Larissa is long gone.

I make my way to the back stairwell but Larissa and the guys she disappeared with are long gone. I check the door to the upstairs staff area and it's properly secured so assume they must have gone out the emergency exit at the bottom. The door is only openable from the inside so if they were hoping to get back in at all they would be shit out of luck. Giving up the search for the little wildcat I make my way back up the stairs deciding Ill just spend the rest of my break relaxing in the staff area.

As I’m passing the level on which the dance floor is on, I see Larissa’s friend Jessica poking her face through the gap in the security door.

“No sign of her?” she asks as she sees me coming up onto the landing.

“Nah she’s long gone,” I tell the friend.

“Ahh well, honestly, you’re not missing much,” Jessica tells me.

“What do you mean?”

I see Jessica debating whether to give me the true story on her friend or the polite ‘besties’ answer.

“Larissa is basically a mess. She’ll go with whatever cute guy happens to be in front of her. Strings them along with no thought for what they might be feeling and just discards them for the next one. If your chasing an easy fuck she’s your girl just be prepared for the baggage that comes with it,” Jessica explains laying out the truth on me.

“And she’s your friend why exactly?” I ask.

Jessica laughs and just shakes her head not knowing.

With Jessica, away from the site of Larissa, I notice for the first time that she has the most incredible pair of pale green eyes. Made all the paler by her almost platinum blonde hair and canary yellow dress. Without the obvious temptation of her Asian friend to distract me I can see how completely stunning she is.

I head back into the main area of the club as Jessica follows along beside me. She asks if I have to get back to work and I tell her that I’m actually on my break. Jessica tries to get me to come with her to the dancefloor but I politely decline saying I’m not a big one for dancing in places that I work. Jessica suggests we get a drink instead if I allowed to. We go to the bar and I get us a couple of drinks using my security bar card. Jessica ordering a Vanilla Galliano and Coke as she says they taste just like Vanilla Coke. We get talking and I find out a bit more about herself. She lets me know she’s originally from South Africa but her family moved to England to get away from all the troubles in her home country. She’s on a gap year in Australia as she missed the warmth and climate of her home country too much. She’s been working as a Veterinary Assistant to help pay for her year abroad.

Glancing at my phone I’m surprised to see that I have spent almost the entire rest of the time of my break talking to Jessica and should really be getting back to the front door soon.

Taking my phone from me, Jessica says, “here let me do you a favour.”

She finds the contact where Larissa left me her number and deletes it from my phone, replacing it with her number instead.

“I’m a lot less crazy if you ever wanted to hang out some more,” she tells me.

I give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and return to work happy with the turn of events so far tonight.