Starting Over (Closed for Ohia Lehua)

[herman24]

After a long Friday commute home from the office, Brian Williams turned off his ignition and dragged himself out of his 2010 Ford Fusion. He was looking forward to a quiet Friday night alone, one of the few things he had liked since his recent divorce. No pressure to go out; no pressure to impress anyone, he thought as he ran a hand through his short brown hair.

Grabbing his phone from his navy blue pocket, he saw 8 texts and 2 voice mails with his tired green eyes. Once he saw the names attached to the texts, however, he knew it may not be the quiet night he hoped for. After turning the key to his new downtown apartment, he glanced through the texts from his friends Jake and Tim.

"Dude Brian, tonight we're going to Pure, that hot new club that just opened up. You gotta come. -Jake"

"Bri, we're going to Pure tonight, you gotta get out and be single with us again. It's been forever. -T"

Following those were the various texts to call them back and that they wouldn't let him get out of this one. He listened to the voice mails, his tired expression realizing he probably didn't have a choice tonight. They were headed his way and were due in less than a half hour. He kicked up his feet and turned on Sportscenter to relax and stretch his 6'2 frame before they arrived.

It had been two weeks since his recent divorce had been completed. If you would have told him at 25, he would be more happy with his career than his marriage, he would have kicked you to the curb, but here he was. Thankfully, they hadn’t had any kids so when he found out about his spuoses’ extracurricular relationships, it was an easy decision. Living with it, however, was not as simple. He had finally gotten comfortable in the downtown loft he found, and it’s location could not be beat. He wasn’t getting out much, but he also knew he wouldn’t run into his ex down here. She was too busy out in the suburbs with the older guys she was all about supposedly.

30 minutes after laying down, there was a knock on his door. "It's open..." he yelled out, before having Jake and Tim barge in with pizzas for dinner and a couple 12 packs for the evening. He gladly took a beer before the pestering began. He had expected it, and with them coming all the way into downtown from their hometown, he knew he couldn’t play dumb and force them to sit on the couch all night. In his mind, it didn’t take long for him to come, but he promised nothing in terms of enjoying the evening. In response, he got immediate retorts. “Dude, no, it’s going to be awesome, this is where all the girls go.” They both said, almost in unison. After shutting them up, he hustled back to the shower and figured he would just try to let loose.

After showering, Brian put on a dark blue button shirt and some jeans. He slipped on his casual leather shoes before finishing his beer and locking the door behind him. The boys weren't planning on crashing at his place, but he had his definite doubts. Lets see if this place really has all the girls, he thought. After the 5 block walk, he saw the line outside of the place, and again, wanted to abort the plan and just catch some sports for the night. Who stood in lines anymore, it wasn't college? Jake and Tim had nothing of it, and they were standing in the half hour wait line immediately.

*****

45 minutes later, they finally got in the door, and much to his surprise, Pure was packed for the night, and not with his usual crowd of beer guts at the local sports bar. Glancing around, he noticed multiple bars overlooking a wide open area that appeared to be the old basement. Approaching forward, he noticed the elevator and multiple staircases down to the dance floor, where a couple of smaller bars were located. You couldn’t have enough alcohol in a place like this apparently. There was a VIP area that overlooked the bar on the far side, but otherwise there were tables and high tops set up here. It was already loud, and he could only imagine how much louder it was below. This used to be his type of scene, but it had been far too long.

Glancing back to locate Jake and Tim, Brian quickly realized they had took off somewhere. It wouldn’t shock him if it was the dance floor, or to some girls they recognized. He didn’t bother chasing after them, and instead finally focused on the people around him. Well, they hadn’t been lying. There was quite the group of attractive females all over the place in seemingly random groups of anywhere from two to five. He wandered over to the bar on the right, and snagged a spot on the corner of the bar and railing overlooking the dance floor. He had his attention turned toward the dance floor, but he did need a drink, otherwise he wasn’t going to last.

Realizing he had focused on a group of three or four girls in the middle of the dance floor, he was interrupted from his staring by the bartender, who happened to be an old friend. “Dude, Brian….what are you doing here?” He turned to see his friend Scott, smirking. His ex had never liked Scott, but he meant well. He threw him a smile, before holding up his bare left hand, “Sometimes things don’t work out and you need a night out.”

