“I would love a cup of coffee. I don’t know if I have room for anything else. Are you going to get dessert?” Lilly also didn’t want to take advantage of over ordering when she wasn’t interested in the date.
“The waitress said that they have a plate with three different mini cupcakes. I think I will order that in case you change your mind.”
“I never met a cupcake I didn’t like. What a fun idea. I might have to steal one of them. How was your dinner?” Lilly was searching for small talk. So far they had not found anything in common.
“It was really good. I am guessing by the long wait that is still at the hostess stand that all these people are enjoying their dinners. How about your fish?”
“It was cooked perfectly. I would eat here again. Of course I would try to get here early enough to get a seat at the bar or one of these tables. It didn’t seem like having a reservation helped us get a table.”
“That is true,” Alan agreed.
The bar tables were set up in a way that they both could see out of the front window of the restaurant. It was a beautiful night and there were a lot of people walking by.
“It’s too bad they don’t have patio seating, it would be really nice to sit outside.” Lilly loved restaurants that had outdoor seating. The weather there got cold enough in the winter that not everyone wanted to invest in the outdoor seating.
The coffee and cupcakes came at the same time. “Yum. Those cupcakes look too good to eat.” Lilly stirred in some cream and sugar in her coffee. She always took it light and sweet.
“Do you know that person?” Alan asked.
“Huh? What person?”
“The petite girl with long black hair knocking on the window waving like crazy. It looks like she is waving directly at us,” Alan said.
Lilly turned and sure enough it was Ali. She was in her trademark halter-top with her boobs and belly showing. Lilly was just as thin as Ali, but she didn’t have quite the personality to dress like Ali.
“As a matter of fact I do. Wow, she is a little bit embarrassing, huh?” Lilly really didn’t care, she was ecstatic to see her friend and waved her in.
Ali came bouncing into the bar. She was super sexy, but there was something about her that always made Lilly laugh. She had a rawness to her that made her a very real person. When they first met, Lilly thought she was just a club chick, but when they got to know each other they found time together fun no matter what they were doing.
“Lilly! Oh my gawd, what are you doing here?” Ali was quite the actress.
“Having dinner, this is Alan. Alan this is my friend Ali,” Lilly introduced them.
“Nice to meet you, Alan.” Ali reached over the table to shake Alan’s hand. She accomplished spilling a glass of water into his lap. “Oh my, oh holy hell! I am so sorry.”
Alan jumped up and started to blot at his pants. “No worries, it’s just water, it will dry.”
“I’m so embarrassed. I ruined your dinner.”
“We were actually finished with-” Lilly started to say.
“Cupcakes, yum they are so cute,” Ali said and pointed to Lilly’s wine glass. “Is this yours?”
Before Lilly could answer she took a sip.
Lilly made a face at Alan. If she could have apologized with her eyes she would have.
“Can I get you a drink, Ali?” Alan offered.
“Oh, no thank you. That is so nice of you. I was actually just walking by on my way to the Magic Bar for a show. I just happened to look over and what do you know, I saw my friend sitting in here with a mysterious man. I had to stop by and say hi.” She helped herself to another sip of Lilly’s wine. “You guys should come with me. My favorite band is playing at ten.”
“Ali, there are three cupcakes, why don’t you have one? I am going to pass on going to the Magic Bar, I actually have a meeting early tomorrow morning. Not to mention I think I would turn some heads with this giant wet spot on my lap.”
“I’m really sorry about that,” Ali said as she helped herself to the chocolate cupcake. “How about you Lilly, can you stay out and come with me? It would be nice to have the company.”
Lilly was shouting hell yes in her head. “Alan, if you are going to call it a night I guess I can go with you.”
Ali squealed and wrapped her arms around her friend. “I have to use the ladies room. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Ali started to walk away and turned back, “Nice to meet you, Alan, see you soon.”
