Page 6 of House of Bass

“As usual, terrible advice,” she replies, and I just shrug.

The night continues without a blip until Devon asks, “How come you’re not dancing out there? You’re usually the life of the party.”

“Don’t feel like it.”

“That’s new. Is this about the brunch I’ve heard so much about?”

I glare at Daniel behind me who raises his hands in surrender. “Fuck’s sake, nothing happened. The pictures mean nothing,” I say, my voice rising with each word as I try to believe my own lie.

“You’re acting odd, St. Annabel,” she says, her eyes narrowing.

“I’m far too sober for this conversation.”

A second later, Dan hands me a strawberry daiquiri and I kiss his hands in thanks, which is a very normal thing to do but for the first time had catastrophic repercussions. MJ sees this from where she’s dancing with one of the Spinelli twins and a drunk mischievous smile lands on her face, one that I know could only lead nowhere good, she comes over and leans against the bar and slurs, “Why have you two never dated? I think you’d look so cute together.”

Daniel freezes mid-making another drink and his eyes flicker above me to where Arden is sitting, who when I turn has also paused. I feel my cheeks heat up and get up to press my hands over her mouth to stop her from talking, “Definitely no more drinks for you.” She licks my hand and makes muffled noises, I give her a look asking her if she was done being a recluse. But a loud noise has us both flinching and looking to our immediate right where it came from. Arden walked out.

Dan drops what he’s doing, ready to go after his best friend, he turns our way before stepping out. “I’ll check on him. Don’t worry about it, he probably needed some fresh air.”

He hurriedly adds on, “Make sure she stays hydrated so she’s not sick, at least not while we’re not here.” I give him a quick nod as he chases after Arden, whose sudden antics have thrown his pouting girlfriend for a loop as she stands there wondering what she’d done or said wrong to set him off.

“Hey princess, we're gonna find a place to sit that’s not so loud, okay?” I tell her

She nods and rests her head on my shoulder. “Désolée, je suis pompette.” Sorry, I’m really drunk.

“I’ll take her upstairs,” I tell Devon who nods in understanding.

We find ourselves in an empty room and shut the door to quiet the noise from the party going on.

MJ almost dozes off next to me but I try to keep her awake to make sure she has enough water in her. After what feels like hours, the door opens to reveal Arden. Calmer than he was before but still having remnants of the anger wafting off him. MJ’s eyes slowly but surely open to focus on him. He doesn’t even spare me a glance as he crouches in front of his girlfriend, the two of them whispering for their ears only.

There it is again. The envy that fills me like a well, he carries her in a bear hug with her legs wrapped around him. She waves a weak, sleepy goodbye to me and slumps against her boyfriend.

I feel a sting in my heart, the sight affecting me more than it should. Her boyfriend. He’ll always be her boyfriend. I have to make sure that sticks.

Dan stands by the door as we watch them both leave together, he looks at me “Do you want to stay here tonight?” and I nod in response, he kisses the top of my head and wraps a hand around me as I try not to cry, overwhelmed by the night.

3

HARLEY

“See you on Monday, Harley,” she heard her older coworker say to her on the way out and waved in return. The ache after a long day of work was indescribable. You had to experience it yourself to understand it. All the adrenaline you have is sucked out of you and you're left with nothing but the weight of your body dragging you down. A cycle she repeated almost, if not, seven days a week.

It was damn near midnight and she was just now getting herself home because she had to close the store, but relief filled her lungs remembering tomorrow was her one day off this week. The weather at this time of year wasn’t too bad but the late summer chill affected her more than others. She got cold easily, the slightest breeze and she rushed to put on at least five layers. Otherwise she was going to spend the next week with a nasty cold. This was why she always used her headphones as earmuffs to keep her ears safe from the wind, even if she wasn’t listening to music, like now, as she currently had them on. She just used them to keep warm. They felt much more effective than actual earmuffs. Possibly dumb logic but it was hers. Besides, if she actually was listening to music, it came in handy.

The one thing she hated was having to walk late at night, especially on the nights when she bartended at her other job, in her neighbourhood. She had learnt to be careful around here from the minute she had a mind of her own; an area like this wasn’t very kind to girls. Sleazy older men who leered too long, the gang members who crawled the streets or the pimps who tried recruiting.

Harley had a reputation of her own around here, she didn’t shy away from cursing out or getting physical with any of the listed which led to them staying away from her. ‘Harleen is a bitch’, ‘She thinks she’s too good for us’. She had heard it her entire life; all because she had the audacity to stand up for herself. Wasn’t that funny? She was the bitch and the cunt for stopping the disgusting forty year old uncle from chatting to a kid who was freshly fifteen.

All of it didn’t stop her from being careful nonetheless, she was sure there were people around here who would love to get one on her. Her guard was always up. She had never experienced the luxury of mindless thinking.

Not outside and not at home.

It came with being the breadwinner of the family. Her whole life, it had been just her and her mother. Even though she was barely present enough to be considered that. A mother. But that was neither here nor there, she has had years to adapt to that.

Harley neared her home and she was thankful that some of the lights of the lamposts still worked, a couple of them flickered in and out or were flat out done for. For a Saturday night it was quieter than usual, people were still usually littered about especially at the pub not too far from here.

A glint of a car light caught her eye. It wasn’t the first time she had seen it. The car was tinted so she could never see inside, who or what was watching. It was none of her concern, the only advice she offered was that whoever they were should be careful. A car like that was bait. She looked at it one last time then walked the four flights of stairs to their tiny two bedroom flat.