23
“Are you girls ready to celebrate?” Amir asks, casually strolling through the door and holding up a bottle of whiskey.
“Oh my God. YES!” Luna jumps up, instantly full of energy.
Amir watches us get ready, enjoying the banter between Luna and me as we fight over the tiny mirror in the bathroom.
Luna asks if she can invite some of the girls from her course, to which Amir exclaims, “The more, the merrier.” I’m standing in front of my wardrobe, debating with myself what I should wear, when Amir appears in my doorway, drink in hand.
“What do you think?” I ask, holding up blue jeans and a simple black T-shirt.
He screws up his nose, giving me my answer.
I sigh and turn back to my full wardrobe, struggling to find anything good enough to wear.
Luna bursts into the room wearing a basic white loose tank that shows her lacy black bra underneath, with black leather shorts and red ankle boots.
“Help?”
Luna stands next to me in the opening of my wardrobe as Amir takes a seat on my bed.
“This, this, hrm, not this,” Luna says to herself, pulling clothing off their hangers and throwing them on the bed behind her.
As if performing some kind of fashion witchcraft, she has pulled together an outfit that I would never have thought of.
She’s placed black dress shorts that have a tied bow around the waist, together with a short pink tank top that I’m pretty sure is hers.
“What shoes should I wear?” I ask, looking down at the few pairs I own. Luna puts up a finger, telling me to wait before turning and disappearing from the room.
“Now do you see why I need her?” I ask Amir.
“She definitely has a knack for this,” he replies as Luna reappears in the doorway with her favourite black knee-high boots in hand.
“Maybe wear some black stockings underneath, and you’re done,” she says as if it’s that simple to look as good as she does.
I get dressed and walk into Luna’s room to use her full-length mirror.
It’s not an outfit I would have picked out for myself, but I look good.
I hear a wolf whistle and look in the mirror over my shoulder.
“If I were into girls, Brooks would have some competition. You are beautiful, my friend,” Amir gushes. “We'd better get going. The Uber is going to be here any minute.”
We walk through the courtyard to the waiting Uber in the alley.
I look towards Brooks’ apartment, and as we get further around the bushes, I can see through the window that the light is off.
I check my phone to find no messages or calls and place it back into my purse, feeling a pang of disappointment.
“I forgot my keys,” I say, digging around my purse, waiting for the familiar jingle.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got mine,” Luna assures me as she ushers me into the Uber.
When we arrive at the club, Amir finds a table, and we wait for Luna’s friends to arrive.
She looks anxious, constantly scanning the crowd while picking at the skin around her nails.
All at once, her shoulders relax, and she stands with an excited smile on her face.
I try to follow her line of sight and look for Ginger and her crew, but they’re not there.
A girl with sweeping brown curls and kind hazel eyes walks towards our table.
She’s just as excited as Luna, maybe even a little nervous.
She’s wearing ripped jeans, a see-through black laced top and biker boots.
Large gold hoops hang from her lobes, and thick bangles line her wrists.
Luna holds out her hand, the girl takes it with a relieved sigh, and they sit at the table.
My mum always told me it was rude to stare, but I can’t help but watch them in amusement while sipping my drink.
Luna pulls her attention away from her friend, a wide smile on her face.
“Hey guys, this is Gaia. Gaia, this is Amir and my best friend Abi.”
Amir and I both wave in unison. Luna brushes Gaia’s hair away from her ear and whispers to her.
“Stop gawking,” Amir leans over and yells loudly, battling with the volume of the music.
“But this is amazing. Look at them,” I respond, pointing at them with my drink.
“And definitely don’t point.” Amir pushes my hand down and laughs. “I thought you said that Luna and Sam were a thing?”
“I thought they were, but maybe I was wrong?”
“Looking at those two together, umm, yeah, I’m going to say you were wrong. What does that mean for you and Sam? The only reason you backed off was because you thought Luna liked him.”
“Brooks and I had a date today.” I bite the tip of my straw and hold it in between my teeth. Amir smacks his hand on the table.
“It’s about time!”
My hand snaps over my mouth as I burst into laughter.
I think I might be slightly more buzzed than I thought.
I lost track of how many pre-drinks we had back at the apartment, and now my head is softly swimming.
I like it. Usually, I pace myself. It wasn’t hard when I had Mark in my ear asking how many drinks I’d had. His judgment took the fun out of it.
Amir stands from the table and holds his hand out for me, inviting me to join him on the dance floor while conveniently providing Luna and Gaia with some time alone.
I take his hand and stand up, momentarily losing balance in Luna’s tall boots.
I collect myself and walk hand in hand with Amir over to the bar.
The rest of the night flies by in an alcohol-induced blur.
We run around the nightclub, shooting back more shots, taking selfies in the bathroom mirror and back out to the dancefloor.
I don’t check my phone once, and enjoy not caring if Brooks has tried to contact me.
At some point, I lose Luna and Gaia. I am dancing with Amir when I try to drop it low, but I stumble back. He catches me and helps me to my feet.
“I think I need some fresh air,” I shout over the music, feeling dizzy. Amir wraps his arm around my waist, supporting me as we leave the club.
Sitting on the curb with my head down between my knees, I try to fight the spinning in my brain.
Amir asks for my phone and begins talking to someone.
I wonder how he’s not as drunk as I am. I guess he wasn’t with me every time I was doing shots.
I don’t know how long we’ve been sitting outside when I begin to shiver.
“How much has she had to drink?”
I don’t dare look to see who asked the question. A hand gently rubs my back, then wraps around my waist and lifts me to my feet.
“I’m not sure. I wasn’t with her the whole night.
We got split up. I don’t know where Luna is either.
I hope it’s ok that I called you. I’d take her home myself, but it would take forever to get an Uber, and there’s a beautiful man back in there waiting for me,” Amir explains, handing my phone to Brooks. Hang on. When did he get here?
“I’ll get her home. Thanks, man,” Brooks says.
“Get some rest, Abi. I’ll call you tomorrow,” Amir says, rubbing my back.
“Thanks, have fun,” I say, my words involuntarily slurring. Brooks chuckles to himself while helping me into the passenger seat of his car. He closes the door and jogs around to the driver’s side.
“If you have to vomit, please let me know. I’ll pull over. Just don’t do it in the car,” he says, starting the engine and driving away from the nightclub.
“Why was she at your apartment?” I form the words I’ve been fighting to keep to myself all day as my eyelids become heavy. I rest my forehead against the cool glass of the window.
“Who?”
I feel his eyes on me, waiting for me to answer his question, although he probably already knows.
“Harper. The other morning, she was leaving your apartment.”
“She fought with her mum and needed a place to crash.” He places a hand on my thigh. I shrug, instantly tired from trying to form coherent sentences.