Max Main ≡ Lois Lane (bylined) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-05-08 00:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | black canary, lois lane, oracle |
Who: Gwen, Laura and Max
What: Girls Night Out
Where: A bar
When: Fuzzy time is fuzzy
Warnings: Drunk women and language
It hadn’t been as hard to flag down a taxi as Gwen thought. There were certainly less people out than usual but the citizens of Seattle were starting to get accustomed to strange things happening. Business was still business, so when she called for a cab to pick them up at Bathos, there was barely a hesitation in the answer. When the taxi arrived, she made quick introductions and then the three women hopped inside as fast they could and were off.
The drive to the bar was shorter than expected, full of grim jokes and the thump of birds against windshields but otherwise they arrived without a hitch. Gwen paid the driver and hustled her friends out and into the bar as quickly as they could. When the arrived they were greeted with a warmer reception than usual. Not many else were willing to brave the weird atmosphere so their presence was welcome.
“First one’s on me,” Gwen nodded to the bar and promised with a grin, shaking off the bit of rain she managed to catch on her coat between the cab door and the bar entrance.
“I’m not arguing.” Between the birds and the hostage situation at the Times, Max was ready for a break. No, she was ready to get completely fucking smashed somewhere really loud where no one would notice them on the dance floor. The music inside was the kind made for dancing, and the lights strobed in a way that made everything a little surreal. “This isn’t country and plastic tablecloths,” she called back to Gwen and Laura, who she already knew she was going to like, as she slipped off her own wet coat and threw it onto a hightop table near the dance floor.
Laura shrugged off her own coat, revealing arms that had bird-related scratches and cuts, though not as many as they likely should have, considering she’d been attacked the day before. She tossed her coat on the same table and grinned over at Gwen. “You know what I like. Just get me something fun to start.” She was in the mood to have a little too much to drink and forget everything that had happened since arriving in Seattle. Especially having to deal with a certain charming pain in the ass.
Laura looked over at the other woman - Max, Gwen had introduced her as - and smiled. She hadn’t gone out with a group of people in a long time, and had been apprehensive about it at first, but Gwen had vouched for the woman, and that was a large plus-mark in Laura’s book. “I’m not really a country kind of gal, I guess. Sorry?” She grinned wider as she shrugged. Granted, she hadn’t really been a strobes and dancing kind of gal lately either, but she was willing to change.
“Next time, one of you pick,” Gwen said, rolling her eyes good naturedly. Strobe lighting and loud music wasn’t either of their scenes but it suited her just nicely, at least it used to. Plus it wasn’t like they needed to go back anytime soon – or ever again for that matter. For now it was just a matter of going out and doing something different. Outside was a world of maniacal birds and crazy hostage takers and ex-boyfriends. This was worlds better than any of that.
“Margaritas then,” Gwen decided, and added for Max’s sake, “Welcome to the tradition. You’ll regret this decision in the morning but just remember: you came willingly.” She laughed softly and slipped own coat off, hanging it off of her chair and turning to meet the approaching server to order a round and let her friends get better acquainted.
“Get me a Corona chaser, and you have a deal,” Max said, propping her hip up on one of the barstools and looking toward the bar, where the men that had ventured out that evening were salivating like big cats who thought they were about to get a tasty meal. “We can at least use the bottle to smash over their heads,” she added, laughing when she looked back at the girls. “I don’t know about you two, but I have enough trouble with the men already in my life.” She quirked a brow at Gwen, and she glanced at Laura a second later. “If you’re perfectly fucking happy in love, I might not take it well. I’m warning you.”
Laura made a face at the concept of love. “Really really not. Trust me!” She raised her voice enough to be heard over the music. “I’ve had quite enough of anything that even looks like it might be distantly related to love!” She perched against the barstool next to Max and looked at the men near the bar, shaking her head with a smile. “I think we’ll be able to fight them off. Don’t worry.” She paused, still looking across the room, her voice softer and almost not audible with the pulsing music in the background. “Wish it was always that easy.”
Gwen returned with a server in tow, a tray of drinks, margarita and Corona for each of them. It had just been one of those kinds of weeks. She caught the look that Max gave her and promptly turned to the server. She was not about to get into her men troubles. Not while she was sober, anyway. She helped the girl set their glasses on the table and shake and pour their drinks. When she slid onto her barstool she heard Laura, gave her a small smile, and picked her own glass in toast. “Well, hopefully it’ll get easier from now on.”
Max took one of the drinks, and she took a sip and made a face at the tartness. “We don’t drink these in the military,” she said, taking another sip and another. “I bet they go right to your fucking head, though,” she said, raising her voice to be heard over the music. “Well, as long as none of us has a fucking fairytale relationship, it’s fine,” she said jokingly, tapping one of Gwen’s legs with her heel a second later. “Going to test those out on the dance floor? Or does that require being wasted?” she asked, before settling her attention on Laura. “What’s your story?” she asked, bringing the glass to her lips again.
