i like the way you work it / LEO

[Faye Stanley]

As Faye had expected, the bathrooms in the club were absolutely mobbed. About seven girls stood in front of the mirrors, elbowing each other carelessly as they prodded at their make-up and fluffed up their hair, pouting and primping. Another couple of intoxicated ladies were lounging around in the corner, shrieking with laughter and comparing outfits and nattering nineteen to the dozen. The cubicles were all full at first, and Faye hovered impatiently beside them; most of the door were closed, but a few were half-open, usually taking two girls at a time, the less intoxicated helping the other out. Once one became free, she dodged quickly around a rather taller girl and locked herself in, forcing herself to breath in and out. Her movements were clumsier than usual; this nearly always happened when she went out - one minute she felt perfectly sober and knocked back drinks and a little while later she was buzzing without knowing how. 

Once she finished up, she ducked quickly over to the sinks, pushing her way forward and washing her hands with deliberation before dodging a couple more girls and making her way back into the club. The dancefloor didn't hold much appeal for her anymore, and frankly she didn't fancy going back to cock-block Addie. There was only one thing for it - she began navigating her way towards the smoking area, fishing her lighter out of her bra and producing her packet of cigarettes from her pocket. She found the place easily enough, although she was stumbling slightly on her heels - she was rather unused to heels, because she was of the opinion that they were a total waste of time and only caused immense pain. 

The smoking area, however, felt rather comfortable - it was always the best place for her to go. Popping the cigarette between her lips, she made a few clumsy attempts to light it, managed it finally, popped the lighter back into her bra and began weaving her way through the other smokers towards a quieter corner. As she moved, the area became less populated, and the light breeze was brilliantly refreshing. She liked this level of drunk, she decided - warm and a bit blurry, but not puking or staggering about or flashing her knickers around the place. She wouldn't have been able to bear that, because she liked being in control. And, just as she was deciding this, she walked straight into someone about a head taller than her.

Clutching his arm in order to keep her balance and very nearly prodding him with her fag, she let out a laugh and cried, "Sorry, mate! Wasn't looking where I was going!" - far more cheerfully that she would've done sober, and yet with the same tinge of sarcasm. 

[Leo Robins]

For a guy at a club surrounded by dozens of pretty girls and bare skin and loud music, Leo was maybe not the happiest he could have been. Somehow, he'd managed to lose Kieran in the crowd and he knew approximately zero other people in this club. Why had they thought a muggle club would be fun again?

Oh, right, it was to 'meet girls they'd never have to see again'. Genius. At least the bathrooms were reasonably clean, despite the drunkenness level of the clubbers. With a sigh, he shoved himself in between a couple that were flirting heavily and yet refusing to kiss each other for some godforsaken reason and swerved around some drunk guys to head to the smoking area. Kieran might be elsewhere, but at least he could get away from the pounding music of the dance floor for a bit.

He wasn't even that drunk, which was a travesty, in his opinion. But the bar was too far in the other direction and he was at least slightly tipsy, so he navigated his way to the smoking area and began looking around for Kieran's ridiculous head of blond hair. He wasn't having much luck when someone, a very small and feminine someone, bumped into him.

"Uh," he said eloquently, blinking down at her and offering his other arm to help her steady herself, since she'd claimed one already. "No problem," he added, a bit bemused by the sarcasm in her not-entirely-sober voice. But she was pretty, with wild dark hair and a cigarette in her mouth that seemed absurdly tempting from his angle, so he found himself saying, "Are you sure you're okay?", hoping that she'd maybe stick around for a while.

[Faye Stanley]

"Uh," she mimicked, cocking her chin upwards and quirking an eyebrow, simultaneously taking a deep drag and exhaling smoke right into his face. "Genius. Are you always such a witty conversationalist?" She stumbled a bit over the word conversationalist, but on the whole she managed to prevent herself from slurring her words too much. Up close, she realised, with a jolt, that he was handsome. Definitely not a frog. Lean and tall and graced with gorgeous eyes - and he had a really nice chin. A weird thing to notice, but she noticed it nonetheless, just as she noticed that he was still steadying her and they were very close indeed. She didn't really mind the proximity - in fact it felt sort of nice - but she wasn't quite sure about this bloke. He could be a massive creep, nice chin be damned. "Don't need that much help. You've not got a damsel in distress," she informed him, although she remained close to him for another couple of seconds, meeting his eyes unabashedly before laughing and untangling herself. She didn't walk away, however. She scrutinized him closely, albeit slightly drunkenly, inhaling with great pleasure. She loved being able to smoke out in the open - at home she often hung out of the window, or ducked into the back garden.

"Was that supposed to be a chat-up line? Bit of a grim one, really," she announced, cocking her head to one side. "But yes. Perfectly okay. All limbs intact." She gestured to herself, and was going to turn away and resume her smoking in solitude, but something made her stay. She appraised him for another minute, and then produced her lighter from her bra and her cigs from her pocket. "Fancy one?"

[Leo Robins]

Leo raised an eyebrow, only slightly offended by her sarcasm and more amused by her boldness. "Not when I'm sober," he quipped, which was actually probably true. He was a pretty fun drunk, according to his friends. She at least wasn't moving out of his arms right away, which he took as a good sign. "Wasn't looking for a damsel in distress," he added, voice lowering and a smile playing on his lips as she stared at him for a while, maybe looking for something, who knows, before she extricated herself from his arms. Her next breath fluttered over him in a haze of smoke and alcohol and he'd be damned if it wasn't absurdly sexy.

