Chance Encounters

Chapter Six

Envy wasn't something Danica enjoyed being privy to. As a whole, she liked to think that she was a positive person, able to appreciate all that she had rather than pining after others' things. But as she readied herself for her oldest and dearest friend Sahana's Hen Party, envy gnawed at her gut. It moved inside her like a parasite, creating a nausea that Danica was sure had nothing to do with the drinks she'd been mixing.

Sahana met Vinnie at the tender age of 16. It wasn't hard to see that the two had something straight from the off, and they frequently dragged along their best friends to meet up only to ignore them the entire time. Vinnie's best friend had been Shaun.

During the summer, he and Danica spent a lot of time getting to know one another. What started out as an awkward forced pairing soon became something special in itself, and they fell head over heels in love. Double dates soon became shared milestones, like first kisses and first dates, first times and first arguments.

Overwhelmed with happiness for her friend as Danica was, the wedding in 2 months was like a suckerpunch to the gut.

This was one milestone they always thought they'd share, yet never could.

Sahana had invited Danica – her maid of honour – and the bridesmaids Kelly and Nicole to get ready at her place. They were to meet the other hens at the venue, giving them ample time to gossip and pre-drink more than was smart.

A few half empty bottles of Prosecco and various spirits sat on the vanity table, along with an assortment of makeup. Nicole was a makeup artist, and had taken great pleasure in coating her friends in layers of the stuff with various brushes and blenders and what Danica, quite frankly, regarded as tools for torture.

Under the bright spotlights of Sahana's dressing room, the girls gave each other a once over. They'd all gone shopping together in an attempt to co-ordinate somewhat, with Sahana's white dress contrasting well with their blacks ones.

Kelly, as the tanned, blonde bombshell she was, managed to carry off wearing little fabric whilst looking classy, what little there was of it clinging to her slim frame. Not quite so understated was Nicole's dress, the jewel encrusted neckline sending shards of light dancing across her ebony skin. In between the two, Danica felt comfortable with her choice – it fitted her hourglass figure comfortably, the sequins on the top half laying way to a short, chiffon skirt. With waves, her hair sat just above her shoulders, it's caramel highlights complementing the gold and brown tones in her eye makeup.

"You look hot," Nicole said, surveying her friend with narrowed eyes. "Like, really, really hot."

As Danica visibly blushed and threw a few choice words her way, Kelly took a break from pouring shots to scoff.

"Still hoping Danica's gonna switch teams?"

"It's only a matter of time. Who can resist all this?" Nicole answered, gesturing her voluptuous body as she smirked. "I can wait."

Danica didn't dignify her shameless flirting with an answer. She'd lost count of how often she had said that being attracted to women was as likely as Nicole taking a fancy to men. Each time, it fell on deaf ears. Instead she merely rolled her eyes or gave her the middle finger.

"Right girls, we ready?" Sahana asked, handing out the shots Kelly had poured like candy. "3..2..1.."

With a poker face that was by then well practiced, Danica knocked back the sour liquid and suppressed a shiver.

It was going to be a good night – she'd do her best to make sure of it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The club was already packed by the time they arrived. In central London on a Saturday night, it was no surprise. As the maid of honour, Danica had arranged the whole thing with the help of Sahana's Mother, whose more traditional views had made planning difficult.

After lots of deliberation, the two decided it best to give Sahana what she would want but perhaps a little more tame than the male strip club Danica had though up. They booked a private booth with a cocktail masterclass, and it was exactly the sort of thing her friend would love.

Amongst their 20+ strong group of hens, Kelly and Danica linked arms and sashayed through the dense, sweaty crowd of clubgoers. Several glances were thrown their way, particularly from men, but neither were especially interested. And in any case, a scowl from a fiercely protective Nicole was all it took for them to look away.

After a cocktail masterclass that involved much more drinking alcohol than mixing it, the bridal party set their sights on the centre of the dance floor. Everyone looked a little worse for wear, with Danica undoubtedly being the most sober whilst Kelly was looking worryingly green.

The music playing wasn't to her taste – she much preferred drum and bass as opposed to pop remixes – but it was enough that she could move her body to the beat and swallow down the bitter taste in her mouth. Danica soon lost herself to the rhythm, raising her arms above her head and rolling her hips. It happened without any thought, her body moving freely without care as she closed her eyes and allowed the music to fill her.

When the song blended into the next, she opened her eyes to find she was dancing only with Nicole, who seemed none the wiser and as lost to the music. A quick check around her showed Sahana was with her Mother and a few of the other hens, but Kelly was nowhere to be seen.

"Nic, I can't see Kel anywhere," Danica shouted above the music, her friend looking at her with a sleepy xpression. "Did you see where she went?"

"No idea," she slurred with a shrug. "She's probably necking with a lad, or in the loos. Kel's a big girl, she'll be fine."

'Fine' wasn't guaranteed though, and Danica would rather have been seen as overprotective than let her friend get into trouble. She led a drunk Nicole back to the other hens, who were all just as bad, and went in search of Kelly. Thinking maybe she'd gone for fresh air, she headed for the smoking area. Sure enough, slumped on the pavement against the wall, was her friend. Her eyes were half closed, her mouth agape as she sat with little care for dignity.

"Let's get you home," Danica said.

Kelly was a deadweight as she scooped her up. Even though she hated having to haul the girl's arse home every night out when she inevitably got paralytic, Danica was glad it was always her that managed to find Kelly, and not someone predatory.

Long before they'd been legal to drink and go clubbing, Kelly had been drinking to excess like this. No amount of chats from Danica seemed to help, with her only insisting she had problems that spurred her to try to have more of a good time with drink than most. None of their other friends seemed to find issue with it, simply saying she was 'wild', 'fun'. And so began an exhausting routine – Danica would keep an eye out on nights out, and Nicole would often visit her in the mornings with personalised hangover cures.

This time seemed worse than usual, Danica thought as she said goodbye to the other hens and showed Kelly's state to a concerned Nicole. She earned curious gazes as she pulled Kelly through the club, wondering whether a taxi would take them with her friend looking as she did.

She stood in front of the taxi rank with Kelly hanging off her arm, half asleep and drooling as she looked up at her with a dopey look.

"I love you, Dan," she garbled.

The words came out of her mouth with a gag. Blind panic spread through Danica's veins like ice, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead as she watched her friend gag once more. Please God, not here, she thought.

"You need some help?"

The voice, as seemed to be the case every time she heard it, came at just the right moment. Fraser had yet again found her in a time of high stress.