[u][b]HOURS EARLIER[/b][/u]

[i]He shuffled through the stirring bar; the recent fight had caused quite a commotion within the Spit’s snug interior and he was looking for someplace more… not quieter, but someplace with a different mood altogether.

He looked down at his pocket and saw his phone was flashing intermittently through the denim; slipping his fingers for the device he removed it to discover a few missed messages.

[b]CHIEF: GONNA NEED YOU IN TOMORROW, OL’ FART. GO TO BED.
ELLE: WORKING TOP FLOOR (NOT VIP) OF ECLIPSE IF YOU’RE IN THE AREA
[20 MINUTE LAPSE]
ELLE: UGHH, TONIGHT IS SOOO SLOW. LEMME KNOW IF YOU WANNA HAVE SOME DRINKS.[/b]

...

The fiery dark-redhead couldn’t part her gaze from Colin, and he knew this. He had been observing her calculated glares from his spot at the club’s bar and though she was the one that invited him, he was no stranger to the drill. Elle had to dance “long enough” before she could break and hit the floor to grab a drink or schmooze with any of the patrons.

“Whattya feelin’ tonight, bud?”

Colin turned to the barkeep with the same smile Elle put on his face a top the stage on the other side of the room. He smirked at the keep, and then back to Elle as to indicate why he was grinning like an absolute sap.

“Aye.” The woman giggled, “Elle’s a beaut. Favorite of many, that girl.”

Colin chuckled lightly, disarming her words. “How about a beer for now?”

“Which?”

“Whichever you like.”

“I’m a big fan of the witbier, something about the wheat proteins make it look hazy when cold.”

“Sounds like a winner,” he told her with a grin.

She moved to the other side of the bar to grab his beer from the fridge below the counter and tend to the other customers, they had seemed to be multiplying by the second. She shouted out someone’s name to come assist in keeping the drunkards happy. 

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ4SlQv9BY8]A steady, pulsing electronic beat[/url] cast itself across the entire club, slowly building out of the last song and surmounting into an ethereal mix of driving bass, heavenly chopped vocals, and electronic synths and bloops. Colin raised his head from the bar and to Elle’s stage in the opposite corner, she was gone.

He cocked an eyebrow and looked frantically around the club, planted on his chair at the bar. No sight.

THUNK. 

“Here’s ya beer,” the bartender said as she slid back to Colin’s side of the counter, “everything good?”

“Huh?”

“Look like ya just lost ya kid or somethin’!”

“Oh nah, nothing, just thought I saw a friend.” He slid his card across the table and she ran it through a swipe.

“Thanks [b]Colin[/b], have a good night.”

He assured her he wouldn’t be going anywhere and placed the top off the beer in the center of his palm, which was callused enough that the bottle popped open with ease when he gave it a pressured turn. He propped himself up with a hand on his cheek and attempted to sip the beer in pose, without hands. He looked absolutely foolish - like a kid that somehow snuck in - but he couldn’t place any feelings of shame, he was lost in his diversion.

“Hey Beth. Whiskeyneat, somethin’ cheap.” Hanging on the bar next to him was a voice, unmistakably hers.

He turned to lock his eyes with hers for a moment. She looked away, back at Beth, and tapped her hands excitably on the counter. She looked amazing, wearing a slightly torn red, white and black flannel with cutoffs. Once he saw the shorts he realized just how hot it was in the bar.

“Elle! Nice to see you girl, how’s business?” She filled the dancer a glass of their cheapest whiskey and placed it in front of her.

Elle snatched the glass and took herself a shot, “It picked up a few hours ago. But I’m done, I can go home.”

“You know this one was lookin’ at ya.”

Colin laughed mid-gulp and was wildly close to spitting his beer across Beth’s countertop, luckily he saved himself the embarrassment.

Elle turned to him, this had been the longest they held each other’s gaze and he wasn’t about to break it, it was her who pulled away. She smiled at Beth, “Yeah, I know. I was lookin’ back.”

He bit his lip from the inside, she couldn’t see it, but he was biting down hard. A metallic, salty taste filled his mouth and he moved his tongue to find the tear in skin. Colin washed it away with a few swigs of beer.

“Have a good night, Beth.”

“Yeah, you two… too.”

Elle slapped her forehead and Colin smirked like a dumb lug back at her, watching her act pure in her moment of embarrassment. That’s the weird thing about being embarrassed, though one would like to divert attention away they never fail to react in a way that garners them even more.

“You want to go to my place?” She asked him.

“Yeah, I can be late for work.”

They kissed and she could taste the blood.
[/i]