Work Text:
Hero was apprehensive.
She had text Jessie quite a lot that morning, mostly for directions, but also because of the apprehension. Because really Hero had only spent a few hours with Jessie and she couldn’t help worrying that she might have set her expectations a little too high for the friendship. Really she didn’t know Jessie at all.
Hero drummed her fingernails on the back of her phone case and stared out of the window.
When they had found a place to park Francis, Hero gave Jessie a call. They were overlooking the city of Bristol on a hill that was patterned with row after row of terrace housing.
“I think we’re here!” Hero said. She scanned the surrounding houses. “What number are you?”
“Turn around; I can see you!”
Hero span around and found the window that Jessie was waving enthusiastically out of. She waved back.
The girl who answered the red door with the chipped paint was slightly taller than Hero remembered but otherwise just the same. She had a strong but friendly expression on her face. Her thin dreadlocks were tied in an elegant knot at the top of her head. She wore a black crop top and bright green trousers that looked amazing against her dark skin.
“It’s so lovely to get to see you again,” Jessie said and stepped down to give Hero a hug. “You’re not going to regret fitting Bristol in to your grand tour.” She smelt sweet, like vanilla and marzipan.
There was a repeat of introductions then because although Jessie had met the others at the party on the Isle of Skye, that was a while ago and there had been lots of people at that party. They all clambered in with their rucksacks and sleeping bags slung over their shoulders and congregated in the small living room.
“So one of my housemates is here, Tessa,” Jessie explained once she’d put the kettle on and everyone had found a seat. “But the others are not back from holidays yet so they’ve said you guys could crash in their beds if you don’t mind sharing.”
“Are you sure?” Hero asked.
Pedro agreed. “Yeah, we’re used to sofas and stuff by now.”
“No, really, it’s fine. I’ve actually changed the bed sheets and everything so please sleep there!”
“Bed sheets?” Benedick cried bringing is hands to his face in half-feigned, half-genuine delight. “What luxury!”
After they had had a cup of tea and settled in a bit, Jessie took them on a tour of Bristol.
“Basically,” she explained as they walked through the main square, “Bristol is the capital of having things on boats. They’re pretty proud of their sea trading history, I guess. You name it, they’ve got it on a boat. Clubs, venues, restaurants, cafes, museums…”
“I never liked the sound of getting drunk on a boat,” Beatrice mused. “It just seems like the worst possible combination.”
“Because of drowning or sea sickness?” Benedick asked.
“Um, both. Yeah, both.”
Jessie made them spaghetti bolognaise for dinner and then they got ready to go out. Neither Beatrice nor Hero had packed anything vaguely going-out-worthy so Jessie insisted on lending them clothes. Beatrice ended up in an amazing orange vintage dress with a large azure belt across the middle and Hero wore a little red dress.
“Woah!” said Pedro when he saw them.
Balthazar elbowed him in the ribs.
“You look amazing!” Pedro persisted enthusiastically.
“Why, thank you!” Beatrice gave them a small spin, enjoying the gobsmacked expression that Benedick wore.
.
It was relatively early so it didn’t take them long to get the first round in. Or the second. Or the line of shots. They were on the forth round of drinks and discussing cocktails when the dance floor started to fill.
"Come on, Balthy, let’s go dance." Pedro put his drink down on the bar and turned to him expectantly.
Balthazar was less enthusiastic. “Um, I think one more drink…”
Pedro gave an elaborate bow and took Balthazar’s hand. “Prince Balthazar of Wales, kind of, please would you honour me with the next dance?” And then he gave Balthazar the look. The irresistible look with wide supplicating eyes and a rueful smile.
Balthazar rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
"How courteous, my Grace," Pedro laughed and led Balthazar away, their fingers intertwining.
"Well, I don’t know about you," Benedick said loudly to no one in particular, "but I was just a little bit sick in my mouth."
"No, they’re adorable!" Hero protested.
"I have to agree with Ben," said Beatrice. "I mean, there’s adorable and then there’s nauseating – and then there’s those two. I would never want a boyfriend who was so sweet to me all the time.”
Hero wore a somewhat triumphant look. “I thought you didn’t want a boyfriend at all?”
"I’m confused," Jessie suddenly said, "I thought you two were dating." She indicated between Beatrice and Benedick.
Hero, Beatrice and Benedick shared a look and then burst out laughing. It was even funnier after a few drinks.
