It was around 6:30 p.m., and we decided to head out around 8:30 for Emmett's club.
"Why don't you go lay down for awhile, Bella, and I'll come wake you up in about an hour and we'll get ready?"
I mumbled, "Okay," and shuffled off to my bedroom. I fell down on my bed and was passed out in a matter of seconds.
Chapter 8
Alice woke me up an hour later on the dot, and we started to get ready. She was off somewhere rifling through her own closet, and I was poking around in mine. I wanted to look nice, but not too appealing. Emmett had mentioned it being Ladies Night, and I was sure the letches would be out in full force. No sense making myself more of a target. I was still single by definition, but I wasn't looking to hook up with anyone in a bar. Since Alice was well off the market, I thought I'd go see what she had on to get an idea of how I should dress. I walked down the hall and poked my head in her doorway.
"Hey Ali, what are you wearing tonight?"
She came out of her walk-in closet with her arms full of clothes.
"Nothing's jumping out at me as being the right outfit. Maybe I should just wear that skirt and top I got today, what do you think?"
Yeah, the outfit that had me walking all over the state to find it. "Sure, it is fabulous," I said. There was a pause while I stood there watching and she threw the clothes in her arms down on her bed. "Any ideas on what I should wear tonight?" I felt like an 8 year old, but I was really coming up blank for some reason.
"That blouse you bought today is really nice. How about that and some nice jeans?"
"See, I knew you were my fashion adviser for a reason."
"You bet. You really should pay me more, though."
"HA!" I said, and started to walk down the hall. I quickly popped my head back in to her room and told her thanks, then went to get ready.
I got dressed, applied a little blush and eyeliner, curled my hair a little and then decided to just stick it up in a clip. I thought I looked pretty good, but I went out into the living room to wait for Alice's approval. She gave me a thumbs up, and we were out the door. We drove to Molly Malone's in Alice's car, as mine still needed looked at. We parked on the street nearby, locked the car and started to walk up to the front door. There was already a line of people out front getting their drivers licenses checked. Molly's was a full service restaurant during the day but after 8 p.m. on weekends, they didn't allow anybody in under 21. I always got carded anywhere that bothered to check for ID. Alice always did too, but she didn't seem to mind. It would probably be flattering in a few years, but for now it just served to bug me. Luckily, we knew the guy working the door, so I didn't have to fish my license out of my bag or wait in line.
"Hey Evan!" Alice said, bounding up to him.
"Bella! Alice! Gracing our establishment with your fine selves tonight?"
"You know it, big boy!" she said, slapping him playfully on one of his muscular arms. Even though she was taken and completely happy, Alice could still flirt with the best of them. Never in front of Jas of course, but she was quite handy for getting us free drinks whenever she decided to. I didn't quite have the social skills myself, but Alice just had an aura that people were drawn to.
"Ladies," Evan said, moving his large frame out of the doorway to let us in.
"Thanks," I said, smiling at him. He smiled back and then resumed his task of weeding out people that were underage.
The first thing we saw when entering Molly's was the sizable dance floor in the middle of the room. During the day when they served food, it would be covered with tables and chairs. They cleaned the floor off around 7:30 to get ready for the club crowd during the nights. There was a partition that surrounded the dance floor and was supposed to make for a frame around the floor and easy walking access to the back. The area between the walls and partition was full of people and tables as usual. The walls had mirrors and beer signs on them, and there were a couple of flat screen televisions hung up for sports games, all turned off. There were two staircases on either side of the building in the back to go up to the second floor, as well as one staircase and an elevator towards the front where we had come in. Above there was a balcony looking down on the dance floor from the second floor, just in front of the other main room. There was a smaller bar upstairs with more tables and a smaller stage that musicians would sometimes play at. The bar on the first floor was copious, covering most of the back wall. This was where we spotted Emmett.
He was assuming his scary pose, i.e. the one with his arms crossed in front of his huge bear chest while his eyes scanned the room looking for troublemakers. He hadn't seen us yet, as he still looked very fierce. Alice grabbed my hand and we made our way over to where he stood. Once he spotted us, he broke out in a big cheesy grin. It looked pretty comical with his limbs still crossed tightly, and I nearly laughed out loud, but he relaxed and motioned for us to come over.
"EMMETT!" Alice and I said in unison, taking turns giving him a hug.
"So glad you guys came! Alice, haven't seen you in ages. Does Jasper keep you chained up to a radiator in the basement or something?"
"Well, not the radiator, but the other night we did try..."
"Alright, let me just stop you right there!" I cut in, trying to erase the images that were fighting to sear themselves into my brain. Alice just shrugged.
Emmett laughed. "Anyway, how's it going?"
"Just peaches, baby!" Alice said, in her singsong voice.
"Glad to hear it," he replied, smiling, before he turned towards me. "Bells, miss me yesterday?"
