Summer 2011. Elizabeth and I spent as much free time as we could together. Her best friend from Skidmore, Lauren , probably had hung out with me more than Elizabeth had. Our usual haunt for going out was the Dupont Circle area. Public Bar was a place familiar to me in name only. Lauren and Elizabeth wanted to go and the three of us made our way on a Friday night. The bar was three levels of a different atmosphere. I don't really remember anything but the first floor what we walked into, where I bought the ladies a round of drinks. The music was loud and I felt intimidated by the DC crowd yelling to each other over drinks. Lauren's boyfriend, Mark, was out of town for something and I remember her coaxing Elizabeth and I up the stairs to get to a different scene. Two floors above, we made it to a blue-hued dance floor with VIP booths lining the walls, with a bar alongside big windows that faced what I guess must have been 18th and Connecticut Streets.

Along our slow way up we consumed our drinks, and I recall us getting to the bar where Lauren said she would get us the next round. I remember looking down at her to my right...she was short...she was bouncing slightly up and down to the rhythm of the music. I never saw her anything but Mark's girlfriend, but she looked suddenly adorable. As I think about it, she was pretty, but I must have been so entranced by Elizabeth, I never noticed. We got out drinks...I don't know how things happened next, but the three of us were suddenly on the dance floor, stupidly dancing away to whatever heavy beat was on. Lauren seemed liberated, she was dancing...grinding, in front of me. I was surprised because I wasn't hers and Elizabeth was there. Elizabeth didn't seem to mind and was dancing with her and me. I didn't ask questions. The three of us were dancing so much that it was practically a workout of squats and awkward cardio. My legs were burning. I wasn't going to stop with these two pretty women who trusted me enough to be Ryan.

Another drink later, a young man around my age waved me over to his VIP booth. He removed his stupid velvet rope that separated his small party from the dance floor and asked if I wanted to bring the three of us to his area. I don't think I said anything. I remember looking at Elizabeth and seeing her smile, her move forward towards the booth, past the rope. The guy handed us a bottle of belvedere vodka with a few glasses and we poured ourselves a drink. I said "Thank you" and immediately the three of us went back into our world of dancing together. I remember after a couple of songs, feeling obligated to spent some attention on the guy and his party that let us into their VIP section. I remember briefly talking about nothing with him, as Elizabeth and Lauren now danced together in front of us to another song. I remember doing a shot with the guy and his friends. I remember going back to dancing with Elizabeth and Lauren.

Eventually the young man and his party left. I have no idea when. We danced so much that nothing else existed but the music. We were sweaty. We made it back to the bar for another drink, I feel like the night was getting late, and again I saw Lauren bobbing to the music, sweaty and careless as she ordered three vodka and water. Elizabeth always had a smile for me then. I couldn't understand how lucky I had become.

Some dork, with barely a burgeoning job in DC after a leap-of-faith move, found himself only a month in, on a Friday night, in the company of two lovely young women drinking and dancing the night away.