Company Of Friends

She kept laughing at his interruptive quips. They weren’t all especially funny and the other members of his Company of Friends thought they were annoying but she laughed it anyway. Maybe it was because she felt at ease with him and not as uptight as Amanda had described her last week when she introduced her to this new crowd.

‘This is my friend, Florence. She is single and uptight’ was plainly what Amanda said. To her that was what being an SU meant but Florence knew she wasn’t an SU, at least she didn’t dress like one. She just had principles about relationships and men and how to manage both, these principles had kept her dignity between her legs so far.

Yet it was the way Amanda had said it that night that piqued her. She didn’t want to seem like a turn off to the others. She wanted to prove to Amanda and to herself that she wasn’t a total SU. She decided that if she was going to get a fling, to prove that she could let loose if she wanted to and was only restrained by her self-made principles, she would go with the most appealing guy in the group. So when Henry played his cards she gave him full hearts.

Henry was comparatively more attractive than the other guys. She knew he was a play boy, but at least he was the good looking one. To her ‘the only thing worse than a heartbreaker playboy, is a heartbreaker playboy with a face that looks like badly fried boli and a lips that reminds me of my pink church shoe.’ He was tall and broad chested, he had a light skin that had already endured the negative effects of bleaching before he realized and maybe stopped. He had a well shaved goatee that graced his jaws and when he walked it was evident that one foot was longer than the other. His looks were what he had to offer nothing endeared her to him more.

This was their first real date. It was his brilliant idea of a ‘nice time out’. The flickering multicolored lights pinching her eyes, the loud pop music being torn and scratched by D.J whatsoever bore coarsely into her ears and the strong smell of booze and cigarettes reeking from every mouth around her made her nose wiggle. Even Henry, snugged up beside her with his arms around her tiny neck, had a cigarette in his other outstretched hand.

While she giggled and laughed she was trying to find a plausible excuse to leave. She didn’t live with her parents so it wouldn’t work to say she was needed at home and it was a Friday night so she wouldn’t be going to work tomorrow. Annoyance and disgust welled up inside her. Across the table, snugged between two guys was Amanda, she held a beer and cigar in either hand and laughed hysterically at something she herself had forgot to laugh at. She stared at her and wondered how someone so opposite to her could be her best friend.

There was so much laughing going on and by the time Florence could bring herself out of her thoughts, Henry’s eyes was all over her like an owl. Her heart skipped.

‘What’s the problem, Flo?’ he spoke as if something was in his mouth. She shook her head to indicate a ‘nothing’ because her voice was too tiny to even try shouting over the loud music. He took a drag of cigarette and thankfully blew in the other direction bringing only the aftermath to her face.

‘You’re looking tense’ he said. She gave a wry smile.

‘Do you want to go home?’ her eyes lit up at the offer, glad to know he was a bit empathic. She nodded.

He held her hand and led her through the sea of sweaty clubbers. From nowhere there were sporadic shouts of his accolades. He seemed a hot shot around here for reasons she wouldn’t bother to inquire. Finally, they were at the entrance, he hailed the buff bouncers and stepped out into the night with her.

There weren’t much people outside save the dark-corner lovers and ugly teenage boys pressing against even uglier prostitute-wanna-bes and those who weren’t allowed to enter the brothel. In one of the corners, someone was moaning.

“Thank you” she said, in her head she was already in the comfort of her sofa. She made to move but he pulled her back, his grip firm and tight. It shocked her.

He drew her close, pressing her into himself that she could smell his cigarette breath and feel the sturdiness of is chest. There was a hunger in his eyes, his hands found it’s way round her back and hers round his neck.

‘I thought you’ll stay through the night’ he said

‘What? In there? No I can’t’

‘how about we go somewhere a bit more private?’ Anywhere away from theses stragglers.

They went down the side of the building, through the row of doors, to a room with nothing but a bed and a drawer. As soon as they were in, he swooped her off her feet and unto the bed, they laughed loudly. She was managing, desperately, to shed her insecurity.

‘Maybe just for the night’ she told herself. If she is going to loosen up again, it would be for the better man and Henry didn’t look so bad after all.

‘I’ll be right back’ so he stood up and left. It was certain he was going to get a condom. He would return and hide it till he manages to rid her of her clothes. She knew guys enjoyed that game but she wouldn’t give him that chance. She gets up and making sure the curtain is closed, takes off her top to reveal her proud round cleavages tucked in her favorite black foam bra, she was glad she had worn it. She lays on the bed waiting.

The door opens and three men walk in, not one of them is Henry. She struggles to cover herself but they pounce on her. They muzzle her mouth, they rip off her bra without undoing the latch, they yank off whatever cloth was left on her and one after the other they go into her. It was strange how she managed to keep time but for the two hours they tore her in pieces, Henry didn’t come back.