"You ever tried a manhattan iced tea?" He asks, swirling the drink around. Suddenly the waitress returns with a double shot, setting it in front of Ele. "Gift from Amber, it is a slippery nipple." She says before walking off again.

"Oh,"

Ele said in surprise, her eyes landing on the suggestive drink. Looking around, Ele searched the bar until she saw Amber grinning at her from the bar. Making a face at her, Ele defiantly put her hands behind her back and bent over the shooter glass, fitting her mouth over the rim and tossing her head back to down the shot.

Setting the glass back down to applause, Ele looked at Tyler,

"Yeah, I've had a Manhattan. I prefer Long Island."

She shrugged and took a sip of her iced tea. Ele was well on her way to being three sheets to the wind, but she didn't care.

He laughs seeing her down the shot with no hands. "Now that is impressive." He smiles. "I like both of them myself but my preferred drink is rum and root beer or rum and coke." He smiles and keeps sipping his drink.

"I know bar tricks too,"

Ele said easily, growing up with her mother and starting to drink long before she was legal had taught Ele how to be crafty and get free drinks. Even now when she was out with her friends, Ele had no problem earning drinks with some fun and impressive tricks.

"I like this drink because it doesn't get me drunk right away. But if Amber sends more shots this way then there's no guarantee I will remain sober."

He chuckles. "I am sure between the rum and the long island, you will be pretty drunk here soon." He licks his lips and takes another drink. "Plus, women drink free here remember?"

"Don't question my ability to drink a full grown man under the table,"

Ele said with a smirk then shook her head,

"But I know my limits and tonight is not the night to push them. Between this bump on my head and being in a new place, getting drunk is not a wise choice."

He smiles and nods. "Thing with this long island though is that the only thing under 100 proof in it is the tequila and that is still 80 proof. But I would definitely be careful with that bump. Don't need you collapsing." He takes another sip of his manhattan iced tea savoring it.

"That's why this baby lasts me all night,"

Ele said, holding up her still mostly full glass. She took another sip when Amber came over as the music changed to an upbeat tune. With a little convincing, Ele was soon on the dance floor, being showing how to do the Charleston. It didn't take long before the two women were laughing and dancing happily, tripping over their own feet.

He turns to watch them with a smile as they dance. After a minute he stands up and makes his way over to the dj putting in a request. He walks over to the women and smirks. "Would you 2 like to dance with me?" He asks as he removes his trench coat.

Ele and Amber were laughing, pink cheeked and bright eyed as Tyler walked over. When he asked for the dance, Amber, who seemed to have it out for Ele, shook her head and stepped towards Vale,

"Oh no, honey. You get her all to yourself!"

She laughed and Ele turned to give Amber a glare, but as she turned back to look at Tyler she softened her gaze and smiled at him,

"Do you still want to dance with just me?"

He smiles at her and says. "Absolutely." As soon as the lively song ends a slow song plays, a waltz. He holds his hand out to her. "Now for something a little different." He says waiting for her to make the initial contact.

When the song changed, Ele hesitated at first, expecting Tyler to immediately grab on to her and begin leading the dance. When he waited though, Ele took a breath and put her right hand on Tyler's shoulder, and stretched her left out for him to take.

He places his right hand with her left and his left on her waist, slowly dancing with her. "I guarantee at the beginning of your day if you would have been told you would be waltzing with a random man at a prohibition style speakeasy, you would have thought the person was crazy." He smiles and continues dancing with her.

Despite the butterflies in her stomach, Ele managed to laugh as she shook her head and looked up at Tyler. He had a good six inches on her, and Ele was not a petite girl. Average to tall for a woman, Ele was usually able to look men in the eye, especially when she wore high heels, but in the flat shoes she wore now, Ele had to tip her head back to see Tyler's face,

"I thought you were crazy the moment you offered to stick around with me! This just confirms it!"

Shaking her head, Ele smiled,

"Seriously, I don't know how I will ever be able to thank you enough for everything that you have done for me."

"Simple. Just keep in touch." He flashes his smile again and continues dancing with her around the dance floor. "Who knows, maybe by the time you are healed you won't want to leave." He says with a chuckle.

