Book Club

"Your goals are bigger than mine," Gemma said. "MBA. Corporate ladder. Invest. Retire by forty, and let people like you figure out how everything works."

Something occurred to Wendi that she decided to ask simply because she might never be in a position to ask anyone who might know. "I do like almost anything sci-fi, so, faster than light travel, ever? Yes or no."

Carey was surprised by the question in that she didn't think a woman put together like her would ever be interested in it, but Carey did like thinking about it. "Will never say never. Some of the math is there, but I think we have to invent s few more fields of it before someone can put the whole thing on some whiteboards and someone nods and, 'Yeah.' So, math we don't understand yet and probably the discovery of half a dozen exotic materials to make a warp engine, space folder, or black hole pathfinder. But, yeah. I think so. And it'll be great."

Gemma laughed. "I can just hear the 'awed by the magnificence of it all' in your voice."

Carey smiled, shared the laughter, and down her head went, but this time it came up again pretty quickly. She was actually starting to feel comfortable in the place even though the clothes Trina, Gemma, and Wendi were wearing cost about what she made in a year and the home she was in now could fund her college and still leave enough left over to buy her all the house she would ever really need.

In spite of all that, the three of them seemed pretty normal. And, for her part, Lynne seemed like the type of woman that she would ordinarily gravitate toward: artsy, fun, and energetic, even if she might be a little too much so for even Carey's taste. I could adapt.

The group continued to chat while Trina finished setting up the evening with candles and music, this time focusing on Lynne and her love of all things art. The thing was that she seemed to find the artistry in almost anything and everything. Sculpture. Literature. Gymnastics. Tech. There was something in anything they could name that Lynne found that transcended the mundane to be an expression of something greater, to the point where a game grew out of naming something that she couldn't find more depth to. They got to like trying to stump her and she rose to the challenge until Gemma thought that she had the perfect wrench to throw into it. "What about that old show with the talking horse....whatever the name was?"

Lynne leaned back into the plush cushions as she gave it thought, though the smirk she carried suggested that she'd already heard that one, or something like it before. "Actually a lovely attempt to demonstrate to the viewer how deeply the lives animals and humans are intertwined. They feel what we feel, and they understand more than we give them credit for. It's a beautiful visual treatise on harmony that's far ahead of it's time."

"I give up," Wendi said, literally throwing up her hands.

Gemma laughed. "Holy shit, girl, is that a real tear?"

"Maybe," Lynne said, "been doing plays off and on since middle school."

"Christ."

Another peal of laughter came from Gemma and the others joined in.

"I don't know about anybody else, but I'm having a good time, already," Lynne said.

"You weren't expecting to?"

Carey looked at Lynne," socially awkward enough to have heard the faux pas as soon as it left the other's lips. Lynne, for her part, seemed fearless. Or maybe oblivious, but, either way, she plunged headlong. "I don't know. Trina seems great, but rich people have reputations, deserved or not."

"Trina's great, but her friends might be rich bitches?" Wendi proffered.

"Kind of that." Lynne answered, acknowledging what she'd stepped into. "It had me worried."

"Well, I am a rich bitch," Wendi retorted, "but I'm still approachable."

Lynne giggled. "I'll agree with that."

"Perfect," Trina said, looking around the center of the room before taking the thick leather chair opposite the others. "Let us all enjoy my perfectly curated evening with food, candlelight, and music."

"A wonderful date night," Wendi teased.

Trina was sort of indifferent. "That's what it is. New people getting to know one another, seeing if they like one another, maybe developing new relationships, so, sure, a date night for all of us, so let's enjoy ourselves, God dammit. And it sounds to me like we've all gotten off to a good start. Lots of chit-chat and happy sounds, or am I wrong here?"

"I don't think I am, and this is already a success. Lynne? Carey? I have to confess to ulterior motives for inviting you guys to this." Lynne looked on, genuinely interested in the answer while Carey tried very hard not to look like she was bracing to discover that she was the butt of the joke.

