For a moment, Ashley was worried that Cory wasn’t really keen on discussing the potential of working together. Which was fine, neither owed the other anything, but she’d thought they had the makings of a really good team. Then she realised why Cory’s attention was being drawn away – the sleaze was still keeping his eyes firmly on her. In any case, once Cory finally managed to turn her attention back to Ashley, it was with concern for her over-indulged companions rather than talk of business. Which, yeah, was definitely reasonable.

The sudden arm around her shoulder was unexpected, but definitely understandable as she noticed the glaring exchanges between Cory and the guy at the bar. She flashed her a grateful smile – it was nice to see Cory trying to be protective, even if Ashley was sure she could handle herself. It was just some guy trying to get lucky, after all.

No, the more immediate matter that required her attention were the two drunken, loveable idiots she was lucky enough to call friends.

“Getting these guys home would probably be a good idea,” she smiled in agreement, yanking Dana’s arm away from yet another pot of straws that had been foolishly left within her reach.

Dana shot her a filthy glare, but left it at that.

Marcus on the other hand was a little more difficult to persuade away from the bar. He’d finally tired of dancing and had been back to drink some more, leaving a disarray of empty glasses – mostly shots – in his wake. When Ashley quietly pointed out that they were going to go, pointing out Dana’s current state, he completely blanked her and tried to order another shot. The bartender politely declined to serve him.

“I’m not even that drunk,” he whined, pouting at Ashley. “Tell her! I’m not as think as you drunk I am, lady!”

“Oookay, time to go.”

As they left – Marcus trying his best to slip away at every opportunity – Ashley caught the guy at the bar out of the corner of her eye. He was standing up. Probably needed the loo.

Probably nothing, right?

Dana gasped and turned to Ashley. “She knows my name!” Then, pointing an accusatory finger at Cory, she frowned and said, “You psychic, dude?”

Ashley cast Cory an apologetic look before quickly flipping back to join in the excitement.

“It was so good! I loved how everything built.” She started talking animatedly with her hands to demonstrate. “It had everything and more from that original demo, I just love how it sounds like its own song. Seriously, I’m going to talk to someone at the studio and see if we can bring you in – maybe we could do a re-release or something!” Ashley’s eyes lit up.

Hopefully Cory was getting all of that; it was kind of hard to make yourself heard in a place like this. Especially when Dana was beside her, loudly chatting away to a nearby stranger about the classes she was taking next semester. The random girl was doing her best to look interested but clearly didn’t quite understand Dana’s anguish at having one whole 8am class every week.

“Excuse me?”

The bartender was leaning over the bar with what looked like a lime and soda in hand, trying her best to get Ashley’s attention over the noise. Ashley took a few moments to register that she was the one being spoken to and shuffled round in her stool to talk to her.

“Oh, thanks, but I didn’t actually order-”

“It’s from him.” The bartender jabbed her thumb towards an expectant looking guy who’d tried dancing with her earlier standing further down the counter. He was leering far too much for Ashley’s tastes and she was about to refuse when Dana reached out and grabbed the glass on her behalf – downing half and spilling the rest.

“Dana, no!” Ashley cried in exasperation. The bartender moved away to serve someone else and Ashley was left to endure the bemused and persistent gaze of the man who’d bought them the drink. Creep.

She ducked her head as she turned back to Cory.

“Sorry about that, guess he’s not one to take no for an answer…” Ashley shook her head. “Anyway, where were we?”

True to her word, Ashley was having the time of her life as she danced to Cory’s set-list. It was a good mix, definitely better than your usual college party playlist, and honestly it would have been difficult not to keep her promise. Marcus spent a lot of time heading to the bar but was generally pretty good company. It was nice to have a guy friend who wasn’t afraid to dance – even if his sole mission on the night was definitely to get drunk. A mission that, by the time Dana had arrived, was well on its way to completion.

“MACDADDY!”

The shriek in her ear was instantly recognisable – there was only one person who used that cringe-inducing nickname.

Two long, olive-toned arms pulled her into a sudden squeeze, lifting her momentarily from the ground. It was all the confirmation she needed.

Extracting herself, Ashley grabbed her friend’s hands. “Dana she just played my song, she just played my song and they loved it!”

Dana swayed a little before her. Despite not being 21 yet either, there was no neon bracelet dangling from her arm, and she’d obviously been pre-gaming. “I know! I just got here when it came on. Shit, I was jammin’, there’s no way I can resist a bit of MacDaddy.” She grinned. “Sorry I’m late, I ran into Homeless Toby and turns out he’s got a place now! So I like… went to check it out, and then Rosa was there so we did a few shots to celebrate, duh. And I guess I just lost track of time – you know how it is…”

Marcus appeared with two drinks in hand, one of which Dana took with a triumphant giggle.

