Comparing the previous party that Dani attended at the Capitol to this current one was like comparing, to borrow a complete cliché, apples and oranges. Far from being a stuffy affair, filled with pretentious attendees more interested in showing off their extravagant, out-of-place finery than in anything else, this was more like a gathering of friends who just wanted a chance to unwind for a little while. Or, if not friends, at least a gathering of acquaintances. Coworkers? Dani wasn’t sure how all the people at the party fit together, but the fact that she didn’t really know anyone other than Nina didn’t even seem to matter.
And where was Nina? Setting down her empty glass, Dani turned on her heel to survey the room. It took her a moment to find her friend, considering she was looking at about eye level and Nina was sitting down much lower than that, in the kiddie pool. Crossing the space -- with just the slightest sway in her walk -- Dani carefully lowered herself to one knee next to the pool. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice was complaining about the fact that most of the city had no access to potable water, and here they were playing in a small bathtub’s worth of the stuff, but Dani firmly told the little voice to shut up. Demi had told her to take the night off, and so she was. That meant no listening to the little voice, no matter how right it was.
“You look comfortable, somehow,” she said, tilting her head as she offered Nina a smile. “Not that -- I just mean that I can’t imagine how you can be. Isn’t the water cold?”
"It's actually quite refreshing." Nina tilted her head up and to one side, studying Dani with a look of intense concentration -- the expression of someone trying valiantly to seem sober. She was far from it, though, if the change in her cadence and accent was anything to go by. Of course, the fact that she was sitting in a kiddie pool without her bottoms, too, was another excellent indicator.
"You should come on in here and join me," she added. Her arms were resting on the side of the inflatable pool; if she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend for a second that she was out in the Austin sun, out on their backyard, and everything was normal again. Instead of leaving her with a bittersweet sadness, the nostalgia felt good that evening. "When's the next time you'll be able to do something like this?"
“Funny, I’m pretty sure Demi would say the exact same thing if she were here.” Dani rose to her feet again, looking down at her pencil skirt and trying to determine if she could wriggle out of it with anything approaching dignity. And whether she cared if she couldn’t. It occurred to her that if Demi had been present, odds were she would have already been sitting in the pool beside Nina, and to hell with what anyone else thought.
"Oh, I know for a fact that's what she'd say. I've practically been hearing her voice in my head this whole night." There was a fond smile on Nina's face, bigger than those she usually wore.
Deciding to take Demi as her inspiration -- it seemed to make sense to her fuzzy logic -- Dani simply went for it. A few inches of side zipper undone, a quick step out of her heels as the skirt dropped to the floor -- Nina averted her eyes a couple of seconds too late -- and she was climbing into the water.
It was kind of a rush to do something so out of character. Then again, maybe that was the liquor in her last drink going to her head.