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After thirty minutes of standing out in the cold wearing nothing but skinny jeans and a flimsy silk shirt, I was finally at the front of the line. The brisk air slipped under the fabric and across my nipples with each gust of wind but that wasn’t what made me shiver.
No, I was shaking like a recently bathed chihuahua because of how the bouncer inspected my fake ID. Do they always flip it to both sides and squint really hard or was that just for me? I was sorely regretting ever agreeing to Steph’s plan. I was also regretting leaving the first 6 buttons open on this top since I worried the fashion choice screamed “underage!”
Then, the burly Hispanic man handed the card back to me and all the air returned to my lungs.
“Enjoy your night.”
I will Mr Intimidating!
I was the first in our group to be checked so after walking inside, I waited right next to the door for the rest of them to filter through. Lo and behold, the next person to successfully break the law was Stephanie herself.
She spotted me in the dim light and ran up, pulling me down to her level by my shoulders.
“We made it!”
I was just glad she’d whispered, otherwise Mr Intimidating would have dragged us outside for round 2.
“I thought you were sure we would.”
“I just said that so you’d agree. I can’t believe it worked!”
When Rin joined us next, Stephanie repeated that sentence verbatim and laughed at Rin’s pronounced shock. He looked over at me as if asking if this girl was for real and I started laughing too. The anxiety over them checking the fake ID was fading slowly. Laughing at his confusion was a nice break from shivering.
Rin’s outfit was almost identical to mine: a mostly unbuttoned shirt tucked into a pair of tight, gray jeans. But where my curls were as naturally disheveled as usual, Rin had slicked his hair back, only letting a couple of gelled strands fall around his eyes like Zayn from One Direction.
I liked how those strands teased his lashes and slid across his cheeks.
I think Stephanie did too because she scooted closer to Rin and her hand settled comfortably onto his bare chest.
I couldn’t look away.
The thick pounding bass was already doing a number on my eardrums but I barely noticed. Not when Steph’s mauve nails looked so perfect against Rin’s skin.
Sorry, why did I agree to come again?
3 of Stephanie’s friends came through the door one after the other, jittery with excitement, shivering from the cold, or both. Any one of those answers would have made perfect sense. Like me, their club outfits did terribly in the outside weather. But if I could rock a glittery, skin tight tube of fabric like they could, I would have exposed my legs ages ago!
“I’m so glad we pre-gamed,” Khue sighed, rubbing frantically at her exposed arms. “Did you see the drink prices on the board outside? If we don’t find some random dudes to pay for us, we’re getting nothing from that bar.”
“Y’all pre-gamed without me?”
“You were too busy getting ready at your boyfriend’s,” Jennie sassed, looking pointedly at how Steph clung to Rin. “What were we supposed to do? Stay sober?”
If that wasn’t a sure sign that they had been drinking, I don’t know what was. Jennie was the soft spoken one in the group. An unassuming angel-type always ready to make peace. Not the girl standing in front of me with a tongue as fiery as her bright red club dress with matching shoes.
Stephanie was still recovering from Jennie’s alcohol fueled sass while Tyler, Colby, and James filtered through. James quite obviously placed his hands on my hips while Colby, less obviously, started to hover around Jennie. I quickly made sure we all got in with a head count and then, we were off.
Waiting for my friends to make it past security unscathed distracted me from how massive this place was. Ahead of us was a thick sea of bodies bathed in just enough darkness for us to feel suspended from reality while still being able to see if a rando was trying to cop a feel. It was a bit dirtier and muskier than I expected. But still, my inner party animal sparked to life. This was way better than high school house parties.
The way the nine of us stuffed ourselves into the middle of the dance floor was criminal. The adults around us exuded a type of confidence you didn’t get until you didn’t have a 1 in front of your age. Yet, we pushed past them to squish ourselves into the center of the room with all the teenage audacity we could muster.
We were buzzing with energy and riding the high of breaking the law. That energy came out in the form of fist pumps and shimmies and badly timed jumps. It wasn’t even a half hour later while Colby and I jumped arm in arm that I saw his patience run out.
“I can’t do this sober,” he complained, pouting at the bar in the distance. “We need alcohol.”
Mickie’s ears perked up like she’d been waiting for the cue. She pushed past an embarrassingly small dance circle to run up to Colby’s side.
“Don’t worry, we have a plan,” she grinned, wavy brown cupping her rounded jaw. “Let’s go ladies!”
Like summoned by a spell, Jennie, Khue, and Stephanie stood alert and, without hesitation, started to follow Mickie off the dance floor. It didn’t take long for those of us left–the guys–to notice that the single-file girl train was headed straight for the bar.
“They’re not going to try to get someone to buy our drinks, are they?” Tyler sighed.
“I hope not. It would take forever to get enough for all of us,” James tagged on.
10 minutes later, after the five of us tried to make a measly dance circle ourselves, the girls returned holding an entire tray of shots.
“Shit, how much do we have to pay for that?” Colby whined, instinctively reaching for his wallet.
“Nothing! Some hotshot tried to show off and offered to pay for our entire group.” Steph explained as she found herself beside Rin again.
“There’s no way he agreed to buy shots for a bunch of dudes,” I laughed.
“He saw the four of us waiting and was like, ‘girls so beautiful shouldn’t have to pay for their own drinks.’ So we ordered the tray. I think his hand was shaking but he handed over the card.”
