"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Zelda asked.
"Of course I do," Linkle rolled her eyes. "I have my compass app. We're not going to get lost this time; I promise."
"But you said this club was uptown," Zelda frowned. "We're close to Old Castletown."
"Oh," Linkle paused and looked at her phone. "Does it matter if you put north or south in the address?"
"Yes," Zelda sighed. "It's almost eleven, we're not going to get there in time to get in now."
"Well," Linkle puffed her lip out. "We'll just have to find a club in Old Castletown."
"What?" Zelda had to hurry to catch up to Linkle, who had started walking determinedly in the wrong direction. "First of all, Old Castletown is this way." Zelda steered her friend to the left. "And secondly, Old Castletown is, like, the sketchiest place to be on a Friday night."
"We'll be fine," Linkle smiled, not letting Zelda's logic dampen her optimism. "We have each other."
"Maybe we should just go home," Zelda glanced around. The street was far from empty, but the people walking them were a little older and a bit more eccentric looking than they were.
"We spent far too much time getting ready to just give up and go home," Linkle protested. "All we have to do is go to the club playing the loudest music and dance. Now, come on." She grabbed Zelda's hand and started running toward Old Castletown, and Zelda couldn't help but laugh along.
They finally ended up being let into a club that had a huge art nouveau style mural of the ancient Golden Goddesses on an outside wall. The Goron bouncer let them right in, saying there weren't enough girls in the club already. Zelda had rolled her eyes at the excuse, but the line out front had been filled predominately with guys.
The inside wasn't as packed as Zelda feared. There was plenty of room on the dance floor that Linkle immediately dragged her towards. They danced to a few song they couldn't distinguish over the bombing bass before Zelda insisted she needed a gin and tonic.
A few men approached them at the bar, and the girls made game out of how creatively they could shoot them down. Bonus points were given for turning their pick-up line against them, and double points were awarded if the guy left after one rejection.
"Look at that guy over there," Linkle yelled in Zelda's ear over the loud music.
Zelda followed Linkle's direction and noticed two very handsome men sitting at a table close to the dancefloor. The blond was laughing at something his dark-haired friend had said, and Zelda couldn't help but be drawn into his smile.
"He's really cute," she said without realizing.
"Oh my gosh, which one?" Linkle smiled.
Zelda blushed, "The blond one."
"Good," a new voice said. "'Cause the other one's taken."
"I'm sorry," Zelda turned to see who had spoken. A woman standing on the other side of Linkle smiled.
"Don't be," she waved her hand dismissively. "We brought Link out hoping he would meet some girls."
"Wait, that's Link?" Linkle said excitedly. "No way, we have to go talk to him!"
"What?" Zelda asked confused.
"Link is my cousin," Linkle explained, grabbing Zelda's hands in her excitement. "He must be back from college."
"Yes," the woman at the bar said. "My boyfriend and I decided to treat him to a night out. I'm Hilda by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Hilda," Zelda reached over to shake Hilda's hand while Linkle bounded over to ambush her cousin. "Do you need help with those drinks?"
"Yes, thank you," she handed Zelda one of the beers she had ordered, and they headed toward the table. Zelda watched as Hilda sat next to her boyfriend and handed him the extra drink she was holding, and Zelda realized with a jolt that she must be holding Link's drink. Hilda's red eyes sparkled mischievously, and Zelda blushed as she sat next to Link and handed him his beer.
"And this is my roommate, Zelda," Linkle added to her babbling. "I wouldn't have survived freshman year without her."
"I'm surprised you could keep your own head on straight, let alone Linkle's," Link chuckled as he glanced at Zelda. "I'm sorry you had to suffer through that for two semesters."
"Hey!" Linkle frowned and started swatting at Link across the table.
"Sorry, sorry," he laughed, and Zelda thought she liked the sound more than was normal. "It's nice to meet you Zelda."
"You too, Link." She hid her blush by taking a drink.
"Ravio, I want to dance," Hilda said suddenly, grabbing her boyfriend's hand and pulling him out of his seat.
"Ooo, me too," Linkle jumped out of her chair. "I love this song."
They quickly disappeared in the crowd on the dance floor, leaving Link and Zelda alone.
"So, Linkle said you were away for college?" Zelda asked hoping a conversation would make the encounter less awkward."
"Yeah, I go to Kakariko Tech," he said.
Zelda shook her head, "To think I'm fraternizing with the enemy. It's a good thing you're cute." She didn't know what made her say that. Stupid gin and tonic.
"Hyrule U?" he asked.
"Sworn defender," she mimicked one of the university traditions with a mock salute.
"Yeah, I needed to get out of the city after high school," he explained. "Luckily, Ravio was going to come with me so I wouldn't be all on my own."
"I would have loved to leave the city," Zelda smiled wistfully. "My parents smother me a bit too much, only child and all that. But Hyrule U has the better law school, so I thought it would look better if I got all my pre-reqs here."
"Understandable," Link nodded and took a drink. "K Tech has the better architecture program, so I get it. It also helped that it was a touch cheaper. I have a younger sister that's going to graduate from high school next year, so my parents are happy to save money wherever they can."
"So what are you planning to do with architecture?" Zelda asked, leaning closer without realizing.
"Everyone expects me to say churches or museums," Link rolled his eyes. "But there's real money in designing affordable and efficient starter homes for first-time home owners."
"That is very true," Zelda nodded. "People like to say that our generation won't be able to afford a home like our parents did. Yours is a noble pursuit to me."
"Plus I like designing houses," he smiled back. "There's something about all the possibilities, you know, all the different ways you can make a house a home that I just love. So win-win."
Zelda loved the look Link had in his eye. It was always amazing to watch someone speak about something they were passionate about.
"Do you want to go somewhere we can talk without yelling?" she asked on a whim. She was never this forward, but there was something about Link that made her want to talk to him for hours.
"Yeah," Link immediately stood and held out his hand to help Zelda do the same. "I know this great twenty-four hour diner not too far from here." He sent a quick text to Hilda and Linkle to let them know where they were going before leading her out of the club. He didn't let go of her hand until they reached the diner, much to Zelda's delight.
"So what do you want to do with a law degree?" Link asked as they slid themselves into a booth by the window.
"I want to work in a district attorney's office," she said cupping her hands around the warm coffee mug in front of her. "When a defendant can't afford their own attorney, the court provides one for them, free of charge, and I thought, why can't that be me? It's not the most high paying job for a lawyer, but my parents are loaded, so that wouldn't matter to me, and I would be helping people who really need it."
Link nodded as food appeared before them, "I thought you would say something like that. You seem like someone who wouldn't stand by when they saw injustices happening to others."
"Yup," she smiled and picked up some of the fries she didn't remember ordering. "Combine that with a high school obsession with CSI and courtroom TV dramas, and you get pre-law Zelda."
"Well I'm glad to have met pre-law Zelda," Link held up his drink in a toast.
"Likewise, future architect Link," she raised her glass to clink them together just as her phone started buzzing.
"It's Linkle," she told Link before answering it.
"Zelda, where are you?!" Linkle yelled from the other end of the line.
"I'm with Link at a twenty-four hour diner a couple of blocks away," she said, holding the phone a good six inches away from her ear.
"HA!" Linkle cheered. "And you wanted to go home early. How bad is my sense of direction now?"
"I'll see you at home, Linkle," Zelda chuckled and hung up the phone.