Authors: Palladian
“What do you mean? Serena asked me out, and I said no!”
Lex waited for a while longer until she realized that she’d actually heard the full story. “So, that's all that happened?”
“Isn't that enough?” Casey replied, scowling at Serena, who still looked away.
Lex sighed, and turned to Serena. “Serena, when did you ask Casey out?”
Serena still wouldn't turn to face anyone. “It was just after Casey got better, when she first joined the team. And she's been mad ever since. She acts like I'm some kind of criminal or something.” Her voice sounded hurt, and Lex could feel her heart going out to Serena.
Lex thought about it for a minute. “Serena, from what I remember, Casey told me that she wasn't long off the farm when she started with this team. Now me, I'm a suburban girl, but well, sometimes things are different in the country.” She tried to catch Serena’s eye, giving an apologetic smile in her direction.
Turning to Casey, Lex asked her, “Casey, do you have a problem with women dating each other, or is it something else?” Lex kept her tone gentle, thinking that it seemed unlike Casey to be unkind to anyone.
“No! No, I don’t, I just…” Casey trailed off momentarily and then continued in a quiet, embarrassed voice. “It’s just something that these jerk guys at school used to call me when I grew a lot taller than them. It’s actually why I threw that guy out the day you came for your interview, him calling me a lesbian.” Casey looked sheepishly at Serena out of the corner of her eye, rubbing the back of her neck.
Lex looked over at Serena then. She still wouldn't turn to face the table, her expression a mixture of anger and embarrassment. “Do you mind if I make a suggestion?” Lex asked. “Can we try this? Casey, just as a pointer from someone who's been asked out by girls before, can you try treating it as a compliment, like a request from some guy you're not interested in? You know, just say you’re not interested and move on?”
“All right,” Casey replied gruffly, looking as if she felt a bit foolish.
“So can we get on to trying to be friends now?” Lex asked.
“Sure,” Casey said, looking at the table.
“Serena, well, next time—”
“I know, don't pick on farm girls until they've had a chance to get accustomed to the big city,” Serena interrupted, smiling self-mockingly as she finally turned to face Lex.
“It was just a misunderstanding,” Lex continued, trying to smooth things over. “I like you both, and I think we could be great friends. Can we put this aside and give things another try?”
“OK,” they both replied, almost simultaneously. Casey and Serena looked at each other in surprise and then at the tabletop. It was quiet for a moment before Serena spoke. “I like your shirt.”
Casey looked up in surprise, then back down. She smiled and took another drink of her beer. “Thanks. You'll have to thank Lex for choosing it for tonight, though.”
Dinner arrived not long after and interrupted the conversation, so the three of them set into the food. Lex thoroughly enjoyed her stuffed shells, especially since the cheese and marinara sauce were both lively with spices. Casey appeared to enjoy her pasta dish as well, while Serena had ordered what she said was her favorite—a complicated-looking seafood dish. By the end of the meal, the tension felt mostly dissipated, and Casey, Serena, and Lex had begun to talk comfortably.
“Well, I've had the chocolate mousse before,” Serena advised Lex, “and it's really good, if you like chocolate.”
“Looks delicious,” said Lex, shutting her menu. “I think I'll try it.”
When the waiter reappeared, Lex ordered her dessert, Serena got coffee, and Casey ordered tea.
“So,” Lex asked when the waiter had left to get their order, “can you tell us where we'll be going tonight?”
“It's a surprise,” said Serena, taking another sip of her nearly empty drink. “I think you'll like it, though. We'll all fit right in, the way we're dressed. I've been there a few times before and the first time I went, I didn't think I'd like it, but the feel of the place is a lot different than how it looks from the outside. I really like the people there and I think you will, too.”
“OK,” Casey said, finishing her beer. “I'll take your word for it. Next time we go out, though, I get to pick the place.”
“All right,” Serena replied, her lips curving up in a small smile, “You've got to tell us what we should wear, though. I don't want to be showing up dressed like this in a sports bar.”
“You’re so picky,” Casey retorted, laughing softly.
Lex and Serena exchanged a look, smiling at each other, and then Lex asked, “It seems like you’re friends with the man who seated us. Who is he?”
