How to be Forever Alone [#Wattys2020]

19.

This couldn't be real! This couldn't just be by chance?! There's no freaking way that she is standing in front of me!

Her winged eyeliner was just as dramatic as when I saw her on the plane, but that bright red hair of hers seemed to be more illuminating then it had been before.

"Claire?!" she says, probably questioning my consciousness.

She remembers my name.

"It looks like you've seen a ghost," she laughs.

"Are you following me or something?" I ask.

That must have sounded a lot sketchier than I had intended.

Petal still has this ecstatic smile on her face, "Are you sure you're not following me? I'm pretty sure I got here first."

She winks at me and for a fleeting moment, there's butterflies in my stomach.

There's this thing about her. She's confident and subduedly flirty, and I'm none of that. How do I react, and in consequence, act around her?

Just be friendly, that never hurt anyone... did it?

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"Umm..." I stutter momentarily, "I decided that I needed a change of scenery."

"After what, like two days?" she questions, clearly sniffing out that there was something more.

I didn't really want to let everything out just yet.

"Yeah," I reply, "I guess it just wasn't the place for me."

"Well," she smirks, "I can guaranty that Amsterdam is the place for you."

God, her optimism is absolutely magnetic.

"You should come with us," I notice her say.

Us...

Everyone behind her was kind of a blur for the last few minutes, but now, clearly, there was a girl behind her.

She steps up and extends her hand for me to shake it.

She's all bubbly, "I'm Gretchen."

"Claire," I tell her.

"I know," she says, still on a high of happiness.

She's tall, at least much taller than me. And her four-inch pumps probably didn't help that fact.

I notice her outfit, a white laced up crop top and a mini skirt made of denim. It fringed at the end before displaying her perfect legs to the world. It's definitely not something you would wear to a high-end restaurant. They must be heading out on the town for the night.

"So, what do you say?" Petal asks, still waiting for my answer.

Do you do it? You should, shouldn't you? Shit, you thought that you would never see her again. Go have some fun. Okay, deep breath, and go.

"Sure," I throw my hands up in the air, giving in to my own desires.

"Great!" Petal smiles from ear to ear.

Gretchen quickly grabs my wrist and pulls me along, "Let's go!"

I really have no idea where we are going, and part of me is kind of scared that I won't know how to get back to my hotel room. There's just so many things that could go wrong, but I already made my choice, I might as well go through with it.

And with my arm free from Gretchen's tight grasp, I turned to wonder more about her. I knew a little about Petal, but since we were going to spend the evening having some fun, I thought that I should at least get to know her friend a little bit too. So, I picked at my curiosity.

"So, Gretchen," I start, "Petal came to get you in Ireland, before coming here?"

"Oh, no," she says.

Wow, nice going.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just assumed that-" I get cut off.

"No worries," she tells me, "I live here, but that friend has other plans tonight."

She pointed her gaze towards Petal, and obviously, there was something I wasn't aware of. I didn't want to impose, so I didn't pry anymore.

Change the subject, Claire.

"So where's your favourite place to go here?" I ask.

"You're about to find out." Petal steps in.

I didn't have any time to prepare for what was about to happen, but first, we step inside of a little corner store. It was maybe the size of one of my high school classrooms, which wasn't big, and the rows of products seemed to be quite close to each other, I was afraid of accidentally knocking stuff over as we walked towards the back. It's a really strange spot to consider it your favourite place in Amsterdam.

There's a boy leaning on the one clear area of the back wall, and he's reading a book. I try to see what it is, but this all still made no sense to me.

"Open it up, Freddie!" Gretchen cheers his way.

The boy peaks up at her and grins.

"You know I need the password," he tries to get it out of her.

"Come on Freddie, you know who I am," she pleads.

He shrugs his shoulders, "Rules are rules."

"Fine," she shrugs impatiently.

She looks around quickly making sure there's no one else who could see us. She turns her right hip towards him and lifts her skirt just about an inch.

"Holly crap, did you get a tattoo?" Petal questions, being just as surprised as me, except maybe not for the same reasons.

Gretchen flips her long black hair behind her and looks at us.

"It's the only way that they would let me in without Ray," she says.

"That's her ex." Petal whispers in my ear.

With one small push of his hand, Freddie opens up the wall to reveal a cleverly hidden door. And on the other side, it was dark, but I could spot flashes of colour every few seconds, and there's a loud thumping coming from farther inside.

"Let's do this!" Gretchen excitedly shares as she reaches to take my hand.

Being just a smidge nervous as to what I had gotten myself in to, my breathing got heavier and deeper.

You can do this! Don't be scared. You're going to be okay.

I repeated my thoughts over and over again.

"Trust me," Petal intervenes into my mental crisis, "It's going to be the best night of your life."

"It sure is," Gretchen agrees.

We take a few steps in and walk through a hallway filled with shiny black ribbons hanging from the ceiling. It covered our view of the other end, but within seconds we had made it out.

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY INSANE!!!

What the hell am I looking at?!

"Welcome to Carousel," Petal introduces.