Until Now

Manager Maisie

"Hey!" someone called, "Aren't those the girls from last night?" 

All three of us turned over our shoulders, the late night wind pushing and tossing around our hair. I immediately made eye contact with the same boy from less than twenty four hours ago. The only difference was he wasn’t up on a balcony, laughing at a drunk Violet, but instead in front of me, close enough to touch. It was awkward, actually.

He smiled, holding out his hand. "Logan Johnson, now a college freshman, age 18." He introduced himself. I scoffed slightly at the introduction. It was the first time I’d heard someone include their grade level or age in an preamble. Hallie and Violet stood silently beside me as we waited in the cold air. The club, Matson's, was a 16 and older club, although it was mainly girls our age cooing over a few college boys. Alcohol couldn't be served to anyone under twenty one, but if you wore enough eyeliner, and your dress was tight enough, with high heels, and you scouted out the right bartender, you could get your hands on anything.  

"Maisie, also 18." I shook his hand, playing along with the whole include-your-age thing.

"Violet," she whispered, "17. Recently single, and in no way looking. Just here for a girl's night." She laughed, wrapping her arm around Hallie's shoulder. She had been cleaned up, of course, what kind of friends would we be letting her wander out of the store and to a club looking like the broken girl she had been. She was better now; I was impressed. She hadn’t cried for fifteen minutes. That was the record of the day.

Hallie and I exchanged a silent glance, as I raised my eyebrows. They didn’t need a back-story, Vi, I wanted to tell her. They didn’t care if you were single, I was sure, they cared if they could get you drunk and get lucky. They were boys, I was sure that was their intention.  

"Drunk girl," Logan's friend recalled.  

Violet blushed, clearly not wanting to recall the previous actions of the prior night.  

"Hallie, 18. Oh, and get lost, idiots." Hallie smirked, turning her back, Violet's arm falling from around Hallie’s shoulder to her side.  She folded them, watching as the next boy spoke.

"Matt, 18." Logan's friend played along. His other friend crossed his arm silently, matching Violet’s pose.  

"And that's Tony. He's no fun." Matt nudged the young man next to him. "He's 19, way too cool for us."  

"Shut the hell up, Matt." Tony growled.  

Matt and Logan laughed. Tony, on the other hand, didn’t find this amusing. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on Violet.  

"There's three of us," Tony motioned, "and three of you. How about we buy you drinks?"

Hallie shrugged, looking at me. "It’s up to her,” She smiled, knowing that putting me in charge would be easier than taking the responsibility for herself. They boys watched me as I hesitated. Hallie’s look was sending me mixed signals. She looked like she wanted to hang around with them, but if she did, why didn’t she just say yes? It would be easier making me the bad guy, if she wanted to say no.

I bit my lip, squinting my eyes at her. I didn’t know the answer she wanted me to give.

“Free drinks, Maisie. I think we should go for it." She clarified.

"Hm." I crossed my arms, looking over my shoulder at the front entrance, "I suppose that'll do." 

Violet stared straight forward. "I don't think I'll be drinking tonight." 

Tony laughed, looking at her. "I'll get you something easy. No hard liquor, I promise. It seemed you had enough of that last night." 

Again, she turned red. Instead, however, it was in a different way. She leaned in toward him, blushing with a giggle. Was she trying to flirt? Oh, God. I now shifted my eyes, watching her.