Chapter eleven

Her shift is slowly drawing to its end and normally, she would've loved it, would've had a little victory dance, but under these circumstances, it feels as if a big knot starts to form in the pit in her stomach, with caterpillars crawling vigorously there, fear building up. With each passing minute, her nervosity becomes worse and worse, until 4 pm comes along and the caterpillars seem to finally explode abruptly. Sweat slowly starts to break out, her hands becoming clammy. "I can't do this", she tells herself, eyes shifting heavily.

"Hey pretty lady", James all of the sudden says as he enters her office. Immediately, an eyebrow is raised.

"You know it's polite to knock first?"

"Yeah," he says calmly, waving it off as he takes a seat across from her and crosses his legs, "So, I heard from a little birdie that you're having an insignificant date with our hunky mystery guest."

"That's about right, yes"

Damn you, Karen. No one else but her could've and would've spilled the beans.

"And knowing you," he looks on his watch, "this would be about the perfect time to freak out".

"I'm not- I'm not freaking out", she scoffs, hoping to hide her little meltdown from moments before he came in the room.

"Oh yes, honey", he says as he grabs her hands with his, holding them gently, "Keep telling yourself that, but you kinda have to agree with me that he's polite"

Elizabeth looks absentmindedly away as she bites onto her lower lip, "Yeah"

"You also have to agree that he's well-mannered"

"Yeah"

"You have to agree that he's nice"

"Yeah"

"You also have to agree that he's sexy as fuck."

She sighs and roughly pulls her hands away from James, "I hate you for doing this to me. Stop making me like him, damn it!" Suddenly, she gets up from her seat and starts to pace, sighing frustrately as she pinches the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb. James sits back and folds his arms before his chest, a smug grin present on his face.

"You like him. Oh. My. God", he exhales with joy

"I don't like him", she places her hands onto her hips and looks away, muttering, "very much"

He claps his hands together like an overly excited schoolgirl, "How thrilling!"

"Very", she eyes him quite dangerously and sighs as she takes a seat, giving up her big girl attitude, "What am I supposed to do now, James?"

"I don't know, eh," he pauses and gives her a know-it-all look, "This may be an absurd thought, but how about you enjoy yourself and flirt a little?"

Elizabeth scoffs once more, "Yeah, right, 'cause that's what he wants. How will I know if he likes me?"

"You meant to say loovveeeess me, right?", a devious twinkle is present in his eyes as he puts a harsh emphasis on the love bit. She immediately shoots him an icy glare.

"Anyways", he coughs to clear his throat, gesturing to move on, "He pressed his body up against yours, you can safely say he's interested"

"But on what level?"

"Oh, come on! Does that really matter? Honey, you need to get a little bestial", he adds as he gives her a head to toe glance over, "Rather sooner than later"

"I don't", she objects harshly, feeling offended.

"Really?", he looks at her, his expression deadpan, "When was the last time you had sex?"

"That's none of your business", she pauses and grabs something, "I need to run. Have this date with a big, important fella, remember?"

"Let me know how it went", he shouts after her, smirking widely as she hastily makes her way towards the bar. As she follows the path she often walks on a day to day basis, she can't help but think back about the conversation she just had. James always has a very calming effect on her, until now, now that he was out of the picture. And the chaos starts to take control of her again. The tension slowly starts to build up within her, the insects reappearing. Why would she even get so nervous over this? She deals with hundreds of customers per week, if not thousands during busy seasons. Why would a mere date be any different? It's insignificant, as James said.

Arriving at the lobby, she inhales deeply and looks over her shoulder to see Karen, who's watching her intensely. If only looks could kill.

"You have two hours, Clark. Use them well", she bites at her.

"Don't worry. I intend to"

I hope she rots in hell. There, I said it. I finally said it. If I only had the guts to tell her. In her face.

"Good, because you know, after having dinner with him, he'll forget all about your puny little date. Forever." Karen winks at her opponent, whereas Elizabeth smirks back at her before heading towards the bar area. There, she immediately spots Seth sitting at one of the red leather banquettes, alone, still wearing the same getup as this morning.

He looks up and notices her, he smiles.

