The last couple of days had been quite nice, Ela had done some shopping, visited the Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham which had an outstanding Art Gallery, and the Campus itself had been a joy to walk through, it even made Ela miss her own College years, she also visited the library and got lost a few times on the halls and the pages of some of its collections. She had also joined a tour to visit Aston Hall, which had been such an amusing place to get to know, the old brick and wood from it were like nothing she had seen before, granted, the tour with a man dressed as Sir Thomas Holte had been... interesting... but being able to walk the mansion at her own leisure had been great, and since she had noticed there was a football match on the edge of the mansion's field she decided to check the last half, the families were having a good time cheering their relative's teams, that had been nice, such a friendly environment, but by mid-afternoon, it started raining, figures, it's England after all, she had been right in purchasing those cute purple knee high rain boots, definitely useful, not only quite the fashion choice, although they were that as well.
Without noticing Friday morning rolled around and she got a message from Paul "Hey Ela, here's the address to meet, one of my friends just restored a Pub, we could meet around 8 pm for the re-opening, it'll be crowded but we'll have a private station on it. 116 Garrison Ln, Birmingham B9 4BX".
Oh my... Ela thought, with all her scheduled activities she had not been thinking as much about where did she recognize Paul from, she just couldn't figure it out, most of the options in her head were from Harry Potter, maybe Downton Abby, she had also watched thousands of period pieces movie, so narrowing that down would be even more complicated. Lastly, she thought of one of her favorite shows, but it just couldn't be, she was such a fan, knowing all the characters even the small parts, for sure she could have recognized Paul from it, or maybe Paul was an extra, not really lots of screen time and that could explain it.
A new text woke Ela from her thoughts, another one from Paul, a voice note this time "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii Ela, I miss you a lot, Unkie Paul won't let me come meet you tonight, says it's an adults place, I'm grown up too you know?!, but Unkie says not quite enough, but says we can meet some other time, perhaps over ice cream, have fun with Unkie, ok byeeeeeeeee", Cubby's voice was beautiful, oh my she had caused an impression on the tiny fella, oh well, it was all harmless. She thanked Paul for the address and sent her warm regards to Cubby agreeing to meet next week for ice cream.
It was 6:30 and Ela was starring at her luggage not knowing what to wear, if it was a Pub it was casual, but since it was an opening then it was formal, but if she dressed formally and the others didn't they'd think she was not being respectful of the invitation, and if she was too formal and they weren't, then they would believe she was taking the invitation too seriously. God, the overthinking was the worse part of her anxiety.
She started with a quick shower, maybe doing her skincare could help while deciding on the outfit, but by the time she was ready to start on her makeup, she didn't know how to do it, simple? elaborated? Yeezzzzzz, what a nightmare, the evening was not up to a good start.
She breathed out heavily and decided middle grounds were always best for these situations, so she chose some dark jeans, a purple strapless sleeveless blouse that she'd need to wear braless since none of her bras would work and honestly, that could also her preventing sweat stains while displaying her tattoos, a mid-length black blazer, her black Dr. Marteens, and a small purple purse she absolutely loved with her favorite purplish-blue shade.
Now with her outfit chosen, she was ready to fix her hair and makeup, which she was a bit nervous about since she wore makeup once every blue moon, so she decided she'd do a lilac smokey eye with just a simple black cat eyeliner, blush as if she had been sunburned a bit, reddening across the bridge of her nose, highlighter on point, and some pink lips but decided to wear a coat of glittery gloss on top which made it look a bit more purplish which she absolutely loved, she even went as far as to wear purple mascara, if she was wearing makeup she was gonna commit to it, but even like that it looked fairly calm, she looked like she was gonna hang out, but it wasn't full glam, pretty perfect honestly.
Since hair was one of the things she never did because hers was mostly straight due to treatments she did, she decided to use non-heated tools to create some non-elaborate waves, but they looked cool due to the purple balayage in her hair.
