The walls were black and the ceiling was alive with fairy lights. There were spectators gathered around portraits and, even though it wasn’t my place, my pride was fluttering inside my chest like an excited swallow. Each canvas boasted a bold display of woman – either a small child reaching up for a hand that wasn’t there, or a thin line drawing of a curvature that I recognised as belonging to the artist – and it was clear, from the clever construction of makeshift wall structures, how you were meant to move around the space, too. There was so much excitement, though, fizzing over the tops of wine glasses and bubbling from clusters of conversations into the air, anyone could be forgiven for not following the designated route. Fred had created something beautiful; something, I guessed, a lot bigger than the portraits alone.
‘Wow.’ Faith came to a stop alongside me. ‘This is an experience.’
‘Yep, that’s Fred all right.’
Betty nudged me. ‘Hey, keep it clean.’
‘I didn’t mean it like that!’
Molly and Cora were already huddled around a watercolour of a foetus.
‘How long do you think it will take for them to understand it?’ Lily asked.
‘Well,’ came a familiar voice, ‘it can’t take them any longer than it’s taken the average man in here. Never mind the tits and arse at the end, I think it’s the idea of femininity as abstract that really has critics stumped.’ Fred looped her arm through mine. ‘Hey, beautiful.’
‘Fred, this is—’
‘Faith.’
Fred laughed and took the hand that was offered to her.
‘Amazing,’ I finished, ‘I was going to say this is amazing.’
‘Thanks, Edi, it’s … I don’t know.’ She rubbed her forehead and laughed. ‘You know when you want something so much, and you work so hard, and then it happens and, well shit, you can’t quite believe it’s happened, can you? But now all of these people are here and they’re …’ She laughed and gestured around the room. ‘They’re looking at my life, but also your life and women’s lives.’
Faith pointed to a canvas on the far side of the room. ‘Hey, I think I know that woman.’
Fred laughed. ‘I’m sorry, I’m getting a little deep and feeling here, aren’t I?’
‘Hey,’ I chimed in, ‘don’t apologise for feeling good about this.’
‘If anything, we actively encourage more self-praise as part of this friendship group.’ Lily held out her hand, then, and said, ‘Lily. This hot mess is Betty.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Betty added, then went one step further and pulled Fred into a hug. ‘This is a mighty fine display of female you’ve got yourself here.’
Fred was laughing when she pulled away. ‘Can I put that on a flyer?’
‘I’ll be offended if you don’t.’ Betty looked around to where the others were standing. ‘Left to right, you’re looking at the arses of Molly and Cora. They’re beautiful humans but they’re literally juuust learning what it’s like to openly talk about having a vagina.’
‘That’s unfair,’ Lily leapt in. ‘Cora’s quite good at it.’
‘Which essentially means that this place will be a maze of experience for them,’ Faith added.
‘I find that my body is usually a maze of experience for other women.’ When I looked around at Fred I saw she was already looking at me as she spoke, and I flushed. ‘Unfortunately, though, there are elbows I need to brush with. It’s been so lovely to meet you three.’ She hugged them all one after the other. ‘And please tell Molly and Cora that I’ve got some diagrams they might find helpful.’
Lily and Betty laughed, meanwhile Faith said, ‘I wouldn’t mind taking a look at those.’
I tapped her arm. ‘Like you need them.’
‘You’re all welcome to stick around, of course. I don’t know whether you have plans?’
‘I do,’ I answered. ‘I’m about to take five women out for dinner.’
‘And drinks,’ Betty added. ‘You should come and meet us later, though, if you’re free?’
‘Yeah, how does it all work, post-opening?’ Lily asked.
Fred looked around the space and rubbed her forehead again. I’d never seen her so red-cheeked – apart from immediately after a climax, but that hardly counted. ‘I honestly don’t know. I – I might be around later, I don’t know.’
‘No pressure,’ Faith said. ‘Give Edi a text.’
‘I’ll do that.’
‘And in the meantime go and be a fucking superstar,’ Betty instructed and Lily, who had looped arms with her, nodded in support. ‘You’re a machine.’
Far from Fred leaving, instead the women all swapped sentiments of support, which took such a long time that eventually someone came to steer Fred away. She apologised – to them, and to us – and we apologised for hogging the starlet. All the while Molly and Cora were still trying to work out which way was up on an oil portrait of a vulva. ‘Christ, I’m just going to show them,’ Faith said, before disappearing, leaving me, Lily and Betty to push our way through to the exit. I took another glance behind us to where Fred was fencing questions and, I guessed, charming the arse off anyone who dared to talk to her. She really is something … And then I forced myself to look away.
‘Where’s the table booked for?’ Lily asked when we’d battled our way to the pavement.
‘Black and White.’
‘Ooh.’ Betty nudged me. ‘Trying to impress us, are you?’
‘Rumbled. I’m trying to get you into bed.’
‘You only need to ask.’ Faith came to a stop behind us. ‘Politely. I have some standards.’
‘Can I order pudding?’ Molly shouted over Faith.
Cora nudged her. ‘You haven’t even eaten yet.’
‘I’m more in a sweet place, do you know? How sometimes you enjoy more food than others?’
‘I don’t know, right now I enjoy all food. As you can tell.’ Cora pinched at her waist.
Three of us opened our mouths to answer but Betty was first to the punch. ‘You shut your filthy mouth, woman.’
‘You’re trash-talking our friend there,’ I added. ‘And there’ll be none of that.’
‘Are we getting a taxi?’
‘You lazy sod, think of the steps.’
‘So, tell me more about Fred. Is she …’
One conversation bled into another and somehow, someone decided we would walk to the restaurant. Our chatter came with undertones of heels on concrete, stifled laughter and loud cursing. By the time we arrived at the door, we were twenty minutes late for the reservation.
Faith huffed. ‘Molly, you just had to stop and take a picture of the bloody sunset.’
‘Well, it was beautiful!’
‘It really was,’ Lily agreed. ‘You know what else is beautiful?’
‘Food,’ Betty answered and Lily clicked her fingers.
‘Right you are.’
I was fumbling with my phone to avoid the judgemental stares of the front of house – a patient man who had promised us a table if we could only wait in an orderly fashion, outside. When my mobile pinged with an alert – Instagram – I felt grateful for a legitimate excuse to keep looking away.
‘Oh my gosh, Edi.’ Molly’s outburst caught me unawares and I flinched. She was craning over my shoulder. ‘Do you have your phone set up to alert you when I post?’
‘Do I?’ I thumbed into the app. ‘Christ, when did I …’
But the question died out when the screen unfolded to show Molly’s picture:
No filter needed with my girls @edipeedi @gottahavfaith @bettywhuuut @corablimeyharold @lilyinthesun #girlsnightout #fridaynighttreats #ridingoffintothesunset