[JAMESON POV]

"It was last call two last calls ago, Frank" Jameson patiently explained to one of the regulars. "If you stay, you're only staying as long as it takes me to clean up. And the only thing you're getting is water."

The man slid off his stool and grumbled the whole way out the door. As he exited, Darcy entered.

"Didn't think I'd see you again until your funeral," Jameson joked.

"If she hadn't been worried about me losing my job, I don't think she'd have let me come back. Where's your girl?"

"She's not my girl."

"I'm not talking about Josie," Darcy retorted as he settled into his closing duties.

"That doesn't change my answer."

Darcy threw a bar rag at Jameson, but the taller boy caught it.

"Then you need to change your tactic if you wanna give her that, 'Love and sex and magic,'" Darcy sang while doing a Justin Timberlake-style dance move.

Jameson shook his head with a grin.

"I'm not sure I do. Sure, I like her, and she's...well, you've got eyes."

"I sure as hell do. So what's the problem?"

Jameson shrugged and began counting the tips from the night.

"There's no problem, but I just have this feeling that I shouldn't pursue her. I dunno, man. Don't make me try to explain it. Besides, she just got here. I don't think it'd be fair to start something with her until she's experienced the city for herself."

Grabbing one of the newly sorted stacks of cash, Jameson handed one to his friend.

"You know what else wouldn't be fair? Me trying to take half the tips when I bailed on you mid-shift."

"Don't make it a big deal," Jameson groaned, thrusting the money at Darcy. "If you don't take it I'm just going to use it to pay off part of Frank's alarmingly excessive tab."

Darcy snatched the money and shoved it into his pocket.

"Like Hell I'm going to pay for that guy's drinks."

Jameson's phone beeped, and he checked the text.

"You up for going out?"

"Who's asking?" Darcy replied.

"Josie's at a club with her friends."

His phone beeped again.

"And apparently Paris went with them."

"Oh we're going now," Darcy said. "Shift's over, Vause. We out!"

"Fine! But are we going like this?"

"What's wrong with the classic jeans and black t-shirt combo?"

"Do you want to be treated like a bartender there, too? Come on. I keep some stuff in Nicky's office for emergencies."

[Paris POV]

Josie and her friends were quickly growing on Paris, especially since Finn had opted out of joining them at the club. The longer she hung out with them, the more she liked them. In fact, she, Josie, and the other girls were out on the dance floor in the traditional young adult female dance circle.

When the song ended, Josie fanned herself.

"Jesus, it's hot in here. I'm going for a drink. Anyone else?"

The group nodded and together they made their way over to the bar. When they all received their water bottles, Pepa Ruiz, one of Josie's oldest friends, whistled.

"Damn, girl," she said to Josie, "Vause just got here looking like a snack."

The girls turned to see Jameson enter the bar just ahead of Darcy. They were both still in jeans, but Jameson had changed into a dark teal v-neck and black Converse.

"A snack?" one of the other girls scoffed. "He's in here looking like the whole meal."

Paris watched silently as the guys spotted their group and made their way over.

"How many do we have to shoot to catch up, ladies?" Darcy asked.

"How many can you handle?" Pepa asked flirtatiously.

"Forget the drinks. How about a dance?"

And just like that, Darcy and Pepa were pulling each other toward the dance floor. Paris remained quiet as Jameson ordered two shots and a beer for himself and another round for the remaining group.

She felt her phone vibrate and clicked on the new message from Nicky.

[Aunt Nicky]: Hey, kid, wherever you ended up on your first night in the city just don't do anything I wouldn't do.

[Paris]: I feel like that list is very small. Anyway, I'm at a club with Josie and some of her friends. Jameson just got here.

The three dots appeared to indicate Nicky was typing. Then they disappeared. This happened three more times before the dots disappeared for good. Paris shrugged it off and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"How's it been?" he asked in Paris' ear.

"A ton of fun, actually. Josie was sweet to invite me."

"Josie's alright," Jameson replied with an affectionate smile.

He offered her one of his shots and chuckled when she declined with a wrinkled nose. His phone beeped and he pulled it out of his back pocket. Paris wasn't trying to pry, but he was standing so close and her eyes just happened to drift to his phone screen.

[Bennett]: Still on for rugby this weekend?

[Lacey]: *image attached*

[Lacey]: HMU later.

And the latest one...

[Mom]: Hey, I need your help with something. Don't stay out too late.

Jameson typed out a reply to his mom and turned back to Paris with a knowing smile.

"Probably has an invoice she needs me to look over," he said to let her know that he'd seen her read his messages.

"Are you leaving?" she asked, barely masking the disappointment in her voice.

He shook his head.

