"Tabitha, honey, how many Tom Collins is that now?"
The bar pulsed, but only gently so - it was far too classy an establishment to allow much in the way of raised voices or excitement. Well, at least, it wanted to be classy, but perhaps it was trying a little too hard. Raised voices were replaced by scandalously raised hemlines; and huge plasma screens running news, music, fashion and superhero lifestyle shows on all sides kind of kept the place from being anything more than a pick-up joint for the freshly moneyed and the socially ambitious.
"If you're talking numbers Lala," Tabitha slurred, "then I'm afraid I don't recollect. But on a scale from not enough to enough," she held her forefingers inches apart, "I'm still at not enough."
"Then I'm buying again," Lana still wasn't (she hoped) displaying how much alcohol she had imbibed, so she made a quick, graceful movement, beckoning one of the bow tied waiters over to their booth.
"Madam." Lana licked her lips, if the grey stallion at the bar didn't trot her way soon, she supposed that something like this waist-coated youth would do just fine. She smiled a little as the thought occurred to her that he was probably the same age as her, but the success, the charm and the maturity in those that she had been dating recently made him seem so much younger.
"A Tom Collins and another martini," she smiled - all lips and eyelashes.
"Of course," the waiter's eyes were on hers until he turned away, then her eyes migrated to his tight little ass. She looked back over at the grey stallion too - he looked pretty well built for his age. She ran her finger around her glass idly, allowing herself to daydream for a moment. What if the grey stallion was on of THEM? One of those spandex clad superheroes who patrolled the skies and streets, day and night, inside and outside of the law, keeping poor, innocent girls like her safe? That would be something.
"You're an absolute darling Lala!" Tabitha touched her shoulders. Tabby was always so touchy feely when she got drunk, and on some nights Lana loved to be around her. But tonight Lana was feeling prowly, and it annoyed her that Tabby wasn't feeling the same.
"What's with the souse look, honey?" she pried, bluntly, "Not hoping to meet the next man of your dreams tonight?" Tabby was maybe five years older than her, but they could have passed for classmates easily. Not sisters though, what with Tabby's cascade of flaming red hair, scattered freckles and eye-catching curves. Lana's svelte, page-boy, brunette hair style and her almost-frail slender frame were as different as you could get. The difference between them, however, was probably why they did so well when they hit bars like this one.
Except tonight Tabby, it seemed, didn't want to play.
"Tell you a secret, Lala?" the drunken red-head hissed, "I'm a little sore, if you get my drift." The crude gesture that accompanied this explanation meant that Lana certainly did get her drift. The drift was unmistakable.
"Oh!" Lana wrinkled her nose at the crudity, "Well why the hell did you call me to meet you here then, honey? You know that Mister Airline is out of town and I'm all lonely this week."
"I have something to tell you - something so fun!" Lana looked intently at her drunken friend. She really was high as a kite, and not just drunk but happy about something else too.
"You found a keeper?" she raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Oh absolutely not!" Tabby giggled wickedly, "Kinda the opposite in fact."
"Then why the hell are you...?"
"Shhh!" Tabby cut her off and jabbed her perfectly manicured finger at the big screen above the bar. "There he is."
"There who..." Lana started, but as her eyes followed her friend's finger her voice faded away. The screen was showing a montage of recent philanthropic and charitable works by various members of the super-community: Laser-Lad visited an orphanage and handed over a comically large cheque; The Human Gun was meeting and greeting the troops in Iraq (midway through his own third tour of duty); The Figure had met the King of France, that kind of thing.
But as Lana looked up, the figure that was filling the screen - literally filling it with his rippling, muscled chest and mouth-watering six-pack was Powerjack, the young electricity wielding hero who had burst into the A-List of superheroes last year, putting Terror-Nurse down for good (the authorities had been satisfied that her death had, in the end, had little to do with Powejack's actions during their climatic dust-up).
Tabby's finger remained extended, as she watched the shock that her insinuation had caused on Lana's face.
"You absolutely, completely and finally fucking didn't!" Lana whispered, when she'd finally let her mind run through the gamut of possible meanings behind Tabby's answers.
