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“Bugger!”
In a fantastic display of spinning limbs and flying garment bags, Angelina came face-to-face with the pavement. The sound of a sharp crack echoed ominously in her ears—this was really the last thing she needed tonight. Snarling curses, Angelina pulled herself off the wet ground and limped unevenly on a broken pump toward the back entrance to the club. She swung open the door and entered the dim backstage area of the club. The club’s stage manager just happened to be there waiting for her.
Lovely.
“You’re late! You’re on in five minutes!” he hissed and dragged his hand through his already wild hair.
He reminded Angelina of an angry cat, all puffed up like that. Not that she particularly cared about his stress levels at the moment. She had bloody things to be doing! And a man to be seducing! Merlin, she hoped he'd come. And maybe Alicia would be around, as well! Her game had finished awfully early, it would be lovely to see her out and about after her smashing game.
To prove her point, Angelina kicked off the offending pump and sent it skittering toward Ned. After relieving herself of the other shoe, she hurried toward the dressing room to change and fix her hair. Also, to find some emergency pumps.
Ned followed after her, “You don’t need pumps, woman! You’re a giant to begin with, why add more height?”
Angelina ignored the oh so fresh and new jab at her height and began digging through a box of clothing that was technically the club’s lost-and-found bin but had become emergency costume bits for the club’s performers. You would be amazed at what people would leave behind in a place like the Avalon. With a sharp laugh of triumph, Angelina pulled out a pair of suitable pumps; a size or two too small but they would have to do.
“It’s not about the height, Ned. It’s about feeling pretty,” Angelina informed the man with a sage nod. “Now, get out so I can change.”
“Two minutes,” Ned replied firmly, shutting the door behind him.
As she scrambled to pull on her dress, shove her feet into her impromptu pumps, and fix her hair all at the same time, Angelina couldn’t help but grin. Merlin, she loved her job. That feeling of not know what was going to happen when she stepped out on to the stage. It was the same reason she loved Quidditch: the excitement, the abruptness, the insanity of it all. Angelina didn't think she could live without it.
Checking herself in the mirror, Angelina fluffed her hair a bit and declared herself done.
"Good work, dahlin'. Knock 'em dead!" the mirror chimed to which Angelina winked with a grin before turning to hurry out of the dressing room. Grabbing her mic (the club could have just used sonorus spells but the owner felt that the microphone added a certain mood), Angelina wiggled her fingers at a continually frantic Ned as she passed, stepping out onto the stage just as her name was being announced.
"Witches and wizards! For your listening pleasure, please enjoy the vocal talents of our mistress of the torch, Angelina Johnson!" a smooth voiced announcer alerted the club to Angelina's arrival.
Immediately, Angelina swung into her usual opening song: Tain't No Sin. The song was jazzy and toe-tapping, Angelina thought it set the mood to her performances well. It was also lyrically light so it served as a warm up for her and the band. Her mouth mindlessly projected the words she'd sung a hundred times before as she studied the crowd, getting a mood for them and looking for one man in particular.
Cormac surveyed the scene around him. The place was packed with happy looking people, obviously enjoying the excitement and the song Angelina was singing. Standing towards the front of the crowd, he was unabashedly admiring his view of Angelina's long legs. Nice voice in a nicer package, he thought. I might like to unwrap that. He smiled, letting his thoughts carry him away.
Spying Cormac nearly right in front of her during an instrumental break, Angelina grinned at him and shimmied a bit to the music before picking up the last verse.
Look at way that those girls are dancin'
and notice the way that they're dressed
They wear silky clothes without any hose
and nobody knows the rest!
If a gal wears x-ray dresses and shows everything she owns
It tain't no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones!
Dry bones!
Lazy bones!
Big bones!
Dance around in your bones!
As the last last note of the song died, Angelina turned and signalled the band for the next song. She hated preparing sets beforehand, so she and the band had come to an agreement that she'd pull her songs from a list that they'd all agreed on previously. Sometimes the list had upwards of forty songs on it but they always made sure that that they were all familiar with each one. Angelina just simply had to call out the song she wanted, or in some cases they'd established hand signals, just for the fun of it. The song Angelina had signalled for this time was currently popular in the Muggle world. It was a simple ballad with only the piano accompanying her. Angelina had chosen it more as a foil to her last song and the next than actually really wanting to sing it. She wasn't willing to sacrifice her show, even for a unbelievably beautiful man.
