Calatonia Chronicles II
VIII - Girl's Night Out
00000
New Moon Theater
"Ok, I'll bite, Porsha," Ash asked. "What's with the gettup?"
Porsha Crystal, a young lady of 19, was dressed head to toe in flashy garb, which was extravagant even for her.
She wore a dark sequin halter top under a black tight-fitting leather that cut off at her midriff. She wore crisp tight-fitting jeans with black leather high boots.
Her short grey-white hair was her usual wild pixie do.
"I'll tell you!" Porsha said ecstatically as she threw her hands in the air. "We're going out!"
Ash tilted her head. "We are?"
"Yup!"
"Just the two of us?"
Porsha shook her head. "Six."
Ash cocked an eyebrow and she did the numbers in her head. "A girl's night?"
"Mmhm!"
"Who's the sixth? Miss Crawley?"
"I asked," Porsha said, looking a tad disappointed. "But she said no. Girl's night is for young people, she said. That she doesn't have the energy for that anymore. I didn't make a big deal about it, besides she's going on a spa weekend with Nana."
Ash smiled almost sadly. "Good for her. So who's coming? As if I could't guess?"
"Besides me and you, there's Noosh, Meena, Rosy, and little Estelle."
"The Colonel's daughter?"
"Yup!"
Ash felt a twinge of nervousness. "And he's ok with this?"
"Asked him myself."
"Uh…where are we going?"
Porsha grinned devilishly.
Ash sweatdropped. Uh oh.
00000
Downtown Calatonia
Meena covered her face with her massive hands.
She was adorned in a dark blue skirt, not unlike what she wore for Out of this World. Only it was far more formal, yet casual. Her matching blue high tops clicked unevenly as she nervously trotted the cobblestones of the main square courtyard of the Festival District.
Flanking her on her left was Ash and Rosita.
Ash was wearing her usual bad girl/rockstar getup, complete with a red leather jacket, black undershirt, skirt with red threading and matching red boots.
Rosita was wearing her almost usual attire, except this time it had a little more style. Crisp blue jeans, black flats, and a flowery blue blouse. Her golden hair was tied back.
Flanking her on Meena's right were Porsha, Nooshy and Estelle.
Nooshy wore her retro red suit, with the exception of the jacket, leaving just her sleeveless vest.
Estelle wore a black halter top under a black tight leather jacket with tight khakis and converse. Her dark-chestnut curls were tied back.
"Lighten up Meena," Porsha chimed, patting the big girl's shoulder. "Like you've never taken a night on the town before."
"I'm still a bit shy."
Ash shook her head. "Seriously?"
Meena frowned. "Gimme a break Ash, I haven't gone out in public like this in weeks!"
Ash held her hands up. "Whoa! Sorry, I'm sorry. I get it. It's been a rough couple of weeks for all of us."
"At least we're still alive right?" Nooshy asked, trying to maintain her positive manner.
"Yeah," Estelle said matter-of-factly with a nod. "There's that. We have a lot to be thankful for."
Porsha nodded fiercely. "Yup! That's why we need to live and let live! No more living in fear! I mean even Uncle Buster definitely is! What with him and his new girlfriend!"
Meena and Ash looked flabbergasted.
"What?!" Ash cried.
"Who is it?!" Meena also cried, smiling as big as possible.
Porsha looked caught and regretful. "Oh, I was supposed to keep that to myself."
Rosita covered her eyes.
"No way!" Ash said with a grin. "It's Nurse Angie isn't it?"
Porsha feigned ignorance. "Who?"
Rosita groaned. So much for keeping a secret.
"Aw!" Meena said. "That is so sweet!"
"I'm really happy for them," Ash said.
"Shh," Rosita said, putting a finger to her lips. "Keep that to yourselves please."
Ash and Meena mimicked a zipper across their smiling lips.
"Thank you." Rosita took a deep breath, loosening herself up for the night ahead. "So what's first on the activities list?"
"Dancing!" Porsha cried, throwing her hands in the air.
"Uh…ok?"
00000
Just down the path of the town square courtyard, at a garden cafe sat two persons at a table under an umbrella.
"This is nice," Suki said, sipping a cup of tea.
She wore an evening dark-blue blouse with a belt, a matching bonnet sun hat, and black knee-high boots.
"Told ya," Noelle Sr chirped. "I haven't found anyone who's disliked my tea yet."
Suki took another sip. "So how have you been?"
Noelle Sr shrugged. "Can't complain." She then took on a wry smile. "So…how are you and Jimbo doing?"
