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

15. Turning The Tables

Over the next week when Ritchie did drink she made sure it wasn't around Izaya and also that he wouldn't have to endure the after effects from it. There was no way she was quitting alcohol cold turkey but, annoyingly, she knew that Izaya had had a point in their last argument... So she was trying her best to compromise.

Of course he could never make things easy for her.

She'd still passed on Sei's offer to go out, just to prove that she could do it and that she did have some self-control. But she soon regretted it - drinking by herself in between seeing Izaya just wasn't the same. She decided that what she needed was to chill in the club after one of her shifts. She hadn't done so for a while and she missed it.

Plus she'd had a text from Lexi, saying that she and some friends were meeting up for a drink and that she'd convinced them to meet at the Ouhei club - where Ritchie worked. She figured that hanging out with Lexi would be a nice change of pace.

So she'd pre-warned Izaya the day before that she wasn't going back to his place after work that night. That way she didn't have to worry about what time she got back or how drunk she was. In her mind that was the perfect compromise.

Her shift seemed to last a lot longer than usual - probably because she was willing it to be over. She tried spotting Lexi from her position on the pole, but as usual the stage was shrouded in what was supposed to be sultry smoke, which made seeing anything more than a foot away a bit of a challenge.

When she was finally allowed to leave the stage Ritchie headed straight for the bar first. Once she'd acquired a very alcoholic drink she set off around the edge of the dance floor, looking for her newest friend.

She didn't have far to look - she spied Lexi sat in one of the booths at the side of the dance floor with three other girls. She waved when she spotted Ritchie and motioned for her to join them.

"Hey guys, this is Ritchie - the girl I told you about. She works here at the club," Lexi introduced. "And these are my friends - Shiori, Ellie and Naomi."

"How's it going?" Ritchie greeted, as she slid into the booth besides Lexi.

She couldn't help but think that this was what she'd been intending to do for a while - make new friends in this city. She couldn't just rely on Sei all the time, especially when her friend had her own boyfriend to entertain. Maybe this would be a positive turn of events for her.

"So what's it like working in a club?" Ellie asked conversationally.

"It's pretty much my ideal job," Ritchie admitted with a smile. "I get paid to dance and I get as many free drinks as I want."

Lexi laughed. "I don't think I'd be able to drink enough to make the most out of it... I definitely didn't have a chance of keeping up with you the last time."

"I've had a lot of practice," said Ritchie truthfully.

"Were you okay last time I saw you?" Lexi asked. "You suddenly disappeared... Sei said you'd gone back to your boyfriend's or something."

"Yeah, I'd just drank too much," said Ritchie offhandedly. She didn't feel like going into the whole story of having her drink spiked, especially in front of strangers. It wasn't a very good example of her common sense. "He wasn't too impressed about it."

"Aww, you should have stayed out with us instead!" Lexi enthused. "You could have kept me company - all the others were still adamant about pulling that night." She rolled her eyes.

"Sorry about that," Ritchie couldn't help but smile, understanding completely.

It wasn't fun being the only one on your own when everyone else was splitting off into couples. And hell would freeze over before she brought Izaya out with her friends - even if Sei's boyfriend hadn't already had a problem with him. Luckily she knew that Izaya had no interest in going clubbing and that the issue wouldn't ever come up.