Poe was a ballerina (ex_claret380) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-03-09 21:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | ballerina, lady, ratchet, robin |
Who: Bly, Luke, Poe and Valerie
What: Fake IDs and older women
Where: Rick's Bar
When: Last Friday
Warnings: Boyish awkwardness?
Using fake IDs to get into a bar so Bly could attempt to pick up older women wasn’t one of their better ideas, but by the time Friday night rolled around none of the trio had backed down and it was clear they were going through with this. Thanks to Poe’s friend (or whoever he was) Blake they had their IDs set, and it wasn’t hard to say he was going out with friends to get out of the apartment. Since he didn’t have much of a social life anymore, Max and Thomas actually seemed pleased that he was going out to do something other than beating up bad guys. He was clad in dark clothing and tried to make himself look less like Luke Henry and more like the person he was supposed to be for tonight, and by some miracle their IDs checked out and they were let in.
Luke hid his surprise along with his nervousness and tried to act like he went to places like this all the time. Lingering near the entrance, he dropped his voice so only Poe and Bly could hear. “Okay, so we’re in. What now?”
Poe had never been in a bar or a club. Life at the charity orphanage had involved singing in service and saying prayers before bed, and his subsequent life at the ballet had been even more sheltered than that. When the bouncer took their IDs he held his breath the entire time, and he was absolutely sure they were going to get laughed at and sent away. But Luke looked cool and collected, and Poe thought maybe that came with being rich, and so they got inside without any trouble. Poe was dressed sedately (for him) in jeans and a butter yellow, long-sleeved shirt, thumbs poking through holes at the ends of the sleeves, and he looked around the strange place with wide eyes that entirely betrayed his inexperience. He thought he might have said wow at some point, and he hoped neither of the guys noticed. They were so calm, so cool, and he tucked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans and tried to pretend he walked into bars every night of the week.
It was blues night, and there was a stage at the far end where someone was singing in tones that Poe thought sounded dirty (in a good way), and he glanced around the space, his gaze only lingering for a few seconds on a man at the bar. This was about hitting on girls, he reminded himself. No, women. He cleared his throat, willing his voice to drop into a cool register. “Bly shows us his mad skills.”
Having walked by this particular club on a number of occasions, Bly felt like he was a bit more prepared to get in than Luke and Poe. And even if he wasn’t - which was the truth, but he wasn’t going to admit that - he did his best to plat it like he was. He dressed like he’d seen other guys at the place before, in a patterned short-sleeved tee from Aéropostale under a light, striped cotton button up. His jeans were a dark wash, and he thought the combined effect of the whole outfit was kind of badass. When they approached the entrance, he did his best to play it cool, giving the guy checking IDs a bright smile. The smile was met with a cold stare, and he was grateful when they were finally inside.
Slinking in after Poe and Luke, Bly glanced around the dimly lit place. The bar itself was pretty damn huge, curling through two rooms, one more lounge-like and the other mostly dance floor. There was a double door between the two, swinging back and forth as people passed from one side to the other. He gaze shifted to the chick singing the blues, and he grinned. “Dude, she’s hot,” he said, elbowing Luke as he grinned at Poe. But hot as she was, she was busy, so he had to find another chick to go for. “So, uh, let’s pick someone, right? Or should we order drinks first?” He realized he had no idea how to do clubbing. Shit, they were all going to get thrown out.
Valerie didn’t normally do clubs. She did fundraisers, fine parties, champagne mixers, and other places bored, rich men could be found. However, this particular club was the fortunate home-away-from-home of a strangely successful dot-com that was founded down the street, and on weekend evenings very rich, socially clueless young men apparently were to be found there.
Valerie had dressed for her audience, going for a very young appearance: her blond hair was straightened and boasted temporary pink streaks, the butter and green dress was short and loose cut according to the current style, glittering with false jewelry. Unlike most people here, however, she was by herself, leaning against the bar as if waiting for her next cocktail, tapping the fingers of her right hand in time with the music.
Poe thought, maybe, that Bly sounded unsure of himself. But no way, he had to be imagining that. He didn’t think to sound cool the next time he spoke, because he was looking down at the band on his wrist that said he was over 21 and, yes, he could get wasted, and he worried his lip for a moment before finally saying. “Drinks. Um, I think you look older with something in your hand.” He almost added maybe, but then he refrained. He didn’t try to look for women, because he really didn’t think he liked them. He didn’t know for sure because he’d never, you know, done anything, but he was pretty close to sure.
