They say that you never forget about your high school crushes. Personally, I don't know about that so much. I think that the best years of my love life came about while I was in college. So many great memories there. There was this nursing student from the Philippines, an art school girl who liked to be tied up and strangled, and a big breasted redhead from my archaeology class. Talk about sowing my wild oats...
But none of them hold a candle to Rachel Tokarczyk. I'll never forget here. Rachel was a really cute girl. A curvy little redhead, Rachel was your stereotypical Goth chick. You know the type; wore lots of black, especially corsets, fishnets, thigh high boots and the like. She listened mostly to Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, Christian Death, VNV Nation. Yeah, a
real
Goth, back in the days when that still meant something. She even had a piercing in her nose, and another one through her lip.
Now, I had first met Rachel back in my first year on campus. She was in my English lit class, and we'd pretty much hit it off immediately, sharing similar interests and musical tastes. Of course, being a horny young twenty year old male, my interest in her wasn't entirely platonic. I'd dreamt about nailing that sexy round ass of her's since day one. The only snag there? She was dating some asshole named Mike.
I know that I'm probably a bit biased there, but "asshole" would be about the only way I could describe Mike. He was one of those jealous, controlling types. He didn't like Rachel talking to other guys, especially not me, but he felt more than free to talk with other girls. Truth be told, I always suspected that he was cheating on Rachel, but I never wanted to bring up the subject. You know how badly those things always go.
Anyway, just about every Friday night, my friends and I would hang out at Absinthe, the local Goth club. The cover charge to get in was cheap, and they didn't serve alcohol, so a twenty year old like me could get in. That and the fact that it was one of the only two clubs in the entire freaking state that actually played
real
Goth music (with an occasional smattering of Industrial, Punk and Dark Wave) made it pretty damned appealing.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rachel was also a frequent patron of the club. Unfortunately, so was her asshole boyfriend Mike, so we never really got much a chance to socialize there. That is, until one day just before Valentine's Day.
I'd gotten to the club a little later than usual, but then considering that the place didn't really pick up until about midnight, that wasn't a huge problem. I quickly scanned the club, looking for any familiar faces. My friends were all hanging out over in our usual corner, or on the dance floor, but I didn't see Rachel anywhere. I wondered if maybe she hadn't showed up tonight. It would have been a bit of pity, but it wasn't exactly uncommon either. But then I found her. Sitting down at one of the tables away from the dance floor, she looked like she was crying.
Making my way over to my little group, I went over and asked my friend Jim what was going on. He told me that Mike had apparently broken up with Rachel right here in the club a mere couple hours ago. And on the day before Valentine's Day no less. I probably shouldn't have been so happy about it, but the first thought that crossed through my dirty little mind was that
this
was it! This was my first and perhaps best chance to finally hook up with Rachel. It wasn't more than a fraction of a second before I was making my way back across the club and over to Rachel's table.
I sat down next to Rachel and started with the usual small talk. You know the routine. Hi, how are you, is there anything I can do to make you feel better, I want to fuck you. Okay, maybe I wasn't
quite
so blunt about the whole thing, but that thought was lingering at the back my head the entire time. At least I got Rachel to stop crying. We had a couple sodas, talked for about an hour or so. I was so wrapped up in conversation that I barely even noticed Mike coming over. He said he was taking off, and some crap about hoping they could stay friends.
Well, I'd had just about enough of that smiling jack ass and his bullshit. I quickly stood up and got in his face, confronting him about what he had done to Rachel.
"This doesn't involve you," he said, pushing me aside.
I responded by calling him an inbred mother fucking retard. That was probably the biggest mistake of my life, because he immediately turned around. His eyes were more full of hatred than just about anything I've ever seen in my life, but I didn't get much of a chance to look because the next thing I know, he threw a punch at me.
It hurt. A lot! I wish that I could tell you I was brave, but the fact is, I went down almost immediately. If you've never actually been in a fight, they usually don't last long enough for both parties to actually throw more than one or two punches. It's nothing like those old action movies. And unfortunately, I was the one lying on the floor, the taste of my own blood on my lips.
Before I could even get up, the bouncer had come over and kicked Mike out of the club. Rachel slowly helped me get up to my feet. Deep down inside, I was hoping that I had somehow managed to impress her in my stumbling, awkward way. Instead, she just glared at me.
"Why the
