Public Relations

I walked in my front door and dropped my keys in the bowl right by the door. I look at the time on my phone, its just after five pm. James will be here in two hours. I decide I should get ready since I want to have a lot of time to get ready. I hate rushing. Reid and Lily won't be here for another couple days, so I decide to turn music on. Before I moved in I had someone come in and put speakers in each room with a universal CD player. This way if I'm cleaning the house I can choose which rooms the music play in. I walk into my room and turn the music on. I decide on something up beat. Something I can dance around to, kind of prepare for tonight. I take off my skirt and my shirt leaving me in heels and my undergarments. I slipped my heels off and went into the washroom. I took off my bra and underwear throwing them into the laundry hamper. I got in the shower. I took my time, singing along to the music and carefully shaving, and washing my body. Its only the beginning of September so its still nice and warm outside. I think about what clothing I want to wear while I'm in the shower still. By the time I get out and I've decided on what to wear. I dry myself off and quickly apply cream everywhere. I check the time and i've got just around an hour and a half. I wrap a towel around myself and one around my hair. I go downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat quickly. I decide on a salad with chicken. Once I finish eating I go upstairs to do my hair and get dressed. I walk back into the washroom and let my hair down. I run a brush through it and plug my curling iron and hair dryer. I decide to go with big lose curls for tonight. I dry my hair slowly, trying to get it as straight as possible. After I finish drying my hair I go into my bedroom and pull out my clothes for tonight. I have an hour until James will be here. I decided on tight short white shorts with a thick brown belt, a sparkly gold off the shoulder shirt, a sparkly gold clutch, gold bangles, gold hoop earrings, a gold ring, and a gold necklace. I still hadn't decided one shoes yet, so I decided to get dressed first. I slipped on a white thong, before pulling on my favourite white shorts. I decided on a white strapless bra with a white bandeau over top. Since I have a double D cup, I can't trust just the bra with a shirt like this. I put my bra and bandeau on but left my shirt laying on the bed while I went into the bathroom to finish my hair and do my makeup. By the time I finish in the washroom I have twenty minutes before James will be here. I decide to go with a pair of strapy gold heels. I sit on the chair in the corner of my room and put my heels on. I got up and put my shirt on fixing myself in the mirror. I grab my phone off the table with my clutch and go downstairs. I still have a couple minutes before James gets here so I decide to take a couple shots before I go. I'm pretty nervous and I need to calm down. I take the last shot as I hear a knock on my door. I put the vodka away and the shot glass in the sink and walk over to the door. I open it and see James leaning against the door frame. He's dressed casually in a pair of black dress pants and a pale blue button up shirt with a black jacket over top. His hair is gelled up the way it usually is. He smiles when he sees me. I smile back.
"Wow." He says looking from my toes all the way up my body stopping at my eyes. I bite my lip. He extends his arm to me. "Let's go."
I put my arm around his and we walk down the front steps. I now notice that he took a cab here. He's smart since he plans on getting us completely hammered, I don't want him trying to drive after. I don't condone to drinking and driving. We walk down the driveway to the cab. James breaks our contact only to open the door and help me get in. He closes the door and goes around to the other side and gets in. Once he's in the cab he leans over and takes my hand in his. I look at him and smile. I can already tell this is going to be a very interesting night. I can't wait to get there and have a great night with my new co-workers.