Poe motioned to the bar, his arm bumping someone by mistake who he apologized to profusely. He noticed the woman with the pink hair because he thought the pink looked pretty, and he thought it in a way that was completely the opposite of masculine appreciation. A lot of people in the room were red, but she wasn’t one of them.
Luke definitely wasn’t there to pick up any women for himself, mainly because he already had a girlfriend and was bound to fail horribly even if he tried. Obviously none of them knew what they were doing, not really, but the point was to pretend. “Drinks first,” he agreed, hoping that beer was a normal drink for people to order in clubs. Maybe they’d feel less out of place with alcohol in their hands. He took the initiative and led the way to the bar, somehow managing to appear at ease even though he felt painfully awkward beneath the surface. This really wasn’t his kind of thing. What if someone recognized him? What if they got caught - would the cops be called? Shit, he really couldn’t get arrested. That would be beyond bad.
Luke boldly ordered a beer once they reached the bar, in the bottle, holding his breath for a drawn-out second before the bartender placed the drink in front of him without any apparent suspicion. Luke flashed a quick grin at his friends and noticed the pink-haired woman a second later, nudging Bly in her direction. “What about her?”
Yeah, beer was a good choice. Poe was definitely on to something, Bly thought, in thinking that alcohol made you look older. He ordered a Sam Adams lager because he knew people who drank it, and he thought he might die in the span of time it took the bartender to get it from wherever it was stored. He wasn’t paying much attention. Wiping his palms on his pants, he accepted the opened bottle with a grin, took a mouthful, and fought not to spew it all over the floor. Oh, Christ, that shit was nasty.
Bly swallowed hard, trying not to grimace or choke because he was supposed to be cool, damn it. He followed Luke’s gaze, giving the lady with the pink-ish hair what he hoped was a subtle once-over. It probably wasn’t, but Bly was trying. “Alright,” he said, flashing Poe and Luke both a grin that was all nerves and no confidence.
Making his way toward the pretty lady, Bly lifted his beer in a salute. “Hey,” he said in a choked, strangled voice. Coughing to cover the awful introduction, he tried again, managing a much smoother, more confident hello. “Can I get you a beer or something?” he asked, wondering if he should deepen his voice or something to make himself seem older. Bly threw a backwards glance toward Luke and Poe, giving them a cheesy smile.
Valerie’s expectations for the night were waning as the minutes wiled away, and rather than becoming less cheerful, she couldn’t help but relax slightly. The music went a long way toward that, one of her favorite songs, and she had a love for the genre that was only slightly diminished by a professional dislike for the singer’s delivery. She was always aware of eyes in her direction in public, an awareness that was good for her goals and her safety, and while pretending to be interested in the performance she watched the three of them nudge each other, point and twitch like nervous grinning rabbits.
It was, admittedly, a little adorable.
By the time Bly made it as far as her elbow, Valerie already had her amusement in check. He wasn’t abhorrent in the least, just young, and her smile was easy and genuine. “Hello.” She said it with a certain purr, and it was designed to make him lean in to hear her. She followed his gaze back to the boys, and now that Bly had changed position, Valerie recognized one of them, and smothered surprise well. Luke Henry. Well, well, this might be a helpful evening after all. She looked back at Bly and tilted her head a little. Charm was on full. “What are you having?”
Poe looked over at Luke, and he looked very, very, very impressed. Maybe Bly hadn’t been telling tales after all. The woman was leaning and smiling and- was that purring?. He wondered if men purred, and he decided to ask Blake, and if his cheeks went red for a second it had nothing to do with the pretty lady and her warm gaze. “He’s having a beer,” he said, nudging Luke with his elbow, because this was impressive. He swirled his own drink between his fingers, a whiskey sour (because it sounded grown up) which he hadn’t had the guts to taste yet, and then he took a sip and had to look away in order not get caught choking on the burn at the back of his throat.
Luke did his best to hide his surprise, grinning back at Bly when he glanced back at them. He hadn’t actually expected their little experiment to work, but from where he was standing it looked a lot like the pink-haired woman was flirting rather than ignoring, and apparently Poe saw the same thing judging by his expression. Luckily he didn’t mind the taste of beer so there was no need to feign enjoyment, and he shot a quick look at Poe that wasn’t quite impressed - not yet - but was definitely getting there.
