Yo Yo, it's chapter two… same rules apply as chapter one, Let's get into this.

Chapter 2

Freddie and gibby are standing in line to get into the club. Freddie looks up at the neon sign. Neon? Really?

"Freddie my man I promise you… we're gonna have a good time tonight." The music is blaring and can be heard outside. Gibby starts to dance, "By the time you wake up in the morning, you won't even be thinkin' about ole' 'what's her name'."

Freddie looks at his… he supposes he'll call him colleague… Dance like an idiot outside of a club filled with women, the majority of whom Freddie could only assume were beautiful. "Gib please… please stop…" he assesses his colleague's actions, "… doing… that."

"No can do Fred-man." Freddie pinches the bridge of his nose. He should have just stayed home and tried to soldier through the rest of the movie. "Trust me… it drives the ladies wild." He really hated his girlfriend.

He feels his phone vibrate. He checks the display. He sighs at the name and answers it. "Hello?"

"Freddie…" Her voice is more annoying than it has normally been in the past week, "Guess, where I am?" she sounds upset, Freddie struggles to care. Luckily she didn't wait for him to answer, "I'm standing in your apartment…" Freddie's brow furrows. "…and guess who's not in it?"

"Wait… you're in my apartment?"

"Is the ole' ball and…" Freddie raises a hand to shush the chattering colleague.

"How are you in my apartment."

"I had a key made."

"You… had a…. but… you can't just…" Freddie is well aware of his director staring at him as his face turns red with rage. Freddie takes a few deep breaths and calmly ends the call and puts the phone in his pocket.

"Hey man… you ok?" Freddie looks over to his colleague's concerned face. He decides that he can be upgraded to acquaintance. Freddie nods and his acquaintance's features relax. "Good."

Maybe one day they will call themselves friends. But for now… "Yeah… I'm good. I just need a drink."

"No problem man… you're really comin' through for me with this movie. Your drinks are on me tonight." Freddie hazards a smile and is about to thank him when they hear the roar of an engine. And see a truck as it roves around the parking lot looking for a space.

Freddie studies all of the other cars in the lot and makes an observation. "That doesn't seem to be a 'club' car."

"What does that even mean?"

"Well, look at all the other cars in the parking lot: Mercedes, Lexus, Cadillac, Chrysler… but nowhere do you see an old F-150."

Two girls get out of the car and Freddie and Gibby are fixated. "That may not be a 'club car' but those are definitely 'club girls'."

"What? Do you know 'em"

"No, but I want to." Gibby holds out his fist for a fist bump, "You know what I'm sayin'?" Freddie decides to humor him and bump his fists. Gibby smiles and turns his attention back to the two girls that are bypassing the line and heading straight for the door.

One, being of average height, wearing a black dress made to show off her legs, with straight brunette hair, caught Gibby's eye. "Man, would you look at the legs on that brunette?"

Freddie nods and whistles lowly, "Yeah they're nice…" Freddie catches another look at the girls. His eyes fall on the other girl, with a red dress that hugs her curves, and an abundance curly blonde hair that seemed to refuse to be contained. "… but, to tell ya the truth…" He observes her for a moment longer and their eyes meet briefly. She smiles and disappears into the club.

"I've got a thing for blondes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh my God Sam, did you see that guy outside? He was, totally, checking you out." Carly joked with her friend. Carly's smile faltered when Sam seemed disinterested.

"You think so?" Sam is aware of her less than chipper demeanor but couldn't bring herself to care at the moment.

"What's with you?" came a question from the brunette. She knew what the problem was. I mean If she had just found her boufriend cheating on her, she would…

"I can't find the key to my apartment. I think I left it in there."

"I keep tellin' you to put it on the key ring with your keys." Carly is shocked at her seeming flippancy towards the situation. But smiles anyway, "Well… you can always stay at my place."

"Cool, thanks. So what were you sayin' earlier…? Somethin' about some guy?"

Carly just chuckles and shakes her head. "I'm talking about the guy that was silently flirting with you in the line."

"You think so?" Carly almost slaps her forehead in disbelief, realizing that this part of the conversation could have been forgone. Carly soldiers on anyway.

