"So, have you ever been to this place that Ash said he's taking us tonight?" Aidan queried as she looked through her bags. "Do I need to pull out my dressy outfit, or are jeans okay?"

      "Yeah, he's taken me there a few times, and ya should prolly pull out the good stuff," Aerin replied. "Which reminds me, I should find myself somethin' to wear before he gets home. And we'd both better get a shower in, too, cuz he takes fuckin' forever to get his shit together when he goes out. Especially since he's been working on the new flip today, he'll have to get rid of all the sawdust, or insulation, or whatever the hell he carries in with him this time."

      Aidan finally located the clothes she planned to wear for their outing, then followed her friend across the hall into her room, which was done almost completely in shades of purple: Pale lavender walls, with the wall and window trim, as well as the built-in bookcases, painted a glossy violet, matching the bedcovers and drapes. A pewter-gray deep-pile carpet provided the only contrast, and kept the purple theme from being overpowering. Aidan looked  around the room, then glanced across the hall at the teal-and-cream room where she had slept for the past four nights. "This might be a weird question, but how is it that these two rooms are the only ones that aren't done in black and white?" she inquired.

      Aerin's voice came from the depths of her closet, saying, "Because when he got the wild hare up his ass to redecorate not long after I moved in, I told him I wasn't really into that, and he was okay with it. Not like everybody that comes here is gonna see it anyway, so what difference does it make?"

      "Kinda sounds like the scene in 'Beetlejuice' where the guy is perfectly happy with the house he's just bought, but the crazy wife has all sorts of weird ideas about redecorating the house. She tells him that she needs to 'express herself', and informs him that if he won't go for it, 'I will go insane, and I will take you with me!' They're in sort of a den-type room at the time, and he caves, as long as she agrees to leave that room alone for him, and she says okay, and licks his face."

      "I'll have to take your word, since I've never seen it," Aerin replies. "And, since I seemed to be kind of on a roll there, I pointed out that he might want to have at least one of the guest rooms done a bit differently, in case somebody dropped in that didn't share his taste in decorating. Which is why you're not sleeping in a big square referee's uniform. Or a fuckin'zebra, however ya wanna look at it."

      As Aerin perused the clothing that she'd laid out, trying to decide what to wear, her phone started ringing, and Aidan was slightly startled by the speed with which her friend practically leapt across the bed to clutch at the device, and puzzled when the other woman muttered "Excuse me a sec," and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it. 

      Since it seemed that she was left to her own devices for the duration, Aidan decided that she might as well take her shower while no one else was using up the hot water, and headed back to the guest room, and its attached bath. As she rummaged in her bag for shampoo and shower gel, she heard footsteps coming down the hall, and Ashley's voice called out, "Hey, where y'all at?"

      "I'm right here!" she yelled back, and he appeared in the doorway, closely followed by Sparrow. "I was just getting ready to shower, since we didn't figure that you'd be home quite this early."

      "We hit a problem with the water lines, so we had to stop until they can look it over and tell us exactly what needs to be done," he replied. 

      "That sounds like it might suck just a bit. How long do you think it might hold you up?"

      "That entirely depends," he said. "If it's just a leaky pipe in the wall, or even in the connections under the house, maybe just a couple days. But if we have to get into having contractors come and dig up the yard, and all that happy horseshit, who knows. Maybe a week or longer." He turned his head, looking up and down the hall, then inquired, "Where's Aerin?"

      "She's locked in her bathroom with her phone," Aidan informed him. "She got a call or a text a few minutes ago, and took off like she was being chased by a beholder or something."

      "By what now?" he queried, giving her a very puzzled look.

      "Sorry, I forgot you're not a gamer," Aidan snickered. "It's a D&D monster, basically a big floating round thing with lots of teeth, one big eye in the center, and eyestalks on top, that each have a different magical ability. Not something that most adventuring parties look forward to encountering."

      "Gee, couldn't imagine why," he deadpanned. "It sounds positively charming."

      At that moment, Aerin stepped out of her room, and when she spotted Ashley, she said, "Didn't expect to see you for another couple hours yet. Looks like we're gonna be down to the wire gettin' our showers in, Aidan."

      "Nope, you two can go first today," Ashley informed her. "I didn't have a chance to get muddy or itchy, or anything like that, so I can wait a bit." He explained the water problems to his roommate, then decided to continue on to the kitchen for some coffee while they showered.

