Pink City

Chapter 6

Fifteen minutes after the girls returned home, Daphne made an announcement.

"I think you should go out somewhere." She said. There was not an ounce of crabbiness in her voice, however this statement frustrated Lily.

"Me? Go out? Where? I haven't even known the place for a day." Lily snapped.

"I don't know, use a GPS or something? Go to a mall, or a bar or whatever. I need some time alone to cool off."

Lily felt her ears turn as crimson as her hair. Daphne was the one who needed to cool off? After practically throwing away the script Lily had spent an hour on just for her, and accusing her of being "stuck to her like gum"? If anything, it was Lily who needed time to recollect herself, but she figured that this could also be an opportunity for herself to take a break as well. She took a deep breath.

"Ok, I'll leave in 20 minutes" Lily said. The last time Lily had fixed her hair was half an hour before they left for Daphne's interview, and her once-fresh pixie cut was now tousled with her own indignation. Lily didn't feel like blow drying her hair again, so she took some spare mousse she had at the back of the bathroom cabinet and raked her fingers through her hair going front to back, in a way that made her hair appear freshly styled but not overly spunky. She couldn't help but notice that her hair had started to fade from a neon-reddish to a dimmed-out mauve, which irked her, but she figured she had plenty of time to redo her hair while in Pink City. She couldn't find her traditional jet-black liquid liner in the cabinet, so she sifted through one of Daphne's makeup bags and borrowed some of her espresso liner, creating two modest lines from the corner of her eyes reaching out towards the tips of her eyebrows. She left with her back facing Daphne, hoping she would not notice her borrowed eyeliner, and when she successfully left the apartment room, she googled "Bars near me".

Daphne's other suggestion was to go to a mall and perhaps go shopping for some new clothes there, however walking around was the last thing Lily wanted to do at the moment, and she wasn't all into clothes buying, anyway. Plus, after the stress of moving and arguing with Daphne, Lily considered a drink to be a good idea to help her wind down.

The first result was a place called Aspense, a pub at the start of Pink City's downtown; about ten minutes from Daphne and Lily's apartment. There was also another place called L'isla that was two minutes closer to the apartment than Aspense, however, Aspense had better reviews and the pictures shown online of its interior looked a lot more homey. On the drive there, Lily considered going to the supermarket and buying more Behemoth energy drinks in case she felt just as tired tomorrow as she did today, but decided not to.

Even the entrance seemed pleasant. Lily expected a regular entrance, or even worse, a wholly done-up and fancy entrance made to intimidate her; someone who was still wearing a casual sundress from her morning for Daphne. Instead, Lily found a dainty welcome sign tapered to the top of the door; and just below it, a pink-rose flower wreath. Lily found the hue of the flowers a little overkill, especially since the majority of the cities' buildings were already pink, however she found the overall design cute, so she didn't give it much thought.

Lily sat down on one of the stools, and to her relief it did not shake under her weight of 160 pounds, which is something she had experienced with chairs in the past due to both her and the chair's build. Daphne used to be awfully offensive when talking about Lily's weight management, and Lily could count on two hands all the fat-related insults Daphne called her in their years of dating; she even recalled one moment where she considered wearing a white dress on a restaurant date when Daphne jokingly said "Just paint on the black spots and it'll be complete". Lily never wore that dress again. Anyway, Lily thought, all bars should have stools as stable as this.

A minute later the barista came up to Lily to ask for her order. Lily noticed she had a pink apron with the letters "Aspense" on her chest; screen-printed in white cursive.

That's one heck of a 'Pink' city... Lily thought to herself.

"Hello, may I take your order?" The woman asked nonchalantly with a gentle smile.

"Scotch on the rocks, please", Lily replied.

After the woman walked to the far end of the bar, Lily heard a lispy voice coming from her side.

"Scotch? Damn, girl, you're hardcore. I respect that."

Lily turned towards her left to find a small Asian woman around her age with jet-black hair, dressed head to toe in royal green. She gave Lily a diminutive smirk.

Lily smiled. "Couldn't you tell by the hair?" She pointed suggestively to her pixie cut.

"I'm not the type of girl to make assumptions" The woman replied. "But yes, the scotch order was definitely the proof I needed."

"Pfft," Lily chortled as she placed a hand over her mouth.

"Let me guess, you're new to Pink City?"

"Guilty as charged." Lily said, flicking her wrist. "But how'd you know?"

"You're a country girl, it's all in the dress and the boots you're wearing. I would know, I only moved to Pink City two or three years back."

"That's cool." Lily said, nodding her head in approval.

"Oh, I never got to introduce myself to you." The woman said. She extended a gracious hand towards Lily. "Britnee Ryu."

Lily gently but firmly shook Britnee's hand in return. "Lily Walker".

Just then the bartender returned holding Lily's drink, placing the glass gently on the ledge in front of her. Britnee gave Lily a menacing smile.

"Hey, if you can chug that down in less than thirty seconds, I'll buy you another one for free."

Lily jumped and dropped her jaw in surprise. "Thirty seconds?!" "Hey, I may be hardcore, but I AM still a WOMAN!"

Britnee giggled. "Nah, I'm just screwing with you. We only do that stuff on Fridays."

"We? Who's 'we'?" Lily said inquisitively.

"Only my Pink City girls..." Britnee said informally. She readjusted her tone. "Friends I've made here over the years. I've got two of them, and I hang out with them nearly every week."

"Oh wow." Lily said, intrigued. "You say you hang out with them nearly every week?"

"More or less, yeah." Britnee's eyes flashed with sudden ideation. "Hey, you know, we ARE going to the Pink City mall tomorrow..."

Lily pointed slowly at herself. "Are you asking me to..?"

"Well, we'd love to show you around town." Britnee's almond eyes gently creased around the corners, complimenting her smile.

Suddenly, Lily remembered the texts she had received from the lonely SEENCH, half an hour before she left for Aspense.

"Hey Lily! You know, I just finished work... we can talk about some stuff if you want! :D" Sent 5:03 PM.

"I'm not good with conversations, but I do enjoy listening to music when I return home... Who's your favorite artist? :)" Sent 5:08 PM.

"I would love to come with my girlfriend..." Lily replied. "But there's someone else I'd like to bring as well."

By the time Lily finished her drink, she and Britnee had exchanged numbers.