Suki smiled, a tint of red in her ivory cheeks. "Things are…progressing."
"Mmm," Noelle Sr said with a grin. "Nice to see that crack shot finally settle down. He's been such a little ball of angst when the Colonel brought him onboard."
Suki looked sad. "I know."
"How is he by the way?"
"He's getting better. Sleeping better too."
Noelle Sr nodded. "Good."
Suki turned her head a fraction and her eyes widened slightly.
"What's up?" Noelle Sr asked, concerned.
"Look through the corner of your eye at the entrance of Finn's Club."
The florist cocked an eyebrow. Then she, from the corner of her eye, looked in the direction of said club and her eyes widened.
"Aren't those our girls with their friends?"
"Mmhm."
Noelle Sr frowned. "I wasn't aware Nelly had plans."
"Neither did I," Suki said. "But they're both of age. We can't very well ground them."
Noelle Sr smirked. "Wanna bet?"
"Noelle," Suki said, slightly unimpressed.
"Oh c'mon, I'm just pulling your leg."
Suki sipped her tea, still rather cross until a flash of concern came across her face. "You think they'll be ok?"
Noelle Sr also sipped her tea, rather grimly. "We can't keep worrying about things that may or may not happen. Our children have been relatively safe."
Suki looked down. "Relatively."
Noelle Sr took her friend's hand and squeezed it. "We will continue to fight to keep them safe, Sook."
Suki nodded. "I know."
She took her glasses off and wiped her eyes. "Porsha…I'm scared to death for her."
"I feel the same about my little firefly," Noelle Sr said, nursing her cup of tea. "Sometimes I gotta climb a mountain so that I don't let fear dominate my thoughts. I can't afford to go to pieces. Nelly may be of age but I'm still her mother."
"How's Chadwick doing?"
Noelle Sr blushed, her eyes glistening. "Sometimes at night, when I wake up in an empty bed, I panic for a moment because I think him coming back was all a dream. And then he comes into the room, he takes me in his arms so gently and says, 'I'm not going anywhere. I love you Noelle.'"
Tears are streaming down her face now.
Now it was Suki's turn to take Noelle's hand and with a tearful smile, she squeezed it.
"We're married to a bunch of softies huh?"
Noelle Sr chuckled. "Hit the nail on the head, mate."
00000
Cheers all around as Porsha took to the shining and flashing dance floor and practically made it her territory with her out of this world moves.
And those choice of words are no coincidence.
She had discarded her jacket to increase flexibility as she danced to Bee Gees', You Should Be Dancing.
As she busted her sick moves, tantamount to her performance in Out of this World, her friends stood off to the side, hooting and hollering as the second youngest of their group busted a move.
As the song changed, Sandstorm began to play.
And Nooshy could take it no more as she sprang to the dance floor, joined Porsha's side, and with perfect synergy took the dance party to the next level.
The crowd went wild.
Estelle clapped her hands excitedly. "Wow!" she squealed. "They are so cool!"
She gasped. "You guys too!" she said, as though correcting herself.
Rosita, Ash and Meena laughed heartily.
Meena patted Estelle's head with a grin, her large tanned hand practically covering her entire head.
"They are pretty great, huh?" the gigantic girl said.
"You having fun?" Ash asked, giving the farm girl a friendly punch to the shoulder.
"Ya kidding? This is one of the best nights of my life!"
Estelle became so excited that she started rapidly jumping up and down like she had gone mad.
"Whoa whoa!" Rosita said, placing a hand on Estelle's shoulder to steady her. "Take it easy, Estelle. Don't want to wear yourself out too soon honey, the night's just starting."
"Woo," Estelle said, a tad dazed as she put a hand to her head.
Ash took her hand. "Why don't you sit down for a second."
"Sure," Estelle said, not looking at Ash, still dazed as she was.
Estelle watched a bit of a ways from the dance floor, but not far from the others, their backs to her.
"Well hey hey hey."
Estelle flinched at the sound of the deep and slightly inebriated voice.
Estelle looked up to see a young man, slick black hair and a leather jacket, with a toothpick in his mouth, clearly a few years older than her.
He had a stupid, smug grin on his face as though he owned the place and everything in it.
Of course, in this fellow's case, he was just the privileged son of the owner of said place.
Finn Mantle Jr.
He sat down right next to Estelle, a creep look in his eye as he winked at the girl.
Estelle suddenly felt sick as she glared at the guy.
