Friday, 9 August 2001

5.08pm. Sigh. Another hour to go before work was officially over. Nope, make that less than an hour, I corrected myself as I took another glance at the time. Oh goody.

I stared at the pile of stuff on my desk and sighed. I wasn't in the mood to write any radio commercial, think about a new campaign for some particular launch or copy check the stack of artworks. Hey, it was Friday. Couldn't blame a girl for thinking about better things to do after work, right? And that was exactly what I was doing. I twirled my pen absent-mindedly and stared at the cutout of this male model tacked on the board in front of my table.

Wait a minute.

I don't believe I put that there.

Slowly I turned to look at Jess. She was staring fixedly into her computer, her hand on the mouse, looking as though she was deep at work. I frowned and eyed her suspiciously. I had an uncanny feeling that she was the one who put the picture there. No one else but Jess could be bothered to do something as juvenile as that.

I reached for the cutout and pulled it out. Then I quietly slipped it in front of her.

"I believe this belongs to you?" I smirked.

Jess continued looking into her computer screen but I could see she was trying desperately to control her laughter. Her face screwed up at my comment and she let out a sheepish grin before turning towards me.

"Quit complaining. Besides, you have to admit, he's cute," Jess retorted. "Which...brings me to my question," she continued with a cheeky glint in her eye. "Are we meeting the three cuties tonight?"

I chuckled sardonically. So, *that* was what she was getting at, eh? The three *cuties*. They could only be Louis, Bowie and Jules. I nodded my reply. Jess smiled even wider and sidled up to me.

"Where?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Emporium I guess. You know how Jules likes that place. But we're meeting up at my apartment first and going down in one car."

"Sounds good to me," Jess grinned.

Anything to do with the three guys always sounded good to her. Heck, anything to do with the three guys always sounded good to me as well. It was our usual routine. Friday night. Jess would join us and we would always meet up - usually at my apartment, as I lived half-way between everybody - grab something to bite, then mosey off somewhere to hang out. The guys have been talking about going dancing for some time now. So, I guess it was only likely that we'd end up at some club somewhere tonight.

Now you're probably wondering why would three fantabulously good-looking and obviously very eligible guys want to hang out with two loser girls? Uh huh, Jess was single as well. But she has it better than me. At least she's only 27. She's got another 2 more years to go before she needs to start worrying. Anyway, I digress again. What was the question? Oh yes, why would they want to hang out with us? Beats the hell out of me too. Wouldn't be seen with two bumbling idiots of the female species hamper their conquests? Or maybe, they were just using us as sympathy grabbers - you know, the "Oh you poor thing. Are you stuck with her? Let me comfort you" kinda thingy.

"What do you girls want to drink?" Bowie shouted above the din of the music.

"Whatever!" I yelled.

Jess and Louis were too busy gyrating to the music to pay any attention to Bowie whereas Jules was already scanning the scene and targeting his 'catches' for the night. I don't know if Bowie heard me cos he just shrugged and walked away.

Slowly the beat of the music seeped into my system. It started with a little tapping of the foot, then it spread to the other parts of my body like tiny hiccups, all in tempo to the music and the lights. It wasn't long before I was caught up in the frenzy too.

Bowie returned a couple of minutes later clutching a bottle of Black Label. "Decided to get a bottle instead," he leaned in towards me and shouted in my ear. I nodded and smiled, suddenly a little conscious of his closeness. It was a good thing it was dark in here or my face would have given me away totally.

"Ah, the drinks are here." A hand shot out past me and grabbed onto Bowie's arm, chugging along after him and the bottle of Black Label.

"I see Jess is a fast learner." I heard a chuckle behind me as I watched Jess disappear into the darkness together with Bowie. I spun around and smiled a sickly sweet smile at Louis. I knew what he was implying. Alcohol and me. Now alcohol and Jess. I landed a playful punch on his shoulder and scowled at him.

"Ouch!" Louis yowled and put on his why-did-you-go-hit-me-for? innocent look.

Oh boy. How can you not expect a girl to fall for that? Didn't the idiot know that his grin was absolutely hazardous?

"C'mon," he shouted as he put his arm around my shoulders. "Let's join them before they finish the whole bottle!"

Oohh...the feel of his arm on my shoulder. Instinctly I slipped mine around his waist and leaned into his body, letting him guide me to wherever the rest were. Not that I cared where they were at this very moment. And speaking of moments, how I wished this would last a while longer. Sigh.

Suddenly, reality hit. Eeps! What was wrong with me tonight?! It wasn't as though this was the first time I was out with the guys, let alone in such close proximity with them. Damn, it must be those two bottles of Shiraz we had during dinner taking effect. Discreetly, I pulled away from Louis' body and dropped my hand from his waist. Louis seemed to be oblivious to the whole situation and I was quite contented to keep it that way.

"Hey Louis, check out that chick." Without even bothering to look, I knew at once it was Jules. Louis immediately released his arm from my shoulders and scooted off with him. Hey, come back here, I felt like shouting at him. Stupid Jules, I pouted to myself. Snatching my Louis away from me like that.

"Are you having a good time?"

I perked up at the familiar voice. Who needed Louis anyway? Not when there was Bowie around. I grinned at him as he passed me a glass of Black Label.

"Yup!" I yelled before taking a sip of the drink. Yuck. I hated Black Label neat. And I think it must have shown on my face cos Bowie immediately asked if I wanted to mix it with Coke. Oh how sweet. He cares about me, I swooned. Gosh, Flo. Get a grip of yourself, woman. He just asked if you wanted Coke with your Black Label. It's not as though he saved you from a runaway car or train. Geeshhh.

"So?" Bowie asked as he waved the pitcher of Coke in front of me.

I shook my head. "It's okay. I'll drink it like that," I lied. Black Label should always be taken neat. That was the way to drink it, I remembered Mag's lessons - 101 An Introduction to Alcohol.

Suddenly I realised I was alone with Bowie. Well, technically speaking, that was. The other hundreds of people in the club didn't seem to matter. I was by the table with him - Jess and Louis and Jules were nowhere to be seen. I chuckled devillishly to myself. Now, I could do what I've felt like doing a million times. There was always this primal desire to grab him by the shoulders, pull him towards me and devour those lips of his. I imagined myself like some animal pouncing on him, ripping off his clothes with my teeth...

"Hey, let's dance!" A hand grabbed my arm, jolting me from my rather graphic revelry.