RP: You Can Dance if You Want To

[harley_jordan]

Date: August 19, 2011
Characters: Harley Jordan, Ariel Crabtree, Thad Jordan, Gabriel Long, Kudzu Emory, Stephen Ross, Duck Reese (NPC), anyone else
Location: Muse
Status: Public
Summary: Harley wants to kick back and have a good time on her birthday. Which means inviting some people clubbing and not making an issue of the fact that it's her

Comments

[ariel_crabtree]

Ariel was glad she'd found out about Harley's birthday in enough time to get a gift together for her. She was also kinda thrilled that they got to go out and celebrate it, even if Harley wasn't precisely saying it was a birthday celebration. She had the gifts she'd made tucked away so she could toss them to Harley at an obliging moment. She really hoped she liked them.

"There's a big table over there," Ariel said, standing on her tip toes to look and point. "Should we grab that one?"

She'd never been to this place before, actually, but it would be interesting to see what it was like. She could always use another place to go to when she went out for a beer and some fun.

[harley_jordan]

Harley eyed the table Ariel pointed out. "Looks like it's within good distance of the bar and the dance floor, so that suits my requirements," she said with a grin, heading over with Ariel.

"I scoped this place out last week, and the DJ's pretty good," she said, dropping into a chair. "You want something to drink to start? Duck's bringing Thad, they should be here soon, but I don't mind pre-gaming if you don't."

[ariel_crabtree]

Ariel hurried them over so they could snag it before someone else claimed it. Her bag tonight was a little larger than she'd usually carry to a club, but like any sane partier, she kept her money and ID safely in her pocket and nothing of importance in the bag. She'd only brought it to shove Harley's gift into it. "Prime territory," she said smugly, claiming a seat as well.

"Oh, nice. I've never heard of it, but it seems real nice." A little higher class than some of the places she usually visited, if she were to be perfectly honest. "I'll take a beer, I think. And I got something for ya when you get the chance, so I dunno if you want them before the boys get here or whatever."

[harley_jordan]

"Yeah, well. We're kinda the most important people here, so," Harley told Ariel with a twin smug grin. She was glad Ariel had come out with her, they always had a good time and if she was honest, it was cool to be out celebrating her birthday at least a little.

"Figured we might as well go all out." She looked around, flagging one of the traveling drink servers and holding up two fingers. She looked at Ariel, touched already. "Dude, you didn't," she said, but she was smiling. "And yeah, whenever you want really."

[thaddeus_jordan]

Thad was pretty sure Harley had gone to pick Ariel up intentionally so that he would have to ride with Duck as some kind of master plan to make them bond a little. Which was all the more reason for him to get his own ride ASAP. He knew she wanted them to get along, but he couldn't see that happening right now. Thad got the feeling he had been filling the big brother role in Harley's life for a while, and Duck didn't trust him

[kudzu_emory]

Kudzu wasn't quite sure how he'd wound up being invited to Harley's party, but he didn't have enough friends in Texas yet to start alienating any of them. So he went home after work, showered and tried to find something in his closet that wasn't covered in paint. He'd managed to come up with dark wash jeans and a button up shirt he sometimes wore to meet clients. The shoes he couldn't do anything about, but he rather liked his heavy work boots and figured the steel toes would come in handy if the place was particularly crowded. He was short enough that people often stepped on his feet before they noticed he was there. He had a small envelope in his pocket, still not sure if one still gave gifts after one was in their twenties, but figured it couldn't hurt. It wasn't much anyway, just a gift certificate to a car accessory website he'd found and thought Harley might like since that's about all he knew about her

[thaddeus_jordan]

Thad had located Ariel and Harley and was on the point of heading over when Kudzu approached him. "Hey man," he said, trying not to be amused at how out of his depth Kudzu seemed. Thad was at home in a crowd, or at least he'd used to be enough to fake it until it was comfortable again, but Kudzu was a quiet type.

He smiled easily at him. "You good?"

[kudzu_emory]

Kudzu shifted uncomfortably, aware that he probably looked nearly as out of place as he felt, but didn't much care. Night clubs had never been on his list of places to hang out. It had always seemed like something his mother might do.

"Yeah, I'm good." Wouldn't do to actually admit it outloud though. "You must be sick of seeing my face."

[gabriel_long]

Gabe had been surprised to get the invite, but was more than willing to give it a shot, especially since his mechanic was one of the few people he felt comfortable talking to. And given how loud clubs got, he'd be forgiven his sign language a bit more. Entering, he made his way to the bar to get a beer, his gift of a car wash and wax in his pocket to give to Harley when he saw her. Taking in the room, he concluded that dancing was more than unlikely, it'd be impossible. Not without stepping on some toes for sure.

[harley_jordan]

Harley's first drink hadn't lasted long, so she left their table and made her way back over for a refill. It was a good night so far, and the place was filling up. She did spot Gabe though, and she grinned in surprise as she sidled up to join him at the bar.

