Traditional
Chapter Three: Boys, Boys, Boys

It wasn't like she wasn't happy for her friend.

She was. She was incredibly happy that her friend found someone to spend the rest of her life with. And she was overjoyed that her friend wanted her to be such a big part of her journey to the big day.

She just wasn't happy about being involved in this part of the journey.

Raven licked her teeth and tried not to roll her eyes as a round of fruity pink drinks was brought to their rainbow penis themed table. A repetitive, over autotuned, overplayed, barely coherent pop song thudded out from the speakers, the bass making everything vibrate, including her chest, and she couldn't help but count the songs until it was okay to leave.

"Oh my god! Look at these drinks!" Her blonde friend exclaimed taking one of the martini glasses in her hand as if she had never seen a basic cosmopolitan before.

"They have little phalluses on them!" The red headed bride-to-be pointed out obviously, her accent thickening every word. "It's so cute!"

Her friend, Karen laughed. "Well, it's to get you used to doing it more often!"

"I just hope he's bigger than this," her pink haired friend, Jin, joked.

The table of girls giggled and snickered as they pretended to be the dirty naughty girls that they weren't, sucking on the lewd straws of their sticky sweet drinks. Raven had to stop herself from rolling her eyes again, pressing her lips together and pulling them back into a fake smile.

It wasn't like she wasn't happy for her friend. She just didn't want to drink pink drinks from tiny penises and wear a rainbow colored feathered boa and matching pin saying "bridesmaid" on her chest while surrounded by giggling girls and men in kilts with ridiculously tight shirts.

She looked away from the girls and looked across the room, internally groaning. Speaking of men in kilts in ridiculously tight shirts, four of them were heading straight for them with devious and charming smiles on their.

Oh great…

"Hello ladies," the lean but muscular build strawberry blonde with freckles sang as they reached their table. "Having a good time so far?"

All of the girls eyes light up as they nodded, giggling and licking their lips nervously. Raven wanted to scream.

"We hear there's a bride in the house," the redhead with freckles said, eyeing Kori down and holding his hand out to her. "And we boys, at The Traditional Kilt wanted to make sure you had a good time."

"Each and every single one of you," the dark haired, dark eyes romance novel model lookalike said as his eyes looking over them.

Raven tried not to bolt for the door but if any one of them so much as tried to grind on her, she was leaving.

"So who's first?" The dark haired super muscular one with blue eyes said, taking off his shirt and making all her friends blush and giggle, excitedly.

Raven tried not to gag as they rest of them took off their shirts to reveal the lean, muscular bodies they had underneath. While yes, it was very nice to look at - very nice, it was was so rehearsed and gross and the sounds of her friends shrills and gasps made her head hurt.

It wasn't that she wasn't happy for her friend. She just hated everything that was happening right now.

The now half naked men grinned as they crowded around them, perching themselves on the table and flexing muscles or moving the ladies chairs so they could dance on them.

Raven's lips twitched at the sight, unable to stop her eyes from rolling when she felt someone take hold of her hand. She turned her head to see the dark haired romance novel with the dark almost black eyes pulling her hand to his abs.

"Having a good night?" He asked, tactlessly, although she was certain that if she was as drunk as she wanted to be at that exact moment, she would've been charmed.

But she wasn't. She was as sober as a nun at church. Maybe even more than that.

"I have to go…do a thing, somewhere else," she pulled her hand away from his grasp and stood up, scurrying away from their dark rainbow corner of phalluses and mock lust.

She heard a few of her friends call out to her but she promptly ignored them as she walked across the room, ripping the feather boa from around her neck and pulling at her hair with a deep sigh of relief.

It wasn't like she wasn't happy for her friend.

