A Recollection of Ideas: A Series of One Shots

“Caylin! Don’t forget you bow.” Leah tossed to me. I smiled at her as I caught the small hair accessory. The thumping beats of the night club outside was leaking into our little changing room.

Club Sixty Two Under was the hottest underground night club in town, maybe in all of California. All the stars, whether it was film or music, dropped by here at least once in their life. Most were return guests, but all enjoyed it nonetheless. The club was literally sixty two feet under the ground. It was beautiful down here, kind of dark and mysterious. The lights flashed and pulsed around us. Adults climbed the steps up and down from the main level.

“Hey, have a great show out there.” Leah says as I walk out. I wave as I close the door and descend to my little platform. My half pink, half black hair soaks up all the light, all the attention, as I climb onto my platform. Both of my arms are inked, full sleeve tattoos. At work, I’m a bubbly, energetic, and friendly dancer. I’m sexy and let my body say to any song, but this one that turned on was one of my favorites. Dirty Pretty by In This Moment started blasting through the speakers and I let my body do the rest. My job is to dance my heart out every night at this dance club.

But after hours, I’m innocent, not like my stage guise. I enjoy curling up to watch a good movie, maybe read a book or two, sometimes I’ll paint.

I twirled around on stage with the other girls scattered on their pedestals around the dance floor. People all bumped and jostled into each other as the DJ turned it up. Those at the bar were looking tipsy already, but the night had just begun!

A few songs later, we were all tired out and I was switching shift with Leah. She patted my shoulder, yelling above the noise.

“You did great.” She grinned.

“Thanks! You’ll do just as good.” I laughed. She smiled and took her positions. Now that I was off for another half hour, I could go and relax back in our dressing room or wander around the crowd. I’ll check my makeup just to be sure.

I started shoving through the crowd as the next song started up. I turned around to see Leah taunting some puppy eyed boy in the crowd. I glanced him and he looked star struck. He must been one of the up and coming musicians. I hadn’t seen him before.

Continuing on, I almost got to my dressing room before I nearly bumped into someone.

“I’m sorry, beautiful.” He smiled down to me. I blushed and turned to the man. Oh, I had recognized him.

Austin Carlile, famous sweetheart of the screaming industry. His band, Of Mice and Men, had frequented Club Sixty Two Under many times. I had recognized his face off the bat.

“Well hello there, Mr. Carlile.” I grinned. We both moved aside as the dancing started. The DJ was playing some electro music that was shocking my system.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” He leaned down, asking in my ear. It’s too loud to hold a normal conversation.

“The name’s Caylin.” I extended my hand. He took it and kissed the back of my hand. I couldn’t help but smile and blush.

“A pretty name to match a pretty face.” He admired. Wow, he was certainly a charmer. No wonder I’ve heard great things about him. I looked over at the clock. I would have to get into my dressing room soon to make sure my makeup was okay if I wanted to have any time left.

“No wonder they call you the gentle giant, Carlile. I have to go to my dressing room.” I excused myself, sorry to be leaving his presence. He smirked.

“Well, I’ll see you soon, Ms. Caylin.” He nodded as I turned and walked off. I couldn’t stop grinning. I hope I could catch his eye in the crowd during my next shift.

When I pushed through the door, I let out a little squeal that was drowned by the techno music. I went and checked my phone. No messages. Going over to the mirror, I looked at the makeup. It wasn’t too messed up. The sweat from standing in a hot room hadn’t been too harsh on my face either. I reapplied some mascara and sat on the couch, waiting until Leah’s song would be done.

Ten minutes later and I was already traipsing through the club again. It was the same routine. Fifteen minutes into it, and I was a little lightheaded. I silently cursed myself for forgetting to drink some water after my last shift.

It was already at least one in the morning. The song kept on thumping. I knew it was another In This Moment song, but couldn’t put the name to it. I was getting a little tired.

I turned my shoulder, flipping my hair over my side when I caught his eye. Austin stood by the bar, having a grin plastered to his face. I gave a little wave to him. He waved back. Just that little smile felt like it had reenergized my entire system.

My shift was over soon enough and I stepped off the stage, looking for one person in particular. I caught his eye soon enough.

I turned around, trying to listen to the DJ. He said that he was slowing it down for a song, but someone tapped on my shoulder before I could catch the name of the song. Typically the DJ didn’t slow things down, but I guess he wanted a break and so did a lot of the other single people. A whole wave of them rushed to the bar to drown their single sorrows out. A clump of couples continued to dance and talk softly on the lit up flower that pulsed with a soft red color.

“Care to dance, Ms. Caylin?” He asked. I blushed harder and nodded, at a loss for words otherwise. We moved out onto the floor. He put his hands on my waist as I looped them around his neck. I wasn’t paying so much attention to the song as I was to the man in front of me. He held me lightly as we swayed slowly to the song.

“So are you having fun?” I asked him. He nodded happily.

“Well, it’s been great so far. I had a drink with my ginger friend over there,” He nodded to a ginger in the corner who happened to be talking to Leah, “and the playlist was great.” He chuckled

“Oh really? I thought it’s exceptional tonight.” I stated proudly. He pulled me a little closer to him.

