Which they seemed to be doing. Kaitlyn stayed back in the bathroom to drink with her as she finished getting ready. I couldn’t hear all of the conversation, but I did hear her coo about how sweet she was to bring wine. She was right; it was a nice touch.
“Are you almost ready, Abby? We’re going to be late,” I called out to her about five minutes later, getting bored in the living room by myself but still not wanting to interrupt.
“Done right… now! Okay, let’s go!” she said.
They had both finished their wine by the time they walked out, and we all headed to my car, Kaitlyn sitting shotgun. It felt a little awkward, because that was where Abby would usually be, but she didn’t seem to mind.
We all made small talk on our way to the bar. Abby filled Kaitlyn in on some of her friends, and then they talked about Abby’s job for a little while. I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to their conversation flowing so freely. Not that I had any reason to suspect they wouldn't get along, but it would have really, really sucked if they didn’t.
We arrived at the King’s Tooth, and there was already a little table set up for Alexa’s birthday. Alexa wasn’t there yet, but there were about ten people sitting around it, and they already all had glasses of beer in their hands. There were a few pitchers on the table next to a white and blue cake that had ‘Happy Birthday Alexa’ written in cursive.
“Hey!” Abby waved at everyone as she came up to the table. “You guys remember my roommate, Emily?”
I got some smiles and a few hellos as I sat down at the table with Kaitlyn by my side.
“Hey, everyone,” I said sheepishly as I sat down, Kaitlyn pulling up a chair next to me. “This is my girlfriend, Kaitlyn.”
“Hello!” she said eagerly. “Nice to meet you all.” She reached out to shake a few of the hands nearest to her.
I caught a few people’s glances, and the smiles they got on their faces when looking between Kaitlyn and me. Yep, that’s right, I thought to myself. She’s goddamn cute, and she’s all mine.
Naturally, Kaitlyn slid right into the conversation. I wasn't even paying attention to what everyone was talking about; I was totally zoned out.
It was a weird feeling, not like any I’d experienced before. I usually felt so awkward at events like this, but right now, I just felt completely at peace. Like everything in my life was falling into place, and it was right where it should be. I was completely at home in this moment.
I was jolted from the moment when everyone started squealing and shouting ‘happy birthday!’ I turned around to see Alexa had walked into the bar.
“Oh my god, you guys, this is so sweet!” she hollered as she walked over. “Look at this adorable cake! Oh my god, you totally didn’t have to do this!”
She started doling out hugs and cheek kisses, and I said a quick hello then sat back down as the commotion commenced.
“Hey, Emily, you and your girlfriend can go grab glasses from the bar. They need to ID you, but then you can grab some beer,” a girl named Randi said to me. She was one of Abby’s closest friends, so I knew her better than most in the group.
“Right, perfect, thanks.” I nodded to her and looked at Kaitlyn before motioning with my hand that we head to the bar.
I wasn’t going to get drunk tonight, but I could have at least a beer and hope it’d work as a social lubricant.
We both showed our IDs and made our way back to the table, frosty glasses in hand. Kaitlyn poured my beer first and then one for herself. I barely had the glass to my lips when I heard a rather annoying voice pop up.
“So, Kaitlyn, is it?” Brianne said.
Ugh, I really was not a fan of Brianne. She was one of the few snobby art majors with whom Abby was friends.
Even Abby didn’t really like her most of the time, actually. She was part of the group, but she and Abby weren’t close.
She wasn’t too bad most of the time, which was how she was able to maintain a place in the group. But if you got her started on anything musical, she’d be a total snob. She was a music major, played the violin, and wanted to get into the fine arts side of music.
Though, actually, hopefully that meant if music did come up, then she and Kaitlyn would have something to talk about, and she wouldn’t be able to turn into a total snob. Whenever one of us non-music majors talked about liking a song that came on, she had to comment on what was wrong with it and how we would ‘get it’ if we had a background in music. But Kaitlyn actually did! And she was damn good at it, too.
“Yeah, and what’s your name?” Kaitlyn responded, and I felt bad I couldn’t warn her about Brianne’s behavior.
“I’m Brianne. Nice to meet you. Are you a student at Beasley?” she asked.
“Oh, no,” Kaitlyn said casually. “I actually haven’t been a university student anywhere, don’t have my degree.”
“Oh,” she said slowly. “So what is it you do for a living?”
“I’m a street performer. At least, for the time being. I hope to soon start teaching music lessons in town to make my income a little more steady and secure.”