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We pull up outside H2O. James pays the guy for the ride and gives him a fifty as a tip. I can tell he's trying to showing off, but I've been around hockey players for many years. I've seen it all. James gets out of the cab first and I scoot across the cab seat. James holds his hand out and helps me out of the cab. He shuts the door as I step onto the sidewalk in front of the club. I start toward the back of the line, but James grabs my hand. I turn and look at him with a confused look.
"We're not waiting in that line. VIP entrance." James says winking. We walk toward the VIP entrance hand in hand. The bouncer unhooks the rope before we even get there.
"Mr. Neal." The bouncer nods at James. James nods back. We walk in the door and up the stairs.
"Oh special treatment for the Real Deal eh?" I say winking.
"I guess." James shrugs looking a little embarrassed. I make a mental note not to call him that anymore. It seems to make him uncomfortable. Once we get to the top of the stairs another bouncer opens the door for us that leads into the VIP section. I look around and notice its only guys from the team here. James must notice my confusion because he leans over close to my ear.
"We rent the VIP section out once in awhile." James says over the music. I smile and nod my head. James still has my hand as he leads me over to a booth where Sid and Geno are sitting. I sit down next to Sid while James sits next to Geno.
"Hey." Sidney says.
"Hey." I say back.
"New girl very pretty." Geno says in his broken English. I smile at him.
"Thank you Evgeni." I say.
"I Geno." He says.
"He likes everyone to call him Geno." James says.
"Sorry I didn't know." I blush looking down at the table.
"Now you do." Sidney says nudging me.
"Drinks?" James asks looking at me. I think for a second. Sid and Geno both tell James they want another beer.
"Cosmopolitan, and I think we need a couple rounds of shots." I say. "Can you make sure its Absolut vodka please?"
"Why Absolut?" James asks.
"Only vodka I drink." I say biting my lip.
"Then Absolut it is." James says.
"Bring some lemons, limes and salt please." I say batting my eyelashes at James.
"Coming right up." He says with a chuckle. As soon as he's out of earshot Sid and Geno both look at me. I look between them.
"What?" I ask.
"So you and Neal eh?" Sid says winking at me.
"No." I say slowly. The two of them give me a look. "I don't know. Maybe."
"Nealsy need good girl." Geno says taking a sip of his beer.
"Isn't he a player though?" I ask.
"What makes you say that?" Sid asks looking a little nervous. I raise my eyebrow.
"I read his file. I have to read a file on all of the guys on the team." I say simply.
"Oh." Sid says. Geno and him exchange glances. Silent words between each other. I realize from that I need to be careful. I have to watch myself around James. I can't let myself become a victim. I have to think about my son as well, but a little fun never hurt anyone. After a couple minutes and little bit of small talk James comes back to the table carrying my drink and a beer for himself. A small, very pretty waitress follows him with a tray carrying three rounds of shots, a couple beers, some lemons, limes and a salt shaker. James sets my drink down in front of me and his beer in front of where he's sitting. He turns to the waitress and first takes the beers and hands them to the two guys. Then he takes the dish of citrus and salt shaker and puts them down in the middle of the table. Then he takes two shots at a time and places them in front of each of us. Three shots each. I examine all of the shot glasses. Sid's glasses look normal size, while Geno's, James' and my glasses look like doubles. Finally James sits down across from me.
"Trying to get me drunk Mr. Neal?" I ask raising my eyebrow.
"I told you I would." James says a wicked grin coming over his face.
"How come Sid gets the normal glasses?" I ask.
"I don't usually drink a lot, so be happy I'm agreeing to these three normal shots." Sid says as he takes a sip of his new beer. I take a sip of my drink.
"I think we should celebrate." James says.
"Celebrate what?" I ask.
"Your job of course." James says.
"I've had my job for awhile now James." I say.
"Yes, but we need to celebrate." He says taking a shot and raising it in the air. "To Alex."
I take the salt shaker and pour a bit in the space between my thumb and my finger. Then I put a piece of lemon down in front of me. The three guys raise their shot glasses. I sigh and follow them.
"To Alex." Sid and Geno say in unison.
"To me." I say rolling my eyes. I lick the salt and take the shot then bite the lemon.
"Why do you do that?" James asks.
"Only the first one. It goes down a little rough." I say smiling. I take another sip of my drink. The four of us talk and drink ordering a couple more rounds of shots. By this time I'm starting to feel it. I did take a couple at home and I've already had about five double's here. Plus I'm on my third Cosmo. There's a little dance floor in the corner of the room. A couple of the guys are dancing with their girlfriends or wives. I stand up and take James' hand. I pull him over to the dance floor. I turn my back to him and start grinding against him. He puts his hands on my hips, but lets me move on my own. We keep moving like that for a long time. After a couple songs I excuse myself to go to the washroom. I quickly do my business in the stall. Nobody is in the washroom except me. I'm standing at the mirror fixing my hair and makeup when the waitress who brought the drinks to our table with James comes in. She glares at me in the mirror. I look at her confused in the mirror. I turn around.
"Can I help you?" I ask.
"You think you can swoop in and date James?" She asks. "You're wrong. Stay the fuck away from him. Got it?"
I stand there stunned. I don't say a word. She gives me a dirty look then she walks out of the washroom. I stand there feeling completely sober now. I can't believe this just happened. I don't know what to do. Should I leave? Should I stay? Everything I read in James' file comes rushing back to me. I don't know what to do anymore.

Notes