This is the Let Down

[blaineanderson]

Blaine was sat at the bar swilling a martini when he saw his friends. Like the gentleman that he was Blaine stood up, more out of sheer excitement at seeing them, and for the remarkable fact that they had acquiesced to his pleadings and joined him for karaoke night at O’Connors. Bradley and Blaine were very good friends, surprisingly. Even though Bradley was a prat Blaine enjoyed making digs at him and calling him adorable. That word in particular always seemed to ruffle the Gryffindor’s kingly feathers.

“Ladies!” he greeted them, ecstatic. Twirling round to the barman, the hot barman apparently, Blaine ordered a round of drinks for everyone, whatever they wanted. “And would you mind making one of those special beers you made for Lil last Halloween, only maybe a bit less stripper friendly,” he asked recalling Lillian’s particular need to take off her shirt, “Say, where is Lil anyways?” he almost sounded hurt, karaoke night wasn’t karaoke night without Lillian Turner!

((ooc: Hope this was alright, and that I included Lillian in that post, I figured Blaine and Lil would be great friends, I picture them doing weird stunts together for some reason, or Blaine rushing her to Mungo’s when she’s had “an accident.”))

[Stephan Cullen]

A great sigh escaped Stephan’s lips as he stepped over the threshold of O’Connors bar. They were lips that would make a sculptor dizzy with jealousy, perfectly curved and beautiful. The atmosphere was warm, familiar, and comfortable, yet Stephan felt worlds away, completely out of place amongst his peers. That was when he saw her. She stood across the room, one hand delicately swiveling a martini glass between her fingers as the other was propped beneath her chin as she gave a flirty smile and wink to the bartender before throwing her head back in joyous laughter at something he had said.

The warmth of the place seemed to radiate from a single point and she was at its center. In her plum coloured dress that accentuated her curves perfectly without giving away too much and her silky blonde hair which she flipped with the self-assured knowledge that she held the eye of many a man in the pub. There was one in particular that she desired however, his and without him quite realising it, he knew that she had it.

Stephan had crossed the room without entirely realising how he had gotten there. He leaned against the bar his leather jacket making the faintest of noises alerting her to his presence.

“Hi,” was all he said.

At her answer and reaction however he couldn’t help but crack a faint, half smile.

[whitneyramsey]

Whitney giggled and laughed amusingly at the barman, what was his name, oh right, Braden, or was it Bradley? Whatever it was she was putting on a show, although she did enjoy flirting with any guy- any somewhat attractive guy mind you- that crossed her path. She was putting on a show for an Adonis-like, dashing dark haired, hazel eyed man in particular. Stephan Cullen. She had seen him slip through the front door in her periphery. She had the eyes and ears of a cat. It took a lot keeping up the appearance of an actively social miss busybody.

A smile slowly formed as she felt his presence beside her. He was like a magnet. It was like a pull, his body to hers. She took a casual sip of her martini. Sometimes it was all she could do not to tackle him and kiss his face off.

“Hi,” she flipped her hair as she turned to face him. She smiled cheerily at him. “Is that all I get Mr Broody?” she asked giving him a ‘really?’ eyebrow and a cute slight tilt of the head. Abandoning her martini glass for a moment she placed a hand on his chest. Her fingers slowly curled around his shirt. “I think I deserve something a bit more,” she teased leaning into him, lifting onto her tiptoes her lips inches from his but then drawing away tauntingly. She giggled at his smirk, followed by a partial laugh and shake of his head. Without a word she found herself surprised, pleasantly so, as he captured her lips in one quick motion. It ended almost as soon as it had started. In reality the kiss was quite long, slow and smoldering, but it felt quick. Wide eyed she noted his smirky smile and composed herself promptly, “That was much better,” she added as if she had total control over what Stephan did. She didn’t. And didn’t really pretend to.

Whitney was admittedly- though she never would- lost in Stephan’s eyes, and the little moment they had shared, as was he, when someone or more than one someone’s interrupted them. Turning her attention to them she said, “Oh, hello.”