"Well, of course I did. It's always dull as dishwater around the shop without you making an appearance, Emmett." I smiled to show him I meant it.
"Yeah, but after work certainly got more interesting, didn't it?" Alice said, elbowing me in the ribs.
My eyes got big, but Emmett's got bigger. "What's this? Bella, did you…" He was cut off and we were all distracted, thankfully, by a commotion across the room. It looked like a fight might have been breaking out, but I couldn't tell for sure. "Shit, I gotta go see what's going on. I'll find you all later, alright?"
"Sure, you go get in there and whoop some ass!" Alice said.
"And be careful," I added.
He smiled and took off in the direction of the fracas.
I rounded on Alice. "Woman, what the hell?! Where's your filter at tonight?"
She did her best to look innocent, but I knew better. "What? It's true, isn't it?"
"I suppose, but I don't want you telling everybody! It doesn't exactly present me in the best light, you know."
"Oh Bella, come on. This isn't everybody, these are your friends you're talking about here. We all know you're not some bed-hopping slut."
"Just the same, I'd rather you not make it common knowledge. Please?" I tried to do a pouty face for her, but it was nowhere near as good as the ones she used on me.
"Alright, fine. I could maybe leave out the part about the...dessert. But if anyone asks me directly, it's only fair that I confirm you were out on a date."
I let it drop, though I was sure I wouldn't hear the end of it. We ordered some drinks at the bar, and then started to make our way upstairs to find somewhere to sit. A couple of tipsy looking girls got up from a table near us, taking their drinks, so we rushed over to grab the spot. We sat down and started talking about the same old stuff we usually talked about when we got time alone together – our jobs, Jasper, entertainment news, sad people at the bar, and so on. I didn't want to bring up Edward or last night again because I didn't want to ruin the light mood, but I did eventually. Guess I couldn't help myself.
"So, I called Edward before we left earlier."
"Mmhm," Alice said, sipping on her cocktail.
"To thank him for the flowers, you know."
"Right. How'd it go?"
"Alright, I guess. It was pretty short because he was really busy at work."
She nodded, and looked at me as though waiting for me to continue.
"He said he'd call me later or tomorrow, but I didn't realize until after we hung up that I never got to give him my number. I guess I'll have to call him back some time."
We sat there quietly for awhile finishing our drinks. We decided to get our one good drink out of the way early, and then just have water the rest of the night. I didn't feel like having too much to drink because my stomach was already in knots, and Alice was driving. We finished our girly drinks, and then Alice grabbed hold of my arm. "Let's dance!"
I ran along behind her, as if I had any choice in the matter, and we walked down the stairs towards the dance floor. We danced through four or five songs, mostly with each other, occasionally sharing some space with a guy. There were occasionally a couple of guys that you could dance with and didn't take that as an invitation into your pants or to rub up against you. It wasn't bad, though I couldn't help wishing that I was there with Edward instead of whatever guy I was trying not to hurt while I danced with him.
No no, I wouldn't ever want Edward to see me dance. Very bad seduction technique.
The song ended and I said thanks to the guy I was dancing with, and we went our separate ways. Alice had gotten further away from me, probably just as well for her own safety, and I saw her waving at me to come over to where she was. I wonder what she's so eager about. As I got closer to her, I saw the back of a male profile blocking part of my view.
"Hey, why all the waving?"
The guy turned around, and was smiling at me like the Cheshire Cat. I instantly got a bad feeling.
"Bella, this is Mike."
Oh dear God no.
"Nice to meet you, Bella," he said, holding out his hand for me to shake.
I glared over at Alice and she just smiled at me. I reached out and shook his hand, "Hi Mike." His hand was clammy, and his grip was sort of limp.
"Mike's in insurance, and has his own boat!" Alice said, as though trying to sell me on him. He wasn't exactly ugly by any means; he had sun-bleached blonde spiky hair and small dimples in his cheeks that gave him a boyish charm. But I honestly wasn't interested, and I didn't know what Alice was up to. I decided that it wasn't this guy's fault, so I would play nice and then let loose my wrath later on my diminutive best friend.
"Oh, your own boat? Do you sail?" I asked, trying to appear somewhat social.
"It's not a sailboat, it's just a Ranger. A fishing boat."
"Oh."
We all stood there for a minute, in an uncomfortable silence. Alice broke it by saying, "Well, I'm going to go to the ladies. I'll catch up to you later, Bella!" I shot her a "don't you dare leave me here alone" look, but then she was gone.
He watched her go and then turned back to me. "By the way, my name's Mike Newton."
I nodded but was distracted trying to see where Alice had gone. "Bella Swan." I didn't mind telling him my last name because I wasn't in the phonebook anyway.
"B.S."
"What? It's not bullshit, that is my name," I replied, a little indignantly.
"What, no! I mean your initials, B.S."
