This story calls in at a few stops before it gets to its destination, in other words it's a slow burn...
She was alone at the bar, she was gorgeous, shapely and blonde costumed in a long black layered lace dress that revealed an alarming quantities of her cleavage. I could see most of her full breasts when she turned to smile at me as I passed by her, on my way to order drinks for my friends. Instinctively I knew that she only had eyes on me ignoring everyone else in the place. It was Goth night. Her black choker set off the deathly white of her face. She turned away for a sip of her drink. I kept watching her. When she turned back to smile an invitation to me, her perfect teeth gleamed like jewels. Or maybe that was the play of the light from the candles sconced on the walls.
Did I stop to wonder why she was interested in me? Perish the thought.
+++
Doug, Jeremy and I joined the queue outside for Goth Night at Ghosts, a large old two-storey house converted into a nightclub. A shapely mannequin stood covered by a white sheet near us in the queue. Doug reached over and caressed her round, inviting bottom. Three gothic women lined up behind us and scowled at Doug, not that he cared.
"Bad things will happen to you," one of the weird sisters hissed at Doug while the other two giggled like the dress-up girls they were. They weren't bad looking so I asked them their names. "That," the vocal one growled at me, "will cost you more than you have." So I shrugged and ignored them.
The row of ghostly mannequins led towards the nightclub's entrance, warming us to the theme inside. Doug feigned to dance with the next closest one. "I wouldn't get involved with ghosts," Jeremy warned him. I smirked, Doug smirked too as he draped an arm around the mannequin to prove he wasn't scared or anything.
We moved with the queue closer to the entrance. A tall male mannequin loomed over us. "I'm not going to mess with that one," I clowned.
"Good idea, Blake," Jeremy observed dryly like he didn't think that I was joking. "They could come to life."
Doug eyed the male suspiciously refusing to look away until we had passed it. "Where's Trevor?" he wondered.
"Oh, he'll come," I replied. "He's always late." He was usually the life of the party.
The mannequin right near the entrance stood bold white and curvy, dressed in black stockings, suspenders, a corset and nothing else. She wore a blonde wig, long and straight. Her painted eyes were accentuated with black eyeshadow and her eyebrows were painted thick and black. She was an archetypal Goth, pretty much an example if any of the woman in the queue wanted for ideas. I smiled when I noticed the door girl very much resembled her too. We paid and entered down a dark passageway guarded by another two female mannequins both dressed in saucy black lingerie.
"Don't touch," I laughed.
Doug gave me his paternal look but ran his hand over a plastic breast. "For a price, Doug stated. What did he mean? "It used to be a brothel, Blake."
"I doubt that. This is a nice area," I retorted.
"Doug is right about the history, but I think we still should show some respect," Jeremy warned. "There are some weird stories about this place," he added with a knowing wink.
"I don't care, I'm going to have fun," I insisted. I had tried to dress Goth as best I could, black jeans, Cuban heels, a black coat and my darkest shirt. Perhaps I should have asked what stories.
Doug smiled at me. "You look pretty good," he laughed.
I cut at his feeble attempt. "I know. I do."
Doug shook his head. "Dressed to kill," Jeremy muttered.
Jeremy and Doug, well they hadn't really tried to look the part. I guess the best thing one could say was that they looked suburban. Maybe a Goth would think that my friends were playing at innocent boys in a dangerous world and show them some time. Maybe. We bought our first drinks at the ground-floor bar which had a nineteenth century saloon feel about it. You could talk and be heard since it wasn't that crowded. Taking a wide ornate staircase, we went up to the second storey where the music was loud, there were plenty of alcoves and other private spaces and the staff were skinny, dressed in black and disinterested. The main area, the dancefloor, was quite crowded with people who had come for the real party.
