Mya blushed. “Thank you, love!”
She was standing in my bathroom pinning up her dark violet dreadlocks into a high ponytail. She wore a red sheer long-sleeve top with a leather skirt and thigh-high black boots. She completed the outfit with a silver chain around her waist and matching hoop earrings. Mya’s cinnamon nutmeg skin shimmered as she sprayed on her favorite body mist.
“Alright, let’s get our dance on!” Mya said, bumping her hip against mine.
I laughed. “C’mon, I’ll drive.”
“You don’t want to get a rideshare?”
I shook my head. “I would rather drive, because you know I don’t like waiting. When I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go.”
We both laughed as we walked out the door.
After about twenty minutes of singing and dancing in the car, we finally arrived at Rue’s Lounge. It was a two-story building that had a live DJ and dance floor on the first level and then a smoke-friendly bar on the second. The place was packed, but that wasn’t new. Besides, it was Saturday night, and people were ready to let loose.
I took a shortcut and parked behind the building. Taking my seatbelt off, I noticed Mya was crazily looking upside my head.
“What?” I asked, putting on a fresh coat of lip gloss.
“Why are we parked in employee parking?”
I chuckled as I smoothed down my hair. “Relax, you know the owner, Nate? He lets me park back here when I come down from time to time.”
Mya’s eyebrow raised. “You go horseback riding with him?”
“Girl, what?”
“You know,” Mya continued as she placed her hands on my dashboard and began bouncing in her seat.
I burst into laughter. “No, nothing like that. He’s cool people.”
“And?”
“And…he basically wants to get into Amanda’s panties. I may or may not be using that for leverage to get what I need.”
Mya playfully gasped as she clutched her invisible pearls. “Nat!”
“Don’t look at me like that,” I snickered. “Look, I’ve tried to tell him that Amanda probably won’t be interested, but he wants me to hype him up for her. He’s very persistent, so I figured, why not get free parking and drinks while I help his lost cause?”
“Shit, with free drinks on the line, I’d give him Amanda’s number. You and I both know her ass is always in that man’s pockets, anyway. Now look at her, leading that man on to the point he thinks they've got something special. With that said, I’m not going to turn down free drinks on her behalf.”
We giggled and gave each other a quick high-five. “True! Hell, that’s probably why her ass didn’t want to come out with us tonight. She knew Nate was going to be on her tail, and she wouldn't have the chance to get at another man. Poor guy, I kind of feel bad for him because Amanda will only keep using him.”
“He’ll snap out of it one day. In the meantime, we can still have fun, so let’s go,” Mya exclaimed, hopping out of the car.
After skipping the line and having security check us for weapons, we walked into the club. I was extremely grateful because the winter air was biting, and all I had brought was a light black fur jacket. While it was cute, it didn’t keep any part of my body warm enough from the cool air. We dropped off our jackets in the coat room before walking out onto the main floor. The room was dimly lit outside of the soft hues of crimson,indigo, and gold from the DJ booth. Loud bass from the speakers pulsed in our ears, and the beat had my body instantly ready to move. The dance floor was full of a diverse crowd, all enjoying the contagious lyrics of Latto. To the right was a bar with all types of top-shelf liquor. Next to the bar was a stairway that led up to the second level, where I could already see smoke billowing in the air.
“Do you want to grab a drink first?” Mya asked, pointing towards the bar.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Then we can check upstairs and see if my brother is here.”
Thankfully, the bartender had become available as she finished serving a man towards the opposite side of the bar. It didn’t take long for her to make us both strawberry margaritas. I followed Mya as we headed up the stairs towards the smoking lounge. The velvet walls leading up the stairs were black with gold trimmings. Once we reached the top, the room contained matching black couches. Each section had a golden table with different colored ashtrays and plates for people to roll up on. Looking around, I saw Ricky sitting on a couch, blowing smoke up into the air with his arms lazily resting on the back of the couch. Two women sat beside him, one on each of his arms.
The one on his right had a chocolate complexion with a short pixie cut. She wore a black crop top with a matching skirt, and from where I stood, I could tell she was curvy. The woman on his left was more petite with a caramel complexion. Long blonde hair that cascaded in curls ran down her back, showing off a butterfly tattoo. She wore a light pink satin corset top with a matching hot pink beaded skirt.
As soon as Mya and I approached the table, Ricky jumped up to hug us. A look of disappointment flashed across a pair of hazel eyes from the chocolate woman, while a pair of jealous green eyes came from her friend.
“Nat, this is Tara and Whitney.”
