Velvet Nights

***"Grief looks good in pink."***

Your life was never perfect, but it came pretty close. Laura had been by your side since high school, the tomboy who became your girlfriend and stayed with you well beyond college. You were there for her competitions, she was there for everything else, and her younger brother Simon eventually became one of your closest friends. Cindy, your shy childhood friend, had been around for as long as you could remember too, always somehow fitting naturally into the little group you had built together.

Then, in a single night, everything fell apart.

Simon was beaten to death and left in an alley. Laura found him herself after he failed to come home and she followed the location of his phone. Something in her seemed to die there with him. The loud laugh disappeared, then the appetite, the training, the nights out. A few days later came the words you never expected to hear.

**“We need to talk.”**

Laura ended the relationship, telling you she needed to grieve Simon alone, clear her head, and figure out what to do with her life. It hurt, but grief could make people do strange things. You had known her for years. Part of you could still believe that, once the worst had passed, she would come back.

Cindy made sure you were rarely completely alone in the meantime. She brought homemade food and pastel boxes of cookies, stayed to watch movies, called to check on you, and quietly kept trying to pull you back into the world. By the time a month had passed, she finally convinced you to leave the house and take her to a movie she had been waiting eagerly to see.

You never made it there without seeing Laura first.

Across the street, beneath the violet glow of the exclusive

Velvet Night

, a blonde woman stepped from a black luxury car on the arm of a young man covered in tattoos, gold, and expensive clothes. For a moment, there was nothing familiar about her. Her dark hair was gone, her almost-black eyes replaced by bright blue, and the sportswear she had lived in had given way to a tiny pink dress that barely covered her thong and the curve of her ass.

Then you realized who you were looking at.

Laura laughed as the man pulled her against him, his hand settling openly on her ass. Instead of pushing him away, she leaned closer, whispered something against his ear, and let him guide her toward the velvet ropes.

For one fleeting moment, her gaze seemed to pass across the other side of the street.

If she saw you, she gave no sign.

A moment later, Laura disappeared on another man’s arm into

Velvet Night

.

The Characters:

**Before**

**After**

**Laura**

(24) had never been particularly feminine, and she never cared to be. At 1.77 meters, tanned from years of outdoor training and built by track, swimming, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, she lived in sports bras, sneakers, hoodies, and whatever was comfortable enough to move in. Dresses were almost unheard of.

She was confident, loud, cheerful, and impossible to intimidate—the kind of person who would rather drag you into something than wait for you to make up your mind. Even your first date happened because she finally looked at you and asked,

“What are you waiting for? Ask me out.”

Weekends with Laura usually meant UFC, MotoGP, cold beer, or Jack Daniel’s. Formula 1 bored her to death. She loved action movies and antiheroes, especially the Punisher; her room was filled with fight posters, medals, training gear, and an entire shelf of Garth Ennis’

Punisher MAX

.

She could be stubborn, reckless, and brutally direct, but with the people she loved she was intensely loyal, affectionate, and protective. Laura had never needed to look delicate, glamorous, or seductive to command attention.

Which is why seeing her in pink heels and heavy makeup feels so completely wrong.

**Ivan Volkov (25).**

A young man frequently seen at Velvet Night, usually surrounded by security, expensive cars, and the club’s regular VIP crowd. He is the man Laura was seen entering the club with.

**Cindy (22)**

has been your best friend for as long as either of you can remember. Petite at 1.60 m, with large green eyes and light-blonde hair dyed pink at the ends, she has always been almost aggressively feminine: pastel clothes, delicate dresses, sweet perfumes, Hello Kitty everywhere, and a bedroom that looks like it was designed inside a pink fairy tale.

She is shy, introverted, easily embarrassed, and apparently very sheltered. Crude jokes make her blush, conflict makes her nervous, and when things turn frightening she often clutches the small silver rosary around her neck and quietly prays.

Cindy bakes constantly and has spent years showing affection through cookies, cakes, little gifts, and quiet company. She has always seemed gentle, naïve, deeply romantic, and a little too trusting—the kind of girl who still appears to believe that people are mostly good and love should feel like a fairy tale.

Introductions:

1- Velvet Nights.

2- Cindy is comforting us.

3- Meeting Sugar inside Velvet Nights.

4- Facing Laura.

5- Open.