Lovely, not only do I have nothing to do for the next hour, I have about a day and a half�s worth of work to do after lunch. I love how this works.
I love how anal my boss is.
I love repeating tests that I did less than 24 hours ago.
I love sarcasm.
Anyway, allow me to backtrack�
[fog fills the room and the date, �Sunday, May 26th� appears on the screen.]
The kitten bounced around on the bed, his little bell jingling with every movement. The room was otherwise still, except for the rhythmic breathing of the occupant of the bed as she was sleeping. Occasionally, the kitten would attack her hair, which dangled over the blankets that she was shielding her face with. Eventually, she could take no more�
�Bandit!� Secret said and sat up. She brushed her mangled hair off her shoulders and picked up the kitten with her hand under his belly. He uttered a small cry in protest and his mouth was wide open, preparing to attack whatever loose articles of clothing or hair that was near him. She put him back down again, as it was obvious that he did not want to be cuddled. Slipping on a pair of pants, she went out to the family room and looked around on the floor for some piece of the newspaper that looked interesting. Before she could find anything, the kitten was attacking the paper with full force.
She silently listed off the things that she had to do that day and Prominence reminded her that she was due for some new makeup; after all, they were going to a dance club later that night. Prominence whined at the thought of going to the mall, but realized that the suffering incurred at the mall would be no where near as great as the suffering that she would endure if Prominence didn�t get her way. She also wanted to retrieve more things from her father�s house, go to the salon, take a bath, have dinner, and be ready before it was time to leave.
Her mother came back in the house and asked if she wanted to take the kitten outside to play in the sunshine since his earlier attempts to lay out were rebuffed by the older and much larger cats. Bandit playfully bounded out the door when he realized he was getting momentary freedom and Secret followed. He hopped around in the grass, ready to attack anyone and anything when he saw it: the tree. Almost immediately he was in it, climbing higher and higher.
It was then that her mother offered to take her to the mall.
After retrieving Bandit and going back into the house to change, they left for Secret�s most dreaded place while Prominence gleamed with happiness.
Upon entering Marshall Field�s, Prominence went straight for the Clinique counter to get her bronzer and was also told that MAC cosmetics had some very �fun� club makeup. She recognized the male clerk working the counter as the gay man that had a crush on D, the Sweetheart, about four years earlier. However, he did not recognize her. He applied eyemakeup to Prominence and chatted her up about what was going on that was so special while Secret watched her mother wander around looking at jewelry. It was a strange attraction that her mother had with jewelry.
When Prominence was finished and her mother had nodded with disapproval at her dark, smoky eyes they then went to Lord and Taylor�s for some shoes and her mother again looked at jewelry.
It had already reached late afternoon when Secret, Prominence, and their mother had left the mall and went home to pick up the stepfather. Mother was going to pick up the tab for an expensive dinner with filet mignon.
The filet mignon was good, but not as good as it had been at B, the Boss�, wedding. The mushrooms included had the perfect blend of spices and the salad dressing had been incredible. Secret also got a slice of cake when her mother had mentioned that it was her birthday. She couldn�t help but feel a twinge of guilt when the bill came and her mother picked it up.
A few hours passed and now Prominence was touching up the makeup while Secret sipped her first drink of the night: a white russian. K, the Sorceress, would be there momentarily and after that they would be off to pick up JG, the not so smug. There was a momentary glint of sadness in Prominence�s eye because of the lack of people in attendance, but she also knew that she had invited virtually no one. She knew her friends. She knew that most of them didn�t like dance clubs, others were anti-social, others were out of town, and others just simply could not afford it.
It would be ok, after all, she didn�t want a big deal made out of this birthday. She had learned her lesson before.
They picked up JG and chitchatted in the car when they hit traffic. Secret was shocked to see traffic so late on a Sunday night during a holiday weekend, but then she remembered that the Detroit Electronic Music Festival was still going on. She had never found the desire to go.
They arrived at St. Andrews and were greeted with chilly weather and a long long line. A bouncer told them that they had to go to separate entrances because JG was 21 and they were not.
The bouncer looked at J�s license and then looked at Prominence.
�You�re awfully close aren�t you?� he asked. Secret nodded.
�What�s the date today? The 25th?�
�The 26th,� Secret replied. This seemed to puzzle the bouncer even more so Secret explained that she was turning 21 in about an hour. He capped his black �underage� marker and took out the bracelets.
�Eh, you�ve only got an hour, who cares?� he put the bracelet on her wrist. Prominence giggled giddily until she saw what the cover charge was.
�$10?!� she almost shouted. However, the charge wasn�t as bad for her as it was for K: $20.
Another twinge of guilt hit her, but K brushed it off and handed over the money.
Prominence immediately ran up to the bar and ordered her first drink: a long island iced tea.
It was then that she learned a valuable lesson about the price of alcohol in bars, because the small cup that she�d ordered cost a total of $6.
They were soon joined by JG and went up to the second floor where St. Andrews actually was. It was at first very sparse, but started to fill up gradually as the hour got later and the music festival was closer and closer to ending. Prominence filled herself up on drinks until she ran out of cash and refused to start a tab that she would have to charge to a credit card. She was occasionally accosted by an eager guy to dance, but used K as her getaway, finding no one of her �caliber� to dance with. Still, as the night was nearing a close, it had been fun.
When they decided to leave, it was then that K got a phone call from one of her friends that was supposed to have showed up asking for a ride back to her car. It irked Secret slightly that promises had been made by that friend to show up, but she still didn�t let it ruin her night. She also didn�t mind driving the girl to her car if they could move fast enough so that she could find a bathroom.
However, traffic barely permitted any movement, and the small venture to pick up K�s friend turned into at least a half hour to forty five minute effort. When she got in, she wished Prominence and Secret a happy birthday (for it was after midnight by this time) and explained that the cover charge had leapt from $10 for a person of age to $40.
Prominence merely nodded, but that statement nagged at Secret. Why would a club raise it�s cover charge by $30 after midnight, close to closing time. From what Secret knew, cover charges either went down or were eliminated all together near closing time. Instead of questioning this, though, Secret kept her mouth shut and tried to think of things that would distract her mind from gravitating toward going to the bathroom.
They dropped off K�s friend who said that she would call after she picked up her boyfriend from work so that they could hang out later on. However, at the time Secret and Prominence were dropped off, no phone call had been made.
After realizing that Secret had no money and no way of getting money, they decided to call it a night and drop JG off. Secret and Prominence lived only a shortways off and Secret thanked K as she was getting out of the car.
It had been a fun night.
Prominence was too tired to take off her makeup and instead went straight to bed. Bandit was waiting for her on her bed and purred when she picked him up.
�You�re the best present ever,� Secret said nuzzling him close to her face. She checked her email and was somewhat surprised to see no E-cards.
�Oh well,� Secret closed AOL and climbed into bed. She was only two hours into her birthday, but it had seemed so long.
~~Day two to come later~~
