The phrase “finally” had never felt so real than when they escaped Becca’s lips at the end of the school day that Friday.

It was the longest part of the school year, with more assignments to grade and more students feeling the need to act up or, if they were heading towards graduation, half-ass. Anyone who believed the students were longing for Spring Break had not met Becca, because their longing did not hold a candle to her need for a week off.

She more or less burst through the door of the high-rise apartment and demand a night out to celebrate. Jules had work, tragically, but there would be time for another night out soon enough. She needed--nay, she demanded instant gratification. So Raine was going to grab her AV fake ID and they were going to enjoy a night on the town!

Rebecca had gone through her closet for a little black dress that would suit the occasion and paired it with heels, which she was regretting now that they were walking the New York sidewalks to a nightclub Rebecca had been hearing about. She could walk in heels; heck, she could rock heels. Still, her feet were not invulnerable, and she knew the more she walked, the more she would be a whiny mess back at the apartment at two in the morning.

Pushing the thoughts of eventual consequence out of her mind, Rebecca instead turned and smiled, focusing on the friendly blonde walking alongside her. ”Thanks fur lettin’ me drag ye it, Raine. Ah figured it's nae likely they'll be able tae check yer fake since it's frae th' other side, but if they dae, we can jist grab dinner. Ah jist pure wanted a nicht wi' a friend tae celebrate mah freedom.”

And Rebecca was more than willing to call Raine a friend by that point. She had proven to be a roommate who was easy to live with, and her attitude was so often a chipper pick-me-up, which was a nice addition to the space. There were still some of the challenges that came when Rebecca started living with Jules; namely, adjusting to having another attractive woman sharing her space in casual wear. But if Rebecca could learn to handle Jules, she could learn to live with Raine without making things weird. She really liked Raine, so she was taking every opportunity to develop a strong connection with her. ”Did ye dae much gonnae it oan yer side?”

She was not wearing enough clothes. Not nearly enough clothes. Raine rubbed her bare arms and mentally cursed spring for being so abysmally cold at night. She'd figured a white dress for her made them a kind of Angel/Devil duo and they could work that angle if they wanted to.

Sure, the dress was from Becca's closet, but no one out here in the real world would know that.

"Oh, no. Trust me. I needed a night off as much as you." Her new job was... new. And that was just about the best thing she could say about it. "The ID was good enough to get me a job at the call center. So... I have a feeling it'll be okay." Or maybe that was her usual optimism bleeding through. Worst case scenario, they took it away and cut it up and she never had to go to work again.

Besides. It wasn't like they were breaking the rules all that bad. In 6 months she'd be legal anyway.

> ”Did ye dae much gonnae it oan yer side?”

...

"Gonna it?" It took longer than was pretty for her to suss that one out. "Oh! Going out! Oh. Uhm. I guess once or twice with a teammate named Caitlyn. And I was... I am in college. Even if I don't live on campus anymore, there's certainly the opportunity and the motive."

Raine stretched and had to settle right back into huddling and arm warming rubs. Her heels were spiky thin with tiny straps and as natural as breathing to someone who was 5 foot nothing and hoping to be something a little more... Besides, this was New York. You either learned to deal with the shoes you had or you paid for it the entire walk. Because there was no question. Walking was ALWAYS in the equation.

"Yeah. I don't feel like I was the hugest party girl, but drama clubs are always a little crazy, no matter what side of the rift you're on." She gave in and looped her arm into Becca's because she had to guess that Becca was warmer than she was.

"What about you? I always figured Impact had to have done something in her wild younger years what with all the tattoos and the owning a bar.

Y'know, I fondly remember my first "real" drink at Impact's bar."

Sure, Raine'd had a sip of an Appletini or something, but never before had she really believed a drink would put hair on her chest until Impact gave her a Boston Sour.

"I hear there's a hot to crazy scale. Like, the hotter someone is, the crazier they have to be under the surface?" So, they were both nuts by that metric.

