dripped down her forehead. She wiped them with the back of her hand and, after several blocks, finally came to the foot of her apartment complex. The stale smell of unfiltered air in the entrance stung her nostrils. Eve saw through the mess she had made of her thoughts and fell into a deep sleep. Her body longed to be next to Laura once again, their voices hushed whispers in the dark.
Laura drifted to the familiar touch of Eve’s hands. Floating further away, the warmth faded and morphed as her mind grew into the reality of her consciousness.
She woke with a start, her neck aching, her hands searching. Laura scrambled to her room and was out the door in ten minutes. She had only a moment to ponder when Eve had left, when the elevator doors slid open onto the car park. For the whole ride to the studio, Laura’s thoughts were elsewhere, still stuck in a dream she’d had of the sky falling down in pieces, raining down on her and Eve.
They filmed four scenes, with several takes until they the director was satisfied. Laura took her lunchbreak outside, while she waited to film her last two scenes for the day. She was walking the length of the back lot when she heard a voice calling after her. She turned to see Levi coming towards her. Laura gave him a look, hoping he would back away. Instead, he powered through unfazed and gave her a smile.
‘Working on a tan?’ His eyes ran over her bare forearms.
Laura shifted them behind her back. ‘Can I help you with something?’
Alex looked out into the distance. The sun warmed his unlined face. ‘I was just wondering when you wanted to get that coffee?’
Laura decided to get right to the point. ‘I don’t get involved with cast members.’
Alex pushed forwards as if she hadn’t said anything at all. ‘I just thought … given that we are supposed to play a couple …’
Laura could see he wanted something more from her. It was the way he stood, the way he talked, the way he watched her. A woman knew. Under other circumstances, Laura would have suggested coffee first, but she’d got a bad feeling from him the first time she heard him speak. There was something about him she couldn’t shake. Laura drew away from him without a word, she didn’t care if she came across rude.
She found herself in her dressing room, dialling Eve’s number. She hadn’t even remembered picking up her phone. Eve picked up on the fourth ring. The words started pouring out of her. She hadn’t known what she was going to say. Even as she spoke the words, she still wasn’t sure.
‘There used to be this strange cuckoo clock in the hallway of the house that I grew up in. It was wooden with chipped blue paint; it freaked me out but my mother refused to get rid of it. This clock had no story, like it had been picked up out of the gutter. It’s probably still there. God, I hated that clock.’ Laura broke off. ‘You know, when I was a kid, I was so bossy. I would argue with my mother over … everything. Why we had to eat peas, or why the alphabet was in a certain order. I just hated … rules. When I was younger, I used to leave, in the middle of the night. Like I was going to run away but I never did. I would go off on an adventure while everyone slept. I wandered street after street. I wanted to see the world. I would get lost in neighbourhoods, see things when no one was there. I just—’ Laura’s voice caught, not sure why she was telling Eve this confession. ‘I don’t know when that changed. You know, that adventure.’
Eve cleared her throat. ‘You grew up. That’s what happened.’ She was taken aback by the conversation, not sure what had prompted it. ‘Laura, are you okay?’
Laura swallowed. She was. ‘Yeah, sorry, I just … That was just on my mind.’
Then Eve said two words that made Laura’s body tingle. She held onto every single letter, the way they slipped from her mouth. ‘Keep going.’
Laura found herself doing just that.
Chapter 11: Punchline
A king, a queen, slipped from Eve’s hand’s onto the table. Laura watched Eve shuffle the cards effortlessly. They were onto their fifth game of poker, with Eve winning every single hand. After the next loss, Laura slammed her hand against the table and exclaimed, ‘How are you doing this? I’m actually pretty good at poker, but you—’
‘I used to play against my family all the time. It looks like I got pretty good at it.’ Eve shrugged.
Laura picked up her hand. ‘So, what are we playing for?’
Eve thought for a moment. ‘Well, if I win this next hand, like we both know I will, you let me take you out. To a club I used to work at.’
Laura eyed her sceptically. ‘You weren’t a dancer, were you?’
‘Worse … bartender.’
‘It seems a bit risky,’ Laura shuffled her cards, ‘if I get recognised.’
‘I’ll figure something out.’
Eve lay down her hand, a winning four of a kind. She grinned. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
After her shift at the store, Eve headed into the nearest costume shop. She was careful to step only on the black squares that mixed with the white chequered floor. She toyed with the idea of dressing Laura up as a pirate, chuckling at the fake parrot that came with the costume, knowing she’d never agree. Sets of werewolf heads stared back at her with bared teeth; she flicked each one on the nose with an audible rubber tap. A grim reaper display startled her when she reached the back of the store; she moved past the silver scythe. Eve bent, searching for the coloured cans she needed. She tucked seven under her arms. A chattering gargoyle started up when Eve walked back towards the counter. She stood watching it, as it repeated a mechanical threat of damnation. Its clicks and whirls caused it to hinge forwards and back; its claws reached out towards empty air then rested back on its knobby knees. Eve placed the cans down on the glass counter and peered through to the sets of fake vampire teeth and assorted bolts and magnetic piercings that lined black display boxes.
There was a loud rapping on Laura’s door. Pulling it open, she beamed when she saw Eve in the doorway. Her eyes ran over her tight-fitting black jumpsuit. Eve flashed her a wide grin and thrust a plastic bag forwards.
Confused, Laura peered in the bag and pulled out a set of coloured cans. ‘Uh, what are these?’
‘Your way into the nightclub … You wanted a disguise, didn’t you?’ Eve arched a black eyebrow.
‘Are we going to flame throw our way in?’
Eve gave her a short smile and reached out for the bag. She led Laura to her walk-in wardrobe and sat her down. She placed her long fingers on her shoulders. ‘How am I going to make you look not like you?’
The non-permanent hair colour took well to Laura’s blonde hair. It now resembled a rainbow, with lighter blues starting near the front of her face, blending into row after row of colour. For make-up, she applied heavy eyeliner and transformed her lips. Eve coloured in her blonde eyebrows and contoured the rest of her make-up.
Eve stood back, admiring her work. ‘Well, at least now you look closer to my age,’ she joked.
Laura ran her hands through her coloured hair. ‘I look like a hippie. Hey, is this bar a … gay bar?’
‘Only on Sundays.’
‘Ha-ha … what?’
Eve tried on a rich southern accent. ‘Well, all of the straight good Christian people go to church to repent for their sins, while we, the outcasts of the good book, get our freak on … Amen.’ She crossed herself.
Laura chuckled. ‘So, you’ve been there a few times?’
‘Punchline … yeah, I used to work there. It’s more of a club than a bar.’
Eve picked out a white sleeveless blouse and black jeans. She left Laura to change. Eve waited in the lounge room, nervously waiting. Laura stepped from the room, a mass of colour hung loosely against her olive shoulders. With