Chapter Three

"Amber, correct me if I'm wrong, but are you here with that guy from McFly?"

The club was pumping and I found myself taking a break from the dance floor with my good friend and co-worker Lana Becks. After finding a secluded booth we ordered some drinks and settled down for a girly chat.

I smirked at her over my drink, "Its not a date or anything," I assured her, "he lives next door to me. I dragged him along."

Lana raised an eyebrow and looked over my shoulder at Danny who was standing at the bar surrounded by my co-workers, "doesn't look like you dragged him along to me."

I started to turn in my chair when Lana interrupted me.

"No don't look," she hissed, "he's looking this way."

I froze, "is he? What's he doing?"

Lana looked over my shoulder, "oh god he's speaking to the Gremlin." (For those of you playing at home, the Gremlin is my boss.)

My mouth dropped open in horror, "oh god, I bet he's saying something about how I sing in the shower!"

Lana looked at me strangely, "you do?"

"It's a perfectly normal act," I defended myself.

"Oh wait he's coming over," Lana commentated. She paused, "oh I hope those drinks are for us. They look fancy."

I was just opening my mouth to respond when a tray of drinks was placed down beside me. "Hey ladies," Danny greeted us, "how are we?"

"Feeling fantastic," I answered for both of us as I slid over in the booth to make room for him.

Lana took the cocktail with a thank you and peered at it curiously, "what's in this?"

"I don't really know," Danny, replied taking a swig of his beer, "I told the bar tender I wanted something to impress the ladies and he gave me those."

I stuck the yellow umbrella behind my ear, "you could have given me this little umbrella and I would have been impressed."

"Or these little sticks," Lana added pulling the swizzle stick out of her drink and looking at it curiously.

"Speaking of impressed," I shot in randomly pointing my swizzle stick at Lana, "when am I going to meet this man of yours?"

"He's here tonight actually," Lana confessed.

"Is he?" I spun around in my seat and scanned the club, "where?"

Lana waved her hand, "oh somewhere. Hang on I'll call him."

As Lana made to call I turned to Danny and filled him in, "Lana's been dating this guy for a few weeks and we're all really keen to meet him because she gushes so much."

Danny rested his arm on the back of the chair behind me, "do you gush about me?"

"Actually," I replied slowly, "I don't think I've ever mentioned you until tonight. Sorry."

Danny clutched his heart, "You've hurt my feelings."

I shoved him playfully, "shut up. Why? Do you gush about me?"

"I don't know about gush," Danny replied, "but I was telling my mum that you sing McFly songs in the shower."

I rolled my eyes, "you're never ever going to let me live that down are you?"

Danny considered it, "probably not anytime soon, no."

"Hey guys, this is Eric."

I turned my attention away from Danny and towards the infamous Eric. On a scale of one to ten I'd probably give him in eight. He was tall and Swedish looking, with his light skin, blond hair and blue eyes.

"Eric this is Amber and Danny," Lana introduced us.

"How ya doing?" I smiled reaching out and shaking his hand.

"I'm great thanks, how are you?" Eric replied in a thick British accent.

"I'm good," I answered watching as Danny and Eric shared a masculine handshake before he slid into the booth to join us.

"So," he began slapping his hands together, "how do we feel about a drinking game?"

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So there I was around one in the morning at some prestigious London club taking part in a drinking game where Eric was trying to drink us all under the table. And succeeding rather well I might add.

But he had an obvious advantage of course because he's a big guy. Not only is he tall, but he's also built. He's got a lot of muscle underneath that tight white shirt of his. So he was stomaching everything fine. Danny was keeping up rather well too, although he was slurring and his accent was so thick I could barely make out a word he was saying. Lana and I however were absolutely slaughtered.

My head was spinning, my voice was slurred and I was positive if I were to get up I wouldn't be able to stand. Hell I couldn't even sit up straight, for the past half hour I'd been slumped into Danny like a lifeline. And for some odd reason Lana and I were having a giggly conversation about umbrellas and trying every cocktail on the menu.

