‘Wow, how cool is that? I never knew. I walked in here because it looked like a cool bar from the outside.’ She looked around for a quick moment. ‘Now that I do, this whole place seems a little different. It’s gained a little… mystique, you know?’
‘I know what you mean,’ Mary agreed.
‘Umm… I’m Natálie, by the way,’ the woman said, offering her hand.
Mary shook it. ‘Mary, nice to meet you. So where are you from, originally, if you don’t mind me asking? Your accent sounds European, but I can’t exactly place it.’
Natálie smiled. ‘I’m from Prague, in the Czech Republic, but I live in London, in the UK. This is my first trip to America.’
‘Oh really? Business or pleasure?’
‘Well… more recharging than anything else.’ Natálie shrugged. ‘I just really needed a break from everything and everyone, you know? I was feeling a bit suffocated, so I thought – why not? I’ve always wanted to visit the US so… here I am.’
Mary picked up an odd tone to Natálie’s explanation – sadness perhaps – the kind of sadness that you didn’t ask about. Instead, she indicated the seat across the table from her. ‘Do you want to sit down?’
Natálie looked at the whiskey tumblers. ‘Umm… I don’t want to intrude.’
‘Oh no. There’s no one sitting there.’ Mary quickly explained her little trick.
Natálie chuckled. ‘Good trick, but that wouldn’t work where I live. In England, the men wouldn’t care. They’d still come and bother you… probably drink whatever is left in those glasses too.’
Mary smiled then shook her head. ‘Not over here. America is a happy suing country. People are terrified of being sued by others for just about anything, really. It’s crazy.’ She pushed the tumbler away and indicated the seat again. ‘Please, sit down.’
Natálie finally accepted the invite. ‘Thank you.’ As she sat down, her attention flicked over to the picture board. A moment later, she indicated another photo. ‘I actually remember this love scene too.’
Mary nodded. ‘And it looks like it was all shot right here, inside this little alcove.’
‘Amazing.’ Natálie looked around again. ‘You know, thinking about it, this totally looks like a place where vampires could hang out.’
‘I know, right?’ Mary tipped her bottle in Natálie’s direction, who tapped her goblet against it.
They chatted and drank together for the next two hours. Mary ended up trying all threeVamp Bloodcocktails, and the bartender was right – they were all pretty good, but also pretty strong. As they finished their third cocktail, Mary and Natálie were both feeling positively tipsy. After another bathroom run, Natálie told Mary that she needed to get going.
‘I have an early flight tomorrow,’ Natálie explained. ‘I’m flying into New York, before getting a connecting flight back to London in the afternoon. And I still haven’t packed.’
‘Oh, OK!’ Mary said back, also getting to her feet. ‘Well… it was really nice meeting you.’
‘Same here,’ Natálie said, with a firm nod. ‘And I would love to stay in touch, if you like.’ She reached inside her handbag for her cellphone. ‘We could swap Instagrams, if you like?’
Mary’s eyes darted away for an instant. When they came back to Natálie, they came accompanied by a subtle headshake. ‘I don’t have an Instagram account.’
‘Really?’ Natálie’s eyebrows arched awkwardly, as if she had never met anyone without an Instagram account. ‘OK, Facebook works too.’
Another shake of the head. Mary knew that sooner or later this would happen. In today’s world, if you had a cellphone, you had to have social media. It was practically mandatory. Why else would you have a cellphone in the twenty-first century? People rarely called each other anymore, unless it was a real emergency.
Sure, Mary could tell her the truth. She could tell anyone sheliked that she was actually running scared from an ex-husband, who she had sent to prison for thirteen years, but whose reach went far beyond those prison walls. She could tell anyone she liked that even though Nelson was sitting behind bars, she still didn’t feel safe because she knew that someone was already trying to track her down, but that was Samantha Stewart’s truth, not Mary Smith’s. Nevertheless, Mary needed a plausible story to justify her lack of interest in social media because she knew that people would ask. The story that she came up with was also one hundred percent true… borrowed from an old friend. It was simple – not too many details – but it was the kind of story that people tended not to ask too many questions about.
‘I had a horrible, very toxic experience with someone who I met through a social media site,’ she explained, her eyes averting Natálie’s. ‘It started well, but very soon it turned into a living nightmare.’ She gave Natálie a worried shake of the head before delivering the line that she knew would keep most people from asking any further questions. ‘I’m not going to go into all the horrid details of how bad it actually got, but since then, I completely stepped away from social media… at least for the time being.’
‘Oh God, I’m so, so sorry,’ Natálie said, stepping forward and giving Mary a tight hug. ‘I completely understand. Social media can be great sometimes, but it can also be absolute hell on earth. There are too many freaks out there.’
Natálie let go of the hug and reached into her handbag once again. This time, she retrieved a pen and the tabloid paper that she was reading earlier.
‘Like I said,’ she began, unfolding the paper and scribbling something onto it. ‘I would really love to stay in touch… if you want.’ She finished writing, tore the whole page out of the newspaper, folded it four times, and handed it to Mary. ‘This is my number. Text or WhatsApp me any time you like. And ifyou ever want to visit London, just let me know. I’d love to show you around.’
‘Thank you,’ Mary said, taking the folded page. ‘That’s very kind of you. I’m going to keep this, and I might take you up on that offer sometime.’
‘I really hope you do.’
