Naomi and Starlight

Naomi

Naomi wasn't paying attention to her friends. She wasn't listening to their chattering (more like yelling, really) or watching their waving arms (beer bottles in hand). Usually she would be there in the thick of things; pulled in by their orbit. But her eye had been drawn to a small bright point in this dark galaxy of a dive bar.

A girl was sitting quietly in a booth across the bar. She was sipping a beer. Her face said that she wasn't enjoying it. She kept her elbows tucked in close at her side and her chin pointed down. She wasn't with anyone, and she was keeping her eyes to herself. But her hair was bright blue and sparkling under the dim lights.

Even as the hair made her stand out, she seemed to be trying to hide behind it. The bangs obscured her shy eyes and the chin-length cut framed her face, throwing it in shadow.

Naomi traced a heart carved into the dark wood of the table she was sitting at. There weren't any initials carved in the middle of the heart. No JT+AW or MP+GK like the old cliche. It was an empty heart, waiting to be filled. She tapped the heart twice and dug an elbow into her oldest friend's side.

Amelia was one of the quiet ones of their group and had been whispering with Julie, their newest friend. "We should go sit with her. She looks lonely." Naomi pointed to the girl across the bar, still drinking in her blue hair.

"Yeah?" Amelia sounded uncertain.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to come with, Julie?" Amelia was always the picture of politeness. Even her well-kept blond hair over chunky brown glasses and A-line dress looked polite.

Julie glanced at Jason, whom she'd recently begun dating.

"Dude! Suck a dick!" Jason was not the picture of politeness. But then, neither was the person he was talking to, Naomi's brother, Ben.

"Boys!" Naomi interrupted, standing up. "We're moving tables! Come on!"

Starlight

"I love your hair."

The blue-haired girl looked up at the dark-haired girl standing in front of her. Her voice was brassy. She had never thought of someone's voice as brassy before, but this girl's was. She was instantly jealous of the girl's floral dress, jean jacket and combat boots. She would never have such a cute outfit.

"It looks like starlight." The girl was already sitting, along with her many friends.

"Thanks," the blue-haired girl said, glancing around at her suddenly full table. The floral girl had sat right next to her, forcing her to scoot closer to the wall, making her feel hedged in. She gripped her drink.

Next to the floral girl was a boy with the same dark, curly hair and even similar thick, dark glasses as the floral girl. They had to be siblings. Three people had sat on the other side of the booth: A blond girl, an Asian girl and a tall Black guy. Another girl had pulled up a chair to the end of the booth. It was an overwhelming gaggle of people.

"So what brings you in here tonight, Starlight?" The floral girl asked.

"Um." She had begun wondering that herself when this nova of people had exploded into her booth. "I was just trying to have some fun, I guess," she said with a shrug. She took a gulp of beer, which she tried not to gag on.

"Well, that's perfect, because I am very fun." The girl held out her hand. "I'm Naomi." They shook and before Starlight could introduce herself, Naomi was naming off everyone around the table. "This is my brother, Ben," she said, jerking her thumb at the boy next to her. "And Amelia, Amy for short," was the blond girl. The Asian girl was Julie and the Black guy was Jason. The girl who had pulled up a chair was Kacey. Her long brown hair was bone straight and she wore skinny jeans, Converse and a flannel.