I straightened up my apartment and then got dressed, killing time until Beth returned to pick me up. Blood Shadow called me again to confirm plans. He told me Beth already called Dana and set up a schedule of bars. I couldn't sit still while she was gone. Even though we'd had one afternoon-long fuck fest I was pacing my apartment like it was a first date. My stomached churned something fierce. I peed about seven times.
Already it all felt like a dream. Maybe I snapped. Maybe it was heat stroke from my job. Beth never got free from prison. I imagined this all after falling off my riding mower and hitting my head. What a cruel joke that would be.
If there was one thing I wished I could remove from my personality it would be my overactive imagination. I would be much happier without it.
Beth was real, Beth was free, Beth was coming to pick me up for drinks. Nothing was going to change that.
For all the time I spent waiting for a knock at my door I actually jumped when the doorknob turned and it swung open. Beth strode in wearing a tight little red dress with a high slit up the side. She had on black cowboy boots to match her black hat. She looked much better than she had when she first showed up earlier. Gone was her disguise that she'd obviously stolen from someone else. She probably burned the hoodie she had been wearing.
"You look as white as a sheet," she said.
"Startled me. I forgot you had a key. For a moment I thought you were my mom. That's not a conversation I'm looking forward to."
"It'll turn out for the best. Or it won't. Who cares? That's for tomorrow. Tonight is all about fun!"
And it was. I climbed into the cab of her truck and we drove over to Dana's place to pick her and Blood Shadow up. He climbed into the cab with us while Dana laid down a blanket and got into the bed.
Instead of going to the country bar like I expected, we went to a tall building in the business section of town. It looked like an ordinary office building, about as exciting as the one I worked at, but there was a line of cars waiting in front of it while valets scurried about.
I thought we would be turned away since we looked like a bunch of hillbillies pulling up in a pickup truck with someone in the back while every other car was a Lexus or a Jag or a BMW. Instead the valets were quicker with us than anyone else. Our group got treated like royalty. One of the bouncers, a big black guy, came up and offered his hand to Dana to help her out.
They hugged like old friends and everyone welcomed Beth back. Dana asked the man about his family. At the door we weren't frisked and didn't have to go through the metal detector. The people waiting in line alternated between looked miffed at our special treatment or confused at just what celebrities we were.
It was an actual office building with the directory listed mostly law firms. We passed a bank of elevators and got onto an express. There was only one button which took us all the way to the top. When the doors opened I saw that it was one of the fanciest restaurants I'd ever seen, including all the ones in the movies.
I was way out of my league. Already I was thinking about what the cheapest thing I could order was. Even the least expensive beer was going to cost me ten dollars. Glasses of water were going to play a big part in my future and even that would probably bankrupt me for a while. I started to sweat a little. Blood Shadow sensed my nervousness. While the girls talked to a maitre'd who couldn't stop leering at Dana's chest he leaned over and whispered to me.
"Don't worry about it. Everything's on me tonight. Enjoy yourself."
"I don't think I can. This place must cost a fortune."
"Don't think about that. It's a party, your girl is here. Just have fun. It's fine. Dana and Black Hat hang out here all the time with Madame Malfeasance and The Fear Leader."
At the sound of Sarah's villain name my throat seized up a little. What would she do to my world? I still hadn't worked up the nerve to tell Beth about that yet. Telling her about Kylie was bad enough, explaining Sarah was going to be a nightmare.
"Is Sarah going to show up?" I asked.
"I assumed as much. Word spread around the community. Black Hat had to have called and invited her."
"So much for having a good night."
"Don't worry about it."
"You guys keep telling me that. I can't. It's going to come up and it's going to be bad." I wanted to go back to the elevator and leave. I had such a good day and now it felt like I had pressed my luck too far and it was going to get ruined. I wanted to be back in my apartment, alone and safe.
"It might not come up," Blood Shadow said.
"Of course it's going to come up! I can't not tell Beth. I'm not the type of person who can hide stuff like that."
"You might die before you get the chance. That's why we keep telling you to stop worrying. You're going to give yourself an ulcer. You could die at any time so, yeah, enjoy the good times and stop trying to turn them bad."
"I'm not suddenly going to die. I don't live the dangerous lives you guys do," I said.
"While you were working in a nice, safe cubicle farm, two super humans crashed through a window right over your head. They then completely destroyed that office in a fight, both of whom were oblivious to your presence. You don't have to live a violent life to die a violent death. Or you could also have a stroke in your sleep," he clapped me on the back, "looks like the girls got our table ready."
