"He's gonna like you no matter what, Hannah, I've seen it in his face."

"Regardless of what he thinks..." I held up a white number in front of me. "Too wedding?"

"Too puffy in the front," Maude responded. I placed the dress back on the rack and continued the hunt. 

"I want to look nice on our...." Date? Maude picked up a few dresses behind me and jogged to keep up. "I want to look nice. I didn't buy much our last trip."

"That's true," Maude admitted while inspecting some blue blouses. "And I'm not one to turn down a shopping trip with my Hanny." Flowy florals, A-line polka dots, pencil dresses...nothing here really stood out to me. My style hadn't changed much from the past year. I still wore bras for tops and mini skirts revealing leather garters. But it was still a tad too cold for such extremes. Though most of the long sleeved dresses weren't quite to my taste... Out of the corner of my eye I could see Maude putting quite a collection together but I didn't pay much attention to what she picked. 

Something in my budget would be a nice touch.

I thought I saw a slinky black thing on the rack to my left but it ended up being a scarf. Even that was a little too risqué for me. 

Not that Angus would mind. 

Tired and overwhelmed we ended up at the dressing room and I still hadn't picked anything up. Except a pair of black sunnies. I mean, it's always summer somewhere. I turned around and Maude loped up to me holding what looked to be the entire shop in her arms. "Here, try some of these on." The pile fell into my arms and I couldn't see in front of me. 

"Thanks," I gasped.

Blindly I stumbled into the room and dropped all the clothes on the floor. "I'll be on the hunt for more!" Maude called out.

"Take your time!" I yelled back. Rifling through I picked up what I liked at first sight and tried each one on. The best one was a dark blue floral satin slip dress with a sparkly mesh top layer. Not bad, I'd have to hold on to that one. Setting it aside, I pulled up a brown sheep that made my hands itch on contact. Hideous. 

One by one I sorted through the dresses and skirts and finally found the slinky black one I was looking for. It ended up being long sleeved but the short length made up for it. Knee high boots would do nicely with it. That went in the "yes" pile. 

"Find anything?" Maude asked outside the door. I was just checking myself out in an enormous green sheet thinking I looked like Lady Liberty when I grabbed the rejects and held them out to her. 

"These can go back to the chef," I said trying to show respect towards the designers who were nowhere near my dressing room. 

"These can get set on fire," Maude said taking them from me, her eyes wide in horror. "Who picked these out?" 

I smiled and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "You did."

After Maude disposed of the "no" pile I dressed in my original pink Los Angeles jumper and collected the winners. It cost less than I was expecting, but after all it was a charity shop. 

I snagged the sunnies too. 

No need to wear them though as the cloudy skies had turned to a light rain. Maude had been clever enough to take an umbrella and we huddled close on our trek for food. Once inside the cafe we took a booth and a waitress took our orders. Maude lay the umbrella next to her on the bench. "Brett thinks he can get me a gig at a bar next week," she said sipping on her water. Her hoop earrings swayed as she flipped her hair back. "It's a swanky joint, live performances are booked to the year '89."

"That's great," I said stirring my ice. "What day is it? We can go together."

"Friday night. Supposed to be packed. Handouts welcome and the owners pay you a bit." She shrugged. "I'm not sure about it, though..." Her polished nails clinked against the glass. "I'm used to playing at home around friends and the locals," she explained. "Once in a while you get a visitor. But these are completely different people, a completely different audience! What if they don't like it?"

"Well...." As someone who was more groupie than musician herself, I didn't know much about audiences differing by country and how they received music. I couldn't give her a scientific answer but I could give support. "If they don't like you, they're missing out." 

How cliche. 

The waitress returned with our food. Maude nibbled her spinach pizza while I tucked into my chicken burger. Spewing chicken crumbs at a vegetarian might not be helpful so I set it down for the moment. "You're good, who cares what's popular?"

"Paying pub owners, paying customers, the like. Just to name a few."

Okay, fair point. "But you're not just in it for the money, right?"

"No," she said. I wiped my hands on the napkin. 

"Play the music you want to play, who cares what anyone else thinks." Maude stared at me with a kind of disbelief hidden beneath a smile. 

"And if I'm booed offstage?"

"Then you and I will go somewhere else," I said simply. "And then they'll have no music to wash down their beer." I took a bite. "And then they'll be sad."

Maude laughed. "They'll be too drunk to care. Well, hey. If they don't like me, I'll just have a few drinks myself and forget the whole thing ever happened." I nodded my head in support.

