Katie didn't have to utter any special passwords this time when she arrived at Oliver's apartment complex. The doorman ushered her directly into elevator. The ride to the top floor seemed to take ages. And Katie was not enjoying the ride in the mirrored elevator as it allowed her to see just how short her dress was from all angles. Finally the door dinged and opened into Oliver's penthouse.
"Oliver? Hey," Katie called tentatively into the vast apartment.
"Bell! Make yourself at home. I'll be right out," Oliver called from the depths of the penthouse.
Katie wandered into the kitchen and found a spread that would put the food trolley on the Hogwarts Express to shame. The table was loaded with Butterbeers, chocolate covered frogs, cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, and every other treat Katie could imagine.
"I hope you brought your appetite!" said Oliver emerging through a door into the kitchen and came to stand near her. He was looking very good in a pair of dark, tight (but not too tight) fitting jeans and emerald green graphic tee that proclaimed, "I'm a keeper", which Katie couldn't help but laugh at.
"What's so funny Bell? You don't like my shirt?"
"Where on earth did you find that?"
"One of my fans sent it to me. Do you really think I'm self-centered enough to buy this for myself?"
"No comment," said Katie unable to hide her smile.
"That smile gives you away, Bell. Always has," said Oliver, reaching out to touch her cheek. Katie found herself closing her eyes and enjoying the sensation of his warm hand against her face and forgetting completely that she was supposedly happily in a relationship. After several seconds, Oliver cleared his throat and stepped away from Katie. "So can I get you a butterbeer?"
"Ummm….yeah," said Katie finding her words after a brief hesitation. She accepted the butterbeer from Oliver and began to take rather large sips.
"So what should I expect at the club tonight?" asked Oliver.
Katie raised her eyebrows. "Well Mr. Wood, Alchemy is a nightclub, which is an establishment that I'm sure you are especially familiar with. And we will be in the VIP room, but I assume you are no stranger to those either. What else could you possibly need to know?"
"What else could I need to know? I need to know who on the team dances like a boggart in pain, who downs shots of fire whisky as easily as I block shots, and who is likely to get drunk, forget that she has a boyfriend, and hook up with me…"
Katie stared at Wood for several seconds before she answered. He was certainly being bold. International Quidditch stars must not be used to having things out of reach. "Well Baker has been known to tear up dance floor, Shacklebolt would normally drink like a fish, but that might be going against doctor's orders, and none of the other girls on the team have boyfriends that they will need to forget about before hooking up with you."
Wood drained his butterbeer before saying, "I wasn't asking about the other girls, Bell."
Katie blushed. "I'm sorry Oliver, but they will be the only ones on the team you have a chance with at the present time."
"At the present time?"
"Well you know what I mean," stammered Katie. "Shouldn't we get going?"
"Yes I suppose we should. By the way, you look amazing in that dress. Eric is a lucky man."
"Thanks," Katie muttered before she closed her eyes and pictured the alley where Alchemy stood.
The line to get into the door of Alchemy was already quite long. Word had gotten out that it was the night club of choice to for the Sphinxes to celebrate a win and now that Oliver Wood had joined the team, the appeal of partying with the Sphinxes was only heightened.
"I do love being a VIP," said Oliver as he grabbed Katie's hand and pulled her past the line and straight to the door. As soon as the crowd realized who they were, people started shouting and flashbulbs began to go off. Katie tried to discretely free her hand from Oliver's, but she wasn't quite fast enough. She now knew she would have to buy every copy of Witches within 5 mile radius of her flat so that she wouldn't have to face any questions from Eric.
Wood fist pounded the bouncer as they were admitted to the club and ushered up toward the VIP room. They found the rest of their team already in full celebration mode and there were already several empty bottles on their table.
"Wood! Bell! Finally! Now we can play Shots for Shots! Or you can play…and I can watch," shouted Shacklebolt, who was still recovering from her head wound.
"I like the sound of that," said Oliver grinning. "What are the rules?"
"Well you as the keeper have to take one shot for every goal you allowed in. Then the chasers get to assign one person to take a shot for every goal they made," explained Shacklebolt.
"Well that hardly seems fair," said Wood, in mock sadness.
"It's a tough burden to bear," said Shacklebolt patting Oliver on the back. "But somebody has gotta do it!"
The shots were lined up on the table. Fourteen in all; 4 for Oliver and ten to be assigned by the chasers. Oliver downed his four quickly while his teammates cheered him on. Next came Travis Abbott, who had scored 3 goals. He assigned all three of his shots to Lexi Thurston, who as usual protested and complained that everyone on the team always targeted her. Katie laughed to herself because she knew Travis only did it because he had a huge crush on Lexi. Lexi retaliated by assigning her 3 shots to Travis.
