“Which one is she?” the hot guy said.
“That one there,” I said. “The one playing tonsil tennis. I guess she’s enjoying her last night of freedom.”
The kisser reached down and squeezed Hazel’s ass. She didn’t pull back. Instead, she reached down and cupped him through his pants.
It surprised me. I guess she would never get to do this ever again, so she might as well enjoy herself while she could. Still, something about it didn’t quite feel right. Hazel didn’t do this kind of thing…
She wasn’t the only one enjoying herself. Bianca led a guy off the dancefloor in the direction of somewhere ‘more quiet’ while Sirena scribbled her number on her business card and made the guy attempt to snatch it from her hand.
How did they find it so easy?
The answer was simple. They were hot. That was the problem with girls who’d always been gorgeous. They never understood how difficult it was for average girls like me to get attention from the guy.
“Those my friends there,” I said. “The classy ladies on the dance floor.”
“Is it just the three of you?” Mr. Hotness said.
“No. There are six of us in total,” I said. “All here to wish her the best.” Then I extended my hand. “By the way, my name’s Alice. And you are…?”
“Nighteko,” he said.
“That’s an unusual name,” I said. “Are you from abroad?”
“You could say that,” he said. “I only come now and then for business.”
“Right,” I said, feeling more disappointed than I had a right to be.
“I hope you don’t have too far to travel tonight,” Nighteko said. “You might fall asleep at the wheel.”
It was so sweet he was concerned about our wellbeing. Now I really was bummed he wasn’t in town often.
My fingers found the locket on my bracelet and I rubbed it for good luck. You can do this.
“I have my caffeine tablets ready,” I said. “Actually, we should probably get going soon. Before I go, do you think maybe I could have your—”
The doors banged open and half the bar stopped dead in their conversations and turned in their seats.
A girl stood picked out by moonlight. Her dress was torn and a little dirty along the hem, her hair disheveled. I expected her to shout for help, that she’d been attacked…
The girl peered around at the bar but appeared not to notice anyone was there. She caught what she was looking for on the other side of the room. She took off at a run, limping between the tables, toward the fire escape. She slammed her hands on the lever and exited. The fire bell exploded with noise.
A pair of police officers entered the bar. One nodded to the other. “You go through here. I’ll head around the back.”
The entire bar watched as the overweight officer sprinted past the revelers and took off through the same door the girl had gone through.
The moment the fire escape door slammed behind him, the alarm turned off and the silence erupted into hushed conversations, everyone wide-eyed with wonder at what had just taken place.
“Well, what do you think’s going on there?” I said, turning to Nighteko.
I was only talking to myself. He was gone.
Feeling a little bummed and more than a little putout, I downed the last of the fruit juice he bought me and moved over to our table. Maybe I didn’t get his number but I could have done, I told myself. That, at least, made me feel a little better.
“Alice?” Sirena said. “I think you ought to come outside. Hazel’s being sick.”
I gathered up my things. “Get the others and meet us at the parking lot. I’ll meet you there.”
I jammed a fistful of tissues in my pocket. A maid of honor’s job was never done.
Hazel groaned and emptied what remained—I hoped—of her stomach across the dirty alley floor.
“I swear,” she said between gasps, “I’m never going to drink another drop of alcohol ever again.”
I rolled my eyes. It was a good thing she couldn’t see me. She’d said this—or something similar—about a million times in the past. I doubted she meant it this time either.
I tapped her on the back comfortingly with one hand and held her hair back in a tight fist in the other.
“There, there,” I said. “You’ll be alright. There, there.”
This was one of the benefits of being the designated driver. I got to see my friends get sick and do idiotic things. It reminded me to pace myself when I wasn’t the designated driver.
I sighed and looked for something interesting to look at while my friend pumped her stomach. We were on the fringes of Main Street where the biggest establishments pumped out the loudest music. It wasn’t all trance.
Over there, at the Irish pub, a live band played modern folk music. And next to it, a wine bar with gentle jazz tunes. The women there were dressed up smart and enjoyed a quiet drink and conversation. Further along were the nightclubs, mixed in a thick miasma that gave me a thudding headache.
“Do you have any tissues?” Hazel said.
“Huh?” I said, my mind still miles away.
“Tissues,” Hazel said. “Do you have any?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, digging in my pocket for the ones I’d snatched from the bar.
She dabbed at her lips. “Thanks.”
“How do you feel?” I said.
Her makeup was smudged and her mascara ran down either side of her face.
“I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.
I helped wipe her smudged makeup off. “I guess playing tongue hockey with a stranger is never the best idea in the world.”
“Not that,” Hazel said. “I mean Tom.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine. He’s not likely to hear about it from any of us, is he?”
She just looked at me. My eyes danced between hers. She wasn’t referring to the random hot stranger.
“You’re talking about the wedding…” I said.
Her eyes lowered. “He asked me and I wasn’t sure how to respond. I mean, we’ve been together for so long and it’s the next
