"So, are you ever going to tell me what's up with all those tattoos?" Foggy asked me as we sat at the bar waiting for Matt to show up.
It was Friday night and it was a tradition for the three of us to go out and get drinks every Friday. We would hang out and just catch up on what was going on in each other's lives.
We had been going strong for three years now. Every Friday no matter what exams the two of these losers had. I would even take off work which would cut my tips to shit considering we were the busiest on Fridays.
But something had changed. The last two Fridays Matt had been a no-show. It looked like it was the same tonight as he was already an hour late.
"I already told you, just one-year long mistake," I answered his question about my tattoos being unable to tell him the truth.
"Oh, come on they have to mean something." He said to me.
"They do, but like I told you before I don't want to talk about it!" I snapped at him.
"Well sorry for being curious. If you don't want people to ask you about them maybe you should get them removed!" He snapped back at me.
"I'm sorry Foggy I don't mean to yell at you. I'm just pissed off. He's not coming again. What the hell is going on with him?" I asked Foggy knowing he would know.
"He's just busy I guess." He answered, and it was obvious he was trying to hide something by the way he looked at his hands as he spoke.
"Stop lying to me. He's never been too busy before. What's actually going on?" I asked him.
"He met a girl." He said after a few seconds of pause when he thought over whether to tell me or not.
"Wait are you telling me he is blowing us off for some pussy?" I snapped.
"I don't know, I think he really likes this girl." He told me.
"What's her name?" I asked.
"Electra, he met her at a party we crashed hoping to mingle with the wealthy. You know make some future contacts." He told me.
"So, she's rich?" I asked.
"I guess. I didn't get to meet her." He told me.
"Well, that's got to change. If this girl thinks she can weasel her way into Matt's life and steal him from us without even meeting us she's out of her mind." I said as I finished my drink and got up from the table.
"Where are you going?" Foggy asked as I got up and walked away from the table.
"I'm going to find Matt," I called back.
"But we don't know where he is," Foggy said as he followed me.
"Not yet," I answered as the two of us walked out of the overcrowded bar.
I walked outside and took a deep breath of the cool night air as I took in my surroundings. I concentrated on everything that was around me. I took in the lights from the buildings and cars that shown bright against the darkness of the night. I looked at everything around me until all the light started to blend into bright long lines that shone brighter than any city light. The streams of light started to pulse as if they had a heartbeat until the city noise of people, cars, plans and all the busy bustle of a city blends into one cohesive sound that beat as one with the bright streams of light.
There was nothing around me just the outline of buildings and people who looked more like ghosts and blueprints of buildings like anything concrete. I concentrated on the one thing in the world I wanted to find, Matt. The lines all pulsed a little faster for a few seconds before they started one by one to fade away until only one bright red one remained. Matts energy, his lifeline.
"Luna, what are you looking at?" Foggy asked as he grabbed my arm pulling me out of my concentrating.
"Just thinking," I answered.
"You were just standing there looking around. I called out to you multiple times. Are you okay?" He asked me as he looked at me concerned.
"I know where he is," I told him as I hailed a cab.
"Wait how?" He asked as he climbed into the back of the cab behind me.
"Where else would a super-rich bitch take a date, she is trying to impress?" I asked him even though I knew he would not know the answer.
"Do you think I would know where the rich and famous hang out?" He answered my question with one of his own.
"Per Se," I answered him.
"Per what? What are you trying to say to me?" He asked again.
"Per Se. It's a Michelin star restaurant in Manhattan." I told him.
"Where to?" The cab driver asked us.
"Per Se," I answered him causing him to give us a strange look in his rearview mirror.
"I don't need your condescending eyeballs looking at me, just drive me to Per Se and keep your eyes on the road!" I snapped at him.
He quickly turned his eyes back to the road and started to drive off. It was obvious by his tense shoulders that he wanted to get us out of his cab as quickly as possible.
"Why are you so sure that they will be there?" Foggy asked me.
"Just a guess, its where all the rich like to waste their money," I told him with a little bit too much bitterness in my voice.
