Chris makes the next suggestion

Tyler glanced back at Abbie with a laugh as he drifted off to the end of the bar. He clearly wanted to stay, but as tempting as Abbie was, he also had an obligation to other customers.

"You are in his mind now," muttered Chris, taking a long drink of his beer.

"Yours too, I imagine," said Abbie coyly.

"Mine too." Chris laughed. He patted Jake on the back firmly. "Dude, I don't know where you found this girl, but holy shit, she is a winner."

Jake tried to control his reaction to Chris's hand on his back. It was more energetic than perhaps he was expecting. Nevertheless, he caught his balance and turned to look at both Abbie and Chris. "I found her in the PR department at work. A few doors down from the copy machine."

Abbie paused and tried to imagine the layout of their work area, counting the offices between hers and the copy machine. She burst into laughter. "Oh my god, Jake -- and it's totally true. I literally am a few doors down from the -- that was really funny!" It was the kind of laughter that just fuels itself, and Abbie sincerely wasn't able to pull herself together. Soon Chris and Jake were smiling and laughing as well.

"When he gets back, you're going to have to up your game," said Chris.

"I am?" asked Abbie. "What's the goal?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't know. Get him to ask for your number, maybe?"

"With you two guys right here?" said Abbie.

"Why not? You're already with two guys, couldn't you be with three?" Jake replied.

Abbie looked back and forth between Jake and Chris. "Sure, I could be with three guys."

Jake chuckled. "I don't think I realized what I was saying."

Abbie smiled and finished her martini. "I've told you, Jake, you have to pick your words carefully around me."

"So you want to be with three guys?"

Abbie shrugged and pushed her glass away. "That could be fun."

"Wait, what?" asked Chris. "Three guys ... I don't think I knew I was even the second guy."

Abbie swung around on her stool and put her hand on Chris's chest. "Only if you want to be."

Chris set his bottle down on the bar. "You guys play this game at a whole different level."

"What's your level?" asked Abbie.

She looked at Chris in a way that was at the same time both casual and serious. It was casual in the way people who are advanced in their field talk about what they do, like musicians who can discuss symphonic analysis or historians who easily recall the specific dates of any event. But it was also serious in that Abbie could tell Chris was expecting small talk, and she was not about small talk. She didn't want to waste time with teenage flirting if she knew the ultimate endgame was sex. She was an advanced player, and needed Chris to either rise to the occasion or acknowledge that he was out of her league and move on.

"Um," Chris thought, recognizing that he didn't usually talk so freely about any of this. "I guess ... I, um ..."

"You know what I mean, right?" said Abbie. "When your wife is away and you look at other girls, how do you do it?"

Chris chuckled. "I don't usually have a blunt conversation about it, for starters."

Abbie giggled. "I like blunt conversations."

Jake finished his beer and set the bottle down. "She does. Get used to it."

Abbie gave him an appreciative look. "I do." She pulled on his necktie, not so much as to be uncomfortable (nor to get close enough to kiss or anything), but enough to hold his attention in check. "Get used to it." She gave the tie a quick tug, but then let go.

Chris stood up again, trying to formulate his thoughts. "I guess I am more frequently drawn to someone who isn't going to ask a lot of questions, someone who is ultimately going to be ... inconsequential?"

Abbie nodded. Her hand was still on his chest, her fingers moving in small patterns. She could feel him through his shirt, what she thought was a patch of hair, a muscular build. "That's such a particular word to choose, 'inconsequential.'" She rubbed his chest. "What you want is someone to fuck who won't bother you the next day."

"And what do you want?" he asked, his voice slightly cracking at the end with a hint of nervous energy.

"I want consequence. I want the things we say and do now to intentionally lead to the thins we want to say and do later."

"I'm starting to see that," Chris said quietly, looking down at her. In the slightly awkward pause that followed, he distracted himself by eyeing the far end of the bar. "Your bartender friend will be back soon. Do we all want another round?"

Jake shrugged. "Fine by me."

"You boys are going to get me wasted," said Abbie with a smirk.

"When he comes back," said Chris, "will you convince him to give us our next round for free?"

Abbie bit her lip and smiled. "Yeah, I think I can do that." She turned away from Chris and leaned over the bar. "Tyler!" she called out with a wave.