"I know so." Carly refused to let it bring her down and only grew more determined to bring her friend out of her slump, "Trust me, girlie. Someone out there wants to make you his lady." They made their way to the bar.

"Yeah…" Sam scoffed, "or another notch." She looked over at Carly with half lidded eyes, "Which do you think is more likely?"

Carly shifted to her coddling mode, "Sam, all guys aren't like Rick, and you shouldn't be so down on yourself. I'm sure that…"

"Whoa whoa whoa…" Sam said with a chuckle, "I'm not down on myself. I'm awesome and Rick missed out." She turned her attention to the dance floor, "… and I'm sure your fictional guy who was checkin me out…"

"He was."

"Whatever… I'm sure he's nice but it'll take more than that." She looks over at her solemn friend and decides that she's been down long enough, "But enough about that!" Her sudden outburst startles her friend, as well as others at the bar, "Bartender! Gimme a drink, don't care what it is, just make it strong." She looked back at Carly and smiled, "Tonight, mama's gonna dance."

With those words she threw back her drink and headed to the dance floor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's wild in here tonight man!" Gibby yelled over the music.

Freddie was about to respond before he heard a roar coming from what seemed to be the center of the room. He started to head to see what the commotion was, but was pulled aside by Gibby, "Listen man. You don't wanna go to the dance floor without a dance partner." Instead of heading to the dance floor, Freddie followed Gibby to the bar.

"So help me out here Gib… I need to find a girl to dance with, so is there anything that I need to know before I jump in?"

"Just be yourself man. Girls don't like confidence more than they like you being real. Just be real, man… be yourself."

"Noo… being myself is no good."

"Trust me man, it's the way to go." Freddie took a deep breath and scoped out the options at the club. He silently wished that there was a beginner's class for clubbing. He sees a girl that seems accessible so he decides to give it a shot. "Wait, Freddie, before you go…" Gibby turns around to address the bartender and is pleasantly surprised to see that it's a female, "Hey, listen sweetie, I've got a first timer with me tonight and I want to make this a night to remember… give me four tequila shots please." The bartender smiled and took his money, "Thanks beautiful." Gibby called after, with a smile.

'You see… I can't do that." Freddie reviewed the order when the shot glasses arrived, "Four straight tequila shots? What are you… rich?"

Gibby just laughs and holds up a glass motioning for Freddie to do the same. Freddie holds up the shot glass in question, Gibby's only explanation was, "For good luck." And with those words Freddie and Gibby knocked back their shots.

Freddie, feeling emboldened by his new ventures this evening, decides that he will just jump into the fray. However, before he can leave the bar his phone buzzes in his pocket. Against his better judgment, he takes it out of his pocket and looks at the display.

Gibby watches as Freddie's smile falls, and Gibby can feel the weight press down on himself, and he can only imagine how bad it fells for Freddie. Freddie suddenly doesn't feel like dancing. In that one moment all of Freddie's energy left him and he wanted to just be at home in his bed.

Gibby studied his friend and, finally, came up with a bout of advice that was appropriate. "Listen, the business you're trying to get into… It's stressful. Especially when you're an independent director like myself or a freelance editor like you are. Work isn't steady and you're almost always on the verge of losing everything and everybody. Life is stressful enough, you don't need her if she is just making it worse." Freddie nodded.

He knew that his friend, that's right, friend, was correct. He would rather be alone than with his nag of a girlfriend. He shook his head and changed his statement, It was best that he be alone rather than be with his girlfriend that continually added on to the stress that suffered from. The stress built up with the thoughts of the task he must perform

"You're right." Freddie nods and heaves a sigh, "I need another drink."

Gibby nodded, "Bartender!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam returned from the dance floor. "Nice to see you in a better mood."

"Nice to be in a better mood, kid." Carly laughed at the return of a nickname, the origin of which she wasn't sure of. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter. Her friend seemed to be back. Of course that would mean…

"Hey there, cutie…" Carly watched her friends face adopt a bored expression. Carly watches as Sam follows the guy to the other side of the bar. "I saw you out there on the floor and I was just thinkin' that maybe…"

Sam holds up a hand, effectively cutting the guy's speech short. Sam guessed it that it wasn't too much of a problem, as it wasn't anything that she hasn't heard before, "Not today."

