Misguided Decisions?, Dinah

[ROBERT GABRIEL SHERWOOD]

There was an awful lot telling him that this was a bad idea. The fact that he'd lied to his parents and told them he was planning to stay the night at one of the guys on the baseball team's place after practice was a pretty good indicator that he was doing something he shouldn't. Unfortunately, Bobby's sense of right and wrong wasn't the best. While there was a presence in his brain going 'you really shouldn't do this', there was a bigger presence going 'nothing's going to happen, this is going to be fun'. Any practical thoughts like 'if I get into too much trouble, I might not get to go to school in the fall' faded from his brain as he got into his car and hopped on the high way and drove to the small city Dinah had told him there was a club in- far enough away to actually have a real club, and be where he wasn't going to run into someone he knew- all good things.

He parked, a bit away from the building while he waited for Dinah to show up. She apparently knew someone that could get them in the back- a lot of that night would be her knowing someone, he guessed. It would be a lie if he wasn't a little nervous. It was strange- he knew he'd been into trouble before, and he knew that if they got caught, he'd be in worse trouble. But nothing he'd ever done before had been like this. But wasn't this better? He'd gotten in trouble for things like shoplifting and getting into fights... hanging out with a new friend in a club was a good thing, even if he was too young to walk in the front door. And well, a little experimenting wasn't going to hurt anyone- it wasn't like he'd never been drunk before. This was just... more of the same.

He got out of his (rather sorry looking) car, leaning against the door. He checked the time on his cell phone, the display telling him it was about the time he and Dinah had agreed to meet. He quickly shut it off and put it into his pocket- there was no reason anyone would need to get a hold of him.

[DINAH ALICE SMITH]

Nothing about driving miles from her little, unexciting home town to a city (albeit small, but whatever, it was big enough to have a good clubbing scene) where she could get high with the comfort of almost certain anonymity in full knowledge that no one would miss her at home should anything happen struck Dinah as unwise. If anything, all of that combined only really served to ramp up her excitement to go out. She'd bought her gear a few days earlier and although she hadn't been able to casually take care of the coke leisurely at home (unusual for her, but it was only a few days until she had a roommate, so she figured she might as well do it while she could ... it had absolutely nothing to do with anything else. At all), she still had a few little white pills that she intended to be generous with that night. After all, the boy she was taking out would need a little guidance, she guessed - his naivety had been one of the things that had turned her on to mentioning things to him at all. To be honest, she had left not knowing whether she wanted to ruffle his hair like a puppy or check him out. So she settled for promising to get him wasted instead. God knew if she'd ever hear from him again after he experienced his first real hangover, but she knew they'd have a good time that night at least.

As she exited her battered little car, she pulled down her short denim skirt - really, the thing necessitated thick black tights - to ensure her dignity was kept and then scanned over towards the building where she'd told Bobby to wait for her. A smile spread itself over her lips as she noticed him waiting there, right on time - it was kind of sweet really, seen as she took that to be a sign of eagerness. Stalking over to him, she lifted a hand in a slight greeting as they got within eyeshot of each other, her heels making it so that she was actually a little taller than him. It was a good reason of why she never wore heels on a regular basis, seen as she was already freakishly enormous without any help, but there was something about a pair of heels that made her feel ready for a night in a club. "You ready for this?" she asked him, quirking an eyebrow and smirking a little. She was kind of excited herself.

Approaching her contact at the back door - a guy in a polo shirt and a dish rag hanging from his belt - she nodded at him and guided Bobby towards the back door. It was good enough until they were old enough to get in the front way. Once the door shut behind them and the music closed in, he pulled her towards him and she craned herself back from a bit, fixing a smile on her face, even if it didn't spread to her eyes. "So mistrusting, what am I going to do with you?" she said, keeping her tone light, even if the guy sort of made her skin crawl. She picked up one of his hands and gave what looked like an affectionate squeeze before letting go and taking the chance to take a couple of steps back. He grunted and stuck his hand in his pocket, which Dinah took for a welcome dismissal. The guy was an absolute creep, but at the moment ... sort of necessary. She turned back to Bobby and flashed him a much more natural bright grin. "Come on, let's go," she said, reaching out to grab his hand and guide him through the anonymity of the crowd. "You sure you want to do this?" she checked, though her tone was slightly teasing, her eyes sparkling with a certain kind of mischief.

