Masquerade

"Satan's Lair, we're open from seven to two am. What can I do for you?"

"Hi, well aren't you just the voice of the stereotypical gay male," said a southern drawl from hell.

"Excuse me but can I help you or should just I hang up now?"

"Why yes you can! You can help me by getting your owner."

"…You mean the manager?"

"No, I mean your owner... You know, the person who pays you?"

"Right… Whatever, hold on."

"Make it quick!"

"Phone for the Mistress! Lindsay have you seen our lovely Mistress today?"

"Yeah she's workin' the counter again out front. Apparently, Mallory called and said she was going to be late... again."

"She's so gone. I give it a week before she's fired… Anyway I'll be right back. If I don't get the Mistress the phone soon, the crazy chick who called might explode… Not that it wouldn't be in improvement to the gene pool from the sound of things..."

"You do that." Lindsay laughed.

"Mistress...." Dave said in a singsong voice.

"What do you want Dave? And more importantly… When are you going to stop calling me that?" A short blonde female asked in a bored yet fond voice.

"When I meet a boy as good looking as you, of course! Now, there's someone on the phone for you and a word of warning… I think she's an escaped crazy person so be careful."

The blonde quirked an eyebrow at Dave's dramatics before responding: "Thanks, I'll take it in my office then since it's a bit to loud out here to be dealing with escaped crazies... Cover the counter."

"Sure thing mistress," Dave answered cheekily while bowing.

"Yeah, yeah," was the reply thrown over the blonde's departing shoulder as she walked into her office. She picked up the phone after getting situated at her desk and with a practiced tone perfected in high school she spoke. "This is the boss of Satan's Lair, or as some would say… The Mistress." Smiling slightly to her self at the last word, the blonde continued with, "What do you want?"

"OH MY GOD! Nic it's really you," screamed the slightly demented voice that Dave had warned her about.

"Who is this? Wait, I recognize that insane and demented southern drawl. Hello Mary Cherry."

"OH ha-ha Nicky but ex-CUSE me if I can't find the funny knowing that only three years out of High School you've gone from Popular to, to… working class!" Mary Cherry exclaimed in a gasp as if the very words might contaminate her and Nic further if said to strongly.

With a roll of her eyes and a quick blow on her nails, Nic easily fell back into the placating tone she used often when dealing with Mary Cherry. "It's hardly as bad as you like to think. I own this place."

"I know but still..." Merry Cherry started, prepared to go into a long rant about how that made it all the worse. After all, couldn't she just hire people!?

Trying to change the subject for her clearly upset friend, Nicole said, "So what do you want? I know it wasn't to have a cry over my not so new state of 'working class woman,' so why did you call, MC?"

"What do I want...What do you mean, 'What do I wa...OH! Why I called you! I wanted to know what you're wearing..."

"...Mary Cherry I don't know what you've been up to since we last talked, but I'm not going to help you get off on whatever freaky fantasy you seem to have developed involving me..." Nic said slowly.

"No, not now silly! I meant to the Masquerade slash Three Year Reunion slash PARTAY, of course," Mary Cherry said suddenly very excitedly.

"Huh," was all Nic could reply with..

"Oh Nic, don't act like you don't know about it! So what are you wearing?!"

"Ok, 1. I didn't know. 2. When is it? And 3. Who put it together?" Nic shot back hoping that if she broke the question down to its simplest components she might actually get the answers from the Texan.

"Ok, 1. Sure you didn't. 2. Well... in two days and 3. Brookie!"

"Figures. Have you forgotten that I stopped talking to Brooke McQueen after Grad night?" Nicole's disdain for the other blonde was not to be mistaken by how she practically spat out the name as if it were the worst tasting wine she'd ever had the misfortune to taste.

"What why?" Mary Cherry all but screamed into the phone, only just realizing she could have taken Nic's spot as Best Friend… Also known as second most popular person next to, Brooke.

"Doesn't matter. What are you wearing to the dance?" Nic knew her transition wasn't as smooth as she'd have liked; however, it was better then explaining the still very intense feelings of betrayal she felt whenever Brooke was even passingly mentioned.

"Why am I glad you asked Nicky because I need your expert clothing advice. I have two costumes and I simply can't chose between them. So should I go with the cow or the lobster?"

Nicole rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of her friend, wondering why she expected anything less. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am! This is serious. I need to choose the costume that will not only look best on me, but also offend lil Lily the most!"

"Well the red lobster would look good with your hair..." Nic said slowly, trying to imagine Mary Cherry in a lobster suit.

"Oh, you're right! However, all this talk about cows and lobsters and I'm hungry now. How about we go for a late lunch at the Red Lobster in Santa Monica?"

"…Alright. I'll meet you there."

"Ok, and what are you going to wear?"

"Most likely my Satan costume from Halloween"

"Oh, how...Satany...I like it!"

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::Flight 110 New York to Los Angeles is now in. Flight 110::

"Where is she? They've been calling her flight for the past fifteen minutes!" Asked a slightly worried female voice.

The shorter of the two women suddenly looks even more panicked then she already did. After giving the crowed LAX airport another frantic look around, the woman starts speaking. Sounding remarkably close to a panic attack. "I don't know. OH GOD! This is the plane she had, right?! I mean...Oh God! What if she really had another flight that came earlier and we missed it because we came later and she got kidnapped or worse! WHAT IF..."

From behind where the two women were staring a third female voice suddenly said, "What if you two were so busy looking at the wrong terminal and worrying that you didn't see her come in?"

Immediately the two women turned around and see whom they had been searching for. "SAM!"

"Hey Carm. Hey Lil." Sam said hugging them both. Then after looking around and noticing the missing testosterone of the group she asked, "Where's Harrison?"

"He had a couple of late classes today, but he promised to meet us for lunch at four."

"Ok, so… Do we have time to drop my bags off at the Palace first then?" Sam asked looking at her watch.

"Only if you promise to tell us all about NYU dorm life." Lily said as they started walking to her car.

"Oh-oh, and your crazy playgirl roommate!" Carmen squealed as if they were 16 and walking through the halls of Kennedy High again.

Sam laughed at her two friends and said, "You two are never going to change, but since neither am I... Let me just say: Faith now has a girlfriend...."

tbc