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Before: Taking Advantage


Nick

The thing I love most about club music is it's loud enough that when girls say stupid things I can't hear them. Vice versa, too. When I say stupid things, girls can't hear them, either. It makes it nice because you can say pretty much anything you want and if you say it with a smile the person you're saying it to will either think they misheard you or didn't hear you the first time to begin with.

The thing I don't love about clubs is that too many scurvy guys try to take advantage of this lack of hearing.

And the guy that was talking to Dogface at the bar was notoriously one of those guys that followed girls to the bathroom and took advantage of the noise. I looked at my Mamasita, whose big chest was jiggling gently with her dancing, and her eyes were slightly unfocused. This was a sure shot. I glanced back at Dogface.

"I'm sorry, I gotta go," I yelled into Mamasita's ear.

I don't know what she thought I said, but it must've been something back because she threw her drink in my face and stormed away with her girlfriends. A couple people looked over at me with raised eyebrows. I had sludgey green drink rolling down my chest. It was freezing, made mostly of ice. "Shit," I gasped, shaking it off. "Shit that's cold."

I turned around to find Dogface again, but she wasn't at the bar. Neither was the douche bag. I looked around, scanning the room, and the light caught her red hair as she climbed the stairs toward the VIP room, wobbling slightly, carrying her drink. The douche bag was right on her heels. "Excuse me," I muttered, pushing between people, attempting to cross the dance floor. I shoved and pushed my way along, watching as the guy followed Dogface into the VIP room and closed the door behind them.

It took me entirely too long to get there, I could feel my heart pounding. When I opened the door, he had her by the arms. "Hey back the fuck off her," I shouted as I came in the room. He let her go and she dropped like a lead to the couch beneath her. I grabbed the guy by the shirt and spun him into the wall, getting right in his face, "If you even so much as look at her again I swear to Christ I'll rip your dick off."

The guy glowered at me.

"Maybe I should anyways and do all them girls a favor, you piece of shit."

"Like you're one to talk, I've seen you, always here every night, picking up different women." He spat. "You're not any different than me."

"I don't take advantage of women," I snapped.

"Of course you do," he answered, "They don't regret me anymore than they regret you the next morning, just because you're some high and mighty Backstreet Boy or whatever you are you think it ain't a crime you going around using women? Like you're some gift God gave'em?"

"Get the fuck out of here before I kill you," I growled and I shoved him toward the door.

He stumbled to regain his balance and he laughed, "Hitting a nerve am I, pretty boy?" he asked.

"I said get the fuck out of here," I replied.

He smirked, but he ducked out of the room.

I turned back to Dogface, who was laying on the couch. I picked up her glass and sniffed it. It didn't smell like he'd put anything in there, but who could tell. I felt lightheaded as the adrenaline wore off, but the buzz was officially killed. I pulled Dogface up to her feet and she fell into me, her arms instinctively wrapping around my neck. "I love you," she murmured as her head landed against my chest.

I hugged her to me. "C'mon, let's get you home. This was a mistake." I pulled her along out of the VIP room and down the stairs to the exit, where I called for the driver to come around for us. The night air was cold. She clung to me like a koala bear as we waited for the car. The driver got out and helped me get Dogface into the back, and he closed the door behind us.

In the lush car interior, Dogface curled into me, her hand clinging to my shirt in a little fist. I stared at her hand, at the lines on her knuckles and the color on her nails. I pressed my face into her hair, smelling that fruity, flowery smell I'd noticed earlier. She felt delicate for the first time since I'd known her. Dogface had always been tough, almost boylike, but for the first time she felt like a girl.

When the car came to a stop in front of her apartment building, I paid the driver and told him he could go home for the night. "I'm staying here," I said. I hoisted Dogface into my arms and carried her up the stairs. I put her down on the hallway floor and fished her keys out of her pockets and struggled with her twelve billion locks on the door. "Jesus, even with the keys nobody's getting in here," I muttered to her. She didn't reply. Instead, she was humming Free Falling. I finally got all the locks undone and I lifted her back up, carried her inside and put her down on her couch before going back and resealing the door.

I knelt on the floor beside the couch and put a pillow down behind her head.

She half opened her eyes, "I think I'm drunk," she whispered.

"I think so, too," I replied.

She reached out and put her hand on my face, "There's no other face in the entire world I'd rather see," she whispered.

I laughed, "You're talking crazy, Dogface."

"I love you, Nick Carter," she murmured.

"Good night, Dogface," I said. I stood up, her hand flopped back to her side and she stared up at me. I started walking away.

"Nick," she called.

I turned back. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you gonna try to take advantage of me?" she asked, "I'm a drunk girl, you know."

I shook my head, "No," I said, and I felt profoundly guilty.




Ashley

"Oh God, my head." I felt like my brain was imploding. I clutched my head and rolled onto my side. The sound of the couch moving with my weight was like a freight train on high speed. "Holy shit," I groaned.

"Hey you're awake!"

"Oh Jesus say that quietly." I looked up and saw Nick standing there. He knelt down.

"Sorry," he said, just above a whisper. He held out a cup. "Black coffee. It'll help." I took the mug and forced myself to sit up. It was like straightening the tower of Pisa. Nick sat down next to me, clutching his own mug. He put an arm over my shoulder. "How you feeling today?" he asked.

"Like I got hit by a bus," I answered, sipping the coffee. "What in the hell happened last night?"

"Some tool tried to take advantage of you," he replied. "I gave him the ol' heave-ho, sent him packin', drove him out of Dodge. You know. Other old Western cowboy phrases for kicked his ass."

The coffee was bitter, but it did provide a nice rush to my head. And it was warm. Considering how cold I felt, warm was good. "How'd we get home?"

"I carried you in," he answered. "I hope you don't mind, I slept on your bed."

"No that's fine," I said. Though I did wonder fleetingly why he chose to deposit me on the couch and take the bed himself instead of vice versa, but I didn't say anything. "I don't think I've ever been that drunk in my entire life," I said.

"I know you haven't," Nick supplied. "You were completely wasted."

"I'm sorry."

"It's my own fault, half the drinking you did was the shots I gave you," he laughed, "Half? All but like one drink was what I gave you." He leaned back against the couch cushion.

"Did you at least get some time with your mamasita?" I asked.

Nick shook his head, "She threw her drink at me, in my face." He laughed.

"What'd you do?"

"Told her I had to go help you," Nick shrugged. "I think she misheard what I said, though."

"Aw you gave up your New Year Ho," I said.

"That's two hos you owe me," Nick laughed.

"I'll have to work on that."

Nick shrugged. "Eh..."

"Eh?"

"I think I'm becoming a new leaf this year," he said.

I raised an eyebrow, "A new leaf?"

"Yeah," Nick nodded. "Here it is... my New Year's resolution --"

"Oh Lord," I rolled my eyes.

"Do you wanna hear this or not?"

"I wanna hear it."

"Okay. So my New Years resolution --- I'm gonna only sleep with girls who are sober." He swept his hand across the air in front of us like a marquee.

I snorted coffee.

"I don't want what I do to be mistaken as taking advantage," he explained, "I don't do that. I'm just really good in bed and there's enough of the Carter to go around, if you know what I'm sayin'." He winked.

"You're mental," I said.

"Of course, hooking up with a completely sober woman is slightly more of a challenge than sleeping with a drunk one," he said, rubbing his chin. "Good thing I have a fucking brilliant wingman."

"This leaf's gonna last like one night," I said.