Lorraine’s is only a couple blocks away and, like her apartment, far enough away from campus that it doesn’t draw the undergrads with their fakes and inability to know their limits. Not that Lorraine would let them in anyway.
Bianca’s been coming here since she moved back to LA, to this dive bar that doesn’t pretend to be anything but what it is, owned by the sweetest-looking old lady you’ve ever seen, right down to the cropped silver bob and kind blue eyes, until she opens her mouth and pure fire comes out.
Lorraine promised her the back room tonight and the first round is on her – the least she could do, she said, after Bianca helped her grandkid with his college apps and tutored him all through his four years of undergrad at UCLA.
“Hey Lorraine,” Bianca says as she slides through the door to see the woman where she always is, behind the bar, towel over her shoulder pouring out some shots for the cluster of regulars in front of her.
“Hey honey, you can head back, it’s all yours!” Lorraine calls out.
“That’s Dr Honey now,” Bianca fires back.
The bar owner scoffs. “Pretty sure you can’t prescribe shit, girl. When you can write me a script for my meds, I’ll call you doctor.”
It’s a long-standing debate, but Bianca’s too happy to argue tonight. Plus, Lorraine doesn’t mean it at all. She never talks shit unless she’s proud of you.
It’s a Thursday night, so the place isn’t packed, but it’s not empty either and as she slides through the small groups of people, Bianca checks the faces, hoping everyone has figured out where to go. Lorraine promised to cordon off a small alcove near the back of the bar that she sometimes rents out for private parties.
The sound of everyone else talking over the music fades a bit as she rounds the corner. Miranda and her wife are already there and immediately move in to hug her, a way less awkward hug than they shared earlier that day right after her defense wascomplete. Bianca knows that she’ll count the woman as a friend and mentor for the rest of her life.
“Congratulations again. We’re a little early becausesomeonewas neurotic about parking,” her advisor says, rolling her eyes affectionately at her wife, Sarah, a doctor, the kind Lorraine actually thinks counts, at Cedars-Sinai.
“And I was right, we circled for ten minutes before we found a spot,” Sarah says, but hugs Bianca next. “Congratulations, sweetie. We’re really proud of you.”
With her mom and dad retired and living in Arizona, this feels as close as she’s going to get to parental approval tonight and it feels damn good. She’ll talk to her folks tomorrow during their weekly Skype call. But that’s her phone buzzing in her bag and it’s possible they’re calling now to congratulate her.
Nope.
It’s a text from her sister, Lexi, who is always late for absolutely everything because her kid never lets her get out of the house on time.
—Hey Bianca Bean, I am so so so proud of you!! Congrats!Alec has a fever though so I’m gonna have to take a rain check tonight. Drinks on me next time!! Xoxo
Ah, so this time her kid isn’t letting her leave the house at all. The perils of motherhood. Even though Bianca’s brother-in-law, Chris, is perfectly capable of taking care of Alec, even if he’s sick, that never seems to happen. Lexi insists she’ll understand when she has kids one day, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.
“Everything okay?” Miranda asks. When Bianca looks up, she’s frowning down at her.
Gesturing vaguely at her phone, she nods. “Yeah, fine, but my sister can’t make it.”
But then her eyes are drawn over Miranda’s shoulder where a group of her fellow students are filing in through the door of the bar. Despite spending the last five years in the same program,she hadn’t really made any good friends. Most of them were just sort of peripheral figures in her classes, at the same conferences – nice enough, but between her own coursework, teaching her classes, shifts at the library and making time for her friends and family, there was never any time for new people.
There was one notable exception, though she’s not sure she’ll see him tonight. She hasn’t spoken to Xavier Byrne in weeks, maybe months, as her defense prep consumed her every waking moment.
Still though, it’s nice to get congratulatory hugs and give out reassurances that even though she’s the first in their year to successfully defend her thesis, she won’t be the last, that they’ll all join her in the post-defense promised land.
It’s a good turnout.
But every few minutes her eyes drift to the door when it opens, never revealing the faces she most wants to see.
She’s nearly through her third drink when another text comes in. This time from Isobel, her freshman roommate from undergrad.
—I’m not gonna be able to make it tonight! I’m so sorry. I’m the absolute worst. Dinner on me next week?
Swallowing down another sip of her drink, Bianca sends:
—Kk, we’ll miss you!
And she’s barely hit send when another message pops up.
From Chloe, her best friend from summer camp who trauma bonded with her over being left in the woods for six weeks, even if their cabins had air conditioning and the most outdoorsy thing they were required to do was swim in a lake.