"Oh." Wow, I'd never heard that before. This would probably have been funny if I wasn't standing here listening to it myself right now. "So, what is it you do again?" I said, trying to get things back on track.
"Oh, I'm in insurance!" His face perked up when he said the word, and I could tell he was in his element now. Great. "I deal in auto, home, life, basically any policy you can think of. It really is a very interesting field, why the risk assessment alone…"
He went on and on like that for a solid fifteen minutes, but by then I had had enough.
"Look Mike, I have to go to the ladies room. I'll see you later." I scurried off, trying to get through the crowd as fast as I could. I went into the bathroom and hid myself in a stall.
My God, why me? Why are all the social rejects attracted to me? It seemed like any time I did get approached at a club it was by a guy who couldn't hold a real conversation at all or was just looking to get laid for the night. Or a mix of both, in some cases. This was exactly why I had been single for so long – I haven't had a real man pique my interest in years. Well, until Edward Cullen at least.
Yeah well, that was a one time deal.
This realization made me sigh, heavily. Coupled with that and my icky feeling from being around that Mike guy for about fourteen minutes too long, I was ready to call it a night. I reached into my back pocket for my phone to check the time when I noticed I had a message.
Odd, the only person who ever actually calls is here with me tonight.
I pressed playback and tried to listen, but it was just too damn loud to hear anything. I closed my phone and came back out to the bar, looking all over for Alice. I finally spotted her over at the main stage downstairs, chatting up Emmett. I fought my way over through the crowd and Emmett spotted me and waved first. My eyes were locked on Alice, though.
"Thanks SO much for leaving me cornered with that guy, dear friend."
"Oh Bella, surely he wasn't that bad."
"Alice, he talked nonstop about insurance and then tried to sell me some. I also couldn't get a word in edgewise, and he smelled like soup!"
"Ooh, like chowder?" Emmett piped in.
"Tried to sell you insurance, seriously? Alright, I am sorry. I just thought you needed a little help to get back in the game."
"Was it chicken noodle?" Emmett said. I avoided looking at him.
"What game?" I asked her.
"The love game, Bella."
"How about tomato?"
Ignoring Emmett again, I laughed a little self-deprecating laugh. "Alice, I'm out. In fact, I've been on the bench so long, I don't even know how to play anymore."
Before Alice could retort, Emmett said, "It was alphabet, wasn't it?"
"Emmett, for Christ's sake...YES! That's exactly what it was, alphabet!" I said, glad to have finally solved the mystery.
"Haha! That must've been Mike then. In that case, I really feel for ya, Bells."
I gave Alice a knowing look, and she got the hint. "Alright Emmett, we are outta here," she said, and we both leaned it to give him a hug. I said goodnight, and Alice grabbed hold of my hand so we wouldn't get lost on our way to the front door. Mr. Alphabet Soup himself popped up at my side before I had any time to react.
"Hey Bella, there you are. I waited outside the bathroom for you, but then I realized that it was the men's room and..." He trailed off as his eyes looked down to my hand linked with Alice's.
"Bella, are you uh...le..leaving with..."
He seemed at a loss for words, and I nearly lost it when I realized why. Alice was quicker than me though, and leaned over to give me a quick peck on the cheek.
"Sorry! Looks like only one of us is getting lucky tonight, sport." She winked at him and pulled me away. I turned around to catch him standing, completely dumbstruck with his mouth open. Once we got outside, we both broke out into laughter.
"My God, Alice," I said, in between snorts, "that was beautiful."
"Hey, it was the least I could do. And like I've told you before, nobody messes with my Bella."
We walked to the car, still giggling.
"You guys were right, you know. I thought you were both exaggerating, but he really did smell like alphabet soup."
I lost it again, and then got into the passenger side. After things calmed down a little, I remembered to check my phone.
"Oh yeah, I have a message," I said, scooping my phone out again to replay it now that I could hear.
"Hello Bella, it's Edward."
Good lord, that silky voice. How'd he get my number?
"I hope you don't mind my calling, but I got your number from Jasper."
Ah, that's how.
"Anyway, I managed to make a lot of headway in the case I'm working on, so I won't be too busy tomorrow."
And you're telling me this why?
"If you're free, I was wondering if you'd like to come over to my place for dinner around 6. We could eat and watch a movie after or something."
Internal squee!
"I know you're out tonight with Jasper's girlfriend, but just call me some time tomorrow when you can and let me know. I truly hope you can make it, and I look forward to hearing from you. Bye."
I slowly closed my phone and felt the biggest grin ever on my face. Alice looked over at me and also smiled.
"She's back in the game, folks!"
A/N: Tweaked this a bit on 01/22/13.
I had a hard time describing the club/bar as I saw it, but I hope I did a halfway decent job helping you all to picture it. Thanks again to my great beta, Cat, who graciously takes time from her own story to look over mine for me. hug
Thanks so much for the reviews, keep 'em coming!