It was rather convenient Rebecca's dress fit Raine, considering the girl was still adjusting to a life where she was, in many ways, starting over from scratch. Raine was shorter, so the dress went further down than it might on Becca, but it was designed to be form-fitting, so it thankfully, well, fit Raine's form.

Beyond wardrobe, Raine had been settling into their world with a new job, which was... well, it did not seem like the kind of place she'd want to stick around long-term, to put it mildly. Raine needed funds, and she was dedicated to getting on her feet enough to pay her fair share in rent, so she was trudging her way through one of those jobs almost everyone worked when they were still in school. Empathizing, Rebecca wrapped her arm around her friend's waist for a quick squeeze as they walked. "Let's jist pit th' wark week behin' us t'nite." The break would do them both good.

With Raine as a new friend, it was a reminder that Rebecca's accent took getting used to for anyone unfamiliar with the Scottish. It was always a transition period; Rebecca could not use her fake American accent forever, and those around her seemed to acclimate to how she spoke eventually.

It was nice to get to know someone new. Rebecca had been unsure if Raine would have been the bookish good girl or the social butterfly of the college party scene, as she could see the potential for both. It made sense, since the truth seemed to lie somewhere between.

A wind cut through Rebecca and she felt the shiver run through her body. Whether in response or just well timed, the blonde looped an arm around Becca's, and the redhead was content to lean into her new friend a bit to share some heat.

With Impact as a reference point, Raine had some ideas of what Rebecca might have been like in her hayday, which made the Scot giggle, trying to decide if she ever had a hayday. "Honestly, Impact an' Ah hud sic' different paths growin' up. Ah was sic' a wee meek thing afair Ah cam tae New York at eighteen. Ah was pretty darn tam fur a while, thocht Ah guess Ah started lettin' loose in college a bit mair." She attended a few parties, particularly after her first breakup with Agnes, and after... "An' 'en thaur was th' mission in Budapest."

She grinned dreamily for a moment before remembering herself and adding, "But we dornt gab abit Budapest." No reason to admit to an egregious misuse of X-Men property.

They claimed a spot in the line leading to the door, populated primarily by other girls dressed totally inappropriately for the weather, as well as guys hoping there was any chance the bouncer would let them into the busy club.

Still keeping Raine's arm locked with her own, Becca considered her hot-to-crazy theory and chuckled. "If 'at's really th' case, Ah must hae a total bampot oan mah arm," she teased.

"What happens in Budapest, stays in Budapest?" It sounded like a story she'd never hear, but she would hear about it often enough. An in-joke. Too bad she was too late for it. She took her solace in the warmth they shared while in line. It would totally be fine once they were inside and moving around. Alcohol, too, was warming. It was just the dang waiting that had her frozen over.

It was perfectly reasonable that Impact and Becca had diverging paths. They weren't even the same age, were they? Raine often wondered what kind of woman her doppleganger was. As far as Raine could tell, no one much liked her and they, too, were not the same age. Raine had to make the crazy/hot ratio joke. As the better dopplegangers, they had a strict formula to follow.

> "If 'at's really th' case, Ah must hae a total bampot oan mah arm,"

"Bam... pot?" Had she misheard again? Or was that a Scot-ism? They moved up a pace in line and Raine was already giggling. By the look on Becca's face a bampot was potentially a good thing. Raine could own that... if it hadn't sounded so much like cookware. "No, no. You don't have to explain, I take it back. You're not a teacher tonight, Becca. Tonight your job is to exercise a complete lack of civility and responsibility."

It was Raine's aim to take tonight just beyond what she was comfortable with. Drink just a little too much. Dance a little too hard. Leave no regrets unturned.

And soon enough it was their turn to pay cover. Raine fished one of the bills she'd had stashed in the bra of the dress and passed it over. The bouncer didn't even bat an eye. That was one of the oldest no purse tricks in the book.

"You ladies enjoy."