"I woke up one morning and realized my life was a little stale. It's good in a whole lot of ways, but it was pretty rote, what with school and a nice place to live, nice car, and stellar parties, with mostly all the same people...or at least the same types of people. I realized that that's really boring and, you know, did I do things like go to Europe just because I could, or because I wanted to go outside my bubble end experience new things?" She smiled and admitted, "It's sorta both, but I really do like seeing new places and things like...literally walking on the same stone streets that ancient Romans walked."

"I started thinking in the same ways about the people in my life. What's wrong with going out of your way to meet people that are truly new different from you with their different backgrounds and new perspectives? I wanted to search for some people that that had things to offer that maybe I never would have considered worthwhile before."

"So, I selected two of my best friends and maybe two new ones, and got us together with a shitty book, but good wine, and good atmosphere just to see what would happen."

"Don't tell me you hit my car so we could be friends."

"No," she dismissed quickly, "That was just me being a fucking dumbass. Again, sorry."

Carey gave a little nod and a chuckle as she began to relax once again. "Okay then."

"What's this music?" Lynne asked, taking note of it for the first time. It was clearly classical, but no one she was familiar with.

"A friend of mine composes in her spare time. She's got a lot and I haven't gotten around to listening to a tenth of it yet."

Lynne found herself paying closer attention to it. It was flowing and haunting, and yet, also, strangely uplifting in places. There was something quietly epic about it. "Think she'd mind if you shared? I'd love to hear more."

"No problem. She'd be thrilled if I shared it. Remind me and I'll send you home with some."

"That'd be awesome, thanks."

A few more minutes passed with idle chat before Trina decided that it was time to get to the reason they'd they'd gathered together this evening. She picked up the trade paperback from the end table. "I assume that we have all have with us the reason for this gathering?" She'd no more than asked and then everyone retrieved their own copies, whether they be the actual books themselves or their e-readers. The cover of that reason for her was creased near the corners and had a couple of small tears on the edges, and there were more than a few colored tabs between those cover pages to lead her passages that she wanted to talk about. The title appeared to be a secondhand find that she shared, so she had the most worn of the copies.

She took care of the literature she owned because what she kept moved her and she often went back to read favorite passages and, less frequently, the entire book. However, while The Darkness and the Light could be described as many things, even entertaining and amusing in their own, probably unintentional ways, it was not a work that she respected. She held it up, "Thoughts?" she asked before holding it just above her lap. "Because I have so very many."

Wendi was the first to speak. "This sort of doesn't matter, but it bugs me, so why do these people have to have names like 'Brock,' or 'Stone' Speaking as someone from a family with some cash, no one in my family is named, Brock, or Stone. I have a nibling named Dillynn, but that's about it, and I will die on the hill that that terrible name for a kid could come from any family, regardless of socioeconomic status in this day and age."

"Is that rhetorical?" Gemma wanted to know. "Because they're 'alpha' They're the most alpha of alpha names and, as such, the manliness of the man that carries such a name cannot be questioned and, thus, no further character development is required."

She continued as everyone else chuckled and Lynne rolled her eyes in agreement. "That said, I have to at least give this author credit, "'Matheson' is still a shit name trying to substitute for character building and exposition, but it at least sounds like old money and isn't quite as awful as it could have been."

Gemma groaned and took a swallow of her wine, "But Krysten "Kristy" Frost? Is there a much worse heroine name. Giving her the same name as every vapid 70s and 80s ditz blonde or summer camp murder victim is not a good start."

"But she was a strong woman though. The book told me that every six or eight pages. It didn't show me that somehow, mind you. It literally told me that to the point where I honestly think the author made words up when she burned through the thesaurus she bought to write the book with."

"But she told off her boss off," Trina countered. The book showed you that. She told her boss off and struck out on her own with no plan and the book told you how brave, courageous, adventurous, audacious, and gutsy that was."

The laughter began and Trina continued, the room filled with the sound of their joy, the sound of good music and the pleasant scent that was something of a combination of fine leather and burning pipe tobacco.

"She's going to be fine though because I'm also let in on how capable, proficient, adept, adroit, and able that she is."

Lynne decided that this was her moment to slide in, sliding her hair away from her brow, "I am not going to defend the writing on this point or anything, but I do respect striking out on your own and just seeing what happens. I did that for a while before I decided that school was my idea as much as my parents."