Laura gratefully took a margarita when Gwen brought them over, taking a decent drink and raising an eyebrow at how strong it was. Usually places watered them down; apparently not so at this bar. It was something to be aware of, but it definitely wasn’t going to stop her or slow her down. Not when she had things to unwind from and forget. She leaned over to offer some advice to Max. “Just be sure to keep drinking water too. Otherwise the tequila kicks your ass.” She grinned though and took another drink, but winced at Gwen’s supportive comment and then again at Max’s question. It was still too early in the night to dump her problems on a stranger, but she was Gwen’s friend, so...
“My story is that I got involved with a guy a few years back that I should’ve known better than to get involved with, thought we maybe had something sort of good going, and then he up and disappeared with no warning. Not even a goodbye. Then I get here, and he’s everywhere. Being charming and handsome but also a giant asshole.” Laura looked at Gwen, leaning over farther to be heard over the music. “And it was supposed to get easier, but he’s always there! I can’t even pick up the damn paper!” She paused, taking another drink, then thinking of something and making a little noise as she swallowed. “And did I tell you? His fiancee came into the shop. And she seemed really nice and was kind of into wasting his money, so... I may have agreed to do the arrangements for his stupid wedding. ...Ugh, it’s so fucked up.”
Gwen had been taking a sip of her margarita, unsurprised and more pleased that the drink was packing a punch. It seemed like she was in need of it too, as Laura’s story kept getting worse and worse with every passing second. The bit about the fiancée was new and gaped at her friend over the salt rim of her glass. “Wait a minute, you’re going to do the Monarch wedding?” For once she was glad the music was loud and able to drown out much of the volume so only the women beside her. Fucked up was right. “Are you going to charge him a small fortune at least?”
Max was late to this party and already on her Corona chaser, and it took her a second to try to run through potential charming, handsome, engaged assholes in Seattle. Fortunately, Gwen filled in the name before she had to concentrate too hard, and she scoffed over the top of her drink. “That one’s bad fucking news,” she said. “He fucked my kid sister on a bathroom counter and let the press take pictures.” She sounded angry, and maybe she should have thought before actually saying that. She gave Laura an apologetic look that involved a shrug of shoulders, and she took another sip of the beer. “To be fair, the bastard gave her a job when Brandon fired her.” Yep, they definitely were going to need more drinks.
Laura couldn't help the tiny smile at Gwen's question. "Oh yeah. His fiancée seems pretty into the thought of spending as much of his cash as she can, so I think we're going to go all-out with the flowers. Something that she'll like." Her expression darkened again at Max's input, and the thumped her head down onto their little table. "I swear he didn't used to seem that bad." Most of the statement was mumbled directly to the tabletop before she lifted her head again. "I mean, self-centered and everything, but I swear I thought he had some good qualities. But I keep hearing more shit like that and... ugh!" She gestured vaguely with her hand that wasn't holding the drink, and scowled as she took another sip.
Gwen quietly drank more of her margarita, shaking her head at the picture they painted of the man. She really didn’t know the man and would’ve forgiven most of his shortcomings if they were discussing his time as Arrow, or if he hadn’t done her oldest friend wrong. She sighed and set down her empty margarita glass to go for another drink. “We need to get you someone new. Someone to take your mind off him.” She looked at Max hopefully. “Do we know anyone?” Even through the warm haze, her mind was already telling her probably not but she could ask. Maybe it was the alcohol impairing her thoughts and the options were more endless than she could think of currently.
Max was already done with her Corona, and she was waving down the server for a fresh margarita. Probably not was probably the right answer, but she knew the value of jealousy as much as any woman. Hell, if she hadn’t taken Darman to Thomas’ Thanksgiving dinner she wouldn’t be where she was today - which was a double edged sword sometimes, but she wouldn’t trade it for the fucking world, as much as she complained. “Maybe just enough to get the bastard jealous,” she suggested. “Corvus?” she asked, with a quirk of her brow to Gwen or, yeah, maybe not. “Arakkis? If you don’t mind people taking him hostage?” It had been a hard day for hostages. Preston wasn’t an option, for obvious reasons. “I just fucking realized most of the men I know aren’t old enough to drink.”
Laura groaned and slouched against her barstool. “God, I don’t even want to think about finding someone new. I have such bad luck.” She listened to the list of other options and shook her head, laughing in disbelief. “No, no! No hostages and no children. I managed to go on a few dates back in DC, and if something comes up here, that’s great. Otherwise I’ll just focus on the shop and things like I usually do.” During their talking, she’d finished off her margarita and started in on the Corona, but was quickly considering a glass of water and then something stronger. And maybe some dancing. That was always good to take her mind off things.