      As he turned the corner into the living room, Aidan turned to her friend and asked, "Everything okay? You seemed a little freaked out a bit ago."

      Aerin hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Yeah, sorry about runnin' out on ya like that, but I had to finalize some arrangements for my birthday next week."

      "Ooh, taking a bit of a vacation, huh? Where are you going?" Aidan inquired.

      "No, I'm not goin' anywhere, I've actually got someone coming here. Y'see, I didn't plan on saying anything just yet, but I've kinda been... talking to a guy."

      Aidan's face showed surprise as she responded, "Really? Since when?"

      "Remember me telling you about Ash taking me to the concert a couple months ago? Well, I met him there, and we've been texting and Skyping since then. I didn't want to say anything until I know for sure how things are gonna turn out, so I don't jinx myself."

      "I guess I can understand that. Any chance we'll run into him in town tonight?"

      Aerin shook her head and replied, "No, we're sort of doing a long-distance thing. Like I said, I don't wanna go into a lot of detail until I know if it's going somewhere, so all I'm gonna say right now is that his name is Rob, and he runs a restaurant in Florida. You'll have to wait for anything more specific than that. Hell, the only reason Ash knows more than that is because he was there when we met!"

      "That's fine, I'm not asking for details," Aidan declared. "Your relationship, your business. Now, we'd better go get our showers, before Ash finishes with his coffee, if he takes as long as you say he does."

      They headed to their respective bathrooms to start getting ready for their evening, and once they were finished, Aerin went to let Ashley know that he could take his turn, then returned to her room to finish her preparations. Aidan then discovered that Aerin hadn't really been exaggerating  when both of them were dried made up, dressed, and had been waiting in the living room for over forty minutes before Ashley made his appearance in a pair of black leather pants and a blindingly-white button-down shirt, with a shimmering gray jacket that Aidan recognized from one of his photo shoots draped over one arm.

      "You look very nice, Ash," Aidan declared. 

      "Yeah, I guess you do clean up pretty good," Aerin drawled, giving him a teasing smirk.

      "Glad I meet your approval. You two look pretty good yourselves," he chuckled, as he looked them both over. Aerin had chosen to wear a red brocade corset-style halter top, a pair of silky black slacks, and black ankle boots. Over the corset, she wore a shawl that Aidan had made as her birthday gift, crocheted with a sparkling copper-colored metallic yarn. Meanwhile, Aidan sported a sleeveless black dress with large, kite-shaped pieces of multi-colored batik fabric set into the seams, which gave the skirt an asymmetrical hemline, and caused it to flare dramatically. She had also chosen to wear sheer black pantyhose embossed with small peace signs, and gold high-heeled sandals that coordinated with the gold lightning-like design imprinted on the batik panels.

      As he took a closer look, Ashley remarked, "Would I be correct in thinking that your dress is handmade, Aidan? And did you do it yourself?"

      "That obvious, huh?" she sighed. "I guess I should go change real quick."

      "No, that's not what I meant at all," Ashley hurried to explain. "It looks fantastic, and I'm actually pretty damn impressed with it. I just wasn't sure if you'd done it, or someone else."

      She acknowledged that she had indeed made it herself, and as they made their way to the Oldsmobile, and he drove to the restaurant, Aerin was hard-pressed to decide whether her friends chattering about fashion trends and fabric was amusing, or simply annoying. Then, just as they reached the parking garage, the skeleton of an idea flashed through her mind, and she muttered under her breath, "Hmm. If I play it right, this might be my ticket to give you a taste of your own medicine, Purdy. Maybe not this time, but pretty damn soon."

      "Did you say something, sugar?" Ashley inquired as he eased the car into a parking slot.

      "Nothin' major, Ash. Just mumbling to myself. You know all this fancy crap isn't really my thing."

      "Oh, give it a rest, it's not going to kill you to dress up every now and again," he retorted. "I mean, I'm sure you'll end up pulling out a few stops every now and then for you-know-who, won't you? I bet he'd be more than willing to convey his appreciation." 

      Aerin shot him a glare, and made a gesture which meant nothing to Aidan, but had Ashley holding up his hands in surrender. "Shut it, asshat!" she growled. "I told you already, that is not a topic for discussion until we know where things are gonna go."

      "Okay, I'm sorry I brought it up," he apologized. "What say we just go get ourselves a nice meal and table this subject, before someone gets themselves hurt. Most likely me."

