September 1st is when my new neighbors moved in and the month flew by. They remained quiet and I never saw hide nor hair of them. We were now in October and my besties and I had requested my birthday weekend off. Since I work in the French Quarter that was the last thing I wanted for my birthday. We were instead going to do karaoke night in an uptown bar called Igor's. I was finally officially 21 and when I return to work on Monday I'd be returning as a bartender. I'd just finished getting ready and I was wearing one of my tight mid-thigh skirts with an off the shoulder pink top. I channeled my inner 90's ska Gwen Stefani and put my hair up in knots. I decided that if Gwen and Taylor can pull off red lips that I could too. Gwen does dark red but I'm going to go for more of the Taylor red. Since I did the red lips I kept my eyes simple. Just a neutral sparkly shadow with liner and mascara. I stepped back and considered myself good. I heard my friends banging on my door.
"Hey, I can't have y'all being loud after I yelled at my new neighbors for doing the same thing at 8 in the morning!" I said as I pulled my door open.
"Sorry we're just excited to get you drunk!" Dana said cheekily.
"Ok, let's go!" I said with a giggle.
We walked to Igor's nudging each other along the sidewalk.
"You're both going to fall into one of the many cracks in the sidewalk if you don't stop." Daniel said in exasperation.
"You'll catch us! Well. Ian will catch Dana Mana. So you'll catch me my love!" I teased.
"I'd throw you over my shoulder if I wasn't worried about you flashing all the young men you'd then have to beat up." Daniel teased back.
I poked him in the side as we entered Igor's. I bee lined for the sign up sheet with Dana Mana and signed up before joining the guys at the bar.
"It's Tinker Bell's birthday so we need a round of fireball shots." Ian said with a nod at me.
"Coming right up!" The bartender said.
I was disappointed that I wasn't carded now that I was finally able to legally pass. I mean I could have made myself older than I was on my ID but I decided to adhere to as many laws as I could as a vigilante ghost.
"Oi! You fuckers go do what you want but I'm doing karaoke! We did Bourbon St last night for his birthday. Fuck that noise." A loud voice called before entering the bar with two other guys.
I checked them out after deciding that the others must have decided on Bourbon St again. Loud mouth had dark hair with two bleached pieces framing his handsome face. He was an average height with a slim build and dressed like a fashionista. He had sexy piercings in his ear and a lip piercing. I moved from him to surfer boy. He was tall and probably a model. He had blonde hair to his shoulders and soulful chocolate eyes that were looking at me and fantasizing. For once I didn't feel the need to beat him as I don't think it was necessarily naughty fantasizing. I moved from him to the Prince of the group. He was the loud mouth's height but slightly taller. He had brown hair with an auburn tint to it and fire eyes. They were a reddish brown and literally looked like there were flames in them. I was mesmerized by the three until a shot was put into my hand. I turned my attention back to my friends.
"To Tinker Bell's birthday! Happy 21 Tinker Bell!" Ian shouted followed by Dana and Daniel.
I curtsied and then we tossed our shots back. I was then immediately passed another shot as I widened my eyes.
"This one is to Tinker Bell having a great fucking night!" Daniel shouted followed by Dana and Ian.
We all did our shots and then I was handed a third.
"And finally this is to getting our itsy bitsy Tinker Bell hot mess drunk tonight!" Dana shouted followed by the boys.
We tossed back the final shots when my name was called to go sing.
I went up feeling the fireball in my mother fucking veins and I was ready to rock out. The notes of Just a Girl began pounding out and I began singing with all my heart not even needing the words on the screen. I was rocking out on the little platform as I sang. As I stepped off the platform the three beautiful men stepped up to me.
"Oi Trouble-" the loud mouth began before I interrupted.
"Trouble? Oh darlin' you have no idea just how much trouble I can be you big Meanie." I said with a wicked grin.
"I fucking love her already. I think you'll be the best fucking kind of trouble. My name is Gabriel. May I have your name Trouble?" Gabriel asked.
"My name is Sangrida. But you can call me Trouble." I teased.
"Can I call you Princess?" the Prince asked.
"I don't know Prince. What's your name?" I asked.
"Victor. Nice to meet you Princess." Victor said giving my hand a princely kiss.
"Smooth man. My name is Luke Cupcake. I think we've met before. I'd know the woman who swept me literally off my feet before shooting me with a pink paintball from anywhere. You took my heart and have had it since that day." Luke said.
I tilted my head to the side and then looked at the loud mouth and remembered the loud mouth I shot back on that day saying oi as well. My eyes went wide with recognition.
"Mon dieu! That was y'all! I'd remember Meanie's loud mouth from anywhere now that you mention it! You drew me right to you with your loud mouth." I said with a laugh.
What a small world!
"Shit! You're the fucker that took out all nine of us!" Gabriel said with wide eyes.
Victor stayed silent but the fire in his eyes seemed to be burning even brighter as he stared at me.
"I am! The rest of my team is here who took out the other five. Is the one that took them out here?" I asked.