And just like that, they were in. Opening the door was like crossing over into fairyland. There was a rush of hot wind that threatened both their skirts and the place was simultaneously packed and hopping. Raine grabbed up Becca's hand so that they wouldn't get seperated and did her best to make their way around to the bar.

Rebecca would likely tell Raine about her and Mirror’s escapades in Budapest at some point. She wanted her new roommate to meet Mirror for the first time without the knowledge that the two got drunk and hooked up on the X-Jet. After they met, then Becca could divulge any sordid details that should be shared with a friend.

She was also ready to explain her off-handed Scottish slang, but Raine stopped her. No explaining, no instructing, no teaching. ”Braw, ye stoatin mukker, nae mair explanations fur Scottish slang.” Sometimes Rebecca forgot how much she really Americanized her speech so at least some people might understand her. If people thought her accent was bad, they probably did not realize how much worse it could get.

Becca pulled her cover charge from her purse, and stifled a giggle when Rain recovered hers from within her bra. It was a classic storage space, though Becca preferred to leave her bra unfettered by stray bills. At the very least, they both got to enter and Becca held the hem of her dress as the warm air buffeted them. There was a sense of immediate relief as they escaped the cold.

The club lived up to the hype she had heard; upscale without being inaccessible or elite. The place was packed and lively, filled with loud music and bodies dancing. Becca was about to suggest where they should go next when her hand was claimed and she was tugged along. She took a moment to realize it was Raine leading them toward the bar—a solid choice. Becca trusted the blonde’s instincts.

They weaved their way through the crowds to the nearest bar and Becca leaned against it. They waited for a moment, but the male bartender spotted the pair and headed over to them pretty quickly—before some of the patrons who had been waiting, Becca noticed. She flashed a smile at the bartender and gave a quick moment of thought. ”Guid day, coods Ah please gie a cosmopolitan?” She gestured to Raine and grinned. ”An' Ah’m buyin' whatever thes lovely lady haur is drinkin' since she lit me drag 'er it.” She winked at Raine; if her friend was going to indulge her in a last-minute night out, Becca was going to show her appreciation.

Raine had been trying to be nice and force her friend to take a step back from her usual. Well, one step back also happened to be one full step over Raine's head. Some of it was decipherable because of tone and context. But now, she had to bite her tongue lest she have to ask what a 'stoatin mukker' was.

Best guess? It sounded like a fish... which probably fit since Raine's mouth had opened. And shut. And then opened again.

What did you say to something you could not comprehend?

Nothing. But, oh hey! Look! A distraction called the bar!

The blonde employed her squirmiest charm to get them to the bar and Rebecca took it from there. She was tall enough and striking enough to get some attention right away. She might not realize that was a superpower all on its own, but it was.

A cosmo was as classic as Making Love in Manhattan, that show with all the brazen sexy ladies who met for brunch. It was tempting to follow suit, but in Raine's experience cosmos were hit or miss depending on who made them.

"I want a vodka gimlet." After a cursory glance at their IDs, the busy bartender went to start on their order. Raine confided her reasoning to Becca. "Because no evening should start with gin. Or end with it. Or include it at all." Gin was the enemy. It was 100% possible that she'd only had cheap gin and that was the source of her hate, but in the meantime, Raine would just continue to avoid it. Plus a gimlet was like a boozy limeade and practically unf***upable.

"What's the plan?" The cosmo came up first while Raine turned to survey the crowded space. "You see anything you like?" Not that they'd come in with the mission of finding someones to come home with, but to Raine, that was pretty much always an option. She could fall in love every day of the week.

There was nothing quite like New York nightlife. People said New York never slept, because why would someone sleep when there were clubs all over the city filled with pulsing music, strong drinks, and sexual tension filling the empty spaces between dancers. Becca was once a timid foreign transfer student, but over time, she blossomed into the extroverted Becca of the current day. It was refreshing for her to be around people like that, and the energy around her was already pushing away some of the frustration of her work week.

