Familiar

Chapter Two

 It was the fox again.

# #

I had wanted to rush outside and see if I could catch up to it, but it quickly scurried away down a side street as I watched. And besides, I reminded myself, I had a roommate to reassure. So after making sure Tanya had already finished showering, I gathered up some of my cleaner clothes and headed to the bathroom to shower and clean up. Tanya hadn't told me where we were going tonight. I hoped it wasn't a club.

Tanya looked me up and down as I stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed. My hair was still down in its curly ringlets as I pressed the towel to them and hoped they wouldn't be too frizzy once they dried.

"I just have to put some mousse in my hair and I'll be ready to leave. But I wasn't sure if you needed the bathroom first or-"

"No. I'm fine, but you-" She stood with her arms crossed and her hair straightened, her eyes and lips both lined perfectly with makeup. Tight black jeans, and a flowing grey tank top and dangling earrings. Not her clubbing clothes I thought, thankfully, but she still looked a lot better than me. I looked down at the old jeans that I had worn to work the last three days and a sweater that I had thrown on. Rolling my eyes at Tanya, I gestured to myself with the hand that wasn't holding the towel.

"I was supposed to be doing laundry tonight, I don't really have anything else. Besides, you haven't even told me where we're going."

"Actually, I figured we'd go somewhere a little bit more your style. We're going to "The Buzz", the little cafe restaurant place with the soft lighting and the library feeling to it. You know, the one you dragged me to a few months ago?"

I knew the place, and I had taken her there a few months ago, but not for any of the reasons she probably guessed. The basement had a hidden potion ingredient store, and I didn't have any money for transportation. Tanya doesn't have a car either, but she has friends that do.

"Oh, okay. Well, am I okay with what I'm wearing?" I asked as more of a formality since I really didn't have any other clothes left at the moment.

"Not really, I sort of invited Ryan, too." Tanya wouldn't meet my eyes, but her smirk was evident.

"What? Tanya, I'm really not in the mood to be set up with one of your friends tonight." I glared at her and she met my stare as she spoke.

"It's not just Ryan, they'll be others too. Becca, Mya, a few others that you know." Know, was a rather loose term in this case. She meant "know", as in I had met them for three seconds before Tanya walked out the door with them and headed out to who knows where. "C'mon," Tanya pleaded again. "You can't turn back now, I already told them you were coming."

'Oh? And you told this Ryan guy I was coming too?" I raised an eyebrow and my tone conveyed I wasn't impressed with being set up.

"Ryan's different, he's not really part of my group he's a friend of a friend and he's like you, all alone and mysterious." Mysterious? I laughed at her.

"Is that what you think I am? Mysterious?" I laughed again and wiggled my fingers at her like the stereotype voodoo spells from movies.

"Well, yeah, kinda. So, let's get you some better clothes." Tanya grinned as she whirled me into her room.

# #

As much as I usually hate going along with Tanya, I had to admit that she had good fashion sense, and borrowing her clothes was kinda fun. She even managed to come up with an outfit that not only looked good on me, but that was also comfortable. Tighter blue jeans and a leather jacket, and one of my own longer necklaces meant that I at least would look a little bit presentable. Normally, I wouldn't worry too much about those things, but I also didn't know too many people. And I was a bit nervous.