Miranda Wellford was beautiful. That was the first thing he noticed about her. She looked up through long dark lashes, her wide blue eyes meeting his. It was a moment that would stay with him forever. He knew instantly that he had to talk to her, to find out who this woman was. He also knew that the moment he did that everything would be different. She wasn’t the type of girl a man could acquaint himself with without falling for her. There was something about her that was just…irresistible.

“Hi,” He saw her pale pink lips move before he heard the word. Her voice was soft and delicate.

“Hi,” he said. He pressed his lips together nervously as she took a step closer to him. She approached him so sure of herself. Her confidence was intimidating.

“I couldn’t help but notice you staring at me,” The corners of her lips turned up, forming an impish smile. He could feel his face get warmer as a deep blush spread across his cheeks.

“Oh no, I wasn’t staring at you. I just…uh…” He stood there, trying to find some sort of explanation.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said.

“Do what?”

“Lie to me.” He didn’t know how to respond. He’d never met a girl so unafraid. She spoke exactly what was on her mind. She didn’t care that she had just met this man and that her strong personality might have made him uncomfortable. She was comfortable with herself and he found that so alluring.

“You’re right. I was staring at you.” He was shocked by himself. As intimidated as he was, he knew he couldn’t let her see that. He had to show her that he was worth her time.

She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, impressed with him. “What’s your name?” she asked him.

“I’m Nathan.”

“I’m Miranda. Nice to meet you, Nathan.” He loved how his name sounded coming out of her mouth.

“Nice to meet you too,”

“So are you here all alone?” she asked him.

“I’m waiting on a friend.” He stood towards the back of the crowded bar, next to the hall that led to the restrooms. He hadn’t planned on meeting a girl here. That wasn’t what he and Danny came there for. Danny came to get away from his wife and Nathan came because Danny didn’t want to come alone. “What about you?”

“Yep, just me,” She smiled at him, tucking a loose strand of golden blonde hair behind her ear.

“Nathan, hey!” Danny’s voice caught Nathan’s attention right away. He reluctantly turned away from Miranda.

“Hey,” he replied as Danny walked up to them.

“Who’s this?” Danny noticed Miranda immediately. How could he not?

“I’m Miranda,” she introduced herself. Nathan watched as their eyes met. He grew angry, but wasn’t quite sure why.

“So Danny, how’s Rachel doing?” Nathan asked him abruptly. Danny didn’t turn away from Miranda for even a second.

“She’s fine,” he spoke, but his focus was clearly elsewhere.

“Who’s Rachel?” Miranda wondered aloud.

“That’s Danny’s wife,”

Danny turned to look at Nathan. He was clearly annoyed with him. “Yeah, we’re not doing so well right now,”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said evenly.

“It’s alright,”

There was a brief moment of silence between the three of them. Nathan was watching Danny continue to take in every inch of Miranda with his eyes while she casually glanced around the bar. She sighed and turned back to the two men.

“Well I don’t want to impose on you two,” she said.

“No, you’re not imposing at all!” Danny tried to assure her. “What are you drinking tonight?”

“Vodka and tonic,”

“One of my favorites,” That wasn’t true. Danny drank beer and whiskey. He didn’t like vodka. “Let me buy you a drink.”

A small smile danced across her lips. “Alright,” she agreed. He took her hand and began leading her towards the bar, but she stopped and turned back to look at Nathan. “You coming?”

He felt a light, airy feeling in the pit of his stomach. So this was what people meant when they said they got butterflies. “Yeah,” he said. He glanced over her shoulder at Danny, who wasn’t very happy about him joining them. Nathan didn’t care though.

He followed the two of them up to the bar and they each took a seat on one of the stools, Miranda sitting in between the two men. Danny ordered two vodka and tonics, setting one down in front of Miranda. Nathan ordered a beer.

“So Danny,” Miranda paused to take a sip of her drink. “How long have you and Rachel been together?”

It was clear that Danny wasn’t interested in talking about his wife, but he engaged in the conversation anyways. “We’ve been married for a little over two years.”

“So what, you’re growing bored of her now?”

Danny took a moment to respond, clearly surprised at how accurate her assumption was. “Well, that’s part of it,” he said.

“And what’s the other part?”

“You know, I’d rather not talk about it,”

She took another sip of her drink. “What about you, Nathan? Are you married?”

“No, I’m not seeing anyone right now,” he told her. And how could he at this point? He knew as soon as he’d laid eyes on her that Miranda would be trouble. She was dangerous and he knew it, but he didn’t want to let her slip away. He wanted to get to know her. He was intrigued by how different she was from any other woman he’d met. He knew that she would corrupt his opinion of any other girl. All he was able to do now was compare everyone else to her. He knew that no one would ever measure up.

“Nathan’s always single,” Danny said. He hadn’t meant it in a harsh way. Nathan knew that, but he still wasn’t ok with it.

“Well maybe he’s just waiting for the right person,” Miranda said, glancing over at him as her lips closed around the rim of the glass. She took a sip of her drink and slowly ran her tongue over her upper lip.

