Drinks with an Original
A/N: Thank you so much Starhawk for the basic 'drinks and meet in a bar' idea. You were right, adults have adult playdates ;)
A/N2: The wonderfully amazing DeathDaisy has offered to make a banner for this baby. Check my profile to find the link for it :D
Julie sat at the bar, nursing a glass of red wine and letting her mind wander.
She sighed and took a sip of wine. She probably should've asked one of her friends to join her tonight just so she could take her mind off of Thomas and his stint as a prized stallion, but she had pushed all of them away when she met Thomas and after moving from her hometown in Aspen to Denver she never bothered making new friends.
On the subject of friends she missed them terribly. She thought about calling them anyway but once again she didn't have the guts to admit she had made a mistake in dating Thomas. For once in her life she wished she did though. She wished she could do what she wanted and not regret it.
Now she wanted a way to remember this day as the day she made a choice for herself and not the day she was cheated on. She took a deep breath and took a sip of her wine. What she wanted was fun. Who said one-night stands were for men only?
For the first time today she was glad she wasn't near her home, or near her friends or near her parents. She could have fun tonight and not have regrets in the morning.
The man sitting two chairs away from her was monitoring her thoughts closely. He had no idea why, except that she had bumped on him earlier running away from the same house he was monitoring.
His name was Kol and he was a vampire. He had been born almost a thousand years ago and had spent the last Christ-knows-how-many-decades with a silver dagger stuck inside him. He had been woken up as a tool to assist in killing his big brother and now that the two made up he was in Denver for an assignment. Monitor a teenager. He had more fun being daggered!
No sooner than she had made her decision Kol decided to make his presence known and changed seats next to her jostling her arm making her drop the glass and break it.
"Damn!"
he said with his traditional smirk plastered on his face.
"Excuse me, ma'am. Guess I need to watch where I'm putting my hands"
Julie glanced over at him. Good-looking guy, around her age. He was tall with short wavy hair; his eyes were also light maybe blue or hazel. He was dressed like a local in jeans, shirt and leather jacket, only his were brand new.
He was very good-looking, actually. Julie's thoughts of finding herself someone to just have 'fun' with came back to her full-force, but she shoved them away.
"No problem. It is rather packed today"
She replied with a polite smile and a little chuckle. Kol sent her another dazzling smile and signaled the bartender to clear the glass away.
"It is. Great for meeting new people though"
He held out a hand to her.
"I'm Kol. Can I buy you a replacement? We don't want the counter to get all the fun."
She felt his eyes as they traveled from her face, down over the rest of her body and back, but it didn't annoy her as much as she thought it would. In fact she quite liked it!
"JJ"
"JJ?"
"Julie James. Everyone calls me JJ. Kol isn't a very popular name either"
"My mother is... old fashioned"
he said while they shook hands. The bartender finished collecting the glass shards and placed another round of drinks in front of them. A glass of wine for Julie and another glass of scotch for Kol. Julie raised an eyebrow at him.
"Hope you don't mind. I don't get to buy drinks for pretty ladies every day"
He gave her a sly wink that she found quite endearing, for a guy she barely knew.
"C'mon drink it. Then I can go meet up with my brother later and tell him I was being a gentleman. And I'd be telling the truth for once."
He snickered at memories involving him and Klaus getting drunk together while Elijah would act like he was their father instead of brother. Julie found herself smiling back at him.
"All right."
They clunk glasses and each took a sip.
"So, Julie, what do you do?"
"I'm a swimmer. Competitive"
She lied through her teeth, concealing her real, boring, job. She was an accountant. He nodded hearing and ignoring the change at her heartbeat during the lie but let it slide. He really didn't care about the truth; he had no plans of seeing her again. He smiled in an easy going way.
"Me? Oh, I'm a cop. Off-duty, of course"
He said, after a pause. Julie wondered if he had handcuffs on him at the mom- 'Stop' she told herself. She didn't actually have the guts to ask this stranger to take her home for a night of fun.
Or did she?
Kol was smirking, and she suddenly wondered if he was lying.
"You're kidding"
"Nope"
Kol answered. He dug in a back pocket and produced his wallet, flipping it open and showing her the leather interior. He leaned in and looked at her straight in the eyes.
"There is a badge in there. It says 'Collin Smith, Florida Police Department'"
He leaned back in his seat taking another swing from his scotch as she read the information on the absentee budge.
"So you're not from around here, then"
Julie said feeling relieved. She was unaccustomed to having flings and was she really thinking about picking this guy up? If that was the case, wouldn't it be better it it was just a night of fun and that was it?
"Passing through, yeah. I'm visiting a friend. You?"
"Born and bred here"
She lied again but Kol only nodded ignoring the lie again and Julie took another sip of wine, feeling her heart start to pound just a bit faster. She began to wonder if she really dared to take the next step. Really, this was crazy. She should finish her drink, thank him for the company, and then call a cab and go home. Too bad she truly wanted to pay Thomas back.
"So, I guess if you're off-duty, you don't have your handcuffs on you, or anything like that?"
He'd been looking down into his double scotch, but now Kol glanced sharply over at her. A slow grin spread across his face, and he raised an eyebrow at her.
"They're nearby if I need 'em."
He sat back on the bar-stool and gave her a lazy once-over again. Her cheeks were burning now and she also felt more alive than she had in a very long time. Three years to be exact, since the moment she met Thomas.
"Always good to be prepared?"
She asked lightly.
"Hell, yes"
"But then again"
She continued, pretending to be disappointed,
"You did want to tell that brother of yours that you'd been a gentleman tonight."
He gave her a speculative look, and she felt a warm feeling stir in her stomach.
"There's many ways to define 'gentleman', Julie. I think if I gave a lady what she wanted, that'd make me a gentleman, too, wouldn't it?"
"I think I like that definition,"
She said, making up her mind and deliberately draining the last of her wine. She took another deep breath, steadying herself.
"And I think I'd like to try out those handcuffs of yours."
Next day she woke up slowly in his motel room. Kol was nowhere to be found but she didn't regret it. She put her clothes back on and returned home, ready to confront Thomas and his rider.
The scene she greeted her was ... nauseating. Blood was covering every inch of her house, the mutilated bodies of both Thomas and the leggy blond still mounting each other in her bed. A post-it note of a bright green color stood in the red mess
"You're welcome babe. Call me"
She laughed freely and put the note in her purse. She took the time to rearrange her happy face to an upset one and called the cops. Inside she was grinning
"Thank you officer Kol"
THE END