Holy shit, was she purring at him? Did women purr? Were they secretly like cats or something, and purred when they were happy? Shit, he should have paid so much more attention in sex ed or whatever. Health class. Since they taught you about lettuce and how to eat right. But no one ever paid attention until they broke out the diagrams. He hadn’t even paid attention then. Okay, a little, because female parts were weird, but not that much. Maybe they had talked about women purring when he had been sick. Well, crap.
He shifted closer to her without realizing he was doing it, and leaned on the bar. Tilting the beer bottle back, he pretended to check the label. Okay, so he wasn’t pretending. He didn’t know. She was gorgeous, and he liked her smile. And her eyes. “Sam Adams lager,” he finally managed. “Want one? Or, like, a cosmo or something?”
Valerie’s eyes moved to the label when he looked at it. She was just not able to hide the suppressed smile when he did it, and it dented both ends of her smile while she brushed at the silly pink hair. He was so cute, only years of practice prevented her from reaching out to pinch his little cheek. The one on his face. Probably. Her eyes flicked back to meet his when he looked up, and she tried to reassure him, just because he was trying so hard. “That’s a good suggestion. A cosmo, when you have a moment,” she said to the bartender, just to save Bly the trouble of having to flag someone down and show his no doubt blatantly fake ID.
“I’m Valerie.” She looked past him, and just so happened to lean forward and in to manage it, brushing his elbow. “Are you going to introduce me to your friends? They’re watching.” Then she lowered her voice to a new purr, a low teasing one. “Is this a bet?”
Bly put the money on the table when the bartender dropped off the drink. He looked at the oddly shaped glass and decided he’d get a cosmo once he’d managed to sip down his beer. Because he’d cut off a finger for a cup that looked like that one. It was awesome. The only thing that would make it better was a curly straw. And maybe orange soda instead of whatever was in it. But that was fine. He’d take what he could get.
“O-oh, right, yeah.” He hesitantly offered her his hand before leading her toward his friends. “Hey, guys.” He tried to give them a look that was like “don’t mess this up for me” but was pretty sure it landed somewhere between “holy shit I’ve got a hot babe” and “I’m constipated, fml.” Trading that look for one filled with nerves and uncertainty, he realized he didn’t know the hot chicks name. Shit. “Uh, well, this is Luke, and this is Poe. Oh, and I’m Jackson, but everyone calls me Bly. And guys, this is...” He trailed off, hoping she’d fill in the name because, well, shit. He was an idiot. An epic, epic idiot.
“Valerie,” Valerie said, literally bringing up her free hand to cover her mouth and the smirk of hilarity that came over it unbidden. At least, unlike Bly, she didn’t have a gaggle of friends giggling about the conquest somewhere over her shoulder. Unfortunate, but she left the pretty cosmo behind on the bar, apparently on accident. Maybe it was a good thing, or Bly would have ended up asking for a taste or something equally hysterical. Her eyes, which glittered faintly even without the accent of the make-up, passed kindly over Poe but hit Luke right in the eyes. Target acquired, so to speak.
Poe watched the attention shift, and since he was actually just a bystander with no particular interest in the girl in question (no nerves, more confirmation), he caught it. He looked from Luke to Bly, and he nudged Luke again (notice, notice, notice!), and then he tugged Luke’s arm a little, away. “Bly’s really great,” he told Valerie, because clearly that would make all the difference in the world. “He’s the smartest guy in our class, and all the gir- women think he’s awesome.” Quickly. “Because he is. Luke’s kind of dumb.” He gave Luke an apologetic look. Because, yes, brains clearly mattered when attracting a girl with pink hair.
She didn’t seem to think so. Valerie put a hand out across the open space toward Luke, clearly expecting to be greeted.
Luke had no intentions of messing this up for Bly, whatever ‘this’ was, but he was admittedly a little slow on the uptake when it came to women. He smiled in greeting when his name was said but it was simply polite, an acknowledgement that he was the person in question and nothing more. The pink-haired woman was pretty, sure, but he didn’t register her shift in attention as anything to be worried about. It wasn’t until Poe started nudging and tugging on his arm that the realization finally sunk in, and he nodded along as the other boy spoke in an attempt to draw the focus away from himself. He’d come here to watch Bly pick up women, not to have his best friend end up hating him by the end of the night.
