Madison swirled the little bit of liquid around in her glass, her eyes fixed on some unknown place on the opposite side of the room. Clearly, she was lost in some other realm of thought.

"Maddie? Madison, hellooo?"

She blinked quickly and noticed her friend's hand waving in front of her face. "Oh," she felt her face flush slightly, embarrassed that she'd been caught unaware. "Sorry, James."

"What were you looking at? Did you see a cute boy and decide not to tell me? A cute, blonde boy maybe?" He craned his neck, trying to see what he thought she'd been looking at.

"No. No boy. Sorry. Just daydreaming, I guess. Night-dreaming. Whatever." She focused her attention on her friend and almost giggled at the skeptical look on his face. "Seriously, no boy. I swear." She raised her left hand in an approximation of the girl guide symbol.

"Would you tell me if there was?" Jamie looked as if he wasn't sure.

"Of course I would." Madison tried to look insulted, but Jamie just rolled his eyes at her. "Besides, considering we're in a gay bar you've got a far better chance of hooking up than I do." She glanced around her at the many pretty, pretty men and sighed.

"You're straight and you're here. You can't be the only one."

Madison couldn't fault the logic of that, but still, "True. I don't know." She took another minute to look around her. When she got pushed against the wall by a crowd of people trying to move across the room, she turned back to Jamie. "I'm going to go outside for a few minutes."

"You're not leaving are you? You can't just wander home alone."

Madison patted Jamie on the arm, "I'm just going outside for air, I'll be fine. I won't pass out in a corner somewhere or go home with any strange men without telling you first. I'll be back before you even miss me." She noticed him eyeing someone a few feet away. "I'll come with you."

"You stay here, hook up with somebody, and I'll be back. Promise."

He nodded slowly as she stepped away into the crowd and he lost sight of her.

Across the room, and from a higher vantage point, someone else was watching her. He had been since shortly after they'd arrived. Funny how a girl would catch his attention when he was intentionally working on the other side of his libido. It had been a while since a girl had made him take notice at all. Also odd, considering how many were usually around clamoring for his attention.

Maybe that's why he'd noticed her. She seemed to be trying very hard not to attract any attention. He continued watching her work her way across the room, clearly out of her natural element, if he could judge by her reaction when another woman approached her.

Without thinking he got up, following her path to the door, afraid that if he lost sight of her now, he'd have lost her. Not that he had her, but he wouldn't mind having the chance.

Madison took a deep breath as she stepped outside, grateful for the fresh air after the staleness of the club. She looked around her, and then took a seat on a concrete curb just to the side of the door. There weren't many people outside anymore, only the bouncer who had assured her he'd let her back inside, and a few stragglers trying to work their own way in the door.

She was looking down at the asphalt between her feet when she heard the door open. She didn't really take any notice until she noticed a second pair of shoes stop near her own.

"Do you mind?"

She tilted her head up awkwardly at the stranger, not really seeing him, wondering what he wanted. He gestured at the empty space on the curb beside her and Madison shrugged, "Go ahead," and then shifted herself over to give him more space, before turning her attention back to the ground under her feet.

"You don't look thrilled to be here. Not your kind of place?"

She kept her eyes down, not really wanting to have a conversation. But she answered, not wanting to be rude either. "Not really. I came here with a friend. He's inside." She didn't really know why she'd told him that part. It's not like he'd done or said anything to make her feel like she needed to. She pushed the toe of her shoe against a crack in the pavement.

"Didn't think you'd be hanging out here by yourself." He rested his elbows on his knees, and folded his hands together, his head moving only the slightest bit in time to the music from inside the club.

"Nope. I'm not." She stood up suddenly, and brushed off the back of her jeans, "I need to go back inside."

She was stopped at the door by a different bouncer. "Sorry, no re-entry." The big man shook his head.

"But when I came out here the other guy said I could ... " Madison hated that she sounded whiney, and when the man just continued to shake his head, she let her voice trail off. "Dammit, what do I do now?" She leaned back against the wall, frustrated.

"Just a minute." Madison looked up in time to see her stranger walk over to the bouncer, have a few words with him, and then turn around to gesture her to the door. "All set."

"Thanks," Madison said it quickly as she stepped through the door. She tried to turn back around to see where he was, but she got caught in the crowd, and found herself moving toward where she'd last seen Jamie.

He lost sight of her almost immediately inside the door, so he headed back up to the VIP area he'd been in before, hoping for someone else to catch his interest so the night wasn't a complete loss.

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