“That was sort of not true,” Hero explained to the bemused Jessie. “We just said that to keep Ben’s asshole uncle off of his case. I mean – sorry, Ben. He wasn’t an asshole…”
“Oh my gawd!” Beatrice cried. “Are you forgetting? He was a complete asshole!”
Benedick was nodding in agreement. “Yeah, he is. He’s much worse than any word you have ever used, Hero.”
“But you two aren’t dating?” Jessie repeated.
“No!”
“Are you sure?”
“What, sure we’re not dating?” Beatrice laughed. “Yeah, pretty sure!”
Benedick was smirking as well. “I think I may have noticed if we were dating. There may have been some tell-tale signs…”
“You’re very good actors!”
Beatrice gave a jokingly sinister look over the top of her glass. “We have many hidden talents…”
.
Pedro was happy. And it wasn’t because of the alcohol. It was because of the person who he was dancing with. It was because of their tangled fingers. It was because of the music (he loved this song). Alright, it was also a little because of the alcohol.
But really. How did Balthazar manage to be so amazingly perfect?
Pedro pulled Balthazar closer and leant forwards to kiss him. It was only then that he realised that something was wrong because Balthazar did this strange worming away sort of manoeuvre that made Pedro’s heart drop into his stomach.
He frowned and said, “What’s wrong?” relying mostly on Balthazar’s lip-reading abilities as it was too loud for him to actually hear.
Balthazar shrugged and glanced over Pedro’s shoulder. Then he shouted into Pedro’s ear. “Those guys. They’re watching us.” But when Pedro turned to look, Balthazar tugged on the front of his t-shirt. “Don’t look!”
“I’m looking!” Pedro yelled back.
Sure enough there were three guys standing by the wall at the edge of the dance floor looking as if Pedro and Balthazar were scum polluting the bar with their presence.
Pedro’s happy feeling took a nosedive.
“Just ignore them!” he told Balthazar. But even he could now feel their disgusted expressions boring into the back of his head.
Balthazar was making a brave attempt to seem as if he was enjoying himself but eventually they both decided it was time to get another drink and escaped towards the bar.
“I’m sorry,” Balthazar said, while they were waiting to be served. “I didn’t um, I didn’t know if they’d say or do anything…”
“What assholes!” Pedro raged. “Really, what is their problem? I really want to go and -”
“Nah, nah…” Balthazar grabbed Pedro’s hand. “Please don’t. There are always assholes. Just, just ignore them.”
Pedro glared at the bar for a moment then said, “Should we see if Jessie knows any gay bars?”
Pedro hadn’t expected Balthazar to look so immediately and completely enlivened. The change was startling. Balthazar grinned and nodded and Pedro couldn’t resist one quick kiss.
Hero, Jessie, Benedick and Beatrice were seated on high stools around a circular, sort of sticky table sharing a couple of pitchers of overly sweet cocktails.
“But how can you live on Skye?” Beatrice was exclaiming across the table to Jessie. “It’s so beautiful but no one lives there! Nothing happens!”
“… You come from New Zealand, right?” Jessie responded.
“OOOoooohhh!” Benedick slapped the table. “She got you there! She totally got you!”
“Fuck off, Ben.”
“I’d like to live somewhere like Skye,” Hero told them. “Somewhere where just looking out of the window is an aesthetic experience.”
Benedick nodded thoughtful. “Talking of aesthetic experiences, I vote the next drink we order is less neon. Neon was a bad choice I feel.”
“Neon is the best choice!” Beatrice cried. “It’s always the best choice!”
This is when Pedro and Balthazar arrived at the table. “Jessie!” Pedro said and only then considered the best way to phrase the request. Ultimately, he opted for raising his hands in a questioning gesture, tilting his head to one side and saying, “Gay bar??”
There was a collective cheer-come-laugh and Jessie said authoritatively. “Alright, everyone we have to finish these quick.” And shared out the rest of the pitchers.
.
Jessie listed off the names of some gay bars in the vicinity as they began to walk down the street.
“So are you gay?” Beatrice asked.
Jessie shook her head. “I don’t really subscribe to those labels as such. Not to sound pretentious.” She shrugged. “I mean, it totally sounds pretentious, but for me personally I realised recently that I couldn’t relate to them. Like what does it actually mean to be straight or a lesbian or bisexual or asexual or any of those things?”
