When Agnetha and Björn returned to their table, Benny and Frida didn't even bother to look at them. On the contrary. Benny had put his arm around Frida possessively, beaming at her and pulling her close again to kiss her.
Agnetha involuntarily turned to Björn, who saw this as an invitation to put his arm around her too. He didn't let go even when she reached for her drink. And not even when she finally exchanged a few words with Frida. Superficial and meaningless, as the distance was too great and the music too loud for anything else.
Instead, Björn talked without a break. About topics that didn't interest her, but she had no motivation to change the subject either.
Agnetha could feel herself becoming increasingly dissatisfied.
Lying in Björn's arms, getting drunk and watching drunken people dance...
That hadn't been the reason she had come here.
That hadn't been the reason she had overcome her fear.
She wanted attention.
Frida's attention.
With the most innocent expression on her face since she had played Maria Magdalena, Agnetha ran the back of her hand firmly over her forehead, smudging all her make-up in the process.
"Watch out!"
She felt Frida, suddenly very close grab her wrist.
"You're smudging all your make-up."
Frida scrutinised her forehead without releasing her firm grip on her wrist.
"You've already smudged all your make-up."
Agnetha stared at her with wide eyes, trying not to look too pleased and suspicious. It was only when Frida eyed her with amusement that she dared to smile apologetically.
"Help me."
Frida grinned broadly at her before turning to her bag and Benny.
"Can you let us out for a minute? We have an emergency."
Reluctantly, Benny stood up to let the two of them pass.
"Come on!"
Frida held out her hand to her, looked at her again and burst into her infectious laughter, making Agnetha start giggling too. About her bad plan. About the fact that it had worked. Because life was simply wonderful and perhaps also because of the alcohol.
With Agnetha's hand in hers, Frida made her way through the celebrating crowd. She noticed with slight unease that the hall was slowly beginning to fill up. She felt Agnetha tighten her grip on her hand and hurried to lead them as far and fast as possible past the people.
Even before the toilet facilities came into view, she could already see the queue and the crowd that had formed in front of them and she realised that this would not be the place where they would touch up Agnetha's make-up.
But that didn't matter. She would find a place for it. Frida knew these kinds of halls. She had been in quite a few and had had to find her way around. Without a word, she led Agnetha past the waiting queue into an unlit and deserted corridor. The music was much more subdued here and Frida was grateful to be able to relax her ears and voice a little.
"Where are we going?" Agnetha was now beside her and for a brief moment she had almost let go of her hand, but now that it was getting darker, she held on to it again.
"Somewhere where it's not so crowded."
Frida walked on purposefully, her eyes slowly adjusting to the sparse light.
