It took all the bravery I could summon to drag myself out of the truck. I shivered, the crisp night air circling me. I silently thanked God for me having left a jacket in there a few days ago. It was only thin, but if it weren't for that, I'd have been walking around in just a shirt. The rain was drizzling lightly, and I knew it wasn't going to help my untamed hair. I ran my hands through the tangles, in an attempt to make it look at least a little better. No such luck. It had a mind of its own. With the failed attempt, I settled for ruffling it up purposely in stead, and I faked confidence with a strut that I hoped looked at least a little endearing.
The first place I tried to get into had a massive guy with dark hair and a goatee on the door. He sneered at me while asking for my ID. I faked looking for it and turned away apologetically, thinking my plan was foiled before it had begun. This was the same story with three more places, until eventually I found a small bar that didn't have any one on the door.
The heat when I walked in was amazing against my cold skin. I shrugged myself out of my jacket and took in my surroundings. The place was basically empty, with a couple of guys in leathers playing pool in one end, a woman dressed way too much for such a small place sat at the bar, and a couple in a corner, holding hands and whispering intently to each other. They didn't appear to notice that their touchy-feely connection was incredibly out of place.
I made my way towards the bar, a couple of stools up from the overdressed woman. I scrambled up on to a seat and took a quick glance at the drinks menu. Other than a bit of wine with the odd meal, or eggnog at Christmas, drinking was something I never really did. I didn't have much money so I decided to opt for whatever was cheapest.
"What'll it be honey?" A raspy voice asked pleasantly enough. I looked up and jumped slightly as an incredibly obvious transvestite peered at me through his bright pink false eyelashes. I read the cheapest thing off the menu, not sure if I was pronouncing it right. The bar tender grinned at me and served me up.
I sniffed the glass, not sure what to think. I hastily took a sip, and was instantly repulsed. My throat burned in protest as I swallowed as quickly as I could. The bar tender laughed at me and passed me a funny blue coloured liquid.
"Try this sugar, it's much sweeter. On the house." I smiled and tried this new drink, which was indeed far nicer. My head already felt lighter.
This continued for another half hour; idle chatter with the bar tender and timid sipping, until I found myself giggling as I held on to the edge of the bar to stay upright. The overdressed woman glanced sideways at me through heavily outlined eyes.
"You should be careful around here, you know. A pretty little thing like you on her own." She muttered a little dryly, sipping her wine and looking away again. I wrinkled my brow at her and turned back to the bar, taking no notice. The transvestite - who had introduced him/herself as Val, winked at me and grinned.
"Take no notice sugar, Lizzie's just bitter cos she's getting no work tonight." 'Lizzie' scowled at Val and looked back at me, judging my reaction. I just nodded understandingly, before realising a second later that Lizzie was obviously a prostitute. My eyes bulged and I took another swig of my drink - back to the cheaper one now; having had two of the blue magic elixirs, the original didn't burn me so much. I was quite enjoying the lazy dizzy feeling.
"Look, Val, that's no way to talk about a friend." Lizzie hissed. "Don't you go judging me, kid." She murmured, with a dark look towards me. I shook my head.
"N-noooo of course not!" I stammered quickly, nervous all of a sudden. I chanced a look at the clock and saw that it was after 11. People would definitely be worrying about me now, but I was in no state to drive. I bit my lip and puzzled this for a moment, before Val interrupted my thoughts.
"Hey, this place is kinda dead tonight, ladies, are we feeling a bit of karaoke?" At first I shook my head desperately, but Val dragged me up to a make-shift stage and passed me a microphone. I knew the song as soon as it started playing … A Whitney number! As if! I wasn't exceptionally good at anything - let alone singing, but I felt dizzy enough not to care, so I wiggled about and got into the swing of things - besides, at this point, the only people still in the bar were a prostitute, a transvestite and one lone leather guy. I sang my heart out, and really acted up with it, throwing my arms around in the air, and bursting into fits of giggles, and by the end of it, Edward and Jacob were both far from my mind.