“I can’t believe you know this chick, you so have to introduce us.”

Ashley nodded enthusiastically. “For sure. Now dance!”

________________________________________________________________________________


Ashley waited for Cory’s set to come to an end before she took up that offer of free food. Specifically, an enormous plate of nachos for her and Dana to share. Marcus was definitely looking a little worse for wear by now and was off throwing shapes on the dance-floor to the amusement of those who still managed to hold onto a certain degree of sobriety.

“Man,” Ashley said, mouth full of cheese, “I have just never – NEVER – been so pumped in a club before. Sure, playing my song was a definite highlight-” Dana grinned lazily in drunken agreement, “-but that whole set was amazing! I think she’s really, really talented and I just know I have to get her in the studio somehow.”

Dana grabbed yet another straw from the bar, now enjoying her drink through no less than six different coloured straws.

“Dude she’s coming over, ask her if she wants a straw.”

“Oh!” Ashley spun on her stool to grin at Cory. “Hey! What a set!!!” She was practically bouncing on her seat in excitement.

Dana spun too, holding out a bunch of straws in her hand.

“Ta-da!”

Smirking with a childish kind of satisfaction as Alice stood up for her in the face of such rude, height-based insults, Ashley’s expression quickly blended into one of bemused surprise. Turns out that this guy was not only very competitive, but he was also very confident – and forward with it. It was apparently quite an effective tactic, catching Ashley’s champion off-guard for a moment.

Jason was definitely trying to show off, and his score was suffering for it. Alice managed to keep her cool and was actually making her way to a victory by the last holes – at which point the guys both resigned themselves to a defeat and spent their time trying to impress the girls through humour rather golfing skill.

“You’ll never make that,” Ashley goaded as the other boy – Eli, sometimes confusingly referred to by his friend as "Teak" – balanced on one leg, lining up to shoot the ball backwards for what could have been a fairly straightforward final putt.

“Not with that attitude,” he said with a wink, proceeding to slice it and send the ball careening around the course to end up further away from the final hole than he’d started.

It was a moment that seemed to heal a bit of Jason’s wounded pride. He had, after all, actually managed to land his ridiculous trick shot that involved chipping it over Eli whilst he was lying down in the way. Ashley had actually applauded that one – it was a tricky shot made harder by Eli’s attempts to catch the ball mid-air.

“Can’t take you anywhere bro,” he sighed dramatically, turning to Alice and clapping a hand on her shoulder. “Looks like a spot’s open for a new mini-golf buddy. You in?”

Ashley immediately marched over and planted herself in between them, grabbing Alice’s arm.

“Nuh-uh, she’s mine, you’ll have to try and steal her for something else,” she insisted. “Like uh… miniature railways… or miniature horse racing… or something …does it have to be miniature?”

Eli caught Jason’s eye and sniggered. Clearly the miniature something that he was suggesting was not PG.

The big smile on Cory’s face was infectious as she made her way towards them, her eyes having lit up upon noticing Ashley’s presence. Ashley was amused to read the DJ’s t-shirt – yet again she was sporting some kind of amusing slogan, clearly not afraid of drawing attention to herself in her attire. Ashley felt simultaneously over and under-dressed in her dark jeans and vest-top, the only real adventurous part of her outfit being the high heels on her feet. It had been hard to decide what to wear – it wasn’t like she frequented clubs much – but she felt like she’d played it too safe. Next time.

She watched as Marcus shook Cory’s hand, his eyebrows clearly quirked in interest.

“Nice to meet you,” he said with a grin. “I’m Marcus – looking forward to your set.”

“Marcus works in a bar so I’ve promised him a fresher playlist,” Ashley explained cheerfully. “Apparently there’s only so many times a dude can listen to the Top 40 on repeat.”

“Ugh,” said Marcus, by way of agreement.

Ashley gasped excitedly. “Free food? I am so getting me some nachos later. Do I just give them my name?” Which name would she give? Probably McKenna… she hadn’t thought to mention that it was just an alter-ego before. She should probably inform Cory at some point – not right now though.

“I’ll dance!” she insisted. “My friend Dana’s gonna be here soon and she would sooner die than see me playing the wallflower.” True, and a good reason to invite Dana to such events. She was definitely in her element as a sorority girl, which meant Ashley always had a good time with her. In small doses.

Additionally, Ashley happened to think of herself as quite a good dancer. She attributed it at least in part to her deep affinity for music – a good sense of rhythm and flow went a long way.

“So, you gonna play my song, Coryelle?”