((ooc: Here is Whitney’s first post! Please everyone, bring in any and all of your characters, this could be a great opportunity to unearth your abandoned characters and try out your shiny new ones?))

[Billie Fry]

After performing a rousing rendition of It's Raining Men, Billie took a luxuriant bow before darting away from the microphone and throwing her arms around her new flatmate at the bar. "YOU'RE HERE!" she shouted obviously (and a little too loudly). Billie was wearing more makeup than usual (usual being... none) and had unpinned her hair to let her curls roam free, but her outfit was more good-naturedly kooky than anything designed to impress. "Do you come here a lot? What should I order? What are you going to sing? Seen anyone cute?" she asked in rapid succession, barely giving Blaine a chance to answer each of her questions.

[Lillian Turner]

Walking through O'Connors, Lillian looked for Justin but was momentarily distracted when she heard her name spoken to the left of her, making a beeline for the owner of the voice and practically barged through the small crowd to greet Blaine and Billie.

"Calm yer tits love, Lillian is heeeeeeeee-re!" she exclaimed with a flourish of her arms, smiling widely at Blaine before offering a hand to each of them, awaiting a high five.
"Is Lagerdude around? I've found a few songs that I think he will just DIE for. Like...actual death!" Lillian nodded with her eyes wide, unaware that Justin actually hated karaoke.

(ooc. Sorry she isnt great, Im just terrible. Thats my only excuse)

[Justin Biermann]

"Get a room," Justin mumbled to himself as he passed a couple making out, before quickly grabbing beers for a group that had just arrived at the bar. He was quite possibly bitter from a recent breakup -- but as someone who would hate public displays of affection at his place of employment, it wasn't immediately noticeable. And, to be fair, he was already fairly annoyed by karaoke night in general.

He finally noticed Lillian, Billie and Blaine at the bar and jumped over to take their drink orders. Wincing slightly as Total Eclipse of the Heart started up, Justin rubbed his forehead before turning to Lillian, only having caught bits of what the group was saying over the noise of the pub. "I dunno what you're talking about, but I highly doubt that I'm actually going to die."

[Amy Weatherson]

Arriving at O'Connors just in time to hear Billie's enthusiastic finale of 'It's Raining Men', Amy clapped heartily and whistled as her friend took a bow. She'd came straight from a late shift at work, managing to change into more 'going out' clothes (which for Amy consisted of a flowery dress and black heels) and do her makeup in the stockroom before apparating to Hogsmeade. Unclipping her hair, which had been tied up all day, meant that it fell in naturally bouncy waves about her shoulders. All in all, she was quietly impressed by her very quick change over into a more suitable 'look' for O'Connors.

Making her way through the mingling people in the centre of the bar, Amy managed to make it to where Billie and Blaine were sat at, throwing her arms around the former first of all. "You were magnificent, darling!" she enthused with her usual beaming smile as he finally let the other girl go from her enthusiastic hug. "Oh and I completely second your line of questioning... seen anyone cute?" she asked Blaine as she turned to him and gave him a 'hello hug' too.

((ooc: Sorry this is a bit crap. Just to check then... we're saying Billie and Amy have moved in with Blaine very recently, yes? Who else was it in the flat, I think we said 4 people?))

[Bradley O'Connor]

Bradley hated karaoke, it was a well known fact. The only reason he'd relented and got a karaoke system fitted in O'Connors was because there was a demand - a fulfilled demand meant more customers which meant more money taken behind the bar. That was maths he could do and he couldn't really argue with the logic behind it. That didn't stop him from thinking 'FML' every time it was the weekly karaoke night. The only thing that kept Bradley sane was the knowledge that a certain Justin Biermann hated karaoke just a little bit more than he did; he exploited this knowledge for his own benefit, like a good O'Connor always would.