“Good for you man!” Scott exclaimed, before immediately turning to the beer cooler, “First ones on me.” As he slid a Bud Light, still Brian’s favorite, to his old friend.

 

[Ohia_Lehua]

One of these days Bellatrix would learn how to shut her mouth. Surely after twenty three years of practice she would get the hang of it sooner rather then later, fingers crossed. It all started when her friend opened this new night club called Pure. It wasn't her type of place, preferring the hole in the wall bars where the drunk people tried to sing versus dry humping aka 'dancing' all over you.

Adam was complaining over having to fire yet another bouncer when Trix joking suggested that he hire her. It went down hill from there. He took the suggestion seriously and promptly started to beg her for her help, at least until he found someone that he could hire.

At 5'4" Bellatrix 'Trix' Hwang was slim with large breasts, shapely hips and seemingly harmless. The truth was since infancy her Mother had started training her in dance while her Father started her with Tae Kwon Do. As the only child she had to be both ballerina daughter and mortal combat son as well as the perfect Asian student. It was a rough childhood but when she was eight and they moved to America from Korea life got a little easier as the schools were less stressful and she was ahead of her class by at least a year. By the time she graduated from high school a year early she was a yi dan or more commonly known as a second-degree black belt in tae kwon do as well as being a classically trained ballerina with teachings in jazz, contemporary and hip hop.

As of right now Trix was between jobs as well as school and as much as she hated the idea of hanging out at a night club every night it gave her something to do and it was sad to see her friend beg. Okay, that wasn't the only reason she took the job. Adam offered to let her rent the downtown apartment that was only 5 blocks or so from the club. His family was hooked up in the real estate world and he had bought the apartment before meeting his soon to be wife and was looking to rent it out. Whatever the reason Trix was happy to pounce on the place. It was nearly twice the size of her place now and with the family price that she was renting the place out at it was only twenty buck more a month and she didn't have to pay utilities.

Tonight was her first night and Adam asked that she just keep to the floors and make sure everyone behaved and was happy. It seemed easy enough and Trix arrived a half an hour before the club opened to the public to check the place out there was already a line waiting for the club to open. Adam scored with the square footage of this place, it was a really good size and she groaned imagining how many people could fit in a place like this. If the line outside was any indication this place was going to be packed the whole night.

When the club opened Trix was seated at one of the many bars just watching with a sprite in her hand. The music that was quite then the doors were locked were not blasting over the speakers as people stated to drink and dance. Trix had wanted to blend in and wore her soft leather pants that clung to her body nicely, her heeled boots, a silver sequin low cut top that showed off an appropriate amount of cleavage without making her feel cheap and wore her black long hair down and wavy. At least that was what she was hoping to do with her outfit.

An hour into the night her hazel eyes scanned the room and spotted her first bit of trouble. A man was getting friendly with a girl and her group of friends were trying to fend him off as the target girl tried to get away. Trix cut in and told the guy to leave but he laughed in her face and ignored her. Again she put herself between the man and the girl, who had now enough space to get away and told him to back off. The guy was obviously drunk and now pissed as the girl and her friends melted into the crowd and disappeared.

"Bitch!" He snarled turning to face the object of his troubles, Trix. "What the fuck is your problem?" His words were slurred and Trix couldn't understand how runk this man was in the hour that the place was opened.

"I think you should leave." She calmly told him waving her hand towards the nearest exit.

"Yeah and I think you should fuck off. Or better yet fuck me." He laughed at his own crude joke and grabbed Trix's arm.

"Bad idea Mister."

"Ha!" The man laughed at Trix's angry face at having been touched. "What are you going to do about it?" He tugged on Trix's arm, pulling her towards the back exit.

Trix went willingly wanting to get out of the crowd of people, people who could get hurt if something happened. "Oh no Mister please stop." Trix sighed with boredom that the drunk guy missed.

"Shut it." The man hissed his eyes darting back and forth as he 'dragged' his captured prize outside.

"Thank you." Trix sighed happy to have the man do all her work of escorting him out of the club.

"What?" He was truly confused had having heard the woman thank him. "The thank yous come after this." He grabbed at the bulge in his pants and snickered at her dropping her arm as he advanced towards her.