"Awww," said the guy, feigning hurt feeling, "Why not sweetie? I saw the way you worked the dance floor." A sly grin spreads across his face, "it looked, to me, like you were plenty ready." Sam raises an eyebrow at his assumption.

She smiles sweetly at the guy and places her hand on the back of his neck. She pulls his face closer to hers. When she sees the guy's eyes drift shut, Sam Raises a knee. The guy's yelp of pain barely comes out in a strained yelp. She moves her face closer to his ear and whispers, "I hope it was as good for you as it was for me." And with those words she saunters back over to Carly's side.

Carly smiles as she watches her friend return to her side. "So… what did he want?" she asked with a playful giggle.

Sam turns and sees the guy on his hands and knees, gasping for air. She looks at Carly and shrugs, "I don't know… must've lost a contact or something."

The two laugh at the joke and turn around to survey their surroundings. Carly sees some guy eyeing them from the other end of the bar. She recognized him as the guy who was checking Sam out earlier, outside of the club.

Carly nudged Sam, "So, what do you think he wants?" she nods towards the guy.

Sam sees the guy and looks him up and down. She shrugs, "I don't know." She catches herself staring at him… "Maybe we'll find out before the night's over."

She doesn't notice the smile that's tugging at the corners of her mouth

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Freddie stares at his phone. Gibby looks on with concern, but decides to leave Freddie to stir in his thoughts for a little while. He looks up to see a girl walking straight towards them. Gibby nudges Freddie and nods toward the approaching lady, "Hey Fred… check it out."

Freddie looks up and his eyebrows rise. Freddie couldn't bring himself to talk to her… not yet. He could feel his fight or flight response kick in as his heart started beating faster and faster. Before he's able to kick his brain into gear the woman had reached him.

Luckily she was in no mood to let his brain give his mouth words to speak with, "What are you doing here Freddie? You told me you couldn't bring me out because you were working late."

"Well Cassie," he started, stressing the short version of her name, which he knew she hated, "If you hadn't stormed out of the apartment like a stubborn child…"

"Who are you calling a child? I'm not the one telling lies just to get away from his girlfriend. I'm not the one ignoring calls all night." Freddie raised an eyebrow.

This wasn't exactly true. There had been plenty of nights where his girlfriend's phone had sent him straight to voicemail, something she never did for other calls when she was out with him. And, being the logical person that he is, he figured that if she would answer her phone for other while she was out with her boyfriend, then surely she would answer her boyfriend when he called her.

What made the matter suspicious, was that it only seemed to started happening recently. However, he wasn't one to snoop around. It's never been in his nature to do that. So he was waiting for her to slip up… he would find evidence sooner or later, but she was crafty when she wanted to be and it seemed that she really wanted to be crafty now-a-days.

Freddie looked up and noticed that she had been talking the whole time… and was still talking. he sighs and turns his head and sees the girl that had smiled at him earlier. She was farther away this time but he could see a faint smile forming on her lips. The corners of his mouth started to turn up in response when, "Freddie? Freddie! Freddie!" he snapped his head back to the girl that was now in his face.

"What are you looking at?" Cassandra's eyes widen, "You came here…" She looks over at Gibby, "with this troll looking for another girl?" She was pouring it on a little thick, wasn't she? "You know what Freddie, its over." She stormed off… He went to chase her but realizes that he was a little tipsy. He stumbles a bit and has no choice but to watcher her walk off. He tries to chase after her again but Gibby puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head.

Freddie leans against the bar for support, "Sorry bout that Gib. She's a…"

"No worries man. They can't all be angels."

Freddie nodded at his newly anointed friend. Freddie took a deep breath, "Let's make this one a night to remember?"

Enthusiastically, Gibby responded, "Shoosh yeah!"

