+ 1.1 Goodbye and Hello

Next week arrived and Azaria was all packed and ready to go. Cam called just as she was about to leave.

“Hey sweety pie. All set to join me in the big city?” Cam said in her southern drawl.

“Of course. I can’t wait. This week has been anything but pleasant.” Azaria relayed the past week’s events. Her father hadn’t said a single word to her since she told him her plans to move. And her mother, having nearly had a breakdown, had holed herself up in her room between work shifts. The only family member she’d really spoken to was her brother but even he had resorted to persuading her otherwise at every chance he got.

The goodbyes were sombre and the well-wishes were hollow; their over-dramatic reactions weren’t going to make her change her mind. This is what she wanted.

“You can do this A. You were born to break the mould and prove them wrong.” She gave herself a little pep talk all through the cab ride, much to the cab driver’s annoyance.

The stuffy city air hit her the moment she stepped out the cab. The hum of taxis, the rumble of the underground subway and the general buzz of hurriedness polluted the air. She took it all in, savouring the sounds and smells.

She had arrived.

Cam was already waiting to greet her outside their new apartment. It was small and a little poky – a far cry from the opulent mansion she had grown up in. But everyone had to start somewhere. They would share a room until a two bedroom place opened up. Azaria didn’t mind. She shared a room in boarding school which felt more like having one’s own cramped corner.

“Well it’s better than rolling out of bed into your desk.” She joked as memories of Lady Grosvenor’s Diocesan for Girls came flooding back to both her and Cam’s minds. That’s when they’d first met: in their first year of high school in the Tugwell dormitory. From second year onwards they were inseparable and even convinced the matron to assign them to the same room. “Hey, you settle in and freshen up. I’ll whip us up something to eat.” Cam left her to do her unpacking and headed off to the kitchen.

They chatted over brunch about work prospects and Cam explained she had already fallen in love with city life.

“It’s a much more suitable lifestyle for hip chicks like us. We’re not born to live a stuffy towny life, dear.” Cam said.

In the kitchen: “I heard the night life is amazing. I’m dying to put on my dancing shoes and hit the town.” Azaria was eager to get some partying done. Since graduating from high school she hadn’t set foot in a club. She longed to breathe in the smells of sweaty bodies showing off their moves on the dance floor and to taste the tang of alcohol on her tongue again.

“Well, there’s that girl I left in Sunset Valley.” Cam gave her a light tap on the shoulder. It felt good to be with an old friend again.

“So where are all the hotspots?” Azaria asked.

“You remember Katy, right? The girl from Baxter dormitory? She invited me over to Aquarius Lounge tonight and said I should totally bring you along. You keen?”

“You know I am.” Excitement was welling up inside Azaria as she planned possible outfits in her head.

“Here we are! I can tell it’s going to be one unforgettable night.” Cam enthused as they stepped out a cab, with a very creepy driver if one may say so.

Azaria waited alongside Cam as she made small talk with the bouncer.

“There you girls are!” Katy strode over, a huge grin on her face. It was evident that it was a drunken grin. She was the biggest party animal Azaria had ever known.

They hugged and before they knew it they were downing drinks at the bar.

Azaria was far gone when a charming young man approached.

“Mind if I buy you a drink?” He flashed a dazzling smile at her.

“Sure” She giggled as she accepted his offer. “One more couldn’t hurt.”

She was soon sitting at the bar with him babbling on about how misunderstood she was by her family. He listened and nodded and sympathised on cue. But this night with him wasn’t going to go further than this chat at the bar. Flings and Hook-ups weren’t her type of thing.

They were discussing the book she read a week earlier when the lights went off and mumbles of confusion and mild panic erupted all over. The lounge was plunged in darkness. The last thing she heard was an announcement that there was a power failure.