"Well this is quite boring," complained Coach Derek. "Spice things up a bit, Bell. Surprise us."
"Hmmm," Katie mused, trailing her fingers along the table where the shots sat. She raised her eyes and met Oliver's deep green ones. Coyly she said, "I think it's only right that these four shots go to Mr. Wood. We've all heard so many rumors about your partying habits; I think we'd like to see them for ourselves."
"Is this your idea of hazing, Bell?" asked an amused Wood. "Don't make me drink alone Kates." He ushered over the waiter and had four more shots of fire whiskey poured.
"Oh ho ho," chuckled Derek. "This is really about to get interesting. We all know how well Bell does with fire whiskey."
Katie ignored the taunts of her teammates and match Oliver shot for shot, showing no signs of weakness. Two more rounds of shots were ordered for the entire team. After the second round was finished, Lexi shouted, "To the dancefloor!"
Lexi led the way, with Travis on her heels. Crystal Shacklebolt and Coach Derek sat down in the booth, neither really cared for the dancing. Katie looked at Oliver, who shrugged and followed the others to the dance floor. Katie glanced over her shoulder as she followed behind Oliver and she couldn't say for sure, but it looked like Crystal had winked at her.
When Katie finally made her way onto the dance floor, the scene was similar to any other night at Alchemy, but magnified by tenfold. Lexi was flirting with the best looking guys in the club, with Travis forlornly looking on. The rest of the boys were surrounded by a gaggle of fan girls all jockeying to get as close as possible. Now that Oliver Wood was among their ranks, the fan girls seemed even more beautiful than normal, their skirts even shorter and their necklines even lower. For the first time all night Katie found herself wishing Eric was with her so that she could dance with him instead of trying to figure out the strange pangs of jealousy she was feeling as an incredibly beautiful brunette latched onto Oliver's bicep. Katie stood their awkwardly for several moments feeling great empathy for poor Travis before Oliver turned around and noticed her there. He reached out and pulled her next to him.
"Katie, this is Tiffany. She says she's a huge fan of the Sphinxes," said Oliver.
Katie snorted internally. She was certain beyond a doubt that this girl had not even heard of the Sphinxes until 3 days ago. "Wow!" said Katie trying to sound as sincere as possible with 6 shots of fire whiskey in her system. "Thanks for your support. It really means a lot!"
"Sure. I'm sure you guys will be winning all the time now that you have Oliver on your team," Tiffany said stroking Oliver's arm.
Katie was about to point out that the team had been doing quite well before Oliver had joined, but Oliver spoke first. "They were doing quite well before I came along. But it's great that all you Sphinxes fans have been so accepting of me. I was worried you wouldn't embrace anyone other than Shacklebolt."
Katie was about to die from holding in her laughter.
"Oh…uh…yeah," stammered Tiffany.
"Well it was great meeting you," said Oliver. "I hope you can make it to our next game!" He grabbed Katie and pulled her to the other side of the dance floor.
"Somehow I don't think you got the reputation of a womanizer by talking like that," said Katie when they had gotten a good distance away from the fan girl gaggle. She had to get very close to Oliver so he could hear her in this corner. The music was much louder here.
"The sad thing is that I've been ruder to girls and still scored. I definitely earned that reputation in the past, but I really am trying to live up to the reputation of my new team." Katie was too shocked to respond immediately and before she had the chance to think of something to say, Oliver grabbed her waist and said, "It's too loud to talk here anyway. Let's just dance."
Oliver maneuvered behind Katie and pulled her up against him. They began to move together along with the beat of the music. Katie would have felt uncomfortable if not for the 6 shots of fire whiskey coursing through her bloodstream. Instead she was noticing how nicely muscular Oliver's body was and how nice it felt against her. She lost track of time completely as the danced together. After a while Oliver's hands moved down to hips and then down lower on her legs. Eventually one of his fingertips touched her bare leg just below the hem of her dress. Katie felt like that one small patch of her skin was on fire and it was beginning to spread through her body. She reached on of her hands behind his head and began to run her fingers through his hair. It surprisingly soft. It wouldn't have shocked Katie to find out Oliver used some sort of fancy salon shampoo. Oliver bent his head down and his lips brushed against her collarbone once. And then again. Katie freed herself of his hold and turned around to face him. She looked into his deep green eyes briefly before lowering her eyes to his lips. When their lips finally met, even though she had her eyes closed, the flashbulb from the paparazzi's camera was still bright enough for her to notice. She quickly pulled away from Oliver because they both knew that it meant trouble—that would be a tough picture to explain. She glanced around the dance floor trying to find the source of the light, but she didn't have to look for long because the camera began to snap again and again—capturing the guilty look on her face and the sad look she shot at Oliver before she ran off, disappearing into the dancing crowd.