Huntress

Wednesday’s weather was ridiculous.

It had been humid for two days; unbearably hot temperatures mixed with a thick, constant cover of clouds and no breeze served to make me very unhappy. I hate the humidity.

Now it wasn’t humid any more. Instead, proverbially, the heavens had opened and the city was soaked. It was still drizzling when Chloe once again arrived at my house that night, half-saturated and disgusted.

“My stupid dress is wet,” she fumed. “I don’t know what’s worse, the stuffy heat or the continuous rain. Please tell me you have an umbrella.”

I assured her that I did, and went to find it. In the meantime she went into the bathroom and stole my hair dryer, so that when I came back to the room she was slowly blowing her dress dry.

“It’s silk and everything,” she complained. “Maybe I shouldn’t wear it out...”

“It’s just water, Chlo,” I reminded her. “It won’t stain, just maybe go a little see-through.”

“I guess. Still.”

Shaking my head, I pulled out the indigo dress that we’d agreed I would wear the Friday just gone. It went fairly well with a pair of strappy heels I’d got earlier in the year.

“Should I bother straightening my hair?” I asked, more thinking aloud than actually asking her opinion. “It is raining out...”

I decided on putting my hair up instead, knowing that leaving it out would result in ugly frizz. When it came to putting my dress on, I stripped off the shorts and singlet I was wearing to a low appreciative whistle from Chloe.

“Damn, girl, have you been exercising behind my back?”

I hadn’t expected her to say that at all. Fumbling for a response, I settled on, “Uh, not really, just going for more walks and stuff.”

“Huh,” she said. “I’m going to start walking more.”

I slid the dress on, admiring my ‘new’ body in the mirror – really the same old me, but with a definite improvement in muscle tone. The dress did up more easily than I thought it would, too.

Nice.

Half an hour later we were on the train on the way into town, sitting gingerly on vinyl padded seats and trying not to touch the overweight Asian guy listening to extremely loud techno in the window seat.

“Where to first?” I asked, checking the time on my phone. 9:36.

Chloe re-applied her lip gloss and rubbed her lips together. “I told Brady, Tom and Kendra we’d meet them at Melt.”

“Kendra?” I couldn’t help saying, a little exasperated. “Really?”

“What?” she asked, like she didn’t know Kendra and I were fairly glad to be rid of each other by our school graduation. And that by ‘fairly’ I mean ‘really’.

“Nothing.” I wasn’t going to get into it tonight. “She’s just annoying.”
Chloe shrugged. “Well, get over it.”

The train arrived at Town Hall and we got off to get on the next one to King’s Cross. The station was chillier than usual, the sharp breeze tinted cold by the rain rushing through the tunnels below Central Station. Thankfully the next train was only two minutes away; we didn’t have to have to stand there getting cold and ogled for long.

We were about to get off at the Cross when Chloe’s phone beeped. “Ooh,” she said, reading from the screen. “I just got a message from Aaron. Him and Rafiq are DJ-ing tonight at Chinese Laundry! That’s huge. We should check it out later.”

That was impressive, especially because as far as I knew those two had only been doing clubs together for a few months. They called themselves WiiR – as in, ‘Who’s DJ-ing tonight?’, ‘We are!’

“Ok,” I agreed, even though Chinese Laundry was in the city not the Cross. “What time?”

“He said nine. It’s nearly nine now so we can go whenever.”

I nodded in agreement as we got off the train and headed into town, the rain an almost solid mist around us. Chloe groaned. “We forgot the umbrella! Shit!”

“It’s ok,” I said. “Just walk quickly.”

We tried, but were still soaked by the time we got to Melt. Tom and Brady were waiting for us on the top floor, sitting around a small table while music pounded around us. A soft orange glow made everyone look better looking and more mysterious.

“Hey,” I greeted them cheerfully, as they got up. Tom gave me a kiss on the cheek and Brady simply waved. Music pounded in my ears, reverberating through the floor and making my chest buzz.

Someone was missing, but I only got halfway through asking who when someone tackled me from behind.

“Diiiiiiiii,” a voice screamed in my ear and some kind of liquid spilt on the arm I threw up to protect myself. The thin, sweaty arms removed themselves and I was able to turn around.

Kendra stood – if that’s the right word – in front of me, clad in a tiny sequined dress and heels so high she was teetering forward. Her hair fell over her shoulders and back in a bleached blonde mess, and her drink was nearly empty.

I gingerly wiped at my arm and tried to smile. Kendra beamed excitedly and babbled, “Oh my God, Di, I haven’t seen you in ages! How are you? What are you doing with yourself nowadays?”

She looked at me expectantly but I wasn’t nearly drunk enough for this conversation. “Just... you know, around...” I said vaguely.
“Around,” she squealed indignantly. “I have so seen you at USyd earlier this year. Don’t lie to me, what are you studying?”

This thoroughly confused me until I realised she was referring to a party at Manning Bar I got dragged to by another high school friend. It was the second time, ever, that I’d been on the University of Sydney campus.

“Bachelor of Customer Service with a minor in Mindless Drudgery,” I answered wryly.