"Nope. He's one of the dumb fuckers that missed this chance to go to fucking Bourbon St again." Gabriel said.
"Well come meet my team." I said with a grin as I skipped over to my besties.
When I reached my friends Daniel threw his arm around me pulling me into his side as he stared at the three guys suspiciously.
"This is my love Daniel, my brother Ian, and bestie Dana Mana. Y'all this is part of the team we took out. Only I took these three out. The blonde model is Luke, loud mouth is Gabriel, and the Prince is Victor." I said.
Luke laughed at how I introduced him.
"You make a very nice looking couple." Victor said as the fire in his eyes dimmed.
"Oh darling I'd be more into you than I'd ever be into her if you catch my drift." Daniel said with a laugh as I giggled too.
The fire in Victor's eyes reignited, Luke grinned, and Gabriel smirked.
"Oi Trouble, will you do a fucking duet with me?" Gabriel asked.
"Sure. What song are you thinking?" I asked.
"How about Summer Nights?" Gabriel asked.
"Some Grease? I'm down with that." I replied with a grin.
Gabriel dashed to the sign up to put us in.
"Would you do one with me Princess?" Victor asked in his smooth baritone voice.
"Sure. What song?" I asked.
"Hm. How about Don't You Want Me by the Human League?" Victor asked.
"I am a waitress in a bar. So cocktail waitress! Perfect. Let's do it." I said.
"I don't sing but I'll take a dance with you Cupcake." Luke said.
"And I'll give you a dance." I said with an easy smile as I booped Luke on the nose.
Once Victor and Gabriel were back from signing us up we all did a fireball shot together with my friends. As I slammed the shot glass on the bar I saw a guy dropping something into a girl's glass out of the corner of my eye.
"I'll be right back darlings." I said as I sashayed off.
As I approached them I timed my stumble into the girl knocking her drink onto the floor.
"Oh my! I'm so sorry! Let me help get you cleaned up. I was already on my way to the bathroom." I said apologetically as I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the guy.
"Doll face that guy you're with dropped a pill into your drink. I wanted to warn you." I said as I let her go before we even reached the bathroom.
"Really? Thank you so much! It was our first date. I love karaoke and he said he did too so I brought him here." She said with tears in her eyes as I called my friend on the police force.
"Hey Kevin? It's V. We've got ourselves a date rapist here at Igor's on St. Charles. I have the girl with me and I spilled the drink. I guarantee by the time we head back to the bar he'll have a new drugged drink for her aka evidence for you. I'll get the drink and stall him if you can get here soon." I said.
"Ok V. I should be there soon." Kevin said.
I disconnected the phone and wiped the girl's tears away.
"Do you think you can pull yourself together and act like everything's normal? Just until the police get here? I'm not going to let him hurt you, I promise." I said.
"I think I can do it. You called yourself V are you..are you the Vigilante?" the girl asked.
"I don't know, am I?" I said with a wink after cleaning her up and pulling her back to the bar.
The guy was predictable and did have another drink that he began handing to her but I took it and wrapped my arm around her.
"Turns out your date is bi and we kind of hit it off in the bathroom. Maybe we can turn this into quite the party. What do you say?" I asked with a wink.
"Really?" the douche asked with happy, wide eyes.
"Oh really." I purred.
I could see the three beautiful men watching me and getting ready to come over. I told them with my eyes to back off. They nodded and stayed where they were. I continued flirting with the douche and the girl for a few minutes when Kevin and his partner arrived.
"Hey Kev! Hey Tom! So great to see y'all. So this here is the date rapist douche. This here was his targeted victim. And this here is the evidence!" I said with a grin.
"Thanks V. We'll take it from here. Miss would you come with us so we can get your statement?" Kevin asked.
"Yes, of course." the girl answered.
"You cock tease bitch!" the douche shouted as Tom was cuffing him and reading him his Miranda rights.
"Aw, sorry we couldn't play." I said with a fake pout and winked as I sashayed back to my friends and the pretty boys.
"You know Kevin?" Victor asked in confusion.
"Of course. It's always good to have a friend on the inside." I said with a shrug.
"Agreed Cupcake agreed." Luke said with a devious gleam in his eyes.
I watched as he stared off into the distance clearly fantasizing about misbehaving with me.
"He daydreams a lot, doesn't he?" I asked.
"All the fucking time." Gabriel said.
"See you later V. Wait what are y'all doing here? You know her?" Kevin asked in confusion.
They were focused on Kevin so they didn't see me shaking my head no at Kevin. Kevin knows I'm the Vigilante. He caught me in fact and let me go. He's been my inside man ever since. I'm thinking he thinks these guys are in the know so I'm telling him that no they don't know. Kevin lets me know with his eyes that he understands.
"We just met tonight. Unless you count the time she took our entire team out in a paintball match. It was too dark to get a good look at her so this is officially our first time meeting her." Luke said with an easy smile on his face.
