I closed my eyes and swung back another shot as I turned to Ethan, feeling a bit light headed I steadied myself on the stool. The pub was packed; it was beginning to feel hot with all the warm, liquored up bodies basically back to back to each other. Ethan's large hand touched my hip, making sure I was standing straight. I stared into his eyes, almost losing myself in the all the blue fog. The movie ended an hour ago but I didn't care.

"Thanks...I can handle it." God he smelled amazing; I almost leaned forward to get a better whiff.

He smirked. "You sure? You looked like you were gonna tip over there. Good thing I was here to catch you."

Feeling the tingling buzz of the shots hitting me, I titled my head playfully. "No wonder you're a teacher, you're so damn strong. Bet you could lift 5 of us ballerinas in the air if you wanted to." I tapped my finger against his face, I was sure I touched it. I did it again to make sure it was true.

Ethan laughed, shaking his head. "Actually I wouldn't take my chance with the lawsuits that would follow. You sure you're OK?"

I huffed up rolling my eyes. I wanted him to be hot to me, not act like one of relatives. "Yes, quit asking. Like they say: "this is New York, if you can't make it here, you're shit outta luck"."

Ethan looked at me with the corners of his mouth lifting up. "I think that's only half of the saying."

"It is so not. What do you know anyway? You're British and fucking, well fucking British, that's that."

"Nice, we can agree on the fact that I am still British. Are you still American?"

I rolled my eyes, grabbing one more shot off the tray handed to me and threw it back. Wiping my mouth I looked around for something resembled a clock. I had no idea what time it is or where I was in New York, I knew it was sort of out of the way of ABA. This buzz was super strong, I felt a little fuzzy then it went away.

"Do you think we'll get into trouble?"

"By doing what?"

I pushed his shoulder playfully, shrugging. "Being out late, don't we have like a curfew?"

He waved me off as if it was nothing. "They normally don't give a toss on the first day. You really think that's coffee in their mugs?"

"Probably not. Didn't you say something about not going out after the movie?" I smiled, feeling my cheeks growing red as I thought back earlier. "I totally heard you say that."

Ethan shook his head almost laughing. "No, why would I say that? It's not like it was too late and you didn't seem to have any plans."

I looked at him with one eye closed and one hand on my hip. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You could have just said you wanted to go out, my brain would have said yes. I had to pretend to like an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and actually sit through that shit. Do you know how hard that is for me? All that broken English coming at me that I didn't ask for, terrible emotional acting and the terminator guy has one look, for real. Like whatever."

"Tell me how you really feel?" He smiled, drinking down the last of his beer. "Couldn't have been that bad. I would have asked you but I didn't wanna be a prick about it. Honestly I didn't think you'd come along."

I leaned my elbows on the counter, looking at him confused. "Why would do you think that?"

He shrugged and asked for another bottle. "It was your first time in New York and I didn't think you'd trust me enough. I don't know, I thought you were cute; I also thought you were a little bit reserved. I didn't know if you liked going out."

My jaw dropped as I scoffed, blowing hair out of my face. "You thought I was a priss? Fuck you very much!"

I pushed his arm and huffed to my side. I felt the buzzing affects of the shots warming my body but I ignored it. My common sense wanted so badly to peek through, I was holding onto it for dear life.

"I didn't mean it like that babe. Just I thought you weren't gonna wanna hang out with a total stranger."

My constant staring made it clear that I didn't care if he was a stranger. I turned to him, biting my lip. "You seemed harmless. You only said it was a movie, I clearly remember that part. Like I'm not that much of a lightweight."

He shrugged those broad shoulders of his again, "Well, I just asked you to hang out. I didn't have a motive, maybe I wanted to show you a good time."

Smirking, I turned my body so I was directly facing his. "How good?"

Ethan leaned close to my face, so only I can hear him speak. "The kind where we can both hold our liquor."

"Uhuh, yeah whatever," I said and narrowed my eyes, slightly disliking what he said. "That is so not what I am. I can totally hold it. Look..."

I slipped off the stool and stood straight in front of him, my side foot was wobbling but I tried to mask it quickly before he saw.

