The night continues

Lauren tried to stop Nikol, but she left for the bar regardless. Once she had made her mind up, there was nothing that could stop her. She followed her with her eyes and could immediately feel her face flush with embarrassment as she saw her beckoning the two men to their table. There was literally nothing ladylike about Nikol's behaviour. She directly walked up to two strangers in a bar and basically shepherded them back to her table. She still had a lot to learn about how hooking up should work in a place like this. Or was Lauren too old school?

The two men were of course all smiles as they sat around the table. Who wouldn't be if they were allowed in the company of a beauty and her... her young, free-spirited associate. They politely introduced themselves to the ladies. Loverboy was Jack, and the General was Chester. What made it even more embarrassing was that they just introduced themselves to Nikol as well. She hadn't even bothered asking their names before inviting them over. The men seemed decent. They kept the drinks coming, to Nikol's great delight.

"What do such lovely ladies do?" asked Jack looking at Lauren with a seductive grin.

Lauren smiled back at him. If anything, she loved talking about herself. "I'm an acting manageress at a multinational fashion agency. If it's worth anything, we are behind it." she joked. "And Nikol is my..."

"Underling." finished the sentence Nikol bluntly.

"I meant to say colleague." she said, a bit taken aback by Nikol's outburst. Must have been the ****.

"Call things by their names." shrugged Nikol. "Let's drink to the best manageress ever." she raised her glass toward Lauren and winked at her impishly.

"Aye, aye!" said the men, after a bit of awkward silence.

Lauren had to drink along. She made a mental note about taking **** lightly for the rest of the night. She wasn't planning on getting drunk. As for the men, they were doing what men typically did while talking to beautiful women. They were trying to sell themselves. Nothing Lauren hadn't heard before. Though she had to admit, Jack's smile was rather charming. Whenever he flashed those white pearls of his, she could feel her heart melting. At one point, Lauren excused herself to go to the restroom.

"Ah, finally, toilet break." said Nikol following the blushing Lauren. "I am near my bursting limit, ya know." she whispered in her ear.

"You know you could have gone by yourself, yes?"

"No. Girls go to the restroom in pairs." she said. "It's a sort of girl rule."

Lauren had heard this joke before, but she never really had any experience with it. Maybe because she had been avoiding most women. Or they had been avoiding her. She just shrugged as they entered the restroom. The sight of a woman standing in her underwear drying her red dress at the hand dryer shocked them both. Nikol outright burst into fits laughter at the sight of the red witch, her previous victim.

"Nice brassaire..." she giggled, pointing at the woman's bulky bra holding up her breasts then fled to the back where the stalls were.

"I'm... very sorry." Lauren tried to stifle a giggle. "My friend didn't mean it like that." It was hard to sell, considering Nikol's hollering coming from further in.

The woman was just looking daggers at Lauren, unable to come up with a retort that wouldn't sound ridiculous in just her underwear.

By the time she had reached the stalls, Nikol managed to get a grip on herself. And Lauren was glad to be able to finally relieve the pain in her lower abdomen. All that **** made its way through her small body rather quickly.

"Call me if you need me to keep your hair out of the toilet!." said Nikol as she went for the adjacent stall.

"What?" Lauren looked at her questioningly. "Why would I..."

"You know. *Blargh*." she acted like she was vomitting.

"Oh, I... I don't think that will be necessary." she said once she realised what she had meant. "Are... Do you...?" she asked a bit concerned about the answer.

"Nah, we are drinking freaking liquors." she said once they were in their stalls. "I drank stronger booze in my freshmen year! Probably everyone did!"

Lauren was just sitting in silence, thinking of her own freshmen year. It was definitely not an ****-heavy year. At least not for her.

"By the way, what do you think of the guys?!" yelled Nikol from the adjacent stall, not concerned about who else might hear them.

"Can't this conversation wait a bit?!"

"No! What do you think of Psycho?!"

"Don't call him that..."

"Just look at his creepy eyes! And he is called Jack! You know, like Jack the Ripper! Muahahaha, I'm gonna eat yer liver with my perfect white teeth!" she said, imitating a deeper voice.

"Jack the Ripper wasn't eating his victims... "

"Whatever! This Jack will! Would! But don't worry, I won't let the sicko!"

"You are horrible!" laughed Lauren. But regardless of the unusual place, it felt good to talk to someone else about these things. Or maybe it was the **** affecting her. "I think they are a bit too pushy! Like they are sure of their 'conquests'!"

"Tell me about it! Here, take this!" she said and Lauren could see something fall in her lap from above.

"What the..." she picked up the crumpled piece of paper. It had a phone number on it. "What's this?!"

"The General 'subtly' slid his number in my purse!"

"And what should I do with it?!"

"Dunno! Wipe it?!" she snickered. "I'm 18! I want someone with style, with personality! Not some General Chester!"

Nikol was talking a bit too openly. Obviously she was a bit tipsy. She must have been. Once they were at the sink, she was again barely able to contain herself at the sight of the red witch in her underwear. And much to her surprise, so was Lauren.

"Nice legs." said Lauren cheekily as she walked past her. And it felt good. She had never thought the misfortune of someone else could be that hilarious.

Once she was out of the restroom, Nikol came rushing from behind her. "Don't look back." she said, urging her friend back towards the table. They could hear a faint scream coming from the restroom.

"What the hell did you do?" asked Lauren, knowing it had something to do with the red witch.

"You said she had nice legs. She could show them off on her way home." giggled Nikol.

"I can't believe you." laughed Lauren. In the past, she never would have acted like this, but Nikol was a bad influence on her. And though she never would have admitted it, she kind of liked it. She had missed a real friend for so long, that she quickly grew to appreciate the mischiveous vixen. Not to mention her life had been void of any excitement and adventure before meeting her.

Back at the table, things were still as posh as ever. Lauren was a bit afraid their girls' night out would turn into a double date, but Nikol seemed to be on top of things. She masterfully managed to involve Lauren in her conversations, leaving the two hopeful men little time alone with their 'interests'. That didn't held them back from trying, though. And trying they were. Desperately so, if one could say. Lauren loved to be the centre of attention, but even she grew weary of enduring the relentless advances of Jack... the Ripper. She had found him cute before, but whenever she looked at him now, she couldn't get Nikol's words out of her mind. It was hard to concentrate on what he was saying while she followed his eyes. They really were creepy. Or were they? Well, they were now after Nikol had put that image in her head.

Along the night, Nikol had made several more toasts. After each, Lauren had decided to not drink anymore, yet she always did the next time. There were toasts to their companions, to the place, to the barman. The last was to the red witch, that nobody else knew what it meant yet they drank all the same. That was one of the last things Lauren could remember from that night.