FoF: Wk 3: Elena and Karen, "Anxious"

Elena hadn't realized how late it was. It was almost 7:30 p.m. by the time she left, and happy hour was over at 8 p.m.  She grabbed her purse and bolted out the front door without even saying goodbye. Once she was in the car, she lit a cigarette and took long drag on it. “God that feels good” she thought to herself. Elena pulled up to Gloss Lounge at 7:45 p.m. on the nose. She could see from her parking spot that the crew was already assembled. And of course, she heard Dana before anyone else.

“Girl…you almost didn't make it” she bellowed from across the parking lot. “I ordered you a drink though”

“And some shots, I see,” Elena answered, walking briskly to the patio bar.

 “Yea…and?” Dana laughed…”You late, happy hour is over in 15 minutes, we have already had ours…you got to catch up.”

“Oh...I plan to” Elena smiled, downing the first shot in one gulp. She thought the drink would calm her nerves but it didn't. She was still nervous, her palms were still sweating, and she was still rehearsing her words in her head.  

“Is she here?" Elena whispered as they walked back to the table. 

“Yes, ma’am” Dana said matter-of- factly, “her and her sister.”

“Adriana?” she thought out loud. “Why did she bring her?"

“Listen," Dana started off annoyed then calmed down.” I am not in charge of questions,  I am in charge of drinks. Just relax and take a deep breath. Damn."

By the time they got to the table, Elena, assisted by the two shots of Jack Daniels, was able to force smile.

“Hey everybody," she faked.

 “Heyyy Elena” All the ladies teased in unison like school girls, motioning her to join them. But there was only one seat left and it was next to her.  Before she could sit down, Karen’s caramel eyes and bright smile met hers. She extended her hand, “Hi, I’m Karen, she said with a straight face, “we used to be friends.” Not able to tell if she was kidding or not, Elena decided to play along.

“Yea, I think I have seen you around the school…our daughters are friends.” Her fake smile faded and a more genuine one creeped across her face. 

Karen took Elena’s hand and pulled her toward her. “Good to see you? She whispered.” Elena just smiled and sat down at the table and continued to drink.

Miraculously, she, Karen and the rest of the girls were able to get through the whole night without talking about what happened. It turned out to be just like every other Thursday night and Elena could not have been more excited about that. As the night wound down though, Elena begin to plot her escape. After having such a great night, the last thing she wanted was to be left alone with Karen. So, at 11 o’clock, Elena took what must have been her 50^th trip to the restroom. Almost everyone had left by then, and she hoped that when she came back Karen and the awkwardness between them would be gone too. Of course... she wasn't  Instead she and Adriana had moved from the table to join some guys at the bar. 

"Good,” Elena thought to herself. The guys would create the perfect distraction as she slid out the front door. She would just wave and leave. “Bye guys," she waved as she hurriedly walked past the group, ignoring the cat calls of the guys. She was almost out the door when Karen saw her and  held up one finger, motioning Elena to wait. “Shit,” Elena thought. Oh well, no avoiding it now.

The smell of Karen’s shampoo, tickled Elena nostrils as she breezed past the door Elena so dutifully held open for her. "You smell good," she complimented quietly. Karen just laughed. “That’s all you got," she linked her arm into Elena’s and laid her head on her shoulder. "I was hoping for a miss you or something like that.”

“That too,” Elena stuttered.

Karen sighed gripping her arm tighter. “What did you miss?” she giggled playfully sliding her fingers into Elena’s jacket pocket and tickling her palm. Elena yanked her hand away and stopped to face Karen. “You don’t have to do this…you know, she said nervously."

“Yea, I know…” Karen smiled even brighter.

“C’mon,” Karen said gently pulling Elena’s hand from inside her coat pocket.

“Listen, Karen, I’m sorry. You know that right. Seriously, I’m sorry. This has been eating me up for like two weeks.”

For the first time of the evening, Karen seemed annoyed. She let out a deep sigh. “I can read, Elena…I got your text messages. I know you are sorry. I kind of wish you would stop saying it though.” She pulled her hand out of Elena’s pocket and learned up against her White Lexus coupe.

“Birds of a feather flock together, right? And I’m here.”