"What’s wrong? Why am I only meeting weirdos?"
"You just had bad luck, that’s all," Sam comforts her. "Everyone knows you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince."
"What if all you’re kissing are a bunch of pigs?" Ellenor moans.
"Oh, that’s not fair! That hunk wasn’t a pig, he just had a very small dick!"
"AND he was a bad kisser," she points out.
"What do you care, if it’s only a One Night Stand?"
She looks at him sternly.
"I deserve good quality fucking EVERY time," she says.
"So we’re not talking about merely getting laid here, we’re talking about great sex? Someone’s improved her standards! Not only does she wants a sex life, now she wants it to be good, too!"
"Damned right!" she says, hitting her fist against the table. "I want a nice, normal guy, unattached, with a big dick, who wants to have sex in bed – preferably one who is good with his tongue, too!"
"Be careful what you wish for," Sam warns her. "You just might get what you ask for…"
"Fastlane" is a hip new club downtown. Ellenor sees quite a few local celebrities in the crowd. It’s opening night, and the place is full of people. It’s clear that it’s going to be the most popular club in town this season. It’s a big place, originally it used to be a storage facility for the local shipping agency; now it’s been transformed into a hypermodern world of glass and iron, all in black and white. Bright neon lights flicker over the walls and the ceiling, and through the thick glass floor shines hundreds of electric blue lights. It’s a little bit overwhelming. She hides out in the bar, and watches the dancing crowd.
"Do you love it or hate it?"
He’s got a British accent, has big, gray eyes, curly red hair, and looks like a singer she had a crush on as a teenager.
"Do I love or hate what?" she says.
"It. This. The whole club."
She looks around.
"It’s very elegant," she says. "But it’s not my taste."
"How come?"
"All this glass," she says. "I don’t trust it. What if you’d trip and fall right through it?"
"May I buy a beer?"
"No thanks. But a Diet Coke would be nice."
"You don’t drink?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don’t like the taste of alcohol. Because I like to keep my head clear. Because I don’t like the way people behave after they’ve been drinking."
"Oi! A Diet Coke for the lady! On me!"
"Yes, Mr. Ollerton," the bartender replies, and fixes a Diet Coke with ice and a slice of lemon for Ellenor.
"The place has only just opened, and the bartender already knows your name?" she says.
"Mark Ollerton," he says, and shakes her hand. "I’m an architect. The architect of this whole place, actually. I’ve spent more time in here than the owners, even!"
Oh," she says. "Have I offended your work, then?"
"Not at all. It’s very refreshing to hear at least one voice agreeing with me."
"You don’t like this?" she says. "But… you made it? You’ve created it just the way you wanted it, haven’t you?"
"No," he sighs. "I had a whole stack of drawings, this one had gotten into the stack by mistake, and wouldn’t you know, they rejected all my good ideas, and chose this one!"
"You poor thing," she smiles.
"I cry all the way to the bank," he says dryly.
"Still, it must be great to make a living on creating something," she says.
"You think we’re free to create whatever we want? Hell, no! We must adjust our choices of colors, of lines, of materials, or we won’t be able to sell our ideas. We sell our ideas, our talent, and our skills! When it all comes down to it, we’re all a group of tarts! I ask you, isn’t it worse to sell your soul than to sell your body? Isn’t that more perverted?"
"I don’t know," she says. "I could never sell my body, sex is sacred for me. I never fuck for any other reason than that I’m horny."
He laughs out loud. He’s actually quite cute when he laughs. It suits him better than bitterness.
"Do you want to see the VIP-room?" he asks.
Ooh, the VIP-room! She’s almost childishly impressed with such things.
"Yeah," she says. "I’d love to see the VIP-room."
The VIP-room is rather small, very beautiful, and completely void of personality. There’s a huge table out of glass, resting on a frame of black iron. Each chair is made out the same black iron, and looks very uncomfortable. At one end of the room, there’s a bar cabinet made out of glass, illuminated from within, containing a variety of liquors. The whole room looks like a palace made out of ice. Ellenor walks through the room, her high heels click loudly against the black floor. She walks up to the opposite wall that is made entirely out of smoke-colored glass. She can see the club through it. She looks at people dancing below her. She feels as if she’s peeking on them when they don’t suspect it. That thought brings a grin to her lips.
"What do you think?"
She turns her back at the window, and looks at him.
"I’m sorry, but I don’t like it," she says.
"Why not?"
"It’s so cold and sterile. You can’t relax in here. No natural material, no warmth, no comfort! Just glass and metal."