The room was lit with only a blush of colored lights. There was some kind of lame pseudo-metal music playing in the background. In the main room, Sarah and Greg danced seductively, still quite alone in the crowd. The little side room where Andy stood was packed to the brim with potential customers waiting for their drinks. Andy was having a hard time focusing; his crush Meagan and the guy dressed like a zombie, who she had been dancing with for the last hour or so, were heading towards him, and that was just awkward.
"What will it be?" The bartender asked. She was a very attractive woman with powerful arm muscles, and looked pretty tough. Andy would have been scared to pick her up, even if he wasn't with another woman; he had been rather forcefully picked up by one of the dancers at the gothic club he and his friends were patronizing. She was a beautiful plump woman dressed like a fetish nurse.
His date, such as she was, wore a little nothing shirt and skirt number that cinched in the back, knee-high platform boots, and a stethoscope coiled around her neck like a pet snake. She looked ravishing. Still, Andy was not very eager to let his potential girlfriend see him with another woman.
"What was it you were having? Vodka and Red Bull?" The dancer looked at the empty glass Andy was holding as though for confirmation. Andy was still too dazed to talk. "Two, please."
Meagan and the guy she was dancing with pulled up to the counter and ordered a couple of glasses of coke and rum. Meagan was so adorable in her short skirt and corset top that Andy couldn't help but gawk a little, despite his desire to stay invisible. Her new buddy had his hand around Andy's gal-friend's waist, indicating possession. The gesture made Andy's blood curdle, but he had his own date and so wasn't in any sort of position to do anything about it.
The make-believe fetish nurse downed the drink he had been holding and produced the money for the two drinks she was buying. Andy kind of half-offered to pay his part, but she refused.
"I get a discount for working here," she said with a grin. "Oh, my name is Amanda by the way, and this stethoscope around my neck is real. An ex gave it to me when she decided to stop being an EMT."
Andy had no idea why she felt the urge to share that little bit of herself with him, but guessed she was trying to get the ball rolling by breaking the ice a little.
"That's an interesting story," Andy said, taking his drink as Amanda handed it to him. He was doing his best to do what the situation involved and act the part of a suave player, confident and sure of himself, completely comfortable with picking up a stranger at a night club. "I don't suppose you want to dance?"
"No," Amanda said, stabbing her straw into her drink a bit savagely, starling Andy a little. "No, I have to work again in a couple more minutes. But I have to make a couple of changes to my costume and freshen up my make-up, and I thought it would be lots of fun if you'd come help out." She took a large gulp of her drink.
Andy stood open-mouthed for a moment. Meagan and her zombie freak friend made their way back onto the dance floor, crossing uncomfortably close to him yet apparently completely unaware of his presence. Andy let out his breath in relief. He hadn't realized how tense Meagan's proximity had made him. Amanda was staring at him, waiting for an answer; for a moment he had forgotten all about her.