Looking in the mirror she felt very pleased with herself, and her ride arrived quickly, but even when she was getting ready and on the way to the Pub she felt like she could guess where she was going, and if that was it, she'd probably need Xanax to compose herself to the minimum, it would be too much, and when the driver pulled in, she almost felt sick, oh god, she was in the right place, the ever wonderful Garrison Pub, she actually meant to come as one of her trips destinations, such an iconic place was definitely on her list, but now that she was putting the pieces together, the excitement and nervousness were craving a pit in her stomach.
Paul had been right the place was also packed, there was a huge line circling the block to get in. Ela was so disrupted by her feelings that she actually walked a few blocks up and down again to let the cold air breeze work its magic in calming her, but since that didn't help much, she turned to her vape for assistance, that did help relax her, she liked it more than she cared to admit, damn mango essence, oh well fuck it all, she was gonna try to stay calm and enjoy the night, come what may.
She texted Paul mentioning she had arrived but also the huge line, a few seconds later he messaged back "Not to worry, we'll hanlde it, go to the entrance", Ela got close to it and got some nasty stares from the people on line in the process, a couple of minutes afterward a very muscular man in a suit said "Hello, are you miss Ela?", Ela looked up and offered her hand for a shake "That's me", the man looked at her a bit surprised by the gesture but she took her hand "Hello miss, I'm Elijah", "nice to meet you Elijah" Ela smiled while letting go of his hand, "Please follow me miss, they'll meet you inside", "alrighty thanks".
Ela stepped in while the people in line glared at her, and she followed Elijah, "I like your name Elijah, sound cool", "thanks miss" he said in a very serious tone "nothing of miss, Elijah, please call me Ela", the place was so full that it was hard to get through the corwds, "Sorry, I'm not very used to going on a first name basis, I'll try", "alright, but if you get unconfortable you can use my last name, you know, kinda like military style, although I warn you, it might be complicated for you to pronounce since I'm not from around" Elijah was losening up to Ela, maybe for once it was good that she talked a lot, he smiled a little and got a bit conversational, "Yes, Sir Paul told me you were foreign, but I agree with him, your English is quite good Miss Ela" she would not push Elijah, she'd accept the Miss Ela, he was kind, "so were are you taking me Elija? is Paul and his friends not around here?", Elijah looked a bit puzzled, "Oh... no Miss Ela, they could get hurt if they were here, might be dangerous for them be seen here, they actually arrived quite early through the back so they wouldn't be seen".
Ela paled again, oh dear Christ, maybe her hopes but fears were true, "right, right, dangerous and all", Elijah got a bit confused at this and continued saying "So they're in the great private room enjoying the opening from the view on the balcony, Don't you know who Sir Paul and his friends are miss Ela?" "Oh Elijah, I think I may be guessing it now, oh geez, now I'm scared, maybe I shouldn't be here, I don't belong to such fancy places", Elijah turned around and smiled back at Ela "nonesence Miss Ela, my guess is that you'll have a wonderful time" "Dios te oiga" Ela said, her Latina side comming out under the stress, Elijah blinked rapidly "oh sorry, it's Spanish for uhmmm God better hear you, or something like that" Elijah chuckled, "alright, here we are miss Ela, you go inside these doors", "won't you be inside Elijah?", he smiled warmly again "oh no Miss, Sir Paul always invites me in with them, but I rather stay out here to guard the entrances", she looked at him in admiration, he was for sure dedicated to his job, very polite and nice, not to mention his upstanding morals "alright Elijah, hope to see you some other time", "good night miss Ela, cheers!" and with that Ela opened the doors feeling her hands shake a little.
She opened the doors little by little, slowly a very nice room came to view with opaque yellow lights on beautiful chandeliers illuminating the room, the brown couches seemed quite comfortable, nice wooden floors and tables, a red furry carpet covered a portion of the room nearby the couches, what seemed to be a private bar with perfectly arranged bottles, and there were lots of space within that singular room, really tasteful artwork and photographs in black and white covered the walls, and then when she finally entered the room, she was met by seven pairs of eyes, Oh holly fucking shhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's when Ela froze in space and time.
