Page 3 of Dark Love

Do I really look like the type to get in trouble?

He certainly seems to think so. I should take that as a compliment…right?

Diane and Mindy pull me through the doorway into a glittery but somehow still sexy lobby. There’s a loud pounding bass coming through the thick doors in front of us. This doesn’t look or sound like any bar I’ve been to before.

“Ready?” Mindy almost shouts.

Why do I need to be ready to get drin—

Diane pulls the door open, and a wall of noise practically knocks me over. If they both hadn’t been holding on to me, I’d be on the ground staring up at the world, looking as stupefied as I feel.

This isn’t a bar!

They brought me to a club!?! I wore a pencil skirt and flats to a club.

I, Dahlia Prudence Fleur, am in a club for the very first time in my longish life, and I’m wearing a pencil skirt.

“The new girl gets the shots!” Diane screams over the noise pollution. This screeching and banging can hardly be considered music.

“You heard her. Go buy us some shots while we find a table.” Mindy pushes me towards the massive bar at the side of the room.

Shots? I need to buy shots. “Okay.” How do you buy shots? It can’t be that hard because people seem to be getting them without an issue.

You can do this. You can go to a club. And buy shots. You can be one of the cool kids at work.

Why didn’t I go to dinner with Adonis and everyone else?

People strangely seem to move out of my way as I walk right up to the bar. Were those people not waiting for drinks? Why did they move out of my way?

Don’t ask questions. Just get your shots and find your friends before your head explodes.

“What can I get you?” A pretty blonde woman in a black tee shirt and slacks stops across from me at the bar.

“Shots. I’d like two shots, please.”

“What kind of shots?” She seems to be doing seven things while trying to get my order.

“Um… Drink shots?”

The woman freezes and actually looks at me for the first time. “You’re new around here.”

That’s pretty obvious. I nod.

“Have you ever had a shot?”

“I don’t drink. I’m just ordering them for my friends.”

“You’re at a club for the first time, and you don’t drink, but you want to buy shots for your friends.”

“Yeah.” I shrug. “It’s my first week on the job and they invited me.”

“Ahhh,” she says that like any of my life makes sense right now. “Do you want a drink to hold on to while they’re drinking so they don’t pressure you to take a shot?”

They’d do that? Based on the bartender’s serious face, I guess they would. “Yes, please.”

“The shots and one virgin drink coming right up.” She gives me a reassuring smile and hurries away.

I guess now I wait. There’s enough to look at that I’d never get bored. People move in a current around me, kind of like the ocean moving around a boulder.

---