Once finished, Angelina called out the next song and grinned to hear the answering heavy drum beats. It was the song that had immediately popped into her mind when she'd seen Cormac, first at the Quidditch game and just now in the crowd. There was just something about him that oozed smoothness and sex-appeal. The song was possibly a bit forward, but since when had Angelina cared all that much for propriety?
The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a
man of distinction
a real big spender
Good looking, so refined
Say wouldn't you like to know
what's going on in my mind
So let me get right to the point
I don't pop my cork
for every guy I see
Hey big spender
spend a little time with me...
Cormac, having worked his way to the front of the crowd to gain an unobstructed view of Angelina, raised an eyebrow as this song began. Listening to the lyrics, he loosened his tie and had to fight back a smirk. Is this my song?
Noticing Cormac's faintly smug expression, Angelina winked at him. If he hadn't realized that this was his song, Angelina would have thought she'd greatly overestimated his vanity. But he seemed convinced that it was, so her people reading skills were still working properly. Not that he didn't have grounds; Angelina didn't think she'd seen such a pretty man before. It would have been off-putting if he didn't have an ego the size of the British Isles, looking the way he did. Angelina didn't mind, though; she loved looking at him just as much as he probably did.
Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the jam-packed club, Michael Corner had just pushed his way through the front entrance, and was shoving with all his might to make his way from the back of the club all the way to the stage. He had a feeling that's where he'd find Cormac, and as Michael was here on Cormac's invitation and probably didn't know another soul in the room, it made sense for him to head that way.
Somewhere along the way, he bumped into a pretty young waitress, who pressed into his hand a flute of champagne, before turning and vanishing with her tray. Maneuvering through the crowd with a drink wasn't easy, particularly on the busier side with all of the new arrivals, but eventually Michael found himself standing by the stage, about five feet over from Cormac, who was staring up at Angelina Johnson on stage with a glimmer in his eyes that he didn't usually possess when around Michael.
Michael didn't want to shout, and interrupt the singing, so he tried to move more in Cormac's direction, taking lazy sips of the champagne and hoping he was conspicuous enough for Cormac to notice him.
Cormac could feel someone's eyes on him and looked around, only to see Michael standing off to one side with a bemused expression on his face, eyebrows raised. He waved Michael over and clapped his back when he arrived at his side. "Hey, mate! Glad you could make it." He eyed the ladies around them and grinned. "What do you think of the decorations?"
Michael had been so busy fighting his way through the crowd that he hadn't taken the time to really look around. As he took a last sip of his champagne, Michael glanced at the other guests, and saw more than one lovely young woman present in the room--and more than one staring at him. Michael turned away from the most blatant of his observers, and hid a flattered smirk.
"I have to say, I overwhelmingly approve," Michael replied, and inwardly he thought to himself that tonight was just what he needed to get over this strange crisis with Su.
"There's hope for you then, mate. You've just got to try to loosen up and talk to some of them." Seeing a waitress pass by, Cormac reached out and snagged two flutes of champagne and handed one to Michael. "Drink up. It'll help."
Michael threw back his head and laughed, and took a giant gulp of champagne. Why not?
Noticing Cormac's attention wandering, Angelina decided to demand it back with a grand gesture. The first man to notice her in nearly a month was not about to be taken from her by another man! Moving down the steps of the tiered stage, microphone in hand, Angelina nudged herself in between Cormac and the other man he'd been talking too. Pushing herself up against his body, Angelina ran her free hand through Cormac's perfect hair.
So let me get right to the point
I don't pop my cork for every guy I see
Hey, big spender!
Hey, big spender!
Hey, big spender!
Spend a little time with me...