Nathan watched, tantalized.

“Yeah, let’s go with that,” Danny chuckled. He took a swig of his drink, turning his head so that Miranda wouldn’t see him gagging on it.

“What about you?” Nathan spoke. “Are you seeing anyone?”

Miranda looked at him. She chose her words carefully. “Not consistently,” They were both wondering it, but neither of the men asked her what she meant by that. She finished up the last of her drink and stood up. “I should probably get going.”

“Already?” Danny asked her. “You’ve only had one drink,” She sighed, but didn’t sit back down. “Just stay for one more drink,” he insisted.

“No, I’d rather just go home.”

Danny sighed heavily. “Well do I at least get to see you again?”

She pursed her lips, pondering his request for a moment. Then she took her cell phone out of her purse. “What’s your number?” He told her and she put him into her contacts.

“How do I know you’ll actually text me?” he asked her.

“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” She tucked her cell phone back in her purse and smoothed out the hem of her black camisole over her skin tight jeans. “Bye, Nathan,” She flashed him a small smile before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

“What was that all about?” Danny asked as soon as they’d lost sight of her.

“What do you mean?” Nathan replied.

“’Bye, Nathan’,” Danny repeated, mocking her. “How come she said goodbye to you, but not to me?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Nathan was wondering that too. Did it mean that she liked him more than she liked Danny? But if that were true, wouldn’t she have asked for his number too?

Danny pushed his vodka and tonic away and moved over to the seat Miranda had been sitting in. He grabbed Nathan’s beer and took a sip of it. “Do you think she’ll text me?”

“I don’t know.”

“I hope she does.”

“What about Rachel?”

“You know we aren’t doing very well right now.”

“She’s still your wife.”

Danny looked at Nathan. They’d been best friends since sophomore year of high school when they’d been placed in the same biology class. Danny had always been a flirt, but never a cheater. Mostly because he never wanted to commit himself into an actual relationship. But he’d always had a crush on Rachel. Senior year, he’d finally been brave enough to ask her to homecoming. When she’d said yes, he’d decided to stop hooking up with other girls and commit himself to her and only her.

It gave Nathan hope. It had been the proof he’d needed to believe that love really did exist. No one was perfect, but everyone was perfect for someone. If Danny had fallen for someone, then there had to be a girl out there that Nathan could fall in love with.

“I think I might tell her I want to get a divorce,” Danny said, downing the rest of Nathan’s beer. He ordered another one for himself.

“You’ve been saying that for a month now,” Nathan replied.

“I really mean it this time.”

“You’ve been saying that for a month too,”

Danny sighed. “Well it’s not as easy as it sounds, ok?”

“I never said it was easy. She’s your wife and you love her. Of course telling her you don’t want to be with her anymore isn’t easy.”

“I don’t love her.”

Nathan looked at his friend. “Yes, you do. If you didn’t, asking her for a divorce wouldn’t be this hard for you to do.”

“Well I care about her. I just…I’m not happy with her anymore. I think I’ve grown too used to her.”

“Have you told her that?”

“No. I don’t want to make her feel like she isn’t good enough. She’s a great person, don’t get me wrong. But I’m not excited to go home to her anymore.” Danny stared into the fizzy golden drink placed before him. “I remember during our first year of marriage, I would count the seconds down at work, longing for five o’clock to come so I could go home and see her. And when I walked inside and saw her standing at the counter making dinner or lying on the couch reading, it was like homecoming night all over again. Every time I came home to her, I realized again and again just how much I loved her.” His eyes grew dark and sad. “I don’t feel that way about her anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” Nathan said. And he was. He could see it in his eyes that Danny wasn’t happy. They were both silent for a moment. “I think you should talk to her about how you’re feeling.”

“I know I should.” They both knew he wasn’t going to though.

Danny ordered two more beers and three shots of whiskey. By eleven o’clock, Nathan was walking his stumbling friend to his car. He strapped him into the passenger’s seat and drove him home. When Rachel answered the door to find her drunken husband leaning against Nathan just so that he wouldn’t fall over, her eyes glistened sadly.

“Thanks for getting him home safe,” she said to Nathan.

“No problem,” He handed her the keys to Danny’s car, which was still in the bar’s parking lot. This routine was well rehearsed.

“Have a good night,” Rachel told him, smiling sadly.

“You too,” With that, Nathan went back to his car and began heading for home. Halfway to his house, he heard a buzzing coming from the passenger’s seat. He glanced over to find Danny’s phone lying there with one unread text message on it.

Unable to resist, he picked up the phone and opened the text message. It was from a number that hadn’t yet been saved to his contacts.

Hey, it’s Miranda.

Nathan’s grip tightened around the cell phone. He was hoping she wouldn’t have texted him. Not only did Nathan meet her first, but he was the single one. She should have been texting him, not Danny.

Before he could even think to stop himself, Nathan deleted the text message from Danny’s phone. He felt the guilt clouding his mind immediately after he did it, but he ignored the feeling and drove home.