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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 9, 2008 19:04:14 GMT -5
A whole week's worth of work had Alison tired. She needed to unwind the energy she had built up in her. The best way to do that? Go to one of the clubs.
Usually, Alison went alone to the clubs. She didn't really have a problem with it, considering she knew that she could take care of herself.
On weekends, Alison was a regular, but not during the week most of the time. She would go to the Three Broomsticks or somewhere like that during the week. She liked to go to the nightclub on the weekends because she could just let go. She didn't have to worry about seeing the people she met twice, yet.
Walking in, she ordered her usual. Alison prefered something non-alcoholic at first, but as the night went on, she would change and get something alcoholic. Alison was always careful not to let her drink too much. She wanted to remember what happened after all.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 9, 2008 22:09:33 GMT -5
Finally it was the weekend! Geoffrey wouldn't exactly say his job was boring, but it wasn't the most interesting job in the world, either. After graduating, he had decided that, rather than work in one of the family businesses, he would try and do things on his own for a little while. He knew the shipping business well enough, and he knew the publishing industry pretty well, too. He figured he would eventually end up working for the family, but he wanted to have outside experience. That was why he'd chosen to work at the Ministry.
The Floo Network Regulation Department was really pretty simple, but at least he got to see a lot of people, and the atmosphere was laid-back. He liked his co-workers, and enjoyed making jokes with them. Tonight he was going out for drinks with a few of the guys.
He'd been sitting there for a while, talking with his friends and drinking, when he caught sight of a pretty blonde that had just walked in. He stared at her for a minute, unable to look away.
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 9, 2008 22:30:35 GMT -5
Alison took a sip from her drink, then took her usual look around after she had become completely comfortable with where she was standing. Her eyes caught someone else's who was looking back. Alison felt her face turn slightly warm, but she brushed that off. Tonight was not a night for her to be shy.
She held his gaze for a moment, and then found it hard to look away. After what felt like a long second, Alison tore her eyes from him but not before she gave him an amused look and a smile. She looked back to her drink and pretended to be interested in that.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 9, 2008 23:09:06 GMT -5
When she caught him looking at her, Geoff tried to look away, but found that he couldn't. Their eyes connected for a long moment, and Geoff almost forgot to breathe. It wasn't until she looked away again and began to study her drink that he was finally able to tear his eyes away.
Brad, sitting next to him, gave him a shove. "Real slick there, Romeo," he teased. "Why don't you go talk to her?"
Geoff rolled his eyes and took a sip from his drink. "Shut up, Brad," he said. "I don't even know what you're talking about."
"Uh, the girl you were just staring at? In fact, I think you might have drooled a little. Go on, talk to her. You're not afraid, are you?"
Geoff sighed. Pretty much the surest way to get him to do something was to dare him to do it, or to suggest that he might be afraid. "Hell, no. What would I have to be afraid of? She's just a girl... it's not like she's a fire-breathing dragon or anything."
Brad just grinned. "Then go on, talk to her. In fact, I'll go even farther... Ask her to dance. If you get her to dance with you, I'll buy your next drink, OK?"
"Pssssh." Geoff said, waving his hand in front of him. "Piece of cake. It's just a dance, right? Easy. And I'll totally take you up on that dare... but not because I want the free drink. I just want to talk to the girl."
It occurred to him, as he walked toward the blonde, that he might have been manipulated by Brad. It was the sort of thing he would do. He wondered to himself if Brad knew the blonde or something.
Still, he walked up to her and smiled. "Hi," he said to her. "I'm sorry if I was staring earlier."
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 9, 2008 23:21:59 GMT -5
Alison looked out of the corner of her eye to see the man was talking to one of his buddies, which she didn't notice at first. She looked back to her drink before she was caught looking. The drink was her excuse for looking away and she took a drink from it before placing it back on the bar.
Just as she was going to pick up her glass again, the man that she was looking at earlier was by her side. Alison kept her hand around the glass, but looked to him. His smiled seemed to be contiguous. "Hi," she answered back. "And you don't have to apologize. No harm, no foul." Alison gave a gentle shrug. She observed him for a moment. He did look a lot cuter up close.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 10, 2008 0:24:33 GMT -5
He relaxed a little. There was no reason to be nervous, just as he'd told Brad. She was just a girl. A very pretty girl, but still a human being like anyone else. "OK, cool. I was taught it was rude to stare, but you caught my attention and wouldn't let it go." He laughed lightly and took a sip from his drink. "Sorry. That was cheesy. Listen... my idiot friend over there--" he nodded his head toward Brad and the others-- "dared me to ask you to dance. And although I was already thinking about asking you, I never say no to a dare. So would you like to dance?"
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 10, 2008 0:37:23 GMT -5
A light pink tint rose in her cheeks. "Well, I guess I should be the one apologizing," Alison said with a laugh. As he spoke about his friends, she peered around him and gave a small wave to his friends before laughing again. Alison looked back to him. "Hm. I guess I could be nice enough and help you complete your dare," she said amusedly. "We wouldn't want you to be turned down in front of your friends, now would we?" Alison gave him teasing look.
"But, honestly, I would love to dance with you."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 10, 2008 12:02:07 GMT -5
Geoffrey smiled. "Thanks, you're a lifesaver," he said. "If I struck out in front of those losers, I'd never live it down." He held out his hand to her. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Geoffrey. And you are?"
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 10, 2008 12:09:49 GMT -5
Alison just smiled. She could understand not wanting to be stuck out in front of his friends. If he was one of those men that just grabbed her and pulled her around, she would have let him down, but this one didn't seem to be that way.
