The Labyrinth on Bourbon Street 2

Toasts, Boats and Closure

"Are you sure about this, Lapis?" Allie asked, seeing her friend's hair slowly drift in the cool December wind. The gentle rocking of the river under their feet soothed them, and the air was clean and fresh. 

Allie had been saving a surprise for Lapis for the New Year's Eve weekend; her uncle let her borrow his boat to take out on the Mississippi for a good shot of the entire city's collective fireworks display. But now, it served a different purpose.

"It's for the best." Lapis dropped her head. As much as she dreaded it, she knew the day would have to come eventually. She felt the little red leather-bound book one more time, running her hand over the cover, as if to say goodbye.

Without a thought, word or breath, Lapis chucked the book into the river, turning around immediately after, as the sight of her childhood memories drowning was painful to watch. All she could think about was how she was letting go of her childhood for real. It was only a year prior when she allowed Jareth to admire her from afar, but the temptation to return only consumed her. It was for the best to cut all ties and move on with her life. It would save her from insanity and her friends from trauma.

"Hey Lapis!" Sebastian was sitting on the cushioned seats in the back, a little black table between his legs and Lapis's old suitcase set down by his feet. "Why did you need us dressed to the nines again?"

"Because I wanted to see how handsome my little Sebby looks in a nice suit." Lapis answered, eyeing him up and down. He certainly did look handsome; his black suit nicely complemented his silky chin-length soot brown hair, and Allie did a professional job covering his black eyes. 

"If it's all the same to you," Sebastian looked back at himself. "You ladies look splendid tonight as well."

Lapis did think that the tight, strapless red dress was a bit much, but Sebastian seemed to like it okay. Allie wore her prom dress; the short, midnight blue with shiny sequins closely captured the vision of the night sky.

"So, I brought us all something from the underground." She said, putting a hand on her suitcase. "I thought we could split it three ways."

"What's even in there?" Allie's eyes widened in sheer, unbearable curiosity.

"Mmm..." Lapis hummed, partially because she wanted to tease her best friend but mostly because she didn't know if the treasure was even still in there. "I'm going to wait for the right time. For all of us."

"Yeah, okay..." Allie faked a smile, but Lapis was always known to be sarcastic as hell.

Lapis broke the rusted locks off of the leather and used a crowbar to pry open the chest. The inside was as chock-full of goodies as promised. Golden coins filled up the whole base and dozens of gems in various hues and sizes were scattered across the coins. Buried in the gems and coins was the occasional piece of elaborately crafted jewelry or solid gold bar; it was so much to look at that it was almost uncomfortable.

"Holy shit." Sebastian said, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping. Lapis even felt the need to back away from it, it was so intimidating.

"Oh my lord, oh MY LORD!" Allie started to build up her voice and jumped to her feet. She pulled Sebastian up to his feet and dipped him in her arms, planting her busted lips on his busted lips for a broken and painful, albeit deserved, single kiss.

"Okay! Okay!" Lapis said, tripping over her heat-of-the-moment laughter.

"For Sebastian..." she pulled out the biggest diamond in the whole horde, it was bigger than Sebastian's two fists put together. "Get yourself that baby grand you wanted..." She continued to pick out gems from the case for him. "or maybe two or three, get yourself a nice apartment to put them in!"

Sebastian had no idea how to react. He was surrounded by enormous gemstones, easily worth a couple million each. His bit his lip nervously, running his hands along his new collection.

"Now Allie." Lapis said, flattening her palms. "I always knew you to like crystal necklaces and those dangle-y earrings..."

Lapis started to dig out all of the necklaces, bracelets and rings she could find buried in the coins and gemstones, among the whole being a significantly high amount of crystal necklaces and dangle-y earrings. Lapis made a nice little pile of the jewelry and slid it over to Allie, who was still standing in shock.

"I'm taking the gold bars, there's only like four or five of them," Lapis said, pulling them out. There were only a few, but they were significantly bigger than the ones that any of them had seen before. "And we can divvy up the coins between the three of us."

"Whaddya think? Did I do good?" Lapis shrugged to them. Allie had no words, all she could do was hug her friend until she asphyxiated.

When Allie was done repeating the words 'thank you' over and over again, Sebastian snatched her up, spun her in his arms and planted a short kiss on her lips, smearing her electric red lipstick onto his lips. 

"Should I break open the champagne?" Lapis asked, already walking to the cooler and pulling out the bottle. She didn't even wait for an answer before she effortlessly broke off the cork with a loud, satisfying pop.

"Oooh, yes please." Allie said, practically dancing over to Lapis and the flutes she was propping up. Lapis was sat cross-legged on top of the table as she poured.

"Sebby, you're the king of funny toasts, what've ya got for us tonight?" Lapis handed him a flute with a some sparkly golden champagne in it. 

"Here's to the two ladies I love the most," Sebastian started, raising his voice and his glass. "the gals I'll never forget, from the nights I'll try to."

Lapis and Allie gushed. "Your turn, Allie." Lapis urged her.

"To Lapis and Sebastian." Allie smirked. "The cause of, and solution to, all the problems in my life. There is no in between."

"I got one!" Lapis smiled. "To my dearest friends, Allie and Sebastian. They've seen me at my worst, seen me at my best and can't tell the difference. Cheers, you guys."

"Noroc, iubirile mele." Sebastian chimed as the glasses tapped in harmony. He looked both of his girls in the eyes as they drank in unison.

Sebastian's watch beeped to mark off the hour and an explosion in the background nearly startled Allie off of her high heels. Lapis and Sebastian turned their heads upwards to see a shower of blue and purple sparks illuminating the sky.

"Happy New Year." Lapis wished, the bangs and cracks in the background, as well as screams of good cheer from the land, almost covering her words.

"And here's to happily ever after for the Queen, the Black Stray and the Piano-man." Allie laughed.