While I didn’t want to blare it from the roof tops, like Elizabeth, I was excited that Nick had asked us to go to the party with him. Granted, we were his second choice since his nastified girlfriend decided to dump him for one of the French exchange students, but I was excited nonetheless. 

“Tonight is going to be different, it will be the first night to the new Elizabeth and Zooey, the first night of us living the lives we were suppose to and not the lives that we do,” I state as confident as I can manage while wearing a dress that feels like it is a size too small. 

“I agree. I mean, so what if I am slightly nerdish, and so what if the entire campus thinks you are some sort of Mother Theresa tease, we are mature, engaging women and it is time that the male population saw us as such,” Elizabeth replies back, sounding more confident that I do, I think it is because while she conned me into buying this nothing of a dress, she is wearing something practical, nice black pants with a sequin tank top. I on the other hand am wearing a barely there black dress with a bright pink belt. I don’t know why I let her talk me into buying the stupid thing. It’s not like I look all that good in it or anything. This is the type of thing that Nick’s ex would wear, not me, which may be in part why I let Elizabeth talk me into buying it. I would be lying if I didn’t say I thought Nick was gorgeous. He is the type of gorgeous that is seems so unattainable, it actually becomes attainable, if you know what I mean. If you look at the man to long, your eyes start to hurt from looking at it all. Elizabeth is slightly more vocal in her appreciation of him, but I totally agree with everything she ever says about him.

“Some sort of Mother Theresa tease? Really?”

“What? Marcus is always saying something or other about you and since you never care to answer any questions about the situation, I had to make my own opinion on one sided facts. And those one sided facts say you are a Mother Theresa in disguise. One of the worse kinds of teases from what I hear because you don’t know it until they hit you in the face,” Elizabeth explains. I know that she is only saying the truth, since I refuse to explain myself to her and to anyone. I want to forget that part of my life, and the only way I will ever be able to do that is to stop talking about it.

“Well, those one sided facts are wrong and I thought you would understand why I don’t feel the need to explain myself. It happened a long time ago and I just want to move on from it.” Sometimes I feel like Elizabeth is only my friend because I am worse off then her, and sometimes I feel like I am only her friend because she was one of the few people who weren’t around at the time the whole Marcus fiasco happened.

“I know Zooey, and I’m sorry. I just can’t help but feel left out on something that I feel as one of your closets friends I should know about. Whenever Marcus comes near you there is this change in the air, it is palpable. The contempt you each have for the other. But forget it. I didn’t even bring it up. Tonight is not about that, it is about the future. Right?”

“Right. Let’s go, our future awaits.” At that, Elizabeth and I linked arms, grabbed a cab, and headed towards our destiny.

By the time we arrived at the club, the party had already started. So as not to look to desperate or stand out too much we decided to hit the bar before surveying the club for Nick. 

“I’ll have a rum and coke,” as the bartender goes to make my drink I turn to speak to Elizabeth when I see a guy has taken her place next to me.

“Hey, are you a friend of Alex’s?” The guy asks me. No opening line, just wanting to know if I am a friend of Alex’s.

“No, I’m a friend of Nick’s. He invited me and my friend here tonight to hang out outside of class.” I know it’s not smart to give a guy too much information when you first meet, but I figure I can always have my knight in shining armor rescue should he get to creepy. 

“That’s cool. I didn’t take you for a friend of Alex’s, he tends to go for a different sort of person. Nick, I can see that,” he replies.

“What do you mean by that?” You can’t just say something like that to someone and not have to explain yourself.

“I just mean, Alex goes for the darker types. The pale faced, black hair, red lips type. Nick goes for the beachy looking girls with nice bodies and an even better sense of style. You know, the supermodel type.” 

I can’t help it, I laughed out loud at that. Here I tried so hard to be that type of girl and all it took was this one dress and a little bit of makeup, and maybe a rum and coke. 

“You think I’m the supermodel type? Really?” I can’t help it, I’m totally blushing. I know this guy is just trying to get in my panties and I know that I will never fall for it, but it is nice to be complimented, no matter what the reason.

“Whose your friend Brodie?” Nick asks as he walks up from behind me. As I turn around and face Nick, his mouth drops open and he just stares.

“Oh my God, Zooey, you look, I mean, you always look, but my God, I never knew, you look, damn,” Nick continues to stammer out his compliment while both his friend Brodie and I look on trying not to laugh.

“Thanks Nick, Elizabeth suggested I buy the dress. Since we are breaking with tradition, we might as well reinvent ourselves in the process.”

“Zooey? That’s an interesting name, is it a family name?” Brodie asks, like he legitimately wants to know.

“No, my mom is a bit weird and she felt like I need an unusual name that will make me stand out without ever saying a word.”

“Well, she obviously didn’t know how smokin’ you would be. You don’t need an unusual name to stand out, just stand there,” Brodie says, while giving me that weird look guys give to girls they find appealing. Meanwhile, Nick is giving Brodie a weird look if his own, one that I can’t place.

“Thanks”, I reply while trying to keep the goofy grin off of my face. And at that, Nick turns his weird look onto me.

“Have you seen Elizabeth?” Nick asks, in a tone that I’m not sure that I like.

“Yea, we came together. I thought she was right behind me, but after I ordered my drink she must have wondered off on her own.”

“Way to not sound concerned Zooey, she could be off doing God knows what with God knows who. Don’t you think you should sound slightly more concerned? Shouldn’t we go look for her?” Nick asks, in a tone I know for sure that I don’t like.

“What the hell crawled up your butt? One minute you saddle on up here like you want to have a threesome with the unknown girl and your buddy here and then all of a sudden you find out it is me here and you get all judgmental? Elizabeth is a big girl Nick and she can take care of herself. But since I am obviously such a loser of a friend, I will go and try to find her to make you happy”, I sarcastically reply to his questioning, trying not to turn and stomp off like a two year old. 

“Whoa, I don’t think Nick meant it like that. Don’t be mad at him or anything, he’s just being Nick” Brodie says, trying to smooth things over. As he does so, he lays his hand on my arm to keep me in place.

“No, I meant it like it sounded. Come on, I’m not going to let you disappear without a trace”, and with that Nick grabs the same arm that Brodie was touching and proceeds to drag me through the club like a neanderthal on crack.

“I don’t want you talking to Brodie, he isn’t a good guy. He uses girls like you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I scream over the music since we are now close to a speaker. Where does he come off telling me who I can and can’t talk to. 

“Brodie. I saw the two of you. You were practically taking your panties off right there. He had you eating out of his hand in a matter of seconds. And I would put money on the fact that you didn’t know his name before I came up. He isn’t good for you.” Nick says to me, like he is speaking to a child who has been playing too close to a fire.

“You saw nothing, Nick. We were talking. And we had only been talking for a couple of seconds when you came up. Brodie is not getting into my panties, haven’t you heard the rumors? I’m the Mother Theresa Tease. You have to defend me against the likes of Marcus almost every day. What made you think that Brodie would give me a few compliments and I would go off and find some hallway to screw him? What’s the real bug up your butt because unless you deal with it rather quickly you can hang out by yourself tonight.” With that said, I finally do what I had been wanting to, stomp off.