As the band played the last heavy notes, Angelina pulled Cormac down into an intense kiss which he readily returned. Really, he was too good-looking not to kiss, or eat, or several other things that Angelina could definitely go for at this point. Pulling away, Angelina smirked at the sight of his ruffled hair, loose tie and the faint smudge of her lip-coloring charm worn off on him. She mentally congratulated herself on a job well done.
"The song's true, yeah? I could gladly show you a good time," Angelina suggested with a sly smile and slinked off to return to the stage.
Shaking off distracting thoughts, she focused her mind back on her performance. The singer signalled the band once again, this time for I've Got the World On A String. Happy to see that the audience had enjoyed her little show almost as much as she had, Angelina let her attention turn to what she was singing. She'd had her fun for the evening, now it was time to get back to work. She just couldn't wait for her break.
Michael was staring. Just staring. Why did things like this happen to Cormac, and not to him? Why hadn't Angelina Johnson shoved Cormac aside, and snogged him instead? He watched Cormac try to compose himself, and shook his head slightly. Lucky bugger.
Alicia had given herself a cursory once over in her flat, annoyed that the media had made her so late getting home. She was only going to catch a couple of Angie's songs, if she was lucky. She had finally decided that it'd be just as good to have celebratory drinks with her friend instead. There were plenty of other Saturdays, after all. She'd Apparated to the street beside Avalon and strode into the club. She'd grabbed some champagne from a passing tray, all the while watching her friend, who'd shimmied her way down the steps.
Uh-Oh, Alicia had thought with a grin, the poor bloke, must be a looker if Angie is going to these lengths. She'd moved closer in an attempt to see who it was that Angie was wrapping herself around. He looks familiar. Then Angie moved back to the stage, and Alicia's jaw dropped. She hadn't expected Cormac to be here at all, let alone kissing Angie. She knew that she hadn't told Angie that she and Cormac had been at all involved, and even if Angie had seen the papers, she wasn't likely to believe it. No, if anyone was to be blamed, it would be Cormac himself. How many witches did he need at once? If he'd been honest about his intentions, she wouldn't have bothered trying to get to know him... She'd have just had some fun with him and let him go, rather than inviting him to her first game, or getting grand delusions of romance in her head.
Staring at Cormac's satisfied grin was a bit annoying; slightly jealous, Michael cast his eyes around the club. He wasn't the type to chat anyone up, but it seemed rather unfair that Cormac was having all the fun tonight...
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a face wearing a rather different expression than the others in the club. In contrast to the elated, "did-you-see-that?" looks of surprise shared by most of the audience's, one young woman looked, instead, positively stricken. On closer examination, Michael realized with a start that he recognized her--it was Alicia Spinnet. The girl Cormac had told him about the other morning--the one who had turned him down, despite numerous advances. She was looking straight at Cormac, and Michael knew she'd seen everything.
Michael scuttled closer to Cormac, and cleared his throat rather loudly, nudging him with his shoulder. "Err--Cormac, mate," he hissed under his breath. "Take a quick glance to your left, eh?"
Cormac looked. He almost wished he hadn't. This is messy. With a wry smile on his face, Cormac slowly turned towards Alicia and winked.
He just winked at me. The fucking blighter just winked at me. Well then, fine. She steeled her features and smiled at him. "Carry on," she said softly, waving her hand in gesture to match. Shaking her head as her wistful smile spread, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the club. Angie would just have to understand that she'd been much too tired to hear her sing, after all. What a marvelous end to the day, she thought, sarcastically, while Apparating back to her flat, where she decided she would gorge herself on the biscuits left over from Thursday.
Turning back to Michael, Cormac shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."
On stage, Angelina finished off her fourth song of the evening and took a quick survey of the room. Cormac and his friend were talking again and she had seen a few patrons walk out, one wearing a skirt just like something she'd seen Alicia wear. She would have to tell her later that there was a copy of it circulating in Avalon, so that she could avoid wearing it when she came to see Angelina sing--if she ever came, that is. Moving on, she called out another title and began to sing Nobody's Sweetheart Now.
