So here we are, all dressed up, parked in parking lot of The Clubhouse.
My pulse quickens as I glance around nervously, trying to take in my surroundings.
Chatter fills the atmosphere as people walk through the entrance, mingling and giggling away noisily. The loud music from the inside is complemented with faint cheers and applause of people having a blast inside. The colorful lights illuminating the surroundings cast an overall energetic and lively aura.
I look on in horror as a couple almost tear each other apart, making out against a car.
Around them, a number of other couples seem to be doing pretty much the same.
Like get a room or something!
A guy I recognize from school staggers towards the door and collapses against the stairs before he makes it in.
Who even arrives at a party already wasted?
"You girls ready???" Mom shouts above the loud music.
"Yeah!" I try to match her enthusiasm, but Miranda only gives a weak nod.
"Alrighty! Let's do thisssss!!" She continues in singsong, then proceeds to grab us each by the hand and drag us towards the entrance.
Oh boy, I think to myself before reluctantly moving my feet.
The inside is nothing I've ever seen before, which makes total sense coming from me. I've never really been anyway apart from school.
Thick air mixed with smoke, sweat and alcohol greets us as we take our first step inside.
The music blasting out from the speakers is so loud that it almost feels like the walls are exploding and to top that, people are jumping around wildly, dancing and having the time of their lives like there's no tomorrow.
The air is electrified with excitement and you can just feel the energy coursing through the room.
I watch the crowded mass of dancing bodies and shake my head distastefully.
Did mom really expect us to go join in all this craze?
If she did then she doesn't really know her daughters, because there is absolutely no way in hell I'm joining that dancefloor!
I mean just look at them....it's all booze and sweat and skin to skin contact!
Ewww....Hard pass!!!!
"Mom, this is farfetched from what I imagined," I whisper loudly in her ear.
"You're right, Mandy. This was a dumb idea," she admits with an embarrased look.
"I haven't been here in years. I guess I didn't think it'd change this much. Come on, let's go get some drinks and then we can leave!"
I don't know which surprises me more. The fact that mom "used to come here" or the fact that she even suggested bringing us here in the first place.
"You used to come here?" Miranda speaks up for the very first time tonight.
"Oh hunny, where do you think you got your stubbornness and rebellion from? You dad?" She scoffs before breaking out into hysterical laughter.
"The only trouble he probably ever got into wa borrowing too many books from the library," she continues in-between her laughter.
"Come on girls, this way," she Instructs once she recovers from the laughter, taking the lead towards the bar. I follow suit, grabbing Miranda's hand tightly and pulling her along, trying my very best to avoid brushing against any sweaty or dancing body.
We spot some empty barstools to the far right and make ourselves comfortable as mom signals the bartender.
"Girls, I'm so sorry for dragging you here. I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, I thought it'd be fun, but so far, it's been all but fun. I feel really terrible. What kind of a mom even takes her daughters to the club?"
Oh boy!
Here we go again.....
Another one of mom's meltdowns
Could anyone really blame her? She works double shifts everyday, bursting her ass off just so she can take care of us. She practically has no life left for herself.
I don't even think she has any friends aside her co-workers from the hospital.
Because, if she did, she wouldn't be hanging out with a bunch of teenagers at a club on a Saturday night, in an attempt to forget her ex boyfriend who tried to hit on one of her daughters.
Wow! I may have thought my life was messed up, but mom's at the moment, might just be a bit more messed up than mine.
"It's fine mom. It really is. You only wanted to help," Miranda assures her with an encouraging smile.
"Awwwww, thanks, Miranda" she cooes lightly, her eyes rapidly filling with tears.
Well, on the plus side, I guess we now all know where my crybaby nature comes from.
"Mom, can I order a beer?"
I know she'll definitely say no, but since she's in a vulnerable state, maybe she'll consider?
"Nice try, Mandy. I may be crazy, but I'm not irresponsible."
"Just a sip, I promise," I push further.
"You know my stance on underage drinking, Mandy. Keep this up and I'm going to order you a juice box!"
