<div class="floatleft"> (https://40.media.tumblr.com/3bfdac0860b79d405613e96fd1024405/tumblr_o18ogbyk661sfkxpmo1_400.jpg)     </div><br/>Her heels kept threatening to buckle and send her spilling to the plushly carpeted floor. There had to be something wrong with them. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the copious amount of drinks she'd consumed in that bar, she was sure. The plan had been to drink a little of the day's stress away and then head home, maybe for pizza and a crappy movie. And yet somehow one drink had turned into five...or was it six. And somewhere along the way the two of them had become three and the journey home had morphed into a drunken stumble down the street and into a hotel she was sure she could barely afford to look at never mind step inside.<br/><br/>Beth stumbled again as Brooke moved away but luckily the arm around her waist helped keep her on her feet. Just. She turned to look at her saviour, their host and newest friend. Smiling bashfully as her hands landed on his chest, somewhere in the back of her mind a little voice was reminding her that as cute as he was and as fancy as the hotel was, he was still a relative stranger and she probably shouldn't drink any more. It was very unlike them to get so drunk, especially on a work night, and they never went home with strangers. Sure they gave their numbers from time to time but that was about it.<br/><br/>She lifted one hand to run back through her hair. Somewhere between the office and the club, or between the club and the hotel - she wasn't entirely sure when or where, her tidy ponytail had been taken out and long dark locks kept dropping across her face as a result.<br/><br/>"Nice place you got here," she purred huskily, glancing across to where Brooke had wandered out onto the balcony. "A lot of room for little old you though. Makes sense to want to share it. Almost a waste not to."<br/><br/>She leant closer to press a lingering kiss to his cheek, inhaling the scent of his aftershave now mingled with hints of Brooke's perfume and her own. It was a heady blend of scents, delicious and rich. The aroma just as tempting now as it had been when she'd first smelt it, back in the club.<br/><br/><div align="center">* * *</div><br/>"I said, my name's Beth," she raised her voice as he moved closer to hear her better over the music. For the most part it had been pretty quiet but that particular track had gotten louder all of a sudden. "Pleasure to meet you." Her glass had been lifted towards him in a toast of sorts and a long sip taken. He was definitely handsome and the scent of his aftershave was still delighting her nose after he'd moved away again.<br/><br/>His arrival had been less than smooth, but so far his conversation had been friendly and not as seedy as she'd expected. Most guys who approached them when they were out were anything but subtle in their hopes and desires.<br/><br/>David, their new acquaintance, seemed genuinely sweet. There were no lines, no cliches, just genuine interest in them and so they'd soon found themselves welcoming him to pull up a stool to their table. His replacement drink had arrived and now they were swapping stories of their days. His seemed to have been significantly less fraught than theirs but certainly just as unpleasant.<br/><br/>"Days like these make you wonder why you even roll out of bed, right?" Beth joked with a wink of a bright blue eye. "Lately work feels even more of a chore than ever, no acknowledgement of your achievements, everyone's so worried about covering their own ass that they just look for mistakes in every one else to try and hide their own." She sighed and then forced away the frown that had started to crease her brow.<br/><br/>"Sorry, didn't mean to bring things down. So, David, have you been in town long? You staying out much longer tonight?" A delicate eyebrow quirked curiously. "Anything we can do to convince you to stick around, not often we get out and meet guys like you. Right, Brooke?" She grinned at her friend, looking for any subtle signs that her friend thought differently to her but she was quietly confident she was enjoying the conversation as much as she was. They'd known each other so long that they knew each other almost as well as they knew themselves.<br/><br/>She knew Brooke's type, it wasn't massively different from her own, and she was sure David fitted into that narrow category rather perfectly. Things had been so stressful lately, maybe a night of letting go was needed. A night of compliments and flirty conversation. Something to help take their minds away from rent due and possible cuts at work. The scene in the office earlier was bound to get back to their supervisor before long and then it could be the beginning of the end. Beth had been applying for jobs, just like everyone had, refreshing her inbox whenever it was quiet and praying for a response with an offer of an interview in it. She had yet to find anything but there was still time. Or at least, she hoped there was.<br/><br/>Beth drank a little more of her drink, realising her glass was all but empty and waved over towards the barman.<br/>"Brooke, you want another? David, something to wet your whistle?" She grinned. It was more fun to flirt than she remembered.<br/>