Pretty Girls Don't Cry (3 page)

“I love your earrings,” Kylie said, admiring the shimmering silver coins.

With the two of them chatting away, Nora excused herself to go to the ladies' room.

Within the safety of a stall, she checked on her prosthetic foot. She had adjusted the foot for wear with her high-heeled boots. Everything still worked, but was just different enough to make her nervous.

As she was opening the stall door, she was surprised to see a pregnant woman—Sue Harding from the ad agency—enter the washroom. Nora backed up, closed the door and took a seat. After the way her interview had gone, Sue was the last person Nora wanted to see tonight.

Sue used the stall next to Nora's, then took her sweet time washing her hands.
What was a pregnant woman doing in a club anyway?
Then Nora remembered: the nightclub was one of their mutual clients. She was likely there on business.

Another woman came in, and by the sound of it, she was crying over some heartbreak. Nora watched through the crack in the stall and listened as Sue showed patience for the stranger, patting away her tears and telling her to get some sleep before she did anything rash. “Pretty girls don't cry,” Sue said, and the girl let out a congested-sounding laugh in response.

The girl thanked her and said she'd go straight home. Sue offered to share a cab ride home, since she was leaving as well.

Good riddance
, Nora thought as Sue and the other pretty girl left the washroom. She waited another minute, sulking, then, worried her friends might send a search party, she emerged and found them at a table, still talking about hot yoga versus regular yoga.

Drinks were ordered, downed and re-ordered, downed and re-ordered again, amidst more talk of yoga and jewelry and celebrity gossip.

Someone tapped Nora on the shoulder, but she didn't turn her head. “Well, hello again,” said a man with an English accent.

The drinks had slowed her reflexes and voice recognition.

“Nora, it's me, Bobby Douglas, from Pepper and Weiss, the ad agency.” Nora turned to find the brand-new face attached to the familiar voice.

“Bobby!” she shouted. The drinks had gone to her head quickly, and she was enjoying the feeling of things spinning out of control.

Tianne attempted to introduce herself to Bobby, but Nora cut her off.

“Bobby!” Nora shouted again. “You ... what's the word ... wanker? Is that right? You wanker.” She slapped him on the chest, and he staggered back, bemused. She continued, demanding, “What was the deal today? Did that woman have me in for chaff? Was I the
chaff
being interviewed to pave the way for someone internally getting promoted, or what?”

“Hold your horses, there, I thought it went rather well,” Bobby said, sheepishly smoothing down his red hair.

“Stop yanking my dick,” Nora said, even louder than the music.

Tianne stood from her chair and pushed her shoulders back, all five feet and five inches of fiercely protective mama bear/yoga instructor. “Is there a problem?” she asked Nora. “I'll get the bouncer.”

“Nuh-uh,” Nora said, grabbing a stool from a nearby table and pulling it up next to her own. “Sit,” she commanded. Now the drinks were in control, and she was just there for the ride. “Bobby, you've got some espl .. sple .. 'splaining to do. Why you throw Nora under the bus? You like your afternoons with Nora.”

Bobby grinned and took the seat, clearly amused by Nora referring to herself in the third person. “I do like my afternoons with Nora,” he said.

Tianne sat again and watched Bobby as everyone made introductions, without Nora's assistance.

Nora laid her head down on one arm on the table, not caring that the surface was sticky from their sugary drinks. In her bravado, she'd made her last drink a double, whereas Tianne had ordered a Diet Coke.

“I went for a hike after work, then showered and came here,” Bobby said. “I've had nothing but Guinness for dinner.”

“You talk funny,” Nora said, reaching out to pinch Bobby on the cheek. “Baby cheeks. Bobby baby cheeks.”

Tianne stood again, grabbed both of their purses, and Nora. “If you'll excuse us,” she said, dragging Nora away.

Nora stumbled slightly, and then, she remembered her foot situation, which jarred her brain like a splash of cold water. “Shit, I'm a bit tippy. No, tipsy,” she said. “No, tippy. Like I could tip over. Tianne, don't let me tip over.”

