Chapter 3

On Maya's birthday, Phoenix and Miles took Maya out to dinner at the steak house as she wanted and then met Larry, Franziska, and Detective Gumshoe at the club. Miles and Phoenix were glad that she seemed to enjoy her dinner a lot, and even if the price for the dinner was high, her happiness was the most important thing to both of them. Arriving at the club, they found that Gumshoe, Franziska, and Larry were waiting for them outside.

"Miles Edgeworth!" Franziska spoke in a sharp and obviously annoyed tone, "What took you so long?! Due to your lateness, I was forced to wait out here with this fool."

On conclusion of her comment, she sent a withering glare in Larry's direction, which he pointedly ignored, being frightened enough of her already. Gumshoe stood awkwardly with the two of them, looking really glad that Phoenix, Maya, and Miles finally showed up.

Miles barely resisted rolling his eyes at Franziska and he replied, "We had to allow Maya enough time to finish dinner and then come over here."

"Hmph." Franziska said in what seemed to be disbelief, but she decided to let it go since it was Maya's birthday, so she continued, "Fine, then let's stop foolishly wasting time outside here and get inside then!"

She suddenly reached out and grabbed Gumshoe's arm to drag him inside the club with her, and she did not give anyone else a second look, obviously too annoyed by Larry to make any small talk.

When Miles examined the atmosphere around the club, he was surprised to note that this seemed to be much more of a posh setting than he expected Larry to be able to get them into. As all of them waited by the door for a chance to talk to the bouncer, Maya tried to ignore the way that Larry playfully hit on some of the girls standing outside the club hoping to get in, but it did get to her.

Larry, himself, just wanted to put his problems with Maya out of his mind, and he did it the only way he knew how. Although, when he glanced in Maya's direction, he saw the slightly hurt expression on her face, and this made him quit it, and he quickly went to talk with the bouncer. Larry was glad that his friend actually came through for him, and put all of their names on the guest list without a problem.

"This is it!" Larry said in excitement as they all examined the inside of the club, "Isn't this place completely awesome?!"

"Yeah, it's not half bad, Larry. How did you make friends with the owner anyway?" Phoenix asked, half way curious with half the connections Larry seemed to have.

"Well, he was a friend of this one model I dated…Kiyance, you remember her? She brought this friend down to Gourd Lake to try some of the Samurai Dogs I was selling, and to see the Santa costume that she bought for me. So he loved the Dogs, and that's when he mentioned his idea of opening the club. I thought I'd call him just a few weeks ago since I knew Maya's birthday was coming up, and he remembered how much he loved the Dogs, so he got us all in!" Larry replied quickly in excitement.

"Doing a job well enough that someone remembers you a few years after? I'm impressed, Larry. It's usually for the opposite reason that people remember you." Miles said in dry humor, looking obviously amused.

"Shut up, Edgey!" Larry said, also more amused than annoyed since he was generally a care free kind of guy, "Just loosen up, already! Speaking of loosening up, let's all go dance!"

Larry didn't even wait for the rest of them, running off to the dance floor on his own. It looked like most of the group did not want to participate, but Maya at least wanted someone to come with her, especially since the break up between her and Larry was still fresh, she still felt very uneasy being around him by herself.

After a few minutes of everyone standing around awkwardly by the dance floor, Maya decided to avoid Larry a while and finally take advantage of being twenty one, grabbing Phoenix's hand and saying, "Come on, Nick, buy me a drink!"

Phoenix looked at Maya in surprise and said, "Already?"

"Yeah! And you get something with me! All of you guys should. I don't want to be drinking alone on my birthday!" Maya said as she glanced at everyone standing with her, putting her hands on her hips, looking very determined.

Phoenix let out a little sigh, shaking his head, and he said, "Alright, let's go."

Maya clapped her hands together in excitement, and then she dragged Phoenix by the hand to the bar, with Miles, Franziska, and Gumshoe following behind. When they got there, she carefully took a look at all the drinks that were being served to other people when her eyes fell on a tall pretty glass with an orange colored drink in it.

"I want that one, Nick!" Maya said, smiling and pointing to the bright orange drink.

Phoenix looked in the direction she was pointing and then he sputtered, saying, "But, Maya, that's a Long Island Ice Tea! It's a pretty strong drink."

Maya just gave Phoenix a mischievous smile and then turned to the bartender to say, "I want a Long Island Ice Tea, please!"

Then she turned to Phoenix and Miles, giving them a pouty look, saying, "You guys get one too!"

Without waiting for their responses, which undoubtedly would have been 'no,' Maya said to the bartender as she motioned toward Phoenix and Miles, "And two more for them!"

"Maya, wait a second, I don't want a drink so strong – " Phoenix tried resisting, but it was no use.

Phoenix let out a sigh and dug into his wallet to pay the bartender, grumbling a little at how he already felt like his money was wiped out on just three drinks. Phoenix glanced over at Miles, who looked like he had a small smile tugging at his lips at this whole exchange between he and Maya, and strangely, this made him feel just a bit better.

Maya then turned to Franziska and Gumshoe, and said, "Why don't you guys get something too!"

Franziska seemed to be considering the idea as Gumshoe stood by her, looking a little awkward, not really wanting to get drunk, especially if Franziska was around, since that would increase the chance of him doing something that would get him whipped.

Finally she replied, "I do not want to get foolishly intoxicated in the first moment we arrived here."

Maya just smiled and said, "Your loss!"