Strangers and crowds were nice, but nothing made a night better than someone she knew and liked by her side. Raine ordered herself a drink, followed by a surprisingly passionate decrying of gin. Becca smirked as she handed her card over to the bartender to start her tab. ”Sae if Ah had ordered a gin an’ tonic tae start mah nicht? Woods Ah hae been disavowed as a roommate? Ur is gin-appreciation a forgivable sin?”

It was very easy to learn new things about Raine, because Raine was so unabashedly open with her words. At any moment, she could go off on a tangent, and when she did, Becca always found herself smiling.

With their drinks in hand, the two women looked around at the crowds and Raine asked about her thoughts on the people in the club, and indirectly, her intentions. ”Oh, Ah dinnae abit aw that. Ah’m nae here tae be swept off mah feet.” If there was one thing Becca was not actively shopping for, it was a potential partner. She was still seeing Mirror, though they would each point out that they were just friends-with-benefits, and she still had her… “arrangement” with her Mis—Agnes, though she had not heard from her in a few days, which was odd. With two people on her plate, Becca was not clamoring to add another option.

Though if one fell into her lap, she was not exactly going to kick them off… ”Thocht Ah’m lookin’ tae get saim dancin’ in wi’ whoe’er Ah can grab,” she admitted with a toothy grin. ”Hoo abit ye, Raine? Do ye hae someain ye hae yer eye oan, er anythin’ ‘at might strike yer fancy?” She looked around the crowd, curious. ”Whit’s yer ‘type,’ anyway?”

> "Sae if Ah had ordered a gin an’ tonic tae start mah nicht?"

"Total disavowment! You'd remit your next month's rent and be out on the street!" As if Raine had such power. She hoped by the sh*t-eating grin she sported that it was all a silly joke. But just in case, she had to add. "Nah. Mostly it means you'd have to have at least a decent drink before we made out." And really. There was no danger of that until they were a few more drinks in.

Once she had her drink in hand, Raine could really relax and survey the lay of the land. There was the valley of dancing, they were loitering on the edge of the lake of imbibement, up high there appeared to be a little ring of semi-private booths on a second level-- Raine decided that was Mt. Doom. Neither of them should be going up there alone.

> "Ah’m nae here tae be swept off mah feet.”

"That the best, though. When you least expect it and when you stop looking, BAM! That's when love hits." Or lust. She probably meant lust. Still, the idea was totally romantic. A girl just out doing her thing and then whammo true love without even meaning to.

So that narrative meant they absolutely should not be looking. But it didn't hurt to scout things out first, right?

They needed a dancer for Becca. And... hmmm. What was she in the mood for today? "Let's find somebody fun-sized for me!" Raine indicated her height with her non-drink hand. There was something especially intimate about being the same height.

Raine took Becca’s admission of gin-related-guilt very seriously, clearly, as she leveled the totally not over-the-top threat of disavowment and eviction. Becca’s pout in reply kept breaking into a grin, because it was hard not to laugh and smile around the peppy blonde.

The smile went slack-jawed for a moment when Raine caught her off guard, teasing her about the required conditions for a drunken make out session. She bounced back quick. ”Well, Ah think Ah know whit jist lost a spot oan mah bev list tonecht.” It was mostly a joke; Rebecca had plenty on her plate without dragging another lovely woman into her mess of a sex life. Then again, if a little tipsy kissing happened, what was the harm, really?

The club was lively and broken neatly into the motivations of its patrons. There were the people at the bar, vying for bartender attention and a way to let go of their inhibitions. There were the booths overhead surrounding the dancefloor where people could claim a more intimate place to take their wild night without losing the party and the feeling from the dance floor.

And then there were the dancers. Becca would never attest to being the best dancer, and more often than not, she felt self-conscious on the dance floor, but that did not mean she did not thrive on the energy. It was a place to lose yourself, and just like on Gina’s birthday, it was way more fun to get lost with a friend.