"She's one to watch. She'd be good." Kevin told them.
I had a feeling he was saying something to them that they get but I didn't get. I narrowed my eyes at them and him as they nodded at what they said.
"Axel would enjoy hearing from you." Victor said.
I could tell he meant more than what he was saying.
"Of course, I'll tell Axel hi." Kevin said with a nod before leaving after his partner.
"Can I get Trouble and Meanie up for their duet?" The Karaoke host called out before I could question the men.
I headed up with Gabriel and we got into our performance for Summer Loving. I have to say he has a great voice. I could see him crooning along to Elvis. After our performance we headed back to the bar where the bartender thanked me for catching the date rapist and gave us free drinks on the house. Luke and I danced and the dreamer had moves. Gabriel joined us dancing against me from behind. I realized it's been a while since I had sex but tonight was definitely not the night. I was intoxicated so I didn't want to make that kind of decision when intoxicated. Plus, I think these guys were more than one night stands. Wow, my brain is on a runaway train tonight.
Finally it was my turn with Victor and I got extra sassy in my performance as the cocktail waitress.
"I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar,
that much is true,
but even then I knew that I'd find a much better place either with or without you."
I sashayed up to Victor and then walked behind him and wrapped my arms around him
"The five years we had have been such good times,
I still love you." I sang as I then trailed my fingers down the side of his neck.
I then came up beside him as I continued singing.
"But now I think it's time that I live my life on my own,
I guess it's just what I must do."
I walked away from him before turning and singing with him the chorus asking if he still wants me. Gabriel's voice had surprised me but Victor's smooth baritone wasn't a surprise. Victor could do naughty things with his voice. We left the platform after our performance and I had a grin on my face. It was a fun night overall and karaoke was coming to an end.
"Would y'all like to join us? We're going to go meet up with the rest of our friends on Bourbon St. It's our friend Nate's birthday." Victor said.
"Hey it's Tinker Bell's birthday too!" Daniel said.
"Oi is that fucking true Trouble? Then you fucking have to join us!" Gabriel shouted.
"No I don't fucking have to. We work in the French Quarter. I don't want to celebrate out there. Sorry darlings. Why are you even here instead of with your friend anyways?" I asked.
"Technically his birthday was yesterday so we already celebrated with him on Bourbon so we wanted to do something different tonight. We knew this didn't go all night so we'd have plenty of time to join them." Victor said with a shrug.
"Ah so then he was almost my birthday twin. My birthday was today." I said.
"Can we trade numbers Cupcake? Since you won't join us." Luke pouted.
"Of course Dreamer." I said with a smile at my sad dreamer.
I traded my number with each of the guys and left with my friends.
"So which guy is it for you?" Daniel asked.
"Why choose? They were all hitting on me in front of each other so clearly they don't care." I said with a shrug.
"That's my girl. I've taught you well." Daniel said as he pretended to wipe a tear.
"I'm so glad you ended up staying my love. I'm sad that you won't work the same nights with me though once the two new guys start." I said with a pout.
"I'll still be here near you and that is all that matters." Daniel said as we all made it back to my apartment.
Ian and Dana crashed in my guest room that I finally decorated after I made more money waitressing. I cuddled with Daniel in my bed as we fell asleep together.
Luke's POV
"Y'all will never guess who we met tonight!" Luke sang out as they met up with the rest of their teams.
"Who?" Axel asked.
"Just the love of my life. The very girl who stole my heart with her pink paintball." Luke said dramatically.
"Oi fucker. She's the fucking love of my life too. My Trouble." Gabriel said.
"She is pretty perfect. A Warrior Princess if ever there was one. She knows our Kevin. She spotted a guy slipping a girl the date rape drug. We didn't even see it. She casually bumped into the girl knocking the drink to the floor then walked off with the girl. When she came back she was all over the girl suggesting a threesome and taking the new drink the guy was handing to his victim. He ate it up the idea of a threesome until Kevin arrived to arrest him. Sang handed him the culprit, witness/victim, and the evidence. Wham bam thank you ma'am." Victor said proudly.
"He said Cupcake would make a good Academy team member and she was one to watch." Luke said with a nod.
"Where's Nate?" Victor asked.
"He's over there dancing and making out with the girl he met from last night." Kota said nodding in Nate's direction.
"So what's her name? This girl that already has nicknames from each of you?" Marc asked curiously.
"Sangrida." Luke said dreamily.
"That means Valkyrie. So Warrior Princess wasn't far off." Mr. Blackbourne said with a nod of approval.
"Do we have a last name so we can look her up?" Corey asked.
"Nope. But we got her phone number. So it's only a matter of hacking." Victor said with a shrug.
The guys had fun the rest of the night but they couldn't help but notice how a certain trio of them ignored every girl that hit on them. It made them even more curious to meet this already infamous Sangrida. The guys had spent the month setting up their Academy HQ inside the old Charity Hospital. Starting Monday they'll start going into their side jobs that were covers for their Academy life.