[ROBERT GABRIEL SHERWOOD]

He waited for her, a little... anxious, but by far more excited. He wouldn't have agreed to it if he wasn't interested in giving this a go. Still he didn't really want to let Dinah know that he was anxious or particularly excited. Too much enthusiasm would just make him seem childish and he was a little worried she'd tell him to just get back in his car and go home, or at least just tease him over it. He waved at her when he spotted her- her hair made her particularly noticeable, as well as her height... the fact that with the shoes she had on she was slightly taller than him didn't do much to ease his concern about appearing childish. ”Yeah,” he said, not wanting to be too enthusiastic. ”Let's do it.”

He followed her to the back door of the club, sort of wishing that they could have just gotten in the front, even if that was a few years off for him. No problem, once they were in it wouldn't matter that they were underage. He was... uneasy to say the least when he saw who their contact was. And he was very tempted to step in and intervene when he grabbed for Dinah. Sure it'd probably ruin the night and they would get kicked out, but he didn't want her to be harmed. Was that how this worked? Lechy guys let her in because she was a pretty girl and they hoped... The idea of it kind of made his skin crawl. It also struck him that this happened with him standing right there behind her, seeing everything that happened- and perfectly capable of stepping in to ensure she didn't get hurt. Even if he was young, he was tall and his athleticism ensured he was muscled enough to hold his own. The fact that he was eyeing this guy to ensure that he'd be able to get Dinah away from him if need be made him even more uneasy- what if some creep took advantage of her when there wasn't anyone there to even know?

She got away from him before it was really an issue, thankfully- though he was still uneasy. He let her lead him away. He still sort of wanted to ask about it- did that happen all the time? Had she ever been hurt? What if some creep got to her later in the night when she was perhaps less able to fight someone off? But he wasn't sure he wanted to ask so he kept his mouth shut. ”Yes I'm sure, are you?” he asked, trying to tease back, but a little off ease.

(sorry for posting back like.. twelve hours later but SOMETHING had to keep me occupied in class... obviously not class itself)

[DINAH ALICE SMITH]

Dinah smiled at his apparent ease over the situation, knowing that the first time she had come out to the city to sneak into a club she had been like something akin to an excited kitten with a new toy she wasn't quite sure of. Time and experience had blinded her to the potential dangers of what she was doing, though she always got a little excited at the prospect of a good night out. Still, she remembered that the experience could be a bit overwhelming the first couple of times and that there were a lot of pressure not to stick out like a sore thumb (or like the underaged people they were), so she had some idea of what was probably actually going round his head. Then again, he was tall, muscular, his face was a little baby-like, but no more so than some people she saw with real IDs. He'd be fine, even if it wasn't quite worth chancing the front door just yet.

Once they were through the door and out of arm's reach of that creep of a contact she had, Dinah was more or less able to put the entire encounter out of her head, just like every other time she came here. It wasn't bad, really, and as far as she was aware nothing had ever got too out of hand ... there had been times, but ... well, nothing too bad. The club's security was no doubt lax considering that she was able to get in through an unwatched side door, but she was certain that if things got bad she would be able to make enough of a fuss to draw attention. Not to mention that she felt she'd be more than capable of looking after herself. Mostly, it didn't even cross her mind that she was putting herself into harm's way on a regular basis for a purpose that wasn't even necessary. After all, having someone like Bobby around to make sure everything was okay was the exception, not the rule.

"Great, then wait right here," she told him, knowing how easy it was to lose someone in such a big, busy space. Before he could protest, she made her way to the nearby bar and grabbed a couple of vodka and cokes - she hadn't asked what he wanted, but she figured she was safe enough with that option; not for her was the expecting the guy to pay for everything deal. Well, this wasn't a date or anything, but she knew some of her friends (using the term loosely) expected any boys they were with to pay just because they were the boys. Made no sense to her. Returning to him, she thrust a drink at him and took a good long gulp of hers. With a surreptitious look around to make sure no one was hanging round, she dipped her fingers into her purse and, without any more suspicious behaviour popped something into her mouth.

With a half smile at him, she leaned across and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze in what for the world looked like a purely affectionate gesture. After all, while they knew different, they were a guy and girl in a club spending time to each other. It was really incidental that when she squeezed his hand, it dislodged a little white pill from her own palm and dropped it into his fingers. "Welcome to Wonderland," she said with a grin, taking her hand back so that she could wash down her own little fun booster with a gulp of her drink.

[ROBERT GABRIEL SHERWOOD]

He told himself not to worry about it so much. There was no reason to panic. Even if her contact to let her into the club was a creep, the place was full of normal people. And any decent person would step in to at least check to make sure everything was okay if a girl started kicking up a fuss. The music wasn't so loud you wouldn't be able to scream or anything- so there was nothing to worry about. Even though a part of him was a little less sure that most people were actually decent enough to check on a girl and ensure she wasn't in danger. He shook the thought off- he was just being a pessimist, burnt by people. Dinah was an adult and knew what she was doing better than he did. There was no reason to worry about her safety. He was just supposed to be trying to not look like a complete idiot.

