"A club? I don't know, that's not really our scene," Timmy said doubtfully as he looked to Tecna for backup, adjusting his glasses nervously on his face. She nodded in agreement as she snuggled closer to him on the couch.
"Come on, Timmy, lighten up!" Brandon protested, his arm slung over Stella's and his fingers intertwined with hers, both of them perched on the coffee table and facing the other couple.
"Yeah, it's not like we're going to get too wild or anything, just dance and have fun, and maybe have a drink or two," Layla chipped in, shrugging. Roy, his arm wrapped around her waist and his hand in the pocket of her denim shorts, nodded in agreement.
In desperation, Tecna looked to the only other member of the group who might possibly join her in her protests, but Flora was wrapped up in her own world with Helia, the two of them standing close together, lips almost touching, while she held a pink rose by its stalk in her hand.
She sighed and leaned back against Timmy's body. "Fine," she acquiesced in a grumbling tone. He wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her arm comfortingly.
"It'll be fine, Tecna," he reassured. "We don't have to get too crazy, and if it gets too noisy I'm sure we can leave." She smiled at him in response and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Great, it's settled then! I'm so excited for the dancing and the music!" Musa, who'd suggested that they go to a club that night, bounced around the room in excitement while Riven watched her in amusement.
"Cool, and I know just where we can go, too! A new club just opened downtown, and I've been reading really good reviews about it," Bloom said. "They even have a karaoke night - not tonight, but if we like it, I'm sure we can go back on Wednesday evening! Daniella can come too, I remember how much she loved to sing."
Everyone smiled and agreed, and with that, the discussion was over. The couples started to drift back to their rooms to get ready for the evening's activities.
Daniella stood nude in front of her bathroom mirror for a moment, before lifting a fist and striking it gently against her reflection.
With a deep sigh and a self-loathing glance, she turned away and stepped into the shower, hissing in pain as the hot water flowed down her arms and stung her cuts. She blinked back tears as she reached to crank the temperature higher, feeling the burning sensation on her body, and especially her arms.
She washed herself perfunctorily and shaved her legs, making sure to be careful to get every strand and not to cut herself, since she was intending on wearing a short dress that night. The irony of her trying her best not to cut herself while shaving was not lost on her, and she quirked her lips up in a moment in a humourless grin, before it disappeared like it was rinsed away by the water.
She got out of the shower and briskly towelled herself dry, then prepped herself for her Saturday night routine - pretty much go out, get wasted, and possibly end up in someone's bed. Whatever stopped her from thinking, which was what she tended to do in her free time.
Leaning into her mirror, she picked up what she called her "party palette" and and dusted a heavy layer of silver and black shadow onto her eyes, lining them heavily and finishing them off with fake lashes. She accentuated the look with a dark red lipstick, pulled her hair into a high ponytail with a pompadour, and left the bathroom.
Throwing on her little black dress, she exited her walk-in closet and her room, and ran her fingers across the keys of the baby grand piano she'd gotten for her apartment but had never played. She turned her head towards the mantle and sighed, all the fire and confidence leaving her for a moment. Standing over the piano, she lifted her right hand and looked at the solitaire diamond sparkling on the ring she wore, turning it a little so that the light struck the diamond at different angles.
Then, she turned away, renewed vigour stiffening her spine as she grabbed her clutch, put on a pair of six-inch stiletto heels, and left the apartment.
She walked to the club, since it wasn't that far and she knew she wouldn't be able to drive her car home after the club closed anyway. Slinking in through the front doors, she headed straight for the bar. She usually only needed to buy herself one drink every Saturday night, since men saw her and were always tripping over themselves to help get her drunk.
She ordered a shot of tequila, and as she held the salt shaker in one hand, she turned on the barstool to survey the evening's possible conquests. Catching the eye of a guy who was shamelessly ogling her long legs and slutty heels, she looked at him as sultrily as possible as she licked the webbing between her thumb and index finger and shook salt on it. With a sexy little smile, she licked it off, picked up the shot and tossed it down, closing her eyes against the burn of the liquor as it burned its way down her throat, and picked up the lime, biting into it.
With another 'come hither' look thrown his way for good measure, she turned back towards the bar and set the shot glass down, ordering a cosmopolitan from the bartender, who was sending her appreciative looks as well. When he set the beverage down in front of her with a wink and a "It's on the house," she smiled sweetly at him and held the glass by its stem as she slid off the stool and sashayed towards the dance floor, adding a little swing to her hips for the sweet bartender's benefit. Turning to give him a wink, she then stepped onto the dance floor and was lost in the huge throng of gyrating bodies.
