Let's Laugh Tonight.

Chapter Two

As we walk out of my flat, the weight of what I'm doing dawns on me. I'm really choosing to move on. I think the only real reason I've spent the last six weeks moping about is because a part of me always believed Joe would change if I gave him the right motivation. I thought leaving him would give him a kick up the arse, but I guess not. Maybe he was looking for a way out and I gave it to him. Who knows? Either way, this is me moving on. Choosing to be happy.

"So who's actually going to be at Polly's?" I ask Larny as we walk towards the tube station, realising she's given me no detail on our plans for tonight. Polly was a friend of Larny's from university that had become part of our little group. Our 'group' consists of the three of us, plus Alexis from work who is a Greek goddess and is guaranteed to pull on every night out, and Hallie who I met at university. We all live within twenty minutes of each other in central London, and after a few nights out together we became a little bit inseparable; were each other's lifelines.

Larny's eyes dart around as she answers "Um, I'm not sure really, the usual people". Uh oh. She's lying. Larny can never look you in the eye when she lies. "Larny," I halt in the middle of the street and grab her wrist, "What aren't you telling me?" I question. A guilty smile spreads across her face and she breaks out into a giggle. "What? Tell me what we're doing!" I plead, as she continues to laugh. "Well, we are going to Pols, but only to pick her up" she replies.  I've been trapped, should have seen it coming really. "And where are we going when we have Pols?" I ask again.  "Well then we'll meet the others at Soho... I thought we'd go to that pub by the station, you know the one with the karaoke?" She bats her eyelashes here, clearly trying to minimise the damage.  I take a deep breath, and decide not to be angry at her, she only lied to get me out of the house and I could do with socialising anyway.  I simply reply "Okay" and she wears the same shocked expression as I continue walking.

We grab Polly on our travels, who stuns in a green silk bodycon dress and a tan to die for, black hair falling straight down her back. These girls are making me look like the ugly duckling all over again. We stop off at an off licence to grab some cocktails in a can before boarding our train to Soho to meet the rest of our group. I have to admit, the buzz of the cocktails and gossiping with my girls again feels amazing. "So Jess, you ready to shag tonight?" Polly asks, quite loudly on the packed train. We all giggle at her loudness and I blush, "No Pol of course not, too soon". Larny jumps in here, adding "well you did say it's a fresh start babe, it'll do you the world of good. You know what they say!" We all fall into laughter again, earning annoyed stares from fellow commuters. I hush the girls and throw a 'sorry' into the general direction of the judgy people. Thankfully, our journey came to an end and we stepped off the train and off the platform, only to be met with excited squeals from Hallie and Alexis. "JESS!" They both screamed, enveloping me in a group hug and all three of us jumping slightly. "Hello babies!" I say, "god you both look hot, maybe we are on the pull tonight Polly!" I joke, but they seriously did look incredible. Alexis wore a sleeveless red jumpsuit and stilettos and Hallie looked gorgeous in a white shirt dress with a chunky black belt.  I began to feel self conscious stood in-between them.  "Us?" Alexis started, "Babe look at you! It's like a new you and I love her" she said, giving me the confidence boost I needed. Once pleasantries were over, we walked into the small pub and handed our ID to the bouncers on the way. Weird, this place hardly ever checks ID, must be a new security measure or something. "Let's get you drunk, babe" Larny says to me and leads me in the direction of the bar.

The pub is packed already, but we manage to find a small booth and scootch in with our drinks. "Why is it so busy in here tonight? It almost never is!" Hallie asks and Larny answers "I heard there's karaoke tonight, maybe it's that?" We shrug it off and each down our shot of tequila with a round of "Cheers!" The bitter taste makes me scrunch my face to everyone's delight; they've always found it hilarious how much of a lightweight I am. "More shots!" Larny shouts. Oh god, this is going to be a messy night.