“No we’ve met or I’ve seen you somewhere. Wait. Were you at the sushi restaurant earlier?”

“Yeah, we were there sitting by the bar, why didn’t you come talk to us?”

“I’m horrible with the bar pickup.”

I rolled my eyes hoping this wasn’t another mistake dressed in sheep’s clothing. I’ve really had enough of that shit lately. I was standing under the bright glare of parking lot lights waiting for two of the Ladies to make their way out of the bar. In true gentleman fashion he declined my efforts to send him on his way and leave me alone.

“I’m not leaving you out here alone, you see all these drunkards.”

He pointed to a guy I knew who was hitting on the closest piece of tail within his reach.”

Scoff. I nearly snorted reminding myself not to encourage him.

“That’s really nice of you but,”

Celeste walked outside, turned on her heel, narrowed her gaze, and wryly said “Yeah. You’re out of “IT”. I can tell. We need to get a cab. Let’s roll.”

Earlier at dinner while sipping on a martini I leaned across the table announcing, “I’m taking a break and removing myself from the game.”

Kim leaned in picking up her glass, she was waiting for me to elaborate.

“Why find another mistake?”

Not like we need to revisit my track record, I’ve been on a bender taking men for their word thinking this one’s different and ignoring the blatant warnings of my friends. I’m not one to entertain my past for long. I learn from it and carry on. But lately, my judgment has gone wiry. I’ve been the quintessential female wearing rose colored glasses ignoring what I already knew to be true. So Saturday night, I pulled the breaks after being bored with making the same mistakes and reopening the same wounds.

When I say revisiting the same mistakes, it’s a conscious effort that takes work and makes the challenge the fun of it all. Which, ya know, leads to deleting numbers from my phone. And as far as meeting someone in a bar? Years ago I made it a practice to never give out my number in a bar. Having never been good at following my own rules I’ve had two relationships start in bars. No, wait three…hang on. Jeeeze.

Now, I’m a lady with a healthy appetite for dating and know it’s not a sport where score is kept on a weekly basis. My desired style has always been to meet someone I like, decide if it works then start all over again. However, there’s still nothing I’d like more than to meet someone who’d stay for a while. I’m throwing in the towel.

Until, Thursday anyway.