"I don't do chat-up lines when I'm drunk," he admitted, grinning a little at her bluntness. He wasn't sure what it was about this tiny, sarcastic smoker girl he liked so much. "They don't turn out well, I'm afraid. But good, I'm glad." He couldn't resist watching in interest as she fished her lighter out of her bra. Hey, he was drunk, so at least he had an excuse.

"Sure," he said, surprising even himself, because he wasn't normally a smoker. He'd tried a few in his time as a teenager, but it wasn't really his thing. But he wanted to stay near this girl, for some reason, so he accepted the cigarette she offered him anyway. "I'm Leo, by the way," he said, figuring it was worth mentioning if she was going to stay. "What's your name?"

[Faye Stanley]

"Yeah, well, there are a lot of good things to say about being drunk," Faye responded, sizing him up unabashedly. He was gorgeous and she felt confident and relaxed and somewhat sexy, but something made her keep her berth at least for another couple of minutes - he could be a frog in disguise, after all. "Good," she said forcefully, shaking back her hair and drawing herself upwards, as straight-backed as she could managed. "To be frank, I don't think you'll find a lot of distressed damsels, and if that's your type, you're screwed!" She had to raise her voice somewhat in order to be heard above the music and her sentence didn't precisely make sense, but she assumed he would get the gist.

"Shouldn't do them when you're sober, either," Faye informed him blithely. "They're embarrassing." She caught him getting a bit of a peek down her dress and threw her eyes up to the heavens, although she wasn't particularly insulted or irritated. She might have been sober. "They're tits," she drawled, dead-pan. "I know you've seen them before. At least," she surveyed him critically, "I hope."

When he accepted the fag from her, she seemed somewhat mollified, and moved in closer again in order to light it for him, her own cigarette stuck between her lips. Once she had finished her task, she didn't move away, instead opting for exhaling smoke into his face and saying, "Faye."

[Leo Robins]

Leo couldn't claim to be entirely certain what the girl was saying, but he heard something about distressed damsels, which seems mildly important to their conversation. Maybe. The alcohol in his system was starting to make his brain go fuzzier than it had been. She seemed even prettier now, as the song changed to a slower one and the lights dimmed even more, and he kind of wanted to touch her hair as she shook it out. But even drunk, he knew what manners were.

"I'm pretty embarrassing to be around when drunk," he admitted to her with a grin, watching her light his cigarette. "You don't have to stick around if you're worried I'll embarrass you, though." He was reasonably certain - or maybe it was the alcohol talking - that she wouldn't move away though. He sent her a funny look at her comment about tits and added, "Yeah, it's not like they're everywhere on display in here."

A little gingerly, he took a drag - it had been ages, possibly a year, since he'd smoked properly, but he still remembered how to do it for the most part. The smoke from hers ghosting over his face was a little disorienting but not more so than the combination of alcohol and the music and the lights; in fact, it was kind of weirdly refreshing. He didn't bother to return the favor, though, exhaling to the side and eyeing her thoughtfully as he did so. Faye was a pretty name, but it didn't seem to suit a wild-eyed, sardonic smoker like her. "Did you just come here to smoke?" he asked her curiously. He'd have offered to dance but he wasn't sure his balance could handle it right now.

[Faye Stanley]

"You seem like the type to be embarrassing around when you're sober, too, but hey, no worries. I've got no-one better to hang around with," she responded, pleased that all of the words came out the right way. That was the very best she could hope for at present moment. "They sort of are," she told him critically, in response to his remark about boobs. "Look around, mate. Not a modest neck-line in sight."

She watched him, finding herself somewhat amused at his trepidation as he took a drag, vaguely hoping for him to cough and splutter all over the place, spewing smoke. Unfortunately, he didn't. Pity. She did so love watching people fuck up smoking. (Not that she hadn't spent a while trying to get the knack. She'd coughed so ferociously after her first drag that the person who had given it to her nearly choked up a lung laughing.) "Well, it is - the smoking area," she said, widening her eyes mockingly, raising both arms in order to gesture around to the other smokers around them. "This usually is first port of call when you want a fag."

[Leo Robins]

"Thanks," Leo said, slightly wounded but not too much - he'd heard worse, mostly from his siblings, plus he was a little too tipsy on alcohol to really care. "Didn't you come here with friends?" Most girls didn't end up in random clubs alone, especially girls who looked maybe a bit too young to be in here legally. Speaking of friends, he should maybe look around for Kieran, but it'd be impossible to find him, he was pretty sure. Maybe that was the alcohol talking, but still. He'd wait till things started to slow down a little, or maybe use a tracking spell where he was sure no one could see him. Anyway, she was still talking to him, and she was pretty, so she took precedence.

"I meant the club," he told her, having mostly only caught her last statement, a bit more amused by her sarcasm than he would have been sober. "Did you come to the club just to smoke?" Even as he spoke, he took another drag and could start to see the appeal of coming to a club just to smoke, despite his tone of voice. It was strangely relaxing, to focus on the smoke in a place so loud and crowded and filled with the stench of alcohol.