She didn’t even try to keep the excitement from her voice.

Honestly, Ashley had barely had time to think about her chance encounter with the budding DJ over the last few weeks. Everything was going at double-speed lately in her life and it didn’t leave many minutes in the day for pondering. And, even then, her pondering was dominated by thoughts and fears of her brother’s new superhero lifestyle. He and Alive gave her regular updates but unfortunately these did little to dispel her worries. Alice had accidentally put some drug dealer through a wall, after all.

Nevertheless, Cory’s text had been a wonderful reminder of that electrifying remix Ashley had first heard back in that Starbuck’s. She really needed to throw a finished version of that in the direction of her label some time.

She shot back a reply instantly, demanding further details and offering her congratulations. She wasn’t busy that Friday night anyway and it felt like a good opportunity to get together with some friends and listen to a talented aspiring artist.

________________________________________________________________________________


Neon bracelet firmly on her arm, Ashley followed Marcus into the decent throng of people filling the space. Marcus worked in an absolute dive precisely so that he could afford these nights out in venues that weren’t just brawls waiting to happen. Electryk seemed to tick this particular box. They were meeting another friend here too, but she was running late as usual, even though Ashley had lied about the start time to avoid such an occurrence. Oh well, Dana was sure to show up eventually.

Marcus did not have to wear the band-of-shame and subsequently had headed off to order his first drink at the bar. Ashley hovered several feet back, untempted by soda. She was more hoping that Cory would come good on her offer of bar food.

“So, is your friend hot?” Marcus asked, reappearing with drink in hand.

“Probably,” Ashley said, laughing. “I wouldn’t know. I guess she’s pretty.”

“Nice,” said Marcus.

“Too pretty for you,” Ashley interjected quickly, prodding him. “But that’s not the point anyway. It’s her music which is really impressive.”

Marcus nodded, one eyebrow raised in amusement. “You are still such a geek, Ash.”

“What?! It is amazing – you’ll see.”

“It better be, I don’t normally drag my sorry ass out this early and this sober on a Friday night.”

Ashley merely rolled her eyes in response.

She was genuinely so pleased for Cory and hoped that this first gig wouldn’t be the last she’d get to witness. Just one half of a remix had managed to show so much promise; she couldn’t wait to hear the rest of Cory’s repertoire.

Ashley cast her eyes about until she spotted Cory, grinning widely.

Hi, she mouthed across the dancefloor.

Then, echoing Cory’s initial awkwardness from the first time they’d met, she slowly raised her hand to wave stiffly before slowly dropping it back to her side.

She watched the set-up eagerly. She couldn’t wait for this.

“Dana’s on her way,” Marcus informed her, flashing his phone screen briefly in her face. “So I guess we’ll see her in three hours?”

“If we’re lucky,” Ashley replied with a smile. She wasn’t too worried if Dana showed or not. Ashley was only really here for one thing and – judging by the sudden lighting change – it was just about to begin.

“Batter up,” Ashley said, grinning.

She’d been enthusiastic about the plan right up until Alice was in agreement, and now Ashley was painfully aware that the plan involved hitting somebody with a golf putter with quite some force. She didn’t want to be responsible for bruises – although she supposed that was the worst likely outcome. As strong as she was, Ashley wasn’t sure that she’d be breaking any bones with this kind of move. All she had was Alice’s word that her power would work in this scenario, but she trusted it, and if that trust was misplaced then at least there wasn’t much of a risk.

“Y’know, I think they reached that conclusion back on the first hole when my rogue golf ball nearly took out a grandma and her grandkids,” she said wryly. “Definitely just stupid kids.”

Whatever hesitancy remained in Ashley quickly dissipated as Alice slipped into a completely alien impersonation of the bitchy head cheerleader type who so commonly graced the screens of teen television. It was a lot easier to motivate herself to swing her putter in the direction of somebody obnoxiously popping imaginary bubblegum.

“C’mon hole in ONE!” Ashley yelled excitedly, whipping the putter up and straight into Alice’s face as she tried her best to stare intently at the course in front of her.

She flinched instinctively just before she imagined the putter would connect but… instead of an impact, there was nothing!

It was like the putter had just halted in mid-air – deciding against its designated course of action – and simply rested itself gently on Alice’s cheek. In actuality, this halting had occurred the moment it had reached her face, instantly sapping the energy from Ashley’s swing.

She lowered the putter slowly.

“Woah, that’s cool.” With wide eyes, Ashley moved closer to inspect Alice’s face. Not even a touch of redness. “I can see why you wanna go fight crime now.” She lowered her voice, eyes gleaming with excitement. “You’re invincible!”