Serena’s smile brightened a little. “Oh, Sal. You’re right; he’s an old friend of the family. He worked for my father for many years, so I've known him since I was little. He…well, I think he understood me a lot better than my parents did, and he was always very kind to me. He retired some years back, but he got bored after he moved back to DC to be around his family, so he opened this restaurant to 'have some fun,' as he puts it. Anyway, it's been nice to be able to see him, so I come here a lot.”
Lex smiled. “It's a beautiful place. Thanks for bringing us.”
After finishing her dessert, which Lex pronounced tasted like heaven on a cloud of chocolate, she watched Serena grin widely and hand the waiter her credit card. “I thought you might like it,” Serena replied.
As they got ready to go, Lex glanced out at the sea of faces in the packed restaurant and grimaced. As she turned, she saw that Serena had noticed her expression.
“What's up?” Serena asked.
“Oh, I’m just not looking forward to having to walk out through all of those people. They're just going to stare and say rude things about us.”
Serena looked at her with a smile. “But, Lex, that's one of the most fun things about coming here! Just look at all of us. As beautiful as we are tonight, we
deserve
to be stared at. Look,” she said, gesturing towards a nearby table, “some of them have been staring at us the whole time we've been here, and they can't even really see us! Just wait until we get up to walk out. All of the men and most of the women will be staring. Sure, they might
say
something snide to one another, but that's not what they're thinking. They're really jealous, wishing they were us or that they were with us. That's part of the fun, though,” Serena continued, smiling wider. “We're three gorgeous women, and we're going to stand tall, survey the room like we're bored, and sail on past all of these people like they’re not here, because there's nothing they can do to make us stay.”
Lex grinned in return, letting out a small laugh at Serena's description. “You really like this kind of thing, don't you?”
Serena nodded, raising an eyebrow. “So, are you willing to give it a try? Come on, do it with me.”
Lex smiled a little wider as the waiter returned with the final bill. She thought Serena's confidence might be catching as they all rose to their feet and seemed to stand a little taller than they had when they’d come in that evening. Lex tried to ignore the tension settling in her stomach as she followed Serena’s lead.
“Come on, girls, let's get out of here and have some fun,” Serena said more loudly, stepping lightly onto the main dining floor. Lex stepped down between her and Casey, who moved to walk just behind the other two.
A sudden silence swept the room, followed by knots of whispering. Lex let her gaze slip across half of the room with a bored, regal speed, and she could see it, just as Serena had described. The wealthy people dressed in formal clothes attempted to look disdainful of the three of them, but really seemed envious. She turned her head slightly to look at Serena, who peeked at Lex out of the corner of her eye. As their gazes met, Lex couldn't help laughing slightly, acknowledging Serena's observations. Serena's broad smile widened a little more.
As they reached the front of the restaurant, Serena stopped briefly at the front desk to speak to Sal. There was a line of people waiting to get in, but he took time to speak to Serena as she arrived, making the people continue to wait.
“Sal,” Serena said, “thanks for a lovely meal, as usual. I wanted to introduce you to my friends, as well, since I didn't have a chance to when we came in. This tall drink of water here is Casey, and this is Lex.”
Sal shook both of their hands firmly, smiling at them. “So very nice to meet the both of you. Serena,” he said, turning back to her and holding her hand in his for a moment, “as always, you brighten up my place. Please don't wait too long to come back again.”
Lex thought Serena's eyes looked a little shinier than normal as they all stepped into the cab. Her voice sounded firm as she leaned forwards to talk to the driver, however. “Do you know where the Vampyre's Nest is?” she asked.
“Sure, ladies, I'll take you right there,” he said, pulling away from the curb.
“The Vampyre's Nest?” Casey said, looking at Serena and Lex in the backseat, her eyebrows quirked up.
Serena just smiled in return. “Hey, this is my turn. You can suggest wherever you want to when it's yours.” Casey just smiled and nodded, and Lex turned her attention to watching the streets change ahead of them as the cabbie drove.