It was just that she couldn't stop analyzing every single second of past few months, trying to figure out exactly what she could've done wrong. It was just that she couldn't stop thinking about what she could've done better or would've have done instead if she could go back. It was just that she had spent hours looking into reflections and dissecting every single possible flaw from the outside in until she was nothing more than a pile of ribbons assembled into a shadow of a person. It was just that she just got dumped horrifically, almost comically, a day ago, and watching all of her friends celebrate the marriage of another friend who was currently getting grinded and twerked on by some strawberry blonde guy while sucking a sticky sweet pink drink out of a tiny plastic penis surrounded by fucking rainbows and feathers and shiny plastic fringe, did not make her feel any fucking better!

It's just that she was miserable and she couldn't manage enough strength to pretend to be into all of that.

She let out another sigh as she pushed at her hair as she reached the bar, taking a seat there. She propped her elbow on the bar top and placed her head in her hand. Maybe a few shots will make this headache go away…

"Well, well…" She heard a voice hum. She picked her head up and opened her eyes, locking eyes with a pair of green ones. Lips turned up into an ever familiar and smug grin, and her stomach dropped. "Nice to see you again, Little Bird."

Her eyes widened and she stammered slightly in embarrassment. "I… You… What are you doing here?"

He arched his brow as he and gave a one shoulder shrug. "I work here."

Raven's eyes traveled the length of him behind the bar and saw that he was wearing the same uniform as the other guys - ridiculously tight shirt and kilt and all.

She coughed the image away as slid her eyes closed. "Of course, you do…" She drawled, tiredly, moving to get out of her seat. She stopped when she heard a chorus of girlish "woos" and turned her head. She groaned.

The strawberry blonde guy was strewn across the table as a bottle of liquor was poured into his belly button with a line of salt and limes balancing precariously on his abs. She watched as her friend Terra did a shot off of him, licking his body to reach the lime and salt before tilting her head back and let out another joyous "woo."

"Now do you really want to go back there with your friends and do shots off of him?" She heard him say. She turned her gaze back to meet him, his cocky grin shining down on her. He tilted his head as he cleaned a glass in his hands. "Or do you want to stay here and talk to my gorgeous face?"

Raven's tongue rolled in her mouth, debating between the two choices. She couldn't leave the party yet,the night barely being two hours old. But she wasn't particularly a fan of "scandalous" bachelorette parties nor was she a fan of doing body shots, even if it was off perfectly sculpted abs.

On the other hand, there was this guy. Her new neighbor who was egotistical and teasing and looked like a bad idea incarnated into a person.

"What's it going to be, Little Bird?" His tongue clicked as he fixed up another drink.

She sighed as she settled back in her stool. "The lesser of two evils, I guess."

"Oh, Little Bird…" He feigned pain, putting a hand over his heart. "That almost hurt."

"Eh… You'll live," she snorted, propping her elbows on the bar top.

He laughed as he drafted a beer. "What can I get you?"

"Anything that's strong," she sighed, pressing her fingers against her temple, trying to soothe the pounding headache that pulsed in time with the bass of the music. "That isn't pink."

He nodded as he pulled up a glass and fixed her a drink. "Having a rough go at it?"

"Do you not see that bachelorette party?" She said, nodding her head the table of "woo" girls that were her friends.

He chuckled again as he placed a drink that looked to be a seven & seven in front of her. "It's hard to unsee that eye sore."

His eyes flicked over her shoulder to the table and grimaced, making Raven turn her head. Ugh… Now they were all crowding around the bride, grinding in her face while the other girls continued to cheer and scream their approval.

"Seriously, guys? Give me a fucking break," Jason groaned, throwing a towel over his shoulder and moving to fill out another drink order.

Raven audibly sighed, turning around and sipping her drink. She licked her lips as the alcohol burned down her throat, her eyes flicking to Jason working behind the bar, taking him in up close and personal.

And Jesus, was he a sight…

His green eyes sparkled and shined with something mischievous and teasing, like he knew a dirty little secret, and his dark pink lips were turned up into a grin that she was certain could make anyone swoon. She followed down the line of his neck, lingering on his jaw so strong, it could cut diamonds, to his shoulders and arms to the expand of his chest. The lithe ropes of his muscles bulged and flexed under the tight, black stretchy fabric of his shirt, clinging to him like a second skin and making her mouth water a little. Her focus shifted to his large and strong hands that wrapped around and engulfed the beer taps, and she wondered if they were rough as they promised they would be. Dropping her sight to the red kilt that hung low on his hips, she nibbled her lip, knowing exactly what he had underneath it. Distantly, she wondered if he was, in fact, going traditional as the bar name implied.

