Everyone went to Pepper's Pub that evening to celebrate the end of term. Rayne was a little ashamed that this was the very first time that he even set foot in the pub, loved by both students from Foxbury and U-Brite. Even after good trainings or soccer games, he'd always hurried to his dorm to work on coursework.
He loved the place instantly. The darkness of the wood of the bar, furniture, floor and walls, the very distinctive smell of drinks and sweaty students, the sounds of music and chatting, of beer glasses being put down or (not so) softly clinked for a toast. This was nice!
The glasses of IPA went down pretty well while chatting with his roommates about the past term and all the gossip and drama he had apparently missed. Suddenly, he found himself dragged upstairs by Takumi to play foosball and 'beat Kiyoshi and Mao, 'cuz we've got the future soccer champion of Foxbury in our team'. That didn't really work out as well as Takumi had hoped though. Rayne had started to feel a bit tipsy, was largely distracted by standing at the same foosball table as the gorgeous Mao and he had never played foosball before. He may have total control of the ball on the soccer field, on the foosball table, he barely managed to make a few goals... and they were all own goals... oops...
After the match, they needed a refill and went back downstairs to the bar. While Rayne listened to Takumi give him a few foosball tips to 'not get ass whooped next time' he suddenly noticed Mao watching him from the other side of the bar. When their eyes met, she waved at him and beckoned him. Rayne blinked to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him and promptly left his bestie rambling about good foosball advice.
Mao (smiling): "Hey there."
Rayne (a little insecure): "Hi... Eh... How's it going?"
Mao (giggling): "Considering I gave 'the future soccer champion of Foxbury' a real ass whooping on the foosball table, pretty good."
Rayne (blushing): "Yeah, well, I..."
Mao (giggling again): "You're pretty cute when you're embarrassed."
Rayne felt his head turn even redder, but Mao seemed to ignore that and continued to give him some foosball advice herself and asking him about soccer... Continuing to chat with her, Rayne started to feel more confident. After a while, he took a breath and asked her: "Do you want to go somewhere more quiet to um... talk?"
Pepper's British AF Pub by @harrie-cc - I just love this pub :-)