Several minutes later, the cab pulled up at the curb to let them off. Casey insisted on paying for the ride, so Lex and Serena got out in front of an older building in a fairly well-kept, business-oriented neighborhood. The building stood several stories tall, one in a row of connected offices and storefronts. It looked as if it had been a bank at one time, showing a façade of carved stone, tasteful and solid looking. A black signboard with “Vampyre's Nest” printed in thin, silver letters now covered the area where the name of the bank had probably once been imprinted into the stone. When Casey caught up with them, the three walked towards the building. Instead of going to the back of the line of people waiting to get into the club, however, Serena walked to the front and approached the large man standing in front of the door preventing the crowd from entering as he checked IDs. She ignored their glares as she moved closer to him.
“Hey, Vinnie,” she said, putting a hand on his waist.
He started in surprise and turned around. The man had a strong, angular face, tribal tattoos running down his left arm, a ring through his lip, and long, dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail. When he saw Serena, he went from trying to seem tough to looking very glad.
“Serena!” he said, reaching over to hug her. “It's been too long since you've come to the club!”
Then he looked over at Lex and grinned and raised an eyebrow, but when he saw Casey, his eyebrows nearly lifted off his forehead and his smile grew.
“And who are your gorgeous friends?” he asked, smiling at Casey as he continued to size her up.
“This is Casey,” said Serena, grinning at his obvious interest. “And this is Lex.”
“Ladies,” Vinnie replied, bowing a little, “welcome to the Vampyre's Nest.”
Lex watched as he lifted the velvet rope to let them in and as he whispered something into Casey's ear when she walked by him, even though he had to stand on tiptoes to do it. She turned and looked at him skeptically.
“I'll consider it,” Casey retorted, obviously trying not to smile.
Lex looked at her friend curiously as they continued walking. “Consider what? Or shouldn't I ask?”
Casey laughed in response. “He asked me to save him a dance for when he's on break later.”
Lex smiled back. “Maybe you should. He seems to like you, and he’s not too bad to look at, either.”
Casey shrugged dismissively. “Maybe. I'm already spoken for, though.”
Lex stopped in her tracks, gaping up at Casey. “What? Why didn't you ever mention it before?”
Casey sighed, stopped, and looked down at Lex. “I think I've mentioned it before, but don't ever talk about anything at headquarters that you don't want everyone and our sponsors to know about, since we're monitored all the time.” She paused for a moment and bit her lip before continuing. “Also, though no one's ever really come right out and said it, they seem to discourage you from dating when you work for the agency. I've always just had a weird feeling about it, so I never say anything back there. Promise me you won't, either.”
Lex shook her head. “Of course I won't say anything about it if you don’t want me to. Can I meet him sometime, though?”
“OK, it's a deal.”
They saw Serena appear from around the corner at that point, scowling at the two of them. “Come on! They'll never let you into the coolest spot here if we're not all together!”
The two of them duly turned left to follow Serena up a narrow staircase as they reached the main floor of the club. When they got to the top of the stairs, Serena greeted a tall, willowy woman standing by the stair rail. She wore a shiny, black latex, form-fitting jumpsuit that zipped from neck to crotch. She’d left the zipper open enough to show off a bit of cleavage, and her bobbed black hair fell to the side to reveal the tattoo of a snake slithering up her neck. Lex could see something shiny on the woman’s tongue as she responded to Serena, but she couldn't hear what the two said because she stood too far down the stairway. Serena gestured for Casey and Lex to come up a moment later and introduced them to the woman.
“Zenith, these are my friends. Do you have room up here for us tonight?”
“Sure,” she said, nodding easily. “You can have your favorite place over in the corner, if you like. Yes,” she continued, looking up at Casey, who had an eyebrow raised, “my parents were hippies. I think they were high most of the time, and I believe I was named after the television.”
Casey cleared her throat and looked embarrassed. “Sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude.”
Zenith smiled, humor showing in her eyes. “No offense taken. Enjoy yourself, ladies.”
The three of them made their way past Zenith along the balcony, which appeared to go all the way around the club. Some of the space seemed to have been carved out into offices in the back, but the rest had been left open with tables on either side of a walkway. Serena led them to a table along the balcony rail at the corner of the room where it started to turn. The three had a long view of the room below, most of which had been dedicated to a large dance floor, but bars stood on either side, and a stage along the back held the DJ and his equipment. A few lone dancers moved on the floor, and knots of people stood talking near the bars and along the sides of the dance floor. The balcony along the other side of the club had a few occupied tables, but Lex got the feeling that the club wouldn’t be packed until much later in the evening.