That Blue Gibson

CH 51

"I'm so happy I never, ever have to do this again," Liz sighed and slid back into the plush booth while Dave made room for her. Taylor and Ally sat on the other side of the booth, consumed in their own close conversation.

"You mean you're not having the absolute time of your life around all these Illuminati?" Dave laughed and worked his arm around the small of her back.

"Would it be weird if I told you I have Stacked Actors stuck in my head right now?" she giggled and reached for her champagne, pausing when Dave groaned. "What?"

"That song gives me more grief," he muttered.

"Oh, really?" Liz raised her eyebrows in mock surprise, "I can't imagine how!"

Dave gave her a sidelong glance, "You know I don't feel that way about you, right?"

Liz gulped down her expensive champagne, rocking the flute back and forth in her hand while she thought. "Let's see... implants, actress, it's a little problematic," she mused, watching the people that were milling around just on the other side of the table from them. The dim light made them appear perfect like they were sanitized and airbrushed, all soft lines and bright white smiles, big hair and even bigger egos.

"Liz?" she looked over at Dave and almost laughed at how worried he looked. "You know I don't-" he tried to repeat himself, but Liz interrupted.

"I just have so much in common with-" she recoiled just a bit when he suddenly turned to face her and leaned in close.

"You have nothing in common with the meaning behind that fucking song," he said lowly, sucking all the levity of the conversation away.

"Okay," Liz whispered, unable to tear her eyes from his, "I'm sorry I brought it up." What the hell? she thought.

Dave shook his head a little and turned back towards the table, glaring out at the party. Liz examined his profile in the low light of the candles, wondering where the hell all that came from. She made a note to never bring that song up again and mentally scanned through as much of his discography as she could remember, trying to pinpoint another potentially problematic song. She was mulling over the lyrics to Doll when their table lurched backward, knocking over Liz's empty champagne flute. They both dove to right it as Taylor shouted at the careless redhead that had knocked into the table to watch what she was doing.

"Liz?" Ally practically dove towards her to get her attention, "Will you come with me?"

"Um, yes?" Liz gave her a puzzled look and turned to Dave, but he too busy trying to keep Taylor from making a scene.

"Is everything okay?" Liz asked Ally, practically jogging to keep up with her as she darted around the fellow party goers.

"Oh, yes!" Ally called over her shoulder, "Just need to use the ladies room!"

When they finally reached the other side of the ballroom, Ally waited for Liz to go ahead of her down the dimly lit hallway that led to the ladies room. The moment they opened the door, they were greeted by a mob of women wearing insanely expensive dresses, diamonds and the highest heels possible. A large plume of smoke wafted overhead and the sight of a curvy brunette snorting a line off the bathroom counter made Liz feel like she had walked into the most cliché Hollywood bathroom ever. She took Ally's hand and gingerly made her way into the bathroom, trying to avoid being burned by an errant cigarette or upsetting someone's coke vial when a towering blonde stomped into her path. She heard Ally swear and turned to her just as a hand on her shoulder roughly spun her back around. Liz's eyes flashed to the blonde's and felt her heart skip just a little. Ally's hand tightened around hers and the beginning lines of Bohemian Rhapsody sprang into Liz's head. 'Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Does shit like this really happen to people?' she wondered.