"You really have a problem with rich people, huh?" Foggy asked me.
"Not the people, just the thought of someone being able to be out there waste their money on things they don't need when there are people who have nothing," I answered him as I played with my fingers.
"We're here." The driver said ending our conversation.
"Keep the change," I said as I threw a few crumpled-up bills at him and climbed out of the cab followed by Foggy.
I stood there looking at the building and was now one hundred percent sure that Matt was inside. I started to walk forward but Foggy grabbed my arm stopping me before I could reach the doors.
"They're not going to let us in there," Foggy said as he looked around at him much richer, finer dressed people around us.
"Like hell they won't," I responded before stomping inside followed by Foggy.
"Can I help you?" The man standing there asked us as we stood in front of his little desk thing.
"No, we're just looking for a friend," I responded as I tried to look past him and into the restaurant.
"Are you sure you're in the right place?" He asked as he looked form me to Foggy who was trying to avoid eye contact.
I had never seen him so nervous and it was really irritating. I could use Foggy's knack for being able to talk his way into and out of every situation.
"Yes, I'm sure. Matt Murdock and Elektra." I told him hoping that I remembered the name correctly.
"Miss Natchios specifically asked to not be disturbed. I'm going to have to ask the two of you to leave." He told us.
"Of course, she did," I mumbled out.
"Let's just leave," Foggy said as he tried to pull me back out the way we came.
"Enough of this," I said as I pushed my way past the man, knocking him to the floor.
I could hear people yelling at me and Foggy who was apologizing as he ran after me.
"Luna what the hell, you're going to get us arrested and I can't get arrested. I want to be a lawyer." He told me.
"Then leave. No one forced you to be here." I told him as I continued forward until my eyes landed on the two of them.
Matt sat there still as if he was trying to listen to the commotion, but Elektra sat there with her glass of wine smiling as if she did not have a care in the world. She was gorgeous, I had to give that to Matt. If he wasn't blind I would understand why he kept blowing us off. Any man would sell there should to be with that tall, skinny perfect brunet but what was Matts excuse. Yeah, she was rich, but he never cared about that before.
"Is something wrong?" I heard her ask him in a sexy ass accent that just made me hate her even more.
"I'm sorry." He said to her just as we reached the table.
He dropped his head into his hands and she turned to look at the two of us standing in front of her.
"Who the hell are you?" She asked obviously picking up on I was the reason Matt was upset.
"I'm Luna, this is Foggy and where Matts friends. The ones he keeps blowing off to come eat fancy ass food with you. You don't even like lobster." I said to Matt as I looked at the barely eaten shellfish sitting on his plate.
"These are your friends?" She asked him as if she could not believe what I was saying.
"Yes." He answered as if he was ashamed of us with only made me angrier.
"Well, I just figured it was time we should meet you considering you're so important to Matt that he would continuously blow us off. Now I understand, she's hot and rich. Nice catch Matt." I told him.
"It's not like that." He answered speaking to me for the first time.
"I'm so sorry Miss." The staff said as they ran up to the table with security.
"No need, their friends of my date. Why don't you pull up two chairs for them?" She said as she was trying to fake being nice to us.
"Yes, mam." He responded while snapping his fingers causing two men to hurry over with extra chairs as if they were just standing around waiting for her to demand something of them.
"Thank you," I said to the one who placed a chair down near me.
"We should just go," Foggy said as he looked form Matt to me.
"No, you should sit." I told him as I grabbed a menu from the empty table next to us."
"You're paying right?" I asked her.
"Of course." She answered with the biggest fake ass smile on her face.
I looked over the menu realizing I could not really order anything it was a tasting menu.
"If you need help reading that…." She started but I quickly cut her off.
"What makes you think I can't read French?" I asked her as I handed the menu back to the water.
"Je voudrais que le menu de dégustation du chef jumelé avec une bouteille de l'Hermitage 1978." I said to him before she had the chance to respond.
"When did you learn French?" Matt asked talking to me for the first time since I got here.
"I picked up a few things when I was away," I answered.
"That's a two-thousand-dollar bottle of wine." The waiter said to me as if I did not already know that.