"You can barely stand, love." He said, casually drinking his beer as he smirked at me. "You don't have to pretend around me babe. I can see it."

My jaw dropped. "It's not me I swear these shoes are killing me. I have ballerina callous like you wouldn't believe." Did I really just confess my feet were jacked up to a guy with a face like that?

He pretended to look down at my feet but glanced at me with that knowing stare. "You're wearing flats love."

"There's a creak on the bottom of this floor. It's like uneven and throwing me off. I swear I'm not like, hammered or anything."

It was then that I noticed Ethan's attention was pointed at the TV screen in the corner of the pub. He wasn't even listening to me. Jesus we weren't even together yet and already it feels like I should break up with him. But I can't because, that face...I'm such a fucking pussy.

I steadied myself before he saw anything. Straightening my clothes and fixing my hair; I know I probably looked like shit.

He wasn't looking at me, I give up. Fuck this, men and sports, I don't get it. What's the obsession and how can it be stopped? I'm not exactly a dog but I thought he said I was cute, guess he was just saying that. Ugh, I hate being that girl that looks into everything a guy says.

I was so mad when I turned around and accidentally knocked over some beers off the tap. The guys backed away before anything spilled on them but I'm sure they got a good shower from my little oopsy daisy. The other two left and didn't look my way but the other guy, wearing a dark purple beanie was wiping himself off, giving me a crossed look. His jaw clenched and I gulped in place.

"Sorry about that." I said, trying to sound sincere, my head was feeling light but I still realized what I did.

He narrowed his eyes, widening them but forgetting it as instantly as it came. "You should watch what you're doing."

I looked over my shoulder as Ethan offered to help out, apologizing for me. This is so embarrassing. My first night out with a gorgeous guy and I fuck it up.

Ethan came forward to offer to pay for another tab but the guy put his hands up, "Don't worry about it mate." He said, brushing it off.

There was something familiar about his face, I thought I might have seen it before; thin lips, buried blue eyes, overall emo wardrobe and he was English too to boot, but I couldn't place his accent. It seemed a lot grittier than Ethan's. What do I know; I can't even remember my birthday right now.

The room was spinning and I had a second thought that if I didn't lie down right now I was going to heave my organs out. Sorry for the visual, this was getting weird for me. The guy I spilled the tab on looked at me with no expression before nodding to Ethan and turning around to meet up with his friends just coming from the restroom.

"Sorry, I forgot it was packed." My voice almost shook he didn't look amused by that. I think I killed the mood inadvertently.

Ethan threw some money down on the counter and fixed on his jacket, pushing his collar up.

"I think we should get going."

Well I really fucking did it this time. I tried looking at him with sober eyes but it wasn't working.
He wasn't even looking at me until I touched his elbow.

"Let's get a cab OK?" He said which broke me. The night is over, ugh, I hate myself.

I dragged my body following behind him as we walked outside. It had gotten colder since we were indoors. All those bodies were warming me up and I barely knew it. Ethan seemed more standoffish when we were waiting outside. Maybe if I could try and talk to him again, he may laugh at the entire thing thinking nothing of it.

"I didn't think you were going to be like this. I'm not even drunk. Least I know I'm not. What happened in there was a small little thing, promise." I sounded oddly serious, probably because he was constantly looking anywhere but on me.

Ethan checked on me then put his attention back on hailing a cab. There were many people around us waiting for a free one. I had no idea what number we were but it appeared we weren't aggressive enough.

"It's not you, love, trust me. I don't want you to get smashed then wake up the next day regretting it. Sorry I misjudged you."

I touched his arm gently. "You said that before. Maybe I'm not a party girl like you wanted. I thought, I don't know what I thought..."

Ethan rolled his eyes putting his hand down and faced me. "I didn't want that either. I'm just saying maybe shots weren't the best way to have fun. So I'm sorry about that. I didn't know your limit. I've had party girls, not interested in those slags."

