AN: Thank you so much to my amazing reviewers, especially TakeMeOrLeaveMe2010—your support means so much! I've done my best with the Brit stuff. Ah, by the way, I know that Café Huh actually isn't really the way I described it. Call it artistic license, 'kay? By the way, ATU? So not mine.
She opened her eyes and rolled her head back, cracking her neck before she climbed out, her beer still held loosely in her left hand. Almost involuntarily, she glanced over at Max and Prudence. He still had his arm around her, and she was laughing. She wondered briefly if they were dating. Once the thought had occurred to her, she quickly turned away, willing herself not to get caught staring again. Try though she might to act blasé about all this, she was absolutely intrigued by these people. They were nothing like her friends back home, and it was a strange, though refreshing change.
The first things she noticed about Café Huh were a) the huge amounts of people crowding the floor, tables, and bar, and b) the multicolored hazes of smoke that filled the air, stinging her eyes. Absolutely nothing like Liverpool.
Jude seemed to notice her hesitation, because he came over and touched her shoulder. "You alright?" he shouted over the warm-up music, "It's a bit overwhelming the first time, yeah?"
"Just a bit," she agreed with a small grin, "but I'm fine."
"C'mon. They've found us a table," he observed. She took the empty seat on Max's left, allowing Jude and Lucy to sit together on the other side of the table.
They didn't even have the time to converse before: "Look," Lucy exclaimed suddenly, pointing to the stage, "they're getting started."
"Oh!" Smiling with anticipation, Jess turned toward the stage.
Sadie had strutted out onstage and was adjusting her microphone as JoJo started an impressive guitar riff. As the café exploded with cheers, Sadie began to sing.
"Ooh I need your love babe,
Guess you know it's true.
Hope you need my love babe,
Just like I need you.
Hold me, love me, hold me, love me.
Ain't got nothin' but love babe,
Eight days a week."
"Oh, my God," Jess managed. Sadie was…amazing. There was a power and passion to her voice that she'd never heard before. She found herself dancing a bit in her seat as a rather drunk (high?) Prudence dragged an equally drunk and/or high Max onto the dance floor, laughing hysterically and cementing into Jess's head the notion that they were a couple.
"Love you ev'ry day boy,
Always on my mind.
One thing I can say boy,
Love you all the time.
Hold me, love me, hold me, love me.
Ain't got nothin' but love babe,
Eight days a week."
"Go dance!" She ordered, jabbing a finger at Jude. "You can't sit this out!"
"Come with us," Lucy suggested, smiling.
"No, no, I'm not interrupting you. Don't worry about me, loves."
"We don't want to leave you on your own, though, and Max seems too intent on forgetting as much of his life as possible to be polite. Get up," Jude ordered, a playful smile tugging his lips.
She sighed loudly. It was clear that, while Jude really meant it, and Lucy did want to get to know her better, she also just wanted to dance with her boyfriend. Under no circumstances would she get in the way of that. "I want to go get meself something fruity and alcoholic anyway. Jude, go dance with your girlfriend before I blow a bloody fit. I'll catch up with you later. I promise."
"Alright, alright," Jude gave in and led Lucy out onto the crowded floor.
Jess laughed for a moment, and then gradually realized that she'd just chucked every hope of decent human interaction out the window. She wanted to know the people she'd be living with for undeterminable amounts of time, and she couldn't do that if she'd just sent them away. Bugger it, I can't win, can I? Alright. Fine. Drawing in a deep breath, she threw back her hair and got to her feet, half walking, half dancing toward the bar as Sadie finished her song. She joined in the enthusiastic applause and then sat at the bar, pondering what she wanted to drink.
Two beers and about an hour later, Jess had forced her way directly into the middle of the gyrating crowd in search of any one of her apartment-mates. This would have been much easier were she not stopping roughly every five seconds to join in with the dancing. At the moment, her dance partner was a tall, muscular brunette who seemed to have absolutely no limitations whatsoever. This became abundantly clear when, halfway through their dance, he attempted to put his hand on her bum.
