“Hello! Hello! I haven’t seen either of you in ages!”

“Oh, hey, mate, how’s it going?”

“I say, this is nice, how are you?”

The three women cluster on the rain-slicked corner of Grey and Featherston street. It’s an odd place to collect on a Saturday night – usually this part of town is between asleep and dead. But explanations spill out easily.

“I’m on my way to the roller derby…some of my friends from work are going,” says Willow. “Er, were you going there, too?”

Winona is sleek in her red trench coat. “No, we’ve just been at the Asean Night Market, I’m just on my way to meet Will with the car before we take some Asian goodies to his nan.”

“Friend of mine’s in the burlesque contest at the hotel,” says Wazzer, with a more satiny shrug than usual.

Winona coos over her formal-ish attire, then says, “Why haven’t you been at the bar? We were there on Friday and they said it wasn’t you there anymore!”

“I got a promotion, mate. I’m on day shift now. Ordering, office groups event management, more of the restaurant side.” Wazzer watches Winona process this, then adds, “It’s a promotion.”

Winona promptly squeals congratulations and asks “Do you get more money?”

“Yeah, a bit. I also get most of my nights free now.”

“So you’re on the same schedule as the rest of us – and you can join in things more – that’s wonderful – oh, there’s Will! Catch you soon!” She dashes off, just as Willow starts toeing the sidewalk and um-ming about getting good roller derby seats. “No, yeah, you go on,” says Wazzer. She joins the skinny-jeans clad crowdlet about to cross the thoroughfare, leaving Wazzer on the sidewalk.

As she turns around to find the entrance of the hotel, she glances at the well-turned-out middle-aged woman heading the same way. Leggy under a dark coat, tired eyes behind her eye makeup, nice heels. Then Wazzer glimpses the triple-threat ear-piercings, and realizes she’s looking at her own reflection in a black glass window. To herself, she mutters, “Fuck! When did I turn into…a grown-up?” Then, she dives for her powder compact.

Tags:   nightlife · wazzer · willow · winona2 Comments