Kendra looked thoroughly confused. “I’m not at uni,” I elaborated. “I’m just working. I didn’t want to study.”

“Oh.” Now she looked disappointed. “Why not? You’re, like, super smart.”

This conversation was awkward to have with my best friend, let alone Kendra. I waved her question off, deliberately changing the subject. “Who cares? What are you doing?”

She leaned close and was about to say something when Tom leaned over her shoulder and said, loudly and emphatically, “She’s failing, that’s what she’s doing. Aren’t you, babe?”

Kendra hit him playfully on the shoulder, spilling more of her drink. “Shut up,” she giggled. Then she noticed her drink was nearly empty and wrinkled her nose. “I need another drink.”

I seconded that thought. “Me too. What’s cheap?”

“I’m having a... what was this called again?” Kendra asked Tom.

“A Tequila Mockingbird,” he filled in for her.

“Right. You should have one!”

I grabbed my purse from the table and went over to the bar, ready to peruse the menu for whatever would get me drunk the fastest. Within a few seconds the cute indie bartender came over and I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea. Something with that many shots in it has to work.

One more of those and a vodka and orange juice later and I was ready to dance. I’m such a lightweight and, so Chloe has told me, a bit of a scatty drunk.

“Come on, let’s go,” I wheedled at the others, hips shaking in time to the music.

Melt was getting boring. It was time to go somewhere else, somewhere with a decent dancefloor.

“I kind of like it here,” Chloe objected, eyeing off a cute guy across the room who was definitely interested.

I looked at him and rolled my eyes, “Whatever, you can invite him too. Let’s go see Aaron and Rafiq! Like noooow.” My drinks were starting to hit me.

She nodded reluctantly. “Fine. You guys coming?” she asked Tom and Brady. Kendra was off dancing erratically with another friend, Kirsty, who’d shown up a little earlier.

“Sure,” they both shrugged, motioning to the other girls that we were leaving.

Somehow, we made it down a bunch of stairs and out of a bunch of back alleys until we were at the train station.

“The train,” Kendra objected exasperatedly. “I don’t have enough cash on me for a ticket. Can’t we just walk?”

“I’m wearing four-inch heels,” Chloe countered pointing to first her feet and then Kirsty’s. “And yours are even higher! And so are hers! You’re crazy, I’m not walking there.”

“Let’s just get a taxi,” Brady suggested, ever the pragmatist. “Between all of us it’ll be just as cheap as the train.”

This sounded like a good enough suggestion to me. “Fine! Someone call one. A cheap one. And quick.”

I tried to put a comically demanding tone into the last part so they’d think I was just being funny, but really I wanted to get out of there quickly. A couple of guys across the road from the station had been staring at me for five minutes and I had a nasty feeling I’d seen them somewhere before. Somewhere hazardous to my health.

Luckily I was with a group of people, so staring was all they did. To be fair, the dress I was wearing was also quite short. It may have been nothing but... well, you know. Legs.

A taxi arrived eventually – one of the big van ones, to accommodate all six of us. It took us deep into the city to Chinese Laundry, where a line was forming outside. Tom, playing the gentleman, paid for the whole taxi fare and we all fished for our IDs.

“Rafiq told me he put us on the list,” Chloe said, clearly trying not to sound excited. “Just ask the bouncer.”

Sure enough, Chloe, Tom, Brady, Kendra and I were all on the bouncer’s list at the front of the line. A couple of guys at the front grumbled as we got let in and swallowed by the enormous pulsing beats.

“Look! There they are!” Chloe squealed, grabbing Tom and I and pointing up to the very end of the huge room where Aaron and Rafiq both wore a massive set of headphones each. They looked like they completely belonged up there.

“I need another drink,” I yelled over the music and made a beeline for the bar. Before I could order, though, I was nearly knocked over as a guy came careening out of the crowd straight into me.

He started apologising straight away, then looked up. I didn’t recognise him at all but he paused like he was trying to picture my face. He mouthed something that I didn’t head.

The guy leaned closer. “I said, can I buy you a drink?” he yelled in my ear. I still only just heard him.

“Um,” I started, unsure of how to react. I mean, there’s Tris, and everything... but this guy was cute, and he was offering. It didn’t mean anything. “Sure,” I accepted. “Thanks.”

He smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back. Ten seconds later Chloe came barrelling up behind me and slung an arm around my neck.

“Who’s your friend?” she asked loudly, looking straight at him.

I went to make the introduction then realised I didn’t know his name. “This is...”

“Nate,” he filled in, sticking out a hand. Chloe took it, looking at him suspiciously.

“Can I have a word?” she asked, making it clear I couldn’t say no.

I nodded, trying not to roll my eyes, as she dragged me a few metres off and proceeded to say the exact things I knew she was going to say.

“Are you and Tris still together? Did something happen? How could you not have told me, I’m your best friend. I’m practically his best friend! What’s going on? Who is this Nate guy?”

“Calm down,” I called, trying to make myself heard. “Tris and I are fine. Nate here just offered to buy me a drink. I’m not that rich that I’ll turn it down, especially for a cute guy. Seriously, not that big a deal.”

