"Why do you need me to meet your friends, again?" Sam asked as she led the way to the downtown bar they were meeting at.
"To show them that I am totally over them and not at all bothered by them ditching me," she said, checking their reflection in a shop mirror. Sam looked hot, she looked different to her teenage self, and that was good enough for her. The last dregs of her cold remained, but she had enough tissues in her bag to absorb a county-wide flood.
"And are you?"
"Dunno," she replied, "if this is stopping you from Avenging, then I'm totally cool with you just-"
"Nah, we got an op in two days but until then I'm good. As long as they don't expect me to buy a round."
"We're all freshly graduated, ergo broke. I'll be surprised if the entire tab isn't on you."
"Great," Sam muttered, "brilliant."
There were three of them; Emily, Vanessa and Carol, all very pretty young women with Austin accents much thicker than Eva's. They shrieked when they saw her and enveloped her into a group hug, and for a moment it was easy for Eva to forget their radio silence since she had moved to New York.
"Oh my God, your hair looks so… different!"
"Thanks," said Eva. "This is Sam, my escort."
"You hired an escort?" asked Emily, boggling.
"No, jeez! He's my boyfriend."
"Clearly, they think I'm too good for you," joked Sam.
"I mean," said Vanessa, "yeah. No offence, Evie, but y'know…"
"Don't worry about it," said Eva, "he is, actually. Way too good."
"I'm getting drinks," said Sam, "Eva, can you help me carry stuff?" without waiting for her reply, he dragged her off to the bar.
"What happened to not getting a round in?" she asked him.
"Babe," he said, "no offense, but your friends are assholes."
"You barely know 'em!" she retorted.
"This is the first time they've seen you in years, and all they've done so far is insult you. We've barely even been here a minute- now I'm beginning to get why you have self-esteem issues."
"Look- girls are just like that, okay?" she said, a little helplessly.
"No, they're not!" he took her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Eva, there is no way you're gonna enjoy this. Now we can either stay here with crappy alcohol and crappy company, or ditch 'em and do something nice with our evening."
She saw her reflection in his dark eyes, how unhappy she looked. Back at school she had fought to get into their elite social circle, and even then she had always been a mascot more than a proper friend. And now, it wasn't even like she needed them. "Okay."
"Right." He took her hand and pulled her to the table. "'Scuse me, ladies, but me and my incredibly hot, very talented girlfriend are actually gonna go have fun, without you. Sorry, I didn't get the drinks. Didn't see much point." He left the three girls gaping at them and led Eva out of the bar.
"Okay," she admitted, "that was kinda funny."
"I am actually hilarious," he said, "I dunno if you've noticed."
"I don't think I have, actually," she grinned, and he kissed her.
"C'mon, pretty girl. We're going dancing."
A/N if anyone can guess who Eva's friends are named after, I will hand-write you a letter and post it to you, and it shall say that we are now officially friends. I will also be genuinely amazed if you do, like seriously. That is some obscure name-picking up there.