"Fine, I'll take a Shirley temple," I mumble.
"When you start working and move out of my house, then, you can have alllll the alcohol you want," she teases me with a gentle nudge.
"Miranda?"
"A virgin mojito is fine for me."
"So, we'll take one Shirley temple, one virgin mojito and a scotch for me," she instructs the bartender.
"A scotch, huh?" The bartender asks her, a curious look plastered across his face.
"Yes, a scotch. Anything wrong with that? Because a woman is also allowed to have a scotch, Sir," Mom barks at the bartender, pronouncing the word "Sir" with all the frustration she's probably feeling right now.
I almost feel bad for him.
"Right." He flashes her a half-hearted smile and begins working on our drinks.
We just sit there quietly as we wait for our order, staring hard at the mass of dancing bodies.
"So, that boy looks cute. You wann-"
"No, mom. We're not doing this. I'm not going to discuss cute boys with you," Miranda cuts her off instantly.
"Right. I just...I just thought maybe we could you know... bond over drinks. Talk about guys and -"
"That's just weird, mom," I pitch in.
"Right?" Miranda asks. "This is already weird enough. Don't make it any weirder than it already is."
"You two can be so mean, you know that?"
"Who do you think we got that from? Dad?" Miranda mimics her, laughing a very genuine laugh for the first time since her breakup with Jason.
"So very mean," she pouts in attempt to cover the smile that's trying to surface.
"Okayyyyy, I've got a Shirley temple for the young miss, a virgin mojito for the other young miss, and a scotch for the pretty lady," the bartender interrupts our petty squabble, gently placing each person's drink infront of them as he confirmed our orders.
"Thanks," I mumble with a nod.
I notice a smile escape from the corners of mom's lips when he said "a scotch for the pretty lady" and I smile silently to myself.
"Hey, um....I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't judging or misjudging you. You're totally free to drink anything you want and that's none of my business," he apologizes, catching us all by surprise.
I look over at Miranda and she shares the same confused look.
"Thank you," mom responds in a high pitch voice.....her signature nervous voice.
"And I'm sorry for snapping at you like that. I'm usually nicer, I promise. You just caught me at really crazy moment."
"Tough day?" He plants his palms on the counter and leans closer, a concerned look on his face as he fixes his gaze intently on mom.
She smiles wistfully before responding, "I really wish it was, but sadly, it's not just been a tough day. It's been a tough last few weeks."
"Ouch! I understand you all too well," he admits.
I take a sip from my glass and try to assess what exactly is going on.
Is he trying to hit on mom???
"I'll tell you what....the next drink is on me, and then, you can tell me all about these crazy last few weeks."
I can swear, mom choked on her drink as soon as the words left his mouth.
Yup, he's definitely trying to hit on her!
"I can't help but wonder, what would your boss think about you using his work hours to ran therapy sessions and buy strangers drinks?"
The "I'm interested, but I don't want to come off as too eager, so I'm just going to slowly engage him by using sarcasm" approach.
Way to go, mom!!!
"I'm pretty sure my boss wouldn't mind. Say yes. Please?"
"So uh....you do this for all your customers?" She asks with a chuckle, gesturing around.
"No. This is a special service reserved for you only," he says just loud enough for her to hear...and for me to eavesdrop.
I turn in time to catch Miranda's silent gasp.
We smile at eachother and turn our attention back to them.
This was getting interesting.
Even with the disco lights flickering around, I can still see the heat visibly climb up mom's cheeks.
"I see," is all mom says, her face clearly flushed.
"Mr....?"
"Ethan," he supplies quickly.
"Mr. Ethan, are you trying to flirt with me right now?"
This time it's mom who leans closer.
"That depends. Would you indulge me if I said I was?"
"Okay, I'm gonna grab my drink and go now, while I still have my innocence intact!" Miranda announces, suddenly standing and reaching for her half empty glass.
Sensing what she's hinting at, I join in too.
"Yeah, me too. Gotta protect the innocence."
I stand too and reach for my drink.
