"What do you think of this blouse? Fancy enough?" Claire swivelled in front of her mirror, inspecting her outfit from all angles. The blouse in question was an attractive shade of deep purple with frills that started at the shoulders and went down the low V-neckline. She paired it with a knee-length black skirt.
"Hmm," Benjamin furrowed his brow. "Don't you think it's a little...revealing? They might be distracted."
Claire swatted his shoulder playfully.
"I wore this same blouse when we went out with Julie and Mason and you didn't say a word! Is this just because they're..." She trailed off awkwardly. She was still having a hard time saying the word "lesbians." Her best friend since childhood, Adelaide, had only come out to her a few months ago. It was a shock, since they both came from very Christian households, but Claire was trying her best to take it in stride. To that effect, she had invited Adelaide and her girlfriend on a double date. She was regretting picking Tranquil Waters as the restaurant, though; she only had a few outfits that could pass as formal.
Benjamin leaned in to straighten his tie in the mirror.
"I wonder if they'll dress like me. Or one of them will, at least."
"Ben," Claire sighed. "That's a stereotype." She had been reading some articles online, mainly about what not to do or say. She didn't want to offend Adelaide and risk ruining her longest-standing friendship.
"Mhmm," Benjamin said noncommittally, running his fingers through his dark hair. He was particular about his hairstyle. "Ready to go?" He asked once he was satisfied with his appearance.
"I think so," Claire said. "Let me just grab my purse."
She stepped into the dining room where she'd left her purse, slung over the back of a chair. She could hear the TV still going in the next room.
"Whoops," she mumbled, taking a quick detour to turn it off. Before she did, she caught a bit of a news broadcast: the latest in a slew of kidnappings, all of them couples, the two partners disappearing simultaneously.
"Gotta be careful out there," Benjamin said darkly. Claire jumped. She hadn't heard him follow her into the living room.
"We'll be in a group, so we should be fine. People don't mess with groups, right?" She asked as she located the remote and switched the television off.
"Yeah, we'll be fine." Benjamin put his arm around Claire's shoulders and led them out of the house.
The two couples found each other in front of Tranquil Waters. Adelaide was wearing a tight aqua blue dress that shimmered under the streetlamps. Her girlfriend was wearing a black vest and tie over a blue dress shirt that perfectly matched Adelaide's dress.
"Told you," Benjamin muttered. Claire ignored him and stepped forward to hug her best friend.
"Addy, it's been so long! How have you been?"
"I've been good," Adelaide responded, squeezing Claire and then pulling back from the hug. She reached out to the woman in the suit and took her hand. "I'd like you to meet Kendra. Kendra, this is Claire, my best friend."
"I've heard so much about you," Kendra said with a friendly smile, holding out her free hand. Claire smiled back and shook it, and then gestured for Benjamin to do the same.
"This is my husband, Benjamin." Claire introduced him. "He's a bit of a slob but I managed to get him cleaned up for tonight."
Benjamin rolled his eyes.
"She says that like I don't wear suits every day at work. I'm an attorney," he added by way of explanation.
"Yeah, but then you come home and it's stained Packers shirts and boxers," Claire joked. Benjamin adjusted his tie again, pretending to be uncomfortable.
"You don't have to tell them everything you know," he protested.
They settled in at the table Benjamin had reserved for them a week earlier. It was a secluded little booth, the kind Claire had seen couples choose on purpose so they could make out with a modicum of privacy. She blushed a little at the thought, but no one else seemed to notice. Kendra and Benjamin, sitting across from each other, were busy discussing the Packers.
"So Addy," Claire began. "How's the writing going?"
That was another secret that had come out recently. Claire had known for years that Adelaide wrote novels under a pen name, and made enough at it to quit her day job as a secretary, but Claire had never been allowed to know the titles of the books or even the pen name they were published under. All Adelaide would say was that she was too embarrassed to share them because they were "trashy romance novels." After she came out, she admitted that they weren't trashy, but were in fact highbrow literary lesbian novels, which was not a thing Claire knew existed. When Adelaide finally felt comfortable enough to share her pen name, Claire immediately went out and purchased her newest book. It wasn't at all what she expected. She thought she would find the book difficult to relate to, but she was so blown away by the lyrical prose and captivating characters that questions of orientation simply did not matter. It was a beautiful story, and once she reached the end she immediately called Adelaide to tell her that, even though she'd finished the book near midnight.