"Yeah. And I'll walk you home."

"And Brett?" Shit, almost forgot about him. He's on the skinny side for sure but he's still a very tall full grown man. One who isn't shy with alcohol himself. 

"Well....." Maybe I couldn't get them home by myself, but if I had help.... "Is it possible I could bring a friend along...?" I didn't want to ask too much. I was already Maude's guest, I didn't want to push our luck of bringing more people. She bared her teeth in an impish grin. 

"Why? You want to bring your Angus McLips to the bar with you? Have a pash in the bathroom? Fogging up all the mirrors?" My face was a beetroot. 

"N-no! I was just thinking he could help herd you two back after a night out," I explained. No pashing included.

"As long as they're paying customers I don't think the owner will care one way or another who you bring." 

Problem was, neither Angus nor I drank very much. Maybe the bar served tea and bikkies? Maude had returned to her pizza and seemed intent on dropping the subject. With that settled we finished our food and left the cafe, the rain bearing down hard and fast. Our plan was to see Big Ben strike twelve and hear the beautiful bell in action but neither of us felt like standing in the rain and waiting so we went back to the hotel for a nice swim in the indoor pool. Luckily I had the afterthought of bringing one bikini along with me, just in case. 

**********

Nothing like the smell of chlorine in a warm and humid environment....nostalgic in a way. A couple of other hotel guests, I assume a group of friends, had set up some chairs and swam on the other side of the large pool. Maude and I kept to our side relishing the warm water. "Woah, look at that guy," Maude said casually gesturing toward a tall man with long brown hair. "Not bad looking..."

I stared at him. His face was nice, sure, and long hair suited him. Perfect white teeth in his smile. His body was what I assumed society deemed desirable. But Maude looked ready to pounce. I quickly averted my gaze thinking he might see my staring as an invitation. Knowing how to swim would have been a great distraction as I could focus on my strokes instead of standing there like a wading baby. 

"His lady friend is kind of hot too." I glanced up to see a young woman with short blonde hair and a narrow face with high cheekbones among their company. The pair were sitting together on the edge of the pool hands entwined. 

Was she?

I could agree she was very pretty but....

But....

It was then I realised I wasn't actually sure what hot meant. Nice to look at? Or someone you wanted to go to bed with? Not wanting to say something I didn't mean I kept quiet but looked silently back and forth between Maude and the couple. 

Angus was attractive. I've always known that but it really set in once I got drunk. His smile, the way he spoke, his tiny frame, his rather strong arms....

Was this what Maude meant? 

But those people on the other side of the pool were strangers, Angus was my....whatever he was. Getting to know him and seeing him for who he really was piqued my romantic interest. A small wave of water doused me and I snapped out of my thoughts to see Maude grinning at me. 

"Lost in the chlorine clouds, are we?" she asked. Instead of answering I distracted her with a splash in her direction and a small friendly row broke out between us. Maude had the advantage of knowing the basics of swimming and was able to dodge any oncoming attacks. I was just about to lose royally when a lifeguard blew his whistle. Apparently we were disturbing the peace so we swore vengeance later. 

After a relaxing swim, if you could call me walking near the deep end swimming, we returned to our hotel room for showers and a hot meal. 

"You can shower first, I'll cook dinner," I offered. 

One search through the fridge and I could tell we'd need to shop again. I made a mental note of it and pulled out some leftover rice and beans. It wasn't much but it'd tide us over until tomorrow. Quickly heating some up in a bowl I covered it with foil and brought out some bowls. Maude's shower was over quick and soon it was my turn. 

I fucking love showers. 

Warm water, shampoo, soap....

I washed the chlorine out of my hair and grabbed the body soap. It felt light in my hands and I made another note to pick up some more while I shopped. 

Vegetables, fruit, whole grain bagels, eggs, soap, pads, some chicken for me and olives for Maude...

And chocolate for the both of us.

I stepped out and toweled off, my stomach almost roaring at me to hurry up. Almost tripping over myself to get to the kitchen I filled my bowl up and joined Maude once again on the couch where she watched a cheesy sitcom. 

"You're just in time, get this," she said with her mouth full. "This guy's blaming his girlfriend for his pink slip instead of his own idiocy. And it's supposed to be funny!"

A marathon of the show was playing until ten so we stayed up to make fun of it. I couldn't have asked for a better day than spending time with my best friend.