That sentence sits in my mind for a moment. The night is still young. Of course it is. We had barely christened the evening and made a dent in the night before we left. Back when I did this kind of thing before Juliet, I would have at least stuck it out till the early hours of the morning and then brought the girl home. This was a first. To actually have a girl in and out before 12am.

Lost in my train of thought, I distractedly swung my legs out of bed and let my feet hit the floor. Sitting up so suddenly had my head in a little spin, I had to shut my eyes tightly and breathe for a moment. I needed another drink. Or I suppose in another scenario, I could stop drinking, but I can't seem to grip that idea.

I glimpsed behind me where Stella had already pulled on her dress and was fiddling with the buckles on her heels, so I quickly got my pants and jeans back on. Standing up and looking for my shirt, she straightened up too and faced me. She pointed to my shirt with a small smile when I stole a look at her and I smiled sheepishly as I retrieved it from where it was peeking out at the foot of the bed.

Damn, this was my third cab of the night. I sighed inwardly so she wouldn't see, as I paid the driver once again. The ride here was quiet. I absent-mindedly took her hand as I had led her out of my apartment, a gesture I was so used to doing with Juliet. It hadn't even occurred to me that it could be weird until I felt her hand tense slightly in my own, and I realised it wasn't Juliet I was holding, in fact I hadn't held her in just over two months. My own body stiffened at the thought, but when I felt Stella relax as the cab pulled up, I let her pull me to the door and dismissed any more thoughts of Juliet.

We listened to the crappy radio in silence on the ride and stole glances at each other constantly on the short journey back to the club. Whatever I was feeling, I hadn't felt it in a while, and I didn't want it to go. I had a small inkling that it was to do with Stella, and whether it was because I was feeling so dry that my first lay in months got me out of my rut or if I was genuinely enjoying my time with her, I wasn't sure. I was hoping once the alcohol was out of my system it would be clearer to think about, but I wasn't ready to be sober again. This feeling right now, I wanted to keep feeling like this for a while longer.

“Uhm, did you want a drink?” she asked, leaning closer to my ear as we walked in to the club. The band had left now and a DJ had taken over. The quality of the music was better for certain now.

“I'll get us some if you want? You go find your friends” I replied, my hand falling on the small of her back so naturally as she leant in I didn't realise I was doing it again.

“Double vodka and coke, thanks! Stay by the bar okay!” she picked up her voice and started backing away into the crowd.

I watch her go and then watched the space she disappeared into for a moment before finally moving towards the bar. I tapped my knuckles on the wooden bar as I waited for our drinks. Wow, this was real? I was back at the club. As if 20 minutes ago I wasn't just laying in bed with a hot British girl. I mentally moaned at that again - why was being British so attractive to me suddenly? - while on the outside I nodded thanks at the bartender and picked up our drinks. I took them to the end of the bar and sat on the stool and waited.

And waited. Then I looked around, and then I waited some more. Oh God, she's not coming back.

Shut up. What did it matter if she didn't come back? I was only looking for something to take my mind off of Juliet tonight and that's what I got. I tapped my fingers again. I'll just drink her drink if I have to. It's fine. Whatever.

The tap on my shoulder that made my heart beat faster and then fall again when I saw it was Ashley, and not Stella coming back, told me it was actually not fine, and was not just 'whatever'. Fuck. This wasn't the plan. I didn't even want to come out tonight.

“What's got your panties in a bunch?” Ashley asked, seeing my disappointed expression when I realised it was him and my furrowed eyebrows as I tried to analyse my thoughts.

“Nothing.”

Ashley raised his eyebrows quickly but let it go, until he saw the extra drink next to my half drunk pint glass. “What's this?” he picked it up and gave it a sniff. Then grinned at me. “Who is she?”

I rolled my eyes and turned away from him on the stool. He sat down beside me and angled himself so I could see him in my peripheral vision.

“Did you take that girl home?” I asked him, turning the attention on him before he could ask me anything. Although I knew the answer already. I had most definitely been alone at our apartment where I was staying since Juliet left. Which meant that Ashley hadn't taken that girl home.

He gave me a look that confirmed all I thought, and with a sly smile nodded with his chin over to the toilets. Classy, as ever.

“Oh I'm sorry.”

At the sound of the voice I tore my eyes away from my drink that had become fascinating to me in the last few minutes and looked up to Stella, who was looking at Ashley with a confused expression. She spotted me next to him and smiled.

“Sorry,” she said again, this time with a little laugh, “you guys look similar in the dark from the back. Do you know each other?”

Ashley looked to me expectantly. I held his eyes for a moment, resenting that smile on his face. The smug look that told me he thought he was right for taking me out tonight because obviously I've met a girl now and everything is fine now. I snatched my eyes away and looked to Stella.

“Yeah, this is Ashley” I stood up with her drink and handed it to her. “The friend I was talking about”

“Oh sure, sure” she said, cupping the glass in her hands and smiling at Ashley. “Uh, this is Derek, and Andi, and Anna” Stella motioned to the small entourage behind her with a sweeping arm movement. “My friends.”

I smiled and nodded to them in turn and they recuperated the gesture, none of us really knowing how to act and probably not all that interested either.

“Oh hey! No way. You guys are from Black Veil Brides right?”

Oh, so a little interested I guess. I looked up to Derek who had asked the question. He was now looking at the both of us with recognition and a little drunk grin. I looked at him a little more closely, actually acknowledging him now. He had blonde hair, but in the light I couldn't tell if it was natural or bleached, but it was haphazardly combed back and suited him, with a strong jaw and stubble on top of that. And he was tall. I was definitely at eye level with him and I had an inch on my boots.

“Yeah that's us” I finally answered for us, realising it had been a moment since anyone spoke. “You a fan?” I asked hopefully, kind of rooting for a yes because I wasn't in the mood to hear what faggots we were tonight.

“I've heard some of your new stuff, yeah, it's pretty sick. Nice, guys”

I nodded, accepting the compliment. I could deal with that.

“You guys are in a band? Soo cool” Stella said, grinning. “Derek's into all that, you know, rock” she slurred.

“I'm versatile” he said with closed eyes, a shrug and a lopsided grin. He threw his arm around the smaller girl at the back, who hadn't spoken yet. Anna? She leant into him and he squeezed her shoulder. Hm. Maybe that was a thing.

I turned my eyes back to Stella and she was already staring at me, peering up from her drink as she sipped daintily on her straw.

“Maybe you can tell me all about it another time.”

I felt my lips tug up at the corners, and dropped my gaze to the floor to hide the smile creeping onto my face. Damn. When I looked up again with the resolve to agree to that offer but saw her biting lightly on her straw I swear I could have pushed her against the wall and taken her there. And with that I came up with the new resolve to definitely see her again. Juliet who?

Notes

HEY HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER
Idk, this story is very spontaneous to be honest, and it's got a lot of different characters to write about compared to Legends. As I finally seem to find the time to be writing again and I just updated Legends, I thought I would take a crack at updating one of my side stories too.
Hope you enjoy. I'm glad people have enjoyed this already and I hope no ones discouraged by the not-so-frequent updates. Anywho, I'll stop now. Laters.