He listened, mostly because he didn't know what else to do. He was pretty sure he'd get carded again if he tried to buy anything at the bar... they could do that, right? Whatever, he'd just play it by ear and he would have a good time. He didn't really mind Dinah getting the first round, but he didn't intend to let her do so all night. So if she could get them he wouldn't get carded if he tried to approach the bar? Good. Well, that or the guy at the bar thought she was pretty and didn't want to card her... that was possible. Maybe he'd just pay her back later? But actually giving her money would be a bit awkward. It wasn't like they were on a date or anything- no, he wasn't really interested, even if she was pretty.

He was a little confused when she grabbed his hand, wondering if she'd misinterpreted his interest. Then he felt something drop into his hand and he understood. He let his eyes flick to his palm to see the little white pill she'd handed him.... oh. He briefly glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention, but no one seemed to be. Not wanting to look nervous, he just said "Cheers," and put the pill into his mouth and used his drink to wash it down. The burn of alcohol was familiar enough- taking something else wasn't and he couldn't quite help asking "So what was that?" Even though it might have made more sense to ask that before he swallowed it. It wasn't like Dinah was going to give him anything that was going to hurt him.

[DINAH ALICE SMITH]

Now that she was through the door and away from that side of the room, Dinah was relaxing right into the situation, it feeling familiar. She knew that soon she'd feel that burden-lifting relief after a little help from her 'friends' and there was no better feeling than that. Sure, she loved her Guide the vast majority of the time, but sometimes he did just get a little loud and difficult to ignore and while she didn't think she needed to seek any help whatsoever, she saw this as a way she knew would be a sure fire way of dealing with him. For a short time, anyway - after she came down was another matter, but she was currently enjoying taking the short-sighted view of life and so didn't really care what happened as far away as the next morning. After all, they were there to have fun, right? By the time she had gone off to get them both a necessary drink, the creep of a contact was an issue thrust to the back of her mind almost forgotten about completely as it just held a slightly hold of her more instinctive distrust of him should be try his luck later in the night.

Dinah watched Bobby subtly as she planted the pill into his palm, not knowing if she had made it clear enough what kind of fun she expected from the good night out she'd offered him. There was a chance that this would be the moment that he would turn to her horrified, run out, call the cops (or something equally as dramatic) and she'd be all over the town blog the next day, but there had been something about him when they had spoken that had given her the confidence to invite him out. She didn't know ... he just seemed, to borrow a cliché, cool. "Bottoms up," she responded, no lack of irony to her tone as she smirked at him. It amused her even further when only after he had swallowed her gift did he ask what exactly it was. She smiled at him. "Nothing too heavy," she assured him. "Just a little bit of happiness." She wasn't sure when in the last couple of years ecstasy had been downgraded to 'nothing too heavy'.

Finishing up her drink, a smile had slowly spread 'naturally' over her face, feeling the insatiable buzz in her veins as the drug began to take hold. She quirked an eyebrow at him, after tearing her eyes from the crowd which was beginning to look increasingly hypnotic to her, and tolted her head. "Starting to feel it yet?" she asked, licking her lips in anticipation of the full hit. She knew that if she, a seasoned veteran abuser, was feeling it, he must be too - unless he had more experience than he had suggested.

[ROBERT GABRIEL SHERWOOD]

He was still curious about what exactly it was, but he took her reassurance that it was nothing too heavy. Granted, she had more experience with it so what wasn't much to her might pack more of a punch on him. The fact that it wasn't a straight answer did make him worry that maybe she didn't know quite what it was- he told himself to shake it off, she knew what she was doing. "A little happiness sounds good to me," he said, putting a little bit of bravado into his voice. The drug and the alcohol weren't effecting him yet, as he'd only just swallowed both, but perhaps it was giving a slight placebo affect to his confidence. That he really did enjoy- he wasn't very open around people and tended to keep to himself. Openness was probably a good thing.

And he did relax more as a little time passed. He didn't really know what to expect, but what he was finding wasn't bad... she was right, it did feel like happiness in pill form. The thought didn't make much sense, but he just nodded at her question. "Yeah, I think so. You?" he asked, trying to not behave like a little kid with a new toy, but the concern about looking cool was fading a bit. It was giving way to him relaxing enough to just have fun and maybe some extra energy... which meant no, he probably wasn't going to look cool, but he was going to have fun, which was surely the point. And Dinah seemed awesome, even if he barely knew her. That didn't mean she wasn't awesome, though. So maybe he was definitely feeling the effects of the little... fun helper.

