FicWad

Cold metal brushing against her back caused the shiver that lightly shook Ana’s body as she leaned casually and steadily against the railing lining the VIP lounge of the crowded club. Bodies lined the dance floor of the club tonight, somewhere in southern Florida, she just couldn’t remember exactly where at this moment.

Patrick laughed quietly to himself as he watched her body tremble slightly from the cold of the metal bar against her skin, as she then attempted to stay steady enough as to not spill the liquid splashing around inside the glass she held so carefully in her left hand.

From his high and not nearly as mighty position behind the DJ board, Pete was waving his arms erratically in an attempt to get her attention. With thumbs up, flashing her that cheeky, signature smirk of his; he nodded his head happily before spinning the next track over the sound system lining the walls of the club.

151 rum. Pineapple juice and Malibu. Caribou get them all numb.
Make baby girl come, out of her shell and raise hell, don’t stop until the cops come.

Smiling happily, Ana blew Pete an exaggerated kiss, which he caught in his hand with just as much exaggeration before sliding his hand into the pocket of his jeans. Not a moment later, highly unamused green eyes were glaring in her general direction from somewhere behind Pete’s left shoulder, causing Ana to quickly turn her attention back to the man standing at her side.

“I love this song!”

“I know you do” Patrick nodded with a smile, sliding his left arm around her waist, pulling her closer as her body now moved gently with the music.

“But not nearly as much as I love Mr. Lou … and his Caribou!”

Patrick couldn’t help the laugh that slipped through; she was drunk and it was amusing. With a long, deep, drawn out sip from the glass she held so tightly in her hand, Ana cheered wildly as they watched a slightly more than intoxicated Gabe Saporta climb himself up onto the nearest speaker with such accuracy as to not spill a drop of his drink during this difficult physical process.

With a boost from Charlie when she was losing her balance and the help of his drunken upper arm strength, Gabe was soon pulling Ana up with him to his self proclaimed dance floor. Patrick was shaking his head in amusement when Charlie overtook Ana’s spot, leaning against the railing now, with his arms crossed over his chest and an amused smile spreading on his lips.

“How long has she been drinking?” Ana was a little more than buzzed when they arrived at the club, it was impossible for Patrick to pin point exactly how long it had taken her to get to that point.

“Since Grand Theft Autumn” Charlie nodded with a heavily amused chuckle.

“Wow” Patrick’s mouth fell open with exaggeration, his lips soon closing in and curling up into a smile as he watched Gabe try his best to coax Dirty into joining them on their dancing platform.

“She had a run in with Pete’s girlfriend, person, friend … thing, or whatever. When I saw her, she seemed upset and set off looking for Gabe and Alex; as far as I know, the party started from there. But, you have to admit, at least she’s happy. Which is probably a good thing. You know how nasty Marina is to her.”

Patrick silently nodded his head in agreement as Ana finished off the drink in her hand, handing the empty glass down to him and a bright, cheeky smile. “Well then … I guess I should get her a refill. Or it will probably be a long night.”

“So did the song get you into the drink, or is that just an odd coincidence?”

The sound of a strange, bouncy, female voice filtered through the stuffy air of the VIP bar just as Patrick finished placing his drink order, only minutes later.

“It’s actually not for me. But knowing them, it was probably the song.” Patrick offered the stranger a friendly smile as he leaned back against the bar, scanning the crowded club, shaking his head lightly with amusement as he watched Gabe and Ana steady themselves on the speaker once again.

“Well it looks like those people are having a good time” The strange female voice caught his ear once again, commenting on his friends as she followed his line of vision. Patrick nodded in agreement, before smirking quietly to himself.

“They’re drunk. Plastered even, wasted, tanked … whatever the next step of intoxication adjectives may be.”

Patrick glanced over at the stranger, perched on the bar stool next to him, giving her a hesitant but casual once over as she offered her hand with a soft, friendly smile.

“Lauren”

“Patrick” Graciously returning the smile and shaking her hand, he took the liberty of also introducing himself.

