Chapter 1: The Beginning
Laura was feeling out of place. She hadn't really wanted to come to this party but her brother had pretty much forced her to come along. "You'll know almost everybody," he'd said when she tried to object and it was true she did know most of the people who had come to celebrate Keith, her brother's best friend's birthday.
I'm just not in the party mood, she thought to her self as she watched a group of revellers on the middle of the dance floor. A group of about half a dozen men seemed to be vying for the attention of a young woman in the centre of the group. Lucky her, thought Laura slightly bitterly. The girl seemed to be enjoying the attentions of the men around her and was, in Laura's eyes, obviously a bit of a tease.
Laura suddenly brought herself up short. Ok, so maybe she wasn't enjoying herself but that didn't mean everyone else had to be miserable. In a perverse sort of way she almost wished she had been part of the group that the girl had been flirting with.
She sighed and decided she needed some fresh air. Pausing only to gather up her drink she headed through the door of the hotel's reception suite and out into lobby. It was raining outside so she decided to stay under the shelter of the porch by the hotel's front door.
As she stared out into the night she was unaware that she had been followed out on to the porch.
"Are you Ok?" asked a female voice. The voice was soft and had just the slightest trace of an accent. Irish, Laura thought distantly. She sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine I guess," came the reply. She turned and realised that the voice belonged to the girl whom moments before had been the centre of attention inside.
"I saw you leave and wondered," concern in her voice. "You're Laura aren't you?" she continued, "Mike's Sister?"
Laura nodded, the girl smiled, took a cigarette from the packet and offered it to Laura. Laura took it and lifted it to her lips. The girl smiled, took another from the packet and fumbled for a moment in her pocket. She extracted the lighter and handed it to Laura. Laura inhaled deeply as she lit up then handed the lighter back to the girl who lit hers. "I'm Sharon," said the girl. "I go rock climbing with your brother and most of the other guys in there."
Laura took a sip of her drink and found herself warming to this stranger who had just introduced herself. The pair chatted for a bit as they smoked their cigarettes.
"Have you known Mike long?" Laura asked.
"A couple of years we were both in the mountaineering club at Uni."
"What do you do now?"
"Dentist," Sharon noticed Laura's grimace and laughed. "Well, we can't all be super models now can we? What about you?"
"Lawyer," replied Laura. "Well property solicitor actually. It's dull but it pays the bills".
Both girls laughed and Laura found that her mood had improved considerably since they'd started talking.
"You here with anyone?" Sharon asked. Laura shook her head slowly. "Me neither," came the reply.
Laura's mouth made an "Oh" of surprise. "I saw you with that group in there and thought you must been with one of them."
"No, they're just friends," came the reply, "and besides, they're not really my type." Sharon smiled endearingly at Laura as she said the last.