"…about the bachelorette party, you know," she heard him say, and she realized he was still talking to her.

Pulling herself away from visions of his almost majestic nakedness, she coughed as she flicked her eyes up to him. "Hmm?" She tried to play it off like she wasn't checking him out, but the blush that peppered her cheeks told her truth.

He chuckled at her and shook his head as he poured another drink for another customer. "I said, I wasn't just talking about the bachelorette party. When I was asking if you were having a rough go of it."

"Oh," she sighed softly, her fingering the penis free straw of her glass with a solemn look and remembering all of yesterday's pains.

Jason glanced over at her as he drafted another beer. "I couldn't help but notice how stressed you looked last night-

"Maybe it was because some naked guy was shouting at me from his window," her smile curled up at the edge.

He chuckled again. "Let's not pretend that you didn't enjoy the view."

She gaped as heat rose to her face, coating it in a pink glow before she pursed her lips and took another drink of her seven & seven.

"Anyway," he wetted his lips with a smile. "I, also, noticed that you were barefoot coming in at just a quarter shy of eight o'clock."

"So?"

"So, Little Bird," he hummed, finishing up another drink order before facing her. He put his hands on the bar and leaned in close to her, crowding her in his scent of his cologne and something exotic and heady that she couldn't quite put her finger on. "Unless you have a habit of starting your parties really early and you were drunk last night, you were having a rough go of it last night, as well."

Perceptive…

Feeling naked under his softening gaze, she averted her eyes to her drink and took another sip, letting the alcohol buzz around in her brain. They barely met and he noticed more about her in their few minutes together than her friends, that she had known for years, did. As if on cue, she heard another chorus of "woo's," making her flinch and frown in disapproval.

He tilted his head as he looked at her. "You want to talk about it?"

Raven rolled her tongue in her mouth as she fingered her straw again, her eyes dropping to her drink again. She hadn't spoken about her break up to anyone since it happened, not wanting to ruin her friends rainbow filled joy with her rainy dark cloud. Without having anyone to talk to, it all built up behind her walls and it was beginning to eat her up inside, and this practical stranger was offering her a chance to unburden herself of this weight she carried.

But he was a stranger. And she wasn't sure if she should trust him.

He seemed to notice this dilemma in her. "I've done too many questionable things in my life to judge and I certainly won't judge you, Little Bird. You can trust me."

She nibbled her lip, meeting his eyes again and found something warm and comforting in them. Another chorus of "woo's" echoed through the bar, and Raven took a breath.

"Well…"

She told him the story about her blindsided breakup from the night previous. About how cold and impersonal it all was and how she thought that they would last a lot longer and that she hadn't seen it coming. She thought they were going on another simple date and she walked out heartbroken and a little bit lost.

And like Jason had promise, he didn't judge. He just nodded his head and listened. And when she finished, he fixed her another drink and very eloquently said:

"Fuck that guy."

She covered her mouth as she broke out into her first real smile of the day, feeling a bit of the gloom around her ebb away as his grin shined down on her.

"There's a smile," he commented, his grin growing wider. "I've been wondering where that was."

The night wore on and she forgot about time and leaving early. As cocky and sometimes crass as he was, he was actually really good company. He was smart and he challenged her wit when he teased her. His ever charming and boastful grin was infectious and it dashed away her troubles, making her forget all about the embarrassing penis themed bachelorette party and her horrible breakup, and made her feel close to being normal again.

The booze helped.

She turned her head back around to where she still heard the wooing, and she shook her head as her friends hung messily and unattractively on the shirtless men, who were eating it up greedily as they continued to get paid by these women. What was once pure fun, now looked like pure desperation, and she shook her head before turning her head back to Jason.

