Heads or Tails?

“Alright it's decided. Heads, we stay in for the night or tails, we go out! That sound fair to you?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” Stella nodded reluctantly as she watched her friend, Lacey, twirl a quarter between her fingers. She really hoped it landed on heads. Staying home and watching Harry Potter movies while eating bowls of popcorn sounded like the perfect way to spend a Friday night, but Lacey didn’t agree. 

Lacey, one of her oldest friends, was much more extroverted. She loved going out, meeting new people, and visiting new places. In her mind, staying at home was a waste of the celebratory night that kicked off the weekend. 

“It’s all up to fate now.” Lacey said, tossing the quarter in the air. The coin twirled around a few times before landing in Lacey’s outstretched palm. Without looking at it, she flipped her palm on top of her other hand, covering the coin. “Fate has made a decision.” 

“Well, let’s see it.” Stella said, leaning in close. She held her breath, anxiously awaiting to see what the verdict was.

Lacey slowly removed her hand and revealed the coin. “Grab your phone and bring your portable charger!” She exclaimed, as she gleefully showed Stella that it had landed on tails. 

Stella sighed and turned towards the counter to grab her stuff. “I’m not changing.” She warned her friend. She knew that Lacey liked going to clubs, but Stella wasn’t in the mood to put on a tight dress. 

“That’s totally fine.” Lacey agreed, looking over Stella’s outfit of leggings, a t-shirt, and an oversized cardigan. “We’re not gonna go anywhere crazy. I promise it’ll be a chill night.” 

“I’m not driving either.” Stella warned. Just because she had agreed to go out, didn’t mean that she was going to deal with crowded parking lots. 

“That’s fine too.” Lacey agreed instantly. She pulled out her phone and started typing on it frantically. “I’m sure we can find something within walking distance.” 

“Would that be safe? It is almost night time, after all.” 

“I have my pepper spray in my purse.” Lacey said. “Plus it's summer, remember? It won’t get completely dark until 8:30 or 9:00, and we could take an Uber instead of walking back here.” 

“Ok, I guess that works.” Stella muttered, knowing full well that she was out of excuses. She hadn’t expected Lacey to be this easy-going, normally her friend hated walking to places. 

“I found a place!” Lacey squealed in excitement before holding her phone up to Stella’s face. “It’s only a 10 minute walk away. It's a brewery. Lots of college students go there on weekends.” 

“A brewery? Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Stella looked at the image on the phone. She recognized the building, having driven by it before a few times but she had never been interested in going in. 

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Lacey pleaded, clasping her hands together. “We don’t even have to drink. They have trivia night and bingo, you love those types of games!” 

Stella sighed before eventually nodding in agreement. The older they got, the harder it was to find a night when the two of them were both free, so she figured that it’d be best to stop wasting time and just go along with Lacey’s plan. “Fine, let’s go. But if it's boring, we’re coming back here and watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” 

Lacey cheered, which made Stella smile a bit. She grabbed her purse and keys, and the two of them headed out. They walked down the street, with Lacey leading the way. 

“This is going to be so much fun.” Lacey said, as they walked up to the front door of the brewery. 

“We’ll see.” Stella muttered under her breath. She could see a lot of cars parked nearby, which gave her an idea of just how crowded the place would be. They went inside, and Stella’s senses were immediately inundated. 

All around them were people, talking loudly, laughing, cheering. One of the lightbulbs on the ceiling was flickering rapidly, which made Stella’s head hurt. The air was full of different smells, of pizza, chicken, fries, alcohol. 

“Look, there’s a table over there.” Lacey wove her arm through Stella’s and guided her towards the back. There was a table with four chairs, which surprisingly hadn’t been grabbed by anyone else. Stella immediately sat down in one of the empty chairs. 

Lacey sat across from her, smiling brightly as she took in the scene. “Trivia night is going to start in five minutes.” 

Stella nodded. “Cool.” 

Lacey’s smile grew wider. “Guess what the theme is?”

“What?” 

“Harry Potter trivia.”

Stella blinked in surprise. “No way.” 

“I’m serious.” Lacey confirmed. She gave Stella a devious look. “Although if you really want, we can go home. I know you're dying to rewatch the series again.” 

“You totally planned this, didn’t you?” 

“I may or may not have stalked the brewery’s social media page and looked at their upcoming trivia night schedule and coincidentally asked you to hang out based on what I saw.” 

“You’re an evil mastermind.” Stella laughed. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” 

“If I had come up to you and asked you to spend your Friday night at a bar full of people, would you have said yes?” 

“Ok, you have a point.” Stella admitted. There was one more question that she had in the back of her mind. “What would you have done if the quarter had landed on heads? Was there a backup plan?” 

“Yeah, about that…” Lacey threw her head back and laughed so hard that tears started coming out of her eyes. She couldn’t manage to get any words out amongst her giggles, but she did reach into her pocket and pull over the coin from earlier. 

Stella took the quarter and looked at it. She flipped it over. She gasped, finally understanding Lacey’s reaction. “You used a fake quarter?! Where did you even get a coin with two tail sides from?” 

“The internet.” Lacey grinned, taking her coin back. “You can get anything on the internet.” 

Stella’s mouth flew open, but she wasn’t mad. “You rigged the coin toss?” 

“How else was I supposed to get you to come to trivia night?” Lacey protested. 

“You lured me here under false pretenses!” 

“It’s what any good friend would do.” 

A voice boomed over the room, announcing the start of the trivia questions. As the announcer explained how the rules worked, Stella reached out and grabbed Lacey’s fake coin. “I’m keeping this for future use.” 

““I’ll just buy another one from Amazon.” Lacey pouted. “You’re not mad, right? I just wanted you to do something different for once, something outside of your comfort zone.” 

“No, I’m not mad.” Stella said, as she tossed the coin in the air. “Heads or tails?” She asked Lacey. 

Lacey was confused for a second, before finally asking. “What are we deciding on?” 

“Heads, we leave and go back to my apartment. Tails, we stay here and win 1st place in the trivia game.” Stella explained, as she caught the coin and mysteriously covered it with her hand. 

Lacey laughed, thrilled that her friend was okay with trying something new. “Tails.” She said. 

“Tails.” Stella agreed. She had to admit that it was a bit nice to get out of her usual routine and do something that she wouldn’t normally do. 

“Now let’s show everyone who the world’s biggest Harry Potter fans are.” 

“Let's do it.”