A Little Day Drinking

[Nesrin Aziz]

She didn’t have to wait long for a reply. Something in it set her immediately on edge – the fear that he had been doing the leading, and potentially this was a trap. No one offered help so freely, not without ulterior motive. Instinct urged her back into the shadows, her pulse thrumming in her ears. But part of that was only memory prickling her skin with the redundant warning to run, and run fast. She wasn’t a child any longer, and she wasn't defenceless. But sometimes the past pulled viciously with its reminders.

Guess I’m making a habit of ending up right in your lap.

Most people enjoyed being flirted with, even if it was only that. And it gave her a moment to think around the idea that he’d been looking for her and not the key. Which made zero sense unless you factored in the little caress she gave his mind at the party.

I have some tricks. As far as E is concerned, you don’t know the half of it. Why would you help me?

I feel compelled to. Dunno why, just something makes me happy to help.

She half snorted at that, but it cooled her fears somewhat. Just so happens I have a new vacancy for BFF. You think you’re up to the task? ;) I promise I’m the fun kind of trouble.

She wrung the bottom of the hoodie out – didn’t put it back on, just hooked her bag on her shoulder and wandered back out to the main bar with it draped over her arm. Music played from the jukebox, something old and rocky, but the mood was frustratingly fragile. Elyse had separated herself again. Nesrin glanced over, but didn’t feel she yet had the trust to offer a confidant’s charm. Between that and the way she’d rushed off at the cafe there was clearly something going on, but even Anna kept her distance, despite the obviously concerned look in her eyes.

Meanwhile Cade was more invested in his drink than the company. Nesrin laid her hoodie out by the fire, then returned to flop in a chair. The colourful cocktails were at odds with the tension. Thank god for alcohol.

“Oh tequila,” she said. “You do bad things to me.” With a smirk she leaned to chink her glass against the others’, Cade’s with a wink that said relax, no one’s judging and Anna’s with a glance over at where Elyse hunkered down. The bond between them was clear, and what they’d said about the club’s close knit community was precisely the reason for her self-serving interest. “Shitty ex trouble? Because if we need to break some kneecaps,” she said casually as she leaned back in her chair and pressed the drink to her lips, “then I’m down for that.”

[[Sage's message written by Sage]]