Sometimes

Sean

Kota left the table once he got to 5,000.

I mean, it was a little much, even for him. Yeah, a devastatingly cute blonde took our order, so what? I will have to get him out more often if this is how he acts around women. It's no wonder he hasn't pulled the trigger with this new bird of his.

She's all we've heard about since they started their study sessions, I was impressed he even asked her to study in the first place, books and school are Kota's raison d'être in life. He's amazing at the whole learning thing.

Bringing a girl into that mix is nothing short of amazing.

I've been trying to catch sight of her ever since he mentioned her because she's got to be something to have him this twisted up in knots, but seeing his display earlier, well it now makes sense. My phone buzzes in my pockets, leaving Gabe and Luke to chat about whatever it is they're chatting about. Owen is letting me know that he will be dropping in, oh goody! This night has just gotten a million times better! Whipping my phone back into my pocket, I lean conspiratorially toward Gabe, "Guys, we have to help Kota with his game! What the hell was that?" Gabe nods absently, he's trying to track our waitress' movements. She clearly made an impression on him and I have to admit, I was really jealous of her fingers in his hair. I mean, hello? Did she not notice my luscious locks? Luke chortles next to me.

"I don't think that's the problem." He offers but doesn't elaborate. Sometimes I just don't get his insight and often times that's infuriating. Slipping my phone out of my pocket once more, I look down at the time and practically vault from the booth, Gabe and Luke both shoot me questioning glances but I wave them off, I'm a man on a mission! I find the first waitress I see, slightly disappointed that it isn't the one who shut me down so masterfully earlier, but still, "Hi! If a buddy of mine was celebrating a birthday, how would I go about getting him up on stage?" I ask, the girl drinks me in, eying me from head to toe and I flash her my trademark, panty-dropping smile. The one I know works in most situations to get me what I want. It drives Gabe bananas, but he doesn't have enough faith in his own abilities. The dude could get more ladies than any of us combined, he just doesn't know how to use his talents. Which suits me just fine because the talking is part of the fun.

"Just point him out and we'll get him in the first round." She purrs, grabbing my arm which is totally unnecessary at this point. My stomach drops because dammit, I can't point him out - he isn't here yet, only to realize he's made his way over to our booth while I've been chatting.

"The curmudgeonly looking gentleman over there." I try to point without being too obvious, except Luke takes notice and dammit if he doesn't let out a laugh that I can hear from over here. I watch as he waves the others off, but his eyes keep falling on me. He clearly knows what I'm up to, and obviously a little mad that he didn't think of it himself.

Stealth point to me.

"The drink of water in the suit? No problem sugar, we'll treat your friend right." Dragging her nails along the exposed skin of the arm she's been clasping, "Make sure to find me later and we can have a private dance in the back, if you want." She offers, giving me a wink in the process. I smirk because, maybe I'll send Gabe back there instead but we'll see how I'm feeling. It couldn't hurt to have someone in those back rooms, we were told to investigate where the clientele can go, this will just be an extra bonus. Distraction training? Maybe we should send Kota back there for practical reasons too?

I make my way back to the table just as Kota reaches it. He gives me a quizzical look, "Had to piss." I say, hands up in the air, Luke laughs once more and shoves himself into the corner. I nod to Owen before squeezing in next to him, his disturbing all seeing grey eyes haven't left me. Thank God I've gotten used to his tactics because lesser men have cracked under such scrutiny.

"Anything to report?" he's trying to be a gentleman and avoid looking at the plethora of boobs just out on display, but by the darting of his eyes he's failing miserably.

Ha. He is human!

"O-man! Happy you could make it. To what do we owe the pleasure?" I say, just as the waitress arrives with our beer order. Owen's left eyebrow shoots up into his hairline and I chuckle, I take one of the glasses, filling it with the beer from the pitcher and hand it to him, but his eyes are focused on our shaken liaison who is now staring after the retreating form of our petite waitress.

"Okay, what the hell man? If this is how you act around a pretty girl, it's no wonder you're still "studying"," I say making my very favorite air quotes, "with that girl from class." His eyes snap to mine, I can practically see the numbers flying through his brain by the glance alone, but instead of laughing like I normally would, the look makes me uncomfortable. His damn Kota stare is getting too look a lot like Owen's.

"We're here to do a job. Let's just... focus on that for now." Well if that doesn't scream I don't want to talk about it, then I'm not a doctor!

We sit there for over an hour, there isn't much going on. Our waitress comes by only once more during that time, Kota doesn't even meet her eyes. I can see that Gabe is about to jump out of his skin, so I decide to text him the upcoming festivities on Owen's behalf because otherwise I'm going to jump out of my skin and we can't have that now can we?

I make sure that Owen is focused on his mind-speak with Kota, trying to sus out what kind of internal turmoil has caused him to count to 100,000 in two different languages, to send it over. I know exactly when he reads it because his face turns to mine and there's nothing but mirth written all over it.

Owen is going to murder me, but this is going to be well worth it. The longer we've been friends, it's never been clearer that I was put on this Earth to remove the rod that has been lodged up this man's ass, and we have never been to a strip club together. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that his Owey-senses haven't kicked in yet, the thought alone fills me with glee.

Somewhere around the 12:30 am mark, the DJ announces the arrival of Minnoe somewhere, and I'm intrigued, there hasn't been any such proclamation since our being here. My eyes turn to the stage, only there's no movement, just some haunting music. Then I watch a body fall through the air, well not so much as fall as float. We all practically launch ourselves toward the stage at the sight, like any of us are going to catch this airy figure from plummeting to her death, but mercifully we realize it's part of the routine. She's suspended by nylon ropes and doing some crazy wicked suspended aerobatics in the tightest little number that I'd like to see more of. 

And now, all I can think of is that something similar to this number might replace the lab coat in my fantasy reel, because damn. I look over to Kota whose knuckles have gone white from gripping the glass in his hand so tightly, but his eyes haven't left the girl suspended in the air. Understanding washes over me the second I get a clear view of her face, it's our waitress. He's basically at the stage the next second as she untangles herself from the ropes and this time actually falls, albeit gracefully, onto the stage landing in a crouch. It's a move I've only ever seen done in movies and she stares out at the crowd, the makeup on her eyes drawing you into the depths of her green eyes. It's easily the sexiest thing I've ever witnessed, and from the looks on my brothers' faces, they'd agree with me.

My eyes are trained on her movements, from the pole work she does, to the dance moves she incorporates, she's captivating. The front row is utterly full of drooling men, who throw money at her. She doesn't offer up anything, looking through them, lost in the music. It's incredible. That's when I see the chair being placed in the middle of the stage and my heart drops, my eyes nervously cut from Luke to Kota to Gabe. Why did it have to be her? I'm officially jealous and clearly, by some Owen-esq mind melding powers of the universe, he has willed it to be so.

Sucking in a breath, I watch two of the waitresses waltz over to Owen, each one slinging an arm into the crook of his and dragging him along with them. He's too much of a gentleman to refuse or yank himself out of their grips, but his eyes find mine shooting an angry glare, letting me know that my days are numbered, Gabe took notice of the exchange and just busts a gut. Kota catches on and glares at me too, clearly he's jonesing for the waitress, but I honestly didn't have any idea it would turn out like this!

I just wanted to be entertained by Owen's discomfort.