Why is he smiling?

I can't help but respond with a smile as well as I approach him.

"Hey", I try to say as casually as ever as I feel how my heart starts to dangerously throb in my chest.

"Hey", he says as he gets up, "You're early".

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't want to throw away any of our precious time"

My God, why do I sound like a girl that just hit puberty?

He smirks at my remark and gestures for us to sit down. I do as told and he silently follows.

"So, what did you have in mind?", I ask him.

"Well, I was hoping to get you out of that uniform and go somewhere fun", he innocently smiles, probably unaware of what he just implied. But he can quickly tell by the sudden yet faint blush on my cheeks. "If you know what I mean", he quickly adds, laughing a little nervous. "Of course", I nod in agreement, smiling back at him. An awkward silence fills the air for a couple of minutes.

"Come on", I say and abruptly get up, catching him by the wrist and take him with me to the employee's changing room.

"You're sure I'm allowed in here?", he asks as he hesitantly stops dead in his tracks at the threshold of said room.

"Yes, you have my word", I say as my hand slides oh so casually down his, my fingers gently brushing the palm of his hand before hooking themselves with his. He chuckles nervously, his cheeks turn a slight rose at the warm touch as I drag him along, dragging him inside.

"Just like high school", he mutters as he looks around him, taking in the room, "Except it doesn't smell as bad and I'm not being stuffed into lockers"

I let go off Seth and turn round to look at him, "You? You were stuffed into lockers?"

A smile appears on his face, the cute dimples appearing as he remembers the past, "Oh, yeah".

"Huh", I mumble, astonished by this new information. It makes me wonder what he was like back in the day, but I quickly shake it off, smirking back, "Well, you sure as hell showed them". What a lame ass come back, I mentally remark. I turn my back to him, hoping to hide my embarrassment and open my locker to reveal my day to day outfit: a pair of good ol' jeans, a classy black tunic with the cutest little braided belt to finish the look and black Tom Tailor sneakers. Seth peeps into my locker, gazing from my shoulder and I can just hearhim smirking at what he finds.

"Don't judge me, I know what you're going to say anyways, " I immediately protest as I look at him through the corners of my eyes, "After a hard day's of work, the last thing I need to walk in are high heels"

"I understand completely," he raises his arms in defeat, "Aside from the high heels".

"Uhuh, like you never wore some," I playfully poke him in the stomach with my elbow and grab a certain piece of clothing, throwing it against Seth, "I still had this lying around".

He removes the piece of clothing from his head and holds it in front of him to give it a close inspection. "Huh", he remarks, baffled, "You actually got the stain out".

"What can I say? A little magic always does the trick"

He looks up and sees how I have my cheek turned at him, tapping it lightly. "Come, come", I say with a devious and playful smirk. Without thinking, he leans in and places a kiss on my cheek. "Thank you", he breathes after his lips have been lingering a little too long on my skin.

I can't believe he actually did that!

"Just make sure to never forget it", I respond as I notice that his face is mere inches away from mine, feeling how all the heat within my body moves up to my cheeks. I direct my gaze in front of me, at the mirror in my locker as I start to unbutton my vest and blouse underneath.

"You might want to look away"

"Now why would I do that?", he playfully asks as he takes a seat about a meter away from me, his gaze fully directed at me and my semi-half undressed body. I chuckle in response, "Right. You're one of 'em pervs. I could've known."

"I'm no such thing", he says, his tone of voice showcasing the fact that he feels very offended by my statement, "Sure, I do enjoy watching a gorgeous girl undressing herself before me, especially when she doesn't even try to hide herself."

I shoot him a look.

"What? It's not like you're forcing me to turn around and look the other way"

Is he implanting I'm such a slut for letting him peek?

"I see. So, you blame me for not being narrow-minded enough to put you in place?" He remains silent, causing me to look down at him after hanging my vest up in my locker. He gives me a little shrug, with that mischievous expression present on his face. I smirk back as I slowly and dramatically, just to tease, start to remove my blouse. Just as the removal of my blouse starts to show off some great skin, the smirk widens at the sight before me - Seth is very much focussed on my fingers, a little too much, with his mouth lightly open, licking his lips several times in response.

