The Complete a Story of Now Series by Emily O'Beirne

Author:Emily O'Beirne [O'Beirne, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: lesbian fiction
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Published: 2022-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

Claire holds her ID in front of the doorman, pockets it, and slides through the front door into the sticky air of the crowded bar. She’s instantly stopped in her tracks by the magnitude of the space. From the outside, it hadn’t looked that imposing, just a set of nondescript doors manned by an oddly cheerful thug dressed in a bomber jacket despite the pervasive heat.

The place is higher than it is wide. It has exposed red brick walls, dizzyingly high ceilings, and tall, dusty windows. There are rusted iron fittings still affixed to the walls and ceilings, their purpose now purely, arbitrarily, decorative. There is even a metal staircase that starts to climb from partway up the wall, leading wilfully nowhere and covered in trailing green plants that seem to thrive in the oppressive tropical swelter of the club.

She thrusts her hands in her jeans pockets and combs the crowds in search of a familiar face. Half the cavernous space is taken up with groups of people huddled around jugs of beer and cocktails as they talk and laugh and compete to be heard over the music and their own echoes. Together they create one giant wall of sound.

When she finally spots Robbie and Eli at a large table not far from the bar, they’re so intensely immersed in their conversation they don’t see her coming. She walks slowly and hopes it’s not an argument she’s walking in on.

Robbie notices her first.

“Claire!” He immediately reaches for the jug of beer and an empty glass and pours her a drink.

“Hey guys.” She sits next to Eli. “This place is huge.”

“Yeah.” Robbie nods. “Nan was right. It’s kind of awesome, too”

“I guess.”

“What do you mean you guess?” Eli points at the ceiling. “Check that out.”

“Don’t you know, Eli, that Claire’s default setting is unimpressed?” Robbie grins at her.

Claire flings him a death stare and looks up. Her eyes widen as she takes in the vines that hang way above her, cascading toward the floor.

“That is actually kind of cool.”

“Anyway, Claire, settle an argument for us,” Eli says loudly over the din. He grabs the beer Robbie’s poured for her and passes it over. She takes it gratefully.

“What?”

“How many times a day should you feed a cat?”

“How the hell should I know? And why the hell would I want to know?”

“Because I think three times a day is too much,” Eli says. “And Robbie insists it’s normal to feed them that much.”

“What is not normal,” Claire points out. “Is that you two are spending your night discussing this.”

Eli pulls an eek face, laughs, and turns to Robbie. “You know, she might be right.”

“I know she is.” Robbie sighs and shakes his head. “Oh God, this is what I’ve become?”

Claire laughs. “Besides, isn’t that what Google is for? To answer these kinds of questions? And why are you even talking about this anyway?” And then she remembers. “Oh, this is about that fat cat you inherited, right? The neighbour’s cat? What’s its stupid name again?”

“Patty.

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