"Do you mind?" Estelle said, not bothering to hide her disgust and irritation.
Mantle continued to eye Estelle as though he didn't hear her.
He twirled the toothpick in his mouth and pointed it at her seductively.
Estelle's eyes blazed. "You're about two seconds of having that toothpick lodged down your throat, now get outta my face you creep!"
Mantle was no longer grinning.
He was scowling.
"Hey."
Estelle and Mantle looked up to see Nooshy standing above them, hands on her hips, her eyes blazing furiously.
"You got cloth ears? She said for you to leave her alone."
Mantle stood up and towered over Nooshy.
She did not falter an inch, unafraid and unrelenting before this punk.
"My father owns this club," Mantle said, trying to maintain an image of manliness. "I can have you and your lame friends thrown out in a flash."
Nooshy smirked. "You've never met my dad. But I'd be more worried if it's my mum you ever meet."
Mantle chuckled darkly. "Oh really? I bet she's as ugly as you are."
And then without warning, a hand grabbed Mantle by the ear and yanked down and hard.
Mantle cried out in pain in a rather high-pitched squeal.
Enraged, he turned to see, and his heart sank upon seeing an even more enraged face, a middle-aged woman, a little over half his size, with Snow White hair with flecks of black, tied back.
A spitting image of Nooshy.
Noelle Sr's face was cold and hard.
"Let's take a walk, punk," she said in her clipped British accent.
Noelle Sr dragged a whining and struggling Finn Mantle Jr towards the club exit.
"Hey! Let go! You can't do this! My dad will sue you into the Stone Age!
This incident caught the attention of every patron in the club.
Including the security detail.
Two large burly ill-favored men stepped in front of Noelle Sr, who still had Mantle by the ear.
The most rough-looking one, who had a full beard and a bald head, sneered.
"Ya got a death wish? Don't you know who that is?"
Noelle Sr just stared coldly, not saying a word.
The bearded man scowled. "Hey, didn't you hear-?!"
He stopped dead as he looked into Noelle's eyes.
That look she had, that piercing, seering glare.
Like the eyes of a war vet.
It chilled the man with fear.
His partner caught the same look.
And they both stepped back and out of Noelle's way, hands held up placatingly.
Noelle Sr walked out of the club, Finn Jr in tow by the ear.
Estelle watched in amazement, wringing her hands.
Nooshy stood by her side, hand on the smaller girl's shoulder, feeling both embarrassed and proud of her mother.
The others watched, shifting awkwardly.
Meena leaned in to whisper into Ash's ear.
"I think we'd better leave now."
Ash nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."
00000
The girls exited the club in a hurry.
As they turned a corner, they were shocked to see a shirtless Finn Mantle Jr, shirtless, gagged, and his arms tied around a power pole, staring daggers at the group, especially Nooshy.
Meena gasped in horrified delight, covering her mouth to keep from laughing.
Porsha and Nooshy cackled like madwomen.
Ash shifted uncomfortably. This could be very bad.
Rosita covered her mouth, both to prevent from gasping and laughing.
A grinning Estelle elbowed Nooshy. "Your mom rocks."
"I know right?"
"We haven't heard the last of this," Ash said grimly. "You know that right?"
Porsha, as carefree as ever, shrugged. "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."
Ash shook her head. "Don't you mean cross that bridge?"
"I know what I said."
00000
"Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are callin'!"
Noelle Sr crooned as she strolled down the sidewalk with an unimpressed Suki by her side.
"You could've been a bit more subtle than that."
"It couldn't be helped, love. If you only saw the piece he was carrying."
Suki blinked in surprise.
"That club has a no-gun policy."
Noelle Sr rolled her eyes. "Like that's gonna stop the predatory."
"What did you do with it?" Suki asked.
"With what?"
Suki closed her eyes in frustration. "The piece, the gun of course."
Noelle Sr lifted her shirt to reveal a Glock sticking out of her trousers.
"What are you going to do with it?"
Noelle shrugged. "Put it through the registry. Funny feeling about its make and where it came from."
00000
Calatonia Beach
The girls stood on the shore, watching the yellow sky turn into a burning coral as the sun descended.
It gave the Pacific such a fine orange glow, it was breathtaking to all concerned.
"Man, now that's a view," Nooshy said wistfully, eyes aglow.
"I never really appreciated it like this," Porsha said with a nod of agreement. "My house felt so empty back in Redshore, I never really looked at the ocean like this."
