To say that Cadence had no experience with bars was an understatement. Back in the states, she hadn't gone out a lot, choosing instead to stay home and study. She avoided a lot of embarrassment that way, and her grades were fantastic because of it. So, all of her senses worked in tandem as she walked in to the bar, fondly termed Zero's, with the boys from Mariana's Trench. Very surprising to her was the fact that music from the states was pulsing out of the music system, P!nk at the moment. Vibing and bobbing her head to "Raise Your Glass", she walked up to the bar counter.
"You have the look of an infant who is seeing moving objects for the first time."
Cadence scowled at Josh in a mocking way and sat at an empty stool, Josh taking the one next to her. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I didn't get out much, so no, I've never been to a bar before. Sue me."
Josh held up his hands in mock surrender and gave her that signature grin, and she could swear that her heart rate kicked up a couple of notches. "Alright, alright. You can put the claws away." Most surprising to her was the fact that she seemed to be acclimating to this so well. She wasn't much for socializing either, but here she was out, with her favorite band, and she was able to be nonchalant, even able to joke around with them as if she had known them forever and they were old friends. It was still crazy to her that they actually wanted to be out with her, and it wasn't something that she understood, even now. But honestly?
She couldn't gather the feeling to care.
Cadence promised herself that she was going to enjoy this night, since she was going home tomorrow and she probably wasn't ever going to see them again. The bartender came up to them, a balding man with a paunch where his stomach should have been. "What'll it be?" Cadence realized vaguely that she was legal to drink in Canada, but alcohol had never been her favorite thing. She had gone to one party when she was in high school, and only after two beers she had been puking her brains out. So, she wisely went with "A coke please." Josh just shook his head and laughed. "Your 19, right? Pitiful. Any person your age would be consuming as much alcohol as they could." But he was teasing, of course. After the day he had put in, he asked for the best beer on tap and took a few healthy gulps. But before he got a chance to start talking to her again, Matt came up.
"Dude, what are you doing up here? These chicks are ripe for the picking! You know that we are going to be out of here tomorrow, so get your ass on the dance floor and grab some tail bro!"
Josh rolled his eyes as Matt walked away and flashed Cadence a smile. "You know, out of all of us, he was always the one most likely to hook up. But don't tell him I said that. Now, the last thing I want is one of these females clawing at me, so, to protect myself and to keep Matt off of my back, would you care to dance with me?" The second part of his reasoning wasn't really all that truthful. It WAS the truth that he didn't want one of these drunk chicks hanging all over him, but he honestly didn't care what Matt thought either way. Astonishing to him was the fact that he really did want to dance with Cadence, mostly because he was finding her more and more attractive the longer he was in her company. And that was a bad thing. He was a good 8 years older then her, and that was just distasteful. But he couldn't bring himself to rescind his invitation and he looked at her expectantly.
Did she look like an idiot? Well, she wasn't. "Of course." Now, she didn't know anything about dancing with a guy, but once they got out and it was obvious that it wasn't going to be anything serious or anything, Cadence relaxed again and she let herself just groove along with music like Josh was, pulling out the wackiest dance moves to try and outdo the other. Walking like an Egyptian was a good one by Josh, but ultimately, he couldn't beat her running man, and laughing like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen (and it kind of was, considering they were both terrible dancers) they went back to their drinks at the counter.
"Well Josh, you don't have to feel so bad anymore. I think we have found someone that is just as terrible a dancer as you are." This from Mike, a smirk on his face, and Cadence scowled at him. "Dancing, especially in a bar, is not about expertise. It's about having fun, Mr. Ayley, so there." She gave him a pointed look and Josh laughed, almost choking on his beer. "Well, she told you didn't she?"
By this point, all of the members were tipsy and working up to being drunk, except for Ian, who had drawn the short straw apparently and was the designated driver. He had allowed himself two beers, but figured he would only drink the one. He took a sip of his coke and took a seat next to Cadence when the others went back onto the dancer floor to have another dancing contest. "So, can you say that, after meeting your favorite band, we're everything you had hoped we were going to be?" Ian asked, his intelligent green eyes looking into hers.
Cadence didn't even have to think about it. She gave a him a smile and nodded. "Absolutely."