A hostess lead us through the restaurant to a semi-private table by a window overlooking the city. We could see the last bit of setting sun melting into the horizon. There were only four of us, but many more seats at the table. Blood Shadow was right that more people were expected. Beth took a seat in the middle of the table. I sat next to her on the side closest to the window. There was still an empty seat next to me which filled me with dread as to who could sit there.
Beth scooted her seat closer to mine and took my hand in hers. The waitress returned with our drinks; champagne for the girls, whiskey for Blood Shadow and a gin & tonic for me.
Beth regaled us all with prison stories. I found it interesting that, out of everyone, she was the only person to have gone. Dana and Blood Shadow said they had been arrested before, but never made it more than a few hours in jail before breaking out. Beth told us about her times in solitary, her shitty cell, and the awful food. It was all pretty much the standard stuff you expected to hear from someone about prison.
It turned out that not a lot of people tried to attack Beth in an attempt to elevate their prison status. She was mostly left alone after she broke a few arms and jaws of the first few to try. The other prisoners couldn't get any support from the guards to ambush her since Wyatt was paying them off. After that, she told us, it was mostly a lot of tedium as she waited through each day. She read the complete works of Louis L'Amore a couple of times.
"If they'd have let me work in the machine shop I woulda' been fine. Instead my scheduled work time was replaced with having to be in that room with Wyatt as he rambled on. I woulda' even taken shifts in the laundry room washing bloody sheets all day instead a' that. Made it feel like my sentence was gonna' last until the stars burned out."
After that the girls started catching up on life outside. Blood Shadow didn't want to talk about work so he proceeded to bore me with details of the game I missed. An hour later, with two more drinks in me, I felt good. I thought maybe no one else would show up and it would turn out to be a nice evening.
Right as I thought that was when more people showed up. Leading the way was Madame Malfeasance who I had only met her the one time at her birthday party. Behind her was a large, muscular man. He was easily the largest man I'd ever seen, including the bouncer outside. He was wearing one of Madame Malfeasance's signature gold chains around his neck, but he lacked the typical glassy-eyed stare I remembered of the mind controlled.
As he moved out of the way I got a shock. Behind him was Sarah. He was so large that I’d been unable to see her. She wore a black sun dress with red flowers on it. Forgoing a veil this time she wore a large black hat with the brim tipped down to obscure her face some.
I was relieved to see a man on her arm. He was a skinny guy with short cropped white-blonde hair. He wore a red dress shirt, no tie and black slacks.
Their arrival forced us to move around a bit. Beth reluctantly moved away from my side. I shifted over to be next to the window. After everyone played musical chairs the men were on one half of the table and the women on the other. The giant man sat next to me. His chair creaked underneath him as he settled his weight down. He extended his hand to me.
"Nice to meet you. I am Xavier."
"I'm Luke, Beth's boyfriend," his hand completely enveloped mine as we shook.
The man to the left of me remained standing until he introduced himself, he leaned over to shake my hand.
"Hi, I'm..." he looked to Blood Shadow, "are we using real names or villain names in front of the civvie?"
"Luke's good."
"Sound. My name is Alex, but if you like you can call me Burn It Down."
I didn't ask for a demonstration of his power, but I think he wanted to show off. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth. He snapped his fingers and the tip of his index finger became like a butane torch. He lit the cigarette then waggled his fingers like a magician and the flame went out.
I shot him a fake smile in appreciation for the show. Alex couldn't see it, but Blood Shadow rolled his eyes.
The girls were all in heavy conversation. Beth was going on again about her time in prison, this time sharing more lurid details she omitted earlier. I was torn between listening in to know more and not wanting to hear it. Finding out more would only add to the guilt I already had.
Alex and Blood Shadow were talking to each other, almost in whisper. Against his wishes Blood Shadow had been drawn into a conversation about work, some job coming up they were doing together. That left me to talk to Xavier.
I didn't have a clue what to say to him. He didn't seem interested in starting a conversation with me either. He simply sat at the table, both hands resting on either side of his glass of wine. Every so often he would lift the glass to take a drink then set it down in the same spot. He seemed content to gaze out the window at the city skyline. Maybe I was wrong and he actually was mind-controlled.
Blood Shadow and Alex finished their private conversation. Alex started in with the normal false, chit-chat trying to get to know each other conversation. I found out we went to the same high school, just not at the same time since he was younger. After that we were able to talk about the same teachers we had. It turned out to be fun and probably one of the more normal conversations I'd had with one of the villains.