Raine did not have things easy, yet she found ways to be positive, and she seemed to have the optimistic heart of a romantic. It was the kind of attitude Rebecca had once upon a time. She still thought it was possible for someone like Raine, but Becca just wanted to avoid screwing up another relationship. ”Weel, lassie, soonds loch ye micht jist be ain meet-cute away frae a whirlwind romance,” she teased playfully.

They were going to have their fun, and while neither of them was looking for someone, they did need dance partners. ”Short an’ cute, eh? Ah think we can make ‘at work.” Becca knew Raine was bisexual, so they had options, but they were going to have an easier time finding a girl who was a match for the tiny blonde’s height. ”Ah’ll jist pick a free body oan th’ floor.” If Agnes asked her about it, she figured there would be less trouble to get into if she danced with the nearest person rather than picking out a potential partner.

”Bit as fer ye…” Becca looked away from the dance floor for a moment. There were plenty of dancers, but it was hard to pick one out of the crowd. Instead, she noticed a girl further along the bar. She had olive skin and almost as many freckles as Becca, and her brown hair fell in ringlets above her shoulders. ”She’s a cutie, an’ e’en wi’ those heels, Ah think ye coods stand toe-tae-toe an’ match. Whit dae ye think?” she asked, before excitedly adding, ”Ah coods be yer wing-woman!”

Could Raine dance with short and cute Ms. Heels? The blonde had to strain and stretch to even pick out who Becca was even talking about. She knew she was a she from the heels comment, but it sent Raine's nerves all aflutter. Shes dances with other shes in her universe ALL THE TIME, sure. But Raine had not. She'd thought about it. Admired a few from afar. But she knew that there would be no keeping that from her family at home. Somehow they'd know and see it on her face or read it in her stars.

So while she'd confessed to Becca that she was bisexual, what she really meant was that she thought was pretty sure she was bisexual and hadn't especially had the excuse to explore that.

So. She had the flutters.

"What does wingwoman entail?" As cavalier as Raine was being about the bar experience, this was not her scene.

On campus parties where she could find a nook to debate someone about the merits of CGI in vampire films and then angry makeout?
Sure!

Flirt across the counter or over the phone to customers?
A daily staple!

Approaching someone who was a 9 or 10 while they stood at the bar?

"Don't you think she's a bit out of my league?" Raine probably wouldn't have said that about a man unless it was Adonis himself and even then she'd take a chance. She understood that dynamic. There just weren't the same societal rules for gay culture. Not that Raine knew of anyway.

Rebecca had a high opinion of Raine because she was sweet, charming, and her friend, so of course she was great. Despite her protestations to the contrary, Raine was also attractive with a petite, athletic build, long blonde hair, and captivating clear blue eyes. She was even great at accentuating that last trait, because the girl’s eyeliner and makeup were always flawless. As far as Becca was concerned, Raine could go toe to toe with any girl at the club, and they should count themselves lucky to have her as a dance partner, (unless maybe her toes were actually on her partner’s toes. That might spoil the moment.)

With an attractive young woman in sight, Becca grinned at her younger friend. She was ready to be a great wingwoman, though when Raine asked what that entailed, Becca simply shrugged. ”Nae clue.” Best to learn by doing, right? ”Bit Ah’d think it means helpin’ tae strike up conversation an talk ye up. Maybe say saimthin’ when ye get bashful an’ quiet.” This would be Becca’s first time watching her friend flirt, so she had to be ready for anything.

Becca was already taking a step in the direction of the woman, but Raine seemed hesitant, questioning her friend’s choice, earning a pout from the Scot. ”First aff, Ah’ll nae hear ye talkin’ abit yerself like anyain is it ay yer league. Secondly, Ah’m nae really sure if the gay scene has leagues. It’s still small enaw ‘at Ah’m sure we barely constitute a team.” The dating scene grew larger every year, but that did not mean every girl at the bar would be interested in another girl.

Becca mentally prepared for that as the worst case scenario of Raine’s flirting attempt, but she was not letting Raine worm her way out of trying. ”Come on, yer in a whole new world. Whit better excuse tae take a big sip ay ‘at drink an take a chance?”