Julie slid into the passenger seat, flipping through her music list looking for a song, beating Ellen to the phone cord taking control of the music for the ride.

"You know we can have girls' nights that aren't at bars you know."

Julie waved her off. "Good music, lots of alcohol and usually cute guys, it's hard to pass up. Besides, where else would we go? Pottery classes? Movies? Blech."

Ellen shook her head, biting her tongue before deciding to retort anyway. "Maybe that's why you can't find a nice guy. Bars aren't usually a great place to be scooping for husbands."

Julie gave her a side eye with a smirk. "Who said I'm looking for a husband, yet?"

Ellen huffed through her nose in amusement before making a turn onto the main street. When Julie finally picked a song, she wasn't surprised at her pick. The two singing with smiles stretched across their faces.

'If you need a drink, then I'm buying

If you need a minute to think, I got time

If you need a shoulder, come over, it's all good

Baby cry on mine'

The two had designated it as their song, feeling it represented their friendship well. She knew no matter what, Julie had her back and she felt the same. There was nothing she wouldn't do for Julie. She wouldn't trade her for the world. And just like that, Ellen was put to ease, no matter how the night ended, Julie was going to be there. Of course she usually added to the evening's chaos, but she never left her hanging, through it all she could count on her. She never had a sister, but Julie might as well have been one.

'If you need a hand, I got two

If you're in the mood to dance, I got moves

If you need a night in, a night off, a phone call

Baby I got you.'

Ellen chuckled as Julie started dancing in her seat, turning to performing for Ellen. The two didn't care that the song was on repeat, it looped through their whole ten minute trip. Each loop the singing slowly turned to a yelling match between the two trying to out 'sing' the other every time the chorus came through. There was a point Ellen was pretty sure they may have been audible even through the closed windows. By the time she had parked, the two had broken down into hysteric giggles and Ellen was ready for whatever the night had in store.

…

"That guy over there has been eyeing you for a bit." Julie discreetly nudged her head toward the bar. Ellen resisted the urge to look.

"Don't do that Julie, I'm here to have fun," Ellen warned.

"Guys can be fun."

She gave her friend a disapproving look before taking a slow sweep around, hoping to look casual as she turned to see whom she had caught the eye of.

Seated at the far end of the bar was a taller gent with lightly tousled brown hair. Dark brown dress slacks and white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and top few buttons left open. He didn't bother hiding the fact he had been caught, continuing to watch her over the glass of dark liquid he was sipping on, giving her a wink in acknowledgement.

"Not very discreet is he?" She asked dryly as she turned back to her friend taking a sip of her lemonade.

"Can't blame him, you look hot as fuck, you're welcome," she replied smugly.

Ellen resisted an eye roll as she turned back to look at the man, finding herself already trying to find anything that might prove it wasn't just some stranger. He was tall, well dressed, and while she hadn't gotten a good look at his eyes, she could feel their intensity. She pulled her gaze away quickly, shaking her head. She wasn't going to go there, she was doing so well tonight, she was not going to let herself ruin it.

"Go over there and say hi."

"No way. I'm just going to make an ass of myself again. I'm not looking to die of embarrassment tonight, thanks."

Julie pushed to her feet and Ellens' eyes widened and panicked.

"Alright I'll go."

"What!? No! Julie don't!" She scrambled to her feet to stop her friend pulling her arm to get her back to the table.

"Relax, I'm only going over to say hi."

"Julie, we both know you are trying to set me up with a guy so I can forget about Alastor and we both know it's not going to happen," she whispered loudly.

"I'm not trying anything." She pulled from her grasp turning to stick her tongue out at her before leaving her standing there staring after her as she walked to the bar.

She watched as Julie effortlessly slid up to the guy, though she noticed his eyes flicked back to her.

Usually she was the flirty one, not one to shy away from making the first move, but since getting back she found she didn't want to be getting others' attention. It probably made sense, she was still wrapped up with Alastor, and while she chose to ignore it, her boyfriend Tristan, who was the jealous type, one to scold her if she even looked at another guy. She still hadn't heard from him, was he still her boyfriend? They never really ended it. She shook the thought off, she wasn't going to think about that tonight, tonight was girls night.

Julie must have said something because she turned and waved at her and if she was uncomfortable before it was nothing to what she was feeling now, her cheeks giving away her embarrassment.

She turned away back to the table sitting down, a hand up to prevent them from seeing her face, though it was more so to hide her face from them. In a few minutes Julie returned to the table with a big grin on her face.

"I think he's your type."

"I don't even know my type. I don't know how you think you know. Besides, I don't need help looking like an idiot, thank you very much. I seem to be doing that well enough on my own." She muttered the last part to herself.

Julie laughed as she plopped back down into her seat. "Don't worry, I told you I was going to wingman for ya. He's obviously interested."

"Yeah, well I'm not."

Julie rolled her eyes. "He's cute, and he thinks you're cute. Give it a shot girl. It's just a night of fun. It doesn't have to go anywhere."

"Then what's the point?"

