Your Place or Mine?

From the corner of my eye, I could see the red-haired girl watching me.

I paid no attention to her, however, and let my looks do all the talking. If she was looking for a hookup, she would eventually speak up herself.

Instead, I enjoyed my drink while observing my surroundings.

In the previous world, this club got destroyed around 4 months ago, if I remember correctly. I was drinking my whiskey and looking for a hookup, just like today, when the ceiling suddenly came crashing down. I managed to block all the falling rubble, but I forgot to take care of the girl I was flirting with. She got completely crushed, which was a shame. She was quite hot, but whatever. As I tried to escape, the whole building started collapsing. It didn't take long for the whole street to turn into nothing more than piles of debris.

But other than that, the club in this reality was exactly the same. Still the same interior, the same drinks, the same color-changing lights, mostly the same music… Only that nobody could recognize me, despite me being a frequent patron here.

"So, will you tell me your name?"

As I was leaning against the bar, ignoring the girl, she finally got tired of waiting and decided to take the initiative.

Exactly what I was hoping for.

"If you wanna know, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" I smirked while throwing her a sideways glance.

She stared at me for a moment in silence, before finally answering. "Sarah."

"Hmm. Nice name. I'm Seth."

…Of course I'm not. But I didn't even know my real name until I was around 16, so any name would do, really. I could just pick and choose.

"So… Do you come here often?" With my simple answer, the girl had no choice but to try to carry the conversation.

Well, I guess… Yes, but no?

I might have come here quite often in a parallel world, but it's my first time in this one, obviously.

But more importantly… Are you serious? This is such a cliche line. And she was raising her eyebrows at me before?

She was still hot though, so whatever I guess.

"Nope, it's my first time here, actually. You?"

"From time to time."

Now that was new. I don't recall ever seeing her in the previous reality.

But then again, It's been 4 months. She might have only started coming here recently. Moreover, I usually don't bother remembering names or faces.

"Hmm, I guess I might see you again then?"

I finished my drink and got up, ready to leave. It was getting too late. The club would be closing soon, so we had no time for pointless chit-chat.

"Wait!" The girl called after me.

I smiled satisfied.

Exactly as I wanted. It was almost too easy. I had such great luck in this world so far.

I made sure to hide my smirk, leaving only a hint of interest in my eyes, as I turned back to face her.

"Yes?"

The girl bit her lip sexily. "The night is still young… If you're not in a rush, wanna have some fun?"

Good. She wasn't playing around. I liked the girls who knew what they wanted and didn't bother with pointless games, acting hard to get or whatnot.

I smiled in response. "Sounds nice. I'm going out for a smoke, find me when you're ready to leave."

I walked out of the club, without taking a single glance back at her.

She joined me literally a minute later, as I was struggling with my lighter. While I got a new pack of cigarettes upon my arrival, the lighter was still from the previous world. I don't think it was out of gas, but it was simply too damaged to work.

The girl offered me hers, after lighting up her own cigarette. She inhaled the smoke, and then slowly let it out while observing me with half-closed eyes. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and her lips parted, looking quite alluring. I couldn't tell it when she was sitting by the bar, but she was short, much shorter than I would have expected. Even with high heels on, she barely reached my chin.

"Your place or mine?" she asked, her voice lowered.

I pretended to consider both options for a moment. In reality, though, there was nothing for me to think about. I didn't have a place yet. I needed to scout all of my usual locations before I could bring anyone there.

"Yours would be fine."

"Alright. It's not too far."

Thankfully the question was real, not just her giving me an illusion of choice.

We walked side by side as she led me to her apartment.

I looked around, observing the city. It's been a while since I've seen it in such a good state. When I was around this area yesterday, it was all in ruins. And although destroying everything was rather fun, hanging around a wasteland where nothing but rubble and debris remained got boring pretty quickly. I much preferred the way it was right now.

"Are you new in town?" After walking in silence for a while, the girl attempted to start a conversation.

"Huh? Why do you ask?"

"You keep glancing around, so I thought you're not used to the place."

I actually spent most of my life here, but the city is constantly changing for me. However, it's not like I could tell this to the girl. She'd probably think I'm crazy.

"Hahah, you're right. I've only recently moved in." I ended up lying instead.

She was only a random one-night stand. Honesty was overrated anyway.

"How about you? Have you been living here long?" I continued the conversation. Not that I had any interest in her life, but if she really wanted to, I didn't mind chatting for a bit, since we had nothing else to do for now.

"I moved here right after college, for work."

Shit, wrong topic. I didn't want to talk about jobs or anything like that. I haven't been in this world long enough to secure any good cover-ups. I had a few options that I could technically use, but… Every world was a bit different, so they might not work.

"Mm." The best option was to make the conversation die out. I took out another cigarette, hoping to escape the awkwardness.

"So where did you live before?" the girl asked, handing me her lighter again. It seems she wasn't about to give up so easily.

But that was an unfortunate topic as well. While I obviously traveled outside the city when destroying the worlds, I never bothered to remember the names of any places. Those that somehow stuck in my head were mostly abroad. Once again, there was nothing I could comfortably use.

Damn, she was nowhere this talkative back in the club. And wasn't her place supposed to be close? Why are we not there yet?

"Just a small town, you probably have never heard of it. How about you?" I gave a vague answer and immediately returned the question. If she wants to chat so much, then she should at least be the one to do most of the talking.

"So mysterious," she rolled her eyes at my response. "I'm from a big city, you probably have heard of it."

"Hmm, who knows," I answered shortly. She probably expected me to either say where I'm from or ask further questions. Unfortunately for her, I couldn't be bothered to do either.

I mean, seriously, was she looking for a hookup or a conversation partner? Once the morning comes, we would be strangers again, so what was the point of all those boring questions?

I could never understand why people cared about making small talk so much. It seemed like a complete waste of time to me.