Vanishing Acts

“Joey!”

Bianca tapped her foot against the carpet irritably. He had forgotten, once again. She had walked in the living room to find him sprawled out on the sofa, surrounded by cans of beer, packets of cigarettes, watching TV and dressed rather disturbingly in just his underwear. He apologized for his half-nudity, of course, but made no effort to stop watching his program or put some clothes on.

“Bianca!” He imitated sarcastically.

“You do remember that we were supposed to go out tonight, right? Or were you planning on having a date with the remote control?”

It took him a total of 7 seconds to realize what she said, and when he did, he jumped up frantically, knocking everything off the sofa and onto the floor in his hurry. He ran around the room, searching for clothes, so that Bianca had to listen carefully to what he was saying.

“Shit, B. I’m so sorry. James was going propose to Madeline tonight so I set a reminder to watch it and then it happened and I was so happy so I thought I’d watch the whole box-set. Shit. I’m sorry.”

In his sentence, he had managed to shrug on a blue shirt and some dark jeans which clung very tightly to his legs. He stopped in front of her and quickly enveloped her into a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m sorry. I can’t believe I forgot-”

“Joey, it’s fine. Just put some cologne on, you stink of smoke and booze.”

He stepped back from the hug and grinned slyly at her. “You’re the best.” He said, then winked and made his way upstairs to his bedroom.

The truth was, Joey acted gayer than he really was. Whilst he preferred to indulge in both sexes, rather than limit himself to one, he more often than not leaned towards the male gender. When Bianca questioned him about this, he told her that ‘guys have better asses than girls’.

She didn’t bother to respond to that.

A large crash sounded upstairs and three seconds later, Joey bounded down them, grinning idiotically. Bianca daren’t ask him what he was doing, so she just shrugged and followed him out of the door. It was about 9, she assumed, because it was very dark, the moon and stars the only sprinkles of light in the sky. She shivered as the cold air nipped at her skin; she was glad that it would be summer in just about 6 months, because dealing with cold weather was not her forte.

“Cold?” Joey smirked as they began to walk. She grumbled incoherently, making him giggle slightly.

The next thing she knew, his arm was draped over her shoulder and she was being pulled under his armpit. She was short for her age, he tall, so she was able to fit under there without much effort. It felt nice. He was very warm. Snuggling into him even more, she smiled.

She and Joey had always been this way; so comfortable around each other that any passer by would think they were a couple. No one ever understood why the two of them got along so well, except for them. In reality, they’d become friends when Joey found her crying near the Library; it was the anniversary of her mother’s death and he didn’t say anything, just hugged her.

It was the nicest thing that anyone had ever done and she thanked him everyday for it.

They’d seen each other at their worse; when Joey’s ex-boyfriend broke up with him, he was torn. Bianca did all she could by staying round his house, watching lame movies with him and generally taking his mind off things. No one understood why. But they didn’t need to.

They reached the club in less than half an hour and within 10 minutes, Joey was dragging her to the bar, ready to get her totally wasted. The good news was that Bianca managed to get in just fine, without the bouncer questioning her real age. The bad news was that she had only ever been drunk one other point in her life and she hated it.

“Two Jack Daniels’,” was all Joey said when they approached the bartender. He nodded politely and began to prepare the drinks. It wasn’t that Bianca was nervous to try the alcoholic drink, it was just that she didn’t quite know how strong it was. But then the man behind the counter placed two glasses on the worktop and all thought quickly vanished from her mind as she placed the rim of the glass to her lips.

The liquid burned her tongue as she gulped at it and it almost made her want to spit it out and drink something else. Her throat was on fire and it was disgusting, but at the same time, it made her feel warm and just a little more confident. After finishing the single glass, she whacked it on the counter, breathless.

She turned to find Joey standing next to her, but staring far off into the distance of the club. She slowly followed his gaze; peering through the couples and singles on the dance floor, to where a guy stood, shoulders hunched forward, drinking furiously from a glass of clear liquid. His short blonde hair fell into his eyes slightly and Bianca had to admit that he was good looking. She smirked when his eyes came up to meet Joey’s and a small grin spread across his own face.

“Joey, for God’s sake, just go over there. Ask him to dance or something.” She’d been out with him enough times to know that when Joey spotted his prey, he always got it. The amount of times he’d called her at 8 in the morning telling her how he was now in love with his one night stand was becoming almost a regular routine.

“Don’t drink too much, ok? Other than that, baby, go mad. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He gulped down the rest of his drink and fixed his hair quickly, before straightening and starting to walk towards the lucky guy.

“Yeah, like there’s anything you wouldn’t do. Have fun. Stay safe.”

He looked back and grinned at her before he disappeared into the sea of people. Only then did she realise how easy it was to feel alone when surrounded by strangers. She sighed, requested another drink and when it was made, she began to drink violently. If she was going to get through the night, she was going to have to enjoy herself.

It tasted bitter and once again made her want to gag. But she didn’t mind. It was time to experience the rest of her life. She finished quickly, slamming the glass down urgently before she turned and made her way to the dance floor.

But something pushed into her halfway to her destination. A man, mohawked, covered in tattoo’s and piercings, was standing there, drink in hand, looking at her apologetically. She was confused until she felt the beer seep through her dress, tingling the skin on her chest.

She stood, flabbergasted. That…that fucker had ruined her dress! A stain was forming on the white material. She groaned in annoyance, sneered at the ignorant man in the most ugly way she could and made to step away to the toilets, when his hand reached out to grab onto her wrist.

She glared at him, her eyes narrowing in the darkness of the club. He looked sheepish for a second before he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Err, shit, sorry about that. My friends, over there, you see ‘em? They…they pushed me over here. Shit. Err. So, yeah. Sorry about that. Lemme help you.”

She pulled her wrist out of his grasp furiously. What right did he have to offer to help her when he’d destroyed the dress that she didn’t have the money to replace? None, that’s what. What an arrogant bastard. She growled at him.

“What? I’m sorry, but no, you can’t help me. What‘s your name?” She paused, waiting for him to answer.

“Christ. Johnny Christ,” he grinned smugly, but it quickly melted from his face.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be such an arrogant asshole, Johnny Christ. Tell your little friends that I give them the same message.”

With that, she gave him one last sneer and stumbled away, wishing the rest of the night would go better.