Between Boyfriends (Book 1 in the Between Boyfriends Series)

Chapter 22

Jan's musings ended when they arrived at the front of the club. They had gotten there early enough that there wasn't much of a line. All Jan had time to think about was finding her student ID and her driver's license. Thursday nights were free for college students before 10:30 PM. They had just made it.

When she pulled her phone out of her purse to get it out of the way as she searched, she saw that she had missed a call from Juan. She debated calling him back, but Nichole and Becki had already gone inside. Lisa was talking to the bouncer and Jan would be in front of him in a few seconds. Even though her purse was almost empty (not carrying around ten pounds of makeup lightened the load and left quite a bit of space) it took Jan forever to find her driver's license. She got it just in time to hand it to the bouncer, who checked her picture against her face and welcomed her to the club. Jan walked in to where a woman guarding the staircase that led to the actual club was standing behind a cash register. She handed the lady at the register her driver's license and frantically went back to digging in her purse to find the student ID that would get her in for free. The cashier stamped her hand with that night's "over 21" symbol and waved her through without charging her.

Jan didn't question why; she just ran inside and up the stairs to the club before the woman changed her mind. She figured that the cashier must have assumed she was in college since all her friends had already shown their SDSU student IDs.

She found her friends waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Lisa was looking around open-mouthed as if she had never been to a club before. Maybe she never had, thought Jan. Deco's was pretty impressive. True to its name, it was done up in an Art Deco style reminiscent of the 1930s. Everywhere you turned there were vintage lights, hand-painted murals, and tons of hot guys.

Jan smiled at her friends for waiting. They all smiled back, even Nichole, whose mood had improved once they had entered the club and saw the men. Jan had only been to Deco's a couple of times before, but she remembered the layout fairly well.

"I think we should look around for Raven and Shauna. They said they would meet me by the dance floor. But that could mean any of the three dance floors. There's one down here," she said and pointed to the left of where the girls were standing. The area she was pointing at resembled a ballroom with hardwood flooring and a crystal chandelier in the center. Then Jan pointed to the right. "And another down that hallway." Jan's eyes turned to the right to see if she saw her friends near the second dance floor. It had disco ball instead of a chandelier, as well as multicolored disco lights and a fog machine. "The third floor is up the small staircase in the back."

One of the reasons Deco's was so popular, and Jan suspected was the reason Nichole had been eager to come, was because the back room with the third floor was one of the few places in San Diego that allowed smoking inside.

"Yeah, let's check the back," Nichole said predictably.

Jan doubted either Shauna or Raven would be hanging around smokers. "Neither of them smokes. I don't think we'll find them back there."

Lisa and Becki wore identical puzzled expressions. She assumed that they must not have heard about the indoor smoking.

"Smoking is allowed in the back area. There is a huge opening in the ceiling, which is covered by a white tent if there's rain, but can theoretically let the smoke out."

"Yeah, right," Lisa said. "Smoke clings to everything. And I doubt your personal trainer would subject herself to that." Jan could tell by the disdainful way Lisa spoke that she didn't want to "subject" herself to it either. Jan hoped Nichole wasn't offended. They had all made it clear to her in the past that it wasn't her smoking that they hated; it was breathing it into their own bodies that they didn't like. Secondhand smoke killed; it was a fact, nothing personal.