. "Let me get you a drink on the house."

Ben looked down at me with a hopeful expression. I was a goner. He could ask me to do anything and I wouldn't be able to deny him.

I bit my lip in thought then shrugged nonchalantly, "Who can say no to free beer?"

He smiled brightly and rested his hand on the small of my back to guide me back to the stools. His touch sent a shiver down my spine and made my pulse race.

I was well and truly fucked.