“And after I clumsily danced a little, I met this really pretty girl who happens to be an excellent dancer.” He whispered to me. I beamed. His eyes locked onto mine and I couldn’t help but widen my already stretched grin.

“You’re not too bad yourself, Carlile.”

“Eh, I could be worse.” He admitted. We silently kept on swaying as the music started to close and people flooded back onto the floor.

“This has been a lovely dance, Austin.” I grinned. He let go of my waist, although reluctantly. I slowly dropped my hands down to my side. His right hand reached for mine, lancing our fingers together.

“How about you come over to my place tomorrow night. Are you working? It’s only a Saturday.” He asked. I thought for a moment.

“My friend Cece can cover my shift. I’d love to go over to your place.” I felt little butterflies fly around in my stomach as I accepted his invitation. Was this some sort of date? I hoped so. I’d like to see more of this man outside of the club.

We parted ways, exchanged phone numbers, and I retired to my dressing room, excited to have finally gotten myself a date. The night wore on, but I was still excited for the next day.


The next evening….

I looked up at the street numbers. Okay, okay, I think I had gone down the right street. Did I make a wrong turn somewhere? Did my GPS fail me, again? No, wait, there was the house. It was unsuspecting, not a mansion like I suspected, although it was still big enough to show high status.

I pulled up into his driveway and got out of my car. A thousand and three thoughts raced through my mind. What was I going to say!? What was I going to do!? I mean, I’m a usual bubbly person, although sometimes awkward.

I went up to ring the doorbell. There was flurry of footsteps, followed by an, “Echo! No!” Paws raced towards the door as it sounded like a large dog slammed into the wooden frame. A sighed echoed from the other side. I laughed quietly.

“Hello there, Ms. Caylin.” Austin grinned as he held the door open. One hand was on the door, the other occupied by holding down a large white pit bull with striking eyes.

“Hello there, Carlile. I take it this is Echo?” I asked. He nodded towards the dog.

“Are you allergic? Sorry, I had forgotten to ask.” He started to worry. I shook my head.

“No! No! I love pit bulls, actually.” I shyly opened my hand and the dog let me stroke its soft head.

“She’s a sweetheart, I promise. She likes people.” Austin laughed and led me inside. I slipped my shoes off so I didn’t track in dirt. It was getting late in the night, but he said he had something planned for us. Austin finally let go of Echo, who bounded over to her dog bed and lay down in it, starting to snore immediately. I grinned.

“She’s adorable.” I noted. He took hold of my hand suddenly. I nearly jumped from surprise.

“So I have our surprise downstairs.” He noted. I grinned and followed him to his basement. He opened the door like a gentleman and let me into the largest movie room I’ve ever seen. I gasped. This was at least twice the size of my tiny little apartment.

“Wow, this is amazing.” I whispered in awe. He shrugged.

“It’s not much, but I do have a lot of movies.”

“Not much!? Carlile, I have an apartment smaller than this room!” I smacked his arm playfully. He blushed and led me to a huge couch. Well, it looked more like a bed than a couch.

“I have a lot of different movies, but sorry if you don’t like Disney.” He looked down at his feet. I knelt at the bookcases full of Disney and action movies. I pulled out one of the new ones.

“You own Big Hero Six already?” I asked him.

“Perks of being a rock star.” He chuckled and I nodded, tossing him the disc. He caught it and put it into the DVD player.

“This is one of my favorite movies.” I commented as he turned off the lights. Austin sat down next to me, handing me a blanket. The huge TV lit up most of the room. The man wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into his chest.

We barely got through the movie before I was already snuggled up on his lap. I don’t know when this happened, but I was just glad to be here. He held me close and ran his fingers through my hair as I tried to concentrate on the screen. But Austin was making it hard to actually focus.

“I love Baymax.” Austin murmured. I hummed in happiness, listening to his heart beat slow down. Leaning up, I kissed his cheek.

“I do too.” I tucked my head under his chin, happy to be held closely. My thoughts wandered over to Leah and Cece at the club. They would be doing fine without me. His hands rubbed little patterns into my back. I inhaled the sweet smell of his cologne. He tucked the blanket up closer around us as I closed my eyes. I felt his lips press against my forehead as he kissed me lightly.

“If you fall asleep, you can crash at my place, only if you want.” He offered sleepily.

“That sounds just fine to me.” I yawned. He laughed and let me drift off as the movie finished. Soon enough, there was a knock at the door. Austin sighed and went up to answer it. I curled into the pillow. Austin came back down with two other people.

“Leah?” I asked as I opened my eyes. She grinned.

“And Alan.” She introduced. I waved.

“New movie!” Alan clapped. Austin grumbled but threw in another movie as Alan and Leah sat on the floor, tucked against each other.

“Who covered your shift?” I asked her quietly.

“Mitchy. She didn’t mind since she could dance with some guy she met after that.”

“Looks like we’re double dating now.” I pointed out. She smiled. Alan kissed her cheek.

“They’re just date crashers.” Austin curled up next to me. I fit right into his chest, like I was meant to be there all along. The opening scenes started as Austin hugged me to his chest. I drifted off slowly as his fingers ran along my arm, slowly tracing little letters into my skin.

Notes

This one shot is for the always awesome FallenStarCreature! I hope you loved it!

Don't forget to keep on requesting one shots! I can't wait to do some more!