"Uh to get your flirt on? What's wrong with having a fun night out?"

"I don't need a guy to have fun, I have my bestie."

Julie's smile pulled to its limits. "Hell yeah you do. That's worth a shot." She slid one of the three she had lined up in front of her across the table. Ellen smiled, clinking it to her friends.

"To my sister from another mister."

Ellen's smile matched her friends as she threw back the shot.

Her eyes shot to the dance floor as a song came on that she recognized. The one thing she was grateful for was the ability to listen to the music she liked again. She had the list that she had written in Hell, but she was always finding new things to listen to. Something she didn't get the chance to do in Hell. She pressed her lips together before she turned to Julie.

"I'm going to go dance."

"Good! Ask the guy at the bar!"

Ellen opted to ignore her as she moved to the dance floor. She found a spot off to the side where she could be undisturbed, that way it wouldn't matter if she sang along.

She much preferred dancing in the safety of her own room, maybe the shower, not where people could watch, judge, but it was better than having to listen to Julie bug her about being a stick in the mud.

She didn't know when the role had swapped between the two, it was normally Julie that needed to keep her in line. Now she had to keep an eye on Julie to keep her out of trouble. She smiled at the memory of pulling Julie out of a fountain drunk off her ass. Apparently she believed if she sat still enough she could get the ducks to sit with her. No matter how many times Ellen tried telling her the ducks were not going to go swim at two in the morning, she insisted. They barely made it out of the park before the cops showed up.

'I'm good, yeah, I'm feelin' alright

Baby I'ma have the best fuckin' night of my life.'

When the bass inevitably dropped, she joined all those on the floor jumping up and down fist pumping in the air, trying to let herself get lost in the music.

She noticed the guy from the bar had made his way onto the dancefloor, slowly working his way towards her. He didn't look like he enjoyed this kind of music and her chest panged with hope. Alastor would have hated this too. 'Distasteful noise' is what he would have called it. Maybe…

No, she was looking for things again. A lot of people had different tastes in music; it was likely he just didn't like the song, no need to overthink this.

"Hey."

She smiled, taking a good look at him now that she had a better view of him. Her lips pressed together in thought. It was surely too early to expect Alastor to show up, this was just some guy.

"Hey."

Of course the universe was against her. A slower song came on and she watched the guy smile holding a hand out.

"May I?"

She shook off the weird chill that ran up her spine taking his hand. One dance wasn't going to kill her. She had already told herself it was just a nice guy.

He pulled her closer to him though it didn't feel awkward. He led her almost effortlessly. It seemed all the practice she had gotten with Alastor had paid off. Her chest ceased at the thought. She had never fallen for a guy so hard. She needed to stop thinking about him and focus. She turned her gaze down to their feet in hopes of hiding the small blush dusting her cheeks.

"Chin up my dear, your feet aren't going to run away. You have my word, I won't lead you astray."

Her eyes shot up to him, he had an amused expression on his face. She pushed herself from him, putting a few feet between the two, a look of horror on her face. No, she was not going to do this again. "Sorry I, umm…" she just turned and fled back to the table only to find that her spot was taken by another guy. She blinked herself from her thoughts to find Julie had managed to catch the interest of one of the bartenders, the two now flirting back and forth. She was not going to sit there and deal with that. Uhgg. Tonight was turning out to be a disaster. Maybe she could find a corner to hide in.

She turned around to find the guy from the bar had followed her.

"I apologize if I said something that upset you. It was not my intent."

"No I…" She was scared? No. She was overthinking? Well yes, but she couldn't say that. Too drunk? That one would be believable even though she was the 'DD' tonight, like most nights. She didn't like alcohol anyway so it made it easier, only really drinking if she was looking at getting wasted.

"I'm just a bit drunk."

He chuckled lightly in response.

The second it left her lips she regretted it. She could have smacked her forehead, that was stupid. Of all the excuses she could have picked. She hoped she at least sounded light and humorous, because she didn't want this poor guy thinking he had spooked her. It was too late for her sanity, there was no recovering from that. She wanted the ground to just shallow her up.

His gaze moved to her table and she could have sworn she had heard a hum of disapproval before returning to her. "Perhaps you can sit with me while your friend is occupied."

Her head turned to give Julie another glance before nodding. She might as well let Julie enjoy herself. She was inevitably going to say something stupid to scare this guy off. Maybe she should just bite the bullet and say something stupid now, save herself from the awkward small talk. Poor guy probably already thought she was a nervous wreck.

She took a seat next to him, mercilessly gnawing on her lower lip from nerves.

"You look beautiful this evening."

Her face reddened again, looking down over the outfit Julie had spent twenty minutes putting together for her.

"Thank you."

They sat in silence for a while and Ellen was glad it didn't feel too awkward, it almost felt comfortable. He had ordered another drink for himself, a rum and coke, casually enjoying a sip every now and again. She couldn't help but notice he had crossed his leg getting comfortable. Another mark on the Alastor checklist. Stop that!