As someone (an individual that was drunk enough to consider Bonnie Tyler songs as good choices) dithering over which song to sing, Bradley pointed towards one on the karaoke system and chose for them, not being able to disguise a smirk as the opening bars of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' earned a wince from Justin who was dutifully serving behind the bar. Bradley meandered back towards the bar - strictly speaking he wasn't working that night, he came to look important and managerial and occassionally collected a couple of glasses as an extra pair of hands for whoever was staffing the bar. "What's up, not a fan of a whiny Welsh woman moaning about needing someone more than ever?" he asked Justin dryly, his tone suggesting that not being a fan of that would be just plain weird.

[Lillian Turner]

Turning to face Justin, Lillian smiled widely and hugged him swiftly before shaking her head excitedly, "You'd never die Lagerdude, not with me around to protect you. I'd totally take a bullet for you, seriously" she nodded her head with a serious look at him, to show him that she actually meant it, infact, the thought of being shot actually excited Lillian, she'd have to plan that one out.

"Im going to do Neil Diamond, 'Forever in Blue Jeans' tonight, that's why I've worn my blue jeans tonight. My plan is to wear them for as long as possible, to try and literally be forever in them." she smiled, pointing to her jeans before giving a thumbs up to Bradley as he joined them, "I personally prefer 'Holding Out For a Hero', I'll dedicate it to you two...my heroes!" Lillian held her hand over her heart before bounding up to the small karaoke podium, taking her place on the stage as if she was born to be there before pointing to Bradley & Justin, "For my boooooois!" she hollered before starting to sing completely off key & well, terribly.

[Billie Fry]

Billie hugged Amy tightly before finally releasing her, grinning widely. "You look amaaaaahzing, love!" She then swiveled around restlessly on a bar stool before paying for her vodka cranberry. "TURN AROUND, BRIIIIIGHT EEEEYES," Billie belted suddenly along with the very drunk person currently on karaoke, holding her hands to her heart before stretching her arms out and nearly taking the head off the guy sitting next to her. She then squinted at Bradley, who was pretty obviously messing with Justin at the bar, and asked while holding a straw between her teeth, "Er, are you guys brothers or something?"

Whooping loudly for Lillian as she got up to sing, Billie held out her hand to Amy and asked in a silly deep voice, "Shall we dance?"

[blaineanderson]

Blaine gave a dramatic, “Whew!” as he ran a hand across his brow when Lillian joined them, “Thank God, I thought it was going to be a night without Lillian Turner, and karaoke without Lillian Turner is like… coffee without its cream,” he said smiling at her before throwing his arms around her in a hug.

“Actual death huh?” he smirked and raised his eyebrows in intrigue as he glanced over at Justin that boy was fine! Little did others know Blaine actually had this shy, school-boy manner about him when he liked a guy. If it was more than mere attraction Blaine took it slow, luckily that rarely happened, and other guys often approached him instead, he tended to be a bit of a heartbreaker.

“Ammmeeess!!!!” he exclaimed enthusiastically as Amy joined them and threw his arms around her in a big hug, “Now don’t you look gorgeous, and if I haven’t already said it,” he turned to Billie and Lil, “Billie you look stunning and Lil you are beautiful as ever,” he enthused, “Let’s see,” he turned round and scanned the room. “Well there is a beautiful boy in the corner,” he looked over at Amy, “But I think you already know who that is,” he was referring to Caleb of course, “Merlin if he wasn’t straight,” he muttered under his breath before Lil took to the stage.

Blaine whooped loudly for Lillian and clapped his hands at her amazing finish. He planned on singing Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’ to get everyone to sing along.

[Peyton Sawyer]

((ooc: Not that it matters but Peyton is wearing something like this))

Peyton walked into O’Connors the smell of booze, sweat and desperation hit her nostrils immediately. It had been a while since she had been out. Peyton had taken a lot of jobs within the past year; each and every one of them fizzled into nothingness. Currently she had returned to waitressing. Like the saying goes if you can’t do, you teach. It wasn’t quite exactly what Peyton was doing but she was opening her own recording studio and her first client was Adriana Truscott. The prima donna for all her drama queen and Ally-esque Princess attitude had been surprisingly helpful when it came to getting Peyton’s recording studio and label started.

