Lucid Cove: Darkside Up Vol.1

Suddenly Miso's phone rang, It was Lysa, her best friend and biggest motivator; Miso perked up instantly. "Hey L's! What's the word bird?"

"Are you home?" Her whining sounded like needles in Miso's ear, "I just left the lamest date ever and I have wine."

"Definitely home, but we might have to make a trip to re-up on the wine."

"Girl, that's fine. Is Lucus home?"

"Mhmm, he's here."

Lysa was silent for 10 seconds. "Yeah, I'm gonna grab a couple more bottles of wine then. I'll be there in 15."

Miso erupted into laughter; Lysa always had a knack for hearing what wasn't said. "I love you L's."

"I love you too girl - you know I got you. I'll see you soon."

"Peace." Miso hung up the phone.

Miso leaned back in her chair, and analyzed her feelings. It's a shame that her friends make her feel better than her man. Speaking of which, guess who started knocking on her door.

"Yes?" Miso called out from her seat. Lucus pushed the door, letting it swing open.

He sniffed, "What are you in here laughing about?"

"Lysa's coming by. She should be here in about 15 minutes."

"Aw, well... what was so funny?" He pushed.

"A comment she made..." Miso took a moment to really look at Lucus, he was watching her suspiciously, "She's bringing wine. I told her one bottle would be fine, but she's going to bring three with her instead."

His face relaxed. "Ya'll are such winos." He chuckled, and walked into the room to plant a kiss on Miso's lips. "I'll straighten up a bit for you."

"Thank you baby." Miso looked at her computer one last time, Another night of writer's block. Eventually she decided that she should smudge the house down with Palo Santos to bring herself back into a good space.

Miso loved when Lysa came to visit. They've been close friends since freshman year of high school; both girls were new to the city and quickly bonded with each other. Every time they got in a room together the jokes got to flying, creativity and innovation came with ease; the quality of life felt vibrant.

When Lysa walked in, Lucus opened the door. She made a point to give Lucus a knowing look before calling out a loving greeting to Miso. Both hands were occupied with bags of wine which held three large wine bottles; one in one hand, two in the other.

"Okay, so I have two ideas. We guzzle this wine and watch comedy shows on Netflix, or we guzzle wine and play a drinking game. Pick one." Lysa smiled a Miso devilishly.

Lucus cleared his throat. "Am I invited or excluded?"

Miso and Lysa looked at each other. "I'm in desperate need of a ladies night, can I have my best friend to myself?" Lysa put on her puppy dog eyes.

He chuckled, and lifted his hands in surrender. "Fine by me, but I want her back by tonight." Lucus walked over and gave her a kiss, "I'll be in the room playing my game, baby."

Miso nodded as Lucus walked down the hall. Waiting until he closed the bedroom door before speaking again. "I need to laugh, let's check out some comedy shows." She faced Lysa with a cashmere grin, "I have got, to put you on to Chris Porter."

Miso and Lysa took over the living room as they set up their make-shift girls night. Miso popped a couple bags of popcorn and dumped it all into a large bowl, while Lysa placed two wine bottles in the fridge and secured two large wine glasses. It wasn't long before they settled in on the couch.

"Ok! So tell me about this date!"

"Ugh! It was horrible. First of all, we met on Instagram, ok, she has like...over 5k followers, and she's a designer."

Miso rolled her eyes, "Come on L's, dump the statistics and tell me who she really is."

Lysa shrugged, "I'm not sure, she wouldn't even get her face out the phone long enough to talk to me."

"Oh no...you're kidding."

"I. Wish."

"Well why'd you stay?"

"Technically I didn't. I, actually, got up and left. I wanted to see how long it would take before she realized I was gone."

Miso lifted her glass, "Here here, say no to zombie dates!"

"No doubt!....But I went back." Lysa chuckled nervously.

Miso squinted her eyes and sipped on her wine, "Go on,'' she prompted.

"Just as I was about to start my car, I got a text from her. Surprisingly, she wanted to know where I went. I thought about lying, but I didn't. I let her know, straight up, that I wasn't feeling that phone mess. She called to apologize and asked me to come back." Lysa sighed heavily as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Why the long face?"

"Because I should've stayed in my car. Her table manners were trash, she doesn't have any original opinions, and she prefers men." Lysa chugged the entirety of her first glass.

"Whoa... Well, how do you know the last one? Did she tell you that?" Miso poured Lysa another glass.

"Sometimes, being with a woman means you require substance; you require depth. This one— well— she had all the bells and whistles, but not one of em made a sound. You know how guys like it, visible — not audible. The vibe she gave off practically screamed ‘if you don’t eat me out, my back pocket boyfriend will instead’ - she barely showed genuine interest in me.”

"Mmmm" Miso grunted as she took a liberal sip from her glass. "Perhaps she felt like you leaving reflected a lack of interest in her. Besides, not all guys are like that. Look at mine; he can't stand being around airheads."

Lysa looked at Miso as though she betrayed her. "Girl! That's not my point, I'm not here to talk about the spectrum of male preference, mmkay. I'm just saying, she was hoping she was cute enough, to be enough. That's all."

Miso chuckled and pinched Lysa's cheeks. "You're so cute when you're angry." Lysa flailed her arms about helplessly as Miso poked and tickled her without mercy.