“So do you frequent this particular bar?” Lauren questioned him now, shouting slightly over the blaring sound of the music; wasting no time in keeping up with the small talk. “I’ve never seen you in VIP before.”

“No, not at all.” Patrick shook his head. “I’m not even from around here. My friend is the DJ tonight, so I’m really just here to support him.”

Joking lighting with the strange man she had just met not but moments before, Lauren flashed a toothy grin as she watched Patrick fidget with the hat adorning his head. “Ooh, you’ve got a man on the inside then. Would you be so kind as to ask him to stop playing such garbage?”

Patrick smiled involuntarily at the jab she had just taken at his best friend before shrugging off her request, “It would be useless; he’s selfish, he only plays what he wants, whether we all like it or not.”

Returning with her drink order faster than Patrick had expected, the scruffy looking bartender confirmed that the beverages he had just ordered would be added to their constantly growing group tab, before disappearing once again into the abyss of alcohol and darkness.

Patrick bit his bottom lip awkwardly as he surveyed the drinks on the counter before him, grabbing two of the drinks now and taking an awkward chance. Gesturing to the remaining two drinks, he proposed an offer to the stranger before him, “I’ll tell you what, if you help me carry these drinks up to my friends, I’ll work you in to make the request personally.”

“Well I’ll have to admit, that is a very promising offer.” Lauren smiled happily before sliding down from the barstool and grabbing the last of Patrick’s drink order; following quickly behind him as he weaved through the bustling crowd, back to the DJ booth and his entourage of friends.

“Ana, baby. Here you go.” Patrick called out over the blaring music, grabbing Ana’s dwindling attention, handing her up another drink for her and a refill for Gabe. Ana blew Patrick an exaggerated kiss before the music pulled her attention away once again. Returning immediately to Lauren, he took the final two drinks and passed them down to their respective owners.

Patrick pointed toward the DJ booth now, and joked with Lauren, smiling as he moved in closer to her to shout over the music, “You can put your request in to Pete now.”

Lauren bit the corner of her lip as she surveyed the crowd of their active VIP lounge, before shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. “I suppose it would be rather rude of me to bother him right now while he’s working. But probably not as rude as your inability to offer me a drink for my transportation services.”

Patrick’s cheeks flared up immediately in embarrassment as he stumbled over an apology, realizing just how rude he probably seemed. Perched on top of the speaker, still happily dancing with Gabe, Ana curiously eyed Patrick as he ushered a strange red headed women back to the bar; shuddering lightly with a surge of jealousy as she watched them disappear into the crowd. But the bass line of the next song soon began to blare from the sound system, shaking the speaker they were dancing on as Gabe’s grip on her hips tightened with the beat of the song, pulling her attention away one more time.

Ana could feel the room spinning as she danced now, numerous rounds of drinks and several shots later. Her sense of equilibrium was melting away and to her, it seemed like a miracle that she was functioning enough to dance without falling to the floor. Although the room was spinning and her cares were melting away by the second, Ana could have swore that at the very moment her eyes met with the strange women consuming all of her boyfriend’s attention, that the alcohol was playing an evil trick on her.

As Lauren’s eyes locked with Ana’s from across the VIP lounge, she smirked quietly to herself, consciously gripping Patrick’s waist firmly, resting her left index finger gently in the belt loop of his jeans as they continued to talk, swaying awkwardly to the music. Flashing Patrick a cheeky grin, she immediately turned her attention back to their conversation, ignoring the daggers she imagined Ana shooting through her. But Ana couldn’t shoot daggers; she couldn’t even form complete thoughts at that very moment.

She could feel the alcohol burning in her blood now, unsure of whether or not her eyes were playing a cruel joke on her; after all, it was hard to tell exactly how drunk she was.
Shaking the immediate jealousy from her mind, she hoped that in a moments pass, she could just blink and make it all go away, because really, the physical advances she saw him making towards this stranger, the advances he was allowing her to make towards him, just couldn’t be true.