He wasn't far off base, Ele realized. Seeing the countryside, and the trees, and everything being so much slower and more intimate here... Ele found it hard to imagine herself leaving in just two weeks. Trying to cover her hesitation though, Ele raised an eyebrow,

"Oh really? Then tell me, oh rum-loving-rc-truck-driving-mechanic man, what could a woman like me offer to people out here? I can't begin to imagine that even your generosity extends too far beyond a day or two of help!"

"Lots of things happen around here despite being a small town. Given an hour in any direction will bring you to a bigger city, several colleges in the span of an hour as well. You seem to have a knack for design and art, could always do stuff with that. One of the biggest colleges in the state is only about a 45 minute drive from here. The town has around 25,000 residents permanently and 4,000 to 8,000 part time with the college students. You have lots of choices on where to go and what to do. There is also a thriving art scene in the area." He smiles and looks down at her. "If you have something specific in mind for what you would like to do, there are spots that you can travel to that would allow you to make a living with it."

With Tyler looking at her and explaining all these things to her, Ele bit her lip and looked down at the floor as they danced. In truth, Ele did desperate hate her job. It was stressful, underpaying, her boss was an ass... And Ele was barely getting by in the city, with her rent going higher and higher every year and her salary never increasing. It was far too tempting an offer,

"I've only been here one day."

Ele said, with a chuckle and incredulous shake of her head as she looked up again, bringing her head down from the clouds and firmly planting her feet back on earth,

"This place is beautiful, and I think it is great, but beauty fades and thinking something is good isn't the same as it actually being good. I've been shown that too many times in my life to believe that it could ever be different, just because a stranger makes me a promise that life could be wonderful. My mom believed that every time a man opened his mouth, and we suffered. I won't be the same way."

The song came to an end, and Ele dropped her arms to her sides. The music started the lively jazz tunes again and Ele took a step away from Tyler,

"You're a great dancer Tyler. Thank you."

She said softly, then walked off the dance floor to get her drink.

Seeing the look in her eyes he could tell something was coming. Hearing her talk he just stands there letting her get everything out. As she walks off he follows her back and says. "You know, life is what you make of it. I may not be financially rich but I don't think there is much I would change about my life as it sits right now. I can't guarantee a life like mine or something somewhere between ours will be paradise out here but your life will become what you want and what you put into it. Just gotta give it a chance."

He drinks down the rest of his drink. "Look at Vale, he is a millionaire, he is married with 2 kids and a third on the way. He is running one of the biggest resorts in the state, he owns one of the most infamous ranches in the country called the gangster ranch, a 12,000 square foot turn of the 20th century home. He is a very happy man and he is self made." He chuckles. "He is proof what can be accomplished around here."

Taking a large gulp of her drink, Ele listened to Tyler's speech and closed her eyes, sending a quick prayer for patience and for her words to not devolve into venom,

"That is good for you, and good for Vale,"

Ele started, opening her eyes and turning her gaze up to Tyler's. She looked him dead in the eye,

"And good for me too, because I'm the reason I made it to where I am now, I am just as self-made as you, or him! I made the best of my life growing up in hotels, and the backseats of cars, and in strange men's homes where I slept with the light on because...

Ele's voice had risen, but she stopped herself there, closed her eyes again and spoke once more in a softer voice,

"And one day I decided I didn't want that to be my life. I wasn't going to let my mom's poison hurt me anymore so I left. I walked out of the hotel and spent the next three years couch surfing wherever I could and studying as hard I could so I could get scholarships to any school that would take me.

I rejected my mom, and chose to make my life the best that I could so that I would never have to beg, or plead, or borrow from anyone ever again! I clawed my way through a male dominated degree to be the top of the class and entered into a male run career where I did what I had to do to get to where I am. I make the best of my situation and my life every day because I am freaking proud of how far I have come!

So I don't need a lecture from you, telling me to dump the life I built with my own two hands to move to somewhere I have been for one day just because you say so!"

Downing the rest of her drink, Ele set the glass down and glared at Tyler again, angry tears filling her eyes that reflected the years of hurt that she had suffered,

"Because I am sick and tired of men telling me what to do with my life! Especially when they don't know me!"

With that, Ele stomped past Tyler and headed straight for the exit, climbing back up to the empty bar and striding back towards the path that would take her to her suite.