"I'm aware. That's all right Elektra, I mean you can afford it." I said to her challenging her.
"That's fine, bring the lady what she wants." She responded as she swirled her own glass of wine in her hands.
"So how long have you two known Matt?" She asked after the waiter walked away.
"My entire life, I can't remember a time when he wasn't around," I told her causing Matt to smile slightly at all the memories.
Elektra tensed as she noticed the little smirk as well. It obviously made her jealous and I could not help but feel a little joy from it. Not that she had anything to be jealous about. Matts and my relationship were not like that. Joy just from the fact that a girl like her could be jealous of someone like me.
"And you." She asked Foggy.
"We met a few months back. It was the first day of college, we met in the dorms. I got lucky with Matt being my roommate I was really worried I was going to be paired with a psychopath." He answered her, and Matt laughed in response.
"He really was convinced he was going to get a roommate who was going to kill him in his sleep," Matt told her through his laughter.
"Well you never know in this city, people be crazy," Foggy said through his own laughter.
I looked right up to Elektra getting that crazed feeling from her and was not surprised to see her looking right back at me. You know what they say crazy knows crazy.
"So, did the two of you ever, you know?" She asked Matt and me.
"Why would that make you uncomfortable?" I asked her right back not answering her question at all.
"No, we never did. Sorry about Luna she can be…" Matt started but seemed to be lost on the word he wanted to use to describe me.
"Amazing." I finished for him.
"Violent." Foggy added on causing me to stick out my tongue at him.
"Protective." Matt finally finished.
"So never?" She asked again as if she did not believe what Matt had just told her.
"Never, were closer than that. Then any hookup, where family." I told her with a smile that told her everything I could not say in front of Matt.
That she would not take him away from me. Matt, Foggy and Jeri where the only people I had in my life and no one would take them away from me, ever.
"Thank you for the meal, but I think it's time we get going," I said to Elektra as I stood up from the table.
"Let me walk you out," Elektra said as she stood up to follow me and I could not help but wonder what her game plan was here.
"Elektra," Matt said as if he was worried about what she was going to do to us.
"I just want to make sure your friends make it safely into a cab." She responded to him with a huge fake grin on her face.
Once outside she haled a cab Foggy quickly jumped in and drove off obviously wanting out of this situation more than I had realized. I was about to raise my hand to grab my own ride when I was stopped by Elektra who grabbed my wrist and stopped me from raising it any further. I looked at her for a second before pulling my arm from her grasp.
"I know what you're trying to do?" She said to me in her accent that made everything she said sound more sophisticated than the rest of us.
"And what exactly is that?" I asked challenging her letting her know I was not going to back down.
She did not scare me, no one did. Not anymore.
"Your jealous and you're trying to tear Matt and me apart." She said to me.
I could not help but laugh at her.
"Of course, that's what you think," I said to her as I rolled my eyes.
"If not why show up the way you did?" She asked right back.
"I just wanted to meet the girl Matt had been blowing us off for and let her know to be careful," I answered.
"Careful of what?" She asked back as she squinted her eyes a little in annoyance.
"Of hurting him. He's a nice guy, too nice. He's kind, forgiving and trusting." I said.
"You say that as if it's a terrible thing." She responded.
"It is when he places his trust in a pretty rich girl who thinks it fun to slum it for a little while," I told her.
"That's not what's happening here." She replied.
"Maybe not, but if it is and you hurt him I will hurt you," I told her causing her to chuckle.
"You think it's funny now, but trust me you don't want to hurt my family and Matt is my family," I said to her as I took a step closer letting her know she did not intimidate me.
"Well, then I guess we're not going to be besties." She said as if she was taunting me.
"Not a chance in hell," I told her as I raised my hand causing a cab to pull over.
I got in without looking back at her as I told the cab driver where I was heading. As I drove home I could not help but think about the weird feeling I got from Elektra. Something about her was unnerving. There was just an energy about her that made me uneasy, something that screamed danger, danger. I did not like her, I could only hope that one-day Matt would see it too.
