Rae Doro was not having a good night.
Not by a long shot.
Normally, she didn't go out to clubs. It wasn't really her scene. She was much happier at home, reading a good book, curled up on her couch. She craved relaxation and peace, and this was certainly not it.
The pounding music was giving her a headache, her friends had run off to dance with random guys leaving her alone after they promised to stay with her, and she had spent the majority of the night warding off drunken men as they attempted to hit on her with a barrage of horrible pick up lines.
No. This was not her night.
What she wouldn't give to be at home right now. Hell, she would even settle for being at work.
Wait. Maybe not.
Its not that she didn't love her job. Being the executive secretary to one of the top law firms in the city had it perks, but the stress of handling the affairs of three top attorneys was not the most fun she had ever had.
She was just lucky that she was good at her job. She was probably the most organized person she knew, and Lord knows her friends constantly told her that she was always in control.
She had always been that way. Always in control. Her room always clean, her homework always done, and her chores always completed without complaint.
This was the way she was. She didn't know how to be reckless. Unorganized. Careless. It just wasn't her.
Rae rolled her eyes as yet another man took advantage of her as he pushed past her in the crowd. Didn't they realized that they weren't exactly being subtle with their attempts at grabbing her ass?
At least it had been more than fifteen minutes since the last moron had tried to pick her up.
She didn't understand why her friends came to places like this. Who did they expect to meet? Justin Timberlake? Whatever. The only men she had encountered had not exactly been what she was looking for in a potential boyfriend.
Not that she was looking at all, but that wasn't the point.
"Hey!" A familiar voice called beside her as she sat at the bar. Turning in her chair, she gave the person a smirk.
"Oh, wow, fancy meeting you here." Rae answered sarcastically. "Jeez, how did you even know I was here?"
The woman rolled her eyes. "Rae, don't be a whiner. If you would just get off your ass and dance with us, you would have fun."
"Brittany, come on. I went out there, and all I encountered was about a million hands in places that a million hands should not be." Rae defended.
Brittany sighed.
She didn't like Rae sitting here alone, but she understood her apprehension in a way. This wasn't exactly her scene, but Brittany only brought her here to try and have fun. All Rae had been doing for the last few months is working. And when she wasn't working, she was reading. And when she was reading, she was watching some stupid documentary on the Learning Channel. She needed to get out and act like a normal twenty four year old, but then again, Rae wasn't exactly like most twenty four year old women.
"Go," Rae said, a genuine smile pressing her lips. "Go on and have fun. I don't want to be a party pooper."
"You're not. I just feel bad that I dragged you out here and your not having fun." Brittany explained as she perched on the stool next to Rae.
"Its not that bad. Besides, I did need to get out of the house. But really, I'm fine. Go, find Neecee and have fun." Rae insisted.
With another sigh, Brittany slid off the stool. "Okay, but we're going to be going soon, okay. I promise. We'll be out of here before one."
Looking at her watch, Rae saw that it was twelve thirty. She could handle another half hour of this. Hell, she had already lasted almost three hours. She would be able to tough it out. "No problem."
Smiling sweetly, Brittany disappeared back into the crowd from which she came. Rae turned back to the bar, twirling the straw in her drink.
She wondered why she couldn't be more like her friends. They didn't worry about work all the time. They did their jobs, then when it was quitting time, they left the work at work. They came home, went out and had fun, whatever. They had normal lives.
Rae had tried all that before, but just like now, she would end up thinking about a document that needed to be faxed, a memo that needed to be typed or a proposal that needed to be proofed. Her job was extremely important to her, and therefore took up a lot of her time and thought.
"Hey." a male voice sounded behind her.
Rae was reluctant to turn around. The last thing she wanted was another guy hitting on her tonight, but she also didn't want to be rude.
Turning around in her chair, she almost rolled her eyes when the man standing before her gave her the once over. Okay, maybe she did want to be rude.
He was tall, about six feet, with dark eyes and brown hair. His goatee was perfect, and she wondered if he took more time primping than she did.
"Can I buy you a drink?" the man asked as he slid into the empty stool on her right.
Holding up her full drink, she declined his offer.
"So, do you come here often?" he asked, leaning forward in an attempt to get her attention.
She fought to control the rolling of her eyes at his lame come ons.
"Only with my parol officer." she answered. "I'm not allowed out without supervision yet."
He laughed as if she had said the funniest thing in the world. He didn't seem to understand that she was trying to get rid of him, not humor him. "Well, if you need supervision, Id be happy to fill in for your parol officer from time to time."
She rolled her eyes this time, not bothering to hide it. It didn't seem to faze this man.
He was silent for a moment before spouting off another lame line. "Did it hurt?"
"Did what hurt?" she asked, not really asking the question.
"When you fell from heaven."
She shook her head at his stupid lines.
