When Night Falls (Complete)

2

JOSI

Josi enters the club, only a couple inches behind Mia and Clarissa. Between the rooftop stranger and the predicament she landed herself in, she's currently in the middle of deciding if her visit to the club has any purpose. But she will not allow that stranger spoil her night out. How audacious he'd been, ogling them all to his heart's content. A lowlife.

"I can't believe you two made me come here like this." Says Josi, eyes now scrutinizing her shoes for the hundredth time that evening.

"You lost the bet, Josita." Mia tells her. "You suffer the consequences."

Josi spits out curses. A pair of crocs. That's what she has on. A pair of very unsightly crocs in colors that don't even match her outfit.

"You're the one who came up with that bet." Clarissa chimes in, her attention less on the music and more on finding the bar. The drinks are what she's there for.

"That doesn't mean you should take me seriously." Josi tells her. "I spout nonsense half the time. But all of a sudden, you two decide to take me seriously."

"Well, maybe next time, you'll think before suggesting more nonsense." Clarissa throws an arm around Josi's shoulder, still relieved that she emerged a winner from the bet. "Now, I believe we came here for the liquor, didn't we?"

The reply comes in more profanity. "Puta madre."

Clarissa's eyes grow wide, and so do Mia's. Then as if her brain suddenly sparked itself alive, Clarissa sends her hands over Josi's ears and says to Mia, "Look what you did!"

Mia shakes her head repeatedly. "I hardly ever use that around her. I mostly say puta de mierde, you know that!"

Josi moves Clarissa's hands out of the way with a sigh. "You guys, I'm twenty-three."

"And what next, huh?" Says Mia. "Soon you'll start saying hijo de perra, or chúpamela-"

"Stop giving her ideas!" Clarissa tells her.

Now Josi finds their over-exaggerations comical. "I say those words in English, but you two don't bat an eye."

"Yes, because it's not the same." Says Clarissa, who has now begun ordering off the menu. Mia, with a petite frame and lengthy black hair, follows in second with her usual order. Whereas Mia is below average, Clarissa is right there in the middle height wise-chubby with hair just around her shoulders.

At last, drinks are served, and Mia decides for herself the subject of the evening. "Do you guys think he's here today?"

"Who?" Josi asks.

Clarissa is the one to answer. "Idris Night Verdonni."

Josi nods as if considering, but she's never once set eyes on the man. All she knows is he's an infamous figure under the Verdonni family. Nothing good ever comes from that side of New York, so steering clear has been the correct option thus far. Except, you never know when they're out to get you.

"Isn't he a piece of shit?" Clarissa says.

To which Mia dolefully sighs. "Yes, but he's insanely attractive."

Clarissa shares a look with Josi, then asks, "You've seen him?"

"Once when he came over to the company I work at. I think he had some business with the board of directors."

"He's a criminal, Mia." Josi tells her.

"Those are all rumors. Plus, you're only saying that because you're in a relationship." Mia says. "When you're single like me, you see the appeal in everybody." She toasts her drink in the air and gulps it all down.