Hmm... nice, she said to herself, nodding slightly. As Ryan spent a minute taking her in, the blonde turned around on her stool, as if looking for someone. Ryan noted the woman's cream-colored cashmere sweater set and the black corduroy slacks. Mmm, nice dresser, she thought appraisingly. Making up her mind immediately, she walked over to the woman and pulled out a stool one away from hers.

"Hi," she said softly, trying to get a read on how aggressive she should be.

"Uhm... hi," the woman answered absently as she furrowed her brow a tiny bit and looked over Ryan's shoulder, obviously waiting for someone.

"You don't mind if I sit near you, do you?"

"No, I uhm... guess not," she answered, casting another look around.

"It can be so intimidating to come into a place like this alone. Guys think they can immediately hit on you." Ryan shook her head a little in distaste, then shot the woman a smile.

The blonde focused her attention on the newcomer and returned the smile. "Actually, it's nice to have someone to talk to. I was waiting for a date who looks like he's not going to show, and I've had to turn two guys away already." She let out a gentle laugh that rumbled rather low in her chest. There was something very attractive about the laugh, and Ryan decided she would see what the woman's story was.

"I'm Ryan," she said as she stuck out her hand.

"Jamie," her companion replied.

"Good to meet you, Jamie. Are you a local, or just pa.s.sing through like I am?"

"Local. Well, local during the school year," she amended.

"Oh, you go to ColoradoState?"

"Yeah. I'm a senior this year."

"Oh, me too," Ryan said. "Well, I'm a senior also, but not at CSU. I go to Cal."

"Ooo, U.C.L.A., how cool," Jamie enthused.

"No, no, Jamie. That's a bit of an insult," she chided her gently. "U.C.L.A. is in Los Angeles. Cal is in Berkeley, across the bay from San Francisco."

"Oh, wow," she said ingenuously. "I've never been to San Francisco. Is it really as nice as they say it is?"

Ryan leaned back on her stool and gazed at her partner for a moment. She didn't know how Jamie managed it, but she gave off every indication that she'd never seen Ryan in her life, and had no more interest in her than she had in the bartender. Taking in a breath, she decided to make a small move. "San Francisco is nicer than they say it is," she replied as she slid over to the stool right next to Jamie. "Definitely nicer." She waited a beat and asked, "Who were you waiting for tonight?"

"A blind date," the blonde said with a slightly embarra.s.sed blush. "I should know better by now, though. They never work out."

Ryan looked over at her nearly empty gla.s.s and offered, "Let me buy you another drink to cheer you up a little. I've had more bad first dates than I can count, so you have my complete sympathies." Before Jamie could even form a word, Ryan had signaled the bartender. "What would you like, Jamie?" she asked as she locked eyes and gave her a dazzling grin.

"A white wine spritzer," she said slowly, still giving Ryan a puzzled look.

"Great. Two white wine spritzers," she instructed the bartender decisively.

As the bartender walked away, Jamie glanced over at her companion and asked, "What are you in Ft.Collins for anyway? Not much here but the university."

"I'm here to play basketball," she said casually. "We're in a tournament."

"You're on the women's basketball team?" the smaller woman asked incredulously.

"I couldn't make the men's," Ryan replied with another dazzling smile. Lowering her voice, she added, "I tried."

"Wow, I've never known anyone who played a sport in college," she said with obvious interest.

"Then I should introduce myself to you again," Ryan said, her smile growing. "I just finished the volleyball season."

"Really? Two sports?"

"Yeah. I really like to compete."

"G.o.d! You must be very talented to play two sports for a big school like the University of California. It is a big school isn't it?" she asked, just a trifle suspiciously.

"Pretty big," Ryan admitted. "About 30,000 students."

"And with all of those students, they have to keep dipping into the same tiny little talent pool?" Jamie asked with a teasing smirk.

"Yeah, if I wouldn't play they were going to have to just grab the first woman they saw that was over 5'7"," she said as she shook her head.

Jamie tossed her head back and laughed in a thoroughly delightful manner. "You're really funny."