"No plan at all though for working or living while you did?" Wendi asked.

"Something would come up," Lynne knew. "But, to be fair, I figured it was going to be short-term. There's a feeling of rushing headlong into the unknown that can be a lot of fun. But I wasn't Krysten, certain that life was just going to unfold around me and it'd all be fine if I just let go."

Trina gave her credit for wisdom. "You can't eat hopes and dreams, but, like you, Krysten, too decides that her path forward, after leaving the business world because of how much she hated it. Then she sees the handsome billionaire, and then suddenly business is wonderful if she could only drop herself into the job of personal assistant to Matheson Caldwell IV. Once she decides that's the right thing, the 1950s sitcom hijinks ensues so that she gets the job."

"And then, what chance does he have because rich, lonely, with Mom and Dad issues and she's just so alluring, pretty, lovely, sublime, and pretty as a picture?"

The group laughed again because it was a more accurate representation of events in the book than it ever should have been.

Gemma had something to get off her chest after she took a swallow of wine. "Can I just take a second to piss on the trope of rich man doing stalker shit, like fly across the country to watch her on her time off and instead of her freaking out and running away she just swoons and it never occurs to her to, I dunno, try to get herself a restraining order."

"Those don't even do any good under the best of circumstances." Carey blurted, then all but recoiled when all eyes were on her. Reflexively, she was already thinking of ways to backpedal or apologize rather than offend anyone and she was angry with herself yet again in the same ways as before when she spoke before she thought. She was angry at herself that she did it and doubly angry that she was already thinking of ways to apologize for it, and that she probably would.

She waited for the dragging to begin even as she spoke, She speaks and she's feisty when she does, Wendi appraised. "Useless paper on its face and, even if she got one, two-tiered justice system for the rich guy anyway, am I right?"

Carey was just about to backpedal before she surprised herself yet again. "Yeah."

"Legit point," Wendi conceded. "That would be true in real life, but this is fiction, where moving what of your furniture he decides is nice enough for you to keep to a penthouse apartment without asking how you feel about it is charming. And the man who does it is telling the truth when he says that he just wants to give you a taste of a better life because he finds that seeing his wealth and power through your eyes is giving him a new perspective on things."

"With zero reason to believe that you'll be fine being promoted to sugar baby," Trina added.

They all laughed again because it was pretty hysterical when the cheesy writing was burned down to its practical essence and Trina piled on, "Because you're about to find out that every problem you've ever had, or will, can be solved by my long and stiff alpha cock."

"Have a drink, Carey," Wendi, prompted, filling one of the empty glasses. "Let's see if we can't loosen those lips and get you to share some of the opinions that no one seems to ask you about."

Carey blushed deeply again, "I don't drink all that often."

"All the more reason to try this lovely '42 red."

"It's a '43. It's got that hint of...dusky on the back end."

"The lush would know," Wendi poked before turning her attention back to the quiet one. "Just one. C'mon, it's a good wine. Live a little. Just the one, and you can nurse it all night if you want to. I promise not to try to ply you with booze all night."

Carey looked at Lynne, wondering what she might do, seeing her come forward to get her own glass filled, 'I'll give it a try."

Not wanting to be the odd one out, Carey relented with a sheepish smile. "Just the one."

"That'a girl," Wendi said, claiming victory. Wendi poured the glass mostly full and the girls spent the next twenty minutes picking apart the plot and the dialogue with increasing glee. The atmosphere was relaxed, everyone was having a good time, and there was so very much to pick apart.

Trina watched, enjoyed, and happily contributed to the thrashing of the author's work. Since everyone was fairly well meshed at this point, she ate a few pieces of fruit, sipped her wine, and decided that now was the time, "I assume that some time tonight we're going to talk about the only reason other than to trash the book that anyone might wanna read it on purpose?"

"Yeah, okay...the sex is good." Wendi admitted.

"The sex is actually really good," Lynne said, biting into a lush, juicy strawberry, letting the sweet burst and ooze onto her tongue. It was absolutely delicious and she couldn't resist expressing her satisfaction with it. "Where did you get these? They're, like, prime, in-season, best-of, but the season's long gone."