Slightly over her limit though she was, this would not fly. At all. She caught his eye and shook her head firmly, deciding that this was easier than attempting to shout over Sadie, who was still singing her heart out. He chose not to pay much attention to this, evidently hoping that replacing his hand about half an inch above its destination would satisfy her. "I'm sorry," she shouted, her voice dripping phony pleasantry, "but have I somehow given you the impression that I am a complete slag?"
"What?" He looked confused. "Come on, you know you want it." His hand had found its way back down.
Jess's head was spinning. Ordinarily, she'd have blurted some clever retort and been gone before he'd even realized she was angry. Unfortunately, the multiple bottles of beer seemed to have dulled her senses, and it took a few seconds before a solution blurred its way to the forefront of her mind. "I've got a boyfriend. Sorry."
"Yeah? Where is he? It don't matter if he ain't here."
At that exact second, she spotted one Maxwell Carrigan a few feet away, dancing near, but no longer with Prudence. Relief hit her with the force of a tidal wave, and she didn't think. She just acted. "It's alright, Max, love, I'm over here." She yelled, freeing herself from the Dance Partner from Hell, and hurrying toward him. He seemed to hear her a few seconds later, and when he turned toward her, there was amusement and confusion evident in his eyes. She willed him not to speak, widening her eyes in an obvious hint, gyrating closer. Prudence moved slightly closer and mouthed, "What's going on?" Jess shook her head, tilting it toward DPfH, who was heading near. Prudence nodded, but Max still wore a distinctly confused expression.
She lunged forward to whisper her situation into his ear. "Sorry, usually I wouldn't be doing this. It's only, I'm attempting to escape the tosser currently heading toward us with a disturbingly lustful look in his eyes, so do me a huge favor and play along."
"What am I doing, exactly?" He quirked an eyebrow even as he joined her in dance.
"I'm not entirely sure yet. It depends on what he does."
What he would do was apparently stand approximately three feet away from them, watching their every move until the end of the song, despite Prudence's attempts to distract him. Jess caught her eye and shook her head slightly, the meaning clear in her eyes. The girl shrugged and gave up as DPfH made his move the second Sadie switched one of her few ballads. "Hey, dude, mind if I borrow your girl for this song?" He was practically salivating at the prospect.
Max could actually feel Jess shiver at the thought, and he did the only thing that was right. "Sorry, man. I haven't gotten to see her all day, and I miss her." He tightened his arms around her waist to make himself clear, and she relaxed, grateful.
"You sure didn't miss her too much while I was dancing with her," he replied obstinately.
Max's reply was decidedly not PG rated, and Jess cut the men off before things could get violent. "Look, I've already told you that I'm not interested. I'm sure there's some poor, deluded single bird out there just dying for someone like you to sweep her off her feet. I wouldn't doubt it if she was drunk, actually, but that should just make your work all the easier, shouldn't it?" Okay. Fuel? Check. Fire? Check. You stupid, stupid chit, she admonished herself as he charged drunkenly toward her.
"Bitch," he snarled, and Max yanked her out of the way, blocking her from view and opening his mouth to speak.
"What's going on over here?" Jude demanded, having wended his way through the crowd, apparently toward the bar, with Lucy in tow.
"Nothing," blurted Jess immediately, flushing. Three and a half hours in this country and look what I've already done. "Come on, let's just…go sit somewhere." DPfH seemed to realize that it was now two guys to one, and there were three female eyewitnesses who could start a whole boatload of trouble should he decide to start beating the crap out of anyone. Muttering various profanities under his breath, he slunk into the shadows.
"Well, that was intense," Prudence commented cheerfully.
"What was intense?" Jude asked, eyebrows rising.
"Some stupid wanker who just wanted a quick shag and wouldn't leave me alone, that's all. It's fine now, love."
"Yeah? How'd you get out of that?"
She glanced at Max, smiling. "Well, Max helped rather a lot, I must say."
He grinned back lazily. "And don't you forget it," he replied jokingly.
"I'm sure you won't let me," she teased, "but really, I do owe you."
"Yes. Yes you do." But he winked, and she was fairly sure he wasn't intending to hold her to it.
AN (2): I know, it's shorter and probably not as good, but it's all I've got at the moment, and I just wanted to put it up. It's pretty much a character development chapter. Even so, let me know how it is.