Warning: Profanity, underage drinking, drug use, and crude humor. (Yep, you're definitely reading a Jupiter Queen story.)
A/N: I've had this story idea in my head for ages… Well, not this version exactly, but the girls getting over their heartbreak by having a girls night out has always been the general premise. The fake IDs and underage drinking part came later, lol.
Chapter 1: Going Out, Left Out
"He broke up with me." Jen stared at the beige tabletop, considering her life the same color after Nick left her dejected. "He said I'm too much for him and too busy to care about someone else."
Nikki scoffed. "This coming from the guy who's ghosted you a few times? Bold."
"I know, but still. Is what he said really true? Am I really too much to handle? Am I really that busy?"
"Jen, you're the definition of busy, but it means you've got a lot going for you, so you shouldn't stop and second-guess yourself because of some boy. You didn't need him anyways."
She rested her elbows on the table and cradled her head in her open palms, slumping over. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I didn't want him. I wanted things to work."
"Yet he wasn't man enough to tell you when things weren't working anymore. He should've told you when it became an issue, and he damn sure shouldn't have neglected you." She stopped to eat a couple of her fries. After swallowing, she continued, "Even if he felt like you weren't doing your part as a girlfriend, he still wasn't being a good boyfriend."
She lifted her head. "That's true. He really was awful at communicating."
"See? And if he couldn't talk to you without you mentioning shit to him first, was it really a relationship worth having?"
Nikki always had one question capable of stopping Jen in her tracks. If the relationship had persisted, then it would have consisted of nothing but Jen bringing issues to his attention and Nick neglecting her for his art—wash, rinse, repeat. He would have continued to be awful at communicating and excellent at leaving her in the dark under the guise of "honing his craft." Yet she was "too busy to care about somebody else." She wanted to laugh.
"Wow," Jen started, "I never thought about it like that, but now that you mention it, it wasn't. He wasn't worth my time."
"I rest my case." Nikki proceeded to sip her drink.
"You'd make a great lawyer, you know."
She chuckled. "If I ever wanna hate myself for a decade, I'll definitely become one. Until then, I'm strictly poly-sci, not pre-law."
"Just a suggestion."
She placed her hand on her chin. "Actually, now that I think about it, it's not so bad. I already hate myself at the Khaki Barn, but at least after law school I'd get a salary worth my misery."
"And as long as the Clones don't Legally Blonde their way into the school, you should be fine."
"Exactly."
While Nikki and Jen continued to chat, Caitlin returned to the Lemon from her break. A frown marred her face.
"What's wrong with you, Blondie?" Nikki asked.
After she opened the oversized lemon and stepped inside, she whimpered. "I ran into Benj on my way past A&F…" She livened. "They had this really cute dress in the display window, and I wanted to go in and try it on so bad,"—her tone fell into sadness—"but then I saw him."
"Did he try and talk to you?" Jen asked.
"Yeah." She put on her work hat, then donned her apron. "He told me that he really misses me and he can't stop thinking about me." Her gaze fell to the counter. "This whole thing sucks, because I was really getting over him, and then he comes and tells me that."
"Guys really have godawful timing," Nikki said.
"They do," Jen and Caitlin chorused.
"What is this about timing?" Sydni asked as she approached the table and took her seat on the end closest to the Lemon.
"Oh, nothing. Just talking about guys and how they always screw you over out of the blue," Nikki informed.
She scoffed. "Ain't that the truth?"
"Still thinking about Alejandro?" Caitlin asked.
"Yeah." She sulked. "Is it stupid that I'm sad about something ending before it could even begin?"
"Not at all," Jen said. "You just had expectations about someone you liked, and he was a letdown. That's normal."
With a sigh, she admitted, "You're right."
Nikki grunted. Given everyone's issues concerning their love lives, this felt like a coordinated attack on her girls. "Okay, no one mention any guy's name for the rest of the day—I'm serious."
They all sent her curious looks.
"Alejandro, Nick, Benj—I'm sick of their asses. I don't like how they hurt you guys, and, more importantly, I'm tired of talking about them. It's bad enough we give guys the power to hurt us by getting vulnerable with them, and now we're giving them more power by talking about them. We need a sabbatical from these dicks."
"So, like a girls night out?" Caitlin asked, sporting a hopeful look by the end of her question.
"Exactly like a girls night out, Blondie. I say we go out Friday night and raise hell."
"Where should we go?" Jen asked.
"Ooh! There's this really cool nightclub I heard about downtown. I think it's called Soundboard or something?" Caitlin mentioned.
Sydni gasped. "I saw that place when me and Alejan—I mean, some irrelevant-ass guy—went to the bowling alley. It looked kinda lit."
"Then that's where we're going," Nikki said.
"Are you sure we should be doing that?" Jen asked. "We're not legal, remember?"
"I know, which is why we need some new identities for the night." Mischief tugged Nikki's lips into a grin.
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no—remember what happened the last time we used fake IDs?"
Sydni's eyes widened. "There was a last time?"
"Uh huh. Last year, when my sister was in town, Jonesy made us some fake IDs, so we snuck into a club, but Ron busted us."
"Oh, yikes."
"Oh, yeah."
"Trust me, I know better than to let Jonesy make any fakes now," Nikki said. "In fact, I know where to get some good ones."
Jen crossed her arms and glared at her.
"I'm only down for a girls night out if there's something illegal involved, Jen. You know that."
A moment of quiet deliberation passed. "Fine," Jen conceded.
