Liciena sat at the front of her bed, her back resting against the headboard. Her laptop was, once again, fucked.
I really should lay off the porn, she thought to herself as she closed the computer and set it down on the bed beside her.
College was not the life for her anymore. Sure, the friends that provided her with the alcohol at the parties were amazing but the unknown addition of drugs wasn't all that appealing to her. She can easily admit to having tried this and that and god-only-knows what else... but that kind of thing just wasn't her style.
Fucking snow...
Trapped indoors for the night she couldn't sit out on her rooftop like she usually did. It was the first snowfall here in the middle of Helsinki. She was used to the snow by now but not this soon. It was only mid-October and already they had a foot and a half of the damn shit.
"Hey Lic," Janne called from the kitchen. "Do you wanna go out with me and Nel tonight?"
"Depends on where you two are planning to go!" She yelled back, recalling the last few times she had gone out with them. Last month they went to a random prestigious bar down in Tampere where Janne and herself had gotten into a drinking contest with the locals.
Not a good idea.
"We're heading out to the ice bar," he replied as he entered her room with a smug look on his face. "You up for it or are you going to be a pansyass and stay home?"
Janne always bugged her for the amount of time she spent at home on her computer. She was always either writing, doing paperwork for the office, or playing World of Warcraft.
But he couldn't really say much since he was an addict himself. He was actually the culprit to introduced her to the damned game so her addiction was all his fault. No matter how much he denied it.
After a few moments of thought she put on a sly smirk and walked over to her closet. Never having been to the ice bar before she didn't know what she should wear but the name made it a bit obvious.
She grabbed her long black trench coat with faux fur lined hood out of the back of the closet and put it on as she turned around to face her friend.
"Why not? But I have to be home no later than midnight," she explained, pointing her finger at him and giving him a playful glare. "I have to work tomorrow and so do you so hangovers are not an option, okay?"
"Great, let's go!"
Liciena followed Janne out into the hall and through the living room where Hannele was waiting for them at the door. Keys in hand she led the way out to the car and hopped into the driver's seat. Janne popped in HIM's 'Love Metal' album and started hardcore moshing beside her in the front seat.
"What are you doing?" Hannele asked with wide eyes as she stared at her boyfriend in utter creepification.
"I'm... moshing?" He replied with a wide smile.
"Uh, yeah... we haven't even left yet." Liciena pointed out with a laugh as she buckled up her seatbelt.
Janne sat back in his seat with a fake pout on his face as Hannele finally backed out of the garage. All the way to the ice bar the three of them sang along and semi-moshed out in their seats. When they finally arrived and found a decent parking spot they reluctantly turned off the music and got out of the vehicle.
"Nel, promise me you'll moderate my alcohol consumption?" Liciena asked. Janne chuckled and asked that she do the same for him, recalling the events of last month. She reluctantly agreed and lead the way into the bar.
When they got inside Liciena buttoned up her jacket and hugged herself, feeling the coolness of the bar penetrate her 'Private Line' t-shirt. She shivered as her body attempted to adjust to the cool temperature.
"You'll get used to it in a few minutes," Janne reassured her as he walked by her and up to the bar beside Hannele.
Liciena looked around at the crowd around her as she too made her way to the bar. She summoned the nearest bartender and ordered herself a liquid cocaine, handing him the money plus a small tip. She took the shot and sucked in a deep breath as the strong concoction burned her throat on it's way down.
"For a girl you took that like a champ."
Liciena turned around, startled, to see a young man around her age looking down at her with a smirk gracing his gorgeously plump lips.
"For a guy..." she trailed off, trying to think of a decent comeback.
The man looked at her quizically, trying his best to hold on his all-knowing smile. He finally let out a chuckle and Liciena rolled her eyes, knowing full well she had just made a complete fool out of herself in front of a complete stranger.
"... okay, i've got nothing." She admitted, hanging her head in solemn defeat. The man laughed before extending his hand to her.
