morning comes and you're still with her and the bus and the tourists are gone

ok. tricks. tricks. think, man, think! you need something snappy and fast.

"for one, i have the great swindle where i bring a crossword to a bar and use it to make myself seem intellectual."

ooooo. good one. hey, i mean for me, not for you. it was good for two reasons. one, it made me sound more calculated and less random and desperate. this is something i need to work on and this retort was step one in that direction. insofar as it made me start believe i'm working on it. two, it surreptitiously put out that i was fully aware how little i was interested in my puzzle and simultaneously told her that i knew that she knew that i knew i was watching her her. ladies and gentlemen, my master's work.

"hm. really. if you want to seem intellectual you should try to fill in the puzzle, even if it's random. a blank puzzle makes you look like you're out of your depth."

ugh. all that fluffing of my feathers only to be caught in the thunderstorm. but! she's paying attention, no? and here's where the tequila fog obscures my better judgment, but despite how she just doused me, i felt more confident. now i know, i have confirmed with incontrovertible evidence (c'mon, just go with me here) that she's curious enough about me to actually look at the puzzle and see that's it's empty. trust me, this is a MAJOR victory.

"well, i just started it. then you walked in. you can't expect me to finish it now."

wow. this tequila shit really works. normally, it doesn't, but i've never pulled anything like that out before. i'm in full-on flirt mode. i'm half-conscious, and i think that might be a good thing.