The bar was three blocks away, easy enough to walk to. She took a seat on a stool in the middle of a long stretch of mahogany and ordered two shots of tequila -- it took the edge off. She scanned the scene; there were two college guys talking sports -- that didn't interest her. A businessman sat in a booth reading the Wall Street Journal... well-dressed, handsome, probably worked in investments -- not tonight. Another well-dressed man in his fifties; this one was hitting on a twenty year old girl -- not tonight, not ever. She got the attention of the bartender and pointed to the beers on tap. She sipped slowly and continued searching. It wasn't looking good -- maybe tonight wasn't her night.
Candice spotted herself in the mirror reflecting the liquor bottles. She wasn't wearing her college professor eyeglasses. Her dark eye makeup and spiky hair went well with her small tight black dress. A few hours ago she painted her nails black. Her only jewelry was a small pendant of two interlocking sterling silver Venus symbols. She smiled wryly.
Candice crossed her legs and swiveled in her chair. Two women in their mid-thirties sat at a table along the wall and were deeply engrossed in one another -- occasionally touching, nodding often and smiling broadly; completely enamored. Both women wore wedding bands; most likely their husbands didn't know where they went after yoga class. Candice slowly shook her head from side to side and pushed out her lower lip; there probably wasn't room for a third wheel,
damn
.
By 10:30, the atmosphere had changed -- it wasn't the soft sounds of Michael BublΓ© -- it was Lady Gaga and Rihanna pulsing through the air. Candice drained her beer and joined the crowd on the dance floor. Although she had never had the traditional college girl experience, like a chameleon, she could blend in anywhere.
Candice had graduated high school when she was 16; earned a bachelor's degree when she was 19 and had a PhD in Clinical Psychology at 22. She studied psychology because she wanted to understand herself. Her PhD thesis was a study of prodigious but troubled children -- it was mostly autobiographical; she was identified as highly gifted in the second grade and labeled a malicious deviant in the sixth grade.
It wasn't difficult to figure out why; her birth name was Candy -- she legally changed it to Candice when she turned 18. She was born in Las Vegas, her mother was an exotic dancer, and she never knew her father. She never knew him because her mother had no idea who he was. He must've been a genius because her mother never amounted to anything -- she died of a heroin overdose in 2009.