"So... who are you with?" The burly security guard steps forward, barring your way.
"I'm with the band," you say, your voice loaded with suggestiveness, and it doesn't go unnoticed.
He raises an eyebrow, taking in your too-tight dress and cherry red...
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"Bella, oh my god I have the most exciting news for you babe... you're never gonna guess what's happening this weekend!"
Portia appears on my phone screen as I accept her FaceTime call, her shrill excited screech making me wince. It looks like she's calling from the toilets of some club or bar. I note the stark white tiles behind her, the muted sound of heavy bass, it matches my current environment. I cross over to a low bank of sinks, perching on the edge to get comfy. She's quite obviously on one and I know this won't be a quick call.
"Hey P, what's up?"
"Well, me and Tara were just talking and saying how much we're missing you..."
"Missing you sooooo much bestie!"
Grace suddenly disappears and Tara comes into view, all fluttering lashes and plump fillered-lips, her pupils blown-wide and a little wild from partying hard.
"Oh hi Tara! Looking good... missing you too!" I try to inject some enthusiasm into my voice which comes out fake-sounding in my drunken state. Not that the girl on the screen would likely notice, there's not one genuine thing about her from the roots of her overly-dyed hair to her surgically enhanced double-Ds to the tips of her perfectly manicured toes. And worse still... her personality matches her plastic pampered looks. Portia and I have always kept her at arms length even though she moves in the same circles as us and I feel a twinge of jealousy seeing her and my best friend out partying together.
"What's all this I hear about you fucking Sam Fender? How the hell did you manage that?"
I stiffen at the condescending tone which she doesn't try to hide, letting a smug smile stretch wide on my lips as way of retaliation.
"Oh we just met at a party, it was a record label party, there were loads of people from the industry there. Sam couldn't take his eyes off me from the moment we were introduced."
"So d'ya go to lots of these parties then?" Tara wants to know, but Portia is back, plucking the phone from her grasp.
"Bella's cousin's in a band you know... what his name again? Harry isn't it?"
"It's Larry!" I correct her with a sigh. She never gets his name right and it usually amuses me but it irritates me tonight for some reason. "And he's not in the band, he works with them, he's the guitar tech for the lead singer. They're actually really good, much better than I thought... and all the guys are really nice too."
I can see Portia's eyes glazing over until Tara whispers something in her ear and she starts giggling.
"So anyway... back to Sam... Tara wants to know if he's any good in bed!"
"Has he got a big cock?" Tara sniggers in the background. "And more importantly, does he know what to do with it?"
This kind of dirty talk would normally draw me right in, but the fact that the girls have quite obviously only contacted me to find out the salacious gossip and not see how I am vexes me.