Since the blonde standing alone at the bar had her eyes on me, I walked over pleased that she did not shy at my approach. We shared some more smiles and admired each other's dress sense. "What's your name?" I shouted at my new friend over the NIN beat that filled the room. I was pretty sure she said Chlorine. I stared brazenly down her cleavage as I introduced myself. She noticed my interest and smiled, seemed to enjoy my appreciation of her display, and showed no qualms about me brazenly ogling her from very close indeed. I felt that if anything she was silently encouraging me. In fact, she reached for her cleavage and rather than close it, she spread the material a little wider, showing more of the white skin of her bosom. Perhaps even a glimpse of her areolae. But I worked out what she was drinking and bought her one. She sipped at her drink, kept it close to her lips when she wasn't drinking and swayed to the rhythm, smiled vampishly at me, as I swayed with her, closer yet, almost touching her but not quite.
She took a large sip of her drink which almost emptied it. Then she looked sort of guiltily at me and mouthed a "sorry".
"Why?" I asked her.
She put a gentle hand on my shoulder, a seductive first touch and whispered in my ear "I must go, please wait for me here, Blake. I will try to get back."
"But.." I started.
I felt the cold of her breath. "It's okay," she assured me as she placed her empty glass on the bar.
And like that I watched Chlorine sashay to the central staircase past a mannequin displaying a prominent bust under a short, risque white sheet as she exited my distraction. I rejoined my friends.
"Struck out?" suggested Doug.
"She'll be back," I boasted.
"What do you know about her?" Jeremy probed. "Does she have friends?"
I looked hard at him. "Jeremy," I exclaimed. But why was I so touchy about her?
Yet she was gone. So we did what we usually did, went onto the dance floor, to shake austerely to the music, the heavy deep beat and sombre ambience giving us licence to oscillate modestly, with minimum effort. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned, sure that Chlorine had returned. I turned in hope. And saw that Trevor had arrived. Deflated, I tried to look pleased. Correctly dressed for the occasion, his cadaverous physique fitted his stovepipe pants and a long black jacket that may have been a frock coat, a white shirt with a black Western string bowtie. He bumped me in the side and looked over to smile at two women I hadn't noticed, who danced close to us. They smiled back at him, exclusively. Trevor smiled at the women and shrugged at me as he moved towards them.
"Don't you have woman trouble?" I shouted at him.
"I hope so," he shouted back. "But don't think she's coming tonight. Maybe." He greeted the women and danced with them.
"Which one?" I shouted, trying not let Trevor go that easily. I don't know why I tried to converse, since he couldn't hear me if he wanted to although only a few steps away. And predictably, Trevor just smiled. Maybe he didn't care if he was about to add to his complications. His hand was already on a thigh as both the women looked to him like he was the man they were waiting for.
I swayed with the remnants, trying to preserve some dignity, looking ironic as the song reminded me that she walked like an angel. To my surprise Chlorine was next to me as The Residents boomed the chorus. I smiled and asked her if she wanted another drink since her hands were empty. But she shook her head and immediately led me deep into the dancefloor. We danced close to each other, like that was all that mattered. I looked into her eyes which burned back at me. We had locked into something. My friends kindly stayed away. To my surprise she grabbed my hand strong and tight. The dance floor filled up around us, so I let strangers jostle us further away from my friends. I put my free hand on her thigh, sure that she knew what I was doing, that she was happy with my touch through the layers of lace. This brought her even closer and I felt that she wanted it as much as I did, her breath soft on my cheek.
We manoeuvred towards the DJ booth, past a tall grinning naked male mannequin who only wore a tall top hat. I edged Chlorine closer to an alcove that I knew. I gestured towards it and she smiled back, her blood red lipstick underlying her eagerness. We sidled that way along with the music. Then a step and we were alone and private. I didn't waste the time and pressed my lips to hers. She responded as I expected with the urgency of unlocking pent-up passion. I should wonder why her passion was me. But I didn't care, swept into the grip of her body. She still had my hand strongly clasped in hers. I was free to explore her, as she held the back of my head with her other hand. I reached into the folds that held her cleavage.