This place was her haven, where the loud beat of the music and the hot press of sweaty bodies against her skin drowned out the screaming thoughts in her head. Maybe it wasn't good for her to use this as a coping mechanism, but it sure beat the alternative. Raising her drink, she joined in the dancing, swaying with her arms above her head.
As always happened, she soon attracted a group of men who started dancing around her, closer and closer until they were practically grinding against her since she wasn't discouraging them. She knocked back the last of her cocktail and as she knew would happen, within seconds the men were pretty much tussling for the privilege of buying her the next round.
She gave them a sexy smile as she started grinding her ass against the guy who had forced his way through the crowd of men to wrap his arms around her waist, closing her eyes and letting her mind drift for a moment.
Of course, good things never lasted and a tall, average-looking girl came storming through the dance floor to glare at her heatedly. "What the hell do you think you're doing with my boyfriend, you slutty whore?" she screamed in a grating, high-pitched tone.
Daniella opened her eyes and took a sip from the new cocktail that had been placed in her hand by one of the guys crowding around her. She shrugged. "I'm sorry, which one are you talking about?" she asked flippantly, stepping away from the guy she'd been dancing with. She cocked her head and raised her brow, hand on her hip.
The other girl didn't look intimidated - if anything, she looked all the more furious. "You… you stupid fucking whore!" she screeched at the top of her lungs. "How dare you come here, flirt with my boyfriend, and talk to me like that!" she yelled.
Daniella sighed. While this was somewhat amusing, it was fast growing old.
"Look, I don't know how much you think you know your boyfriend, but obviously not very well if you think he would appreciate you barging in like a banshee to cause a scene and embarrassing the fuck out of the both of you. Firstly, none of the guys you see here - " she broke off for a moment to gesture at the crowd of men watching their argument like a pack of hungry wolves, save one guy who was standing awkwardly off to the side with an embarrassed flush on his face - "are here because I begged them to dance with me, all right? They all came of their own accord. So why don't you just run along now, and try to salvage what little is left of your pride, sweetie?" she said in a condescending tone.
The girl's fists clenched in rage. "Why, you little bitch - " she reached forward, clearly with the intention to strike Daniella.
Then, the whole scene seemed to freeze in a tableau. After a loud collective intake of breath from all the eagerly watching spectators, silence reigned, broken only by the continuous loud thump of the music.
Daniella lowered her arm, bringing her now-empty glass back down to her side. "Don't try that again," she said coldly, before turning around and walking away. The still-gaping crowd quickly moved out of her way, parting like the Red Sea. Then they quickly swivelled back to look at the girl, her mouth open and eyes closed as she reached up to wipe the drink from her face. "How dare you," she gasped, but Daniella was already gone by the time she opened her eyes.
"Give me another shot of tequila," she ordered the bartender, sitting on an empty barstool with a heavy sigh. The bartender, who had been here since she'd started patronising the establishment, grinned at her. "Another one?" he asked, referring to the difficult girl.
"Yeah," she groaned as she licked her hand, took the shot, and bit into the lime with the easy fluidity that came from lots of practice.
"It isn't their fault, you know," the bartender said, winking at her. "Girls see a pretty little thing like you dancing with their man, they go a little crazy," he told her.
Daniella scoffed. "Yeah, sure. The guys are all shallow and immature assholes who don't deserve to be in a relationship, and the girls… damn, they're annoying and screechy," she muttered, shaking her head a little for emphasis. "Why the hell are these people in a relationship, anyway?" she asked the bartender rhetorically, her lips quirking up in a wry smile.
"Beats the hell out of me," he said, preparing another Cosmopolitan for her, an order he'd received from an enthusiastic admirer. He set the drink in front of her and continued dryly, "Good thing they have you to show them the error of their ways and end their foolish relationships."
Daniella laughed and raised her drink, saluting him with it before taking a long drag out of her glass.
"That beat is awesome!" Musa cried as soon as they entered the bar. Layla nodded enthusiastically in agreement, and they grabbed each other's hands and were on the dance floor in a moment, dancing with each other and earning some admiring looks in the process, while Riven and Roy scowled around at the guys who looked like they were about to try to chat the girls up.
Everyone looked around at the club with varying degrees of appreciation and wariness, and, in Timmy's case, outright fear as he clutched at Tecna. "Tecna, do you think…" he tried to say to her quietly, but she laughed at him.
"Loosen up, Timmy, let's go dance!" she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him onto the dance floor. The other couples started dancing as well, leaving Riven, Roy, Helia and Flora to try and find a table in a relatively more secluded corner.
Helia pulled Flora down onto his lap, and although they weren't exactly the kind of couple to start going at it in public, his arms wrapped around her waist and her head rested against his chest. She smiled contentedly as she burrowed her face into his warm chest, hearing and feeling his heartbeat under her ear.
