Boston, friends, "friends," and a really weird book.

I bit the bullet and bought some bus tickets up to Boston for this coming weekend. It's Jen's birthday (along with Maddy's) and they're having a big snazzy going out party. I'm getting excited now after Jen msged me with a "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY COMING UP TO BOSTON?!?!" which is an abnormally large amount of emotion for her to put into an instant message. I went to Express yesterday to get myself amped up after so many months of lassitude.
Example: last Saturday, we were supposed to go bowling with "10-12" people and all but 2 others ditched. We ended up trying out Dave & Buster's, only to find that it's not as cool as the commercials imply (bunches of older, attractive-enough-but-not-to-the-point-of-intimidation guys fist-bumping and waving pitchers of beer) but rather it's stuffed to the brim with little children screaming and running around trailing buckets of tickets. Also, it's like 95% video games, with only one air hockey table, three basketball hoops and four skee-ball ramps, all of which were surrounded by a 4 body-thick layer of people waiting their turn. Not fun.
The high point of the night was some little kid whose face was absolutely covered in cake asking us where the bathroom was. Couldn't help him.
So, I hope that serves to underscore my growing irritation with friends who ditch and don't want to do anything. Thank God I'm returning to the promised land with reliable friends, if at least for one night.

Ink Exchange, by Melissa Marr
I get the feeling like I'm totally missing something here. Like this is not the first one in a series, even though it is. Nothing is explained and I'm struggling to keep up here. She's going too fast anyway, and missing some parts that have very good descriptive potential.
Troubled teen Leslie gets a tattoo which somehow links her to Irial (how?), Faerie King of the Dark Court (what's the Dark Court?). Her friend Aislinn was already changed from mortal to Summer Queen of the Summer Court (why did they pick her? how did she change?) and has a mortal boyfriend Seth but also hangs with Keenan, King of the Summer Court (why is Seth okay with it?). Leslie likes Niall, who used to belong to the Dark Court but changed to the Summer Court (why?). She is now a gateway for Irial and his court to "feed" off the emotions of mortals (why only the Dark Court? is that only what they subsist on? how can Irial feed his court through Leslie?). She'll die soon because.... why?? Wtf! EXPLANATIONS PLEASE. I won't be reading the second one to this... too annoying.