PRIDE - A Much Needed Dance

"Another shot, please!"

A woman hazardly pushed herself against the counter with a glass in her hand, shoving it to the current bartender who'd only just turned around to address the woman. He seemed a bit hesitant to do as she asked- but when she shoved her wrist across to take the money from her account, he could only oblige. It seemed that she was there with a group, and he was sure they'd take care of her.

Cecil was sat beside the woman as a customer rather than a worker and snorted a little into his glass. He supposed it wasn't a surprise that someone went hog wild on a nice evening in this particular month. He sure did it himself when he was younger- and probably would have done so at his current age too if he'd felt up for the festivities. This year, though, he wasn't quite- so a nice drink while he was off was the decent replacement.  He didn't expect the arm to wrap around his shoulders- and definitely didn't expect the smiling face of Layla over his shoulder.

"My, my. Is this it? Can I finally catch this nice little birdie?"
"Haha."

Her smile didn't falter as he mock laughed, pressing a kiss against his cheek and sitting down beside him.

"I'm surprised to see you here. Didn't you have a man to smooch?"
"Didn't work out, unfortunately. You here with yours?"
"A friend. Looks like you need me more, though."

She waved over to the bartender to order a drink for herself, turning the little swiveling chair so she could face her sulking buddy.

"How's Peanut?"
"Eating trash, as usual. My other ones keep her in check- most of the time."
"Sounds delightful. I'll need to come around some time- I'm sure Rani would love seeing her again. You still live in the same place?"

Cecil nodded as he sipped his drink, sighing and turning to Layla as well. It'd be rude not to. Then again, he was surprised she wasn't asking more about his situation- not that he'd want to talk about it. She leaned her head in her hand as she looked him over before she jumped off of her seat at the start of a new song- dragging him by his elbow.

"Come, let's dance!"
"Layla I'm not--"
"Nonsense! Join me!"

With only a couple of seconds to spare he placed his drink back on the counter and followed the woman out. The song had some sort of lyrical bit that was evidently leading up to a drop. The moment the drop did happen, everyone- including Layla- practically started jumping and woo-hooting along with the song. Cecil found it hard to stay quiet and dance lightly to it, so within a matter of moments he too found himself jumping and woo-hooting along. It brought forth the biggest grin on Layla's face, seeing her friend evidently cheer up. Dancing does bring a huge dopamine rush, and he needed it. He jumped with her in the time to the bass and at some part of the song the jumping stopped, with everyone slowly moving into a squat going lower and lower. Cecil had no choice but to go along- though it wasn't too long before the jumping started again. He grabbed Layla's hands and practically jumped in circles with her.

"Thank you!"

He tried to yell over the music, to which she placed a finger against his lips to shush him. Making sure people enjoy their days on earth, that's what she did best after all!