The stones

Coming out of the closet, literally.

''Hey hey hey, rewind that!!'' I yelled, almost breaking my neck to get up and see the CCTV closer. Ben did as I'd asked (well, demanded) and we watched in awe. 
I was sat alone, perched on a stool stirring my drink woefully, and was just staring out stupidly at the crowd, obviously highly intoxicated at this point. I had happened to twirl around on the chair, apparently finding it was a swivel stool and enjoying this fact. As I did, my whirring image flashed blue, and when I'd stopped, my stone was gone.
Me and Ben Looked at each other, asking the exact same question at the exact same time:
''What the hell?''

~

''You don't do things easily, do you Skippy?''
I stared at Ben, feeling at a complete dead end. Every opportunity i had to find my soulmate, every guy I spoke to, and this is how I find him. It's like I was destined never to actually find this guy. 
I felt a warm pair of hands on my shoulders, soothing the tight knots that has wound into my muscles ''Hey, don't give up just yet, we're a step closer. At least we know it was definitely in the club that it happened'' 
''But how the hell are we going to find him now, Ben? He could have been literally anyone in that club'' I whined, although I was already feeling comfortably drowsy as he continued to massage my shoulders. 
''Relax Names, this is what we're going to do'' Ben said, giving me a determined, steady look ''we're gonna go see a friend of ours, Charlie, who is like a magician with cameras... We'll see if he can slow it down, focus the image, and centre the image enough to get a snapshot of the guy.''

The whole thing sounded like gobbledy goop to me, but Ben sounded confident enough that my anxiety eased slightly. As if sensing my unease again,  Josh gave me a final squeeze ''We'll get there Names. You just can't give up.'' 
I attempted a smile in response, and this mysterious Charlie was contacted. 

~

''Thanks very much man, i'll text you later'' Ben voice echoed through the kitchen where I was propped at, as he let Charlie out. I listened to Charlie's quiet response, and my guilt rose several times more. 
As Ben reentered the room, I was met with two pairs of very awkward and amused eyes.
Josh ran a hand through his hair, racking his brain as to what to say.
''Well that could have gone... smoother..'' was the sentence he came up with. I buried my face in my hands.

Confused? Lets rewind a couple of hours:

Charlie was a dark haired brain box, that entered the flat looking half my age, clever enough to have been a reincarnation of Einstein, and very, very overconfident.
I was perched on a stool in the kitchen, still feeling sorry for me and my forever alone heart, when he came in. The moment his eyes met mine, a cocky grin attached itself to his face almost permanently. Almost.
''Hello, I'm Charlie'' he said, not even hiding the once over he gave me ''So are you the girl that needs my expertise?''
''Um...'' I watched, fairly flabbergasted at all of the equipment he was laying on the kitchen island.
He looked came closer, speaking in a slow, over-exaggerated voice ''I see, questions too difficult babes? Don't worry, I'll slowy your tapeys down, okay?''

I heard the boys stifling their laughs behind me, and rose an eyebrow. Just as I was about to answer, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders again.
''Thanks Charlie, we're grateful for your help, aren't we Names?'' Luke emphasized, squeezing my shoulders in warning. I didn't trust myself, and so while remembering that this douche-wipe was actually going to help me, I managed a feeble smile. 
Charlie continued to unpack the black duffel he'd brought, which contained a laptop, a tape player, and lots of leads. Every so often I catch him eyeing me up again, and when I cleared my throat, he did look even sightly bothered that I'd caught him.
The whole thing was pretty boring, he went over and over the same clip, and by the time he'd even got round to slowing the picture, the boys had left us alone.