Bittersweet Serendipity

Chapter 5 - Clubbing and Chugging

Sadie and I get out of the car after a quick costume change. We switch to party dresses, a pair of suede ankle boots for me, and strappy heels for Sadie. I've been out clubbing before, of course, with Sadie and Mason a few times so I know better than to arrive in sweaty concert clothes because, for what it's worth, you're going to get even sweatier in a club.

We enter the hotel and take the elevator, with a few special high-maintenance greetings and services for the owner's daughter and her best friend. Inevitably, the club is blasting out The Wanted songs, and if you listen really closely, slurred voices are singing along. Typical. In the crowd I see Jay's curly head poking out, as well as Max's bald head and Siva's hair-do. They stand out the most, if you'd ask me.

I watch as the curly bitch spots me and walks towards me with a smile on, his face already sort of bright pink since he's been drinking. "Hey," he says, his eyes skirting my body. "You're looking fit, Cales."

I'm not really sure what he's talking about; I've always been a Plain Jane. I mean, there's nothing really special about me. I've never been regarded to as special. Not until now. Sure, I get a lot of compliments from my parents and from Sadie, but I'm used to them. It's just a normal thing for them to do. But from other people? Not really. My features don't really stand out, I can't really sing, I can't dance either, nor do I have any talents, so I don't really know what to think about what Jay has said.

"You ready to party?" he asks, waggling his eyebrows. He smirks at me and hands me a shotglass. I drink the contents straight down to the bottom.

"I was born ready," I reply. And as the world spins beneath my feet, I realise that I've lost Sadie somewhere, but just as I was starting to worry, my eyes land on a blonde sipping drinks with a slightly shorter Nathan by the bar. I smile to myself because the scenario looks quite odd. "Look at Sadie! She's quite taller than Nath with heels on," I laugh, tugging on Jay's sleeve.

I think he laughed the loudest because of that, his ever-familiar laugh hollering in the club, battling with the sound of the speakers though no one seems to mind. "Oi, Nath!" he calls, then levels a hand a bit over his head and points at Sadie. Nathan, who is subtly peering from the blonde's side, rolls his eyes at us whilst grinning and mouths, Ha - ha.

"So," I start, downing more drinks as we pass a waiter with a tray of them, "what did you think of your gig tonight?"

He orders a mug of beer for himself and "a margarita for the lovely girl" and replies, "I loved the gig tonight. It was probably one of the best, so far. I mean, it's always a blast meeting fans and interacting with them, and every time, there's something new and wonderful to love, something different in every encounter." He smiles at me and tips the mug against his lips, the beer spilling into his mouth. "This time," he continues, "I sort of became friends with two lovely girls. One was always stolen by Nathan, and the other loved insulting me and became my Heart Vacancy girl. And it's been a pleasure and an honor to be her first kiss."

"Oh, really?" I ask with a sly grin. I sip my margarita, still smirking. "Tell me all about her."

"Why don't you? You know her the most," he tells me as I finish my margarita. It's obviously one of his strategies on making new friends and it's certainly working for him.

I order a glass of vodka from the bartender as I divulge things about my past to Jay, peeling off layer after layer of myself before him, getting closer and closer to the core, to the real me. He sits nearer to me, beside me, and as I find myself crying, telling him about having an abusive father, a possessive boyfriend, and a broken family, he wipes my tears away, his fingers blackened with mascara. Jay hands me a napkin and I dry my eyes with it.