Losing interest in standing around, he quickly downed the last of his drink- which would surely only exaggerate the effects of the drug, but he felt fine, great even. He was wondering how bad it would be in the morning- if he was already feeling good, surely the hangover would be awful (it was a law or something). However he didn't have it in him to be really concerned about it. Or anything... "Wanna dance?" he asked, however he didn't wait for an answer before lightly reaching over to take her hand to lead her to the floor. He honestly didn't mean anything by it- his interest in her was purely platonic, but they had come together and it seemed silly to be in a club and not dance.

[DINAH ALICE SMITH]

Dinah watched him over the rim of her glass as she lifted it to take another sip, making sure that he wasn't about to freak out by her dismissal of what the pill was exactly. The truth was that she knew it was MDMA, but hearing the clinical name - or even calling it ecstasy - could freak people out just by the name. If he just let it do its job he'd be fine. After all, she'd been using the same supplier for months now and he'd always gotten her good, clean stuff, so she really didn't think she had anything to worry about in regard to him having a reaction or anything. It'd all be fine - better than fine soon. "Nothing quite like it," she assured him.

"Always great," she told him, flashing him a bright grin which broke as a little giggle escaped her. That would be the drug at work, uplifting everything about her mood to such a high degree she could hardly contain it. This was what she loved to feel like, so free, so light. The longer she gave the pill to take effect, the more she felt like she was walking on air, her heart increasing in size, figuratively speaking (hopefully), as she embraced the love she felt for everything in her immediate presence. This boy, who she had plucked from such a non-entity as Hollow's End, for instance, was getting most of it just then. She admired the way he carried himself, how he wasn't fazed - how his hair was doing that poofy thing that she just wanted to get her fingers into. But then there was the dance floor too and she really needed to dance some of this feeling out.

It was only once Bobby's hand closed round hers that she managed to process his words and again she was off grinning and laughing. "I thought you'd never ask!" she exclaimed, voice slightly too loud and excited, but it felt so good, so who cared? She grasped his hand in return and hopped through the crowd on her heels, only grinning and occasionally stroking people as she jostled them. But then, most of them weren't in the right sort of state to see her behaviour as odd. As they danced - her moves mostly relying on hair flinging because the colour reflected the lights so well - the drug took hold completely. She leaned over towards Bobby, teetering just a little on her heels as she slung an arm right round his shoulders. "You're doing well, rookie!" she told him with a mock serious nod before her eye caught on his hair again. She lifted her free hand and poked it gingerly before laughing, finding it hilarious for ... really no good reason. "Your hair is great," she told him, slurring a little. "And your like ... face. And this place. I love the feeling of this place!"

[ROBERT GABRIEL SHERWOOD]

As the time passed, he was feeling better about... everything. Normally Bobby had a tendency to brood on things that were bothering him, but it was sort of like all of that disappeared. Well, no, he knew it was all still there, but it wasn't like it all mattered. All that mattered to him then was what was right in front of him- the music the club was pumping out, the people having fun, wanting to have a good time with Dinah. He normally wasn't very quick to trust a new acquaintance, but she'd shown him something that seemed great and he was grateful for that. While there was some cynical part of him buried in there, scoffing at the fact that it had taken a drug to get him to shake everything off and pointing out that he'd feel like shit the next day... it wasn't at all registering in his thoughts.

He really wasn't much as far as dance was concerned- he'd always sort of associated it with his half-brother and that hadn't really gone over well. But he didn't really... care, then. It wasn't like anyone else did. "Haha! Only because I learned from the best!" he said, with far more enthusiasm than he ever would have had normally. He ran his hand over his own hair, probably mussing it up a little bit- it was a bit on the long side and he'd probably cut it shorter once summer hit... but if girls liked it, maybe not. "Thanks, yours is pretty- the color and it's all long." Normally he could be eloquent, but his intoxication was stealing that from him. His words were slurring a little, but he didn't notice it. "Thanks for bringing me here!"

He looked past her, mostly just wanting to look at the lights from the club, the music making it all have a sort of hypnotic effect. While he couldn't really see himself doing this often, not liking the fact that he could tell he didn't have himself completely under control, he could see why some people would end up in clubs, trying things frequently. The lessening of control honestly scared him a little, even if that wasn't totally getting to his brain and he knew he would feel like shit the next day. But maybe, occasionally, to let off some steam it could be okay. He thought he spotted the creepy contact guy, which made him a little uneasy- even in this state.