Why did she ever let Brittany and Neecee con her into coming out tonight? She knew what these places were like, and that was exactly why she hated them. She never came here for a reason, and yet here she was.
For a smart girl, she sure was stupid sometimes.
"Hey honey." Another male voice sounded to her left.
Oh God, she thought. Please not two at once. I can hardly handle one, don't make me have to kill two of them.
The man on her right turned and look at the new man with a confused expression on his face.
Turning around, Rae noticed this new man.
He was tall, around six foot one, with deep brown eyes and brown hair with a slightly tipped look. He had a sweet, naive look about him, and was standing in front of her comfortably. Not in the stance that she had seen from most of the men tonight who had been hitting on her. They had stood with a certain attitude about them. An air that made them seem arrogant. This man didn't have that. He was comfortable and relaxed, almost as if he wasn't trying to pick her up.
"Sorry I took so long." he said, stepping up close beside her. Looking down at her, he smiled sweetly.
Do I know this man? she thought to herself as she stared up at him.
"Um, excuse me?" the man on her right spoke up. "Is this your parol officer?"
Rae almost laughed at his stupidity. Please tell me that he isn't stupid enough to think I was serious! she thought.
The other man laughed. "No, not exactly." smiling at the man, he extended his hand. "I'm her boyfriend."
Rae's look of confusion equally, if not more so, matched the one of the man on her right. Boyfriend?
Politely shaking the hand of the new man in the equation, the intrusive individual looked between them confused. "Um, sorry about that. I thought you were here alone."
Looking up at the man with his arm now around her shoulder, she didn't answer. She was too confused.
The man laughed. "That was probably my fault." he smiled. "Ive been keeping her friends out of trouble. Sorry, hon, but you know them." he said, looking down at Rae.
She didn't answer, or even appear to have heard him. She continued to stare at him confused.
"Well, sorry to have bothered you." the man on her right apologized before giving the two one last confused look at sliding off the stool to merge with the crowd of people on the dance floor.
Still looking up, Rae couldn't understand what had just happened.
One minute, she was trying to ward off some guy, the next she had two men around her, then she had a boyfriend, and the first man was gone.
What the hell?
Once convinced that the man was gone, the new guy looked down at Rae with a sweet smile. Stepping back to give her adequate room, he removed his arm from her shoulder.
"Sorry about that." he apologized. "I hope I didn't invade your space too much. I just noticed that you were trying to get rid of him, so I thought Id help you out."
Rae stared at him for a moment, before shaking herself clear of her racing thoughts and answering. "Uh, no, um. No, its okay. Thank you." she managed to stutter out.
He smiled. "No problem. I know my girl friends hate it when guys hit on them, so I usually do that for them. You looked like you needed it just then."
"Yeah." she cleared her throat. "Thanks."
"Mind if I sit?" he asked, motioning towards the stool on her right where the intrusive man had vacated.
"Um, no." she replied, still a little unsure of what just happened. "Please."
Sliding onto the stool, the man asked the bartender for a beer, before turning back to Rae.
Extending his hand, he smiled at her. "I'm Joey."
Brian Wilson was finally able to relax.
Finishing up another game of pool, he slid onto the couch in the lower level of the club, the faint sounds of pounding music thundering above him. He had made sure to close the door, blocking out the intrusive noise.
He didn't know why he didn't just go to a billiards hall for this. All he really felt like doing was playing pool tonight, but this was the closest place, and he didn't feel like driving a million miles to play a few games.
Leaning his head on the back of the couch, he extended his arms out to either side of him. Closing his eyes, he sighed deeply.
Finally, a little quiet.
This had been a hectic week for Brian, setting up the new systems for a new software development company downtown. They had caught on quick on the systems, which he was thankful for. There was nothing he hated more than having to teach some computer illiterate moron how to use the system that they had ordered.
He thought this wouldn't be one of those times.
Man was he wrong.
The company had just hired a new intern, who was supposed to be logging information into the system to keep the workload down on the other workers. But what the intern didn't know, was how to do his job. One click of the mouse, and he had screwed up the entire system, losing data and blocking access to most of the areas on the screen.
They had to call Brian in to reorganize and sort through the mess.
He had spent the last thirty nine hours straight working on the system, and thought that finally he had worked it out. Tomorrow was Saturday, so he wouldn't know if it had worked out well enough for those morons back at the company until Monday. But at least that would mean he had a weekend off to relax. And after all that bullshit, he needed it.
The door to the room opened, and the music blared into the room for a moment before the door was close again.
Opening his eyes, Brian saw a young woman, about his age, come strolling in.
She had shoulder length blonde hair which was wavy and swayed as she moved. Her black pants hugged her curves without being tight or trashy, while the contrast of the white fitted t-shirt she wore showed her figure.