He paused in thought for a moment before he asked, "it doesn't seem like you're enjoying your evening. Why might that be?"

Her eyes shot up a bit surprised. Did she look miserable? She knew her boyfriend would tell her she had a bad Resting Bitch Face, but she didn't think she looked like she was upset. Too much to drink maybe? No she had only had the one shot, not enough to do anything. She sat up a bit straighter, a smile instinctively pulled to her face.

"I'm sorry I didn't…" She stopped herself. She didn't need to explain herself to this guy. "Sorry, I'll leave you to your evening." She moved to hop off the barstool but a hand stopped her.

"You're quite skittish aren't you? If you don't want to answer you don't have to. I'm just curious why you are here. I haven't seen you around here before."

She slowly turned back to her company. "It was my friend's pick, and I happen to like the music. It's girls night."

He didn't hide his smirk as he peered behind her to her friend. "Yes I can see that."

She turned to see Julie and the guy she was with laughing. "Yeah well she deserves to have some fun. Her best friend has been a stick in the mud the past few months." She smiled before turning again to face her company.

"So it's not just the music," he breathed.

"I suppose not."

She watched as the brown eyes slowly moved closer until they were only centimeters apart. She could almost feel his breath on her nose, the faint smell of alcohol lingering in the air. Her mind was telling her to pull away, this was too close but her body just sat frozen unsure what to do. She could have sworn she smelt something familiar. Something woody and a bit musky.

"Alastor…," she breathed.

"Who's Alastor?"

Ellen recoiled quickly, eyes wide, face flushing in embarrassment. Did she really just call this guy Alastor? What was wrong with her?

"I- um- it's- I'm sorry." She shook her head, unable to explain herself. She took a breath before trying to push through it.

"I never got your name," she managed to push out quickly hoping to brush off her stammering.

He sat back looking a bit confused before answering, "Dylan."

"Right well, it was nice meeting you Dylan." She quickly hopped off the stool giving him a meek smile before bee lining to Julie, her face no doubt scarlet. She pulled her best friend to her feet, grabbing her wrist.

"Bathroom."

Julie nodded excusing herself from her company, allowing Ellen to drag her to the bathroom. Once safely past the door she spun to her friend flustered.

"I did it again Julie, made a complete idiot of myself." She groaned. "What the heck is wrong with me?" She started aimlessly pacing the bathroom. "Why do I keep convincing myself it's…" She ran a hand through her hair not wanting to finish the question though she was pretty sure Julie had already figured it out.

"What happened? It looked like you guys were really connecting. Did he try to pull something cause I swear I'll beat his ass."

"No, it was me. I thought…" She shook her head. She told herself she wasn't going to do this. She literally called that guy Alastor.

She sighed, disappointed in herself. "I just need a few minutes."

Julie snorted, crossing her arms. "You need more than minutes, ya need a better therapist. Now what the heck happened?"

Ellen couldn't look at her friend, turning away ashamed. How many times had they done this already? Too many. She already knew what she was going to say, and it would just ruin the night and she wasn't going to do that. Again.

"I just thought it was him. But it's not so I'm going to just splash some water on my face and just …" She didn't know. Go back out there? That was not a pleasant thought. Would Dylan try finding her again? Probably not, she made a fool of herself in front of him. She turned toward the sinks splashing water on to her face before moving the grab something to dry it with.

"Just don't…" Julie started but was too late, now watching as her friend smeared makeup across her face. "...rub it," she finished coolly.

It wasn't until Ellen pulled back the paper towel that she realized what she did and didn't hide the devastation as she glanced up to the mirror to see her work.

"Sorry Julie," she groaned.

"It's just make-up, and you look better without it anyway." She moved closer grabbing another paper towel and wetting a corner before helping wipe the rest off of her face.

Ellen sighed in defeat. "I keep ruining these girls' nights. I have to wonder why you keep inviting me out."

"You kidding? These are a blast! How else am I going to get horribly embarrassing stories about you to tell my kids?"

"Your kids?" Ellen laughed.

Julie moved to wet another corner returning to her scrubbing. "Well you're not planning on having any and I can't let these great stories go to waste. Besides, it'll solidify you as the cool aunt."

"Yeah, cause going to Hell and falling in love with a demon isn't already over the top. I don't think you're going to get any crazier than that."

"The night's still young, don't test me," she challenged, though her smirk gave her away.

By the time all the smudges were cleared off she was back to smiling feeling much better.

"Thank you."

"Ah, what're friends for? Now if you don't mind I plan on getting the bartender's number."

"You're not going home with him Julie," she called after her.

"I make no promises!"

Ellen shook her head before turning to splash a bit more water on her face hoping to minimize some of the redness. Maybe some cold air would help. She took a few more steading breaths before working up the courage to work her way back out. When Alastor did finally show up, she wouldn't be second guessing herself, she would now. It was far too soon anyway so she could push him from her thoughts for now. Or at least try.

AN: Songs mentioned in the Chapter: 'I got you' by Devon Cole and 'I'm good (Blue)' by David Guetta & Bebe Rexha.