Resurrection

Chapter 7 : Dangerous Liaisons of the Third Kind

At this point home felt light years away, and the ramshackle team of expendable family did their best to make me feel as comfortable as possible. When bad things start to happen, you feel especially vulnerable in a foreign place. No matter what the situation: backs against the wall and identify the nearest exit.

The nightclub the boys showed me into looked visually appealing to the masses, yet to me it could have resembled a bar at the end of the universe. The blue LED's under the bar and the fanciful cocktail menu certainly didn't help with the alienation but my friend Wayne insisted this place was 'jumpin'. I expected a fight to break out at any minute though nothing could compare to the conflict within me. I waited with ensnared breath for any sign of life or communication from Amy. Sadly, this wasn't happening any time soon.

We continued to chat and play a few games of pool. In the meantime, David decided to show off his flaring skills, balancing a champagne glass on his hand before flipping it masterfully into the other.

Wayne decided to yell out random things to people at the bar, especially women. Most of them looked a little confused and maintained a beeline safely in the other direction. Others would stop occasionally to hear his guttural and nonsensical diatribe of how men were from Mars and women were from Uranus. Then he would offer to 'take a look under the hood.' The only physical reciprocation he received was the odd slap. His finest moment however, was when some Miss Piggy's doppelganger sauntered over to the bar with breasts pouring out of her cleavage. She looked as if she had escaped a Cher music video nightmare. She had a wonderfully awful grasp of colloquial language and laughed like a hyena at the bartender. Wayne caught her at the cigarette machine and when she spun around he dropped a coin down her top, placed his hand at crotch level and then smacked her firmly on the backside. When she shrieked in horror, he looked down her cleavage and hollered: "Where's me fuckin' smokes gone? I put some coins in."

David and others around him thought this was hilarious and you could hear the knee slaps echo around the foyer. Even in my emo-like trance, I couldn't resist breaking character and emit a small chuckle at this point. I laughed harder when Miss Piggy kneed him in the balls and Wayne went down for the count, yelling out: "Worth it!"

I was content nursing a Sagres while David decided to buy a bottle of Dom Perignon to show off. His whole purpose was to offer a glass to girls passing by in order to engage them with conversation. To his credit, it worked in so far as to break the ice, though afterwards his small talk did little to keep them there. It was at this next rejection of David's champagne supernova that I finally received the text from Amy. It was very simple: "where are you?" and "we need to talk." At no point did I think either of these things sounded good.

We need to talk? We're not even really official and it already sounded like it was over.

She eventually came to meet us at 'The Purple Walrus'- not the most serious name I had ever heard for a club. She held out a hand for me, which made me feel a little relieved and led us through a network of red curtains into a private booth.

She started "You seem like a great guy. I am so sorry"

Her eyes started to well up.

I replied: "I'm not really."

"Shut up. Yes you are."

I had no idea what was happening here. I could only do my best not to interrupt and let her spill whatever happened. She looked like she hadn't gone home. Lipstick was smudged across her mouth and her hair looked out of place. She continued. "So I thought I would just get a lift. I had no idea why Ryan was so friendly"

I could guess.

"It would be a while before I could go home. I didn't always take a key but that's beside the point. What started as a few drinks went south pretty well. He kissed me and all I could do was think about the other night. I was being selfish at this point."