"Thank you. Many people don't get my sense of humor. It's kind of an acquired taste."

"So, where are all of your teammates tonight?" Jamie asked.

"Oh, I get tired of them after a while," she admitted. "We've been here since Thursday evening, and not to insult your town, but there isn't a lot to do around here. So, I'm looking for someone new to talk to."

"Well, I'm certainly new," she said with a smile.

"Yep. I lucked out tonight," Ryan replied. "You're not only talkative, you're interesting too."

"Thanks," she said, smiling tentatively. "You're pretty interesting to talk to also." She c.o.c.ked her head slightly, and looked at Ryan for a minute. "I was a little confused when you sat down next to me and offered to buy me a drink," she admitted. "That's never happened to me before."

Ryan dipped her head a little to take a sip of her drink, flashing Jamie a bright smile. Her bangs nearly covered her eyes, and she peered through them with an impish look - while managing not to comment on Jamie's statement.

"So, ahh... when do you go back?" the blonde asked, forgetting that she had been waiting for Ryan's reaction to her comment.

"We're leaving in the morning. It'll waste the whole day, regrettably, and we've got finals starting on Monday."

"Eeew," she sympathized. "Don't remind me. I've got two on Monday."

Ryan leaned close - just close enough for Jamie to take in the sweet, clean scent of her recently-showered body. "So, you were just going out to let off a little steam before finals, huh?" she asked in a conspiratorial manner.

"I guess. I don't know, Ryan. Sometimes it seems like there isn't a decent guy in all of Colorado," she said, shaking her head. "I keep trying, but it's getting to be depressing."

"Oh, come on, Jamie, I can't imagine a woman like you has too much trouble finding dates."

"Hrumpf!" she grumbled. "Dates I can get, but it's rare that I want a second date. Either they're juvenile frat boys, or just trying to score without too much trouble."

"That must be hard," Ryan said sympathetically as she leveled her gaze, and locked her eyes onto Jamie's.

"Oh, I don't really have anything to complain about," she said lightly. "Tell me about yourself," she urged. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"No one exclusively," she replied. "I'm not ready to settle down yet. I want to be out of grad school before I get serious."

"Are you going to law school like everyone else in the world?" the blonde asked with a half smile.

"No. I have no interest in that arena," she a.s.sured her. "My major is biology, but I'm considering programs in math, biology, chemistry and possibly medical school."

"Wow, those are subjects I've steered away from as much as possible. I'm an English major."

"What area?" Ryan asked, looking very interested.

"English literature. I've focused on the Victorian period."

"Wow, I don't have much knowledge of your subject, but I admire people who can manipulate the language. I bet it's fascinating to study a certain time period like that intensively."

"Yeah, it really is," she agreed. "I love my subject, but I don't know what I'll do with it."

"Does that really matter?" Ryan queried. "Isn't it more important to do what you love? I've always found that sticking with what interests me works out in the long run."

"I like your perspective, Ryan," she said as she gave her a smile. "Hey, your drink's about gone. Let me buy you another." Her nose wrinkled as she said, "I've never bought a woman a drink before."

"Okay. I'd like that, Jamie. You're a lot more entertaining than television."

"Really?" she asked, tilting her chin. "You'd better check your listings before you make a claim like that, Ryan. You might even have HBO." Her green eyes were twinkling, and Ryan felt herself being drawn into this very attractive woman's aura.

"I'm absolutely certain," Ryan said softly as she leaned in just a little, lightly brushing her shoulder against Jamie's. The light was dim, but she was pretty sure she saw a delicate shiver crawl up her companion's neck. Gotcha, she mused happily as she leaned back into her own air s.p.a.ce. Now I just have to reel you in.

After another half hour of pleasant conversation and two more spritzers, Jamie took a deep breath and said, "I guess I'd better get going."

"It's still early," Ryan said as she glanced at her watch. "Only 8:30."

"Yeah, but I'm getting a little buzz on, and I won't drive if I'm impaired."

"How many have you had?" Ryan asked with a note of concern.

