Pink Magic

Pink Magic

It was still light when Christie arrived at Livvy's flat. Armed with a
bottle of Blossom Hill, 40 Marlborough Lights and a large bag of
accessories she snuck past the security doors as one of Livvy's
neighbours left the block. She huffed and puffed her way up three
flights of stairs; Christie never had liked the smell of ammonia in an
enclosed space. She tapped lightly on her best pal's door, announced
her arrival over the top of a Kylie Minogue track and let herself
in.

Livvy was on the telephone making final arrangements for the evening
ahead. She waved to Christie &; ushered her to the bedroom where the
preparations would begin.

The Vodka was already poured. With just the right amount of lime &;
lemonade Christie would be able down it in one. She poured herself
another, lit two cigarettes &; placed one in the ashtray. Livvy
peeped round the door and with a flamboyant wave of her arm, indicated
that she also required a top up. Christie obliged.

"Who's out then?" enquired Christie once Livvy had flipped her mobile
together. The reply came swiftly. "Big Dave, you, me, Jimmy, Carla and
Johnny Boy." Christie nodded as Livvy continued "Alex might be out but
you know what he's like." Christie appreciated Livvy's tone &; the
implied unpredictability of Alex. Livvy took a big gulp of Vodka and
Christie watched her begin to remove the large curlers from her hair.
Noticing the very short pair of leather hot pants laid out on the bed
along side a pink bustier top, Christie was beginning to regret the
comfy crop trousers she had brought to change in to. No doubt Livvy's
FMB's would be making an appearance. How did Livvy eat chips, chocolate
and pizza and still not have a shred of cellulite on her body?

As Christie's Scooby Doo theme tune began to ring Livvy switched on the
hair dryer. She had to leave the room in order to speak to her other
comrade. Big Dave was already in town with his mate Darren Bradley who
liked to call himself Daz E Cool when working. He'd managed to get all
of them on the guest list for Snuff and wanted to know when the chicks
would be putting in an appearance.

She reluctantly informed Dave of both hers and Livvy's unsuitably
attired status, a bottle of wine awaiting consumption and that they
probably wouldn't be in town before 9:30. He was, however, not to go
anywhere until they arrived.

Livvy enquired as to whom he was with and screwed her face up when told
it was Daz E Cool. She'd had him and didn't want to be pawed at all
night by that disappointment. Christie put two and two together and
realised that the tight pants and Fuck Me Boots were not for Darren's
benefit but Livvy obviously had the feelers out for someone. Christie
said au revoire to Big Dave and opened the wine. She'd said 9:30 but
what did it matter if they were a bit early?

"You want to get your slap on girl before you have any more." said
Livvy, "You don't want to end up looking like Alice Cooper." Both women
laughed and Christie enquired as to whether Livvy could remember
putting on thick black eyeliner and trying to impress their attractive
and ever so slightly gothic history teacher Mr Barnes. Livvy giggled at
the memory and admitted that she had also written on one of her eyelids
"Love" and "You" on the other. Clever at the time they had thought; it
had been in an Indiana Jones film.

By 9:00 the vodka &; wine bottles were empty and 40 cigarettes had
dwindled to 20. The bedroom resembled a hurricane and sparkled with
glitter spray.

They were ready. Livvy looked every bit the sex kitten whilst Christie
felt inadequate. Cropped black trousers, a capped sleeve T-shirt and a
pair of Sketchers were no match for her pal's outfit, but she consoled
herself with the fact that her feet would still feel like her own in
four hours time.

Snuff was the best club in town, the only club in town if you liked
dance music. Not the poppy chart stuff they played in the wine bars,
but good kick ass dance tunes. The likes of Craig David and Jennifer
Lopez had no place in Snuff.

Daz E Cool was one of the resident DJ's and had obviously obtained
their guest list ranking in the hope of another rendezvous with a
certain hot panted lady. He had also very kindly provided Big Dave with
some Pink Ladies - the latest pill guaranteed to provide any individual
with a night to remember.

Christie, Carla and Carla's brother Johnny Boy were located in the
Chill Out Room. Carla &; Christie had been best friends once upon a
time and Christie always liked to catch up even if at times Carla was a
bit frosty. Carla had never really liked Livvy and it was often
difficult for Christie not to get caught in the crossfire. Luckily
Johnny Boy was out tonight and as he found Livvy the perfect Fag Hag he
would act as peacekeeper and ensure his sibling wasn't overly vicious
with her tongue.

"I see your friend has the claws out for someone tonight." said Johnny
Boy to Christie. She smaned, agreed and had to admit that his
identity was a mystery to her. She was quite confident who it wouldn't
be though. They all laughed. Daz E Cool had sauntered over to them just
before his set begun and asked Livvy if she wanted to hang in the DJ
box. Her refusal had come in the form of an offer to hang him in the DJ
box and was quite keen to provide the rope if he so requested. Christie
had to admit it was a bit mean, but if you knowingly play with fire you
will undoubtedly get your fingers burnt. Carla, with a wry smile,
pointed out that Livvy had been spending a lot of time with Big Dave
and Jimmy. Christie understood the implication and as a counter attack
admitted that Livvy and Jimmy would make an adorable couple. Johnny Boy
commented that Jimmy would better off with him! Christie laughed along
with them at the thought of Johnny coming on to Jimmy. He would be
horrified. It wasn't that he and Johnny Boy weren't friends, nor was he
homophobic, he just felt homophobic if he turned a man down.

