Marissa hears the thumping music before she opens the door, and is taken by surprise. Another party? Shouldn’t Tasha have left already?
As soon as she steps in the door, her cousin runs out of the kitchen. “Hey, Mariss!”
“Tash!” Marissa exclaims. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to Cairo today.”
“I was, but Dan – the guy I was meant to shoot with – he pissed off someone at the agency. His visa didn’t come through, he didn’t give the right information or some shit, then his agent got into this, like, huge fight with my agent, so…” Tasha shrugs. “Cairo is not happening. I’m going to a different shoot in Midtown tomorrow instead.”
“Ah.”
“So I’ve invited some friends over,” Tasha goes on, gesturing in the direction of the kitchen, “and we’re going to a new club later.” Her eyes light up. “Oh my God – you should totally come with us, Mariss! They’ve got this amazing DJ, and the shots are totally free, they’re being comped by Top Talent –”
“I don’t know. I have a nine o’clock meeting tomorrow.”
“So? I have to be on set at seven a.m., and you don’t see that stopping me!” Tasha links her arm through Marissa’s and pulls her towards the kitchen. “Come on. I have to introduce you to everybody.”
As soon as they walk in, there’s a loud crashing noise from the corner and the hip-hop music is silenced. “Yo, Tash!” a guy yells out, looking as though he is trying not to laugh. “I, uh, broke your speaker system. Sorryyyy…” A guy next to him splutters with laughter.
Tasha waves a hand airily, not really looking at them. “Don’t worry about it, Josh. I’ll get my assistant to pick up another one.”
Josh nods, pretending to look contrite, then he turns to his friend. Both crack up laughing, and Marissa feels slightly sick as she looks at them. She knows they are laughing at Tasha’s expense.
But Tasha has now turned her attention towards the people gathered around the kitchen counter. They all greet her with great enthusiasm, and she spreads her arms wide and yells out, “Heeey, babes!”
After a few moments of whooping, hand-clapping, and general excitement, Tasha announces, “Guys, guys, guys, listen … I have to introduce you to Marissa. She’s my cousin…”
A few of the people closest to them nod briefly at Marissa before resuming their conversations, but most of them don’t bother to look at her. There are a few girls who look her up and down, then snigger.
Tasha, seemingly oblivious to this, begins to point out people to Marissa. “So, this is Ty,” she says first, pointing at a guy standing next to Marissa. “And over there, we have … uh, Josh, Ben, Crystal, Dani. And … hey, you! Girl with the tattoos! What’s your name again?”
The girl with the tattoos glares at her, deeply unimpressed. “Cara. I already told you, my name is Cara.”
“Caraaa!” Tasha trills. “And there are some more people over there…” She frowns slightly as she squints at the group gathered around the speakers. “I don't really know most of them, they’re Josh’s friends. But, whatever. They’re cool!”
The group starts talking about people Marissa has never met, things she knows nothing about. After a while, Tasha seems to sense that Marissa is feeling a bit lost, and turns around to speak to her.
“So we’re going to the club soon,” she informs her. “In a few minutes. But we have to wait for Jay first.”
“Jay?” Marissa tries to keep her voice light – she really does – but Tasha glances sharply at her.
“Oh come on, don’t be like that,” Tasha moans. “Can’t you guys get along?”
“I’m not being like anything. I just didn’t know you were back together.” She really is trying to stay neutral, but she supposes some of her disdain for Jay can’t help coming through.
“Well, we’re not … together, together. Just hanging out again. I mean, I didn’t want to end things on bad terms.”
Marissa looks around and lowers her voice. “Terms were pretty bad when he basically shoved you down a flight of stairs, yeah…”
“Oh come on, it wasn’t like that.”
A response to the writing prompt important information.