Since then, she had done her best to keep up with her best friend's career, feeling as though she was making up for lost time.
"It's going pretty well," Adelaide took a sip of her wine. "Dealing with publishers can be difficult though. I want it perfect, and they want it on time."
Claire laughed.
"Have you ever thought about self-publishing?"
"Mmm. That's how I started, before I got picked up. The thing is, you reach more people with traditional publishing." She tapped her fingers on the table, her face contemplative. "It's a constant balancing act between commerce and art. I want my books to reach a wide audience, and I want to put food on the table, but I don't want to sacrifice my vision for those things, you know?"
Having reached a lull in her conversation about football, Kendra put her arm around Adelaide's shoulders.
"Is she waxing philosophical about art again? I swear she's missing her calling as a professor, she could go on for hours."
Adelaide laughed, a little embarrassed.
"I suppose that's true."
"Hey, you wouldn't be a writer if you didn't have a lot of thoughts to share with the world," Claire said. "And they're impressive thoughts. I'm working on
The Living Crown
right now and it's certainly a, uh, a call to arms, so to speak."
Adelaide smiled ruefully.
"Yeah, that's one of my more edgy ones. I wrote that one over a couple of weeks in a fit of anger, after my aunt turned out to be one of the most homophobic people I've ever met."
Adelaide's coming out hadn't been all sunshine and daisies, to say the least. Claire did her best to stay positive and supportive, keeping her worries to herself, to make up for the not-so-great reactions her friend had gotten from some of her family members.
Kendra was watching Adelaide's face with concern in her eyes. She wrapped her arm around her girlfriend's and leaned against her.
An attentive partner, Claire noticed. She seemed to want to reassure Adelaide with her closeness now that a potentially upsetting topic had come up. Claire's previously neutral opinion of Kendra began to veer into the positive.
A waiter came and took their orders. After he left, Claire smiled and whispered conspiratorially, "I have some good news."
Adelaide and Kendra leaned in, excited by the whispering. Benjamin didn't lean in, knowing what she was going to say, but his smile matched Claire's.
"We're going to try for a baby," Claire did her best not to get loud out of sheer happiness. This was something she'd dreamed of for so long, and now she had the perfect husband to start her perfect family with.
"Awww!" Adelaide and Kendra squealed simultaneously. Adelaide reached out and squeezed Claire's hand.
"That's so exciting! Let me know if you need any help with picking out names, I've had lots of experience." She winked, and then lifted her glass. "A toast, to new family members!"
"To new family members," everyone repeated, before finishing off their glasses.
"Man, that was a good meal," Benjamin sighed, patting his full stomach as they left the restaurant.
"That steak was perfect," Claire agreed. She looked around for a moment, slight confusion on her face. "Uh, Ben, do you remember where we parked?"
"Oh, of course, up this way a bit." He took her hand and led her further up the sidewalk.
"We parked the same way," Kendra said as she and Adelaide followed.
Claire felt a sharp pinch at her neck, as if a bug had bitten her. She heard her husband make a noise of pain.
"Ow! What was--" but she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. Everything went dark. She was out before she hit the concrete.
Claire woke up feeling like she'd been hit by a truck. The feeling faded quickly as she came to. That tipped her off that she'd been drugged, and with something specialized at that, for it to wear off so fast.
"Claire!" Her husband hugged her. "Are you okay?" He held her at arm's length and looked her over.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Where are we?"
She looked around the room. They were surrounded by bare gray walls on each side. There was a metal door to her left, which she knew would be locked. To her right was a single cot, with a pillow and blanket thrown on it haphazardly.
Sitting across from her were Adelaide and Kendra, looking disheveled and confused. There was a rip in Adelaide's dress.
