Chapter Three

Mia was just about to make some excuses and exit gracefully when her phone rang. She saw that it was Katie and she said to the guy, “Sorry, I just want to take this, OK?”

He nodded, and she turned away from him slightly, stared over at her friends again. They were dancing on a table, and a bouncer was clearly trying to cajole them back down to the floor.

“Hey, Katie." Mia raised her voice a bit, pushed the phone into her ear, trying to cut out the noise. "How’s the networking conference?”

“Urgh. Waste of time, Mia. You were smart not to come.”

“Ouch. Sorry to hear that.”

“But… Joe is here.”

“Joe? Maggie’s ex?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s he doing there? He’s a chef, not an artist or photographer.”

“He’s opening a new restaurant and is looking for people to do some original artwork for it.” Katie snorted. “He asked Maggie to do a sculpture for the main entrance.”

“Oh, boy." Mia shut her eyes briefly, picturing Maggie's reaction to that nonsense. "How did that go?”

“About as well as you’d expect.”

“She kicked his ass to the curb?”

“At least twice.”

Mia laughed. “What time do you guys get back on Sunday?”

“Around eight in the evening.”

“OK. Coffee on Monday morning? My place? You can give me the blow-by-blow then.”

“Sure thing. Have fun at the club.”

“Yeah, right. ‘Cause you know clubbing and drinking is totally my scene.”

“Duck out early.”

“I’m thinking about it. Bye, Katie.”

Mia hung up, and turned back to Trevor. “Well, it was nice talking to you. Have a nice evening.”

“You too,” he said. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”

“Um. Maybe.” Mia gave him a little smile and went back to the table. She sat and took a big gulp of her juice, then another. She looked around, wondering how much longer she’d have to stay before she could bail on the girls, and she saw the guy at the bar watching her closely. She blinked, thinking him really strange, and turned her attention to her friends, watching their antics on the dance floor and feeling incredibly boring and old.

After a few minutes, Leanne came back to the table with her lipstick all over her chin. “Hey, Mia! You gonna dance?”

“Maybe later,” Mia said. “I’ll just drink this first.”

Leanne nodded absently, looking over Mia’s shoulder at some new random guy. She shot off to the floor and started gyrating on him. His friends applauded.

Oh, God. I think I’ll sneak out now. They’re not going to miss me at this point.

Mia drained her glass of juice, took the rest of her friends’ money out of her purse, and stood up. A wave of dizziness hit her, and she staggered. Whoa. I guess I stood up too quickly. She spotted Vanessa and she walked over to her.

“Hey, Vanessa? I’m off now. Here’s your money, OK?”

Vanessa gave a vague wave, and stuffed the cash in her purse. She turned her back, and kept dancing.

OK, well. I guess I was right – they won’t even notice I’m gone.

Mia was walking to the door when her head started to spin. She stopped, totally disoriented. She couldn’t understand why she felt so drunk when she hadn’t had even a drop of booze. The flashing lights made her more confused, and she lurched to one side, then the other. Someone crashed into her, and she spun off in yet another direction, with no clue where she was headed. She had no control over her body suddenly, and she felt her balance start to go. Feeling sick and dizzy, she reached out blindly, hoping to make contact with a wall, a table, something solid that she could hold on to until whatever this was passed.

Then hands were on her upper arms, supporting her. Gasping, she raised her head, tried to focus. A man was holding her up. She opened her mouth to thank him just before she pitched forward, insensible.

Trevor looked down at Mia. She was limp, and her eyes were half-open.

“I’ve got you,” he said.