Elizabeth and Lily were what they called 'school chums.' They had become fast friends in a year when most of their classes were together and they stayed reasonably close through the rest of their university years. Post graduation meant a different life, as it usually does, and they saw less of each other but stayed close. If one noticed a couple of months had gone by without contact she would send an email. They would try to arrange to get together and sometimes they would or sometimes the scheduling would be too complicated and this minor social matter would fall by the wayside. Still, they considered each other 'best friends' in a non exclusive way wherein they each had three or four other best friends.
They were good enough friends that Elizabeth knew she had better have a damn good excuse if she wasn't going to show up for Lily's first real paying gig. Lily's email to her said that the manager had told her she was required to bring at least eight audience members herself. This seemed cheap and petty to Elizabeth, but what did she know about the music industry and the trials and tribulations of the struggling singer-songwriter? Elizabeth was an administrative assistant at a public relations agency. She made a nice salary and there was room for upward mobility. What else could she want from life?
A boyfriend perhaps. Boyfriends were something Lily liked to talk about. Her current one, her ex one, her lack of one, no matter her relationship status there was always something to bitch about. In these conversations Elizabeth made sympathetic comments that she hoped came across as empathetic.
Not that Elizabeth didn't date. She dated. She just didn't date the same way Lily did. Lily met a man through one means or another—mutual friends, the music circuit, Lavalife, the grocery store—and went on a series of dates with him, at some point sleeping with him, at some point making him her boyfriend, sometimes moving in with him, and on and on until the whole thing fell apart. Elizabeth chose not to do it that way.
Elizabeth also met men a variety of ways. When she met a man she wanted to date she asked him for his phone number. She did not give him hers. She called him and they went out on a date. They fucked, she went home, tore up his number and forgot about him. She liked it better this way.
Even thought she didn't think Lily would understand didn't mean she didn't feel theirs was a real friendship. They had a connection and had other things in common. Elizabeth had nothing but support and good will towards Lily. So she dutifully showed up at Rocco's House of Rock on that early April Saturday night with her wallet filled with enough cash for cover and quite a bit of libation.
"Eliza-liza-liza-beth!" She heard the loud squeal with relief as she walked through the door. At least she wasn't going to have to wander through the too close for comfort crowd looking for the one person she knew. Lily came rushing towards her, bursting from the depth of a group of people who seemed to be her entourage. One of them, a lanky faux hawked alpha male type, seemed a likely suspect to be Lily's newest romantic interest. If Elizabeth recalled their last email exchange correctly his name was Marcus and he was a visual artist—which she supposed meant 'painter'—and he worked at the deli counter of a fine foods store in the northern—which meant 'wealthy'—part of the city.
"Lily, hi!" She couldn't think of what else to say. It was OK she didn't need to say anything else. Lily was obviously on a nervous high.
"Elizabeth, I'm so glad you're here! We're going to have so much fun, we need to get you a drink! Oh no, where are my manners—wait, did I ever have any?—you need to meet everyone. Or rather, everyone needs to meet you, as you're the important one." Faux Hawk gave a look of mock look of hurt. "Ok, Ok, you're not that important Lizabeth. I am! Tonight at least, I am!" Faux Hawk laughed and put his arm around her and told her she was indeed important. Or he said something like that. Elizabeth wasn't really listening.
She surveyed the rest the rest of Lily's friends. Hot young artfully Value Village chick. Skeezy guy, the kind who gives dreads a bad name. Her eye was caught by an older man, a man in belted jeans, a man with a short trimmed greying beard. Older suddenly seemed synonymous with better. Skeezy dreaded guy grabbed her hand suddenly and she realized with an inward start that Lily was introducing her around. To late to catch the dreaded guy's name, Lily was moving on already.
"Laurel is a first rate porn writer and good friend." "It's called erotica when it's not videotaped, Lily" said the Value Village girl who was apparently named after a cheap flower. "Whatever, its all porn to me," laughed Lily—another flower name Elizabeth belatedly realized as Faux Hawk burst in with "Are you saving the best for last or what, babe?" "Indeed I am. Elizabeth this is Marcus," but as Marcus graciously extended his hand Lily drove home her little joke by sweeping Elizabeth past him to the silver fox of her interest. "This is my father, Luke." Luke smiled and his dark blue eyes penetrated deep into Elizabeth's brain. Her jaw almost dropped, and she was glad she hadn't yet drunk anything: a shot of booze in her and her mandible would surely have betrayed her.
The opening act was on the tolerable side of awful. A girl with a guitar and a guy with bongo drums who sang achingly saccharine love songs to each other. It was unclear what the purpose of the audience was in this little foreplay ritual but the affection was sincere enough to be heart warming in this almost too intimate space. Lily couldn't pay the attention that due respect required. She kept whispering to hr various friends, but it was quite obvious that this was nerves at work.
Elizabeth had quite adeptly manoeuvred herself into a seat beside Luke. It wasn't that hard really—Lily's friends didn't seem to be falling all over themselves for familial interaction. Whenever Lily spoke to either Elizabeth or Luke she was quite encouraging of their conversing together. Elizabeth was quite sure Lily didn't think she would 'get' her artsy friends. The versa as well.
Drinks drinks drinks. Never had social lubrication seemed quite so... lubricating. The air itself was moist with humidity but Elizabeth was sure it couldn't compare with the moisture occurring in her panties. She was drinking Jack Daniels with Lucas. It was a fitting drink for him, and she wanted to fit. Or rather, she wanted him to fit into her. She knew her mouth tasted like whiskey; she wondered if the rest of her did as well.
She wanted Luke to find out.