“Speak for yourself,” Alexa said. “I have a five-year plan.”
“Her five-year plan involves marrying a rich man,” Mia told Ellie and Becca. “It’s not the most sophisticated.”
“It absolutely is sophisticated. It’s a plan and it takes five years.”
“And you’ve had it for three years already with no success.”
Alexa scoffed and waved her hand. “Details,” she added, starting to laugh.
They all laughed, and it was interesting to see how the energy changed after the big reveal. It usually went one of two ways…either a kind of ‘does not compute’ reaction, where whoever they were talking to wasn’t comfortable with it, or a ‘that’s cool, now what were we saying’ reaction. Alexa and Mia seemed to be firmly the latter, the two of them looking at Ellie and Becca now not just as a convenient escape from bad chat-up lines but as genuinely interesting people living a life that was several steps ahead of where they were, and that just happened to involve them being two women married to each other.
They stayed for another round, talking mainly about spring break. Their new friends were incredulous to hear that Ellie and Becca had never done spring break when they were at college, and told how they’d done it every year (“That first year was most of our team… that got wild”). It sounded like they had some stories to tell, and Ellie and Becca gladly listened.
“So look… I know you did spring break on Saturday,” Mia said at one point. “Or at least you think you did. But it would be negligent of us not to take our new hot, lesbian friends under our wing and show you how the pros do it.” She paused and smiled. “You down?”
“I am,” Becca replied without hesitation. “El?”
Ellie shrugged. “You only live once. Yeah, I am too.”
“Excellent. This calls for shots, our shout this time,” Alexa said, standing and already on her way to the bar.
“What have we let ourselves in for?” Ellie asked.
“Fun,” Mia laughed. “You two are the most exciting thing to happen to us all week.”
Chapter 26
When the bar started to get louder and more crowded they decided to move. Mia had strong opinions about where to go next (“there’s a strip of places two blocks over that are less frat-house, more actual music”) and they spilled out into the warm evening air.
Ellie was hungry and she persuaded the others that they needed food before anything else. Alexa knew a place, she claimed, a little further down the waterfront and when they got there they found a line of food trucks doing brisk business. Ellie and Becca ordered for everyone and when Mia reached for her bank card Becca waved her away.
“We talked about this. We have jobs.”
“You can’t buy us food and drink all night.”
“Watch us.”
Mia protested once more, a token effort, and Alexa said, “Just let them, Mia. We’ve been living on ramen and gas station snacks for a week. Take the gift.”
They ate standing on the sidewalk, watching the crowd flow past them. Alexa talked to Ellie about her plans for graduation and an internship that she was hoping to get, and Ellie tried to offer some advice although she was more than a little buzzed by then so couldn’t vouch for her advice being up to much. Becca and Mia meanwhile were engaged in a friendly argument-debate about something that Ellie couldn’t quite catch but suspected neither of them really understood either.
“Right, next bar?” Mia asked when they’d finished.
“Lead the way.”
***
The second bar was good: darker, louder, the music less generic. The crowd was a mix of spring breakers and what looked like a few locals, so that for the first time that day Ellie and Becca weren’t the oldest in there. The four of them stood around a table, the drinks flowed, and the conversation got looser and funnier. At one point some guys came to talk to them and their chat was good so they hung out for a while, keeping it to themselves that they only really had a chance with Mia and Alexa.
After a while though Mia came over and shouted in Ellie’s ear over the music, “Let’s get out of here. I know somewhere way better.” She glanced over at the bar. “And those guys are goingto start thinking we owe them something for the drinks they bought us any time now…”
Ellie saw one of them sidling over to where Becca and Alexa were stood, and saw exactly what she meant. Very much a first world problem that Mia and Alexa had, being hot and desirable in the environment of spring break, but she could see the challenges. They’d been getting a lot of attention from guys. A lot.
They made it to the third bar sometime after ten and it was the best of the lot, a terrace out front, a courtyard bar and dance floor round the back, and in between another bar and dance floor. It was packed but good packed, the DJ playing something with a heavy bass that Ellie could feel deep down, lights low and strobing, a flash of face, a glimpse of shoulder, hands in the air.
Mia grabbed Becca’s hand. “Come on, I love this song.”
Becca looked at Ellie:coming?her expression asked. But Alexa was already steering her towards the bar. “Shots first. I’m not dancing sober in there. House rules.”
