The Squad

Chapter 1: No Strings Attached

"Good girls go to heaven - bad girls go everywhere."

~Unkown

-Wednesday, January 5th. 10:15pm.

The evening at La Vida's bar is particularly enormous. The bar is not so crowded like every other night, some table occupied and some very much empty. There is that difference between a bar and a club lingering tonight; the blissful serenity of soft music, less crowd and a tremendous atmosphere to digest the fine taste of the drinks as they travel down guts.

The red disco balls illuminates the dim corners of the bar, enchanting the faces of friends and couples sitting around tables. The air-conditioning are down, being a time of the year where little or no effort is made to keep a room chilled.

The music vibes lowly, accompanied by wheeze of people laughing and chatting on their tables. The single pringles feel accustomed to sit on the bar stools, downing bottles of liquor and glasses of wine as the case may be.

"One more glass please." Allison order as she finish her third glass of Baron de rouge and pushes the empty glass to the bartender. Adjusting on the bar stool, she tilt her head down tiredly, rubbing her forehead several times. She mumble some curse under her breath as she is beginning to feel tipsy.

She had arrived in New York 13 hours ago, and is supposed to be busy tonight having sex with a stranger as she had planned. Well, not just any stranger but a wreckless or messed up guy who wouldn't care about love. Only the sex would matter. She wants no strings attached. It has be a one night stand just for the sake of getting rid of her virginity. She can't afford to have someone on her heels, showing love and affection or whatsoever.

I came to New York in quest for fame and revenge, not to get entangled with a man, She thought.

The time is 10:15pm by now. She couldn't help but feel the dizziness falling hard on her eyes, but she ignores it anyway. She just wants to be stubborn tonight.

A green Stella McCartney sweater on a white ripped jean, accompanied by a pair of green heels, Allison couldn't look more elegant for a 23 year old.

"Here you go!" the bartender say over his voice, causing the lady to tilt her head up. He slowly push another glass of Baron de rouge toward her.

"Merci beaucoup." She croaked, clenching both hands around the glass as she slowly pull it close to herself.

"Ah, a French lady!" the bartender raises his eyebrows. "That explains why your taste is Baron de rouge."

"Oh no, I'm American. I just love French, that's all."

"Oh, I see" The bartender gives her a small nod before going back to his business.

Allison takes a sip of the wine. She close her eyes with her head slightly thrown aback. Low vibration erupts from here chest in a hum as she reminisce the fine taste of the french wine. It had always been her favorite taste since as long as she could remember.

She nods her head slowly to the rhythm of the blues that filled the air but somehow she is deep in thought. Three guys had already tried hitting on her but she had seen the affection in their eyes, so she turned them down.

She blinks her eyes repeatedly as they're beginning to threaten to blur her vision. She tries to be sober but her eyes are getting heavier by every content of the liquid that she takes. With the tiredness refusing to go away, she decide to take a break from drinking since she's not far from being drunk now.

"Another shot please." A faint voice order across the bar.

"Dude, you're killing yourself. I know you and this is not you. Man, you don't drink this much unless you're hurt, or you're trying to get over something" the bartender mutters to the guy.

"You damn right I am." The guy snaps at the bartender. His hands clench into a fist. "Can I have my drink now please?" he blurts annoyed.

"Jeez man, alright." The bartender throw his hands in the air in resignation. "But we're gonna talk about this tomorrow. I'll be on shift, so we gotta talk about this."

"Yeah whatever." He responds nonchalantly.

Allison glances at the guy. He looked angry and awful. His hair is messy and unattended to. The bartender places a glass of whiskey in front of the guy who seemed to be getting comfort from the drink. That's when the thought struck her. This is the kind of man she needs for tonight. A man who wouldn't mind having a distraction for the night with no strings attached.

She takes the time to check him out. He is tall and muscular. He jawline is slick and sharp. His abs are hard and well built. He is wearing a white sleeve on black pants. Allison finds it disturbing that even though this guy is wearing sleeves, his abs are so defined as if he is shirtless.

What could be more fun than to lie naked beneath that fine body of his? She swallow hard.

She signals the bartender to come over to her. He obliges and walks to her. "Could you give that gentleman over there another glass of whatever he's drinking? The bill's on me."

"Okay ma'am" the bartender lowers his eyes at her before nodding.

She watch the bartender go to the shelves and take a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He pour some liquor into the glass and place it in front of the guy. He whispers something into his ear and nod towards Allison, which she assumes is the bartender informing the guy who bought the drink for him. The guy snap his head towards her. Their eyes met and he gives her a smirky smile and a toast in the air. She returns the gesture, smiling back at him. She takes her drink and heads over to him.

"Hi, may I?" Allison said, motioning to an unoccupied bar stool beside him.

"Sure, It's all yours."

She sits. "So, had a bad day huh?" She tease

"Ya, kinda. It's all messed up" he shrug.

"I can see that" She tease, they both laugh.

"I'm Blake by the ways" He stretch out his hand for an handshake

"Allison" She smile and shakes his hands.

"So, do you come here often?" Blake ask.

"No. Well I hope to in the future. But I'm new in town."

"Oh, how long have you been in New York?" He asks

"14 hours. Like I said, I'm new in town. So instead of asking too many questions, why don't you show me around."

"Uh, okay? Where would you like to see?" He ask innocently.

Allison bites her lower lip, staring from Blake's eyes to his lips.

I got this, I can do this. I can be sexy. How hard can it be to seduce a man? She thought.

"Your hotel room." She whispers into his ear.

Blake shifts back almost immediately to get a look at her face. He raise a brow at the straight to the point lady. Though He isn't all that surprised but he didn't see it coming.

Allison smirks. "So, do I have the honour? And besides, you look like you could use some distraction yourself."

Blake opens his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He just let out a small smile instead.

"I take that as a yes." She winks at him. "So what do you say we get drunk first?"

Blake raise his glass, "A toast to getting drunk."

"A toast." Allison purred, raising her glass in the air. The air cheered with the cling of their glasses before they slowly come close to their lips as small sips are taken.

Blake signaled the bartender for more drinks...