Eventually Beth got drunk enough that she decided it was time to go dancing. The men, minus Xavier, all grumbled at this while the girls all thought it was a great idea. If someone paid the check I didn't see it. We crammed into the elevator and went to the ground floor.
Instead of Beth's truck we piled into Madame Malfeasance's limo. Despite the roominess, Dana and Xavier were still cramped inside of it. The limo drove us to a club downtown. The line to get in stretched down the street and around the corner. Like the restaurant we didn't bother with it. We went straight to the front and the bouncers let us in immediately. All the people in line were upset, but didn't get too rowdy. Dana and Xavier's size made it clear what would happen if a real argument broke out.
The house music was so loud my eyeballs hurt. The bass pumped so hard my brain felt about ready to pop. We got entrance into the VIP area where it wasn't quite as loud and there was nobody else. It had been a while since I'd been in a club. The last time had been with Beth one night. Kylie and I never went out on dates. The bar we met up at with our co-workers was very low key and didn't even have a jukebox.
All the guys sat awkwardly on the couches around a low table. The music was still too loud to have even a shouted conversation. The girls never even sat down. They set their purses on the table and got to dancing with one another.
Except for the alcohol it felt way too much like a junior high dance: boys and girls separated, me with my back to the wall trying not to be noticed. The shitty thing was that I did want to dance with Beth. Not that I was thrilled by the notion, I was terribly awkward and would feel like an idiot, but I wanted to be close to her. I wanted to hold her tight and never let go.
Instead I sat at the table, diddling around with my phone as Blood Shadow and Alex did the same.
I hadn't drank that much, at least I didn't think I had, but when I stood up I felt the floor swim beneath my feet.
"Everything all right there?" Alex asked.
"Yeah...I have to go the bathroom."
The VIP area had its own bathroom so I didn't have to stand in line. I could really get used to that. After I pissed and washed my hands I looked at myself in the mirror. My head felt clearer. It was probably only the rush from standing up that caused it. I cupped a few handfuls of water and drank them. I wasn't going to have any more drinks. Getting drunk and going home to have sex felt too much like Kylie.
When I left the bathroom it appeared that Beth had no such resolve. The girls were all extinguishing the fires from their shot glasses and knocking them back. Beth smashed her glass on the floor and shouted "Woo!" She dragged Sarah back onto the dance floor. Two attendants appeared from out of nowhere. Instead of escorting us out they quietly cleaned up the broken glass and disappeared.
Dana sat down in Xavier's place as he got up. Madame Malfeasance was summoning him out to dance. As big as he was I expected him to lumber around like Frankenstein's monster dancing with his prom date. Instead he was surprisingly graceful. The way those two danced to the beat it was almost like they had rehearsed it. If he was enjoying himself it still didn't show on his face. That didn't seem to faze her, Madame Malfeasance grinned like a madwoman as she danced.
I returned to the couch and sat down. My drink was only ice cubes now, so I sucked one up and let it melt in my mouth. I watched the couples dance on the floor. Dana and Blood Shadow were making out on one of the couches. All who was left was me and Alex. He drummed his fingers on his knee.
He made his move before I did. He sprung out of his chair and walked out to the dance floor. He cut in between Sarah and Beth. Sarah cuddled up close to him. Beth didn't stop dancing. She moved away from them and swayed by herself. After a while she opened her eyes and motioned with her finger for me to join her. I stood up and made my way towards her.
I felt awkward. I reminded myself that no one was watching me. The only person who mattered was Beth. She wanted to be close to me, wanted to dance with me. What did I care if everyone thought I looked like an idiot?
She wrapped her arms around me. The music shifted from a fast moving EDM song to a slower song from an 80s movie. Now it really did feel like we were at a junior high dance.
"I been waiting all night," she whispered in my ear, "Dana paid off the DJ to take it down a notch when ya' finally worked up the courage to dance with me."
"You could've told me earlier," I said.
"Woulda' spoiled the surprise. 'sides, I wanted to get my fast dancing on first. Been a long time since I could get my groove on. The guards frowned on cell-block dance parties."
She rested her head on my shoulder as we slow-danced together. Alex and Sarah were doing the same, as were Madame Malfeasance and Xavier. The only couple not dancing was Dana and Blood Shadow. They had stopped making out and were sitting next to each other on the couch holding hands. When Blood Shadow saw me he raised a toast to me. Dana smiled and waved. I smiled back.
