Casual Encounters (Durarara!!) *Izaya/OC*

04. Redemption

Ritchie was starting to get annoyed. Really annoyed.

She'd had a crappy night. Firstly, they'd decided to try out some new music while she was on shift. It was pretty dire and she'd felt like it had affected her performance quite a bit.

Secondly, Gobei was on bartender duty. He was always ridiculously stingy with the spirits.

Thirdly, it seemed to be asshole night. Every lecherous man and his dog had tried hitting on her in the last hour. She wouldn't have minded if she'd attracted at least one hottie... But no. There seemed to be some kind of bachelor party for the uglies going on tonight.

She wanted to go home. It was only two in the morning and she wanted to go home. It was pathetic.

She'd been sat at the bar with her phone out for the last ten minutes, pretending to text and hoping it would discourage the creep next door from talking to her. Unfortunately he was oblivious to her not-so-subtle hint and continued to yapper away and touch her arm an unnecessary amount.

If this kept up then Ritchie was going to end up taking her frustration out on whoever was nearest. Most likely in some form of violence. But she couldn't. Not while she was in the club. She may not have been on shift now but the staff would still find out and then she'd be in a heap of trouble.

One bad night wasn't worth losing her job over. The first opportunity she saw to get away from this guy she was bolting out of the place and going home. She no longer cared that it was early.

No sooner had she decided, her prayers were answered. But not quite in the way she would have hoped.

"Hey," said a deep voice from behind her, loud enough to be heard over the music.

Ritchie turned round on her stool. Oh great, it was Shizuo. So was he definitely back on the scene now?

"Oh hey," she replied casually. She didn't feel like she could just ignore him like she'd done in the past. He had helped her out the other day after all. She couldn't be that ungrateful.

"Who are you supposed to be? You're interrupting us," Mr. Lecherous Drunk cut in, giving Shizuo an annoyed look.

"Really?" Shizuo cocked an eyebrow and shot Ritchie a quizzical look, who quickly shook her head. "So who's this?"

"My new best friend," said Ritchie sarcastically.

Unfortunately, the drunkard was too focused on Shizuo to notice the sarcasm. "You haven't answered my question! Who are you?" he persisted. Not a smart move.

Shizuo's eyebrow curved even higher. "I'm Shizuo Heiwajima, who the hell are you?"

Ritchie took the second to see the fear set into the man's eyes before deciding this was the opportunity she'd been wanting. Leaving the guys to their testosterone display, she hopped down from the stool and made a beeline for the exit.

She didn't stop once she was outside. She kept walking at a brisk pace, heading her way home like she'd intended. She hadn't gone far when she heard a shout behind her. Now what? If one of those idiots from the club had followed her then somebody was going to get hurt. And it wouldn't be her.

She was just deciding that she'd ignore them and carry on walking when the person shouted out again. "Hey! Dancer girl!"

She knew then that it was Shizuo. She'd never actually told him her name before so that was what he'd always called her. She reluctantly stopped and looked back. She couldn't be bothered with him right now. Even if he had provided her with the chance to escape from the creep at the bar.