Shit. He stared at Valerie’s hand with a growing sense of panic, stuck between ignoring or acknowledging her; both of which would make him look like an asshole for different reasons. Fuck his life. Luke shot Bly a helpless look and shook her hand, trying to make it as quick and brief as possible. “Uh, Poe’s right, you know. About Bly. He helps me out a lot... all the time, actually.” He gave a weak laugh. “I’m hopeless.”
For his part, Bly was completely and utterly oblivious to the fact that attention was shifting away from him and onto Luke. He took another tiny sip of his beer, pretending to drink more than he was, and kept the grin on his face. He let out a quiet laugh that landed closer to a choking sound, and rolled his eyes. “Naw, Luke’s pretty awesome, too. So’s Poe.” Because he wouldn’t hang out with them if they weren’t. “So, uh.” His gaze shifted to Valerie, lingering on her chest just a bit too long before lifting to her face. “You come here often?”
It wasn’t Valerie’s purpose to torture Luke or make him dislike her, so she shook his hand in the modern style she’d learned around the same time women won the vote, and then let him be. She looked at Poe next and shook his hand too, but for some reason it didn’t seem to linger the way it could have, nor did she ask about the origin of his strange name, which made her think of ravens. She looked back at Bly, who might be awesome but who also clearly wasn’t old enough to know that no woman would think any man ‘awesome’ in quite that vocabulary. She wasn’t offended by his preoccupations, and instead waited for his gaze to come up with that small curve of a smile. “I come to hear the music.” She turned her head to direct all three boys’ attention to the stage, and then back to herself, simply by making the smallest movement and speaking at a low, even pitch. “You work around here?” She seemed to notice she left her drink for the first time, glancing down at her hands and then back at the bar. She favored Bly with a glowing smile. “I left my drink, and I think they just dumped it. Would you mind...?” she nudged his arm a little with the inquiry.
Poe might not have been mesmerized by her beauty, but he wasn’t immune to her skills, and he looked at the stage when she indicated and then back at her. “Yeah,” he said. “We work at-” there was the slightest hesitation, only a hint of it, “Sparke Industries,” he finally said, because Bly was an intern there, and working somewhere wasn’t a far stretch, and it was Bly that needed to look impressive, not him and Luke. When she nudged Bly, Poe decided Bly walking away was not a very good idea, and he tugged on Luke’s sleeve instead. “We’ll go. Bly can stay here and tell you all about his great job.” Tug.
Fortunately Bly wasn’t even aware that Valerie’s attention had shifted, and after she shook his hand it seemed as though the potential crisis had been averted. Luke’s gaze went to the stage just as Poe’s did before it returned back to her, and he forced himself to smile and nod at the claim that they all worked at Spark Industries. If Valerie knew who he was, which he was willing to bet she did, then she’d know that was a lie in his case - but this was about Bly, so he went along with it. He was starting to think that Poe was being a little too obvious with all this tugging and not-so-subtle attempts to keep Bly and Valerie together, but he couldn’t exactly come out and say anything. “Yeah,” he agreed. “It’s no problem.” He offered a smile and turned towards the bar, trying to move his arm away subtly to avoid another sleeve tug. They were transparent enough as it was.
If oblivious was a college course, Bly would four-point it with ease. Laughing, he nudged Poe back. “Naw, don’t worry, I’ve got this,” he said, ducking out of the group with a wave. He ducked through the people, who were making it really hard to get around, and made his way to the bar wondering why people liked being smashed up against each other like this. Being in a club was like being stuck in the tiniest, most confined space ever with at least six other people. He flagged down a bartender, which was seriously hard to do because eye contact alone wasn’t getting anything done, and order another cosmo.
Drink in hand, he returned to the group, slid up behind Poe, and offered it to Valerie. “Here you go,” he said with a grin, looking much more easy in his skin than he had before leaving. He took a mindless sip of his beer and didn’t grimace at the taste at all. “So what’re we talking about?” he asked, glancing at Poe and Luke.