      Once they had all exited the vehicle, Ashley wrapped an arm around each woman and escorted them to the restaurant, where the hostess led them to a table on the far side of the room. He held each woman's chair for her before taking his own seat, and they gave the waiter their drink orders. Then, just after he left, they heard a female voice call out, "Hey, Ash! Why didn't you tell us you were gonna be here tonight? We could have just made it a party!"

      All three turned to look, and saw a dark-haired woman waving from a table full of people just a few feet away. He glanced at his companions, and asked, "When the waiter comes back, would you mind if I ask them to move us to the table next to theirs? That way, we're not actually joining the group, since I know you're not much for big groups, sugar. But we'd be close enough to avoid getting thrown out because they keep yelling across the room. Which I guarantee at least two of them will do."

      Both Aerin and Aidan agreed to the request, as did the hostess when Ashley called her over, so they were moved to the table next to the larger group. Once they were settled, he proceeded to introduce his friends, mainly to Aidan, as his roommate had met most of the other people at least once. Aidan recognized his friends Joey and Chisa from pictures he had posted to his Instagram account, and another girl, whose name was Sedona, had appeared in one of his music videos. The rest of the group consisted of Sedona's boyfriend, James, another man who was introduced as Shi, and a pretty African-American girl named Crystal. They chatted back and forth until their meals arrived, then things quieted considerably until everyone in the room was startled by a piercing shriek of, "Ashley Purdy! What the hell do you think you're doing, running around with other women behind my back!?"

      As he dropped his face into his hand, mumbling, "Oh, fuck me with a chainsaw," his companions turned to see a slender redhead in a skin-tight, pale-green  micromini dress and stilleto heels marching toward the table. Aerin rolled her eyes and laid her fork on the table, tensing as if she meant to leave her seat, and their reactions made Aidan fairly sure that this was the woman they had mentioned the first night, the one who was harassing Ashley.

      She reached their table, positioning herself between Ashley and Aidan and glaring at both. "I've been trying to get ahold of you for the last three weeks, and you haven't returned a single one of my calls. I guess I see why now, even though I can't begin to make sense of it," she trumpeted, gesturing toward Aidan with a dismissive motion of her hand. "I mean, seriously, Ash? We both know you can do better."

      They heard gasps from the other table, and Aerin opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Aidan turned her head, scanned the woman from head to toe, and drawled, "Well, if you're claiming to be an example of his taste in women, he obviously hasn't managed it so far, has he?"

      The adjacent table instantly erupted in applause and whistles, along with a number of congratulatory comments from the group:

      "Ouch, you might need some ice for that burn!" Joey called out.

      "Ooh, the snark is strong with this one!" James hooted, through peals of laughter.

      "I think I like her already," Chisa chortled. "Can we keep her?"

      The other redhead gaped at Aidan in astonishment, her mouth opening and closing like a landed fish as she searched for a comeback. Before she could find one, however, Ashley spoke up, his voice carrying clearly to most of the other diners as he declared, "Lydia, I've told you more times than I can remember that I'm not interested anymore. Yeah, you're gorgeous, and let's just say you've got... skills, but spending the night together twice does not translate to a lifetime commitment. Especially after you harass me, threaten me, and insult my friends. I've tried my best to be nice about it, but since that apparently doesn't work anymore, let me put it in terms you might understand. I don't want to see or hear from you any more, and I will be filing for a restraining order against you. And if you try to contact me again, I will press charges."

      After blinking at him in disbelief for several seconds, she opened her mouth and let out a shriek that reminded Aidan of an angry cat, then turned and dashed to a nearby table, grabbing a glass of red wine from one of the startled diners. She charged toward Ashley, obviously intending to pour the drink on him, but as she raised the glass, Aidan's hand shot out and grasped her wrist, jerking her arm sharply in the other direction. 

      This sent the deep-red liquid cascading down the front of the seafoam green dress, and brought forth another squall from Lydia. "You ignorant bitch! This is a two-hundred dollar dress!"

      "You mean it was," Aidan calmly replied. "Now it's junk."

      Lydia turned and raised her hands, as though she intended to strike at Aidan, but the restaurant manager and several waiters rushed over and intervened, escorting Lydia from the building and informing her that if she ever came back, they would have her arrested. They then spent the next several minutes trying to placate their customers, apologizing repeatedly and offering everyone complimentary drinks. 

