A University of Love and Pixies

London Coda

The music rose and swirled around her, and Violet hopped up on her toes to get a better shot of the band playing on the stage. Yeah, the tunes were completely shit but when she as drunk as she was, Violet cared very little if it were Tayler Swift or the fucking Beetles playing. She was deep in the bowels of the pit surrounding the stage where guys and girls swung all around her, not a care in the world.

Beside her, Betsie, glowing in the flashing crimson lights, pulled her down, and screamed something at her. Violet shook her head and, huffing, Betsie carefully took out her phone and began typing, then held the screen up so Violet could see. Thankfully, through the haze, Violet's vision had begun to clear enough to read "LETS GET OUT OF HERE."

Nodding, Violet let Betsie take a firm hold of her hand and lead the pair of them towards the exit. Two large boys decked out in neon face paint made a grab at them, but Violet side stepped them. She briefly glanced back to see them gazing at her in what looked like revulsion. She thought nothing of it as they approached the doors and the bouncers parted to let them through, though not before Violet had stuck her tongue out at a particularly nasty looking brute.

The warm breeze of a summer's night greeted them as Violet and Betsie pushed through a swarm of fucked up teens. Outside the club was nearly just as bad as the inside, with drunks stumbling about everywhere and more than one police car escorting people away. Shuddering, Violet was once again grateful that Betsie, bitch as she was, had remained relatively sober. They only stopped walking once they were well away from the club.

Rummaging through her handbag, Violet located her lighter and cigarette pack. She offered one up to Betsie and, as expected, she took it without hesitation. Violet lit them both and she took a good long drag before letting out a satisfying cloud of smoke. "Well, that club sucked."

Betsie shrugged. "Vibes were off the entire night, and I missed having Rose, Kenny, and the rest there."

"Next summer, we'll have a crazy reunion night." Being near the end of August, all of Violet's friends had begun drifting off to university, which she herself was due to move to in the next couple of days. Tonight was one last hurrah for her and Betsie.

"Defo." Betsie exhaled a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke. "Did you notice that hot guy who danced with us for a bit."

"Kind of hard to miss when you're being groped by him."

"Yeah," Betsie continued dismissively, "he totally wanted to hook up with you until he saw your back."

Fuck.

As if a bucket of ice water had been chucked over her, Violet hurriedly assessed herself and groaned upon seeing her biker jacket tied loosely around her waist.

Self-consciously, Violet ran a hand across her back. She had chosen an open-back emerald dress, but as she had put it on, to her horror, Violet had realised she had forgotten to shave her back. And with Betsie banging on her door, the best Violet had been able to do was grab a jacket, despite the night being one of the hottest of the year so far.

The jacket had quickly come off in the sweltering club, and Violet had been too far gone to notice.

Betsie peered round to examine Violet's back, and her mouth pursed in disgust. "Vi, your back looks like a fucking jungle!"

It was all Violet could do not to smack her friend and instead twisted away from Betsie's sight, undoing her jacket, and pulling it on. "No one asked you to look, Betsie."

Rolling her eyes, Betsie dropped her cigarette butt and punched in her phone password. "I'll order the uber, send your half of the money tomorrow."