Once in a Lifetime by Cathy Kelly Page B

allowed.’
    ‘Spoilsport,’ murmured Lizzie, leaning on Natalie and smiling up at the guy.
    ‘No, really, no guys allowed,’ Anna said firmly, hauling Lizzie away.
    He shrugged and walked off.
    ‘He was cute,’ Lizzie sighed. ‘I could take him for a test drive …?’
    Anna and Natalie exchanged a look. It was indeed going to be a long night.
     
    It was nearly two when Anna and Natalie realised that Lizzie was missing. The group had been dancing non-stop, so each time Natalie came back to their booth and didn’t see Lizzie,
    she assumed her friend was dancing with the other girls.
    ‘I thought the same,’ said Anna, shouting so they could hear each other over the music.
    Nobody else had seen her for an hour.
    Natalie found Lizzie first. At the very back of the club, in a dimly lit spot beside the fire exit, she was perched on a man’s lap with her arms wrapped around his body and her mouth clamped to his as if they were giving each other mouth-to mouth resuscitation. One of his hands was tangled up in Lizzie’s dark hair, the other was burrowing up under her flirty dress, so her thigh was totally bared.
    Natalie’s first thought was that her friend must be comatose to be behaving like this, but then she looked again. Lizzie was as ardent as the guy: she was writhing around on his lap, plunging her tongue into his mouth. It was the same guy who’d made a move on Lizzie earlier, the one with the denim shirt and the skull-and-crossbones earring. Lizzie had wanted this, Natalie realised: she was a willing partner.
    ‘Lizzie!’ shouted Natalie, trying to be heard over the throbbing bass notes of the music. ‘Lizzie!’
    She shook her friend’s arm and Lizzie turned round, the crimson lipstick almost gone from her lips, leaving nothing but a giant red Munch-like scream smeared around her mouth from kissing. She smiled lazily at her friend, snuggled close to the man’s chest. Her eyes glittered with raw excitement.
    It was the smile that hurt Natalie the most: a knowing, satisfied, mocking smile.
    ‘Lizzie, we’ve got to go,’ Natalie said, trying to stay calm in the face of this unrecognisable Lizzie.
    ‘Not yet,’ said Lizzie, still with that smile plastered across her face. She nuzzled into the man’s neck. ‘We’re having fun.’
    Natalie decided that she’d have to try another approach.
    ‘This is her hen night,’ Natalie explained to the guy. ‘She’s getting married in a week. Her fiance’s a cop. He’s on the drugs
    squad.’ This was, of course, entirely untrue, but she guessed it might be a deal-breaker.
    Sure enough, alarm flickered in the guy’s face and he got up at speed, letting Lizzie fall unceremoniously to the floor.
    ‘Ouch!’ she roared.
    Natalie and the guy ignored her.
    ‘For real?’ he asked. He meant about the drugs squad.
    Natalie nodded grimly. ‘For real.’
    Without a backward glance, the guy shoved the bar of the emergency exit and opened it. Cold wind and a gush of rain blasted in as he vanished out into the dark. Natalie shivered.
    She glanced at Lizzie on the floor. Lizzie looked sulky now. She had a big tear on one side of the bodice of her dress where her admirer had been trying over-enthusiastically to access her boobs.
    ‘Home,’ Natalie said.
    ‘You ruined it all, Natalie!’ shrieked Lizzie.
    ‘Yes,’ Natalie agreed, ‘I ruined it all. Come on, let’s go.
    Where’s your stuff?’
    When Natalie hauled her back to their booth, there was no sign of her bag or coat there.
    ‘Is she OK?’ asked Anna.
    ‘Oh, fine,’ Natalie said brightly. No point in telling Anna what Lizzie had really been doing. ‘She’s tired and emotional.’ The too,’ sighed Anna. ‘And I’m exhausted. Can we go home now?’
    ‘Sure. I need to find Lizzie’s things.’
    Lizzie’s coat was found in a heap on the floor under the table, but her bag was nowhere to be seen.
    Lizzie was too out of it to be the slightest bit worried about this.
    ‘Cheap bag!’ she kept