Lilly snickered in her head at the fact that that was very unlikely. She took a sip of the wine to keep busy. She wasn’t really sure what to say and Alan looked just as uncomfortable. He was looking around the bar, and once he made eye contact with the barmaid he waved her over.
Lilly wished that Ali would hurry back from the bathroom. She knew the ‘so can I call you’, ‘I will call you’ or ‘none of the above’ was about to make its way out of Alan’s mouth.
“We are about ready to wrap things up, whenever you get a chance I will take the check.” He smiled at the barmaid and Lilly watched as his eyes lingered on her ass as she walked back to the bar to retrieve their check.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us to Magic Bar? I’m sure we could hang here until your pants dry.” Lilly didn’t want him to feel like she was blowing him off or being rude.
“I’m sure you girls will have fun. To be honest with you, it’s really not my scene and I need to get up early tomorrow. I could drop you guys off so you don’t have to walk if you want,” Alan offered.
“I understand. Thank you for the offer to drive us, but I really want to eat one of those cupcakes so I think the walk will be a good thing.” Lilly smiled at him. “So which one do you want?”
“I don’t have a preference, please help yourself.”
“I’m going for the salted caramel then.” Lilly grabbed the little cupcake and sipped on her now cold coffee.
The barmaid brought the check and Alan put cash in the black book and told her they were all set.
Alan stuffed the strawberry topped cupcake in his mouth and stood up. Lilly was amazed at how tall he really was. She was bummed that he turned out to be the furthest thing from her type. At least he wasn’t a jerk.
“I’m going to head out. Do you want me to wait for your friend to come back from the ladies room?” Alan offered.
“No, I am fine. Thank you so much for dinner, it was delicious. It was really nice to meet you.” Lily stuck her hand out in front of her to shake his hand.
“Yeah, sorry I couldn’t hang for the rest of the night. We’ll talk soon.” He shook her hand. “Tell Meg I said hi if you see her before I do.”
“Will do.” Lilly watched him walk out the front door and past the front windows of the restaurant. He didn’t look back into the restaurant. Lilly hoped that meant he wasn’t interested either.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Bar
Ali came running back from the bathroom. “I never thought he would leave.”
“What do you mean?” Lilly asked her.
“I was waiting over there. I didn’t want to interrupt your goodbyes. Are you ready to go?”
Lilly grabbed her flashy clutch off of the table. “You didn’t have to hide over there like some kind of reverse stalker.”
“Yeah well, I didn’t want to delay the inevitable. I thought if I stayed at the table he would too. I’m not looking to spend my night in this stuffy restaurant. I am ready to party and listen to some rock, so let’s roll.” Ali picked up Lilly’s wine glass that was still half full and slugged down the rest of the wine.
“If you wanted a drink why didn’t you just order one?” Lilly put her arm around her friend and they walked out of the restaurant.
“Hey, I just don’t believe in wasting things. I’m very eco-friendly.” Ali laughed. “Besides, there are some people you just shouldn’t let buy you a drink.”
Lilly looked around to make sure that Alan wasn’t anywhere within earshot by chance. “Thank you so
much for coming to bail me out of this date. He was nice and all, but could we have been any more opposite?”
“Who set you up on this one and why do you continue to go out on blind dates?” Ali tucked her arm around Lilly’s arm and they walked together.
“Some chick Meg that works at the resume place set us up. She said he was perfect. She and I definitely have different ideas about what perfect looks or acts like. And I keep going on blind dates, because where else am I going to meet anyone? It’s not like I ever meet anyone when we go out. Sure, some creepy guys offer to buy us drinks, but that just isn’t getting it done for me. Not to mention after my last boyfriend, I really don’t want to get emotionally involved with anyone that has a routine of getting fucked up.”
Lilly and Ali rounded the corner to Magic Bar. They were surprised to see a line outside, and it was still pretty early. They walked up to the front door. Ali said something to a plump bald guy wearing a black tee that said staff. He was holding a clicker and as he opened the door for the girls to let them in, he pushed the button on the clicker twice.