They stopped by the bar, where Tianne ordered two waters and made Nora drink both. “Girl, we have to talk. I'm going home to a hot carpenter. The kids are at their grandma's, and he's been resting up all night for me. I know I'm having a good time after this, and I want you to, but not if it isn't right. Slow down on the drinking and I'll let Bobby drive you home.” She winked. “As in, not your home.”

“Bobby? Gross. No thank you. He hates me. I mean, come on. He's English.”

“You're a bit shiny, let's go to the powder room and I'll, you know, powder your nose.”

In the washroom, after a toilet detour, Nora sat on the counter as Tianne dug through her diaper-bag-sized purse.

“Tianne, your name sounds like a bell. Like, TING!”

Some other women came in and out of the washroom, leaving them a wide berth.

“I don't have your peachy-skin color, but I have something translucent that should work,” Tianne muttered.

“Moms are good,” Nora said. “They always have everything. Is it the purse? Is that a magical purse, like what Mary Poppins has? Do you have chimney sweepers in there?”

“You are a notoriously cheap drunk,” Tianne said, applying lipstick to Nora's lips.

“It's because I don't have a leg. Ten or so pounds, just gone.”

“Don't talk like that.” Tianne powdered Nora's nose, as promised.

The clouds in Nora's head parted, and she sat up straighter, taking deep breaths.

Some of the young girls—Stairs Girls, as Nora thought of them—came over to wash their hands at the sinks, caught up in their own conversation. Every second word was
like
. One said to her friend,“Do you, like, know how like my mother is, right? Like she's just all, like, grr, right? Like that.”

One of the reasons Nora had been put in the afternoon hosting chair so easily was her natural speaking style was already clear of stall words and other vocal junk. Because both of her parents were English teachers, she'd been lovingly brought up to speak in complete, grammatically-correct sentences.

Nora never understood that style of girlie-girl talking until her moment of clarity by the sink in Mars, the Social Club. The girl saying the word
like
with the highest frequency was obviously the one of lower social standing. The other girl—the hot one—was the alpha, and the
like
girl was playing dumb deliberately. It was the equivalent of dogs meeting at a dog park and the submissive one rolling on her back to show her belly.
Silly me, I'm harmless
, the girl seemed to be saying.

The girls left the washroom, the
like
one still talking.

Tianne had gotten out mascara and was applying it to Nora's upper eyelashes, over top of the brown mascara Nora had applied.

Nora said to Tianne, “I think I'm going to,
like
, get a nose job. Like, what do you think?”

“Tell me what you want me to think, and that's what I'll think,” Tianne said. She removed the dangling silver coin earrings from her ears, washed off the stems with soap in the bathroom sink, and handed them to Nora. “Try these, I think they'll bring out your eyes.”

“They'll get stuck in my crazy hair. No! You looked so pretty in them.” Even as she protested, Nora put on the earrings. The tinkling made her feel exotic.

“They do bring out your eyes,” Tianne said.

“You really think Bobby's cute?”

“I'm married. Do
you
think Bobby's cute?”

“He could be taller, but he's not hideous,” Nora ceded.

“Do you want him to drive you home? If things get strange, do you have cab fare?”

“Yes and yes.”

Tianne grinned. “You dirty girl.”

“Shh, don't jinx it!”

When they came out of the washroom, they found strangers at their former table, and Kylie and Bobby together on the dance floor. Kylie danced within her own bubble of grace, and Bobby danced with less grace but more enthusiasm, pumping his arms, his pale cheeks flushed.

“Too late,” Nora said to Tianne, practically yelling to be heard over the music. “Kylie's got Bobby now. Just like high school, only back then it was you who got all the cute boys.”

Tianne raised her eyebrows. “We know how that turned out.”

“You have a good life,” Nora said.

Tianne smiled.

A man who looked big enough to be a bouncer waved them over to join him and a friend at their table.

“Sure,” Nora said, leading the way to the guys' table. “We can make new friends.”

As they got seated, Tianne adjusted her hair across her forehead with her left hand, displaying her wedding ring, but the guys didn't show any disappointment. “I like your earrings,” said the big guy to Nora.

“Can we buy you two some drinks?” asked the other.

“Just one,” Tianne said.

“One each!” Nora said.