Johnny Boy decided that he would go and wind Jimmy up to find out if he
could "get a rise out of him". The girls laughed. JB really liked to
camp it up at times. Carla enquired as to where Christie was going
after the club. Johnny had obtained some weed from University in
exchange for his art history notes and she was sure he wouldn't mind if
they continued the party at their house. Christie shrugged; she had no
fixed plans as yet. Looking up she saw Big Dave making his way through
the crowd. He did a thumbs up indicating that the seating arrangements
were more than satisfactory.

The Chill Out room was more or less split in two, at one end were the
large comfy booths and at the other, well basically nothing. Kids
simply sat on the carpet and were lucky not to get chewing gum stuck to
their clothes. "Are you coming back to ours later on Dave?" asked Carla
as he reached them, "Christie's coming aren't you?". Christie tried not
to commit herself. This was why she and Carla weren't the friends they
used to be. Carla was the only person who knew how she felt about Dave
and the continual insinuations and dropping of hints had led to them
parting company for a while.

Dave grinned at the pair as he sat down. Christie cheekily advised that
he wouldn't be able to purchase any refreshments from there and he took
the hint. "You two&;#8230;." Said Carla shaking her head as he
headed for the bar. "I don't know &;#8230;." She didn't finish the
sentence, Christie knew how it ended and Carla was tired of watching
this particular soap opera. She left to find her brother and
Jimmy.

Christie sat in solitude and began to wonder why everyone was staring
at her. Her hands shook slightly as she reached in her bag for another
cigarette. She could feel the blood starting to pump quicker and
quicker through her veins; She grit her teeth together, Pink Ladies,
why had she taken two? She never took more than one at a time. What if
they were stopped by the police on the way home? They would be able to
tell. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.

Dave returned with three bottles of water and Christie was grateful for
Carla's unwanted hydration. I meant she wouldn't have to move for a
while. Dave sat down and placed his arm around her shoulder. He always
knew when she needed a little reassurance and as he had provided the
chemicals that were responsible for her present situation he no doubt
felt a certain amount of guilt.

It was 2 am and they had remained in the same insulated corner for over
an hour. Christie was beginning to come out of herself. Alex had made
an appearance with a girl he introduced as Sheila. It transpired that
her name wasn't actually Sheila, she was from Australia and Alex
decided it was easier to call her that than try and commit anything to
memory that night. She didn't seem to mind. Livvy, Christie had
noticed, had been dancing with Jimmy, as had Carla and Johnny Boy.
Jimmy was loving it. She wondered if that was whom Livvy had set her
sights on. She hoped not, Carla had been working on Jimmy for a few
weeks and if Livvy were to step in now it would certainly be handbags
at dawn.

Big Dave rested the side of his head of the top of Christie's and
sighed. "Coming round a bit now?" He asked. She nodded and looked up at
his smiling face. She could have kissed him, there and then. He flicked
her nose in a playful way and gently stroked her cheek. "I don't know
what I'd do if you weren't around T, I mean, I've got loads of female
friends, but you and me, well, we're different. We can always talk
about anything." He paused and looked directly at her. " There's
someone I've liked for a long time and I daren't tell her," he paused
again and hinted at her identity "She's not a million miles away from
here." Christie's ears pricked up like a Mere Cat. She looked away.
What did he mean? Did he mean what she thought he meant or were the
drugs distorting her perception? "Do you want to go somewhere and talk,
I mean, properly talk, there's something I want to ask you." Oh my god,
he did mean what she thought he meant. She nervously wiped her sweaty
palms on the velveteen cushion and took a long slow sip of water. She
turned around with shining eyes to see Livvy climbing onto Big Dave's
knee.

She remembered Livvy dancing with him earlier. Livvy thrust her legs
either side of Dave's pushing Christie out of the way. Dave's eyes were
ablaze. The realisation hit her. Big Dave liked Livvy. He wanted her
advice about Livvy. They had always been friends; could always talk; he
daren't tell this person how he felt; she wasn't a million miles away.
Livvy's tight shorts, the boots, the pink Basque had all been for
Dave's benefit. Christie was crushed.

Livvy was stroking Big Dave's chest and looked round at Jimmy. "I bet
Dave would do it," she said. Big Dave had to decline and looked back
towards Christie for some support. Christie could not oblige and
encouraged him to get on the podium. If Dave wanted Livvy and Livvy
wanted Dave, he needn't worry about asking her; Livvy wasn't backwards
about coming forwards. She did understand why he was scared to make a
move and almost felt sympathy for him. Livvy would eat him alive.
Perhaps that's what he wanted. She couldn't endure the flirting at such
close proximity. She felt humiliated. It was lucky that she hadn't
immediately responded to Dave's question as her heart had told her to.
She would have been mortified if her feelings had been made known, all
the while he was courting her best friend.

She laughed, but not with her eyes, and aggressively pushed them away
from the sofa. "Get up there, go on I dare you!". Big Dave looked
Christie straight in the eye, grabbed Livvy and carried her out of the
Chill Out Room onto the podium.

Jimmy sat down "How are the Pink Ladies?" He asked.

"Fucking magic." Was the sarcastic reply.