"Do you do that?" She asked, bluntly. "Grind in people's faces and let people do shots off your abs?"

He shook his head. "I could do that though."

"But you don't?" She slurred as she took another sip of her third drink.

"Why? Do you want me to dance for you, Little Bird?" He teased, a corner of his lip turning up.

She blushed. "No!…I'm just curious."

He laughed at her, shaking a tumbler in his massive hands. "I could dance for you if you want, Little Bird. It'll cost you a kiss though."

Her blush darkened and she pressed her lips, looking away from him. "Never mind. Forget I asked."

He laughed louder. "I'm sorry, Little Bird. I didn't mean to offend. I'm only teasing. No, I don't do that. I man the bar or I guard the door. I don't do that ridiculousness on the floor," he gestured over her shoulder to the men who were dancing on the tables, teasing the girls with a possible sneak peek at what was under their kilts.

Raven shook her head again and went to turn back to Jason when her eyes caught a flash of platinum blonde. She held her breath and blinked, scanning over the familiar masculine form from head to toe. A feeling of dread flooded her body when the man turned his head, glacial blue eyes catching hers.

Her eyes widened and she whipped her head around. "Shit!"

Catching her curse, Jason lifted an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"My ex is here!" She hissed, rehearsing an escape plan in her head. Bathroom? No, she would have to walk passed him to get there.

"Where is he?" Jason looked over her shoulder.

"He just came in. Platinum blonde hair. Can't miss him," Can't run for the door either. Fuck!

"He's coming this way," Jason announced, leaning close.

"Shit, shit shit!" She was running out of time!

"Want me to deck him? Just one good hit and he'll be flat on his ass," Jason offered.

Well, that's an idea… No!

"What's it going to be, Raven?" He asked, rearing at the start.

She searched her brain for a solution, a way out with her dignity still attached. She searched and searched until she looked up and met his eyes. She didn't know if it was the stress of seeing her ex again so soon after last night's embarrassing scene or if it was the booze talking or maybe it was a little bit of both when she opened her mouth.

"Kiss me."

He blinked. "What?"

Summoning all of her strength, she lifted her hand to his shirt, wrapping her fingers in the stretchy black fabric and pulled him in, planting her lips on his. She heard him let out a little squeak of surprise, and she squeezed her eyes while she prayed to every deity that he would go along with it and not push her away.

She sighed a small breath of relief when she felt his lips move against hers, kissing her back and lifting a hand to her cheek, his fingers curving around the lines of her face. She hummed at the feel of his lips, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.

His kisses were slow and deep and strong, drinking her in like she was something exotic to taste, nipping and sucking at her lower lip. She gasped when she felt his tongue trace the outline of her lip and she melted, forgetting about everything all over again for just a moment, her mind growing dizzy and fuzzy at the same time.

In the distance, she heard someone coughing beside her and she remembered why she was kissing him. Pulling her lips away, she turned her head to meet the icy blue eyes of her former lover. He had a fake smile on his lips as his gaze moved back and forth between Raven and Jason.

Gathering herself back again, she offered a small smile of her own. "Mal? What a surprise."

"I could say the same thing about you, Raven," he said, his English accent sounding so posh and smug. "What are you doing here?"

"Kori's bachelorette party," she answered, nodding her head to that ridiculous display. "What about you?"

"I'm here to pick up a friend," he shrugged before flicking his eyes over to Jason. "Who is this?"

Feeling Jason's calloused fingers crowd around her hand, stroking her knuckles. She flicked her eyes to him and blushed, noting his heady stare. "This is Jason. We're… We… I…" She stuttered, trying to come up with something to say. Shit, shitshitshitshit!

"We're dating," he saved her with a smile.

"Really?" Mal questioned with a roll of his tongue, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're already dating?"

"It… Happened, very suddenly," Raven shrugged slowly, looking at Jason for support.

He squeezed her hand reassuringly and smiled. "I saw her walking to her apartment last night and I ended up asking her out for coffee. And we hit it off quite well. Wouldn't you say, Little Bird?"