One drink led to two, which gave Nora the courage to get on the dance floor. Kylie hugged her and handed her off to Bobby, who nodded and kept dancing. Nora danced with Bobby, feeling increasingly embarrassed about declaring plans to go home with him. He had a good body, and nice hands. He said he'd been hiking, which made sense, because he looked fit and outdoorsy. She could go for someone outdoorsy.

After the song transitioned to another, the other guys joined them on the dance floor, as well as Tianne and Kylie, holding a bottle of beer while dancing. They took turns trading partners and dancing, Nora with her back to the Stairs Girls, who had abandoned their stilettos and were dancing barefoot.

By the time last call came around, Nora was in Bobby's arms, slow dancing. She suspected he was keeping a hopeful eye on Kylie, but as soon as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck for the dance, everybody else disappeared.

She could tell by the way he leaned into her and then pulled back that he was thinking of more than dancing.

“I'm really sorry the interview didn't go well,” he said into her ear. “I really did want to spend my afternoons with Nora.”

“I thought you were much older,” she said.

“Well, I'm not. What are you going to do about it?”

Nora shrugged, then moved in closer and rested her cheek on his shoulder. Her corkscrew curls were, as predicted, tangled up in the silver earrings, but she didn't care. She wished the song would never end, and it wasn't even a song she liked.

*

After the music ended, Nora wanted to leave immediately. She felt sparkly in her borrowed earrings and curve-hugging jeans. Bobby's arm, wrapped casually around her waist, had awoken her desire.

The way Bobby was so casual with this friendly contact—it felt better than good; it felt like he'd gently staked her out as his own.

“I guess it is late,” Kylie said.

Tianne was already texting her husband, arranging which entrance he'd be picking her up at. She'd invited him to join them, but he much preferred a quiet night with his computer, and even moreso if he knew his wife was letting off some steam and enjoying herself. Nora hoped one day she'd have a stable, secure relationship like theirs, but with lots of time to enjoy it before considering kids, unlike Tianne, who'd been pregnant at their high school graduation.

The two other men they'd been dancing with gave their phone numbers to Kylie. “I'll be sure and let you know about those extra concert tickets,” she said.

After they left, Tianne gave her a high-five. “If I'm ever single, and I hope I'm not, you're my wing-girl.”

Kylie doubled over, laughing. “They were so gay! Tianne, you've been married too long.”

Tianne said, “They were awfully cute for straight guys. No offense, there, Bobby.”

“None taken, I think,” he said, grinning.

Nora sensed the bar's ugly lights would be coming on any second—the place had shifted in energy, so she grabbed Bobby's hand and tugged him toward the door. The others followed.

Once outside, Bobby said, with his cute English accent, “Someone's eager to go home.”

Nora gave him a sidelong look, trying to communicate that she was eager, indeed, but not for
her
home.

Kylie flagged a taxi, which pulled up along the curb, followed by Tianne's husband in their mini-van. Nora could catch a ride with either of them.

“It's been fun,” she said to Bobby.

“I have my car, do you want a lift to your flat? I haven't been drinking, in case you're worried,” Bobby said.

Kylie hopped in the taxi and closed the door behind her. Tianne was already in her mini-van, kissing her husband.

“Well, I do need a lift, but I don't have
a flat
,” she said. “I live in a regular house.”

“That'll do,” he said, offering his elbow.

*

On the drive to her house, they talked about her disappointing interview at the ad agency. After she'd left, he'd asked around and deduced that Sue Harding had, indeed, wanted to hire someone she knew from college, and Nora probably had been interviewed to make the process appear more above board.

“I did put in an exceedingly good word for you,” Bobby said.

“What was that word?” Nora asked flirtatiously as the vehicle stopped in front of her house.

“Fascinating,” he said, reaching his hand slowly to the side of her face. “Your hair is all tangled up in your earrings, poor thing. But you are still fascinating.”

He gently untangled one earring from her curls, and then the other. “All better,” he said, then he leaned in to kiss her.

When his lips touched hers, she held her breath and savored his closeness. Her hands found his leg, where they rested timidly before moving up to his shoulders. He used one hand to touch her hair as they kissed, careful to run his fingers along the surface of the tight ringlets rather than get caught in them.

When they paused for a moment, she said, “You know your way around curly hair.”