A sick feeling was rising in her stomach now, rising faster than she could believe as she glanced back in their direction, now to see Lauren bringing her right hand up to graze Patrick’s face as they spoke, Patrick still showing no intention of stopping her advances. Ana immediately wanted to cry, or throw up; her muscles tensing and her body freezing completely in Gabe’s embrace.

Pete was shouting loudly over the music now, attempting to grab Gabe’s attention, to bring him up to speed on the scene that Patrick was causing in the corner of the VIP lounge.

Gabe and Pete both had their eyes locked on Patrick and the strange red headed women that he was now heavily flirting with, their heads involuntarily shaking in disappointment as Ana gripped onto Gabe’s arm for support; the room suddenly felt like it was closing in on her, she could barely breathe.

Gabe gently placed his hands on Ana’s shoulder and forced her to look him in the eye, her own eyes wide with confusion and sadness. With a weak smile he nodded to himself before carefully climbing down from the speaker, offering Ana a hand in doing the same, “Let’s go home.”

Ana stood sadly now, leaning against the DJ board next to Pete, who could only offer her nothing more than a comforting smile as he gently ran his hand down her right arm; Gabe was scouring the dwindling crowd for Dirty. Ana, Gabe and Dirty left the club early that night, storming out past Patrick and the strange girl still assuming all of his attention; Gabe less accidentally bumping into them on their way out the door.

“What’s going on?” Patrick raised a seemingly nervous eyebrow as he watched Ana and Dirty storm straight to the door without so much as a glance in his direction.

“An emergency came up” Gabe spat angrily, pushing his way past Patrick. Gabe couldn’t step three paces away before Patrick was clutching his forearm, prying for his attention.

“Is Ana alright?”

“Don’t worry about it, Patrick” Sarcasm was dripping from Gabe’s voice, a dull anger apparent in his eyes, “that doesn’t really concern you right now. Just continue to entertain your lady friend and don’t worry about it.”

Patrick watched in confusion as Gabe yanked his arm from his grip, storming towards the door after his friends without another word. Patrick shuffled through the club moments later, after frantically excusing himself from Lauren’s company, hurrying through the crowd that was now dying down; taking a position next to Pete at the DJ board, leaning against the railing with his eyes locked on the floor.

“Don’t come crying to me about it, Patrick” Pete shook his head slowly, in disappointment as he began packing up the odds and ends of his equipment. Patrick raised an eyebrow at Pete, confusion and fear in his eyes now as he protested madly before the accusations could begin to fall.

“I wasn’t doing anything! We were just talking …”

“And dancing! And touching!” Pete reminded his moronic best friend with disappointment lacing with his words, “She may be drunk Patrick, but she knows what she saw.”

“So what? I was talking to a girl, big deal. Ana spent the entire night grinding up on Gabe, but do you see me having a shit fit about it?”

“Don’t even try to sell me that garbage Patrick; YOU don’t dance with her, so what’s she suppose to do, stand around on the wall all night like you USUALLY do? You know for damn sure that Gabe wouldn’t go that low, he wouldn’t do that, especially not to you so honestly, cut the pity act right here.”

Patrick hung his head now, averting his eyes back to the floor, to his shoes, anything but the all knowing eyes of his best friend. With a heavy sigh, Pete spoke up again. “I know you’re painfully oblivious to women coming on to you, but obviously flirting with another women while your girlfriend …no, no, not even – while your fiancé is just steps away; that’s rough man.”

Patrick nodded his head slowly, his eyes still studying the intricacies of his sneakers.

“Listen man, I know you love her, and I know you mean well and all, but if you want to marry this girl, you’ve got to cut the bullshit, because she’s only going to put up with it for so long.”

Patrick’s eyes stayed locked on the floor, on his feet, as he was sternly lectured by his best friend; sulking as Pete knocked him back into reality. With one deep breath, Patrick took in all of Pete’s wisdom and criticism, and pushing himself off of the railing with a jolt of regret and sadness, Patrick headed for the door.