“Was that Nick just talking to you?” Lore asked, as her friend approached her again.

Cat looked over her shoulder and shrugged, “Was it? I wasn’t paying attention….”

Lore sighed and rolled her eyes, “Leave it to you to not notice a Backstreet Boy talking to you…” She looked at her friend, “I’m really starting to regret asking you to come.”

“No you’re not, I’m the only one who would’ve paid you back for the tickets, whether I listen to the band or not,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Besides, I’m having fun and I bought you a drink,” she said with a sweet, innocent grin before handing her friend the drink.

“This doesn’t mean I forgive you… Cheers,” she said, smiling a little at the other girl.

Cat chuckled and lifted her glass before hugging her friend and taking a sip of her drink. She looked around the club for a few seconds before looking back at Lore, “Not a lot of people here…”

“It’s still early…” Lore said, “Are you going to be that annoying negative person all night, or are you going to enjoy yourself?”

“I promise… I’m about 3 drinks away from a good time,” Cat said, grinning with a chuckle at her friend.

Lore nodded, “We shall see…” she said, sipping her drink, “But you’re right… I would’ve thought an after party would have been busier…”

“You said you didn’t hear about it until only a couple days ago… Maybe there just wasn’t a lot of advertising for it?” she suggested.

“Who knows… But let’s just try and have fun? I don’t want to regret you coming…” Lore said softly, looking at her friend.

Cat held up three fingers, “Scouts honor, no regrets allowed!” She smiled and finished her drink then felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around and perked an eyebrow at the tall beefy looking guy, “Yes?”

“Come with me,” he said in a gruff voice.

“I think you have me confused with my friend,” she said, pushing Lore behind the guy.

Lore looked back at her with a deer caught in the head lights look and Cat simply took her friends drink and shooed her after the guy. The guy was about to say something but decided not to fight the girl. He couldn’t force anybody to meet Nick; after all, he just wasn’t sure what exactly he would say to Nick. He didn’t have to wait long because as soon as he escorted the red head behind the velvet ropes, he noticed Nick’s perked eyebrow and simply leaned over, “She said no and shoved her friend my way…”

Nick nodded softly and tried to hide his look of surprise as he extended his hand out to the other girl, “Hi, I’m Nick…”

Lore shook his hand and smiled softly, “Nice to meet you… Lore.” She surprised herself with being able to actually form words, and thought that was a good sign.

Nick lifted the girls hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, “It’s a pleasure, Lore…” he said, a plan forming in his head. If he remembered correctly, this was the girl he saw Cheetah Print talking with, and he figured he could use that to his advantage. “So where are you from?”

“Denver,” Lore said simply. “Well, Parker, to be exact…”

“Ah, Denver…” he said softly, “I love that place…” he said, smiling, thinking he might need to go there at the tour now… If he could get either of the girls numbers, that is.

“Wish you guys came to Denver more often,” she said honestly. “We miss you every time you don’t tour there…” She chuckled softly, “And no, I’m not trying to give you a guilt trip… Unless it’s working and you promise to come every tour now…”

Nick laughed softly, “I’ll see what I can do, how’s that?” he asked, reaching for a couple beers and handing one to the girl.

“Mmmm, I guess I’ll take it,” she smiled, accepting the beer from him. “Thank you,” she said, opening the beer then lifting it up to her lips as she looked around the club.

“Any time,” he said, grinning. He leaned back in his seat, relaxing, watching the girl, “So what do you do?” he asked, trying to make small talk.

“I’m a writer, actually… mostly freelance stuff for magazines, but I’m working on the next great American novel,” she shrugged; “As all writers are…” she joked.

Nick nodded, not sure if she was being sarcastic about the last part or not, “I’m sure whatever you’re working on is good, though…”

Lore chuckled, “It’s honestly crap… I keep erasing it all and starting over… The damn Twilight craze is throwing my writing off. I mean, good, quality books are not being recognized anymore, it’s all about the fluff-“ she trailed off. She glanced her way and noticed his gaze had glossed over and chuckled, “Sorry, I’ll shut up…”

“No, that’s fine… everyone has their passions, right?” he asked, smiling at her. He liked that this girl was opening up, but just had to figure out how exactly to get her friend back here.

His hopes were dashed completely when Rob, his bouncer, returned, “Nick, the DJ’s ready…” Nick nodded and stood up, “I have to go… can I get your number, though?” he asked.

“Why?” Lore asked, shocked.

“You seem interesting… I would like to get to know you more…” he explained, pulling out his phone.

“Umm, sure…” she said, telling him her number, and then wondering why she was giving him her number. It wasn’t like he would ever call her. However, this did give her bragging rights for her friends back home.

Nick saved the number in his phone and leaned over, hugging her, “Feel free to have your friends join you back here… Drinks are free” he smiled. He hugged her again then headed to tell Rob she and her friends could stay in VIP all they wanted, drinks were on him. Rob nodded and made a mental note of the girl so she wouldn’t have problems the rest of the evening.

Lore sat in VIP a few more minutes before realizing VIP was incredibly boring alone. She stood up and headed back to the crowd to find Cat, who was the only person sitting at the bar while everyone else had swarmed the stage to watch Nick DJ.