I'm not British but the term "slag" has run its meaning over my head, I pretended I knew what he was talking about as I nodded. Even though he said what he said I still thought I messed up my chances to get closer to him. Ugh, I know! I know! I said no guys. But I would break my own rules for a guy like Ethan. He didn't seem typical, far as I know.

"But you're still calling it a night..." I trailed off as he gave me an unreadable glance.

"It's not you."

I could feel myself sobering up at his words and maybe I should just go home. He kept saying that as if it's true. Whatever. I don't need to this shit.

If I was going to survive in New York I would have to do things on my own. I hailed my own cab but it wasn't any use. Tons of cabbies were stuck in traffic and it was hard to tell which one was actually in traffic and which were free. Usually the ones that sped by next to you were the ones that weren't occupied.

"Elsa, you know I didn't mean it like that. You and I hanging around each other is against the rules of the academy anyway. I'm sorry to bring that up but it's true. I forgot about that because I enjoyed your company, I didn't care about the rules. But if anyone from the academy sees us together, we could both get into trouble. You understand what I'm trying to say?"

Bianca warned me about this too, I just hated that we have to abide by these pissy rules even outside of ABA. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'm not mad; could you look at me please?" He asked me, but I took my time turning around.

"It's just the way it is, I don't wanna get fired and you just got here, I'd like to see more of you though. It'd be nice to watch you dance."

I blushed, trying to suppress it but my smile crept up, ruining my frown. "I'm not Margot Fonteyn, you don't even know if I'm good."

He pursed his lips, making me stare at them while he spoke. "You're good enough to get into ABA. That's the highest honor for ballet. It's San Francisco's loss."

I heard a ringtone and instinctively felt my jeans, then I saw Ethan take his phone out, looking at me with a pained expression as he slide the lock. He mouthed an "I'm sorry" before answering it.

I wanted to say something but I bit my tongue back. Shifting my weight on one side of my hip I waited, and did some more waiting. Just for fun, I waited a little bit more because it just wasn't enough. Ethan was heavily into his conversation, it sounded serious too. Shit! Fuck fuck! I watched him closely I almost didn't hear a car's horn honking in front of me, making my body jump.

Not waiting to leave Ethan right away but seriously wanting to get home right now I was torn. My mind was made up when I pulled the handle but a body slipped through before I could get inside.

It was the emo asshole from before, the one I slipped the beer tab on. This was so not fair. Fuck this guy!

"Hey what the fuck dick head!" I shouted at him getting inside before he could do anything.

He looked at me with a smile on his face and nothing else. "Thank you, can you shut the door?
Or get out, you choose."

Rolling my eyes I didn't have time for this. "Get out this is my cab."

He scanned my face, looking at me incredulously. "Your cab? I don't see your name on it." He looked in front of him. "This is Hahmil Zigmendi's cab. Sorry mate if I mocked up your name there."

I have this overwhelming urge to punch this guy so hard he could feel it generations back. "If you still want to procreate I suggest you leave, now."

"Not a huge fan of kids but I do like puppies. You're not getting anywhere near my cock babe. Now are we going somewhere or are you gonna piss off while this patient driver takes us home?"

"Are you stay or do you go? Fucking Brits and Americans." the cabby said in his best broken English as Ethan finally came near the open door.

He leaned forward and looked at the two of us. "Oh you got one. OK cool. Hey mate, sorry about before. Here take this..."

He handed the asshole next to me a couple $20 dollar bills as the guy pushed it away. "Nah don't worry about it before—"

"No I mean, this is for the ride, for Elsa I mean. Do you know where ABA—erm—American
Ballet Academy building is?" He asked guy as the emo guy nodded while I did a double take. What in the fuck is going on?

I touched his arm, ignoring how it felt for a moment. "What are you doing? Aren't you coming with us—I mean me?"

"Sorry I've got to go. A couple of my mates called me and I gotta do this for them. I'll see you in class. Bye." Ethan said as the guy next to me took the money from Ethan and leaned back in his chair.

Ethan waved me off before I could say anything. There was no way I was going to ride with this guy. Why did he have to give him money? That just ruined everything right there. Fuck this so hard.

Notes

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. :)
Updating again soon.