      Once everything had settled down a bit, the three friends decided to finish their meal, although after Ashley spotted Lydia walking slowly past the windows a couple of times, he became somewhat anxious, worried that she might have found where he had parked the car and damaged it, or might intend to follow them home to cause another scene. "Well, I'm pretty sure the sign said that the garage has security cameras, so if she does something that stupid, it won't take the cops long to catch her," Aerin pointed out.

      "And you can just drive around a bit when we leave," Aidan chimed in. "If it looks like anybody's following us, then you can just drive to the police station, instead of going back to the house."

      He acknowledges the logic of their words, and manages to relax a bit, and clear most of his plate. Once they were done, they said their goodbyes to his friends and left the restaurant. As they stepped out onto the sidewalk, Ashley remarked, "I know you were right about the security cameras, but I still hope she didn't fuck with Evil-Lyn. It'd take fucking forever to get her back in the shape she's in now."

      "Your damn car is the least of your worries, asshole," Lydia's voice said from behind them. "You should worry about what shape you'll end up in once my dad gets done with you."

      As she spoke, three burly middle-aged men stepped around the corner of the restaurant, and one of them began yelling at Ashley, sounding barely coherent as he barreled toward him. The other two lumbered forward, moving toward Aidan and Aerin, each of them grabbing one of the women before they could get out of the way. The one who held Aidan around the waist said, "You two are gonna hang out with us while Kenny has a talk with Pretty Boy over there. They don't need you tryin' to tip the odds, or hollerin' for somebody to butt in."

      The two women glanced at each other, and without any words, realized that they'd had the same idea. They both relaxed their muscles, which loosened the men's holds on them, and after a few seconds, Aerin leaned forward slightly, then drove her elbow into her captor's flabby gut. This gave her enough slack to turn around and lift her right foot into his groin, which sent him to the pavement, choking and whimpering as she kicked him repeatedly. 

      Ashley and Lydia's father were still circling each other, and she was bouncing gleefully as she watched them, when everyone's attention was diverted by a shrill scream from the third man, and they all turned just in time to see that Aidan had grasped one of his index fingers in each hand, and was in the process of bending them backwards. Everyone, except Aidan, visibly flinched when they heard two dull cracking sounds, and the man stumbled away from her with both fingers bent backward in a position they could never achieve on their own. 

      "You want the big one, or the little one?" she asked Aerin.

      "I'll take the bitch, if that's okay with you," her friend replied, a rather unsettling grin playing across her face. "I'm pretty sure Ash can handle Jabba the Hutt over there, but you can make sure it plays fair." 

      As Aerin stalked toward Lydia, Aidan turned her attention to Ashley and the other man, reaching into her purse and pulling out her double-bladed knife, holding it so they both saw it. "If y'all wanna fight it out, go right ahead," she said. Glancing toward the older man, she continued, "But nobody here trusts you any further than they do your whackadoodle bitch of a daughter, so I'll tell you right now, Kenny: If it looks like you're even thinking about fighting dirty, you might just become a real-life South Park tag line. Capiche, fucknuts?"

      He merely glared at her without speaking, but gave a brief nod before he lunged at Ashley, who easily sidestepped, sweeping the bigger man's legs out from under him, dropping him to the concrete with an audible "Oof", as the air was forced from his lungs. Ashley moved toward him again as he struggled to get up, but at that moment, the sound of sirens filled the air, and they were all nearly blinded by the flashing lights as several cruisers came roaring from both ends of the street.

      Aidan quickly shoved the knife back into her purse before the first patrolman left his car, and soon found herself explaining the situation to one of the officers, as everyone else was doing, separated by several feet, to minimize their chances of coordinating their statements with each other. And, since each group was claiming that the other had started it, the police made the decision to take everyone to the stationhouse while they collected the security footage from the traffic lights and the restaurant.

      Everyone except Lydia and her father's friends, that is. The two men were taken to the hospital to have their injuries treated, and a pair of patrolmen were left with Lydia to determine if they could free her from the railing that Aerin had tied her to-by her hair- without resorting to a knife or scissors. 

      As the three friends settled into the back of one of the cruisers, Ashley turned to look at Aidan, and remarked, "Y'know, I was just thinking the other day that you might be a bit of a calming influence on Aerin, might help her learn a bit of restraint. But now I think I might have been wrong."

      And as the words left his mouth, even the two officers in the front seat were caught off guard by the near-hysterical laughter coming from both women, as Aidan patted Ashley on the knee, and managed to choke out, "You think you might have been wrong!?  Oh, sweetie, you ain't seen nothin' yet!"