I so badly wished I could have seen that man’s face when he realized he was down over a hundred dollars and still wasn’t getting laid. Maybe I should have had some sympathy for the guy who offered to buy drinks for a bunch of girls before even confirming their ages . . .
Nah
Everyone quickly downed at least two shots (I swear Colby managed to grab four) and from there, things got kind of crazy. The colored lights cutting through the crowd started to look like spotlights and the dance floor, my stage. With the alcohol in my system, I was just drunk enough to pull James flush against me and start grinding.
When you’re single, dancing like this is raunchy or in ‘bad taste’. As a taken man, I could finally try out all the moves I made up in my head without judgment. My friends were the biggest cheerleaders, hyping me up as I started getting bolder. The best reaction was when I bent forward and tried to do the Miley Cyrus twerk against his crotch.
“Holy shit,” James whispered into my neck when I stood up again. “Where’d you learn that?”
I think my best friend had the same question. I could see from over James’s shoulder how he watched us, so focused that his own steps faltered.
It was a bit embarrassing to explain that I saved every twerking tutorial I’ve seen online for the past year. The image of anyone using sweaters in their closet to mimic a dance partner was silly. But the answer to James’s question left my mind when I saw Stephanie move in front of Rin and put my meager performance to shame.
When did he learn how to catch it when someone threw it back?
A year of tiktok studies meant nothing in the face of her raw talent. She was a natural, anyone could tell. Rin could tell. The idiot couldn’t get enough of her. I swear he was drooling.
James’s focus remained on me, hot and eager by the way his hands roamed my body. But I just couldn’t focus. Rin’s pelvic made contact with her dress and my vision went hazy.
“I’m going to the bathroom.”
I didn’t make sure James heard me. He could probably guess when I stormed off, practically running away from my gleefully straight best friend.
A couple of minutes later, my triumphant exit didn’t feel like such a victory. It was exhausting moving through the crowd and even after I made it out, I wasn’t really sure where they put the bathrooms. I’m not sure how long I walked while hugging the walls until I saw the familiar icons.
Of course, life couldn’t be that good. I pushed open the doors just to get hit by a wave of stank. That musty hotbox could hardly be called a bathroom. There was more puke than tile covering the floor and the urinals were so dirty, any piss that might have come out crawled right back up my dick. My eyes and nose had seen enough so I turned around to breathe in human-grade air.
Unfortunately, my hand couldn’t even touch the door because it swung open violently. I stumbled out of the way to avoid two black men thundering in. They were making out with a passion, grasping for each other’s clothes like their lives depended on it. I couldn’t see much of their faces since most of their profiles were in each other’s mouths, but they seemed hot. They looked hot even when they reached out blindly and fell into the nearest stall.
With the couple out of the way, I successfully left the bathroom. I was thoroughly grossed out by the PDA and the smell of sick still lingering in my nose. But I was also kind of jealous. Those guys looked like they didn’t have a care in the world. They looked like they could get frisky with somebody without feeling guilty. God, I wanted that.
Now feeling a tiny bit depressed and entirely not fun, I thought it was time for me to return to the group. The only problem? I was kind of lost.
This entire club is just really dark and crowded, okay? I am far from 6 foot and at this rate, there was no way I would find a bunch of other people who were also comfortably at or below the national height average.
“Elly?!”
His voice could have been the sound of angels singing or Santa Claus laughing on Christmas Eve. Rin slipped past the last few people separating us and grabbed my hand.
“Thank god I found you,” I grinned widely, the alcohol still making anything I did look exaggerated. “I was so lost.”
“Then don’t run off like that! You should have told me you wanted to go to the washroom instead of making me ask James.”
“I’m sorry.”
Now that I thought about it, he really did look worried. His eyes kept trailing over me, like he expected to find some sign that I’d been hurt. And he still hadn’t let go of my hand. It took me a while to even find the bathroom before I got lost. So how long had he been looking for me?
“I’m okay, see?” I splayed my hands wide then did a couple of body rolls for proof. Rin started laughing and I knew my work was done. “Come on. Let’s go back.”
Confidently, I started pulling him toward the center of the room only to ricochet right back when he didn’t move an inch.
“Wait, don’t you love this song?” he grinned as he pulled me back in.
“What?” I had no clue how my song preferences affected us rejoining the others. But, TLC was tried and true and I had 100% memorized the choreo from their music video. “Okay maybe I do love this song. But shouldn’t we-“
“Come on, El . . . ”
I have known Rin for most of my life. He’s seen me at my best and my worst and I trusted him with just about anything. But something about the way he touched me, drawing me into his space felt dangerous. What should have been an innocent moment between friends felt dangerous. And still, I let him pull me in.
We were alone, anyone who knew us too far to see and still, I let him pull me in. I knew that I was in love with the man who kept our fingers interlocked and still, I let him pull me in.
That was my first mistake.
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‘Mistake? What mistake?’ You may ask.
Well I didn’t want to put out a 4000-word long update so that question will be answered next week!
I’m so glad to be updating again. My goal is to write chapter 23 this week as well because, wouldn’t you know, there are more tests coming up next week! 😭
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Vote, comment, share, follow, anything else you can do with this book and I will see you next week! Bye!
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