“What?” Bryce’s brows knitted together.
“Just…” Thea shook her head to free herself from her Bryce-induced daze. “Nothing. I just like it when you let your hair down. Literally and figuratively.”
Bryce’s lips parted as though to reply, but something beyond Thea snagged her attention away. She pointed with little subtlety to the same direction Mikey had just disappeared to. “Isn’t that Mikey’s girl?”
Turning, Thea scoured the sea of bobbing heads, having to rise to her tiptoes to get a good look. But yes, there she was, a striking, dark-haired woman with smokey eyes and a ruffled black shirt sipped on a murky espresso martini and chatted with a group of friends. “That’s her. Come on.”
She grabbed Bryce by the hand and weaved through the bar, bones rattling in time to the tune of ‘Monster Mash’, which boomed louder in this corner of the room. Thea was so focused on not losing sight of Hannah that she toppled headfirst into another tall, disgustingly damp human frame.
“Oof!” Bryce puffed behind her as she knocked into Thea. And then: “Did you falldownthe toilet, Mikey?”
When Thea adjusted to the mottled gray haze of the fog machine, she realized that the person she’d bumped into was, thankfully, Mikey, and hedidlook as though he’d taken a detour somewhere wet. The neckline of his shirt was ringed with a darker splotch, and two identical patches bled beneath his armpits.
“You made me all paranoid so I tried to wash off my cologne.”
“You…” There were simply no words Thea could find in response. She glanced down and found a crumpled sheet of tissue stuck to his boot. “There’s toilet paper on your shoe. Come here.”
She stepped on the tissue with the toe of her white Converse, and Mikey swore as he freed himself from the soggy, unwelcome hanger-on. “Jesus. Why am I like this? What was I thinking? I can’t talk to her.”
“You’re a twenty-five-year-old man, Mikey,” said Bryce, brushing past Thea to reach him. “I’m absolutely certain you can talk to other humans. You talk tousall the time.”
“Right.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “And you’re way scarier.”
“Hey!” argued Thea.“Sheis.I’mnot. Anyway, she’s right there.” She attempted to gesture casually to Hannah’s table, where a raucous amount of laughter echoed over the music.
“Oh, no.” Mikey clawed at his collar, a sheen of sweat beginning to stick to his forehead. “This was a mistake. I can’t just go up there and talk to her. You’re brave, Bryce. You do it for me.”
“IfIdo it for you,I’llbe the one taking her on a date,” Bryce deadpanned, and Thea couldn’t help but cast her a troubled scowl. “What?! She’s hot!”
Hannahwashot in an intimidating, witchy, Nineties,The Craftsort of way, but she was hoping Bryce hadn’t noticed that, or at least hoped she wouldn’t say so in front of Thea for the sake of Thea’s self-esteem.
Thea rolled her eyes and linked her arm through Mikey’s. “All right. Time to fulfill my wingwoman duties.”
“Wait, what?” Mikey tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but Thea’s grip remained tight as iron shackles. She refused to let him bow out now. She pulled him towards the group with a wide, friendly grin, slotting herself in between a woman in the middle of taming her curly bangs and a man with a buzzcut at the table.
“Hey, guys. This is our first time here and the drinks look a little,” she shuddered, “icky. Any recommendations?”
“Oh, you should totally try the Franken-lime,” a red-haired woman beside Hannah suggested. Hannah looked too interested in mixing her own murky drink to notice their presence at all, and Thea narrowed her eyes determinedly. She stepped on Mikey’s foot to urge him to speak, and Mikey cried out a mangled show of surprise-turned-pain.
“Ow!”
Hopeless. He was hopeless. Thea searched for Bryce’s assistance, but her best friend was nowhere in sight, and another exclamation from the table distracted her from looking more thoroughly.
“Hey!” It came from the broad man with the blond buzzcut beside her. He was looking up at her, the corner of his eyebrow puckered with a silver stud. “Aren’t you that podcaster?”
Everyone’s attention fell to them then, including Hannah’s, though with her chin in her palm, she still seemed bored.
“Yeah, you are!” the guy continued. “You hostPerfect Crimes!”
The fact that anyone recognized Thea and her podcast stunned her into silence for a moment. He must’ve followed their social media to know what she looked like at all, or else be skilled at identifying someone just by their voice. “You listen to us?”
“Every week. Oh, man, I love that show. I was telling you guys about it, remember?”
They all nodded, exploding into muffled whispers of excitement.
“Well…” Thea’s gaze shifted back to Hannah, who had perked up slightly. She patted Mikey on the back, thrusting him forward in the process.“Thisguy does all the important stuff for us. He’s our producer.”
“It’s good to meet you, dude. I’m Jace.” The man extended his hand, and Mikey shook it timidly, a splodge of pink blossoming across either cheek. “Come sit with us. Have a drink.”