[DINAH ALICE SMITH]

Dinah grinned happily, taking the compliment well. Even if she wasn't high, she didn't generally try to second guess people's motives behind their words so would have taken it at face value, but while she was in this state of mind it was like he had done far more than massage her ego. But you know what? She totally was the best, for bringing him out to experience this too, because he was having a good time and that was all that mattered. The here and now was all that was really relevant to their lives - why worry about what would happen next?

"It looks like fire," she said with a definite nod as if this was some big philosophical conclusion she had come to, though she was still kind of interested in the new way that his hair shifted round his head now that he'd messed it up. He then soon distracted her by thanking her for bringing her here, and it was not a minor deal that she had shared this with him considering the trouble she could get herself into by revealing her pastime to the wrong person, once again focusing her attention on him and on the packed dance floor. Without a second thought - and perhaps not even a first one - she allowed herself to tip towards him, not noticing the slight change in his expression or change in focus. Throwing her arms around him the hug that she gave was more of a clumsy bear hug than anything else, a slight unsteadiness (she didn't wear heels constantly and ... well, she was pretty wrecked) made her put more weight on him than perhaps looked appropriate.

Before she knew what was happening - and before she had her own balance under her control - she felt an irresistible pincer-like presence on her bare arm. Whipping her head round she glared at the assailant - the contact that she had who usually worked to the end of the night, before which she tended to disappear. "Whoa this isn't right ... dude, you're meant to be working and what are you doing, chill out!" she exclaimed, having been dislodged completely from Bobby. She couldn't really compute in her head exactly what was going on as he grabbed her wrist, his hand sliding up her back, but what she did recognise was the sick feeling in her stomach that something wasn't right. It was no doubt bad that one of her chiefest concerns was how this was ruining her high - she'd been so happy and now, while she couldn't register it properly, she was kind of a mix of angry and scared. She struggled against him as he pulled her further away from her companion. "Hey! No!" she called out, though her voice didn't really make much of an impact above the pulsing music.

[ROBERT GABRIEL SHERWOOD]

"It does- red and shiny, but it doesn't burn," he said, a little incoherently, but thoroughly complimentary. He hugged her back, not really thinking about what it might look like- to him it was just showing a bit of affection for a new friend and helping her regain her balance a bit. He almost suggested she just take the shoes off to gain her balance back, but the floor was probably gross. Besides, he didn't mind- at that moment Dinah might as well have been his best friend for years- and the rest of the club were all looked at as friends. Anyone who knew him better would be able to see how much the drug was affecting him. Bobby wasn't normally very open at all and didn't like big crowds very much- at parties he tended to stick with a couple of friends, getting trashed in some corner somewhere. Being in the middle of things wasn't very like him, nor was putting so much trust in someone he didn't really know.

He wasn't all there, honestly- but he wasn't so out of it that he couldn't tell that Dinah hadn't just let go of him, but had been pulled away. And that and Dinah's protest was enough to sober him up, not enough to really repair his judgement, but to make him want to do something. Oh, and remove the warm cuddly feelings had had sort of had for the world. So he had recognized the creep. His skin crawled a little bit. "Let go of her!" he said, pushing past the crowd without apologizing to get back to them. He sort of roughly made a grab for Dinah, pulling her toward him and then behind him, out of the guy's grasp. Had he been of a clearer mind, he might have grabbed his friend's hand and just taken her outside where they could regroup and he could make sure she was alright- it was a much more logical thing to do. As it was, he didn't just want to ensure Dinah's safety; he wanted the loser to know exactly how disgusting he was for trying to take advantage of a girl and make sure he never attempted to do so, again.

He shoved the guy firmly in the chest, pushing him away from the crowd. While some logical part of his brain was going 'okay, you got him away from Dinah, that was all you needed to do, let it go'... he was also angry. And just because Dinah was safe didn't mean he wanted the creep to hurt some other girl in the club. So he hit him, managing to get a few jabs and punches in. Of course the loser fought back and by the end of it, they were separated- and both kicked out.

Bobby had no idea where Dinah was. The fresh air didn't do that much to sober him up, and neither did the taste of blood from a bruised lip- from the feel of it, he'd have a couple of extra bruises along his cheekbone come morning. He didn't totally know what to do, then- he couldn't really go back in to find Dinah, he wouldn't be allowed in the front and the back was no longer an option to him. He had the sense to know that he could not drive home- why had he brought his car? He'd been expecting to end up in more or less this shape, just without the slight injuries from the scuffle (the other guy looked worse). He also was not about to call his parents- they would freak out if they knew what happened. He wasn't sure he really had any friend he was close enough to to count on to come and bail him out... so he called the one person he felt he could rely on, his half-brother.