"Nothing but the best for my friends," Trina said, dismissing it as though it was all much ado about nothing. "I have some serious science-geek friends who're trying to scale up a hydroponics business. All these little morsels come from there."

Lynne finished it and it was deeply satisfying. So much so that she wanted another, but feared diminishing returns. Deciding that it was worth a shot anyway, she plucked another from the platter. "Good thing you're in on the ground floor of something like that because if this is what they always put out, they're going to be rolling in money."

Lynne could practically suck the juice out of the fruit and did. "Anyway, the sex is really good. It's like a porn in book form; lots of useless plot progression and setup just to get to the sex, but the sex is killer. It's so vivid and detailed. It's obviously where the real passion was for the writer."

Gemma agreed. "The plot felt like she was just trying to be funny almost, slapping around all the tropes of books like that between really good fuck scenes. They were so good that I pretty much just skimmed everything after the first two hundred pages to keep up on events and see if it got better just to get to the sex."

"Cheat."

"I am not," Gemma said, pouting at the accusation, finishing her wine and pouring the dregs of the bottle into the glass while eyeing the next, "I read enough of it to be able to talk about the whole thing." The corner of her mouth turned up, "I just read the better parts harder."

"How hard did you read them?" Wendi teased, finishing her own drink. The, what Gemma called dusky, seemed to go really well with the candle scent in the air. They complimented one another so well, it was almost like drinking the scent. It was warm and comforting, reminding her of her grandfather's study.

"Several passages...in the tub...several times, she answered, flushing at the memory, but without shame with the eyes of the others on her. "What? They were good and if you're not going to jill to a book like this, why the fuck would you even bother to read it?"

"Language, young lady," Trina said, trying her best to sound matronly.

Gemma took the dare. "Fuck-fuck-fuckity-fuck-fuck-fuck."

Trina lifted her brows and shrugged. "Be that way then."

"I will, thanks," she said, now finishing her glass, lifting it away from her lips and tipping it in order to watch the last few drops fall on her tongue. After there were no more to be had, she turned a predator's gaze on the next unopened bottle on the glass and marble table before her.

Seeing that it was in no position to defend itself, she made her move, snatching and gripping it tightly There was a quick wave of dizziness as she did so. "Whoa," she said with a titter as she before righting herself and beginning to work the bottle open. For a moment she wondered if she'd had too much already but decided that she hadn't even really gotten started.

"I was waiting for someone to do that, and I figured it was going to be the lush," Wendi said, bringing herself and her glass forth.

"So you'll stop giving me shit for liking a drink or two?"

"For the rest of the night."

Lynne made her way over to get a pour, too, "I'll take one more."

"Me, too," Trina said. Lynne offered to take her glass to glass, to the gratitude of Trina. "Never fear, ladies, if we need more wine, more wine there is.

"Coming right up, new drinking friend and old drinking friend," Gemma said as glass clinked against glass and the liquid swirled into the glasses in turn. Carey saw them huddled across the room and felt keenly of being an outsider in a place she was otherwise feeling comfortable when she never expected to, so she threw caution to the wind and put herself in line.

"You still have most of the one," Trina observed.

Throwing caution to the wind once again, and not entirely certain as to why this time other than she may as well cut loose once in a while, she gulped the wine in three hard undulations of her throat. The burning on the way down gave her a spastic cough. Shaking her head to lose the cough and exhaling from the 'o' her lips had become, she looked about, "All gone."

"That'a girl," Gemma said again with a laugh from the group and Carey basked in the moment of pure acceptance.

Once everyone was suitably refilled and had returned mostly to where they'd come, Gemma leaned back, swirled her glass, and then took a drink, as did they all this time, even Carey, without hesitation. Wendi looked about and was struck by the fact that this already came out to be a successful evening. Even the new girls were kind of fun. They were nice and unassuming and she didn't feel like she had to be 'on' with them. She didn't have to be 'rich girl' or 'rich bitch girl.' She even entertained the thought of getting to know them outside of tonight. Maybe there's something to this new perspectives thing.