At The Party

Audrey

“I’m in flat shoes,” I reminded her. Her shoes. She shouldn’t need reminding.

Annabelle shrugged. “Come on, get in,” she said, walking over to the van.

I stared at the door that she held open for me. I wanted to argue, but the words wouldn’t come. And anyway, I could tell that this was the kind of battle that I just wouldn’t win.

I slipped inside. When Clayton put it in drive, the van lurched, and I winced. It made a terrible sound as it drove through town, and I felt more and more embarrassed. Finally, we came to a sputtering stop outside the bar. People were definitely staring as Annabelle and I got out.

I cringed, but I was surprised to see that Annabelle didn’t seem to care about the attention. Instead, she smiled and chatted to a few people she knew, talking about how nice the evening was and how good it was to be done with winter finally.

We headed inside. Gabby’s was nicer than Finnegan’s, but it was still definitely a dive bar by anyone’s reckoning. You would never find