"Elizabeth Johnson! Get your ass outta bed, now!"
I sighed, rolling over onto my back and ignoring my best friends hollering. It was raining out, it was chilly, and I was NOT in the mood to go to any bar or any club with her tonight. I had struggled with depression since I was in my early teen years and over the years, it had not gotten any better for me. I took medication but, at best, that just leveled it out a little bit. I still had random moments, where I just felt like total shit and lately, that's what I had been going through; another bad bout.
I was perfectly content with staying inside on a Friday night, and doing absolutely nothing with myself; my friend Samantha, on the other hand, was not willing to let that happen.
"Go away," I yelled, as she kept banging on the door.
"I'm not in the mood!"
Still, she persisted. The next thing I knew, my door was swinging wide open and Samantha stumbled forward, nearly falling flat on her face. My door wasn't the best, and if you gave it a hard enough shove, it would often pop open even if it were locked...Samantha knew this...damn girl.
She caught her balance and looked around the room, sighing heavily and then looking at me. "This place is a mess," she said.
It had been over a week, since the last time I had straightened things up in here. That's how I was when it came to these bad bouts of depression; I would often find myself, absolutely non-productive. "Let's go, get up; get in the shower, we're going out!"
"What? C'mon, I told you I'm not-"
"I don't wanna hear it," Samantha said in a very motherly tone.
"Besides, Kate is going to be there..."
Kate was a mutual friend of ours, whom we had both known since high school. After the three of us graduated, Kate moved out of state for college and was rarely ever home nowadays. I have to admit; knowing that I'd have a chance to see Kate, made me feel a little motivated to get myself moving again.
"Fine," I groaned, forcing myself out of bed. "I'll go but, I'm not going to like it."
"That's a lie," Samantha laughed, as I entered the bathroom to shower.
I emerged about half an hour later from the shower, clean and fresh, wearing a pair of black leather pants and my leather jacket. I'd always loved the whole 80s rock & roll style, especially when going out to a bar or a club. I had curled my dark brown hair and put on a little bit of makeup, as well.
"See? Look who's looking sexy again!" Samantha smiled.
"Shut up," I laughed. "Let's just get going."
I played it cool but, really...I loved when Samantha would give me compliments like that. It always made me feel good about myself, coming from her, even if I knew that she was always going to be hotter then me. No one knew this but, I had always been sexually attracted to my best friend.
Dating as far back as the middle of high school, I had wanted to tell her my true feelings but, never had the courage to do so. I think she always knew that I liked girls...that wasn't too hard to tell since I never showed any interest in guys. Even if she knew about that much, I had never openly admitted it and she certainly couldn't know that I had any feelings for her, sexual or romantic.
Samantha called an Uber to take us to the club. It was still raining out, and much heavier then earlier; I was grateful for the umbrella that Samantha remembered to bring along.
When we arrived at the club, we found Kate right up by the bar waiting. As soon as she noticed us coming towards her, I was greeted by a huge bear hug from Kate, who threw her arms around me and clung to me for dear life. "It's been way too long!" she exclaimed, kissing me on the cheek.
"It really has," I laughed, excited to see her after all this time.
"How have you been? I heard that guy you were seeing turned out to be a complete asshole!"
Okay, so I never showed much interest in guys but, that doesn't mean I've never had a date. My most recent date had been a one-timer, set up by Samantha...
one reason to question whether or not she really did realize, that I didn't like guys at all. I thought he was nice enough at first and decided to go along with it...turns out he was in fact, a complete asshole, as Kate had just said.
"You win some, you lose some," I shrugged.
Kate sighed, giving me a knowing smile. "When are you going to just say it?" She asked, whispering in my ear. I blinked in surprise, and before I could ask what she meant, Kate changed the subject by giving Samantha an equally aggressive hug and kiss on the cheek.
I was then informed that Samantha and Kate did not want me to pay for a single drink that night...they wanted to cover me, the entire time we were at the club. I knew what that meant; I wasn't going home sober, that's for damn sure.
The night played out as I expected, with lots of heavy drinking and dancing with the three of us and by midnight, we were all feeling pretty drunk and sweaty.
Samantha had ended up in the corner, chatting and flirting with some weirdo guy, who obviously just wanted to get in her pants. I was sitting at the bar now, watching it unfold, clearly jealous and very drunk. Kate sat down beside me and sighed, ordering two more drinks, one for me and one for herself. She looked at me and laughed.
"You need to tell her," Kate slurred.
"W-What?"
"You're sitting here staring at her, as she's flirting with some asshole...and you are obviously jealous! Go over there and kiss the damn girl already, it's been since high school."
"Wait, you...you know?"
"Lizzy, it's impossible not to know."
I laughed, shaking my head. "What does THAT mean?"
"Really," she scoffed. "You hate guys, never find your own dates, they're always set up by other people. And when they do set them up, it's obvious that you're irritated that anyone would even consider sending you on a date with a boy...and the way you look at Samantha? Like you want to do things to her, that no one should ever find out about? You've been looking at her like that, since as long as I can remember."
Apparently, I really was that obvious. "So what," I replied, after a brief pause. "I can't tell her. Not when I don't know how she feels; I don't want to risk ruining our friendship."
Kate sighed again, as the bartender set our new drinks down and she nearly chugged her entire Long Island Ice Tea in one shot. Just then, a hand fell on my shoulder and I looked back, to find a rather tall woman standing behind me and Kate. She had her other hand on Kate's shoulder and was smiling, ear to ear.
"Ladies," she said, in a sultry voice.
"Mind if I join you?"
She was wearing a black dress, with long smooth black hair, and piercing blue eyes. Her face was as white as snow, making her red painted lips stand out even more; she was beautiful. Apparently, Kate thought so too, because she was staring back at this woman with the same look that I would have given her.