Chapter 9 - in the club

Red awoke from his nap and wasted the rest of the day playing a rally driver simulator, he had a few hours to pass until meeting his friends later.

At six he got up and showered. He noticed his stomach had mostly deflated, but still a little rounder than it was a week ago, but probably not noticable through clothes. He only had a light lunch of instant noodles so he did not think he'd overdone it. The large breakfast was satisfying enough.

Afterwards he put on a fitted black shirt, blue jeans and a subtle bead necklace. He flattened his hair and gave it a little spray, he called the taxi and went to the club.

He paid the driver and went in the club and down the black, iron steps to the basement bar area. It was too early for a queue to form at the bar so ordered himself a couple of bourbons and cola. His friends had already got a table. Scott, the lively one was theatrically miming along to Stevie Wonder's Superstition.

The four of them spent a while talking and joking. The music was never normally too loud until much later, it was good atmosphere.

Scott had gone to the bar with Jake. Red was left to talk with Ian. He never drank and Red was being sensible, keeping the 20 kilometer charity ride in the back of his mind. They were discussing the Formula One, when Red felt his phone vibrate. He excused himself, he did not recognise the number, but answered

"Hey Red, where are ya?"

"Carla?"

"Y ah! Hiiiii! You're at Soul Sessions right? im just at the door with my friend, thought we'd come check it out."

"Yeah. Im downstairs." This was an unexpected surprise. He wondered how she got hold of his number.

"Ace! Okay, can you get me a vodka coke and my friend wants a cider! promise i'll get the next one, buh bye."

He looked at Ian. "Sorry Chief, can you watch the seats? just going to the bar, meeting someone from work."

Ian nodded with a hint of bitterness, nobody liked being left to look after the seats. Red felt a bit guilty, but headed to the bar.

He ordered the drinks, getting himself another bourbon and looked around. Carla was standing in the entrance. She wore a tight fitting black dress with red flowers which pulled in at her waist and bloomed out over her hips. Her wavy hair looked a little flat and damp, it must have been raining outisde. Next to her stood a shorter girl, she had flat, mousey hair, she looked quite plump, had overdone the make up and she wore a black dress obviously too small for her, which gave her a clear visible belly line.

"Hi" he waved. She looked, spotted him and ran clumsily over to him. She was probably too tall to need high heels, she gave him a hug, which spilled some of the drinks.

"Hey, Mister Red." She took the Bourbon and coke from Red, took a sip and didn't even notice she picled up the wrong one. "Come, meet Sofi! she's my friend, got on the bus all morning to keep me company, the little sweetie"

Sofi's eyes lit up and she gave a cheeky grin. "Hi Red! I heard about you." Carla gave her a playful shove.

"Hi Sofi, I'm afraid I dont know you." He stuck out his hand and they shook.

Red paused.... Maybe he did know her... GainerSofi from the forum? the two seemed friendly online, but did they know each other in person too? He never looked at her pictures and her Avatar was Winnie the Pooh... Although, the girl in front of him did slightly resemble the chubby little cartoon bear.

They all took seats. Red's friends had returned from the bar and they made introductions.

"Excuse me a moment." Red put his drink down and made a slight nod to the restrooms. The others acknowledged and went back to small talk.

Red ducked into the first free cubicle. He was curious now, he took out his phone and signed into Feedist Life. He opened the user search bar. "GainerSofi." The profile came up. Age 31, height 5"4, Weight 280, preference bisexual.... She lived about 150 kilometers away. He opened the pictures and nearly jumped at what he saw. Yes, it was her. She added a new picture today, with Carla. Sofi was sat on the bed in her underwear. Her panties were completely hidden by her belly and her butt bulged out at the sides. Carla was wearing much more flattering red underwear, with stockings, she was looming over Sofi, pulling an exaggerated war face and squeezing her tits. The caption was "With my scary lezzie feeder. Lol j.k.... she likes cock *sad face.*" "well, shit." Red thought "That's kind of... hot." He swiped next. The second photo was the other way around. Carla was sitting on the bed, Sofi was standing next to her, squeezing the slight softness around Carla's waist. Carla was pulling a phoney sad face. The caption read "this is what I think anorexia looks like lol". Red swiped again, the next picture was just a pouting selfie, taken from a high angle, without a caption. Red tried to process this, but all he could think was "well, I'd never do something like that with my mates."

Red washed his hands and came back. Ian was showing the girls a card from a Magic the Gathering deck and Scott was trying to push his way closer to Sofi. "Jeez lad, I hope you know what you're getting yourself into with her." he thought. He saw Carla and the image of her red underwear came back to mind and he smiled.

When Red sat down, Jake stood up and took his turn to go to the restroom.

"Your friend is funny, he brought a goblin to a nightclub... Who does that?" Carla said to Red, she looked a bit flushed, she must have been drinking quite a lot.

"That's normal for Ian. We think he's on the spectrum, but nobody has the heart to tell him."

Carla laughed. "Secret safe with me. They seem nice, they took a shine to Sofi" She paused and whispered "I think its the tits." She blushed. "Sorry! totally inappropriate, Mister Sensible."

Red made a point of not changing expression. Carla was somewhat wasted tonight.

"Well, simple pleasures indeed."

Carla poured back her drink and finished it. "My round! What do you drink? Beer?"

"Oh, I'm finished drinking tonight, its the charity race tomorrow."

"Oh yes! I forgot you were riding it, i'm sensible, I just sit at the finish line and watch... Tell you what? I'll get the food in later. I always repay my debts." And she walked over to the bar.

Red turned back to the group. Jake had returned and they were all listening to Ian explain a fireball card.

"I think your friends aren't the clubbing sort." Said Sofi. "They seem sweet tho, a little tame."

"They're good guys, hope they're not overloading you with card rules"

"Oh, no, they invited me to a game tomorrow. Think i'll go it might pass the time whilst Carla's doing her charity work. Wizard kills zombie with fireball... simple enough."

"I think there's more too it than that, but i've never learned."

"Alas, we all have our hobbies, its not my place to judge. So, have you been trainng hard to win the race, impress the girl?"

"It's not really a race, i wasn't going to punish myself, I came here instead of training, didn't I?"

"Oh, you're being lazy now." Sofi drank the remaining half pint of cider in one mouthful. She indiscreetly tried to stifle a burp. "She likes you, you know? she seems pretty impressed with you already. Whatever it is you've done, you should keep it up."

Red nodded. "I'll give it my best effort then."

Sofi smiled. "damn right, I didn't get summoned over to be wing man for nothing." And she playfully poked him in the stomach.

Carla returned, she was carrying herself a neon cocktail, another pint of cider for Sofi and her high heel shoes, which she had obviously given up on. "Miss me? aww, did i interrupt you two bonding?" She put the drinks on the table and the group re-joined.