The Last Thorn

6. Tequila!

“We’re celebrating, so I’ll go get us drinks,” Florence says as she leaves the guys by the table. She finds a free space by the bar and waves to a bartender. Florence comes here regularly, sometimes even twice a week, so she recognizes her.

Florence asks for drinks and pays. They’ll bring them to the table when drinks are ready. As she takes out a credit card, she notices a woman with bleach blond hair. Florence’s heart starts raging.

However, the woman turns around, but Florence doesn’t recognize her. It wouldn’t make sense for a fancy lady like her boss to be in a gay club anyway. She probably is married to a man and pampers herself to please his eyes anyway.

Florence comes back to the table. Some people have joined the guys. She recognizes Marco and Jasmine, but she there are two other girls and a guy she’s never met before.

“Florence,” Eugene says happily and points to a short girl with brown hair, “This is Candace. She and Marco are flatmates, too.” However, Florence isn’t interested in Candace. She nods her head, but her gaze doesn’t leave the tall blonde girl. Her hair is honey blonde and slightly over her shoulders, but she’s reminding her of someone.

“Florence,” she says while looking at the girl, expecting her to say her name.

“She doesn’t speak English, hon. She’s an exchange student from Spain,” Eugene laughs, because he knows Florence well enough to guess her intentions. “Her name is Marie”

Florence decides to leave her alone for now. The waiter comes with drinks she asked for, but she asks for him to bring tequila shots for the table as well. She’s feeling generous today. Florence doesn’t care about an amount she’s about to spend tonight. She airily puts her card against the card terminal waiting for a beep.

Everybody’s excited. They all laugh and sing along the music that’s playing. After the second round of drinks they decide to go dancing. Florence takes Marie’s hand. She’s happy that she doesn’t mind at all.

Marie is taller than Florence and way more curvier. Her skin is sun kissed, which makes her even cuter. However, all Florence is paying attention to is her hair. She hadn’t paid much attention to the girl. Florence is attracted to Marie, but deep down she’s relieved she doesn’t speak the same language. They’re having a great time and there’s no need to ruin it with talking. It usually makes it too personal and too hard for Florence to part ways with a person the next morning.

Florence doesn’t want to admit the real reason she doesn’t care about any attractive girls in the club. She shakes her head and decides to suppress her urges right back inside. In her opinion, nothing suppresses dark thoughts than alcohol. She goes to the bar and orders another drink and chugs it quickly. Marie follows her lead no questions asked.

Florence feels like everything's going a little blurry, so she signals the girl to follow her back to the table. Marie looks like she could use a moment to relax as well.

Marie happily drops in the sofa. It seems like she’ll be fine for now. However, there’s Garrett at the table, too. “Hey,” Florence says, “what’s up with you? Where’s Eugene?” Garrett doesn’t say anything. He just sourly points at the middle of the crowd. She could spot her friend’s shiny blazer and perfectly done black hair anywhere.

There are a group of guys around him. He’s dancing away, seemingly without a care in the world. Garrett takes a long sip.

“He’s just having fun, Garrett. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Right,” he scoffs, “we all know Eugene- the heart of the party.” Florence looks into Garrett’s eyes and realizes he’s really upset.

“Hey, you’re like the best couple I know. Seriously, I know him. He cares about you a lot.”

“Well, why isn’t he here, then? Why do I always fall for guys like my father?” he says bitterly. There’s not much Florence can say right now. She knows she can’t make Eugene come here- he’s a free spirit and he’ll prefer to spend the night in a happy environment. She knows he’ll pretend that there is no problem.

“You know that he’s a great guy, Garrett. His life just hasn’t been.. the best,” Florence says carefully. Nobody says anything for a moment. Everybody’s having so much fun, but there they are- at the darkest corner. The table is sticky and there are glass shards on the floor. It seems like somebody’s accidentally poured his drink on it. Florence doesn’t dare to look up. Her eyes are glued to the glass.

Garrett suddenly speaks, “I know we’re just friends because I’m with Eugene,” he says sourly, “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I know he’s cheating on me.” Florence doesn’t believe it. The moment she’s about to deny it, Garrett interrupts, “But that’s okay. I’m done waiting around for men in my life to remember about my existence. I don’t want to end up like my mom, waiting around for a piece of s**t cheating bastard to come back home drunk every night.”

Florence gets angry. Nobody calls her friend a cheater, “Garrett, that’s enough. You’ve had too much to drink and you don’t know what you’re talking about. I know it’s not the case. He’s great. You’re both great together.”

“Stop! Just stop. I’m sick of everyone telling me how great we are together. Yeah, it’s great when he ALLOWS me into a slight piece of his life, but the truth is, he makes excuses all the time. He’s Eugene, he’s a free spirit, he doesn’t want any commitment. At least that’s what he’s telling me. Do you know why we’re still not living together? Well,I’ll tell you why. He always uses you as an excuse. Poor Florence, she won’t make it in the world by herself, she needs me. We can’t live together, think about how Florence will fell? She just will die without me, Garrett.” he says mockingly. “And this… celebration? That’s how you call it, right? It’s pathetic. You did an absolute bare minimum in your job for three days? Well, hooray for you. It always comes easy for you, doesn’t it? The rest of us are actually trying.”

Florence is shocked. She doesn’t know what to do, she’s just frozen. Garrett looks her in the eyes- they’re empty. It seems like he despises her. It seems like the walls of the room are coming closer to her, threatening to squeeze her in between.

What should she do? Is it true that even her best friend doesn’t believe in her? Should she run to Eugene and confront her? She looks at her best friend. It feels like her heart is pierced. How could they both be so mean?

“Before you do anything stupid, sunshine,” Garrett stands up and warns her, “You should know that Eugene proposed to me yesterday. He just wanted to celebrate your “success” first. We’re telling everybody tomorrow. So, I wouldn’t make an argument now. He won’t believe that I said all of this anyway.”

Marie puts her head on Florence’s shoulder and passes out. She’s suddenly repulsed by this place and everyone around her.

“I would pack my things if I were you. I’m done with you in my way to happiness,” he says as he runs to Eugene and kisses him passionately. Florence doesn’t even want to get into this.

She slides the girl off her and she drops on the sofa. She’s seriously passed out and Florence just leave her there. She texts Marco that she doesn’t feel so good, so she’ll take a cab home and tells them not to worry.

However, it’s just an hour to walk, so she decides to air things out of her mind and to plan out her moving out. A teardrop rolls down to her beautiful lips. It's salty not only in her mouth, but her heart as well.