Suck It And See

3) On The Prowl

Chapter 3: On The Prowl

Alex glumly downed his newly aquired whiskey - this one a double - all in one. It was only his second of the night - well, his second whiskey (if, like him, you were excluding his smuggled miniatures which he'd drained on his way here). This one barely touched his throat.

'Here' was in fact one of the after-parties thrown by some big name artist, though whose he couldn't say. He'd heard whispers it was that of Robbie Williams but he didn't know nor care. The hosts rarely showed at these things anyway. They were all the same template really, all staged as if some little friendly get-together thrown in a huge hired out club with a swarm of paparazzi out front.

All an excuse for alleged celebrities to get together and get drunk (some more than others). Any excuse to get photos of two so-called 'celebrities' cosied up to another or stumbling away in a taxi together.

There was no cosying or stumbling yet for Alex. He'd just struck out with a pretty-ish redhead whose dress exposed a fair amount of skin. Particularly in the... chestal area. Personally he blamed the beer for his wandering eyes and his slightly slurred compliments - at least, he'd consider it a compliment - not to mention his wandering hands...

His shirt was still a little damp and reeking of white wine. If anything, he felt rather thankful she wasn't drinking red.

Snap out of it, Al, he told himself as he rubbed his eyes under his aviator sunglasses and sighed. This wasn't working for him, not if he wanted to find a... companion for tonight. Alex already lamented turning down that charming fella in the bathroom earlier who'd offered him something to snort or swallow for a very reasonable price.

He needed to work on his strategy, his game plan. Could he get away with with just going up to the next good looking girl he saw and saying 'Hi, Alex Turner. And my hotel is 10 minutes that way'? Hmm... too pretenious? Before he could decide, someone else did for him.

There was a playful tap on his shoulder. Alex swivelled still clutching his empty glass.

"Ah! I've been looking for you," she grinned.

It was that blonde he'd met earlier, before the ceremony had started. Before The Incident or The Fight. (Alex had already granted both situations a mental capitalisation.) That felt like decades ago.

She was wearing a tight white dress. It was decent enough on the top half but almost obscenely short as his sights got lower, ending earlier than expected. He liked that. She definitely had the legs for it, slender and endless. He liked that even more.

"Oh, hello again... love," said Alex, feigning a grin to hide his faulter.

Oh, god.
What was her name?

Alex tried desperately to dredge up the ghost of a memory of their previous introduction. It was something like... Candy? Cathy? Or perhaps.... Cassie? Could be. Could be.

His long pause and mask of a smile made his cluelessness clear.

"Um, it's Allison?" she reminded, giving him an uncertain smile.

"Allison," he repeated with a nod. Close enough.

"Well, then, Allison," began Alex, flashing her a grin. "What are you drinking?"

This brought a smile from the blonde - a rather sly one, at that.

"Vodka and lemonade." was her answer. Alex repeated the order.

"Well, I shall return with one vodka and lemonade then," Alex grinned, mostly likely the double whiskey making its debut. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere, gorgeous."