All The Mixed Feelings (Van McCann)

Part 1

Abby

The loud beat of the music thumped in my ears as I made my way through the mass of dancing bodies in the club. It had been a long day. All I had wanted to do after work was to get home, kick off my shoes and curl up on the sofa. But my older sister Eve had other ideas. She'd dragged me along for a girls' night out. She meant well enough. I'd been single for only seven days, but that was long enough for me to wallow in self-pity apparently.

"You need to get back out there," Eve had said, "Come on, me and Jenny are out on Friday night. It will do you good. Just us girls! Invite Michelle along too."

Jenny was enthusiastic too. "Yeah it'll be a great night! And I still say the quickest way to get over a cheating bastard is to find yourself another man!"

Despite my protestations, here I was. I really didn't need a night out, or another man. I would have much rather been doing my best Bridget Jones impersonation, spending Friday night watching some unattainable romance on the TV, sobbing into my glass of Pinot Grigio.

As I made my way back to our booth from the ladies, I couldn't see Eve and Jenny at first, but then I spotted Eve's long blonde hair swaying as she danced with a guy I didn't recognise on the dance floor. Jenny was next to her. She was chatting to another lad and was draped all over him. So much for this being a girls-only night out.

There was Michelle, waiting for me in our  booth with two large gin and tonics and I breathed a sigh of relief that not everyone had deserted me. Of course Michelle had the good sense to know that what I really needed tonight was some good girly chat and copious amounts of alcohol, not a night on the pull.

"I hope that's a double!" I nodded towards the glass. "I think I need it to cope with this place!"

Michelle grimaced, looking around. "It's a bloody meat market in here. I don't know why Eve and Jenny insist on coming here all the time."

"Well I suppose there's not a huge amount of choice," I replied. "And it looks like they've already hooked up with some guys... well Jenny definitely has."

Michelle rolled her eyes as we sipped at our drinks.

The small town we lived in boasted only one nightclub. The drinks were overpriced, the music was terrible, and the sorts of clientele it attracted were the sort who wanted to get as drunk as possible, hook up with a faceless partner, wake up hungover and full of regret, but then do it all over again the following weekend regardless.

It wasn't my scene at all. I loved going to gigs and would much rather spend a night bouncing up and down, singing at the top of my lungs, losing myself in the music. At least at a gig you could have a decent conversation with like-minded people.

Mine and Michelle's shared passion of music was one of the things that had brought us together. Five years previously I'd been desperate to attend a Killers gig in the city which was sold out, and she'd been selling a ticket on a local selling group. I wouldn't have normally attended a gig on my own, but after exchanging messages with Michelle we had hit it off. The spare ticket she was selling was her ex's and she was determined to still go after a messy break-up and have a good time. We ended up travelling there together and having the night of our lives and became firm friends.

I surveyed the crowded dance floor, catching the eye of a rather inebriated lad who looked like he was barely old enough to get served at the bar. He'd obviously managed it though, several times judging by the state of him. He shot me a lascivious smile and raised his pint glass. I hurriedly looked away.