She took his hand after emptying her glass. "Alison. It's nice to meet you Geoffrey."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 10, 2008 13:18:46 GMT -5
Geoff shook her hand politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Alison," he said. "I should probably warn you... I'm not the best dancer in the world. I'm not bad... I won't step on your feet or anything like that. But I sometimes can look a little... dorky." He gave her another lopided grin. "You know... when I really get into it. But I promise you, you'll still have fun. I just hope you won't be embarrassed to be seen with me." He winked at her.
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 10, 2008 13:25:06 GMT -5
She broke into laughter. "It's alright. I'm not the world's best dancer either. As long as you don't want to try and pull off any of the fancy stuff, I think I'll be alright." Geoffrey seemed to be honest. She didn't care if he wasn't a terrific dancer, and if he didn't step on her feet, that made it all the better.
"I think maybe between the two of us, we can attempt to make it look like we know what we're doing." She smiled teasingly. "And don't worry about embarrassing me. It'll be alright."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 10, 2008 17:21:11 GMT -5
Geoff laughed. "That sounds good," he said. "Or even if we don't look like we know what we're doing, then at least we'll have a good time, right? That's the important thing."
He held out his hand and made an exaggerated bow. "Shall we to the dance floor, my lady?" he said, smiling playfully.
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 10, 2008 18:24:09 GMT -5
"Exactly. Having fun is the most important thing." Alison smiled. Maybe she could just be herself while she danced with Geoffrey. Most of the time, the guy was far too drunk to really dance, or he was too grabby for her. Tonight seemed to be working out on the better end.
Another laugh escaped her as he bowed. "We shall," Alison said taking his hand again. His smiles were perfect, or at least she thought so. She slid off her stool and allowed him to led her towards the dance floor.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 10, 2008 23:56:04 GMT -5
On the way to the dance floor, Geoffrey shot a look over at his friends. They were idiots, really. Most of the time, when he went out with them, they all just sat around and talked about the girls around them, but didn't dance. That was probably why Brad thought it necessary to dare him to ask Alison to dance... because the others hardly ever did. He'd have to talk to them about that some time.
For now, however, he was with Alison, and the music was playing. He gave her a grin and began to dance. He was actually a better dancer than he had claimed to be. Being from a wealthy pureblood family, he had been properly trained in all the formal dances. He didn't like them much; he preferred to improvise and just have fun.
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 11, 2008 7:06:32 GMT -5
She smiled as they reached where several other people where dancing. Alison really enjoyed dancing as long as the person she was with enjoyed it. She waited a second so that she could feel the beat of the music and then Alison started to dance along with Geoffrey.
Her dancing wasn't horrible, but it was graceful. Alison liked to improvise whenever she could, and that was what she was doing now. Her parents did give her dancing lessons, but she always had enjoyed added her own to it. Also, she had taken ballet before she started Beauxtons when she was eleven. Since school started, and she didn't have time to leave the school and go off to have her ballet lessons, Alison continued them on her own.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 12, 2008 0:43:41 GMT -5
Geoffrey couldn't help but admire the way she moved. She had a nice figure and she moved gracefully. He was pretty sure he wasn't quite as graceful, but he was also playing it up just a little. After all, this was supposed to be fun, right? It seemed silly to use practiced dance steps.
"You're a pretty good dancer," he told her.
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 12, 2008 7:28:36 GMT -5
"Several years of ballet practice," she told him over the music. "And of course improvising." Alison smiled. Geoffrey himself moved pretty well. She hadn't danced with anyone like him. The last person she danced with was horrible and she had made her way through the crowd to get lost from him, however she didn't imagine this happening with Geoffrey.
"You're not bad yourself." She was becoming more comfortable with him as a dance partner, so she loosed up a little bit more. Following practiced steps was not her favorite thing. There was no fun in doing everything you're taught when it comes to dancing because there is always room to improvise.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 13, 2008 23:23:58 GMT -5
'Ballet practice?" he repeated, intrigued. "That explains why your movements are so graceful." He waved her off when she complimented his own dancing. "I had to have dance lessons when I was younger, too. Not ballet, just... formal dancing. So I wouldn't embarrass myself in public." He laughed. "As if I have a problem with that. The way I see it, life is too short to take everything too seriously. Why not have a little fun?"
He moved a little closer to her and put his arms around her loosely. "So how about you? Did you want to be a ballerina when you were younger?"
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Post by Alison Hale on Nov 13, 2008 23:34:55 GMT -5
"Formal dancing was not really my thing. Too many steps to follow," she told him. "I would always make up my own as I went, but my parents just gave up and let me keep my ballet lessons going on." Alison gave a laugh. "Life does need to be fun."
She didn't have a problem when he put his arms around her. "I did want to be a ballerina when I was younger. I loved it because I could make up my own moves to the music and I could move more freely. When I started school, my lessons sort of ended during the term but I continued myself. I do still practice, but that is only if I'm alone in my apartment." She gave another laugh. "But like I said all of that changed, and I got another job I had an interest in and that I knew that I would have work."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Nov 14, 2008 0:10:41 GMT -5
Geoff laughed again. "Oh, believe me, I didn't like the formal dances, either. I used to mess them up on purporse just to get out of the lessons. My parents were convinced I was hopeless. But they stopped pressuring me after a while, because compared to my sister, I was the perfect paragon of dignity and grace." He shrugged. He loved his sister dearly, but she was a bit of a wild child and her tendency to sail off with Uncle Christopher for long stretches of time only made things worse.
"So what do you do instead of ballet?" he asked.
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