Gynoid

Gynoid Part 3

"What was it about her that made her so much easier to talk to?" asked Lapis.

Toby was so surprised by the question he answered without even thinking about it. "She never judges me."

Lapis raised an eyebrow. "Judges?"

"Well, on our date—"

"You call that a date?" Lapis scoffed, folding her arms. Toby felt sweat break out on his brow. Not again, her thought.

"Listen up, Crimson." said Lapis. Toby blinked; she'd never used his last name in any of their scattered conversations before. "I don't know what you got with that Ariel girl, but get this: people form opinions about other people. It's what we do. Sometimes they're not going to be good ones. So if that scares you, you better hang onto that girl. Because if you don't, you'll be using your right hand for the rest of your life!" And with that she walked off in the direction of a robot carrying a tray of champagne. Toby stared after her in wonder for a moment before returning to the booth he and his friends had occupied, where Ariel was talking with Garth, Alex, and Raphael about the song the DJ was playing. Tim and Yu were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey man." said Raphael. "What's up with Lapis? She followed you to the bathroom."

"Hell if I know." said Toby, looping an arm around Ariel and kissing her cheek. "I don't understand what makes girls tick."

"No guy does." Raphael replied. "Even me, and I get a new one every month. Then again, maybe that's why I don't understand them." The table burst into laughter before moving into other subjects. At some point Tim and Yu wandered back to their booth, Lapis following and swaying a little as she walked.

"What's up, bitches?" Tim allowed Lapis to slide in next to Raphael before sitting down with Yu.

"Nothing much." said Garth. "How long's this party going on till, anyway?"

Tim checked his watch. "Damn, wraps up in twenty minutes." There was a collective groan around the table. Toby groaned as well, though inwardly he cheered. To him, that meant the show wrapped in twenty minutes, and then he and Ariel were in the clear.

Tim signaled a waiter drone, which brought them all a round of neon blue martinis. "Well, I say we finish up with a toast. To fucking good times and having good fucks together!"

The table exploded with laughter. "Dude, you're so crude!" shouted Garth.

"Hey Toby! Ariel! You two gotta drink as well!" said Alex. "And none of that allergy bullshit."

Toby felt a brief flutter of panic but suppressed it. "Hey, only if she's drinking too." Toby pointed a thumb at Ariel.

"And I get sick when I drink," she said to the table.

"Oh come on. Just one drink!" said Garth. "You two can't let us all go home with you two the only ones not having fun!"

"Hey, I'll have some weed on the way home—"

"Hold them down!" There was a roar of drunken applause as Tim jumped on the table and grabbed two martini glasses. He ran across the table and jumped into Toby's lap. Toby cried out as a drink was thrust in front of his face.

"Tim, what the fuck are you—" The rest was literally drowned out as Toby had martini thrown down his throat. He coughed and spat some of the cocktail out, his mouth burning.

"Toby—!" Ariel reached for him but Alex grabbed her and laughed drunkenly. Lapis crawled onto the table, holding a martini glass too. Toby saw that Yu and Garth were egging Tim and Lapis on while Raphael laughed and wiped tears away from his eyes. He realized that all of them were drunker than he'd thought, and a sense of dread fell over him.