"Vivian."
She took his hand in hers and glanced at the gold band on his ring finger.
"Liciena," she replied with a small smile.
"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked as he summoned the bartender over. She raised an eyebrow at him, glancing once more at his left hand. He took the hint and laughed at her subtlety. "I'm a happily married man, i'm not trying to hook up with you."
"Normally when someone says something like that they mean quite the opposite," she replied cautiously`] m.
"Katra and I are here with some friends for her birthday," he readily explained as he motioned back to a group of guys and a lone girl across the room. "I was going to order our table a round of drinks but you distracted me."
Liciena looked at Vivian with a raised eyebrow. As gorgeous as he was, she just couldn't tell if he was being honest. After a moment of glancing back and forth between the man before her and his group of friends across the room, she stopped at stared at him with a smirk.
"And now i'm under interrogation for simply complimenting a complete stranger?" He put his hands on his hips and pouted in shame. "Now is that really fair?"
"Not at all, but there's no harm in being precautious!" She stated.
Liciena turned to the bartender waiting behind her and ordered a round of ten absinthe shots for Vivian's friends and wife along with two liquid cocaines. He handed her the liquid cocaines first as he grabbed ten shot glasses and started pouring the others. Liciena held a shot out to Vivian who took it generously and together they downed the poison.
"Holy shit," Vivian said as he scrunched his face in disgust and let out a few coughs.
"For a guy you sure as hell took that like a girl," she commented as she set her empty glass on the bar behind her and took the tray full of Absinthe shots from the bartender. "Let's go meet your friends!"
Vivian led the way through the crowd to his table with Liciena trailing closely behind. It was surprisingly hard for her to keep a strong grip on the tray without spilling the drinks. When they got to the table she set down the tray and smiled at the small gathering.
"Everyone, this is Liciena," Vivian stated. Everyone looked up at her and gave her a feeble welcome. "Everyone introduce yourselves because the shot she bought me is starting to kick in."
Everyone laughed at Viv as he took a seat beside the lone woman with bright reddish pink hair while the blonde one cracked a joke about his apparent feminine qualities.
"I'm Julian," stated the kid with the long black hair. He appeared to be the youngest of the bunch.
"This is Theon," he continued as he motioned to the blonde guy beside him. He seemed lost between his beer and his cell phone.
"Sammy." The man sitting beside Theon smiled up at her and waved.
"Christian." The short haired guy in the middle raised his glass of beer in acknowledgement before taking a swig.
"You've already met Vivian and that's his wife, Katra." The woman with the bright pinky red hair waved with a bright smile as Vivian put his arm around her shoulder.
"And last, but definitely not least, Jason." The chubby man between Katra and Christian saluted her and grabbed one of the drinks off of the tray she had brought over.
"Nice to meet everyone," Liciena stated with a smile as she took a seat on the edge of the bench. "Help yourselves to the tray of shots, I bought them for everyone."
"Really?" Theon piped up as he grabbed a shot.
"Yeah, but I should warn you... it's A-"
Theon's sudden coughing fit caused Liciena to cover her mouth as she broke out into a fit of laughter. Normally she wouldn't laugh at that but for some reason he made it look and sound so hysterical.
Sammy started patting Theon's back as Julian joined in on Liciena's laughter. It wasn't long before everyone else was laughing at him.
"And you call me a pansy!" Vivian stated as he grabbed one of the many glasses and took the shot with ease.
"What the fucking hell was that?" Theon asked angrily as he covered his mouth and coughed.
"Absinthe..." she said with a guilty smile as he pushed his empty shot glass away and started rubbing his throat. She couldn't help but let her smile melt away as his glare penetrated a hole right through her.
"I guess absinthe makes Mr. Theon a very unhappy boy..."
Is it alright, yeah, if I give my gun away when it's loaded?
Looking down at the ground to hide
the sorrow drawn on your face.
Speaking words from your dreams to disguise
the lies painted in your mind.
