SERENDIPITY

Chapter 2

LAYLA

I met Ivy while we were in high school. She was walking down the corridor while I was running after some bunch of girls who were about to break the new paint brushes my mom got for me. As I was running after them, she put out her leg and one of the girls who had the paintbrushes tripped, and the paintbrushes clattered on the floor. The girl, who fell, I can’t remember her name, stood up and said she was going to the principal’s office to file a report on the incident. Ivy whispered some words I couldn’t quite pick up into the girl’s ears, but I saw clear as day as shivers ran down her spine. Till date, I still don’t have any idea what Ivy said to her that made her terrified.

‘Hi, I am Ivy Anderson’ she said excitedly, stretching forth her right hand for a handshake.

‘Hello, I… am Layla Green’ I said, still unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Since then, we have been best friends.

There was one time at university whereby Ivy came home sulking at me because her boyfriend at the time broke things off with her. She was really devastated to the point she couldn’t attend classes. Apparently, we had just concluded our exams, and according to her, the guy told her she was too controlling. I accept Ivy as a person that can be too much to bear at times, but she’s one of the sweetest people in my life. Ivy has always been my ride or die.

I hardly make friends, so it came as a shock to me how I quickly became friends with Ivy. Maybe due to the reason that she is a lively person, always up and about, uhhh… I'd say she’s a social butterfly, isn’t that what people like her are referred to as?

Unlike me, I am so uptight, wanting to maintain the same circle of friends I have, not that there’s a circle or anything, I would say it’s just a straight line. While Ivy is the ‘social butterfly’, I’d say I am more of a wallflower.

My first club experience was with Ivy. She asked me to loosen up a bit, and pleaded with me to accompany her to the club all because one of her numerous crushes at the time was going to be there that night. We got there a little late, due to my tardiness. It took me ‘a hundred years’ to choose what to wear. I tend to be indecisive most times. I settled for a long-sleeved patterned crotchet top paired with a mini leather skirt. There was a long queue at the club’s entrance. Ivy opted that we pass through the back door and nudged me forward. I made a quick turn to look at the name of the club because if anything were to happen, ‘Ecstasy’ was hung boldly at the top of the building.

The music was so loud, it felt as if my ears were going to burst. I was so nervous and had a lot of thoughts going through my head, it was like there was an ongoing war in there.

‘I can’t believe I came here. Why did I let Ivy drag me into this’, I thought.

‘What if I embarrassed myself as well as Ivy, I don’t even know how to dance.’ I thought.

As I was about to open the door, my hands trembled due to a surge of anxiety I felt rushing through my body. Lights flashed into my eyes as soon as the doors opened, the air was stuffy, I caught a whiff of loads of perfumes and cologne which tickled my senses, body odor and sweat lingered in the air, the aroma of stale cigarettes and alcohol was pungent.

We headed straight to the bar. Ivy flirted a little bit with the bartender before she turned to me and called out some weird names of drinks. I finally settled on one. I got the espresso martini because I love anything that has espresso in it, while Ivy got the Long Island iced tea. I swayed to the music for some time, then Ivy asked us to hit the dance floor, which I was reluctant to go to, because I am not much of a dancer. With lots of pleading and blackmailing, I said, which made her squeal. We could hardly hear ourselves over the loud music, but I definitely heard her high-pitched squeal.

As soon as we hit the dance floor, some guys who had been staring at us while we were at the bar, approached us. The guy who spoke to me introduced himself as Luke. He asked if we could dance. I hesitated a bit before I gave him an answer. He was six-feet-one tall, had a chiseled jaw and small lips. I wasn’t really concentrating on his looks because I was trying to avert my eyes, but he was cute!

I had begun to sway to the music when I felt Luke’s hand at the nape of my neck. I was shocked, but then I had to calm my nerves. We kept on dancing, just if that was what I was doing there. I subconsciously glanced at Ivy to see if she was still there, holy cow! Ivy was kissing the guy so passionately. ‘She’s too friggin’ wild, how in the world do you exchange saliva with a stranger’, I had thought. My head was tilted forward with Luke’s index finger on my jaw. I saw his mouth move, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

‘Sorry, what did you say?’ I shouted over the loud music. I watched him bend towards me, I wondered what he was up to, until I felt his breath on my ears and he began speaking.

‘Your eyes should only be on me, that’s what I said’, he said.

‘Uhhh…’ I said. Those were the only words that tumbled out of my mouth due to me being so perplexed.

By this time, I felt him rubbing my thighs with his hands, he became all touchy, he reeked of whiskey. I tried to remove his hand from there, but he kept putting it back. He groped my butt and I shrieked.

‘Stop please!’, I said. ‘I do not like this’

‘You liar! You think I don’t know you want me to touch you’, he said with an arrogant look on his face.

‘No, I don’t want anything from you’, I said, with a frown on my face.

‘You think I didn’t see you looking at your friend, you want me to kiss you so passionately as well?, he asked.

‘Stop drawing conclusions, I wasn’t thinking in such a way’, I said while trying to move away from his grasp. HE grabbed my clothes and said ‘come here you w***e’. I saw Ivy walking towards us from the corner of my eyes. She gave him a whack on the head.

‘Don’t grab her like that’ she shouted. ‘You shouldn’t treat a woman like a complete piece of trash’

‘Layla sweet, are you alright?’ she said, now facing me?

‘Hey you! Who do you think you are smacking me on the head like that?’ he said, charging towards us.

His friend was trying to hold him back when the security came. They asked what was happening. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out of it. Ivy then narrated all that happened on my behalf. The boys were escorted out of the club. It took some minutes before I could fully gain composure. We decided to head home. We ordered an uber to take us home. Ivy made it clear she wasn’t going to see Luke’s friend again. That’s how my first club experience went.