“Corvus is nice,” Gwen agreed. She also felt odd saying that, considering what was between them and what was between him and Max. But still he was a stand up guy, much more than Orin Monarch it sounded like. She shrugged at Arakkis, having no experience with the man other than his work and his hostage situations, and laughed with Max because really, the same could be said about her. “Maybe we need to find someone out of our circle,” she replied, looking past the waitress who had come by – “Another margarita for me, please” – and to the people around them. She couldn’t exactly see if there was anyone good enough for her Laura in the crowd, though she quickly stopped once she saw people were taking her looking as a sign of interest.
“We need more drinks,” Gwen sighed.
Round two
They really did make the fucking margaritas strong in this place, and by the time they were done with the second round, inhibitions were a thing of the past.
So was the hightop table.
The girls were in the center of the dance floor, surrounded by the drooling men from the bar, and no one was thinking about what they were saying anymore, not beyond smacking away hands that wandered where they shouldn’t.
“And another thing,” Max was yelling over the beat, beat, beat of the dance music, “I thought having a kid was supposed to kill your fucking sex drive, not amp it up to the fucking ceiling.” She looked at Laura. “Have you thought of fucking this guy again? Monarch? Show him what he’s missing?” she asked. “Gwen has some sexy underwear she probably hasn’t worn yet!” And, yes, there was a question in the quirk of her brow that accompanied that.
Laura collapsed into giggles against Max’s side, shouting in return. “Are you kidding? Have you seen the man? Of course I’ve thought about fucking him again. Have I ever!” She giggled some more and switched her focus to Gwen. “Wait. Since when do you buy sexy undies?”
Gwen rolled her eyes though she felt her cheeks go hot at the question. “I have sexy undies because Max made me. Not because someone wanted to check out my under-things.” The words came out in a disappointed huff, like she was more upset that someone hadn’t been interested in her outfit. “‘Sides, you don’t need underwear miss tall, blonde and gorgeous. You could just show up and, if you didn’t beat him senseless at the sight of him, have him wrapped around your finger.”
Round three
“I’m guessing you’d leave the mask on?” Gwen relaxed completely against the back of their booth, and contemplated the question once more. Her answer made her squint in the darkness, as if scrunching her face inward would help her come to a better conclusion. Though she was careful not to talk about it in great detail, drunken conversations about attractive masked heroes happened all over Seattle on any given night. No one would think anything of it.
“I mean you’d have to peel some of the costume off but I dunno. We could leave the mask on.” Gwen paused for a moment and then broke off into a loud laugh, as if her the mental image was just that interesting, and then took a long sip of her drink.
Max considered herself a fucking expert on the subject, thank you very much, and she was so drunk she thought maybe the room was spinning, or maybe it was just her, whatever.
“Masked sex is much hotter than costume sex,” Max said, pointing the nearly finished remains of her drink at the girls. “I mean, those things come with fucking buckles and neoprene underneath and kevlar is cold and hard and heavy, let me fucking tell you.” She had two seconds of lucidity, during which she glanced over at Laura and explained, “military,” before going on. “But just the mask, against the fucking wall, that’s the way to fucking do it. Extra points for somewhere public, like an alley.” She laughed too loudly, leaning her head back. “That is so not happening in my fucking life, let me tell you.”
“Mm, against the wall.” Laura sighed before she started to giggle. “I wish I knew a Mask. It might be better than the shit I’ve had to deal with.”
Round four
Laura was leaning up against Gwen’s side, trying to figure out the phone she’d pulled out of Gwen’s pocket. She was actually having better luck than if she’d been sober, somehow managing to thumb through the giant list of contacts that she’d found.
“Gwen. Gwennie. You know so many people... Why d’you know so many people...?” She squinted at the display and tried to read the names off, frowning. “These names don’t ev’n make sense.” She squinted more, scrolling through, and then started giggling. “We sh’ld call someone! Or text. We sh’ld! It’ll be great!”
Max grabbed the phone from Laura’s hand with a laugh that was trouble. “Best ‘f’ng idea ‘ver.” Drunken, badly typing trouble. She found Roger’s name first, and she texted him, laughing so hard she could barely get the letters out before following it up with more texts to people in Gwen’s address book. She grinned and she almost dropped the phone as she handed it back to her friend.
Gwen had been giggling hysterically, trying to convince Max to knock it off between her laughs. Her friend’s grin should have been a bad sign but she was having too much fun. “What’re you doing, what’re you doing!” She tried to keep her voice from rising in pitch but once Max tossed her phone back to her, she couldn’t help but screech of shock.