She gave me a Look that managed to play on my own insecurities about the situation. I sighed in defeat and went back over to Nate.

“This is my friend Chloe,” I introduced. “She controls my life. She said that I can only accept a drink on two conditions.”

Chloe herself gave me another odd look at this point, having said no such thing, but I kept going.

“One: that you are informed I’m currently attached and not looking to hook up with anyone.” Nate nodded, not showing open disappointment like I was kind of hoping he would. “And two: that you buy her a drink too.”

If I couldn’t have him she may as well have a go. He laughed and Chloe glared at me in an I’m-going-to-get-you-later-unless-this-works-out way. Nate acquiesced graciously to both requests and within a minute both of us were holding some kind of vodka cocktail.

With an apologetic look at me he asked Chloe, “Do you want to dance?”

She nodded enthusiastically, glanced at me and smiled, then followed him out onto the floor. I looked around once they’d disappeared into the crowd to find that Tom and Brady weren’t where I left them.

As quickly as possible I downed the drink, trying not to wince as the alcohol that collected at the bottom stung my throat. Even if cute guys were technically off limits, I guess I could dance.

Pounding house music gave away for a song to a sexy remixed R&B number that I only knew a few of the words to. Sliding my way through the crowd I found myself in the middle of the dancefloor right behind Brady.

He acknowledged me but was in the middle of dancing with another girl so I moved a bit to the right, enjoying the press of bodies and the consuming rhythm of the music. I looked over the crowd at one point to see Chloe and Nate getting a little friendlier than I expected.

After a while dancing by myself became boring and I went over there to interrupt. Neither of them seemed to mind too much. A couple more songs later and I was starting to get tired.

I went to get Chloe’s attention, looking across the dance floor as I did it to try and locate the others. When I looked toward the centre of the floor I saw a familiar blonde head and started.

That wasn’t Kendra.

Chloe by now had glanced at me and saw where I was looking. Fortunately, Holly didn’t notice either of us. She was too busy dirty dancing with some guy who looked as if he couldn’t believe his luck.

“Who’s that?” she mouthed.

I shrugged. “I thought it was Kendra,” I tried calling back. Any excuse. “Never mind.”

We kept dancing and I hoped fervently that Holly didn’t look up and see me. If she was drunk there was a chance she might forget that my friends didn’t know why we’re acquainted.

About ten minutes later, we’d been shunted by the flow of people closer and I was starting to sweat from something other than the heat. Chloe and Nate were too close now for me to suggest leaving. She’d never go for it.

After a solid ten minutes of serious panicking, I got a grip. Stop being such an idiot, I told myself. Holly’s done this for a long time, she’s not going to fuck it up. With a deep breath, I went over to get a drink, forcing my way between gyrating bodies. The press of people made it impossible to get a decent idea of my surroundings, something I don’t like.

To my surprise, Chloe followed me, leaving Nate in the crowd.

“What’s up?” I asked her. “I’m just getting a drink. Want one?”

She shrugged and leaned against the bar. “Just wondering if you were ok. You seem worried about something. Are you sure everything’s cool between you and Tris? He’s not flaking on you, is he?”

I shook my head. “No, don’t worry. Really, everything’s fine. Great, even. He asked me to go overseas with him this summer.”

Chloe looked surprised. “He did? Wow, he must really like you. Don’t screw this up!”

She said the last part playfully, but it still struck home. It made me think, because lately my train of thought had been running along different lines. Tris was lovely, the best guy I’ve ever dated by a long shot. But my involvement in the Masquerade endangered him, something I hated to contemplate.

At the same time, the thought of giving him up for this new life was an awful one. There was no reason I couldn’t have both, right?

I tried to smile reassuringly at Chloe, and firmly put the Masquerade out of my mind. “I won’t.”

She smiled, said, “Good,” and walked back into the crowd. I went to follow, but shift movement caught the corner of my eye.

Suddenly, Holly appeared out of the crowd. She walked toward me purposefully but not looking at me. Leaning past to get a straw from the container on the bar, she hissed in my ear, “Get out of here.”

“What?” I murmured urgently, the fear rising again as though I’d never tried to quash it.

She still didn’t look at me, instead looked casually at the cocktail menu on the wall behind the bar. “Persephone’s people. Get out or they’ll cause a scene. You don’t want your little friend finding out, right? Make an excuse. Leave.”

With great difficulty I repressed the urge to look around for potential enemies. “I’ll get Chloe and get out.”

Holly melted into the crowd without another word, looking for all the world like just another girl out for a good night. I tried to keep the bile rising to my throat and looked for Chloe.

She was dancing with Nate again, but this time I didn’t give her a choice. “Let’s go somewhere else,” I said, and forced my way back towards the door without waiting for her.

Luckily for me, she followed. As I looked behind to check for her I saw three guys and a girl staring at me from a corner, looks of hatred on their faces.

“Come on,” I said to Chloe, who was starting to look in their direction, something I did not want.

We quickly left, and I tried not to breathe too audible a sigh of relief.

That was way too close.