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from. Daniela had good intentions. Except in my
experience, surprises could be a bad thing. A very bad thing.
     
    The plan was to meet Cody
and Justin at the bar so we called for a cab to pick us up outside our dorm.
The driver was a young guy with brown hair and lovely green eyes who turned out
to be not much older than us. He explained that he was a senior English major
and took a part-time job driving cabs on weekends to help pay for his tuition.
He was friendly and I found myself thinking that if my date turned out to be
half as pleasant as him, I would consider the night well-spent.
    The cab
slowed to a stop outside the front entrance to the bar. There was a large pink
neon sign out front of a bearded cartoon squirrel that had a beer mug in hand.
Toward the side was the parking lot which was mostly full with cars and trucks.
A few vehicles even spilled out onto the open grass area nearby. This place was
apparently very popular. I hadn’t been to many bars but from what I could tell
by the number of people flooding inside and the cars parked all around, this
one was unusually large. From the outside, the wooden square building didn’t seem
that big, so it either extended further back than I could see from the front or
it would be ridiculously packed when we got inside.
    “Ladies,
here you are,” the driver said. “I hope you have a wonderful night. Name’s Ryan
by the way. Here’s my card. Call me if you need a ride back to campus.” He
winked one green eye. “My shift goes until five AM.”
    “Thank you
so much!” Daniela said, handing him a twenty and taking his card. “We’ll
definitely give you a call when we’re ready to head back.”
    I offered
my thanks and gave him a tip. After giving us a salute, he drove off.
    Daniela
turned to me. “Night’s off to a great start already huh? Aren’t you glad you
came out?”
    I had to
admit it felt good to be out instead of being cooped up in my room like I
usually was. “Ryan was actually kind of cute,” I found myself saying to her.
    “If you
thought he was cute, you’re gonna love Justin!”
    I smiled.
We followed a gaggle of girls up the wooden steps to the entrance to the bar. A
big burly guy with a black skullcap and a scruffy beard with braids in it stood
by the door with his arms crossed across his barrel chest. Uh oh. Security.
    “Ladies,
welcome.” His voice was low and gruff.
    Daniela
reached into her purse for her wallet and flashed her fake ID. Her hand was
still and she beamed a confident smile, having practiced the routine more than
a few times. I was about to do the same when the guy waved his hand
dismissively. “No worries, you’re good. Just don’t get too rowdy or I’ll have
to kick your asses out. Got it?”
    We both
gulped and nodded.
    He smiled,
uncrossed his arms, and gestured inside. “Enjoy your night.” He flashed us a
pearly white grin that seemed too kind for someone that looked like he
manhandled “rowdy” college kids on a nightly basis.
    Once we
got inside, I turned to Daniela. “Did that just happen? They don’t even check
IDs here? Won’t they get shut down?”
    Daniela
shrugged. “Who cares, right? That’s not our problem. As long as we’re in, we’re
good to go.”
    We scanned
the bar, craning our necks over the crowd of people to try to spot our dates. I
didn’t know who I was looking for, but that didn’t stop me from looking. The
bar was brimming with people but not wall-to-wall crowded as I imagined it
would be. I didn’t recognize the loud rock music playing probably because I was
more a Taylor Swift fan than a Nine Inch Nails one. It was probably a
fifty-fifty mix between college students and recent grads but there was
definitely nobody older than forty.
    Daniela’s
cell phone chimed and she checked the new text message she received. “They got
a table near the back. It’s supposed to be next to a giant moose head mounted
on the wall.”
    We
maneuvered our way through the crowd toward the back