***** The club was packed when they entered, the music reverbrating with a life of it’s own. Derek slipped an arm around April’s waist and grinned at her. “ We’ll have fun.” He promised, leaning closer to be heard. April managed to stop with the eye-rolling and the pouting but she looked away from his grin, disappointed they were in a stupid club and not at dinner or something as they had planned. She hated clubs, she hated the noise, the people, the body heat of all the strangers, and the drunken come ons of horny assholes. Another sigh rose in her throat and she took a seat at the booth they had chosen to and glanced around, looking for anyone she might recognize. Finding none, she leaned back in her seat and looked at Nick who flashed her a smile. “ Where’s everyone else who was supposed to be here?” Vince, who had met them outside of the club with Mike, asked, his eyes taking the similar route April’s had. “ They’ll probably show up,” Was Nick’s care-free reassurance. “Who wants drinks?” Derek asked, getting up again. The others told him what they wanted and he raised questioning eyes to April. “ Ice water,” She replied tersely, taking a look at her watch again. Vince and Mike had gotten up to help with carrying the drinks and April and Nick were left at the table. “ Oh come on, try and have fun, April, remember? Something you used to be pretty good at,” He covered up his seriousness with another smile that didn’t quite reach his solemn eyes. “ Don’t talk to me about having fun, Nick. You bomb my date and I hate clubs, you know that!” She said bitterly as Nick regarded her with surprise. “ I didn’t know you hated clubs,” He defended himself. “ Could you at least stop glaring, April? You’re making me nervous,” “ Good.” “ Are you even gonna get up and-” “ Nope.” She replied shortly, turning to watch for the guys. “ So-” “ Nick, you’re irritating me,” She interrupted, knowing another attempt would follow. “ Jesus Christ, I swear you hate me,” He muttered, drumming his fingers on the table. She felt a stab of guilt because of his hurt tone but pushed it away, reminding herself if it weren’t for him, she’d be in a nice, quiet restaurant, having dinner. “ Here you guys go,” Mike said, placing an ice water in front of April and distributing the rest. “ Thanks,” She said, stirring the lime in the glass, not really thirsty. The minutes seemed to drag on for the majority of the night. It was barely one am and yet sleepiness seemed to crawl slowly through her and she excused herself to go to the bathroom, her words lost in their laughter and the pulsating music. Making her way through the crowd, she finally found the restroom and entered, thankful it was empty. She stared at her reflection, bored and weary, and touched up her makeup after splashing cold water on her face, hoping that it would rinse away her drowsiness. She exited the bathroom and walked back to the table to find all the guys sitting and talking to someone who was standing. “ April?” The guy asked when she sat down next to Derek. “ Charlie?” She asked, her face more of a grimace than welcoming. “ How are ya?” He asked, seeming pleasantly surprised to see her. “ I’m ok,” She answered, noting how he still had the false appearance of a nice guy. “ You look great,” He commented, smirking slightly at her. “ Why thank you, Charlie, I know how much that took for you to say,” She replied, flashing a fake smile as she sipped at her drink. “ So how’s life treating ya?” He inquired meaningfully, raising an eyebrow for emphasis. “ Just terrific...” “ Aha...” “ So don’t you have anywhere to be, Charlie?” “ Funny, April, that you should ask. I guess I should be going back to Laura, huh?” “ Please, it’d be wonderful if ya did,” She snapped sarcastically. “ Yeah...Well, it was great seeing you guys,” He said, looking at Nick and the others before turning to her again. “ Maybe you and I could go somewhere to eat sometime, huh?” He asked slyly before giving a parting wave and walking away. The table turned to look at April and she rolled her eyes. “ You know what? I’m gonna go get a cab and go home,” She muttered, finishing her drink and standing up again. “ Hey hey, come on, stay for a little while longer,” Derek asked, grabbing her wrist and giving her a questioning look. “ Nope. I’m tired, I hate clubs, I just wanna get back and go to bed,” She pulled her wrist away and Nick sighed. “ Don’t worry about the cab, I’ll go too,” “ No, don’t wo-” “ I’ll see you guys later,” Nick said, standing up and motioning for April to head out. “ Bye, you guys,” April said before turning and leaving...
