Tuesday Night Dance 101 (Ali & Open)

Ali picked up the coffee pot, refreshed his coffee "Thank you." with a warm smile at him and a wink at him. "I'll pay you later for your help."

He winked at her, then looked at Griselda.

"Looks like she's paying for you. You're lucky, woman. Also, put some damned clothes on."

She blushed again and shook her head. Then she picked up her water and headed back out from behind the bar, to go and deal with the crowd, but with a new round of drinks for Erik's table. She was excited to see what Erik had actually thought about her dancing...though she was a little concerned when she had seen that they weren't watching nearly as much as the other people in the crowd were. Thankfully, she was both nimble and very used to crowds, so she could make her way through the bar with a tray full of drinks and even side-step and dance her way around people, even when they were surging toward her so that she could serve drinks.

Erik instantly stood the moment he saw her heading his way, he had been watching her mesmorized and wehn she made the table he looked at her "YOU danced so amazing I have no clue how you can do that with your stomach but I think you have found muscles that the rest of us have fully forgotten."

Ray looked at her "Is there a reason you didn't tell my buddy you're taken?" curious of her answer

She seemed thoroughly pleased with Erik's response, blushing a little as she handed out drinks. But just as she started to open her mouth to thank Erik, she blinked at Ray's question. She looked taken aback for a moment...until she remembered Victoria had been sitting there. And her instant reaction was to roll her eyes.

She leaned over to talk to Ray, but Erik could hear as well. "Because he left six months ago, so I'm not taken."

Abigail watched as things unfolded, not interfering but keeping on guard in case things got too bad. She stuck near Jamie, not doing anything to make things worse, just watching alertly

Ali kept her drink filled, a smile as she ran her ass off but the dancing was very good.

She stood back up and walked over to Erik. To him, she spoke softly.

"Thank you so much...I really hope you enjoyed the dancing. If you want to talk about my ex-boyfriend, we can. Just hang out until after the bar closes and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

It was that simple, really. At least for her.

"We can talk on Thursday and if you want me to stay tonight I can." with a smile at her and a hand out to take hers to show he didn't care.

That was a slight problem. She cared. She appreciated that Erik didn't seem to care if she had a boyfriend or not, but she wasn't that kind of woman. It actually upset her to think that Erik...or the entire group for that matter...thought of her in that way. Sometimes, she was so old-fashioned that it hurt. She really needed to remember the time that she was living in...it was so much easier to remember what it was like in the 1850s, when this sort of thing just never, ever came up.

She frowned slightly, but it was gone after just a moment, letting Erik take her hand and squeezing it gently. She flashed him a smile, then stepped a little closer to him.

"Well, I wouldn't mind if you stayed for a bit. But I don't want to mess up your schedule at all, especially if you have classes or work tomorrow."

"I took off tomorrow, plus I didn't think you'd agree to go out with me IF you were still seeing someone." he said clarifying his earlier comment.

That statement actually got a genuine smile from her.

"I wouldn't have. And if you're sure you'd like to, please do stay. Tonight is a little taxing," she said, glancing at Ray but gesturing with her free hand toward the very full bar.

"We've got a group thing coming up, I think you'll enjoy it," she said and winked.

"I can stay and I've only got eyes for you." gently squeezing her hand and rolling his eyes at Ray.

She laughed softly at that and gave his hand another squeeze before letting go. Erik really was just entirely too sweet.

"We added some humor to the whole thing. It'll be awesome."

She leaned up to kiss his cheek and then she was off, joining the other girls so that they could gear up for the group dance.

Once Griselda had joined the group again, the five women plus Victoria turned to make their way onto the stage once more. They formed a pyramid; Victoria in the front, Griselda and the blonde in the second row and the other four women behind those two in formation. And even Victoria, Romanian by birth, wondered if anyone would get the joke as the first strains of music began.

It started like many of the other songs that had been played that night. The stringed instruments that had accompanied what had been a very traditional sort of dancing that had taken place in the evening. This dance involved finger cymbals as well. She knew that at least two of the members of the audience (Bunicul and Elizabeth) would get the joke as the seven women just decided to have fun. When the dancing started, it was much more modern, and the song was one that the majority of the people in the bar could both recognize and sing along to.

He had watched, largely unfazed by the entire thing. He almost looked bored. His face was a blank mask until the song started to play and the ladies began to dance as a group.

A genuine, loud laugh came from the man sitting at the bar. It was a weird sound. He didn't laugh much. But laugh, he now did.

Victor glanced at Vlad, clearly not getting the joke and went back to admiring the dance

Ali turned at the sound, it surprised her because it was unexpected and she kept working which now that the ladies were dancing had slowed down finally after being hectic after Griseldas dance.

She was laughing along with Vlad, then cat-called loudly, starting to clap shortly after the song and dance started. She got the joke as well. And she may have looked underage, but she was happy to be a cheerleader for the dancers on the floor. She sang along, clapping with the beat of the music. Enough to offer more encouragement to the seven dancing beauties.

Once the song and dance ended, she held up her arms for attention.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming out to see our little dances. We're about fifteen minutes away from last call, so get your last drinks and enjoy the rest of your evening!"

And with that, she and the other six ladies left the dance floor, disappearing to head back downstairs. Because she needed real clothes. Costumes were fine for performing, but not so good for anything else.

And Ali was swarmed for last call, she kept up with the demand and showed why she was paid good money. The bar back was just barely able to keep up with her, but they were taking care of the crowd.

She reappeared in about five minutes, dressed in real clothes and immediately went behind the bar to help Ali with last call. She didn't even have to think about it much. She just watched Ali for about 15 seconds, then jumped in pouring and mixing drinks for those on the left side of the bar so that Ali only needed to concentrate on the right side.

Rachel was already working the bar, falling right in line with Griselda, and doing her bar backing - moving smoothly with her and it was easy to kick out the drinks.

She didn't have a problem keeping up with the drink orders, even though she was concerned with the amount of people in the bar. She also passed out cups of coffee to those who seemed to be doing their best to sober up, all smiles behind the bar as she served the rush of people that always happened at this time of night.

Ali was on auto pilot, the years of being good at her job showed, while she too handed out coffee, water and the last call rounds.