"She'll be up when I get home. She keeps weird hours."

"Are you two just going to whisper to each other all night or are you going to ask her to dance already, Jamie?" Josie called, breaking them out of the bubble they always seemed to find.

Paris glanced up at Jameson and found a question in his eyes. She nodded once, and he took her by the hand and led her to the dance floor. Fortunately, the fast-paced remix of a Top 40s song and the brightly-colored strobes made the whole situation feel a little more platonic.

Jameson gripped her waist loosely and gave her a warm smile. It relaxed Paris enough to drape her arms loosely over his shoulders. She was pleasantly surprised to find that Jameson was a pretty good dancer. He made the next three songs incredibly fun, but when the third song ended, everything changed.

The colored strobes were replaced with pure white ones, and the DJ queued up an incredibly sexy version of Demi Lovato's "Ruin the Friendship." Paris chanced a look up at Jameson, and the atmosphere got incredibly thick. Paris felt his hands fall from her waist.

"You want another drink? I'm dying."

Paris nodded and followed him toward the bar. They rejoined the group, but before Jameson could order his drink, Josie was pulling him back to the dance floor.

"I know Josie says they're just friends, but she's never going to get over Jamie," one of the girls said.

"Would you?" the other asked. "Look at him! Name me two bad things about him."

"Lives with his mom and no facial hair."

"Okay, but he's got seemingly endless amounts of cash, and don't even get my started on that fucking smirk," the other girl retorted.

The first girl looked torn. Finally, she threw up her hands in surrender.

"Okay, fine! I'd let him have it."

Paris directed her attention back to the dance floor where Josie's back was pressed firmly against Jameson's front. The blonde watched as she swayed and pressed herself back into him. It didn't bother her, per se, but from the looks of it, Jameson would be going home with Josie. Darcy and Pepa had already left together, and Paris didn't really want to spend the rest of the night with the other girls.

She closed her tab at the bar and walked over to the dancing couple, placing a hand on Josie's arm.

"I'm going to head out," she shouted over the music.

"What? No, stay!" Josie pleaded.

"It's alright. I'm tired anyway. Have fun!"

Paris smiled at them both and walked out into the night air that, though still warm, was a refreshing change from inside the club. She was halfway to the subway station when she heard someone calling her name.

She turned and saw Jameson jogging toward her. She sighed, not wanting to argue with him about staying. However, when he slowed to a walk and came into view under the streetlight, his hands were tucked into his pockets and he was wearing an easy smile.

"You know, the apartment is within walking distance from here. You don't have to take the subway if you don't want to."

"Thanks but you didn't need to leave your friends for that. I would've gotten myself home."

"Oh, I didn't leave the club for you."

Paris shot him a questioning look as Jameson fell into step with her.

"When you said you were going home, I couldn't help but think of how good that sounded. Inventory days really kick my ass, and all I want to do is strip down and crawl into bed."

"Looks like you had a pretty good chance of that back there," Paris poked as they resumed their walk.

Jameson smirked as they continued their walk.

"Yeah, maybe. But I'm doing both her and myself a favor by calling it a night."

Paris looked at him in confusion.

"I'm exhausted, Paris. Even if I did stay and go home with her, the sex would've been terrible, and I have a reputation to uphold."

"Oh," Paris said, blushing.

Jameson let out a loud laugh. The conversation flowed easily between them as the strolled the rest of the way home. When the elevator dinged open, Jameson walked Paris to her door and lingered.

"Today was fun," he said.

"It was."

They stared at each other for a moment before Jameson began to lean down to kiss her cheek. However, they were interrupted suddenly when the doors to both 503 and 505 flung open as if on cue. Both Nicky and Alex leaned out their respective doors. Paris and Jameson looked between them in confusion.

"Oh, good," Nicky said breathlessly, "We stopped you. I mean, uh…"

"Stopped you from getting too comfortable," Alex finished. "Nicky and I were really craving ice cream, but we're both in our PJs. We were hoping to catch you guys and see if you could run down to the bodega to pick some up."

"Yeah," Nicky added lamely.

Jameson must have seen through their story because he rolled his eyes.

"I got it. Go ahead and get settled in," Jameson said to Paris.

"Yeah, kid, come in and get unpacked. I'm tired of tripping over your suitcase."

Paris waved to Jamie as he headed for the elevator.

"Hey, don't you want to know what flavors we want?" Nicky asked.

"I have a feeling it doesn't matter," Jameson called over his shoulder.

Paris heard Alex's laugh echo down the hallway just before Nicky shut their door.

***A/N: Next update will be Piper's arrival in the city. Stay tuned! Loving your reviews, guys. Thanks as always for reading. ***