{Summary: Angelina has a fairly normal night at work. Cormac gets a kiss and gets caught. Alicia has a bad evening. And Michael's just there to watch it all and provide witty banter.}
In a fantastic display of spinning limbs and flying garment bags, Angelina came face-to-face with the pavement. The sound of a sharp crack echoed ominously in her ears—this was really the last thing she needed tonight. Snarling curses, Angelina pulled herself off the wet ground and limped unevenly on a broken pump toward the back entrance to the club. She swung open the door and entered the dim backstage area of the club. The club’s stage manager just happened to be there waiting for her.
Lovely.
“You’re late! You’re on in five minutes!” he hissed and dragged his hand through his already wild hair.
He reminded Angelina of an angry cat, all puffed up like that. Not that she particularly cared about his stress levels at the moment. She had bloody things to be doing! And a man to be seducing! Merlin, she hoped he'd come. And maybe Alicia would be around, as well! Her game had finished awfully early, it would be lovely to see her out and about after her smashing game.
“I’m here now, Ned, and only barely that, considering that bloody grating some genius placed by the door. It broke my bloody shoe!”
To prove her point, Angelina kicked off the offending pump and sent it skittering toward Ned. After relieving herself of the other shoe, she hurried toward the dressing room to change and fix her hair. Also, to find some emergency pumps.
Ned followed after her, “You don’t need pumps, woman! You’re a giant to begin with, why add more height?”
Angelina ignored the oh so fresh and new jab at her height and began digging through a box of clothing that was technically the club’s lost-and-found bin but had become emergency costume bits for the club’s performers. You would be amazed at what people would leave behind in a place like the Avalon. With a sharp laugh of triumph, Angelina pulled out a pair of suitable pumps; a size or two too small but they would have to do.
“It’s not about the height, Ned. It’s about feeling pretty,” Angelina informed the man with a sage nod. “Now, get out so I can change.”
“Two minutes,” Ned replied firmly, shutting the door behind him.
As she scrambled to pull on her dress, shove her feet into her impromptu pumps, and fix her hair all at the same time, Angelina couldn’t help but grin. Merlin, she loved her job. That feeling of not know what was going to happen when she stepped out on to the stage. It was the same reason she loved Quidditch: the excitement, the abruptness, the insanity of it all. Angelina didn't think she could live without it.
Checking herself in the mirror, Angelina fluffed her hair a bit and declared herself done.
"Good work, dahlin'. Knock 'em dead!" the mirror chimed to which Angelina winked with a grin before turning to hurry out of the dressing room. Grabbing her mic (the club could have just used sonorus spells but the owner felt that the microphone added a certain mood), Angelina wiggled her fingers at a continually frantic Ned as she passed, stepping out onto the stage just as her name was being announced.
"Witches and wizards! For your listening pleasure, please enjoy the vocal talents of our mistress of the torch, Angelina Johnson!" a smooth voiced announcer alerted the club to Angelina's arrival.
Immediately, Angelina swung into her usual opening song: Tain't No Sin. The song was jazzy and toe-tapping, Angelina thought it set the mood to her performances well. It was also lyrically light so it served as a warm up for her and the band. Her mouth mindlessly projected the words she'd sung a hundred times before as she studied the crowd, getting a mood for them and looking for one man in particular.
Cormac surveyed the scene around him. The place was packed with happy looking people, obviously enjoying the excitement and the song Angelina was singing. Standing towards the front of the crowd, he was unabashedly admiring his view of Angelina's long legs. Nice voice in a nicer package, he thought. I might like to unwrap that. He smiled, letting his thoughts carry him away.
Spying Cormac nearly right in front of her during an instrumental break, Angelina grinned at him and shimmied a bit to the music before picking up the last verse.
Look at way that those girls are dancin'
and notice the way that they're dressed
They wear silky clothes without any hose
and nobody knows the rest!
If a gal wears x-ray dresses and shows everything she owns
It tain't no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones!
Dry bones!
Lazy bones!
Big bones!
Dance around in your bones!
