A Night Out

“Are you coming tonight?” she asked me for the second time in the last five minutes.

Had she not heard me the first time? I’m not the one who changed their minds within the span of a heartbeat, not like Clarice. I was the one standing in our shared bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror, trying to put eyeliner on. I had an unsteady hand sometimes –and Clarice knew it—and the last thing I needed was my roommate asking me to answer the same question I had answered only a few moments ago. If I didn’t answer her soon, she would think I was punishing her for some imaginary transgression she had committed who knew when. Not for a moment did she care that I couldn’t just stop without smudging the eyeliner all over my face. I had never had her skill in the makeup department (and tonight I wish I did). At least I had already finished my other eye.

“Yes, I’m coming,” I answered as I slid the cap back on the eyeliner. “Just give me another minute and I’ll be ready.”

I reached for my lipstick to keep myself from asking her if she was deaf. That was a tantrum I refused to deal with this evening. I just wanted to go to this little get-together with Clarice and be done with it. We were hanging out with her friends, at their preferred restaurant, like we always did. Again I wished she had more confidence in herself, so she could hang out with people, even her closest friends, without a chaperon. Then I cursed myself for being terrible at making new friends –that I needed my roommate to have some semblance of a social life.

With my lips freshly painted, I tossed the tube into my little handbag and walked into the hall where I found Clarice waiting, her back planted against the wall and her arms crossed in front of her chest. She wore an ill-fitting dark blue dress with lacy straps and a hot pink lipstick that matched her heels. It was the same outfit she wore every single time we went out with her friends. I stopped telling her what I honestly thought of her girls’ night outfits a long time ago. The friends we were meeting tonight would give her enough slack for me.

“Where are we going this time?” I asked as we headed for the door.

Clarice smiled. “Someplace Jen picked out.”

I held back the sigh of relief. Her friend Jen had much better taste in places to go than anyone else in the group. I could count on Jen picking a place with a bartender who knew how to mix drinks and a DJ who played music I might actually like. At least I could say that in her favor, as I couldn’t say that I liked anything else about her. But rumor had it, she had few nice things to say about me. Besides, I was only going out because I didn’t want to hear it from either my mother or my brother that I spent too much time alone.

We found Jen waiting in her car in the parking lot with her sister Debbie in the front seat. Debbie and I, we actually got along pretty well, considering how little Jen and I got along. There had been a few times since I met the two sisters when Debbie would call me to complain about something Jen had said. And at least once Jen had cornered me to find out what horrible things her sister had said about her to me.

“I cannot believe you, Clarice,” Jen said the instant we slid into the backseat. “You could at least wear heels that matched your dress.”

“Yeah, girl,” her sister agreed. “You should get some fashion tips from Becky over there.”

I laughed. “Whatever fashion advice I give her goes in one ear and out the other. You should know that by now.”

Jen snorted. “You and me both!”

For once Jen and I had agreed on something. Miracles did happen, it seemed. Before I could snap my seatbelt across my hip, Jen had the car pulled out of the parking spot and heading towards our destination. I sat in silence for the remainder of the drive to the club Jen had picked out for us while my companions chatted about anything and everything that came to mind. And all three of them had seen each other at work today.

An eternity later, Jen pulled the car into a packed parking lot. Beside me, Clarice groaned. Per usual, her friend had brought us to a rundown-looking building in the middle of nowhere. I rolled my eyes as she started to complain.

“You brought us to a dump?” Clarice demanded. “No one with any taste would come to a place like this. I’m not going in.”

“Fine,” Jen said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “Stay in the car. By yourself. The three of us will have a good time without you.”

My roommate turned to me, her eyes pleading. “Don’t leave me alone in here.”

I shook my head as my fingers pressed the button to undo my seatbelt. “I will not sit in this car for the entire evening while you pout.”

Before she could say anything else, I pushed the car door open and joined Jen and her sister as they walked towards the club doors. Clarice had done this same thing several times before. She would either join us within the next ten minutes, or she would call a taxi or rideshare to take her home. I did not look forward to the latter, but I had agreed to come in the hopes that I would have a good time for a few hours, to get my mind off work, and maybe pretend I had a social life beyond Clarice and her circle of friends.

Once inside, Jen pulled me aside, a smile on her face. “I’m kinda glad Clarice is pouting,” she shouted in my ear so I could hear her over the music. “There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to.”

Jen didn’t give me a chance to open my mouth to respond. She simply dragged me through the crowd of people to a booth in the back where a man dressed in black with his face painted white sat. He smiled at us as Jen pushed me into the booth next to him. We were far away enough from the speakers that we could actually hear ourselves think.

“Hey, Brian,” Jen said. “This is my friend, Becky, I was telling you about.”

Brian smiled. “You know I don’t go for normal girls, Jen.”

I laughed at him. “I know Jen, how can I be normal?” I asked.