Two
“Come on, hurry up!”
I stopped trying to adjust my thick chain of a necklace and started running to catch up with him. With the Thames to our back we ran into a large avenue which I recognized to be Nine Elms Lane. He held out his had frantically to stop the oncoming vehicles, I ran faster until we made it across. Dashing into the first left we entered a dark street at the end of which was dim tunnel. We picked up the pace, the sharp winter wind cutting to our bones. I started gasping for air and laughing all at once. By the time we made it through the tunnel onto the other side of the dark road I was out of breath but not ready to let that stop me. I ran faster and beat him, making a sharp right where we could see a dim streetlight in the distance. My stomach could already feel the bass.
I looked at my watch. Half past two. Enough time. We flashed our cards at the bouncers who let us then skip the queue to security. After every pocket had been fumbled through by the frowning and obviously tired security guard, he let us through, with an almost defeated look on his face. The bass was unavoidable now, already associating itself with my heartbeat. Not slowing down we ran into the dark lobby lit by hidden red light-bulbs. The faces in the lobby all looked the same. We flung our coats, hats, and shirts into the cloakroom, smiling at each other uncontrollably, a smile full of apprehension, sexiness, and knowledge of what was to come. I grabbed his hand and ran up the ramp leading into the club. With every step forward the music diffused itself further into my chest until finally, swinging the doors open, it fully engulfed me.
The first glance into a heaving gay London club after midnight never fails to awe. The sudden flash of laser against the glistening, muscle-bound bodies strikes a prism in my eyes. The hands held up in rapture, the bodies entwining in lust. It wasn’t like New York or Amsterdam, nobody was trying to communicate in any way past the expression on their faces and the worship of the music. The music. The bass.
I felt an arm around my heaving chest and kiss against my neck. Recovering, I turned around and kissed him back. Then, in the same fashion, I grabbed his hand as I pushed my way through the tight crowd. We made it to the darker corner of the club. I turned around, revealing my smile to him once again. He winked. Once against a wall I reached into my crotch and felt the tiny plastic bag. Mocking the security guard in my head, I fumbled through it and my palm re-emerged with our first two pills. Without thought we popped one each, and immediately looked in the direction of the bar. Water. He ran off to get some. Feeling a crumb of coke against my nostril hairs, I sniffed sharply. Wide-eyed, half naked men danced wherever I looked. Small risers throughout the massive warehouse-style dance-floor made some of them more conspicuous than others. The lights shrieked. The high ceilings held the occasional white screen where a rapid kaleidoscope of picture slideshows was projected through the laser show. I decided to follow to the bar, but on my second step I felt someone squeeze my buttocks. I turned around and gave my biggest grin when I realized it was the two guys I met last week in DTPM. I greeted them with friendly kisses as the deejay brought on the climax of one of his creations, which sent us and the whole club into a fit of wild dancing. He was back with the water, already sweating, still grinning, and jumping insanely with the beat.
Then I started to feel it. The tingling sensation in my stomach. The butterflies. I couldn’t smile any wider. I looked at him as I danced, he winked knowingly. It was my first come-up. Suddenly the blood rushed uncontrollably through my veins. My pupils dilated and the light grew stronger, more colorful, more surreal. And the music. The bass. I looked up and absorbed its decadent, malevolent beat. It came in stronger pangs now, and I internalized every bit, until my heart depended on it to survive. I’m in love. I’m in love with me, with this music, with these men, and most of all with him. I approached him from behind and we wrapped each other in a long kiss, suddenly breaking into a steady, dirty dance. Next to us a man had sunk to his knees and dug his face into another’s crotch.
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