Beyond The Void || doctor who

Chapter Fourteen: The Underground

"So this is where you're taking me." Jess scoffed, her hands on her hips. "Cassandra's? We're never gonna meet new people here."

Elaine rolled her eyes and laughed, locking her car with the push of a button. She grabbed Jess's hand and coaxed her inside.

Jess felt like it was exams week in freshman year again, walking into Cassandra's Café. The smell of burnt coffee wasn't as revolting as it used to be when she used to take her old spot in a booth near the far window, but it still had the essence of pubescent blobs of stress that ran off of coffee and five minutes of sleep. As she was making her way to the frayed plush, Elaine stopped her with a warning glance, and Jess had the feeling that there was something she was missing.

"Wait, I thought we were going to a club ...?" Jess pondered aloud. Elaine ignored her, and grabbed a fifty from her pocketbook, discreetly sliding it across the counter to a pimply, gangly redhead, who Jess recognized as a junior by the name of Sam. He put the money in his pocket and glanced in the direction of a large gray door behind the counter. Elaine and Jess made their way through the crowd of caffeine-induced teenagers and stood in front of the metal.

"This is really sketchy, Lain. Are you sure we're allowed to do this?" Jess wondered, her heart palpitating uneasily.

"Of course," she said absentmindedly. Jess didn't believe her, but she followed anyway.

Elaine opened the door – which gave a loud creak – and the two of them walked down the rickety steps together. Jess could feel thumping under her feet, like a heartbeat. She wondered what was down there. It couldn't be a hidden club underneath the stairs of a coffee shop, could it? she pondered, the balls of her feet barely making contact with the musty carpet that lined the floors of the tiny hall.

And sure enough, it was. At the end of the cramped stairwell, there was an old wooden door, with a matte plaque on it that read The Underground. Music blasted in the opposite room – a kind of music that Jess wasn't very accustomed to – that made her feel as if her ears would start to bleed.  

"Elaine, you're not serious, right?" she questioned as her blonde friend opened the door in front of her. "I've been coming here all my life. You can't tell me there's a secret teenage club underneath my favorite café."

Her head whipped around, her blonde curls bouncing. "You're too stiff Jess. Loosen up." She closed the door behind her, nodded at the burly teen who seemed to be a bouncer, and grabbed Jess's slightly clammy hand. 

"This isn't really my type of gig," she muttered. But Elaine didn't hear her.

"Alright, look at that guy over there," she said, pointing to an average looking guy, sat around a group of other average looking guys.

"What about him?"

Elaine rolled her eyes. "He's cute. Go talk to him. Or would you rather me take him?"

Jess giggled and stuck out her tongue. She caught the boy's eye and immediately her eyes began a staring contest with the ground. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks and a chuckle from behind her. Elaine stood with her arms crossed, a smile tugging on her lips. 

"You're so bad at this."

"Oh, you're telling me?"

"Honey. I know you don't believe this, but you're really hot. And some guys like nerdy girls," she said, eyeing her Hogwarts jumper. "Look, if you go up to him and start talking, I'm sure he'll fall in love with you by the time the clock strikes twelve."

Jess blushed even harder. "You sure?"

Elaine caressed her cheek, looking straight into her earthy eyes. "I promise."