Distractions Necessary (Open)

That was slightly unfair. They might have gone home with her. Not necessarily for sex, but they might have gone home with her. She was speaking to each of them, informing them that her actual favorite dance was the tango, though most didn't know the tango anymore. And that yes, she did, in fact, enjoy country line-dancing as well. Chase would lose his shit on that one. But, she did. She was chatty and even animated, but she tilted her head as she looked at Ray to answer his question.

"Taken enough that I can guarantee that you don't really have a chance. You can ask her, but you'll get turned down."

"So Dave was right huh, Sugar Daddy?" looking Ali over as she laughs at something Victor says and then glances back at the area to see whom needs served before continuing to talk to Victor.

Erik fidgets uncomfortable, then takes a deep breath "Drop it Ray she also looks like she could kick the shit out of you." with a smile at Griselda "Oh another song we can dance too." he really liked the waltz 3 step beat.

"No," she smiled at Ray. "Not a Sugar Daddy. Just someone who realizes when he has found a good woman and will do whatever is necessary to make sure that his relationship works."

She looked over at Erik and smiled.

"I would love another dance, actually."

Erik smiled at her, "Now that is a smart man, and thank you Ms Griselda." taking her hand to lead her back out to dance.

While dancing, a more sexy number came on and Matieu cut in letting her do as she wished, but then a song more like their first dance came on, he paused seeing if she wanted to "ride" him again or go back to the table first.

She actually seemed like she might be getting a little warm and would like more of her water. It was an act, of course. But still, she had used her blood to look slightly flushed, seeming like she wanted to head back to the table rather than ride Matieu again. It wasn't that she didn't like the kid -- she did -- but she also put a lot of effort into seeming to be a regular human.

He walked her to the bar, "Should we leave you alone till Tuesday night Ms?" with that warm cocky smile at her making a seat at the bar available to her.

Her brow rose.

"Was that a poorly disguised quest for my phone number?"

"Actually no I was trying to give your poorly disguised dumping me and going back to the bar moment a chance to do so nicely..." he said with a confused look at her. "But if you're not doing so and want to give me your phone number...." with a more confident smile at her.

She actually laughed at that, reaching for another glass of water. Sort of. She was going for a bottle of water in the worst way possible. Because she owned said bar, she used the bar stool to give her leverage, then just leaned over the bar to reach for a bottle of water with a wink toward Ali. Yes, she really was just leaning over the bar to get a bottle of water. She took the water and gave him a look with her brow raised.

"I don't mind giving you my number. I wasn't dumping you."

"Really." going to help her get the bottle of water, he looked back at Ray and Dave, then looked at her "Erik and I will be back on Tuesday, but don't let your Bartender walk home tonight or" handing her 40 "I just paid for a cab, I just don't like the way Ray's acting about her." shaking his head. "But if you want to join us after the water cool, I will wait and be your escort -- or if you want to talk to the bartender without out me I get it too." with a nod to her.

Erik was back up at the Jukebox trying to pick his next group of songs to get her to dance to with him if he could get her to them before closing which was getting close.

She smiled at him.

"I can send her a text message to have her man meet her here. She probably already has that plan; he usually picks her up. But I'll make sure that she gets home safely. As for you, thank you for the escort. I'm happy to continue to hang with you for a bit longer."

And she did, in fact, pull out her phone.

He smiled at her, "Thank you and Erik is trying to fill up your dance card.  He's so happy and thank you." he said with a tone that had a big brother proud of his younger even though it was obvious they were not blood.  "He'll be on cloud 9 for days."


Ali checked her phone, then texted and texted again, looking up to make eye contact with Griselda with a nod.

She laughed softly.

"I'm not doing anything special. Just dancing with some nice young men I've met."

"To him it's special, thanks." he said with an honest kiss of her hand (by not touching her hand in the gesture) and nodding that Erik could come over to aske her to dance some more. He obviously was working up his courage to ask her to dance again.

She smiled and shook her head. She didn't quite understand why it was so special, but then, it wasn't really for her to understand the minds of men. It's why she was often in trouble, really.

"Well, then, you're welcome."

Erik looked to Griselda "Do you wish to dance again?"

She looked over to Erik and smiled, taking another drink from the water bottle in her hand.

"I would love to dance again. I do hope you picked at least one slow song."

"I did Miss." with a smile at her, going to take her out to the dance floor, and it was "Clarity" in a dance mix, then followed by All of Me a good slow song, and if she danced with him another song it was 100 years so 2 slow songs with Erik.

Ali was still busy behind the bar, it must of gotten out the boss was dancing because business had picked up and she was keeping busy behind the bar.

She continued to dance with Erik, and when the slow songs hit, she had absolutely no issue with wrapping her arms around his neck to scoot in closer to him. Close enough that they were touching pretty much from head to toe. She was short, so laying her head on his shoulder wasn't going to happen, though it looked like she maybe would have, if given the chance.

He held her close, danced with her and was the perfect gentleman the whole time, he didn't even place a pinky out of place and he was on cloud nine. If he could he tried to keep dancing with her the rest of the night, getting the confidence to even cock block Matieu and the guys he was with. Because she deserved to dance with a nice guy and he knew he was the only one.

Ali kept a watch on the club, adding more ice to Victor's drink and keeping up with the busier then usual night all due to the boss lady being in the club.

The thing was, being such a gentleman was just a draw for her. Most people didn't realize that -- she really was just interested in the 'nice guy'. Granted, most of her relationships had been with the bad boy of the group -- but that was likely because the only ones to actually show an interest in her were the bad boys. It was the nice ones that always drew her in.

Which meant that, as the slow dances started to wind down, she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to Erik's in a kiss. It wasn't exactly chaste (not like the kiss to Matieu's cheek had been), but she wasn't vulgar about it, either. It was sweet, but in no way did it come close to being the sort of kiss that she would share with Chase. It was her own little way of rewarding Erik for being such a wonderful dance partner and a genuinely nice guy.

He gently hugged her, then whispered "Thank you Miss Griselda." stepping back to take her hand and walk her back to the bar, where her water was because really he didn't want to take her back to the table after that kiss. "I look forward to seeing you and your friends on Tuesday?" making sure she was still coming back on Tuesday.

She was perfectly content to slide her hand into his when he walked her back toward the bar. She realized that one of two things were going to happen. One, his friends might give him a terribly hard time about that kiss, as youngsters often do. Or two, there were going to be a number of fairly jealous boys at that table that might take it out on him, either through good-natured ribbing or not-so-good-natured ribbing. Either way, she let him lead her wherever he wanted to. She turned to smile at him.

"Just Griselda, please. No 'Miss'. Makes me feel old. Yes, I'll be here on Tuesday as well."

"Then I'll see you then?" with a hopeful sweet smile and depositing her at the bar just like a gentleman would do.

Uh-oh. Oh, no.

Ali could sense the trouble coming, even from her spot behind the bar. Why, you might ask? Because she gave Erik another smile, reached across the bar for a napkin and grabbed an ink pen from a cup behind the bar. It was for when the orders came in from the tables. She scrawled a 9-digit number on the napkin and handed it to Erik.

"Absolutely. Unless I hear from you before then."

Cue brilliant smile. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), she actually liked the boy.