"Hey, glad you could make it. You get the night off?" She signed a rough approximation of it and decided that he should meet Duck if he was around. Well, that might be a super quiet conversation, but hey.

[gabriel_long]

Gabe smiled and nodded, pulling the card from his coat pocket. He handed it over, signing Happy Birthday, then holding up his beer, brow raised, asking if she wanted a drink.

[harley_jordan]

Harley's eyes went wide when he handed her a card. "You didn't need to get me anything," she said, uncomfortable as usual with this sort of thing, but she smiled at him and took it. "Washes and waxes add up, so this'll come in really handy." Usually she took care of them herself to save money, and because she just liked doing it, but every now and again it was great to get a professional touch if possible.

Thanks, she signed, then nodded. "Since you're buying, I was coming for a refill anyway. And I know you're going to dance, right?" She was teasing. Mostly.

[kudzu_emory]

Kudzu followed Thad over to where Harley was holding court and handed her the little envelope. He'd sketched a tiny car on the front of the envelope, trailing a 'happy birthday' banner to make up for a lack of a card.

"Hey, happy birthday, Harley."

[harley_jordan]

Harley was having a good time. It wasn't often she had more than one or two friends in the same place; she didn't even have that huge a circle of friends to begin with. So this was pretty nice to do sometimes. She was vaguely thinking about dragging Ariel or Duck back up to dance when Kudzu headed over. He stuck out, but mostly because Harley was pretty shocked he'd made it out. She stood up and grinned at him.

"Hey, looking good, Boss." Since their last meeting, she'd rechristened him from Country Boy. She took the envelope, getting a little more used to the gifts and stuff, and grinned when she saw the gift certificates. "I'll have my car all tricked out just from tonight," she said, "Thanks. And thanks for dropping by, I wasn't sure you would."

[kudzu_emory]

"Hey, it isn't often I get asked to show up somewhere by a lady." He grinned guilelessly at her. "I even picked all the straw out of my hair, so I hope you appreciate the effort."

He paused. "Boss? Does that mean I get to order you around?"

[harley_jordan]

"That all it takes, then?" She grinned. "I thought you might rock one of your Jack Sparrow scarves. I'm kind of disappointed, to be honest." She really did appreciate the effort, though. Because seriously, this was Kudzu. In a club. With loudness.

"You can try," she said easily, tucking the card away and making sure not the mess up the envelope where Kudzu had drawn on it. "It'd be a good laugh, anyway." She took a moment to introduce him around, then asked, "So you gonna dance?"

She smiled winningly and waited for a reaction. She wasn't completely serious.

[stephenross]

Stephen slipped into the club, still not entirely sure why he'd come, except that...well he'd liked Harley. Liked her in a way he hadn't really liked anyone in a long time. Maybe it was stupid, but he felt like...well she'd listened even when he was being whiny and lame. He'd even picked something up for her, though he wasn't sure she'd like it. Just a shot glass with her name scrawled across it in black and silver. He felt completely awkward, but...he spotted her and straightened his spine. Confidence was easy to fake, the rest could come later.

"Nice spot for a birthday." He said coming up on her. "Don't think I've seen a club/movie theater before."

[harley_jordan]

Harley was wondering if she might want to slow down with the beers. She'd only had a few and beer didn't go to her head like liquor usually did, though, so it might be fine. People kept buying them for her, was all. Not that she was complaining. She was eyeing one of the drink servers milling about when she spotted Stephen walking toward her.

"Hey, stranger!" She grinned at him, playing on his comment about not knowing peoples' faces. She'd sent the text off to enough people that she was surprised by who all had decided to show, but it was shaping up to be a good group. She didn't even know Stephen well past that time they'd met at La Luna. "It's pretty cool, yeah. Little less seedy than I usually go for, but I figured I might as well try something new. Thanks for coming."

[stephenross]

"Hey, you can take the boy out of the frat, but we're still going to go to parties." He smiled and handed her the shot glass. "Couldn't show up empty handed either."

He looked around the place, nodding approvingly. "I like it. It's got some class to it."

[harley_jordan]

"So you were a frat boy." She snapped her fingers triumphantly. "I knew I had you pegged." She knew from their conversation that it wasn't as simple as that, and he'd had his whole disappearing-in-crowds thing happening, but still.

"I bet the glasses are even clean." They were most likely clean at La Luna too, she was pretty sure anyway. She wasn't that hard up these days. She took the shot glass from him, more surprised that he'd got her something than by the gift itself.

"Hell, Stephen," she said, her tone softening. "This is awesome. Name's on it and everything." She shot him a brief, wondering glance. This type of thing--presents and stuff--always made her a little uncomfortable, especially from someone who didn't really have a reason to've gone to the trouble.