In This Wondrous Place

“What do you think?” I twirled around once in my dress and let the edges flair out around me. It was a knee length sleeveless dress that Grace bought me from L.A. several months ago. This was the first time I was able to wear it and it was actually very flattering.

“I love it,” Grace replied, “peach looks really good on you. How about mine?”

She wore a silky asymmetrical length dress that showed off her legs. I couldn’t think of a single dress that has ever looked unattractive on her, but this one in particular was stunning.

We straightened our hair and dashed on some makeup before meeting everyone else downstairs. The rest of the group looked impressive, with the boys dressed in slacks and button ups and Isabelle in a loose dress that nicely curved around her baby bump. We were ready to take on the cantina.

Mason drove us in his car, where everyone was slightly squished against one another. It was a relief when we finally got to the cantina and were able to stumble out of it.

A crowd of people was already inside the bar, dancing and laughing and drinking all around. I wasn’t able to see if Chris was inside yet, but I sincerely hoped that he was. Even as we approached the front door, it was hard to see the entire bar through the windows.

I pulled Grace to me gently by her arm and spoke lowly in her ear.

“Do you think they’re in there?”

She shrugged her shoulders as Lucas opened the door for all of us.

“Thanks, Luke!” I patted his shoulder as I walked by.

“No problem. Also, you look great tonight, Em.” He smiled and walked in behind me.

“I have Grace to thank for that, she’s the one who got me this dress.” I briefly played with the ribbon around the waist and smoothed it out.

He opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off by the sound of the live band playing in the corner. A salsa song rang out from their instruments and everyone who was on the dancefloor seemed to collectively organize into complimentary dance groupings. Among them bobbed a tuft of curly black hair.

“Well, there’s Kit,” I leaned over to Grace, “Where’s Chris?”

“I don’t know; I don’t see him.” She looked over the wave of bodies, but couldn’t seem to find him either.

I disappointedly sat down at the bar and ordered a drink for myself. Mason ordered a water for Isabelle and a beer for him and Lucas. Grace had already made her way to the dance floor to salsa with Kit. The female partner that he had been with previously gave her a look of annoyance, but neither Kit nor Grace seemed to care. They just happily began dancing.

After nearly an hour of drinking, Mason and I found ourselves talking excitedly about every topic under the sun. Isabelle and Lucas were carrying on their own side conversation and occasionally looking over to enjoy our drunken conversation.

“---and mom was convinced that I was the one that did it!” I threw my hands up in mock frustration.

“Well you were kind of the mastermind, so…” Mason took another long swig of his drink.

“I remember dad was pissed when he got home,” I laughed, “He took away all of our toys and hid them in the attic.”

“Not that he really had a right to be pissed about anything.” Mason tapped his beer against the counter and waved over the bartender.

“W-what do you mean?” I furrowed my brows.

“He was probably screwing that one…what was her name?...anyways, that one coworker he had that night. You remember, right?”

I shook my head and put my drink down.

“What the hell are you talking about, Mason?”

Isabelle interjected suddenly, tugging on my brother’s shirt. He jerked away and once more waved down the bartender, who seemed to be ignoring him.

“Come on, babe,” She pushed his beer away from him, “I think it’s time to go back now.”

“No, no, Em and I are just talking. Huh, Emery?”

I staggered down from the barstool and grabbed at my throbbing head. What started as a dull ache began to evolve into something much more vicious. I started to think about what my brother had just said, but couldn’t believe my ears. My father….cheated? I thought that he and my mother just fell out of love, that they just couldn’t make things work. There’s no way that my dad could cheat on my mom. No.

I turned back to look Mason in the eyes.

“Mason, that’s not funny. You know that’s not true.”

He laughed dramatically and Lucas joined me at my side, tugging me toward the door.

“Of course it is. You don’t remember his late nights coming home, smelling like perfume that didn’t belong to mom? Come on, Em, he was fucking someone else! He fucked the whole marriage!”

At this point the whole bar had gone quiet. Everyone was staring at us have our argument in the middle of everything.

I narrowed my eyes at Mason.

“Well, at least you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

Grace raced after me from the dancefloor, followed by Lucas, as I darted towards the street. I couldn’t take it anymore, I was angry. And upset. And sad. I was feeling an array of emotions that I couldn’t deal with, so I just kept going.

“Wait up!” Lucas called out, the two of them still jogging behind me.

“Leave me alone!”

I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. I just wanted a nice long walk in the city. Was that too much to ask?

After a minute, my friends stopped following me and watched unhappily with their hands on their hips.

It was a beautiful night, now that I took the time to look at it. The sky was clear and the stars shone brightly over the city. It was comforting to watch them as I walked, looking at them like I did so many years ago. The city itself was quiet for the night, especially since there weren’t too many bars to party in here. I think that’s part of its charm, honestly.

The street I walked along was dark, more so as I made my way towards the end of it. I almost needed a flashlight to see anything in the dim lighting. I was lucky that this wasn’t a crime-ridden city or I would be a walking target. The thought made me shiver and rub at my exposed shoulders.

I could suddenly hear a car motor rumbling behind me a few blocks back, though that isn’t entirely uncommon at this time of night. I turned down a random street and continued walking, hoping that they would pass right by without a second thought.

The car turned down my street.

“Oh shit, oh shit, what was I thinking?” I mumbled angrily to myself as I picked up my walking pace.

The black Audi began driving slowly next to me, keeping up with my pace. The window rolled slowly downward.

I whipped out my phone and pressed on the dial screen.

“I’m calling the polic---“ I turned and saw that it was Chris driving the car.

“So,” he began, “Kit called me as I was driving to the cantina and told me that you might be having a rough night. I can confirm now that that is indeed the case.”

I rolled my eyes.

“How perceptive.”

He stopped the car and I followed suit.

“Look, let me drop you off at your house. I don’t want you walking alone out here in the dark. Get in the car, Emery,” and after a moment of me not moving, “please?”

I sighed and pulled open the door of the car, sliding over the leather seat.

“Can we not go to my place?”

“Would you rather go to mine?”

I nodded.

“Ok, well we would be alone. Kit and Liam are the only ones that are still vacationing down here and they are still at the cantina with Grace and Lucas. Is that alright?”

“That’s actually a little bit better. Thank you.”

He gave a small smile and stepped on the gas.