"After everything we went through," Meena said, voice unshaking and sure as she took in the sight. "You appreciate little things like this in life a little more."
The others stared at her, a tad gobsmacked by Meena's unusually confident moment.
Meena tilted her head. "What?"
"Nothing," they said in unison.
After a moment's thought, Rosita shook her head. "Actually, it wasn't nothing Meena. That was…" Rosita smiled up at the large girl. "…that was deep…and so true. After everything we've been through these past few years, things I'd never thought I'd be able to live through. Redshore. New York. I've…we've taken these little things for granted."
Nooshy blinked. "Omigosh. You're right." She looked down at the sapphire ring on her left hand.
"When Johnny was…" Unfathomable sadness flashed across her features and she clenched her teeth to keep from crying. "…when I thought he was…all the life felt like it drained from me."
Porsha took her hand and Nooshy took it gladly.
Rosita put a hand to her heart. "When Casper was taken…" She let out a shuddering breath. "…it felt like the world was ending." She sniffled with a small smile as she took Nooshy's hand. "And when you rescued him, you and Johnny, it felt like new life was put back into me. I know you probably get tired of hearing this, Noosh, but I can never thank you enough."
Nooshy smiled bashfully. "You're welcome. How's Casper doing?"
Rosita looked down, a trace of sadness in her eyes.
"He rarely has nightmares now, but he's still wary of heights. He's not as active as he used to be, but he's getting better."
Nooshy nodded sadly. "Good." Poor little mate.
"We'll be there to help him heal every step of the way," Meena said with an almost uncharacteristic amount of determination. "And each other."
"We all will," Ash said with a firm nod.
The group stood in silence, grim but pleasant.
Until Porsha broke the silence in her usual way.
"What are we standing here moping for?!" She cried. "We're supposed to be having fun! Not thinking on what-if's and might've's!"
She kicked her shoes off and dashed for the sea.
Watching the energetic girl dive into the water, the group shook their heads with unsurprised amusement.
Nooshy shrugged and followed suit.
Meena put a hand on Estelle's shoulder. "C'mon!"
And they followed as Rosita and Ash watched, smiling fondly at the warm scene.
Porsha and Nooshy wrestled, trying to overcome the other in the water.
Meena and Estelle cheered and whooped, each rooting for the other.
Porsha won and threw Nooshy in the water, laughing triumphantly.
And then, with a wicked grin, turned on Meena and Estelle.
Porsha splashed some sea water with such momentum and speed, it came at both Meena and Estelle in a bitingly cold sharp spray.
The large girl squealed in terrified delight.
Estelle almost cursed, whining how cold the water was.
With a fierce war-like cry, Nooshy stood up and tackled Porsha into the water.
Porsha, sitting her rear, waist deep in sea water, shook herself off, futile though it was.
Nooshy cackled like a mad woman.
Porsha grinned slyly, vengeance brewing in her mind.
Then, out of nowhere, Estelle rose from the water next to the two girls, like something out of an ominous thriller.
Nooshy and Porsha gawked, neither having seen the farm girl submerge.
And she spat out a mouthful of ocean at them.
"Ugh!" Porsha cried in disgust.
"Gross!" Nooshy exclaimed, wiping the water off, which was pretty useless since she was already wet.
"I gotcha!" Estelle squealed.
Then in a flash, using their feet under the water, Nooshy and Porsha tripped up the girl and crying out in surprise, fell backwards into the water.
They both laughed their heads off, soaking wet as they were.
Estelle laughed with them.
Meena too.
Ash and Rosita watched happily as these fine friends, their friends, played in the sea, taking great comfort in one another.
They looked at one another and smiled.
"We have it pretty good, don't we?" Ash said, beaming.
"We sure do, Ashlyn." Rosita kissed the young rocker on the cheek and she kissed her back with all the sweetness of a surrogate daughter.
And kicking their shoes off, actually Ash kicked her shoes off, Rosita removed her own very proper and lady like.
And these six friends danced, played and laughed in the cold ocean as the blood orange sky turned coral.
They didn't have a care in the world despite all they've endured and suffered.
Despite not knowing what laid before them, they knew they'd face it together.
Always.
To be continued…
NEXT CHAPTER: The Calatonia Sirens
As the story of the Moon Troupe continues, the shadow of their past plights passes.
But it may yet lie heavily on them.
As the girls partake in what would now be their routine jaunts, the city of Calatonia takes notice.
And the ladies are branded with a title fitting of their situation and status: the Sirens of Calatonia.