As the last last note of the song died, Angelina turned and signalled the band for the next song. She hated preparing sets beforehand, so she and the band had come to an agreement that she'd pull her songs from a list that they'd all agreed on previously. Sometimes the list had upwards of forty songs on it but they always made sure that that they were all familiar with each one. Angelina just simply had to call out the song she wanted, or in some cases they'd established hand signals, just for the fun of it. The song Angelina had signalled for this time was currently popular in the Muggle world. It was a simple ballad with only the piano accompanying her. Angelina had chosen it more as a foil to her last song and the next than actually really wanting to sing it. She wasn't willing to sacrifice her show, even for a unbelievably beautiful man.
Once finished, Angelina called out the next song and grinned to hear the answering heavy drum beats. It was the song that had immediately popped into her mind when she'd seen Cormac, first at the Quidditch game and just now in the crowd. There was just something about him that oozed smoothness and sex-appeal. The song was possibly a bit forward, but since when had Angelina cared all that much for propriety?
The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a
man of distinction
a real big spender
Good looking, so refined
Say wouldn't you like to know
what's going on in my mind
So let me get right to the point
I don't pop my cork
for every guy I see
Hey big spender
spend a little time with me...
Cormac, having worked his way to the front of the crowd to gain an unobstructed view of Angelina, raised an eyebrow as this song began. Listening to the lyrics, he loosened his tie and had to fight back a smirk. Is this my song?
Noticing Cormac's faintly smug expression, Angelina winked at him. If he hadn't realized that this was his song, Angelina would have thought she'd greatly overestimated his vanity. But he seemed convinced that it was, so her people reading skills were still working properly. Not that he didn't have grounds; Angelina didn't think she'd seen such a pretty man before. It would have been off-putting if he didn't have an ego the size of the British Isles, looking the way he did. Angelina didn't mind, though; she loved looking at him just as much as he probably did.
Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the jam-packed club, Michael Corner had just pushed his way through the front entrance, and was shoving with all his might to make his way from the back of the club all the way to the stage. He had a feeling that's where he'd find Cormac, and as Michael was here on Cormac's invitation and probably didn't know another soul in the room, it made sense for him to head that way.
Somewhere along the way, he bumped into a pretty young waitress, who pressed into his hand a flute of champagne, before turning and vanishing with her tray. Maneuvering through the crowd with a drink wasn't easy, particularly on the busier side with all of the new arrivals, but eventually Michael found himself standing by the stage, about five feet over from Cormac, who was staring up at Angelina Johnson on stage with a glimmer in his eyes that he didn't usually possess when around Michael.
Michael didn't want to shout, and interrupt the singing, so he tried to move more in Cormac's direction, taking lazy sips of the champagne and hoping he was conspicuous enough for Cormac to notice him.
Cormac could feel someone's eyes on him and looked around, only to see Michael standing off to one side with a bemused expression on his face, eyebrows raised. He waved Michael over and clapped his back when he arrived at his side. "Hey, mate! Glad you could make it." He eyed the ladies around them and grinned. "What do you think of the decorations?"
Michael had been so busy fighting his way through the crowd that he hadn't taken the time to really look around. As he took a last sip of his champagne, Michael glanced at the other guests, and saw more than one lovely young woman present in the room--and more than one staring at him. Michael turned away from the most blatant of his observers, and hid a flattered smirk.
"I have to say, I overwhelmingly approve," Michael replied, and inwardly he thought to himself that tonight was just what he needed to get over this strange crisis with Su.
"There's hope for you then, mate. You've just got to try to loosen up and talk to some of them." Seeing a waitress pass by, Cormac reached out and snagged two flutes of champagne and handed one to Michael. "Drink up. It'll help."
Michael threw back his head and laughed, and took a giant gulp of champagne. Why not?
Noticing Cormac's attention wandering, Angelina decided to demand it back with a grand gesture. The first man to notice her in nearly a month was not about to be taken from her by another man! Moving down the steps of the tiered stage, microphone in hand, Angelina nudged herself in between Cormac and the other man he'd been talking too. Pushing herself up against his body, Angelina ran her free hand through Cormac's perfect hair.
So let me get right to the point
I don't pop my cork for every guy I see
Hey, big spender!
Hey, big spender!
Hey, big spender!
Spend a little time with me...