She had been working tirelessly all day running around doing a million things and it was definitely one million more than one person could handle, she needed an assistant… one that didn’t might not getting paid for at least the first few months. Peyton had also recorded Adriana’s first album and was quite happy with it. She was hoping Adriana would show up tonight and maybe sing one of her songs. She was also hoping to scope out some new talent, maybe a few more indie singers, or diamonds in the rough who thought they weren’t good enough to fulfill their dreams; well she was here to prove them wrong. Adriana had that stardom quality, for one she was beautiful, and second she had enough confidence, determination and gumption to get anywhere. She wasn’t a quitter and for all their differences Peyton admired the brunette for it. Her brain was still whirling with these thoughts as she reached the bar suddenly feeling as if she were underdressed. Coming straight from work she was wearing her studded jeans, loose fitting t-shirt and trainers while many of the girls surrounding her had donned short dresses that left little to the imagination.

[Amy Weatherson]

"You are amazing, lovely," Amy enthused back as Billie hugged her tightly, letting her go due to the trivial need to breathe and such. Leaning on the bar she smiled politely, "Can I get a vodka and coke please Justin?" she asked as she spun on her heel to face Blaine as he too embraced her. "Well now aren't you just the charmer, as ever," she giggled lightly, "Thank you, kind sir, people are rather too kind about little ol' me." Turning to pay for her drink then she sucked on the straw and her eyes widened excitedly as the boy said there was a 'beautiful boy in the corner'. "Ooo where?" she whipped around to where he was looking, her gaze meeting a certain someone's as he just happened to look up as she suddenly stared at where he was sitting.

Her gaze flickering down she brushed some hair out of her eyes in what she hoped was a nonchalant gesture that covered up the pretty obvious gaze averting moment. "I meant someone cute for you, silly!" Amy teased enthusiastically with a beaming smile on her face at Blaine as she tried, in vain, to hide the blush which sprung up when he'd pointed out Caleb. Taking another drink she then giggled lightly as Billie jokingly asked her to dance. Resting her drink on the bar she held her hand to her chest, "Oh kind sir, you flatter me with your proposal," she played along in a gushing, delighted voice as she took Billie's hand as practically dragged her out to the dance floor.

[Justin Biermann]

On the incredibly short list of things Justin and Bradley had in common, 'abject hatred of karaoke' was most likely near the top, right after hair colour and the dorm they'd both been stuck with for seven years. Justin was therefore slightly offended that the karaoke machine had taken precedence over his own ideas, namely, putting in a television to watch football and refusing to serve light beer. Because really. "I'd prefer the whiny Welsh woman, honestly," he said dryly as the current singer wailed at the microphone.

"If you want Bradders as your hero you'll be holding out for a rather long time eh?" Justin said as Lillian went up to sing, patting her lightly on the shoulder as she ran up to the podium. He pushed a vodka and coke over at Amy before turning to Blaine. "Do you go out a lot?" he asked while scooping up Billie and Amy's money while two girls bounded off to the dance floor.

[Kevin Walsh]

Kevin ambled out of the Hog's Head and jammed his hands in the pocket of his hoodie as a chilly wind swept across him. As he approached the street where he'd normally turn to walk home, he was almost magnetically compelled to keep walking and hit another pub. He was still ready to rage, and a pleasant and uneventful night out just felt like giving up, frankly.

Before he knew it, Kevin was opening the door to his least favourite cousin's pub, his ears were being assaulted by some ungodly pop music, and he had to admit that, fair enough, he probably had some masochistic tendencies. Luckily he was inconspicuous-looking enough to get to the bar without being noticed by anyone he'd been avoiding, and ended up next to a very pretty blonde girl just slightly older than he. "Hey," he shouted as he caught Peyton's line of sight, undeterred by the constant onslaught of pulling failure that was his life, "I'm Kevin. What're you drinking?" he asked before digging money from his pocket to make sure he could actually afford to buy this girl a drink.