darker_london | This thing you keep chasing - Carly, Cain, then Leon

After work, Carly got changed in the backroom, shimmying out of her unflattering polo shirt uniform and into the dress she'd recently bought but couldn't justify, even though it had been on sale. Although, as soon as she saw her reflection in the full length window of a shop as she made her way down the street, she decided that the dress had already paid for itself.

The club was one she'd never been too before, but yesterday when the guy had put the flyer into her hand and said "two for one drinks for ladies!" Carly had decided it seemed like a quality place. A anywhere that would let her drink cheaper was A+.

The bar itself had an identity crisis, unable to decide whether it was going for dive bar (with weird stuffed deer head above the toilets and two pool tables) or a full on nightclub, with a large room half-sectioned off into a dancefloor. But there were drinks, as promised, and dancing was happening, so Carly wasn't going to complain.

Quite a few drinks in, skin hot from dancing, Carly made her way to the bathroom to text a few people and then back to the bar for another drink. (Tonight it was some sort of on tap vodka mix, and she didn't much know what it was, but it was fine and clearly alcoholic and that was enough.)

Leaving the bar was when she backed into someone, and she turned in surprise. "Whoops, sorry there." She met the guy's eye and, oh!, attractive. Her smile, which had been casual and apologetic slipped into something a little wider, a little more framed to be enticing. "Hi."