She looked across at Hero as if checking that they were in fact interested in this response.
“What do you mean?” Hero asked with an encouraging smile.
“Well, being a straight woman means you find men sexually attractive, right? But as a definition it’s flawed fundamentally. What straight woman actually fancies every single man they set eyes on? You find specific men attractive. I did this whole module about intimacy in literature and I sort of got hooked on this idea that love is just love. Connections are just connections and they could be for anyone. And these labels are simultaneously incredibly constrictive and way too broad. We love a lot of people and some of those people we find attractive. That’s all. And think how much time is spent stressing over sexuality when we could just be experiencing those connections and seeing how things go… Yup!” Jessie suddenly laughed. “That ended really pretentiously!”
“No! It’s so interesting!” Hero protested. “I have literally never thought of it like that before.”
“I would be able to express it better if I hadn’t had those shots earlier.”
“You have literally just blown my mind,” Benedick said with sincerity. “My mind is blown.”
“I’m not saying it’s how everyone should feel,” Jessie hastily said. “I have loads of friends who identify as different sexualities. I totally get that some people just, I don’t know, just feel gay. Just 100% gay.”
Balthazar raised his hand slightly and they all laughed.
“Just my personal feeling on the matter.”
“We should totally talk about this more,” Benedick said, “when I’m less drunk.”
“We haven’t even started yet, mate!” Pedro cried, throwing an arm around Benedick’s shoulder.
.
The club was louder and busier and Balthazar and Pedro didn’t even stop at the bar before heading to the dance floor.
Benedick was given the task of wrestling to the bar and getting drinks for the rest of them. He’d been fairly confident in taking up the assignment but it proved to require more skills than he had first expected.
When he finally managed to get the drinks, the others were all dancing and he then faced the task of carrying four drinks through the throng.
“Where the fuck is Bea?” Benedick asked Hero when he’d given her and Jessie their drinks. He was searching the crowd almost feverishly.
Hero pointed up to the balcony at where Beatrice was leaning above them. Beatrice waved at them.
Benedick stormed his way up there.
“You have to dance!” he yelled in greeting, thrusting the drink in her direction.
“No, I don’t!” was Beatrice’s response.
“Actually,” Benedick said, completely unaware that he was slurring very badly, “actually, you totally do! Because of your resolution, remember? You have to agree to anyone asking you to do anything.”
Beatrice folded her arms. “Well, I’m lucky no one has asked me to dance with them then.”
Benedick faltered only for a moment. “Beatrice, will you dance with me, please? Ha!”
And before she had responded he had taken her hand and was leading her towards the dance floor.
“I love this song!” Benedick cried as they squeezed their way through to the rest of the group.
“I know!” Beatrice laughed as Benedick commenced an enthusiastic dance to the Beyoncé classic.
.
After a bit, Jessie went to the bar and they found a place to sit down. Except for Pedro and Balthazar of course who were still on the dance floor, sort of dancing but mostly just kissing.
They started sharing stories from their trip with Jessie and the more that they drank the more bizarre the tales got.
Benedick was halfway through vividly describing the time they had to swerve to miss the escaped tiger as they were crossing the Seven Bridge when Jessie cocked her head on one side and questioned whether any of what they’d been telling her was true.
"Well, um, truth isn't a... it's a indefinable thing. Because of perspectives and um, things," Benedick attempted.
Beatrice laughed loudly. "He's broken!"
Hero went to the toilet and then went to find Pedro and Balthazar in an attempt to get them to join in. When she couldn’t locate them she returned to the table and asked, “Where are Pedro and Balth?”
“They’ve gone,” Jessie said. “They took my spare key.”
“What?” Hero laughed. “Gone back to yours?”
“Yup!”
“Really? On their own? They’ll get lost!”
“They had Google maps open. They seemed fairly insistent.”
“They couldn’t stop thinking about those nice clean bed sheet!” Benedick snorted.
Hero grimaced slightly. “Too much information!”
“You didn’t see them,” Beatrice added. “It wasn’t dancing; it was foreplay.”
“Ok, I get it!”
Beatrice laughed and put her arm around Hero. “Aw, my poor, innocent little cousin!”
“It’s not even midnight!” Hero sighed.
“Don’t worry!” Jessie cried. “We’re still going to have an epic night! You haven’t seen anything yet!”
And as Hero looked into Jessie’s happy eyes, she had complete faith that this was true.