Autumn Leaves (Watty Awards 2013)(Editing)

Chapter 3

By the time they reached their destination, everyone was in great spirits. Nicki couldn't believe how much fun the men on the Bruins were. They acted like five year olds. Five year olds who like to drink. A lot.

They told the story of when they went to Foxwoods after they won the Stanley Cup. They racked up a bill that cost over $150,000, mostly due to the fact that Brad bought a beer that was $100,000. At first Nicki was disgusted, but then she thought of what it must have felt like to win the Cup, and changed her mind.

The team piled out of the limousine and into the small bar. It was located on the corner of two completely deserted streets. Nicki couldn't even find a sign with the name. It was either going to be very exclusive or very sketchy. Nicki was the last one to enter the bar, and found that it was the former. Very exclusive. Before you could enter the actual bar, you had to provide some kind of identification to a bouncer in a dimly lit lobby. She suspected that this was not the first time the Bruins had come here, because a few of them knew the man by his first name.

The monster of a man looked at Nicki and Lisa and asked, "These girls with you?"

"Yeah, they're good. Thanks Dave," Tyler said, slipping him a fifty dollar bill.

"Oh, what a surprise. Course they're with you, Seguin," Dave said, laughing from deep within his huge belly.

Tyler didn't seem to think it was very funny. Nicki could only guess what he meant by that and did her best to push away the thoughts surfacing in her head.

They walked into the bar, which was much larger than it looked like from the outside. Similar to the lobby, there was almost no lighting. There was a small dance floor, a disco ball that was currently not in use, a huge stereo system, and about thirty televisions. The focus point however was the semi-circle shaped bar. Neon signs hung along the walls and over some of the small tables scattered throughout the room.

Nicki laughed to herself as she took in the whole scene. Besides the ones she came with, there were only three other men in the entire place, but there were about twenty gorgeous women. She imagined that none of them were very respectable. The few that noticed her looking at them gave her a variety of hateful looks. She must be trespassing on their territory.

Nicki turned to Tuukka and asked, "Should I be worried about those girls? They look like they want to rip me apart limb from limb."

He laughed and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Nah, you're fine. Most of them are here for Segs anyways."

Great. He obviously didn't know who had invited her and Lisa out in the first place. Nicki looked around again, scanning the slowly filling room for Lisa. She was somehow not surprised to find her already dancing atop the bar with Milan and Brad. Milan must have warmed up to her.

Slowly more and more of the team started joining the girls on the dance floor. The ones who didn't took seats at the bar and ordered more drinks. Nicki stood in the middle of it all, not really sure what to do. She managed to forget how much she hated the party scene. It hadn't suited her in high school, and certainly didn't suit her now.

Nicki felt a hand on her lower back and looked to her left, trying to keep her breathing steady as she realized who was touching her.

"Why don't I buy you a drink or something? You look miserable," Tyler offered.

"Thanks, but I don't really drink." Nicki thought about it for another moment. "Screw it. Why not? What do you usually drink here?" she asked.

"I'm more of a beer guy than anything, but the bartenders are great here. They can pretty much make anything."