My Life After Now - By Jessica Verdi Page 0,7

of having a mother around was incredibly appealing. I nodded shyly, and Lisa moved in. And it was great. I took her to see my favorite Broadway shows and played her the songs I was learning in my guitar lessons. She told me stories about traveling around Europe and Asia and North America with rock bands. We went shopping and got pedicures. I even introduced her to Max and Courtney.

And then one day, after she’d been living with us for about a month, she was gone. She left a note on the kitchen counter saying that this was all too much too fast and that this life was not what she wanted for herself. I cried myself to sleep for weeks.

And now here she was, sitting in my living room for the third time in my life.

“What is she doing here?” I asked again.

“Lucy,” Dad said, “why don’t you sit down?”

“Just answer my question.”

“Well,” Dad said cautiously, “Lisa has asked if she can stay with us for a little while, and I think we should all sit down and discuss our feelings on the subject.”

I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I couldn’t deal with this right now.

“I’m going to spend the night at Courtney’s,” I said, and ran upstairs.

I logged onto my laptop and three-way Skyped Courtney and Max. “We’re going out tonight,” I declared.

4

Out Tonight

“I’m going method, guys. For the rest of the night, Lucy Moore will cease to exist.” I held up my fake ID. “Tonight, I am Samantha Porter, twenty-two-year-old college student from Philadelphia.”

It was nine p.m., and we were on the Metro-North train, barreling toward New York City. Max and I both told our parents that we were sleeping at Courtney’s—which we did plan to do eventually, but not until close to dawn. Courtney’s mom worked nights at the hospital.

“What brought on this sudden sense of adventure, Luce?” Max asked. We were more of a play-going, movie-renting, coffee-shop-frequenting kind of group. We weren’t exactly clubbers. The only reason we even had fake IDs at all was because, continuing with a long-standing Eleanor Drama tradition, last year’s seniors had passed them down to us after graduation.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked pointedly. “My name isn’t Luce. It’s Samantha.”

Courtney and Max rolled their eyes in unison. But it got them off my back. They had no idea that Lisa was back, and I wasn’t about to talk about it. Tonight I was vacating my life.

“Whatever you say, Samantha,” Max said.

We got to the club in Chelsea at ten o’clock, ready to dance our feet off, only to find out that they didn’t even open until midnight. My heart sank. Probably should have done my research a little better.

“Now what?” Courtney asked.

I held my head high. “Now we just find someplace better to go.”

We walked for a while, until we came upon a place that looked promising. There was a velvet rope and an enormous bouncer outside, and there was live music escaping through the open door. I took the lead and confidently flashed my Pennsylvania ID. The bouncer looked at it, chuckled, and shook his head. He knew it was a fake. But I couldn’t let him send us away. At this rate, the night was never even going to begin.

I stuck out my boobs and flashed him a coy smile. “Is there a problem, sir?” I asked sweetly.

The bouncer looked me up and down—my hair was tumbling past my shoulders, and I was a vixen in all black: dressed in a low-cut tight tank top, tight jeans, and ankle boots with a stiletto heel. I’d bought the boots for a theater camp production of Cabaret, but tonight was the first time I’d ever worn them in real life. To my amazement, the outfit did the trick—he handed the ID back to me, stamped our hands, and waved us inside without even asking Max and Courtney for their IDs.

“That was incredible!” Courtney said as we made our way to the bar. “I thought we were goners for sure.”

I bought three Long Island iced teas and slurped mine down before my friends had even finished half of theirs. I promptly ordered another one.

“Um, you okay, Luce?” Max asked me. I wasn’t usually much of a drinker.

“Samantha,” I insisted, pointing to my chest. I finished my second drink and slammed the glass down on the bar. “Let’s dance!” I shouted, and began to move to the music.

“Lu—Samantha—I don’t think this is the kind of