"Ya know what?" Lana slurred suddenly pointing her swizzle stick violently at me, little umbrellas were scattered all over the table.

I pushed myself away from Danny and sat up straight, "what?"

."I feel like dancing," Lana pronounced dramatically, "do you want to come with me?"

I pointed at her, "Yes I do."

It took some time for us to get out of the booth (crawling across Danny's lap), and even more time to convince Eric and Danny to accompany us (pulling them out of the booth). But finally we were all on the dance floor dancing (or stumbling) around like absolute maniacs.

"So what do you think of Eric?" Lana questioned stumbling into me and shimmying around in a circle.

To drunk to care whether he was listening or not I replied, "he was hot to start out with. But the more I drink the better looking he becomes. So at the beginning of the night I rated him an eight, but now…" I opened my arms wide, "now he's off the chart."

"I know," Lana, gushed, "isn't he gorgeous. But speaking of gorgeous I have to admit Danny is one sexy man."

I froze. Eric eavesdropping was one thing, but Danny over hearing was on a whole other level. I glanced over Lana's shoulder to make sure he was out of hearing range. I smirked when I saw him, out of hearing range. Check. Being mauled by an admirer. Check.

"He's alright," I admitted taking Lana's hands and spinning her around.

"Alright? Amber, he has every girl in the UK running after him," Lana retaliated

"Well he's famous, isn't he? So it's like a right," I replied pointing at Danny and the random female, "maybe ya know, its some kind of law."

"You don't think he's hot?" Lana questioned looking at me in disbelief.

I pondered it, "he's…"

"Amber, you asked him to come here with you so you must have some feelings towards him," Lana reasoned.

I wrinkled my nose, "actually we had a deal and he lost so…"

Lana waved her hand, "so what, it doesn't change the face he's utterly shagable," she reasoned stumbling into a random and not even bothering to apologise.

I pointed at her, "I'm going to tell Eric you said that."

"Don't you dare," Lana shrieked.

I laughed danced around to the thumping beat. It was warm out on the dance floor and the bright lights were blurry through my drunken vision. I felt fantastic and free as a bird. Lana and I danced around the dance floor, never staying in one spot long enough to dance with the boys around us.

Until Danny ran up to us and flung his arms around me, "save me!" he gasped wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him.

I laughed throwing my arms around his neck and moving to the beat, "save you? From what?"

"That girl," Danny replied, "Jess I think her name was. Or maybe it was Tess, I think she may have been a man."

I laughed and obliged, dancing the next few songs with him (willingly since he was a pretty good dancer), until Lana found us again with Eric in tow

"Hey lets get out of here," Lana yelled, "it's boiling, and what's the time?

Danny checked his watch over my shoulder, "its just before three."

"Lets go get more drinks, bitches," Lana suggested grabbing my hand and pulling me along. I shrugged and grabbed Danny and together we left the dance floor.

"Are you having fun?" I asked Danny once we were on less hectic ground.

"What was that?" he asked leaning down to hear me better.

"I said are you having fun?" I repeated a little louder leaning into him and catching a whiff of his cologne.

"Yeah I am," he replied wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me back to the booth, "thanks for inviting me."

"Well it wasn't really an invitation," I replied with a grin, "more like you lost a bet."

Danny paused and looked at me, "I would have come ya know, if you asked me, even if I didn't owe you something.

"Really?" I murmured. I blame the alcohol in my system for what happened next, "so does that mean you'll come out with me again?"

Danny smiled, "yeah."

"Fantastic," I smiled, "on that note, let's have another round of drinks!"

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"Alright folks, time to go. We're closing in five minutes."

By this point I was so pissed that I didn't even notice bouncers escorting us out of the club and onto the streets of London. I vaguely recall shivering out on the streets and Danny wrapping his coat around me. Nothing of the taxi ride home, but I remember nearly choking to death laughing when Danny ran into a glass door. I also remembered the sun peaking oddly through my drawn curtains as Danny pulled off my shoes and tucked me into bed, a soft kiss on my forehead and then sleep, blissful sleep.