“You know, you are out at these places and you’re not such a bad person. You shouldn’t be so pessimistic and judgmental about other people just because they are out at a bar.” Ali nudged her friend.
“I’m not judgmental, I am just cautious about whom I spend my time with,” Lilly replied.
“Look how well that worked out for you with your hot date tonight,” Ali pointed out.
“Shut up!” Lilly punched her friend in the arm.
“Hey ladies, you don’t have to fight over me. There is enough of me for you to share,” a tall slightly lanky guy interrupted their playful banter. He wasn’t really bad looking, but he was no head turner either. Truth be told his comment shot his score on the creep-o-meter way up for the two girls.
Ali’s upper lip lifted like she was about to do an Elvis impersonation, but the raised eyebrows showed her disgust with his lame line. “Eww, you can’t be for real?”
“What? I was just messing around. Can I get you ladies a beer?” he asked, tying to save his thwarted attempt to hit on them.
Lilly noticed that his striped polo shirt was tucked too far into his cheap pair of jeans. He happened to be wearing a pair of sneakers that were designed to look like a pair of shoes; they were a big pet peeve of Lilly’s. “Um, no thanks. We just came from dinner and are good to go. Maybe next time. Enjoy the show.”
The girls walked further into the bar. The crowd was still a bit scarce because the line was still wrapped around the building making a slow crawl through paying the cover at the door.
“You see what kind of turds hang out in places like this? You wonder why I go on blind dates,” Lilly asked her friend as she looked around wondering where they would stand or sit for the night.
“He was pretty garish, but still, your dates are nearly as bad,” Ali agreed with her.
“At least they buy me dinner.”
“Yeah, one that I have to come drag you away from.” Ali wasn’t letting that one slide.
“Touché. Where do you want to go? Bar? Drinks?” Lilly asked.
“Bar yes. Drinks yes. And you are buying, girlie.” Ali giggled as they found a spot at the bar on the corner that had one stool left. “You can have the stool.”
The bartender eventually made her way over; she was petite and had a boyish quality to her. “What can I get you?”
“Two orange vodka and cranberries,” Lilly ordered the drinks and threw a twenty on the bar leaning her knee on the bar stool. She turned her attention back to Ali, “So tell me about this band you want to see.”
“They are called Breaking Blood. They aren’t headlining, but I saw them a few months back and they were pretty good.”
“Please tell me they are not a Goth band.” Lilly took the change from the bartender and left a few dollars on the bar and handed Ali her drink.
“Would you take a look around, do these people look like they are here to listen to Goth music?” Lilly skimmed the crowd and realized how silly that was. Although there were a handful of people in black, everyone in the bar looked pretty mainstream.
“Whatever, what did you expect with a name like Breaking Blood. I picture guys with thick black eyeliner, black lipstick and a pair of giant platform shoes to match.”
“You watch too many movies. Can’t music just be about the music and not about what the artists look like? Dude, it’s all open for interpretation, it’s art man. Besides these guys are like the most buff band ever. Wait until you see the stacks of muscles on these guys,” Ali informed her.
Lilly sipped on her drink through the tiny straw that was meant to stir the cocktail. She looked down at her outfit and felt a tiny bit fancy with her sheer blouse on and decided to take it off. “It is all making sense to me now.”
“Yes, I see. So much so you took your shirt off. You so need to get laid. Let’s find you a guy tonight,” Ali declared her mission.
The bizarre background music that was probably a random mix CD faded out. A girl that looked like she was in her early twenties with a straight blue-black haircut just below her shoulders with a blunt bang that almost covered her eyes bounced out on stage. She rambled on for a few minutes about a few up-coming events, announced the band line up for the night and then introduced the first band, Copper Heads.
The lights faded and a spotlight focused on the small stage at the back of the bar. To Lilly’s surprise an all girl band walked out on the stage. Each of them had red hair. Some more on the coppery orange side while another girl’s hair was bright, brick red.