"Like I said....mean. You two are very mean."
"We learn from the best," I whisper in her ear before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Have fun, kids!" I yell over the loud music.
Ethan breaks into laughter and mom just sits there silently, too amused to speak.
"Come on, Mandy. Let's go."
+++
After emptying our glasses we exit The Clubhouse to go wait for mom in the car, but guess what we find at the parking lot?
A group of boys are hanging around the car, chatting and laughing away noisily as if it belongs to them.
I checked the plate number to confirm whether that's mom's car and sure enough, the plate number matches mom's.
"Are they kidding?" I hear Miranda mumble undertone and I double my steps as we approach them.
They seem so into their discussion that they don't notice our presence.
I clear my throat to draw their attention and they all turn to face us.
"What can we do for you, ladies?," the one who seems to be their leader, asks, edging closer.
"You can do us a favour by getting as far away as possible from us, and our car," Miranda replies.
"That's your ride?" He points at the car and I roll my eyes in annoyance.
"Yeah. Move along!" I shout, twirling the car key on my finger so they get the message.
"Feisty. I love me a feisty girl," another guy speaks up and they all laugh.
"Cut the crap and move out of our way. I won't tell you a third time." I grab Miranda's hand and move towards the door but their leader moves to block
our way
"Whoa, calm down babe. Why don't we go get some drinks and then we can go for spin in your ride."
"Move!" I say firmly before pushing him away with all the strength I can muster.
He staggers slightly, then smirks.
"Come on, just one drink. I promise, I don't bite."
"Is that supposed to change our minds?" I ask, disgusted at how ridiculous he sounds right now.
"Maybe," he reaches to grab my hand and Miranda quickly slaps it away. "Don't you dare touch her," she barks defensively.
"You know, if the lady isn't interested then you, probably shouldn't force her."
I freeze for a second.
That voice!
I know that voice....it sounds so familiar....
I whip round immediately in the direction of the voice and I find the owner of the voice casually leaning against a car.
Jake!
And here I was, thinking Randy was the master of dramatic entrances!
"Jake!" I call out, not sure if it's a cry for help or it's the "hi" kind of call.
"Hey." He nods his reply and starts walking towards us, and this may or may not be a side effect of watching too many movies, but I think he's walking towards us in slow motion!!
The leader beckons his boys and they all start walking towards Jake.
Oh no.
This probably isn't going to end well.
"And what are you? Superman?" The leader addresses Jake for the first time and his dumbass excuse for "friends" burst into hysterical laughter, which makes absolutely no sense because nothing is funny.
"You can laugh all you want, boys."
He begins rolling up his sleeves and I look on in confusion.
What exactly is happening???
"Because, the only one who's going to be laughing after I give you a taste of this...." he breaks off, pointing at his clenched fist.
"....is me!"
I do a quick headcount....there's about seven of them and he intends to fight them alone?
I quickly rush to him and pull him aside.
"What are you doing?" I whisper.
"Helping you," he responds in a "duh" tone.
"Yeah, but who asked you to? Because I sure as hell didn't."
"These guys are bullies. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with crap like this."
"And I agree with you totally. But not this way....violence is not the answer, Jake," I try to reason with him.
"There's seven of them, and there's just you. You're outnumbered, but clearly, you have no sense of ratio and proportion," I add with a chuckle.
"Well, clearly, you have a high sense of underestimation."
I half snort, half laugh. "You're saying you can take them all by yourself?" I ask unbelievably.
"What I'm saying is, you shouldn't be so quick to underestimate people," he whispers loudly before gently steering me aside.
"If there's anything I hate in this world, it's guys who think messing with ladies is "fun".
I, for one, see nothing funny about the crap they just pulled, and I'm sure you don't see it either," he tells me quietly, before turning his attention back to the bullies.
"Gentlemen, sorry for the delay. Let's, shall we?"He goes on in a daring whisper, his arms spread wide open, and a challenging look across his face
In the dimly lit parking lot, the atmosphere is suddenly thick with tension, the distant thumping of music overshadowed in my ears by the very thumping of my own heart.