Gibby orders a couple more drinks and Freddie throws them back. Feeling emboldened by the alcohols flowing through his system, he takes a few deep breaths and few wary steps towards the dance floor. He doesn't know how to dance, he's never been too much of a social type. But today was a day of changes for him, and this was going to be one of them. Lost in his reverie, he bumps into someone. "Hey!" he hears a voice bellow out in agitation.

The offended person turns around and Freddie is met with a pair of the most captivating blue eyes he's ever seen. At a loss for words, and stunned into a stupor, that he refused to believe was caused by his current inebriated state, all her could say was…

"Hi, my name is Freddie."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

She stares into the brown eyes, temporarily immobilized by the admiration that she saw in them. However, she quickly recovers, "I think the words you're looking for are 'Sorry, I'm a bumbling doofus,' followed by your begging my forgiveness."

The guy, who's name was apparently Freddie, smirked a bit answered her, "You're right, Sorry for bein clumsy." He looked out to the dance floor. He looked at her with confidence, "Ummm, how bout I make it up to you with a dance?" He sounded nervous.

It was a different approach than what was normally used with her. She found it oddly refreshing. She figured she'd at least get a laugh out of this. She smiled in response to his offer, "Sure thing pal." She let him lead her to the floor.

It was at this point where she took the time to assess the specimen. He was tall with an average build. He wasn't a gym rat, but he wasn't a wimp. His wardrobe definitely needed an upgrade, but circumstances may be preventing that so that could slide. He had a boyishly handsome quality about him. He was… adorable… she would even say cute if the issue was pressed. However the issue wasn't pressed and they found themselves on the dance floor. The DJ decided to play some cheesy techno music. Sam rolled with it.

Once the song ended, she noticed that he looked a bit out of place. What an idiot. Why ask me to dance if he didn't know how? She looked at him again. At least he's tryin'. She places a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "You're tryin' too hard!" she yelled over the hip hop beat that the DJ put on.

"Just…try to feel the music." She demonstrated, moving with the beat of the song. She gestured for him to try. He did… he failed. She shook her head. Normally she would have left the guy on the dance floor, looking like an idiot. However, the drinks she had, made her feel a bit more loose than she normally was.

She laughed and walked towards him. "Here, just follow me." She pressed her body up against his, and placed his hands on her hips. She smiled as she was met with little resistance or protest from him. She swayed her hips to the rhythm of the music. He slowly followed. The music picked up and Sam felt that he had the hang of it enough so that she could dance freely again. She turned around and felt an arm wrap around her waist. He was definitely more gym rat than wimp.

She closed her eyes and lost herself in the music. Then she felt the arm remove itself from her waist, and heard a familiar voice… and it was angry, and she quickly found herself once again "WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE!"

She found herself in a sticky situation.

Well there ya have it. The second part of what can be considered an extended one shot. This was originally gonna be only two parts… but the thing go t so extremely long that it required three. So that's coming soon.

BUT! Before you leave I've got an announcement to make…

Keep an eye open for the Cabal's mass Valentines weekend posting on Friday, February 11th! Many of The Cabal members will be posting one shots or continuing their stories!

I could tell you exactly what to expect, but that will take the surprise out of it, and we all know how much I like surprises.

If you just can't wait until then to read stuff from the Cabal, then shoot on over to their pages and check them out:

Arrossisce… aussiemma… axel100… BaalRules… BoxOfTrinkets… boxofpiglets… Commander Lagasse… Coyote Laughs… ItalianBabexo8… iCabal… iCarlyangst… iLuvNathanKrEsS… JamesTheGreater… KingxLeon21… Myjumpingsocks… ober22… pairababes… Pieequals36… pigwiz… Tech-Man… The Earl of Sandwich… xXACCEBXx

I promise, you won't be disappointed.

One more thing…

Some of you may be wondering, 'what ever happened to War Games?' to those of you are asking yourselves that, I apologize. I can only write when I feel inspired to write. It doesn't inspire me when I'm harassed into writing it, so I thank all of you for not going that route, as it would've been counterproductive. Please, believe me when I say that I am trying to inspire myself so that I can continue that story. And for those of you who'll read this and say, 'That's not enough. I want War Games now!' I apologize and hope that we can, at least, agree to disagree.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully I won't have to put up that particular AN again.