Needless to say when Trix reentered the club she was untouched and the drunk was knocked out shoved in a cab on his way home. It was funny how just ten minutes ago she was hating this job and not she was pumped up with adrenaline and loving the turn in her night. "I think I might like this." It kind of felt like being a superhero, saving the people who needed it and busting the balls of those who picked on the defenseless.

"Hi can I get a Shirley Temple?" Trix asked the bartender behind the bar on the right side of the room. "Extra cherries." Perk number two of working at Pure, free drinks. Not that her shirley temple was alcoholic by any means but she now had a place she could come to on her days off and drink. Too bad she wasn't much of a drinker. The bartender, Scott or something like that handed Trix her drink and turned around with her back against the bar and watched the floor and the people around her.

To her right was a bleached blonde wearing the smallest, tiniest scrap of clothing that she dared to call a dress. Trix shook her head and wondered about the values people had where wearing something the started just above your nipples and ended at the bottom curve of your ass was acceptable. She looked away and checked out the man to her left. He was properly covered in a dark blue button shirt and jeans that looked like they fit. Odd how jeans on guys were wither to big and showed off their underwear or too small and tight and showed every single outline that they had to show.

It wasn't that Trix was staring at the man it was just her mind had started to wonder about today's generation and the standards of today and she hadn't bothered to turn her head back towards the dance floor.

 

[herman24]

Taking a quick pull from his Bud Light, Brian nodded back to Scott, thanking him for the kind offer of the beer. He would have to keep that in mind about this place if he happened to enjoy it, and also to make sure he got him later with a solid tip. It was easy to remember that a fun bar was an excellent place to have good friends. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he saw his two buddies pull up near the girls he had been checking out. He shook his head, but kept his attention for a little while longer until the song ended.

As the next song started, he realized his staring at the dance floor may look slightly awkward, so he turned back toward the bar. He didn’t have quite as much room as he had previously, which he quickly noticed was due to the girl next to him. He noticed her gaze on him, and was quick to avert his eyes over the crowd, including to a couple of girls in some of the shortest dresses imaginable. While they could have been attractive on some girls, these girls weren’t that type. As he took another pull from his Bud Light, he eyed the girl next to him. A bit shorter than him, he gazed at her body before realizing if anything, she should be the one in the dress. That wasn’t to say she looked bad, but exactly the opposite. She could have pulled them off, and pulled them off well.

Without an extra hesitation, he finished another pull from his beer, about half of it gone now. He let his eyes make eye contact with hers, noting the hazel color. He had been out of the game for a while, and froze briefly, thinking of what he could say that wouldn’t be too awkward. He brought his arm up slightly, not realizing how close together they were. He bumped her softly, on accident, but realized that was probably an excuse to being a conversation. “Sorry about that…,” as he looked down to see if she had spilled her drink or anything. Seeing as she looked to fit in with the crowd, he asked, “This place is packed tonight. Is it always this crazy?” Once he said it, he thought it sounded stupid, but he figured this was going to take some time and be a bit of a learning experience.

 

[Ohia_Lehua]

Trix hadn't realized that she staring until the man she had been looking and but hadn't looked away from caught her attention and made eye contact. Oh! Trix's eyes widened and her cheeks colored at the thought that she had been caught staring even though she hadn't meant to be. He seemed just as startled as Trix was and she quickly looked away and back over the dance floor.

When she felt him bump softly against her, she turned back and smiled. She wasn't sure if it was an accident or not but seeing as it didn't hurt anyone or anything she waved off his apology. "No harm done." She shrugged, winking at him. Trix's brows wrinkled at the question and she swept over the crowed bar and dance floor and shrugged. "I wouldn't know this is my first time here." She smiled. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's your first time here as well?"

The first time Trix had looked him over it had been for the sole purpose of seeing what he was wearing but now that he was talking with her she looked him over again and got a new measure of him. Tall. Attractive. Near enough to her age but older. From what she could hear he had a nice voice but that could just be because the music and noise was distorting what she was hearing. But what really pulled her in was his green eyes. They looked shadowed and Trix kept herself in check and resisted the urge to cup the random stranger's face and gaze deeper into his eyes. What a great first impression that would make.

"I'm Trix." She extended her hand the short distance it was between the man's body and hers and wanted for his introduction.