More Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories (The Flirts! Short Stories Collections) by Lisa Scott

her shoulders telling her how pretty she was. Luckily, he hadn’t tried anything else. “Are you his girlfriend?” Diana took a step away from Eric.
    “No. I’m Emily. Just a friend who puts up with way too much of this shit. But if I don’t, who will?”
    Diana was going to explain the concept of enabling and co-dependency, but she just smiled and said, “That’s so nice of you. He’s a great guy, except for…”
    “This. I know.” The woman pried Eric away from the bar and helped him shuffle to the door.
    Eric turned around and blew Diana a kiss. “Wanna go out sometime?”
    She knew she should. He certainly was a candidate for Mr. Wrong, but she was fairly certain she could cross Eric off the list. He’d already given her enough for a chapter tonight. “Sorry, I’m leaving the country for a while.”
    “Damn. Call me when you get back.”
    Emily rolled her eyes. “Maybe she’ll be kind enough to save you a barf bag from the plane, you dork.”
    “Would you do that?” Eric asked.
    “Sure,” Diana said, wondering how the evening would’ve ended had she walked over to Toby.
    No doubt, it wouldn’t have yielded as much good material for the book.
     
    ***
     
    Toby had long since left the bar, but he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he did send off an uptight vibe. Dina’s interest in him had melted the minute she saw Eric. Dina seemed like the type he was looking for. Party girl, but something more, too. He hadn’t had trouble meeting new women after he left The Brownstone Bar. He’d met plenty of fun girls who had zero interest in talking bond rates or what the latest unemployment rates meant for the market. But once they started chatting about reality shows, he was out. It was one of his rules. And all of the women he’d met tonight had mentioned the Kardashians. He just couldn’t do it. He drained his beer and went home; surprised he’d had zero success his first night out.
     
    ***
     
    Diana got home, scrubbed off her makeup, and changed into pajamas. Then she spent an hour taking notes on her evening. It would make for an interesting chapter, her first foray out as a flirty girl. It was strange, actually focusing on her dating life instead of her career. She laughed to herself. She was focusing on her career by doing this.
    Before turning in for the night, she checked her email and then spotted a popup ad for an online dating service. ‘Meet your future mate,’ the ad promised. Why not ? she thought. This could fill a few chapters if it’s bad enough.
    She answered the lengthy questionnaire exploring her taste in men. She answered most of the questions the opposite of how she truly felt, left out the employment history and boosted her bust size a bit. She admitted to loving seafood and despising rock bands featuring high-tenored men, like Rush and Supertramp. She liked her men deep-voiced, this was true. Then she filled in her name: her new alter ego, Dina. Dina, who liked bad boys, scruffy guys, and men looking for fun instead of commitment. When it came time to upload a picture, she panicked. What if someone recognized her? She went to a stock photo site and bought a photo of a cute brunette who looked a bit like her and uploaded that instead.
    The next morning, she had six contact requests from men who the computer algorithm had deemed a good match. She looked through guys eager to meet Dina, and settled on two—a handsome blond who probably was also using a stock photo because the lighting was perfect, and a guy who called himself Witty Will and displayed a cartoon of Woody the Woodpecker as an avatar. There had to be a dirty implication flying right over her head, but maybe he was a good choice. She’d never done funny before. This would be good for a chapter or two.
    She clicked on Will’s avatar and read his message. “Hey you sexy thing. How about we get together for some laughs and who knows what else?”
    Diana fluttered her fingers. Was she really going to do this? Yes,