What Little Worlds

Seventeen

"There she is!" Charlotte shouted over the booming atmosphere of the club, pointing to Maggie as she weaved her way through the crowd.

"What took you so long? You were gone for like twenty minutes!" Amelie asked when Maggie finally arrived and slammed the three tequila shots she'd been holding onto the sticky black table.

"Oh I got so distracted, I'm sorry! The bartender served me right away, of course, but then there were these two super hot guys there and I just couldn't leave without talking to them." She gestured towards the bar, but Amelie could not make out anyone looking their way through the crush of bodies.

"Did you invite them over here?" She asked.

"Of course! They'll be over in five," Maggie replied, grinning.

"Aren't you seeing Jake?" Amelie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh slutever we're not exclusive. Besides, it's fun to flirt," she replied, rolling her eyes.

Amelie smiled back at her friend, who was notorious for finding a new boy every night and never holding onto one. The fact that Jake had stayed on the side for over a month was extraordinary. She wondered if maybe, Maggie liked him more than she was letting on.

"Mags, how are things with Jake going?" Amelie asked.

Maggie looked at the ceiling and put her hand on her hip. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But, I thought you were starting to like him. Are you going to become exclusive?" Amelie probed.

"I don't do exclusive. You know that."

"But why?" Amelie said.

"Jake seems like a great guy, he could be the exception to the rule." Charlotte chimed in, giggling.

Maggie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Being exclusive gives them too much power. I am my own woman." She annunciated every word of the last sentence.

"But-" Amelie began.

"Okay! We are here to celebrate my first big-girl job in the consulting world, people!" Charlotte shot into the conversation, pushing the other girls' drinks into their hands. "Pay attention to me!"

Amelie shook her head. This was a fight for another day. Or for never. Amelie often thought back to that day at Maggie's house when they were twelve. That truth she knew and left untouched for years to save their friendship. It was against her nature to brush things under the rug like that, but she was terrified that if she acknowledged it outside of small, carefully-worded words of concern, Maggie would shut her out her forever.

"You're right," she yelled, smiling. She raised her shot glass.

"A toast! To Charlotte, may she kick Cleveland's butt and look good doing it!"

The girls clinked their shots and downed them in one gulp.

"Let's go grab those boys and dance!" yelled Charlotte.

They made their way to the dance floor and Amelie slung her arm around Charlotte's waist. "I'm going to miss you, hun. Who is going to keep me sane during my lunch breaks? I need you there to remind me that I'm not the crazy one in that office."

"You won't miss me that much! Besides, our wallets need a break from eating out every day." Amelie nodded at that. "And, you'll still see me on the weekends! My first day back, in three weeks, I'm all yours."

"Okay, good. I'll hold you to that!" She unwise her hand and stretched it out to her friend. Charlotte grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously.

Amelie grinned and said, "I'm starting to make a list immediately of all the things you missed while I was gone. Be prepared for an entire day of listening to me gripe about Cathy," she paused, contemplating whether to tell Charlotte about Adrien. Maggie had moved enough ahead that she wouldn't be able to overhear them in the loud club. "And maybe a few details about this new boy I've been seeing. He's pretty wonderful so far."