As the band played the last heavy notes, Angelina pulled Cormac down into an intense kiss which he readily returned. Really, he was too good-looking not to kiss, or eat, or several other things that Angelina could definitely go for at this point. Pulling away, Angelina smirked at the sight of his ruffled hair, loose tie and the faint smudge of her lip-coloring charm worn off on him. She mentally congratulated herself on a job well done.
"The song's true, yeah? I could gladly show you a good time," Angelina suggested with a sly smile and slinked off to return to the stage.
Shaking off distracting thoughts, she focused her mind back on her performance. The singer signalled the band once again, this time for I've Got the World On A String. Happy to see that the audience had enjoyed her little show almost as much as she had, Angelina let her attention turn to what she was singing. She'd had her fun for the evening, now it was time to get back to work. She just couldn't wait for her break.
Michael was staring. Just staring. Why did things like this happen to Cormac, and not to him? Why hadn't Angelina Johnson shoved Cormac aside, and snogged him instead? He watched Cormac try to compose himself, and shook his head slightly. Lucky bugger.
Alicia had given herself a cursory once over in her flat, annoyed that the media had made her so late getting home. She was only going to catch a couple of Angie's songs, if she was lucky. She had finally decided that it'd be just as good to have celebratory drinks with her friend instead. There were plenty of other Saturdays, after all. She'd Apparated to the street beside Avalon and strode into the club. She'd grabbed some champagne from a passing tray, all the while watching her friend, who'd shimmied her way down the steps.
Uh-Oh, Alicia had thought with a grin, the poor bloke, must be a looker if Angie is going to these lengths. She'd moved closer in an attempt to see who it was that Angie was wrapping herself around. He looks familiar. Then Angie moved back to the stage, and Alicia's jaw dropped. She hadn't expected Cormac to be here at all, let alone kissing Angie. She knew that she hadn't told Angie that she and Cormac had been at all involved, and even if Angie had seen the papers, she wasn't likely to believe it. No, if anyone was to be blamed, it would be Cormac himself. How many witches did he need at once? If he'd been honest about his intentions, she wouldn't have bothered trying to get to know him... She'd have just had some fun with him and let him go, rather than inviting him to her first game, or getting grand delusions of romance in her head.
Staring at Cormac's satisfied grin was a bit annoying; slightly jealous, Michael cast his eyes around the club. He wasn't the type to chat anyone up, but it seemed rather unfair that Cormac was having all the fun tonight...
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a face wearing a rather different expression than the others in the club. In contrast to the elated, "did-you-see-that?" looks of surprise shared by most of the audience's, one young woman looked, instead, positively stricken. On closer examination, Michael realized with a start that he recognized her--it was Alicia Spinnet. The girl Cormac had told him about the other morning--the one who had turned him down, despite numerous advances. She was looking straight at Cormac, and Michael knew she'd seen everything.
Michael scuttled closer to Cormac, and cleared his throat rather loudly, nudging him with his shoulder. "Err--Cormac, mate," he hissed under his breath. "Take a quick glance to your left, eh?"
Cormac looked. He almost wished he hadn't. This is messy. With a wry smile on his face, Cormac slowly turned towards Alicia and winked.
He just winked at me. The fucking blighter just winked at me. Well then, fine. She steeled her features and smiled at him. "Carry on," she said softly, waving her hand in gesture to match. Shaking her head as her wistful smile spread, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the club. Angie would just have to understand that she'd been much too tired to hear her sing, after all. What a marvelous end to the day, she thought, sarcastically, while Apparating back to her flat, where she decided she would gorge herself on the biscuits left over from Thursday.
Turning back to Michael, Cormac shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."
On stage, Angelina finished off her fourth song of the evening and took a quick survey of the room. Cormac and his friend were talking again and she had seen a few patrons walk out, one wearing a skirt just like something she'd seen Alicia wear. She would have to tell her later that there was a copy of it circulating in Avalon, so that she could avoid wearing it when she came to see Angelina sing--if she ever came, that is. Moving on, she called out another title and began to sing Nobody's Sweetheart Now.
{Summary: Angelina has a fairly normal night at work. Cormac gets a kiss and gets caught. Alicia has a bad evening. And Michael's just there to watch it all and provide witty banter.}
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