"When he came," Tabby's voice was low and husky, as she whispered so that only Lana could hear, "inside me..." she waited for that line to have its maximum effect on her wide eyed friend. "He gave me a little shock too, and... ooooh my God, Lala! I've never come so hard in my life. It was like... fwooosh! Fourth of July! Apparently my... he said, my juices..." again Tabby paused after the filth, relishing this opportunity to embellish her story, "... well apparently I get wetter than most girls he's been with, so he thought that probably my juices conducted his charge - and that made it even better for me."
"You," Lana was almost too astonished to be sceptical, "fucked Powerjack."
"Maybe," Tabby looked up, as if remembering, "'he fucked me' would be better... He was kind of dominant."
"I absolutely don't believe it." Lana snatched up her purse from the seat beside her and fumbled for her cigarettes, then remembered that she had quit the week before. She turned back to Tabby, "When?"
"Last night," the astonishing revelations that she was hitting Lana with seemed to be sobering Tabby up, and she was grinning and leaning forwards with childish glee. She held out her hand to her brunette friend, and dropped something small and heavy into her palm. Lana picked it up between her thumb and forefinger and scrutinized it: it was a small golden token, much heavier than it looked, and it was in the shape of Powerjack's 'Tri-Lightning' logo. "He gave it to me," Tabby continued, her eyes wide, "he says he can sense them whenever he's within five hundred metres, so if he's passing, he'll know I'm there and we can..." she shrugged "... maybe we can hook up again."
"Are you bullshitting me?" Lana handed the token back - it certainly did feel... special somehow.
"I swear on my dear grandma's..."
"Ok, ok, cut it out honey," Lana grinned, "I guess I buy it." Lana was sore, of course, stinging with jealousy, but she couldn't help but share in her friend's infectious delight a little. "You know there are probably hundreds of girls in this city with this token?"
"So?" Tabby scoffed, "I don't want to keep him! But if that super-cock comes my way again, I wouldn't mind!"
The girls were silent for a minute, and when their fresh drinks arrived Lana didn't even look up at the cute waiter, she was so deep in thought.
"Did he keep his mask on?" she whispered, leaning forward as the waiter left earshot.
"The whole time," answered her friend, "But I mean, that's fine by me! Y'know, I wanted to fuck Powerjack, not Powerjack's secret identity."
"Mmm," Lana nodded, sipping her martini.
"I asked him if he was married y'know..." Tabby teased.
"What'd he say?"
"He just laughed, and then he said that Powerjack wasn't married, and that the distinction was very important."
"Oh my God!" Lana laughed, "Poor wifey!"
"I don't know, I wouldn't feel sorry for her if she gets a taste of what he's slinging every now and then!"
"So it was good?" Lana pressed, a little coyly.
"Like you wouldn't believe, darling. And not just that electric shock thing too - he had size, stamina and then some!" Lana didn't bother to hide her jealousy, she knew that Tabby loved to see her inwardly seething like this.
"So come on," she burst out finally, "how the fuck did you meet him?"
"You'll never believe me," Tabby's eyes promised that she was going to spill the beans, but she wanted to play around a little longer.
"On my honour as a girl scout," Lana raised two fingers in what she thought might be some kind of scout-ish salute, "I'll never doubt a word you say ever again honey."
"I threw myself off a building."
"You're a fucking liar," Lana snapped coolly, looking again for the cigarettes that she didn't have.
"Ok, ok," Tabby giggled, "maybe I exaggerated a little... I didn't actually throw myself off, I just looked like I might and..." she waved her hands in the air, still dizzy with happiness. Lana put her hands flat on the table and looked across it evenly at her friend. No more messing around.
"Tell me everything," she demanded.
"Ok," Tabby leaned forward again, and this time Lana knew she would be getting the meat of it. "You remember that hideous S&M party Mister Mobile Phone Discount Retailer dragged me to last month?"
"Oh," Lana made a disgusted face, "the one that miniature woman runs? The one who got hit by a shrinking ray?"
"That's the one."
"Joe Stone took me there last year," Lana admitted.
"He never did!"
"It was the straw that broke the camels back, as they say," why did she ever quit smoking? "Anyway, go on."
