Lawrence
Lawrence wokeup with a dull headache, his party clothes from the night before tangled on his body. He blinked his bleary eyes, and his friend Tyler came into focus beside him, still wearing his drag makeup, with gigantic blue arcs framing his eyes and heavily contoured cheekbones, although his wig and dress were nowhere to be seen.
A light breeze blew through Lawrence’s curly hair. “Tyler,” he whispered, poking his friend. “Tyler! Where are we?”
Tyler blinked, then looked around. “We’re on a roof, Lawrence. Isn’t that obvious?”
At a good twenty stories up, that was quite obvious. The roof was open and dotted only with the occasional large potted plant and some stylish outdoor furniture. Lawrence and Tyler were sprawled out on a canopied couch, right across from a small greenhouse and what looked like a woodshed, while a sturdy brick wall guarded the edges.
“Yes,” Lawrence agreed. “But why?” He peered into the distance for a moment, then frowned. “Is this the Upper West Side?”
“You don’t remember anything, really?” Tyler asked, exasperated.
“I remember your performance,” Lawrence replied, a little defensive. “Another legendary night for Miss Merry Tyler Morehead.”
Tyler popped up in bed, then struck a pose, angling his hand beneath his chin. “She makes it after all,” he joked. “Every single time, she makes it.”
Lawrence rubbed his temple. “But where are we? Really?”
Tyler sighed. He was in his underwear, and he swung his legs off the oversized couch, then went to sorting and tugging on a pair of tights and a T-shirt from the night before. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Let’s go?” Lawrence asked, confused. “Did I make a bad impression on the hosts?” He hated when he embarrassed himself; he really did.
“No, darling. You swore up and down that you knew the person who owned this rooftop. And when we entered, the woman in the lobby was distracted by a phone call, and we caught the door to the elevator when someone else was exiting, and…” Tyler frowned as he adjusted his T-shirt. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You also claimed there was a pool up here.”
“Oh!” Lawrence finally stood, and when the morning sun hit his eyes, he had to turn away from the brightness of it. “I thought this resembled the pool roof. I suppose it is somewhere around here…”
Tyler handed Lawrence his shoes. “You’re lucky no one came up while I was still in my underwear.”
“I take it we had a fun night celebrating your show, then?”
“We did,” Tyler agreed.
“Maybe I should have had my bodyguard with me after all,” Lawrence mumbled, looking around the unfamiliar place.
“So you said last night, about a million times.”
Lawrence moaned, then fell against Tyler. “He’s just so hot, Tyler. I can’t get over it. He has these big, broad shoulders, and sometimes he squeezes his hands, and I can see his muscles flex. But he’s bulky, too, which is really hot. All the guys around here work out too much, you know what I mean?”
Tyler sighed. “Can you stop talking about your bodyguard long enough for us to sneak out?”
“Maybe.”
“If he had been there, would he have stopped you from stealing that man’s cocaine?”
“What?” Lawrence yelped, then snatched his fanny pack from the ground. “I don’t even do cocaine! Why would I steal someone’s drugs?”
“To throw those drugs in the toilet. He kept talking about how he didn’t like Africans, and complaining about immigrants, and absolutely shouting the vilest things.”
Lawrence pushed back his hair. “Oh. Well I suppose I’m glad I did throw his cocaine away, then, if it helped him to shut the hell up.”
“Just remember that you shouldn’t go back to Uptown Club anytime soon.”
They made their way out to a back staircase, then down twenty-two flights of stairs, which Lawrence decided was a fitting punishment for having lost control again the night before. His legs were burning and his gut aching by the time they got to the bottom and out onto the street, full of people headed into their days.
“Breakfast?” Lawrence asked.
Tyler pulled out his phone. “Sure. I’ll see if Derrick is up.” He paused, then used his phone to look at himself. “Nowhere we’ll run into someone we know though, please. I look like I’m dressed for a princess sleepover.”