Oh, he was good at this. She bit her lip, coyly, and hoped she was selling this just as well as he was. "I would say so."

His grin grew as he looked at her and for the third time that night she forgot about Mal, just swimming in his warm and glowing eyes. Something delightfully foreign fluttered in her chest as she looked at him, her eyes dropping to his lips as his tongue darted out to lick them.

She would swear it was the alcohol in the morning, but for a moment, she allowed herself to imagine kissing his lips again as his large and rough hands threaded through her dark hair, pulling her close. She imagined the wonderfully delirious things his tongue would do to her as they kissed, and she wondered what it would be like to feel the muscles of his chest under her hand as he-

He stood up to his full height and turned his attention to Mal, snapping her out of her daydream and bringing her back to the present. "It just so happens that her girlfriend is having her bachelorette party where I work. Which is great because I was hoping to see you again and you wanted an excuse to be away from that."

"Yes," she nodded with a smile. "I'm not exactly enthused about being surrounded by rainbow phalluses."

He laughed genuinely at her. "So it's a win-win."

"Appears to be so," Mal's voice cut through their bit of dialogue, sounding a bit bitter.

Good.

"Well, I guess I should go tend to my friend," his lips pulled at the corners but it never quite made it to his eyes. "You all have a pleasant evening."

They pair of them nodded, watching him stalk away the crowd, and Raven breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for going along with that," She breathed.

"He's a fucking dick, so it's not a problem," he shrugged he picked up a glass and went back to work. His lips curved on one end again as he had thought of something funny. "But it's going to cost you."

She raised a brow to her hairline. "What do you mean?"

"One, I'm working and we're not supposed to let the customers kiss us. Two, I could get fired for that. And three, you stole our first kiss and I like being the one to kiss the girl first, no matter how good of a kisser she is," he finished, winking at her and making her blush. "So you owe me."

"And what exactly do I owe you, then?" She said, her fingers reaching for her purse hanging on her hip.

He hummed, pretending to think about it. "Along with our coffee date… A kiss."

"What?" She said with a deadpan expression.

"At the end of our coffee date, you let me kiss you," he reiterated as he worked.

She rolled her eyes, playfully and took a sip of her drink. "Yeah, I'll get right on that," she drawled.

There was a sudden ruckus behind her and she turned her head to see her friend Terra growing belligerent and angry as the tall and dark security guard talked to her, trying to calm down while the bride cried in a corner, being coddled and comforted by Karen. She saw Jin walking through the crowd towards her with an annoyed expression, Raven groaned, knowing that it was time for them to go.

"What happened?" She asked, climbing down from the barstool.

"Fucking Terra," Jin rolled her eyes.

It wasn't a secret that Terra was an awful drunk, going from calm and fun-loving to angry in a blink of an eye. Raven didn't even need to know the full story. She just knew that they were basically getting thrown out and that they had to get her out fast. She also knew to keep a close eye on a drunk and crying Kori because she will either attack someone or run away. Perhaps a combination of the two. So they had to move fast.

Raven turned back to Jason and gave him an apologetic look. But he kept on with his ever charming grin.

"You gotta go," he nodded, moving over to the cash register, closing out their tabs and handing them their receipts and cards. He leaned in close to Raven so only the two of them could hear. "I made your drinks free, so don't worry about it."

She blinked, looking at him with questioning eyes. "And how much is that going to cost me?"

He chuckled lowly as he pulled away. "On the house."

"Come on, let's go before Kori goes off," Jin slurred, tugging on Raven's arm.

Raven nodded, following behind Jin. She cast one last glance over her shoulder at Jason and looked at him with a disappointed expression.

"See you back at home, Little Bird," he called with a simple wave.

She lifted her fingers and waved, giving a small smile. "See you…" she lipped, feeling saddened that she had to leave.

It wasn't that she wasn't happy for her friend. And it wasn't that she didn't love her friends dearly.

It's just that chasing and coddling two drunk girls for the better half of the night was not nearly as appealing as getting lost in the candy apple green and teasing pools of his eyes.