She smiled sweetly at Brian before crossing the room and heading towards the pool tables. Picking up a cue, she racked the balls and set up a game.
She didn't acknowledge him again as she played. She was pretty good, he had to admit. He also had to admit that he was enjoying watching her. As she leaned over the table, her shirt would raise slightly to show the tanned skin of her back underneath. The way her hand would gently push the strands of hair that fell into her face carefully behind her ear. The way she would purse her lips when she failed a shot.
"Wanna play?" her voice brought his attention from watching her, to actually looking at her.
"Pardon?" he replied, a little embarrassed that he had been caught watching her.
She smirked slightly as she scraped the end of her cue with chalk. "Wanna play?" she repeated.
He couldn't help but smile at her. She was absolutely adorable. Nothing like the majority of the woman that came here. Most of them came here to find a guy, and were rather blatant about that fact. Something that completely did not appeal to Brian. He preferred subtly, and class. Not pushy and trashy.
But she didn't seem to be wanting anything other than a person to play pool with. And that was certainly something he could do.
"Sure" he grinned as he pushed himself off the couch and walked towards her.
As he approached, her smile widened. Handing him a cue, she motioned towards the white ball at the far end of the table. "You break" she instructed.
Brian grinned and did as he was told. Stepping to the end of the table, he leaned his long body over and lined up his shot. It was a little distracting to have this woman at the end of the table, casually leaning on her cue, watching him intently. He could feel her eyes on him, with that being exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time.
Gathering his concentration, he made his shot. One ball went into a corner pocket.
The blonde grinned, obviously impressed, before approaching the table to take her shot. "Not bad" she said.
Brian couldn't keep his eyes off her as she played. They didn't say much at they worked their way through the game, but his mind was racing with different questions he felt he should ask her.
Not that he felt that he should be carrying on a conversation. She seemed quite happy just playing their game, not having to take part in the mindless banter that usually occurred between two people who had just met.
This intrigued him.
The sound of a ball hitting a pocket broke him from his thoughts yet again. Looking down at the table, he noticed that it was cleared.
The blonde was now standing at the corner of the table, leaning casually against her pool cue with a pleasant smirk on her face. "Wanna play again?" she asked, not bothering to address the fact that she had just kicked his ass.
As he was about to answer, the door flew open again, a familiar woman bounding into the room.
Brian rolled his eyes.
"Brian!" she squealed as she bounced up to him.
"What is it now, Simone?" he asked, unable to keep the annoyance from his voice.
"You've been down here most of the night, and Ive decided that we should dance." she stated matter of factly.
The blonde woman coughed.
Simone turned and gave her a curious look. Looking back at Brian, she seemed almost offended. "Who is that?"
"That is Lois." the blonde answered before Brian was able to. Not that he felt he needed to justify being in the same room as a woman to Simone.
Simone seemed unimpressed that this woman had taken a tone with her, but kept her cool. Turning back to Brian, she smiled again. "So, com'on. I haven't seen you in ages, and I'm not going to let you sit down here all night by yourself." she said, taking his arm.
"As you can see," Brian answered, pulling his arm gently from her grasp. "I'm not alone."
The blonde smiled sweetly behind him, as Simone gave her a glare. The blonde just shrugged.
"Why would you want to stay down here, when you could be upstairs with all of us?" Simone whined.
"I prefer it down here." he answered, getting a little annoyed at her pushy attitude. "What does it matter?"
Simones lip stuck out in a fake hurt. "Aw, Brian, don't be like that." Shoot the other woman a quick glance, she continued. "Com'on, we'll have fun" she said before trying to pull him towards the stairs again.
"Actually," the blonde spoke up. "Brian and I were just about to play another game. Would you like to join us?"
Simone sneered at her. "No." she spat. "What I would like is for Brian to come with me. This doesn't concern you."
"Oh, but you see it does." the blonde answered, her voice still cool and in control. "It does concern me, because you concern me, my dear."
"Me?" Simone asked, confusion in her voice. "Why in the hell would I concern you?"
"Well, I'm sorry, but I cant help but be concerned about a fellow woman walking about with her knickers showing. Its just not sanitary in a public place like this, hon. We wouldn't want anyone to catch anything, now would we?"
Simone was so shocked, she couldn't speak. Her mouth dropped, as she stared at the woman. Her eyes turning red with anger, she tried to think of something to say.
"Good comeback." the blonde smirked.
"Listen here, you bitch." Simone spat, stepping up to the blonde woman. She didn't move as the angry young girl stepped closer. "This has nothing to do with you. Who are you to get involved? I'm here to talk to Brian, not you! To stay the fuck out of th...."
Simones voice was cut off by the sound of the door opening and closing.
Both woman turned to notice that the room was now empty with the exception of the two of them.
Brian had left.
