CHAPTER 4 #2
Zara went to get up to get Arwen a glass of water, but Iro was faster. Before Zara could even stand, it seemed, she was back with a glass for her.
“I’m sorry. I suppose I’m more used to it. I forget how it can be to drink it for the first time.”
“Is this really the good stuff?” Arwen asked after taking a drink of water.
“Yes, it is. It’s Blanton’s Silver Edition Bourbon; my favorite kind. If you take another sip, you can probably taste the vanilla and cinnamon, or maybe you’ll get a little citrus, like mandarin.”
“I don’t think I can take another drink of that. I’m sorry. Is it expensive?”
“I can drink it,” Iro replied before she finished the last sip in her own glass and pulled Arwen’s over to her. “What can I get you instead?”
“I’m okay. I can just drink this water,” Arwen answered.
“Nonsense. Do you want that sugar drink you were going to get?”
Iro waved her hand in the air, and the bartender nodded immediately.
“Not if you’re going to make fun of me for it.”
“I won’t,” Iro said as the bartender approached. “Can we get a Malibu with pineapple juice in it?”
Arwen laughed and said, “It’s just Malibu and pineapple.”
“Right. Sorry,” Iro said.
The bartender walked off with his marching orders, and Zara pulled up the browser app on her phone to first search for the bourbon while she still remembered the name of it.
When she noticed that it was listed as one of the most expensive bourbons in the world, selling for over five thousand dollars a bottle, her eyes went wide, thinking she’d typed the wrong name.
Deciding to check on her wine next, she typed the name on the label in front of her, and her eyes went even wider.
“Holy crap!” she exclaimed.
“What?” Arwen asked.
“Nothing,” she said, tucking her phone away.
The reason this wine was the best she had ever had was that it cost nearly six thousand dollars a bottle.
“I’m sorry; I’ve been very rude. I didn’t get your name,” Iro said.
“Zara,” she said quickly. “Arwen’s best friend.”
“It’s nice to meet you. How long have you two been friends?”
“About ten years,” Arwen replied this time. “We met through work.”
“And what is it that you do?” Iro asked before taking a drink.
“I’m a lawyer.”
“And I’m just a paralegal,” Zara said.
Iro looked at her inquisitively and asked, “Why do you say just?”
“Because I’m not a lawyer, and most people think less of paralegals. They think we couldn’t get through law school or something.”
“I don’t,” Iro said. “I assume paralegals chose their professions in the same ways attorneys do.”
“Yes. I liked the law, but becoming a paralegal was faster and cheaper.”
“Makes perfect sense to me,” Iro replied.
Zara hated this woman. No, she didn’t. She liked her, actually. Iro had spent over ten thousand dollars on drinks for them and had been kind to her just now. Zara hated that Iro’s arm had shifted a little on the back of the booth and was getting dangerously close to Arwen’s shoulders, though.
“I should go,” she said quickly.
“What?” Arwen asked right when the bartender arrived and set down her drink before promptly returning to his place behind the bar. “My drink just got here,” she added. “And you told me you wanted to talk to me about something.”
“I’ve interrupted,” Iro said. “My apologies. I shouldn’t have–”
“It’s fine,” Zara said. “I get tired when I drink red wine, even the really good stuff, apparently. I should get home and get some sleep, and we can talk tomorrow or something. It’s not urgent.”
She’d already waited three years. She could wait another day. Or, maybe she’d have to wait until another of Arwen’s relationships fizzled out for her chance. She just hoped she had enough time.
“Are you sure?” Arwen asked.
“Yeah. We drove separately, and I’m okay to drive home.
The good stuff made me a little sleepy but not drunk, so that’s good.
I’m only five minutes away. Are you okay?
” she asked and swallowed, wanting Arwen to tell her that she would go with her, leave this place, and never speak of this Iro woman again.
“I’m okay,” Arwen replied instead.
Iro took another drink of her bourbon and said nothing. Arwen then picked up her new drink and took a sip, too.
“Text me later so I know you’re okay?” Zara requested, grabbing her purse off the booth next to her.
“Sure,” Arwen replied. “Drive safe, please.”
“Put that in the trunk,” Iro suggested.
“Sorry?”
“The wine; it’s open. You have to put it in the trunk, or you’ll get in trouble if you get pulled over.”
“Are you a lawyer, too?” Arwen asked.
Iro shook her head and said, “No, but I try to know the laws wherever I live to be safe.”
Zara picked up the bottle she’d nearly left behind and said, “Thank you. I’ll put it in the trunk.”
“Text me, Zara, so that I know you got home okay.”
“I will. Good night,” she said.
“Night,” Arwen replied.
“Good night, Zara,” Iro added with a nod.
Then, Zara left the bar and the woman she loved with another woman, who could easily afford to spend over eleven thousand dollars on alcohol in one night on two women she didn’t even know.