[ WP ] A man walks in to a bar for his usual drink , but his life is forever changed the second he takes his first sip .

Jerry began to drink his favorite cider and pulled out his kindle to read in the corner of the quiet bar. 
 
 A girl sat near him, smiled when he briefly looked at her, and went back to his kindle. He looked back up to examine her lithe body and long black hair as she laughed and exchanged words with a friend of hers who sat down not long after. 
 
 Jerry kept reading, sometimes mumbling to himself and getting distracted by the conversation the two girls were having. He suddenly stopped reading, put down the kindle, and closed his eyes. 
 
 `` Why am I sitting here alone,'' he asked himself quietly. He threw his hands up and put his kindle back in his bag. The girl's friend got up to go to the bathroom and Jerry moved over and said, `` Hi, I'm Jerry.'' 
 
 The dark haired girl replied, `` I'm Maria, how are you,'' as she smiled. 
 
 Jerry grinned, `` Good, was just reading this book.'' 
 
 `` Which one?'' she inquired. 
 
 `` Midnight's Electric Serenade, its from the guy who wrote Cold Pizza,'' he said chuckling, `` I bet you think I'm a nerd. They're just really good books. Well, Serenade not as good.'' 
 
 Maria smiled, `` Oh, I read Cold Pizza in college, it was good. Umm, the owner of the restaurant dies, right?'' 
 
 `` No, no, the son dies. The dad is the owner. He tries to trace the son's life because he never really knew him,'' explains Jerry. 
 
 `` Oh right! I remember thinking how sad that was in a cat's in the cradle way. Its about the generation gap and over-work. The son hid a lot of stuff from people, right? Kid was a little messed up. It was n't a suicide in the end. The kid did fall to his death, but accidentally.'' 
 
 `` Yeah, the new book is similar, its also about post-college life. The main character is actually from the same family. Another son of the dad. He runs a startup, a facebook clone.'' 
 
 The girl's friend came back, whispered something, and Maria got up, `` Sorry.. uhh Jerry, but we have plans, but it was nice meeting you.'' 
 
 `` Same,'' Jerry smiled as he watched them walk away, he listened for the door to close and rushed to the men's room, sat in a stall, and pulled out his cellphone. He made a call. 
 
 `` Joe, hey, guess what? I did it. I talked to a girl without freaking out.'' The voice on the other end spoke for a bit. `` I just sat next to her all cool like! Ha! She just talked to me like that. The book trick worked. I just started talking about the book. Crazy,'' replied Jerry as a smile slowly grew on his face. `` I almost chickened out, but I did it. She was pretty too! I almost do n't believe I did it.'' 
 
 The voice spoke into his ear some more. 
 
 `` Another one? Today? Whoa, whoa Joe. That's crazy. I almost had a panic attack just now.'' He paused, `` Okay, one more then you're buying pizza tonight. Deal? Deal. Okay, see you later tonight,'' said Jerry putting away his phone and laughing to himself. 

