The Soulmate Curse

CLOVE (for memory) - Part 3

Finn lowered the settings on her ear guard as low as they could go, letting the music pour in loud enough to give her a slight headache. She didn't care. If she didn't need them to be able to talk to other people in here, she'd probably just rave without them. That was the kind of mood she was in tonight. The mood to get lost in ungodly high decibels of noise that drowned every other thought in her mind. She did like her new set of ear guards though. They looked stylish, wrapping around her earlobes like expensive jewellery. Ina had designed them for her as practice for the band's merch drop later in the year. They were going to sell heaps of these, no question. It was then that Finn realised that her little sister might just be a Rockstar. Weird.

Finn turned to look at Zhen and the pain inside her chest, which had been hanging around all day, increased tenfold. Zhen was in a black Henley tee, opened at the collar, and simple, fitting blue jeans folded at the bottom to show off a 4D anklet, and a pair of old-school sneakers. It was her hair that made how Finn felt even worse. When they'd met again, months ago at the apartment, Zhen's hair had been short, almost buzzed down to her scalp. She'd been growing it out through the months and tonight she had that quintessential one-inch rainbow streak running down the left side and falling over her shoulder. Just like the first time they'd met. So unfair.

Jani found them a table for the night. A few of the others split to go join the crowd in front of the stage. It was a Karaoke Concert night. The volunteers would go on stage and participate in a concert-like experience that would be recorded and posted on their social media pages. The production value impeccable. Even if the singers weren't that good, their voices were digitally modified to sound relatively okay. Most of the videos that came out of it looked like music videos from the 2020s. It was that good. Made this club extremely popular. Which was why Finn had chosen it.

She took one last look at the deliciousness that was Zhen talking to a pretty brunette who'd come up to her from the crowd and then headed to the bar. She raised the settings to her ear guards to silence the club music and synced with the bartender's guards. All the staff had their ear guards always open to syncing.

"Can I have a water please?" Finn asked the bartender.

"Are you sure you don't want anything stronger?" he asked.

"Just a water is fine," said Finn, a little annoyed at his presumption. She turned to look at Zhen. She was still talking with the brunette from earlier. However, the girl waved goodbye and headed back into the crowd. Zhen turned and locked eyes with Finn. She turned back to the bar.

"Sorry if I offended you," said the bartender, handing her a small, sealed glass bottle of water. "You just seem a little tense."

Finn looked up at him and smiled. "I'm fine."

"Girlfriend?" he asked, motioning to Zhen. Finn looked back at her, locking eyes again, then turning back to the bar.

"What? No. Just a friend."

"Does she know that?" he asked.

Before Finn could answer, someone sat next to her and tapped her shoulder. She turned to face the person who was the reason she was here. Suddenly, all thoughts of Zhen evaporated as she focused on the owner of the voice. Last time they'd met, there was a mask between them.

"FD45," were the first words said after they'd synced their ear guards.

"FlowersAreBland22?" said Finn with a smug smile.

"I'm impressed you found me," they said. "You've got skill."

"Do you have what you promised, or not?" Finn asked.

"Wow, straight down to business, huh?" they said, turning to the bartender. "A corkscrew and a dash of yellow sunshine, please."

"Dosage?" asked the bartender.