"And now turn around."

"Where are you taking me?", Elizabeth asks as Seth guides her through various of streets, his hand holding hers while doing so.

"Hakkasan, you're familiar with it?"

"Oh, yeah. It's hard to get in there, how did you-", she looks at him and he looks innocently back at her, grinning and she smirks back, "Never mind. I'm sure you have people that get you into every place".

"It's amazing what they can do in such a short amount of time", he cheerfully says. He then abruptly stops, catching Elizabeth with one arm before she bumps into him. He gestures her to look in front of her and she does. Her eyes are immediately directed upon two big, muscular guys. Security, obviously. They're standing in front of metal double doors, with a blue neon sign on top that says, "Hakkasan".

It doesn't take long for them to bypass the long line in front of the entrance of the bar as Seth casually gets ahead of the line and informs them who he is, showing his identification, and within seconds of verifying that he's indeed Seth MacFarlane, they're already in the club and making their way downstairs. All this while he's holding her hand, still.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a creepy basement where a lot of bad shit happens", Elizabeth says as she looks around the dark place, their descent still continuing. She can hardly see anything, in fact - she can hardly see Seth in front of her. She can only hear him chuckle in response and, all of the sudden, very dimmed light hits them. It's as if you open your eyes for the first time after a nice, long sleep and can't quite manage to stay awake, fading in and out. The light comes closer and closer until the long, thin strip of a bar with bright blue lights attract their attention. They've entered a somewhat dark room, with bright neon-lights, mainly different shades of blue, pop up here and there. It's everywhere. Everywhere! There are many Chinese screens. The furniture is mainly black, but here and there are different shades of purple and pink, mingling with the blue ambiance.

It's surprisingly modern and semi-Asian, for a basement that is.

Overall, it throws her off and she can't help but feel overwhelmed.

"Welcome to what's supposedly one of the greatest hot spots in London", Seth beams.

He takes her with him towards a quiet spot behind Chinese screens, in one of the corners of the room. There's a low table, with the same see-through blue neon-lights pattern in it as the rest of the bar and purple banquettes are stationed there. They take a seat and barely leave them for the rest of the evening, aside from having a few dances together. The rest of the evening is also spend on trying out different kinds of drinks, varying from cocktails to the more stronger kind.

"You know, I actually had a great time", Elizabeth says as they enter the lobby of the hotel. She checks the time on her watch and notice that his little date with Karen should've started over two hours ago. She smirks contently to herself. Guess whose date he actually forgot?

"Why do you sound so surprised?", he asks, his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans as he looks her in the eyes.

"I just thought it would be a drag", he frowns and cocks his head at her, "I mean, you'd suspect big Hollywood guys like yourself to be selfish, arrogant pricks and you're not. You're actually kind off…. sweet"

He chuckles, "Just don't let anyone else know. I've got a reputation to maintain". She laughs in response and lightly touches his arm, "Well, thank you. Really".

"No problem", he says, looking at her hand for a few seconds, blinking. His gaze then moves upwards to meet hers again. Within seconds, he cups her face with one of his hands, smiling before he leans in and brushes his lips against hers, while in the back - a green Karen stands and beholds the two sharing a long awaited kiss.

IF YOU DON'T REVIEW THIS CHAPTER, WHERE I SPEND THE LAST THREE DAYS ON, I WILL SEND LIAM NEESON AFTER YOUR ASS AND HE WILL FIND YOU AND HE WILL FORCE YOU TO EAT YOUR OWN SHIT. BOOYAH!

This chapter is actually one of the reasons why I like gays and their stereotype. They make up for great best friend forever material. So much fun banter!
And of course, the date will come back in an upcoming chapter, throughoughly discussed. And I swear, if you search for the world ''smirk'' in this chapter, you'll have like 500 words. I swear. I need to stop doing that, hah. Why must he be such a cutiepie when smirking, though? I blame him.

Also - cookies to those who noticed the sudden change in writing!

Thanks goes out to Ash and Gabsies for inspiring me to write this chapter and giving me a little kick in the bum, da bum.