“Do you think that is their real hair? Or do you think they just wear wigs?” Ali handed Lilly her empty cup.
“Probably wigs. Shit, you drank that already?” Lilly leaned over the bar to get one of the bartender’s attention. “Hey, can I get two more?”
“Get me a chocolate cake shot too.” Ali had a tendency to force the issue with drinking. Lilly loved her, but couldn’t believe how much the girl could drink.
“And a chocolate cake shot,” Lilly requested.
“Seriously? We don’t have Frangelico or any of that fancy shit here. Sorry, we are just simple folk here.” Her tone was way more mocking than someone working for tips should have been.
“Eh, tell her to just give me a shot of tequila then,” Ali said
“What she said,” Lilly threw another twenty on the bar. “This is my last twenty and my last drink, you better find someone else to buy your drinks the rest of the night.
“Like that would ever be a problem. Besides, all I have to do is go find that creepy guy with bad shoes. He was keen on buying us beer. Maybe he has a keg of the extra light stuff in the back of his mom’s car.” Ali slammed the shot of tequila. “These girls aren’t bad, but I am ready for Breaking Blood!”
“Are they headlining? I wasn’t really listening to the girl who announced the bands,” Lilly asked, still sipping her drink through her skinny red straw.
“No they should be on next. The headlining band is called The West Front. I haven’t seen them or heard their music, but everyone seems pretty stoked to see them. Chances are I will be too drunk to care when they come on.” Ali reached over Lilly and grabbed a white straw from the bartender’s napkin and straw holder. She popped it in her drink and began to suck.
“Why don’t you just slow down? I am going to have to carry you home. I am beat from my exciting date, so whenever you want to go let me know. Maybe I will splurge and get us a cab.” Lilly would have to take a cab home from the train station either way. “It probably won’t cost too much more to have them drive us both home, and besides, better safe than sorry.”
Ali hugged Lilly. “You are the best-”
Ali’s sentiment was cut off when she was thrust up against her friend, spilling the rest of her drink on Lilly’s white tank top. Ali turned around, “What the fuck, dude!”
Before the guy even had an opportunity to say anything, a girl with brown curly hair repe
ated her phrase to him saying again, “Seriously, what the fuck dude!” She smacked him across the face, “you are a real piece of shit.”
Ali and Lilly turned and looked at each other. Both of them had their eyebrows raised and their mouths crooked to the side.
The tall hunky blond in front of them tried to ease away from the girls, but the feisty curly haired girl continued yelling and slapping her hands at him.
“Marylou, can you help me wave down one of the bouncers,” he called over to the bartender.
“Look Camy, I hardly even know you. You need to back up off of me.” He was less reactive than most men might have been while they were being berated and physically assaulted. “You need to calm down and take a walk or something.”
“You don’t get the right to tell me what to do. Not after you used me and threw me aside like yesterday’s paper.” The more this girl yelled and flailed her arms around, the more she looked like a nineties troll doll by the minute.
Ali and Lilly were still speechless. They watched the crashing train wreck in front of them so intently they had not realized that Breaking Blood was on stage performing. Two big guys with bright yellow event staff tee shirts on came over wielding their mini flashlights.
The two men stepped between the couple, facing the troll. The bald black guy spoke first. “Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”
Camy’s response was less than ladylike. She spit at him before proceeding to try and push what looked like a concrete wall out of the way to get at the guy she was fighting with.
The bouncers didn’t even say another word. They grabbed the girl by the arms and gently lifted her off the ground. All the while she was still screaming and kicking. They brought her to the closest exit and escorted her outside of the premises through the closest emergency exit.
“You see, that’s why I stay single, who wants to deal with that kind of nonsense?” Ali reached over and grabbed some napkins from the bar caddy and handed them to Lilly.
Light and Sweet: Sacred Hearts Coven Page 3
