Neon Blue

Laura Stanley was not new to New York. Her party spot was at Neon Blue, one of New York's notorious dance clubs. Right now the club was filled with back to back dancers. She was amongst the thick of them grinding and bumping into other dancers, she was on her fifth martini and it was the night before New Years. She knew she should have stopped after number two, yet, the sweet succulent taste rolled between every taste bud which drove her senses mad. She paid the bartender five bucks to watch her purse, shoving her money into her bra, where it was safe. Laura, had no idea where or when she had lost her hat, and that made her very upset. It had been her favorite hat, it had panda ears, and was black and white. She was knocked out of her dancing, wild thoughts by a young stranger who made her wish she hadn't. He was taller than everyone, and had a goofy smile on his face; he was bad news.

She turned on her heels ran to the bartender shelled out ten bucks and he handed over her purse, everything intact. She swung it over her shoulder swiftly walking over to the bouncer, 'Ted' wasn't that his name? "Hey Ted!" she shouted, he looked up from his scanning of the crowd. He saw her and smiled, waving her over. She cupped a hand to his ear and whispered "Hey Ted, that tall guy he's following me, do you think you could hold him up for, I don't know, ten minutes? Long enough for me to get away." Ted was looking for the man as she spoke, his eyes found him and he only nodded. "Bye Ted!" Laura yelled over the music while running out the door, heading for her newly owned apartment, three blocks away. Laura heard sirens and a loud bang of the club door, the police ran up to the door, shoved the man who had been following her into the back seat and drove away. Ted winked at Laura and she waved thankfully, turning around and walking around the street looking for something interesting.

A shot glass was slammed upside down on the table. The buzzcut black haired man sat on one side of the table, a rougher looking man wearing a big brown, ripped up jacket sat on the other. They had been at this for about five minutes now. It all started because of a girl. 'obviously' The buzzcut man was dancing with a girl and then mr. brown jacket rolled in and took her out of his care. Needless to say, this upset buzzcut and he immediately challenged him, and after about twelve shots each, they were looking shaky. It was brown jackets turn. He swallowed a hiccup and reached for the glass. In one swift, but clumsy motion he picked it up and downed it. He flipped it and smacked the table. His eyes were starting to roll and Ryan knew this guy wasn't going to last much longer. Buzzcut looked shocked that brown jacket had lasted this long, but he looked like he had more in him.

One more shot was on the table and it was buzzcut's turn. So far, fourteen down each. Buzzcut picked the glass up in three fingers, probably because he couldn't feel the other two. He moved it to his lips and tipped the glass. As soon as he did this his head dropped and so did the glass. It shattered on the ground and the contents spilled all over the floor. Ryan, who was sitting at a safe distance on one of the bright blue couches, with a random girl, grinned in victory. The only thing he knew about this girl was that her name was Phoebe. Phoebe bent over and kissed Salem.

Lets back up a few minutes.

"Hey, my names Ryan," he said while taking the seat next to her. He was dressed in a black vest over a white button up shirt and black slacks. The shirt was buttoned up to the second button from the top and the sleeves were rolled up to the elbow. She seemed totally uninterested in this club. Without allowing time for a response from this mystery girl he said. "You look quite bored." He said as he took a sip of his drink. The girl looked over and smiled. "Yeah, well, this isn't really my scene, ya know? Idiots getting drunk doesn't really excite me." Ryan chuckled and nodded, "That girl over there is my roomate, and she insisted i come out on new years eve." she said with a frown, as she waved to her friend. Her freind was getting hammered. This was about the time he spotted the two men having a seat at the table for their little challenge. He also noticed, his new lady friend had an empty glass.

"Why arent you drinking anything?" he asked. She didn't seem like she had an aversion to alcohol. She shrugged, "I'm broke" she said with a half pathetic smile. Ryan smiled and looked back at the men, recieving their first shots. They seemed like they could last a while. He looked back at the girl. "I have an idea of how we can turn these drunk idiots into something more interesting." mischeiviously " See those two guys taking shots over there" he pointed. "If the bigger one with the buzzcut wins I will pay for all of yours and your friend's drinks tonight." The other man was smaller, and didnt look like he had much of the advantage, but he looked like he had a few drinks in his time. "but... if the other guy wins... you have to kiss me, right here." he said. This was kind of reaching, but she had been giving him a 'im interested look' and he decided to act on it. He knew this wasn't going to go anywhere, but he kind of wanted to see if this would work. He smile and held out his hand to shake on it. She quizically stared at him and then shook his hand... "Deal, Im Phoebe by the way." Ryan smiled and turned his attention to his wager. He knew the little guy wouldn't win without help so as one of the shot carriers walked by he pulled him aside and handed him a ten dollar bill. "If you can make sure the big guy gets some... more potent stuff about halfway in, theres more where that came from." he patted the mans shoulder and sent him on his way.

And now we are back to the present. Ryan's kiss was interrupted after a few seconds by a tall goofy man being thrown out the door. Phoebe backed away, blushing. "Uh, ive got to go. Heres my number" She handed him a piece of paper with ten numbers on it. Ryan shrugged and put it in his pocket. He watched the girl leave the bar with her drunk friend and never saw her again. "Hmm, interesting" he said with a smile. He put his arms on the backs of the couch seats and crossed his legs.

Ryans eyes opened in surprise as the couch cushion moved. He had dozed off and was not expecting people to sit by him. He looked over at the intruder on his left and had to mentally command himself not to let his jaw drop. She was gorgeous... like supermodel gorgeous, without the anorexia that is. The bar was dark and he couldn't see her entire body particularly well but he faintly made out A tightly fitting dress, that did not hurt her gorgeousness. He raised his eye brows and turned back. He retrieved his drink from the table in front of him and took a sip.

He swallowed and was about to turn to talk to the stranger, when another woman... drunk... fell onto the couch next to him. He glanced over at this girl. She was beautiful as well, but he wasn't as awe-struck as when he saw the other girl. The fact that this girl was trashed kind of dropped her attractiveness factor. This girl soon pulled out her cell phone and began texting. She obviously was not interested in him at the moment. He turned back and faced forward.

After taking another drink from his glass he set it down and turned to the girl on his left. "Hello" he said. 'ooh, thats original' "What brings you to neon blue on new years eve? I'm sure a girl like you has better, more sophisticated places to be around here." once he said this his brain went into overdrive. 'shes gonna blow me off,' 'shes going to laugh and we are going to talk for hours' 'she is gonna ignore me and leave' All different scenarios ran through his mind, but he didn't show any of these thoughts on his face. He had quite a poker face. At least, this is what he was told. When he managed to make all of his friends poor at 'poker night'.