Two Years Later, Friday
7/25/25
Harley squealed as I came out of the closet fully dressed. "Oh my god Vi, you look so cute! I love the little corset! Your boobs look amazing."
I continue to stare into the mirror, desperately trying to confirm her comments. "Thanks babe" I say sheepishly, while examining every inch of myself for imperfections. "Isn't it a bit much for a birthday party?"
She laughs and retorts, "aren't you a bit much?" Fair point.
The dress stops just above my knees, red satin, with some modest boning clenching my waist and allowing little precious air into my lungs. The boatneck neckline showing just enough to be sexy, yet not too overstated. You could almost see a hint of a fading scar on the insides of each of my thighs. I could deal with that.
As I sat down at my vanity to start my makeup, Harley was beginning one of her usual diatribes on self acceptance. Of course she has no issues with self acceptance, she's come way farther than she ever expected to. She's the perfect height, with a slim build and brown hair. Her blue eyes perfectly accentuated by her teal dress. I honestly don't know why she gets shit about her appearance occasionally. My ideal self is much more unrealistic. We rarely agreed on such topics, so I opted to listen instead of rebuffing. She's always been more progressive and open with herself. I, for one, have never been able to fully allow my mind and body to coexist. But that's neither here nor there. We have a party to host.
I'm a perfectionist, and thus it takes me a solid two and a half hours to finish my hair and makeup. It doesn't help that our constant banter ends with both of us laughing our mascara down our faces, causing me to have to make a few too many touch-up's.
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The party is honestly going better than expected, one of the major downsides of having young techie friends in NYC is that it's damn near impossible to get us all in the same fucking room for a night. There's always something going on. Fortunately, more and more slowly trickled in as Harley and I frantically worked in the kitchen. We haven't even burned anything yet! A miracle indeed. So I stood there, desperately stirring the risotto with a joint in my mouth, until I heard the doorbell ring yet again. "Babe! Can you please get that? I'm a bit stuck at the moment." I yelled out to Harley.
Sure enough, she comes back a minute later with Chloe in tow. If you're friends with Chloe, you know that you never have to actually see her coming to know she's there. Just hearing the iconic red heels on the hardwood floor clicking in her usual stride is more than enough.
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"Well, if it isn't the beautiful birthday girl!, congrats on making it to 28 babes! Looking gorgeous as ever I see" she says in a raspy voice as she leans in for an aggressively sweet hug, right before taking the joint out of my mouth for a long drag of her own.
"Oh lord thank you for coming! I haven't seen you in forever!" I reply, "Just give me a minute, and we'll talk tea."
She looks over my shoulder, winks, and struts off just as I start to hear the sizzle of a risotto starting to burn.
----
With dinner miraculously saved, and guests well satiated, the party was settling in for the long haul. I sat on the long couch in the living room, Harley at my side, shooting the shit with Chloe and her new boyfriend, James, that I finally got to meet. Chloe probably has the best taste in men out of any of my friends, and it's no wonder, most men would bark like a dog if she simply asked. 5'10 with a perfectly curvy body and curled hair flowing down to her waist, it's a wonder I'm not barking right now. As per her taste, James is the tall, dark and handsome type, with a wit to match. So we sat and reminisced about the last few months apart, her sprawled out with her legs on James' lap, and me equally but more awkwardly sprawled next to Harley as Chloe recounts the story of how her and James met last month.
"So then James comes in, sweating with nerves before his interview on the morning show. You could practically taste his fear!"
"That's not fair babe!, I just ran 5 blocks thinking I was going to be late." He defends, looking visibly flustered.
"Regardless, after 30 minutes of my magic, he was ready for the cameras, and I got his number!" she replies with a devilish grin.
"Y'all are too cute." Harley quips between puffs of the joint.
"So why were you going on that show James?" I ask "Something about your research?"
"Ohh, yeah, Chloe never got around to that. The lab I work at just made a considerable breakthrough in epigenetic modification of cells in Mice, we were able to get them to regrow limbs in trials. It's super promising stuff, with potential for clinical trials in humans!" He responded, taking a long sip of his wine. "Chloe was prepping me for an interview with the station to announce the development. But that's enough about me, Chloe said you're a software engineer, right Vi?"
"Oh, yeah I work on backend stuff, nothing quite as flashy, just squashing bugs and reducing latency. Keeps the lights on." I say while gesturing around the room.
"Don't let her talk herself down," Harley chastises, "Without her, her company would be bankrupt in a we-"
"Are you guys just gonna sit on the couch talking all night?!" Tommy cut in, stumbling over to the couch with a drink in hand.
"Come on, it's getting late, and we're just getting started. I heard O'Keefe's is having a karaoke night."
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The last thing I remembered was a large hand in mine, the ding of my building's elevator, and the hypnotic scent of his woody cologne.