Pushing her way through the crowd was easier said than done. The better bands were on now and someone had started up a mosh pit near the stage. She knew from experience that the bouncers would have to be called in soon and then things would get ugly. In the past she used to enjoy it, since it happened just about every Battle of the Bands. Then again, generally she was in the mosh pit and Kraken was the one to start the disturbance.
Now she just wanted to find some earplugs, close her eyes, and block everything out. The closest thing she could get to that was alcohol though, and she was determined to get one. Finding a convenient seat (One far away from the two 'lovebirds) she ordered another beer and proceeded to drink it in under ten minutes. Then she fished in her pockets and started to order one more, just because the night seemed to be going that way.
"Allow me," a voice said smoothly.
Vanya looked up to see a rather suave man around her own age. He had rather clean blonde hair which went oddly with the black shirt and worn jeans. He looked handsome enough (Probably the booze speaking now) though, except for what appeared to be a jaw that had been broken at least once in the past.
"I can pay for my own drinks," she said, wondering if her tone was sharp enough and if not should she add a little sarcasm to it.
"I have no doubt of that," he said, sitting down next to her, "But as I said, allow me."
She raised her eyebrows and considered her next move. Normally at this point she'd have rolled her eyes and left the bar. She'd probably have added a flippant remark over her shoulder as well. However, the night seemed to be going in a different direction.
"Do you always do this for random girls at bars?" she asked, wondering where those words had come from.
"Sometimes," he said, "But this is more of an apology. You see, I do believe you were once in a band called-"
"The Prime-8's?" she said, wondering how much lemon juice could be poured into her many paper cuts that night, "Yeah that was the worst decision of my life. Didn't end well, I can tell you that."
"Well," he said, affecting an embarrassed tone, "I believe that at one of the shows I was rather inebriated and threw something on stage. A bottle I think? Or was it a glass? Or-"
Vanya nodded slowly as her memory came back.
"It was a bottle," she said, remembering well because it had smashed near her feet.
The embarrassed smile became more awkward.
"You got your jaw broken all of eight seconds later," she said, "I think that's penance enough."
His smile changed slightly before flickering back to what it had once been.
"Oh, for him I suppose but I do believe I owe you an apology," he said, "I've seen you around here quite a bit but you were always with your boyfriend and I do believe he wouldn't be pleased to see me again."
"Boyfriend?" she repeated.
"Yes," he said, "About six-foot two, blonde, never used a razor, has a habit of hitting people?"
Vanya laughed, somewhat out of the irony of the situation and somewhat out of the description. Bring on the salt too, just rub it in and watch it widen and sting.
"That's my brother," she said, putting particular emphasis on the hated title.
"And…apparently he's making some kind of motion to you now?" he said.
Tilting her head slightly she saw that Kraken was waving to her and pointing to the clock. She nodded back.
"Yeah, we gotta start heading back," she said, wondering if she should just ignore Kraken for a little longer.
"So, if he's your brother, then I'm supposing that the girl with him is your sister?" he asked.
Something inside Vanya snapped.
"Nope, she's his girlfriend," she said, completely turning her back on Kraken.
"I see," he said, "There I go again, mixing people up."
She laughed again, a little harder than she would've before. While she might not have been Rumor, she had had a few boyfriends in the past. She was completely aware how to flirt with people.
"Well, thanks for the beer apology but I'm afraid that just isn't going to do it," she said.
"Oh? A minute ago I had you saying you didn't need it."
"You know what?" she said, turning the corners of her mouth up slightly, "I think I changed my mind. It's not good enough anymore."
"Really?"
"Not at all," she said, moving a little closer to him.
"Well in that case, how about dinner sometime?" he asked, "Say, tomorrow, six o'clock, meet here then go somewhere a little less noisy?"
"Sure," she grinned.
He smiled again at her before looking over her shoulder.
"I do believe your brother is coming for you."
"God," she said, now rolling her eyes, "Anyway, see you then."
She got up now and was about to walk away when he said;
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the protocol here is to exchange numbers?"
She stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"Hold your horses there cowboy. We'll see how the first date goes."
At the end of her sentence she punctuated it with a wink. His eyebrows shot up in a way that was intrigued instead of irritated. (Good start.)
"Can we settle for names then?"
Vanya smiled at him before saying;
"Vanya Hargreeves. Yours?"
"John. John Perseus."
"Nice to meet you," she said with a coy smile before heading off to meet Kraken.
