Prank Date [✔]

Part 23

When I finally found a parking space one block from the club, I got out of my car and hurried toward the nightclub. A quick glance at my watch showed that it was half past ten. I was thirty minutes late.

My cell phone chirped. I took a look. Nikki again. Great. During the forty-minute drive to the nightclub, I had already gotten two text messages from Nikki and one from Joy, asking me where I was and informing me that they were waiting inside.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. On my way." I waited in line for a few minutes, paid the cover charge, and took a deep breath before I entered the club.

Loud music and flashing lights engulfed me. I gritted my teeth against the noise and made my way through the crowd waiting their turn in front of the long bar. Someone bumped into me and spilled a sticky drink all over my hands.

I groaned as I tried to shake off the liquid. Having Jennie spill wine on me had been much nicer. Stop thinking about Jennie!

I continued to weave through the crowd. After a long day in the winery, I wasn't in the mood to have my feet trampled on a tiny dance floor, but I hadn't seen my friends since Halloween, so at least catching up with them would be nice.

"Hey, Lisa!" someone shouted from the left.

When I turned, I discovered that my friends had commandeered one of the small, round tables along one wall.

"Finally!" Nikki said when I walked up to them. She hugged me, pressing a bit too close and holding on a few seconds too long.

I returned the hug for a moment, then pulled back and eyed the almost empty drink on the table in front of Nikki's chair. Oh, great. Another evening of trying to let Nikki down gently.

I turned to greet the rest of my friends. "Sorry for being late. The couple just couldn't agree on which wines to serve at their wedding."

"If they can't even agree on that, the marriage is doomed," Seulgi said.

She leaned back in her chair and pulled Irene onto her lap.

Irene half-turned and gently hit her wife's shoulder. "Gosh, you're such a romantic. Remind me why I married you?"

"Yeah, you should have married me instead of the big unromantic bear over there," I said, my voice raised. The shouting was already getting on my nerves, and I wished we had gotten a table that wasn't so close to the dance floor.

Irene grinned. "I offered, but you didn't give me the time of day."

I rolled my eyes. "I was five years old, and you were just after my lunch box when you proposed."

"Now who's the big unromantic bear?" Seulgi nudged her wife, pulled her around, and kissed her.

Even though I averted my gaze to respect my friends' privacy, images of Jennie kissing me flashed through my mind. I frowned and tried to distract myself by scanning the crowd for familiar faces. A few of the women on the dance floor were attractive, but tonight, none of them captured my interest.