Valerie had spent the intervening thirty seconds taking half the distance off the space between her and Luke, but to her credit she didn’t get any closer than that. She recognized Poe’s sweet, entirely inadequate concern, and Luke’s discomfort, but she could make a preference clear without mortifying any of the little egos at hand. She said, lightly, that she always came for a drink when they had blues here, and when she said it (to Luke, not Poe) it sounded very distinctly like an offer.
However, she turned immediately when Bly returned, a smile for him as she took her drink, and she patted the back of his elbow in thanks. “You’re so sweet. Why do they call you Bly and not Jackson?” she asked, putting the straw between her lips and flicking a glance at Luke just to see if he was sweating yet.
Poe knew he was being talked over, around and through. It didn’t bother him, not personally, but he was worried about Bly falling on his face during his one endeavor as a ladies man in front of his friends. The worry showed on his face when he looked at Valerie, and it was only displaced when a tall, dark haired man walked up to the bar. It returned quickly, however, and Poe took another drink of his whiskey sour, which was going down much smoother now. “Luke, want to help me find a cigarette?” he asked and, no, he didn’t smoke.
Luke gave a helpless sort of half-shrug when Bly went to get the drink as if to say ‘I tried’, turning back towards Valerie and trying to pretend like he wasn’t aware that she’d moved closer. Even if he hadn’t already had a girlfriend he never would have blatantly hit on a woman his friend was interested in, not that he would’ve known how to in the first place, so he attempted to look like he was paying attention without appearing too interested. It wasn’t as though he actually planned on coming back specifically to see her anyway.
This time he had to actually keep himself from rolling his eyes, because he was almost positive Valerie knew exactly what Poe was trying to do even if Bly hadn’t caught on yet. He honestly didn’t think sticking around was that big of a deal since she wasn’t laying it on too thick, but he had a feeling Poe wouldn’t just drop it if he said no. “Uh... alright.”
Bly frowned at Poe, pretty sure the other guy didn’t smoke. He knew that Poe was stronger than he looked, so he had to work out, and people who worked out didn’t smoke. So he was probably was making excuses. That was super nice of him. He gave Poe a light punch on the shoulder and turned back to Valerie with a shrug. “I dunno. I mean, it’s been like that for ages, you know? Since I was in high school.” He hoped saying it that way would make him sound older, like he wasn’t a freshman in college. “Maybe because there were four Jacks in one of my classes freshman year.” He grinned. “You, uh, like music, then?” Wow, way to go. Because that wasn’t lame or anything.
The last thing Valerie wanted was to get left behind with only Bly for company. He was a sweet boy, she hadn't been lying, but he wasn't worth her time. She knew that Poe wasn't interested in her, and would never be interested in her, but if she had two, she had all three. As Poe passed on his escape, she reached out to twine her arm around Poe's wrist, the one with the whiskey sour so he couldn't pull away. She was close enough to snag Bly too, unless he made an unfortunate step away. "Maybe we should all go somewhere quieter," she suggested brightly, looking toward some of the private rooms in the back, roped off by red velvet and accessed by green ink and dead presidents.
Luke had to admit she was good. He wasn’t going to go off on his own and leave his two friends behind with Valerie, so he had no other choice than to stick around. To give Poe his due he had tried, but apparently they were all in this together now. “Maybe,” he said slowly, the realization that if anyone was going to be able to get them past those ropes it would be him. Seriously, eff his life. They should’ve just hidden behind a plant or something and watched Bly do his thing like guys did in the movies. He looked between his two friends and sighed inwardly, heading towards the private rooms while somehow managing to avoid dragging his feet. One attempt at discreetly handing over what he thought was a suitable amount of dead presidents later and they were granted access, but Luke was too busy wanting to die to care about how ‘cool’ it was.
Poe was impressed. It was kind of impossible not to be impressed, and by this point he was watching for pointers, because Valerie wouldn’t blush or stammer when someone acted like they were going to kiss her, and he figured he might be able to learn something after all. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Luke was following, and then Luke was handing over more money than Poe had ever seen, and he thought he might have seen a camera flash go off as they entered the private room, which was something straight out of a movie. He finished off his drink, and he dropped own onto a black leather couch as the door closed. He wanted to ask if these rooms were for sex, but he didn’t think that would sound very sophisticated, so he just gave Bly an encouraging look.