"Umm, I guess I've had four," she decided. "I hope I'm okay to drive." She had a worried frown on her face, and Ryan saw her opening.

"Hey, Jamie, that's nothing to play with. If there's any doubt in your mind, you should wait for a while. I know, let's go walk around the block a few times. That might give you a good indication of how sober you are."

"There aren't any blocks around here," she laughed. "The best we could do is a few laps around the parking lot."

"Hey, I'd gladly walk around the parking lot to make sure you were safe," she said as she leveled her gaze to stare right into those sea green eyes.

Once again Jamie had a hard time making her mouth work, but she finally got out, "I really think I'll be okay. I don't want to put you out, Ryan."

"Do you need to be home for anything special?" the dark haired woman asked.

"No, not really."

"Do you normally stay up past 8:30?"

"Uhm... yeah, I'm kind of a night owl."

"Then let's go up to my room, and watch that riveting HBO for a while," Ryan suggested calmly, as if it were the obvious solution.

"Oh, I don't know..."

"Jamie, it's 8:30 on a Sat.u.r.day night. There's nowhere to go around here, and we can't sit here for another hour without ordering more drinks. You won't go play outside, so why not go upstairs and waste a couple of hours? I swear I'd never forgive myself if you got into an accident on the way home."

"You wouldn't know," she said softly, stating the obvious.

"Well, that clinches it," Ryan decreed. "I'm not going to stay up worrying about you all night. Either I drive you home, and take a cab back, or we hang out until I'm sure you're sober." Ryan was gazing at the smaller woman with the full force of her personality, and after a beat, the blonde head started to nod.

"Well, okay, I guess it would be all right." She gave Ryan a lopsided grin as she confided, "I don't normally go to strange people's hotel rooms."

"Well, that's where you're in luck," Ryan said as she guided the young blonde out of the bar by placing her hand on the small of her back. "I've been called many things, but strange is not one of them."

As they walked down the long corridor to her room, Ryan noticed that Jamie was walking a little unsteadily. I've got to remember that a couple of drinks really does affect her. When she opened the door, Jamie looked around at the suitcases neatly laid out on the luggage racks. "Nice room," she said idly. "I've never been up here before." As she walked by the open shelving near the bath she spotted the navy blue Cal warm ups. "You really are on the basketball team," she said with a giggle.

"Hey, I never lie," Ryan said seriously. She walked over to her suitcase and found the T-shirt that she had slept in the night before. "Further proof," she said triumphantly as she held it up to show the "Cal Volleyball" printed on the breast.

"You came prepared," Jamie said warmly, pleased that the tall woman was telling the truth.

"Yep. I'm glad I'm not a gymnast, though," she said thoughtfully. "You'd expect me to have a set of parallel bars in my suitcase."

"You really are funny," Jamie repeated as she sat down on one of the vinyl, barrel-style chairs, next to the small wooden table that was bolted to the floor.

"Thank you," Ryan grinned down at her. "So would you really like to watch T.V., or just talk some more?"

"Let's do both," she suggested as Ryan handed her the remote. "What programs do you like to watch?"

"I don't watch T.V. much," she conceded. "I don't even have one in my room."

"What do you do for fun?"

"Well, my sports do take up a lot of time, and my cla.s.ses are pretty time consuming, but when I do have free time, I tend to play with my computer. It's not a lot more interactive than T.V., but I feel like I'm more in charge of the programming."

Jamie looked up and noticed the laptop sitting on the bed and she asked, "Would you rather play on your computer than watch T.V. now?"

Ryan looked at her and then looked at the computer. "Yeah, I would," she decided. She climbed onto the bed and booted up the machine, humming a little tune the whole while. When it was up, she asked, "Internet?"

"Sure. You can show me some of your favorite sites."

Ryan dialed in and waited for the connection as she said, "The phone cord isn't long enough to reach the table. Do you mind coming over here?"

"No, that's fine," Jamie said, as she got up and did just that.

Ryan got up just as Jamie sat tentatively on the edge of the bed. "Be right back," she said as she went into the bath. "Feel free to browse."