My pulse quickens with dread as the seven burly figures begin to circle round Jake.
"Who's gonna throw the first punch?"
"That'll be me," their leader speaks up, breaking the circle and charging at Jake with clenched fists.
Jake ducks low and misses his punch, throwing one of his own which successfully lands directly in the bully's face and sends him to the ground, taking down two more guys with him as he holds onto them for support.
I sigh in relief, releasing a breath I didn't even realize I was holding.
3 down, four more to go!
Two more guys lurch at him and he swerves the first , grabs the second guy's hand in time to stop his blow and kicks him hard in the crotch, sending him reeling over backwards and crashing into a nearby car and triggering an alarm. He then turns back to the first guy and jams his elbow straight into his face before dragging him off by the collar and throwing him at the leader and the other two guys with him.
While they're all down in pain, the last two contemplate whether or not to join in fight.
"Gentlemen, please," he taunts. "Let's finish this."
One quickly scurries away while the other just stands there shaking, looking all scared and confused.
"You're insane! Do you know that?" I storm over to his side and yell.
"There's a million different ways that could've ended. You could've been hurt," I half yell, surprised at my own display of concern.
"You were worried about me." It's more of a statement than a question.
"No!" I protest right way. "I simply didn't want to be the cause of any trouble," I boldly lie....to him and to myself. Truth is, I have no idea why I suddenly became so concerned about him.
"And I'll take that as a thank you. You're welcome, Mandy. Plus, we should probably get out of here before the owner of that car arrives."
"Right." I nod shortly and signal Miranda to join us as we exit the parking lot but she shakes her head. "I'll wait here in the car," she yells.
I shrug and quietly follow Jake out.
"Thank you, Jake," I tell him after we walk for a while. "Didn't think I'd be saying this, but I was somewhat relieved to see you."
He stops walking and turns to face me.
"It was my pleasure, Mandy."
The smile on his face is so contagious, it forces me to smile back.
"You look gorgeous."
I blink hard at the compliment.
Is this actually happening?
"Oh," I blurt out in surprise. "Ermm....thanks? Thank you."
"I can understand why those guys were troubling you," he adds, the smile on the face widening even more.
I give a nervous chuckle before turning the spotlight on him. "You look great too," I tell him, awkwardly scratching my neck.
"You don't have to compliment me back just because I gave you one, Mandy."
The third time he's mentioned my name tonight, I note to myself.
Immediately the warning alarms begin to go off in my head.
Was this purely coincidental? Or is something else at play here?
No one knows much about this guy.
Apparently he's this "self isolated" and "mysterious" being but here he is on a Saturday night, at The Clubhouse, fighting bullies on my behalf and giving me compliments.
Now, I know I'm supposed to steer clear of boy trouble for now, but this particular trouble seems so tempting that I just can't resist.
Jake is a mystery, and in case I haven't mentioned it yet, I do love a good mystery. My favorite novels are all Nancy Drew mystery novels.
So, yes, just as Nancy Drew reveals secrets and mysteries, I too would love to unravel what exactly the deal is with Jake, the guy no one at school knows a thing about.
"I should probably get going now. Goodbye, Mandy. Stay safe," he whispers gently and turns to leave.
"Jake!" I call out softly and he pauses mid stride.
"Let me buy you a drink. To thank you properly," I offer.
He turns around and smiles slightly.
"I thought you'd never ask," comes the response and I return his smile
A few weeks back I was infuriated by this guy. I even remember telling him that we only attended the same school and that he wasn't my friend, which, in my defense, was technically true.
But, here I am tonight, offering to buy my "non- friend schoolmate" a drink, to thank him for coming to my rescue, after I'd already said "Thank you".
Why???
Is it because he seems so likeable, like I'd noticed the day we had the incident with the basketball and the picture?
Is it the calm and commanding tone in his voice....the soft purr of his voice when he mentions my name? .....the authoritative and mysterious aura surrounding him?
Or is this just my curiosity at work??
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Well, well, well😌❤️