Valerie all but ignored the transaction at the red ropes. She was certainly interested in Luke’s money, but she was not so obsessed that she was mesmerized by the idea. She chatted with Bly about the music artists she liked--”and of course John Lee Hooker, not that anyone can really sing like that man”--while they moved through the crowd, and every once and a while she smiled at Poe’s rapt attention. She let Poe go ahead and take his drink and freed wrist with him, but she paused in the hallway to chat with another group wandering toward the music, and in the end she managed to get five other people into the room with them, three women and two men, all of whom were the laughing side of twenty-five and drunk enough not to notice the relative age of anyone. The room filled up with conversation, which was occasionally ribald, but no clothes came off. Valerie sat down next to Bly, but she made sure she could see everyone in the room--and they could see her.
Bly shifted uncomfortably as they settled in the back room, not so sure he wanted to be at the club any more. He shoot Luke and Poe a glance a piece, trying to gauge their reactions to everything that was going on. They were supposed to go to a bar, pick up chicks and flirt, maybe grope some boobs, and then leave. Getting drunk had kind of been in the back of his mind, but not private rooms and money and having to talk to people he didn’t know. He gave Val a fleeting smile, maintaining the air of confidence and comfort, but he wasn’t so sure about any of this. Though he was half-tempted to ask about party games, he bit his tongue.
Luke may have had the money to get them past the ropes but that was about as far as his expertise went, though he doubted throwing money at someone just to get into the private rooms would prove to be a good idea. Somehow they were now surrounded by a bunch of people none of them knew, though thankfully no one questioned their ages, but he did his best to appear at ease with the situation. He drank his beer with false enthusiasm and returned Bly’s glance with one of his own, trying to portray his discomfort without making it obvious to anyone else. Yeah, he got that this was supposed to be about getting a girl for his friend, but this was a little much. He could only fake a smile and laugh at the conversation around him for so long.
Poe was like a kid in candy store at first. The people were pretty, so pretty, the women looked like models to his eye, and the men looked like men, and it was all foreign to him in a way that (combined with the whiskey sour) made him wide eyed. He’d just begun talking with someone named Gustav (and people were actually named that in real life?), but then he noticed Luke’s discomfited glance at Bly. He stood, and he put his fresh drink aside, and he moved over to where Luke was standing, voice coming from behind Luke’s ear. “We leaving?”
Valerie was at ease, talking about modern bands she had no interest in and laughing at jokes that weren’t really funny. She had a strange twinge of sympathy for the two of them that disliked their drinks, only because they seemed to feel they had to drink them or die trying. When the discomfort that she’d been watching build for some time finally boiled over, she turned from her conversation and gave all three one of the sweet pink smiles. “Heading out?”
For a moment, Bly felt like he was caught in the middle of something completely inappropriate. Which, okay, he was. But Valerie’s question didn’t help. Plastering a fake smile on his face, he nodded. “Yeah, we’ve all got early mornings, actually. Mr. Sparke’s kind of nuts, you know? He likes people in for a half day on Saturday, and tomorrow’s our day. It was really nice to meet you, though,” he said, his voice surprisingly level and cheerful. He finished off the remainder of his beer without really tasting it at all and set the bottle aside as he stood and stretched.
Leaning over, he gave Valerie a quick kiss on the cheek, because that seemed like a nice thing to do. “Anyway, you have a good night.” He made his way over to Luke and, with his back to Valerie and the majority of people in the room, made an exaggerated gesture toward the door with his eyes. Then he shot Poe a panicky sort of look, because Poe seemed to be enjoying himself, and Bly didn’t want to come off as a total kill-joy. This had been his idea to begin with. Idiot. He was an idiot.
Any worries that Bly wanted to stay and he was being a total downer vanished when his friend gestured towards the door. Luke finished his beer and nodded, the movement slight, rising from his own seat and casting a small smile in Valerie’s direction. He was far from running out the door but he wasn’t exactly reluctant to leave either. “Nice meeting you,” was said to the room in general, an absent sort of farewell before he turned towards the door. He’d already pulled it open and was out without a glance back, assuming both Bly and Poe would follow.
Poe did follow, and he threw one arm over Bly’s shoulder and grinned at him. “That was weird,” he said, more than a little awe in his voice as he looked over his shoulder at the room they’d left behind. “Do you think they have sex in there?” he asked in a whisper that was loud enough for Luke to hear ahead of them. He didn’t even pretend he thought Bly had experiences in places like that, not then, he didn’t think to, because wow.