"Nice." Unbothered, Nikki rose from her chair. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to handle."
As soon as she walked to Jonesy's latest job, Nikki ambushed him with the question: "How fast can you get me some fake IDs?"
Though she wouldn't let him make the fake IDs, that didn't mean she wasn't going to consult him about them. In fact, he was her gateway into getting them; his friend's older brother operated as a "master of the dark web." She needed this guy's handiwork for her plan to work; fake IDs had changed in complexity since the last time the gang crept into a club.
Jonesy's brows rose in initial curiosity, but fell as he smirked. "Tryna sneak into another club, huh?"
"Uh huh. That's the plan."
He placed his hand on the small of her back and coaxed her closer. "Well, I can have 'em for us by Friday, sweet cheeks."
She broke his embrace. "Not so fast, Casanova: It's a girls night out. We all need time away from testosterone, not with it. And don't call me sweet cheeks again. It doesn't work."
His shoulders slumped and he looked down. "Oh."
She crossed her arms. "So, think you can still get them by Friday?"
"Yeah, I can." He used the most dejected tone he could muster. She half-expected him to hit her with his puppy-dog look. "I just thought we'd have ourselves a hot date night, but I guess not."
"Crybaby ass." After an eye roll, she said, "We'll go eventually."
She watched his ego reinflate as he straightened his stance and livened his voice. "I'll have one for myself made just in case."
"Of course," she droned.
He stroked his chin. "Damn, now I gotta find plans for Friday night. I gotta do something fun since you're gonna be out."
"I'm sure you'll find something. You always do."
"Yeah, you're right."
Noting that she should head back to work soon, she didn't want to part ways with him on a rude note. She realized her own penchant for sardonic remarks had ruled the conversation, so she let her affectionate side appear. She stood on her tippy toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him smile. "See you later, Casanova." As she made her way out the store, she pointed in his direction and said, "Make sure to let me know about those IDs."
"I will, baby. I will."
"Attaboy," she murmured under her breath with a smirk.
Having finished his shift at Burger McFlipsters and changed out of his uniform that reeked of grease and onions, Wyatt sat in the game store, happy to be with Jude in normal attire. The two of them discussed the prospect of a new album from the Mighty Weasels until Jonesy arrived, done with his job for the day as well. Afterwards, the conversation shifted to the latest episode of an anime they loved and finally convinced Jonesy to watch.
As much as Wyatt loved hanging out with the girls, he couldn't talk to them about the nerdier side of life. Nikki hated sci-fi, Caitlin considered Teen Titans an anime, Sydni thought Batman fought alongside the Avengers, and Jen would only touch a video game if it involved sports. He appreciated them in many regards, but they were not fluent in nerd culture.
Luckily, his boys were. In their younger years, Wyatt used to collect action figures (which Jonesy would try to rip open because he thought they were new and to be played with, causing Wyatt to cry for him to stop). Sometimes, when their parents arranged playdates for them, the boys' military figures would terrorize Jen's dolls. Nikki wouldn't care either way; she usually invested herself in the graphic novels from their elementary school's book fair.
As they grew older, Wyatt and Jude entered into the world of superhero comics. Jonesy would listen to them summarize the plot points, though he would occasionally read them, too. The three of them would discuss the moments that fascinated them, the theories that kept them awake at night, and the fictional heroines that ushered them into puberty.
Now, they traded their comic books sessions for science-fiction films, an obsession with the War Star Galaxy franchise, subtitled animes on illegal streaming sites, and glimpses of provocative fan art on social media.
"Hey, Jude," Jonesy started, "you down to smoke Friday night?"
"Hell yeah. What's the occasion?" Jude asked.
Of course, as the boys grew older, their interests changed in other ways. Jude fell in love with marijuana in all her forms and strains. Jonesy couldn't get high during hockey season, lest he get dismissed for failing one of their random drug tests, but that didn't prevent him from blazing away his two brain cells during the off-season.
"Nik told me the girls are all sneaking into some club on Friday—she said something about having a 'girls night'—and I haven't gotten high in forever, so, I figured, why not have a boys night in?"
"Wicked. My parents are going on a date night or somethin', so we can hang in my basement."
"Sweet."
Wyatt furrowed his brow. Were Jude and Jonesy really making plans in front of him? His mother taught him to never do such a thing, and now he knew why. Sure, their plans had to do with weed, but he found it insulting.
"Hey," Wyatt interjected, "what if I wanted to hang out with you guys Friday?"
Jude and Jonesy looked at him, then at each other. They burst into laughter.
He frowned throughout the duration of their laughing fit. Now he felt doubly disrespected.
Once their laughter subsided, Jonesy calmed and asked, "Oh, wait, you were for real?"
"Yes, I was for real. I want to hang out with you guys on Friday, too. I don't want to be the only one without plans."
Jonesy brought the side of his hand to his neck, making a slashing gesture. "You're not gonna wanna hang, dude. Me and Jude are gonna get high as hell and see where the night takes us. That's not your thing."
Perhaps Wyatt wanted to comprehend the hype behind marijuana. Was it a miracle? Why did his boys love it so much? How would it affect him? Would it help with his creativity? After all, plenty of musicians he admired admitted to smoking for inspiration.
His two best friends laughing in his face—especially Jonesy—made his blood boil in his veins. It made him indignant.
"Maybe I want to try it and see if it is my thing," he bit.
Jonesy smirked, calm and complacent. "Fine, then we'll see you on Friday night."
"Fine. I'll be there."