Beads of sweat rolled over Faye's eyebrows getting into her eyes. Breathing came powerfully and deep, and her toned leg muscles propelled rhythmic movement all the way up her body, into her arms, her hands. She had been dancing for... An hour? Two hours? Well she wasn't sure. Faye hadn't really taken stock of her situation since she'd popped the pill and stepped into the fray. With techno tracks often blending all together as they do, and the nature of MDMA being what it is, Faye could no more have told you how long she'd been raving than who the person freak dancing her from behind was. Maybe it was time to reel on back to reality, just a tad.
She had a moment of tightening anxiousness. The drug, now having infiltrated to the very roots of her brainstem (she thought, she
felt
), was working its magic. And it did
feel
good, but god it was overwhelming.
These thoughts crop up now and then when your mind is being blown
, she mused.
Heartbeat? Yes there it was
, she thought, hand over her chest. God it was fast, keeping tempo with the zany beat pumping from the stage's speakers.
140 beats per minute? 150?
Then she noticed her shirt was missing.
Haha... OK, Faye. Still have my bra, thankfully. Fuck it's hot out tonight. Maybe I'm getting too hot.
Anxiety swelled in the pit of her stomach, and the music couldn't be helping. The track was becoming strange, was not
really
music in even a loose sense of the word now. No, this was more of a grainy crunching of glass shards on tile, mixed with echoes of clattering spoons and disharmonized traces of some popular melody.
How were you supposed to move to this crap?
And who was this dancing on her? Grinding into her ass? Faye noticed the hands on her undulating hips, long nails on her skin above the low cut jeans.
Probably a chick... But maybe a tranny
.
I definitely need some water.
Faye disentangled from the mystery dancer and their two bodies peeled apart like a static cling sticker from glass. Her partner's bare ample breasts (definitely a chick) came unstuck from Faye's back. Faye turned to look at the woman; at least she had little yellow and white daisy pasties on.
Wow, this crowd is going crazy.
From behind her: "Bye babe... Come find me when you're runnin on E!"
The Candy Raver giggled.
An illustration of the phrase "disgustingly cute"
. She was panting, still dancing hard. Faye flashed a smile. The chick retrieved a pacifier dangling from the necklace between her jiggling tits, and popped it between her lips.
Weirdos. Well, I am one tonight. How did I get convinced to do this?
Jericho.
It had been Jericho, her ex's coworker. He had hooked them up with tickets not knowing Faye's relationship had been on the verge of a nuclear meltdown for about a month.
Or had he known?
The invitation was innocent enough. But coming here had seemed to be the final straw for Jack, her ex, who was not into this kind of thing at all. After an argument on the drive, he had taken one fiery look at the rave and fled the scene. Core containment: breached. Faye wondered if Jack had divined the tension between her and Jericho- some force did always seemed to draw their wandering gazes together at Jack's work parties.
Where was Jericho?
Calm, stoic Jericho had given her a sympathetic look after Jack threw his tantrum and left. Jericho who'd asked to dance with her at a party before he knew about Jack. Jericho, A.K.A., "The guy with the tattoos" (as she'd referred to him with Jack).
A subterraneous hum had begun to vibrate in the trampled ground. Hysterical synth arpeggios poured out from the stage. A rainbow of slashing lasers crisscrossed her skin. They were reaching escape velocity; though no one knew how high the ecstasy addled DJ was taking them. Through all this the giddy throngs of human gummy worms danced on, oblivious to Faye. Anxiously wandering around the periphery of the crowd she tried to do a little interpretive gyrating, failed; not feeling it.
Someone was shouting her name.
Jericho's voice.
Pleasant familiarity beamed through the alien world. Her eyes focused. There he was, arms and shirtless chest glowing psychedelic neon blue. On the drive over, a pixie-like friend of Jericho's who'd referred to herself as "Thumbelina" had filled in the outlines of his tattoos with glow in the dark paint.
I'd have wanted to get my hands on his chest too.
Faye's stomach did some fluttering (which felt fantastic), and the anxiety dwindled palpably.
"I brought you some water!" Jericho shouted.
Just then, a magnificent crash of cymbals signaled their catastrophic ascent had finally (and mercifully) ripped itself apart. A giant wave of relief spread through the crowd as the music took on a new form. It felt like the DJ was performing the musical analogue of a swan dive into space from lunar orbit. They levitated in silent vacuum for a moment, and then a gentle, rushing melody tinkled in.
Jericho threaded between some flailing fluorescing teenagers to hand her the bottle. She sighed with relief and gulped thirstily, tossed the bottle down.
"Damn I needed that! Thanks!"
"No problem! Thank Christ he's spinning a new track." Jericho gestured to the DJ.
An aural peace of weightlessness radiated throughout the dancers- a little R & R for everybody.
"Come dance with me!" She said, grinning.
He glanced nervously away from her eyes and then shouted back "What about Jack?"
"We're not together anymore."
Faye decided he needed more ecstasy, stepping towards him and producing the remaining hit from the plastic case the dealer had given her.
"Are you sure? Jack is... You know he's a bit of a flip-flopper Faye. One day he says something, and by that night he always seems to sort of convince everyone they imagined it." He said hesitating.
"Is this a party or have you dragged me to couples counseling? He's gone- I won't take him back. Here, take this, and show me your moves," she said, hand outstretched with the tiny red pill on her flat palm: the perennial offering of forbidden fruit.
He smiled, but gave her a skeptical look. The music was picking up again.
She pouted and then said sternly, "Don't be stupid, I wanna dance. Would you leave a girl alone out here to be pawed at by these, these
horny mongrels
?"
Faye flung her long curls around in two shimmering sweeps and then popped her eyebrows in invitation. Jericho smiled again, accepted the pill on his tongue. She gave his wet lower lip a lingering touch with her thumb. Faye felt a crimson energetic impulse surge through her thumb and into her arm. Big hands were on her waist and pulling her. She laughed to herself
. Well Faye... When you put it like that.
They danced. Jericho's arms crossed behind her and his hands wandered up and down her slick back. Faye laid her open hand flat on his abdomen as she dipped and shimmed for him. Damn she was burning up. Their bodies drew nearer, both Faye's hands sliding up over his pecs and finally wrapping around the back of his neck. They moved as one.
A new beat had emerged from the DJ's pulpit. The kicks expressed a thousand stomping feet, bassy bumps felt like the grinding of hips, and synthetic splashes were the tossing back of heads in climax. In Faye's heightened state of consciousness she heard the metaphor completed; the crowd (having survived a musical apocalypse) had floated back down to Earth on clouds and rainbows and was now loving, lusting, and stomping the muddy dirt in joy. Earth's was in a time of dire need, commanding melodious creation, percussive procreation.
Nuzzled into his neck, she wanted to kiss it, and she did. Kissing after kiss she followed his jaw line forward, savoring the smell of manly perspiration.
If his skin on my lips feels this fantastic
, Faye said to herself, what
would a full on multiple-orgasm be like?
She giggled at the thought that this was just now occurring to her. Onto her open lips he planted his, which turned her knees to rubber. Furious passion suddenly took him. After recovering from her swoon Faye gave back equally: sucked his kiss, moaned into it, all modesty forgotten. A burst from a fog machine wreathed them in clouds, and as if being welded together by some seraphic cupidity, they were starkly illuminated blue and electric indigo by a lighting truss above them.
They paused to breathe for a moment, with eyes closed and foreheads together.
"Fuck!" Faye yelled out. "Now that's more like it!" She laughed approvingly.