A Dark Fall [ORIGINAL & UNEDITED VERSION]

Five

I scuttle down the stairs and back along the bridge to Robyn and Leigh who are still surrounded by a small crowd of good-looking guys. Although to be fair, my barometer of good looking has been cranked up a notch or two and really they look just average to me.

"God Alex, where the hell have you been!?" Robyn shouts over the music at me.

"Sorry, I got a bit lost." I explain. I'm still lost. Where the hell am I?

"Well the surprise superstar DJ is on soon and we were thinking we should go down to the dance-floor to try and get a good spot. What do you think?" She says.

I wonder what's wrong with our current spot, surely it's called VIP for a reason? I don't have much power to resist though because I'm far too hot and I can still smell him and feel his hands and mouth on me and my brain is all soft.

"Sure, let's go down," I shrug. I'm sure a dance and a shot or 5 will clear my head of him.

Once we reach the dance-floor I'm not so sure it's such a great idea. It's heaving and the sheer number of people make hard to dance or move or breathe. We squeeze our way to the bar, the guys from our neighbouring VIP booth following behind us which doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Leigh and Rob somehow always manage to attract male attention wherever they go so we end up resembling the pied piper of Hamlin on nights out. Having men trail after us with hopeful looks on their faces isn't really an unusual occurrence.

The stage is on a raised dais behind the bar and is currently holding two Dj's with their hands in the air fist pumping their own set. The guys order us all a glass of champagne and a shot of 'mercury' - so called presumably because its liquid and silver, how imaginative. Of course I should know better than to knock back circumspect looking fad drinks just for the sole purpose of getting drunk, but my mind is fuzzed and my nerves are frayed and because apparently I'm clearly not in my best form of judgment tonight I accept the drink from one of the smiling hopeful looking guys.

"So your friend says you're a doctor?" one of the guys shouts into my ear. He's the best looking one I decide. Dark almost black hair, tall, and with a sweet smile - the sort of guy I would normally find attractive. Normally. Right now he looks bland and boring and so I just nod and smile politely at him.

"Yes. What about you?" I ask, feigning interest. I wonder if Jake can see us from his office.

"Engineer. The civil kind," he smiles, showing me his perfect white teeth. No sharp ones. Just straight and even and white - though probably a little big if I had to nitpick. Big teeth? Seriously Alex?

He knocks back the shot and shakes his head in disgust at the taste. "Yup, that was pretty vile," he says into my ear. I smile and offer him my shot but he shakes his head emphatically.

"Please? I'm supposed to be the sensible one." I plead.

"No way. You have to suffer it too!" He laughs.

"What a gentleman. Fine," I say before knocking the shot back in one horrendous gulp. I slam the glass back down on the bar with the same disgusted looking face as he did. The stuff is vile. It's warm and thick and it crawls its way down my throat. How they come up with these concoctions is a mystery. It has liver cirrhosis written all over it. Well at least I can say I've tried it - research purposes at the very least.

"Want to dance?" he asks nodding behind me toward the dance floor. I think about Jake watching me dance with this guy and for some reason it makes me feel odd.

"Um not right now, but thank you," I give him a warm smile as I shake my head, hoping I've not offended him. Guys don't tend to take rejection well. Thankfully, he only shrugs and smiles back at me. He also doesn't immediately vacate my vicinity, which means either he's hoping I'll dance with him later, or he doesn't take the hint easily.