Hey! Sorry about the long wait. Just moved states and am dealing with all the stress of the move and finding a job, yuck! xP

Have kind of mix feelings about this chapter, but the next one should be better and out pretty soon seeing as I'm almost actually done writing it lol! Anywho, thanks for your patience hope you enjoy!

Love!

"Are you sure about this?"

"Completely! The guests we serve are almost always women. Either celebrating a birthday or just looking for some mild fun. They get all boozed up and giggly then practically throw their wallets into the tip jar!"

"Alright… but I've never done anything like this before. How will I know what to do?"

"Just copy what I do and look pretty. I guarantee that it'll be the easiest money you've ever made."

The conversation from two hours earlier played in your head as you watched over half the women in the room eyeball Steve, the remainder seeming generally interested in what you were saying.

"Alright, that about wraps it up! Feel free to add whatever remaining touches you want and enjoy your masterpiece! We here at Painting with Perks would like to thank you for joining us this evening and feel free to come back any time!"

There were a few cheers as you finished your little speech, most of the women showing off their paintings to their friends and gathering their things while a few of the more inebriated ones went up to flirt with your newest blonde friend. You thought that he was actually handling it all surprisingly well. You had no doubt that he was uncomfortable, his stiff militant posture clearly showed that, but he kept up a friendly smile and professional attitude despite it all. In fact, you didn't remember seeing him blush once throughout the entire night, which was kind of strange for the shy sometimes-awkward Steve you'd come to know.

"So, who's the new boy toy?"

You turned to your left to see a leggy brunette watching you with a devious smirk.

Letting out an amused snort you shook your head at your long time friend, "He's not a boy toy and his name is Steve. He's my new neighbor."

"Oooh, neighbor and potential romp in the sheets?"

"No, Lisa, neighbor and potential friend."

"Wait, you're telling me that you live next to that," Lisa paused to give an over the top wave towards Steve who smiled back awkwardly, "and you just wanna be friends?!"

"First off, lower your voice! And second, yes!"

"Unbelievable…"

"What?"

"You're unbelievable!"

"Because I'm not interested in hooking up with every guy I meet?"

"Every hot guy you meet, there's a difference. And yes!"

You rolled your eyes before they met Steve's again; his silently begging you to rescue him from the small group of women that still surrounded him.

"You do this every time! Meet an obnoxious, unattractive jerk and you bag him in a day. Meet a sweet, attractive guy and you brother-zone him!"

"I don't brother-zone guys!"

"Yes, you do! When was the last time you dated a guy who was nice to you and attractive? Hell, when was the last time you went on a date?!"

"Ok, Lees, sweets, I love ya. But just because you're in a serious long running relationship and can't run around flirting with every cute guy you see now, doesn't mean you can live your sex life vicariously through me."

Lisa paused giving you a contemplative pout before turning back to look at Steve, "…He's so cute though…"

A laugh burst from your lips before you could stop it, "Yeah, and he's really sweet. I think he has a hard time talking to women though…"

"What? How could a guy like that have a hard time talking to women?" Lisa raised a brow as Steve tried to nonchalantly remove one of the woman's hands from his arm only succeeding in backing himself further into a corner, "Although, now that you mention it…"

"Yeah… We should probably help him out…"

As the two of you made your way over Lisa cupped a hand around her mouth, projecting her voice throughout the room, "Alright, people! We're gonna start cleaning up and shutting down for the night! Make sure you have all your things, a designated driver, and we hope to see you again sometime!"

As the announcement came to an end the remaining people in the room all began to shuffle out, including the women surrounding Steve, one or two giving a wink while another slipped him a small piece of paper.

"How ya holding up, Cassanova?"

Steve shook his head but still gave you a small smile, "I'll survive."

"Hi, I'm Lisa."

"Steve. Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Steve replied reaching out to shake Lisa's hand.

Lisa's hand shot back, a look of revolt painting her features, "Ew! Don't call me 'ma'am'! Makes me sound like I'm turning into my great aunt Gertrude…"

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" the look of pure embarrassed horror on Steve's face was enough to turn your insides and you quickly jumped in.

"Don't mind her, Steve. Lees here just loves to over-react."

"I don't overreact!"

"Whatever you say, ma'am."

She literally shivered in disgust before fixing you with a stern glare, "I hate you."

"Aw…. Love you too."

"That being said, here's your cut. You guys made a cool $500 tonight."

"Sweet!" You said pocketing the cash. "I believe there was also mention of a $10 dollar bonus?"

"It's in there. Oh! Before I forget, are you guys coming to the art fest tomorrow?"

"I knew there was something that I was forgetting!"

You both turned to Steve with hopeful looks, "I… didn't even know there was one…"

"Really? I kind of assumed this one would've told you about it," Lisa replied nudging you with a suggestive look that you chose to ignore.

"What?! I forgot! I've had a lot on my plate recently!"

"New season of Walking Dead come on Netflix?"

"They just can't find a safe place to live!"

"Riiiight, anyway, you should come, Steve. And drag this one along with you. She gets all wonky if she's left on her own for too long…"

"Alright! Well, that's my cue! Exit stage… that way," you announce making your way towards the exit with Steve trailing behind you.

"I'm serious about tomorrow!" Lisa shouted after you, "You both better be there or I'm hunting you down, Y/N!"

"Why just me?!"

"You know why!"

You shook your head as you and Steve stepped outside into the cool city air, both sharing an amused look.

"Your friend's…something else."

You grinned, "Isn't she though? Love of my life. Oh, here's your share by the way. You did great!"

"All I did was literally copy everything you did," Steve said with a snort.

"Yeah, and you were great at it!"

With a small laugh the two of you fell into a companionable silence as you walked down the streets of New York. It was about ten at night but the streets were still alive and thriving with the sounds of people and cars.

"So," you broke the silence with as much nonchalance as possible, "do you wanna come hangout at the artfest?"

"And spend the whole day with a beautiful dame? What guy could refuse?"

Your feet immediately stopped walking as you stared up at Steve in shock. Steve's face started to redden as his words seemed to catch up to him and he took your reaction as horror.

"Holy shit… "
"I-I'm so-"

"There's a smooth talker underneath all that blushing and stuttering!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything by it!"

You leveled the blushing blonde with a hard stare, crossing your arms and leaning your weight on your hip, "About which part? Coming to the festival or me being beautiful?"

Steve's hands flew up in a placating manner, "No! No! That's not… what I …meant…"

Steve trailed off as he noticed your losing battle to keep from laughing. His horrified expression quickly melting into deadpan as your laughter finally burst free.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! That was mean, " you admitted fighting to keep at least some composure. "You're just so adorable when you get all flustered like that!"

Blue eyes seemed to regard you for a moment before he shook his head with an amused huff. He looked at you another good moment and you could swear that he had a retort or something to say but instead he simply stuck his hands in his pockets and continued walking. If it weren't for the humored smile on his face you would have thought he was upset. You had to quicken your pace to keep up with Steve's much longer strides and gave him a friendly shoulder to… well, bicep bump.

Steve replied with the raise of a blonde brow, face still looking amused even if his eyes seemed to hold you in a slightly different light now, "So, I was thinking…"

"That doesn't sound good," Steve muttered earning another playful nudge from your shoulder.

"It's Friday, I'm feeling good, and we just made a killing thanks to someone's boyish good looks," Steve couldn't seem to fight the instinct to duck his head and try to cover the sudden pink and smirk that covered his face as your elbow nudged his side, "Let's go get plastered!"