Riven and Roy stood together silently, leaning against the wall. They didn't know each other very well, but since Roy was now going out with Layla or whatever - it wasn't like Riven knew what was going on with those two - and Layla and Musa were best friends, he figured that he and Roy would be spending a lot of time together.
Still, the two strong, silent archetypical males found they had nothing to say to each other, and ended up making awkward eye contact a few times while they both searched for something to say.
"Um…" Roy finally said, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "Do you want to go get a drink?" he asked.
"Sure," Riven said almost too enthusiastically, grateful for the reprieve from the awkward silence they'd been trapped in. They turned to ask Helia and Flora if they wanted anything to drink, but the two of them seemed to be in their own world, so they just shrugged and turned back around.
The two men made their way to the bar, ordering beer for themselves. When the bartender slid away from the girl he'd been talking to to set the bottles in front of them, they glanced over at the girl he'd been talking to, and did a double take.
"Dude, is that…?" Riven asked Roy, who was still staring, bug-eyed, at Daniella. At least, he thought it was Daniella, although it could easily just have been a girl who looked like her. They'd only met Daniella once, but this girl completely defied all expectations they'd had of her. She was wearing a short, short black dress that stopped just below her butt, leaving almost all of her legs bare. It had long, lace sleeves and a boat neckline that scooped dangerously low. The entire dress was moulded to her body so well it could have been made for her. Adorning her feet were the tallest, sexiest pair of stiletto heels either of them had ever seen. The sight black platform shoe with its long, thin silver heel that reflected the pulsing strobe lights made both men gulp a little.
Just then, she turned around and caught side of them. They felt a little like insects under a microscope as she studied them for a moment, as if wondering who they were, before recognition dawned in her eyes.
"Well, hello there, boys!" she said, sliding off her barstool to walk over to them, her Cosmopolitan drink in hand. "Fancy meeting you here!" She was slurring her words slightly, the only indication that she was buzzed. "I guess this means the rest of the gang is here too, huh?" she asked, winking.
"Um…" Riven said eloquently, gaping at her in a mixture of terror and admiration, hoping for one of the girls to come and save him.
"We… uh… yeah," Roy stuttered, a flush creeping up his high cheekbones as he made it a point not to look down Daniella's low-cut dress. He looked to Riven for help, but Riven had whipped his phone out and was refusing to make eye contact with either of them.
On the dance floor, Sky hummed in annoyance as his phone buzzed in his pants pocket. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he knew he couldn't because it might be important business from Eraklyon. He whipped his phone out with an apologetic glance at Bloom, and his eyes widened in surprise.
"What is it?" Bloom asked, concerned, when she saw the change in his expression. He showed her the text and she looked surprised for a moment too.
Riven: daniella is here. at bar. plz help! hurry!
Bloom smiled widely. "Oh how wonderful, Danny's here! Let's go say hi, Sky!" she exclaimed.
Sky was a little more apprehensive though. Riven rarely said 'please' or wrote with so many exclamation marks, so whatever was up, it must have surprised or frightened him. He followed after Bloom with a certain sense of trepidation as she made her way to the bar.
He stopped short in surprise at the sight of a sexily clad and made up Daniella standing at the bar with Riven and Roy, her elbow propped against the bar as she chatted with them.
"Danny!" Bloom exclaimed as she rushed towards Daniella.
"Bloom, sweetie!" Daniella exclaimed exuberantly as she stepped away from the bar a little unsteadily to embrace her friend. "I was just talking to the boys here. Where's the cute little Asian and the chocolate princess?" she asked.
Bloom blinked in surprise. "The who and the what now?" she asked, confused.
Sky, suppressing a laugh, spoke up. "I think she meant Musa and Layla," he said.
"Huh, that's strange," Bloom said, confused. "I've only seen Danny like this once before, when we snuck a bottle of vodka and some juices into our hotel room after prom and we all got drunk. But that seems so unlike Danny. Have you been drinking, Danny?" she asked, pulling back and looking at Daniella.
Daniella giggled. "Only a little," she loudly whispered to Bloom. "The sweet boys keep treating me to drinks," she confided in her. "Shh, don't tell anyone, it's a surprise though!"
Bloom looked stunned. "This is so unlike Daniella! What's going on here? How could cute little Danny change so much?"
Daniella laughed humourlessly as she rested her head against Bloom's shoulder, stroking her hair. "Oh, flower Bloom, there's so much you don't know."
Another chapter, yay progress!
I hope you guys don't feel like I'm rushing things too much with the pace of the story.
As always, I'd love to hear anything you have to say regarding this chapter or the story in general, so do leave me a review; it'd really make my day!
Love,
Peachy Hikaru
