Encrucijada, which means Crossroads in Spanish, is the most popular nightclub in town. The music playing here is a type of slow vibe techno with deep beats - the kind of sound you hear at low key dives. Although Encrucijada isn't the prime location one comes to dance at, the dance floor is seldom empty and always packed with slow moving bodies. With a lackadaisical atmosphere, Encrucijada is where you come to melt your worries away and take it easy.
Encrucijada caters mostly to an Asian crowd. Many years ago this place used to belong to a burgeoning Dominican entrepreneur, but he has since sold the club off and moved on. Even though the club kept the foreign name, the Spanish based theme changed over the years to accommodate a growing Asian immigrant population.
The moist, hot club air is thick with odorless smoke blown out of sleek ceiling mounted fog machines. Asian Men in expensive suits dance with the sweaty, swaying brown bodies of beautiful girls across the freshly waxed pine dance floor. Joyous fingers snap in the air as luxurious dresses twirl in circles.
At a small, circular table in the back corner of the club, Joe and Esme sit away from the busyness. On the middle of the table there is a tall red candle, melting away, fuming a sweet scent into the immediate vicinity. The candle smoke slowly circles around the table, gathering before Joe and Esme in a near still ring formation mirroring the table underneath. The lazy haze soothes their senses as they drink quietly together.
Esme has always been shy in social settings. Joe always tries his best to make sure Esme feel comfortable whenever they go out on the town. One way he does this is to make sure they have their own secluded alcove away from the hustle and noise, which always seems to threaten Esme's demure nature.
Joe is 5'7", thin, fit and 24 years old. He comes from a half White, half Mexican background, giving him a mulatto skin tone. He wears black slacks and a dark brown button down shirt. His hair is black, cut short and messy. Joe loves using cheap styling gels to give his hair a bird's nest appearance. Joe has never been shy around other people. Never one to skirt attention, Joe does like to peacock from time to time. Most importantly, Joe enjoys being in control of his surroundings.
Esme is 5'2" and has a perfect hourglass figure, topped at both ends by perfect curves. She is 22 years, comes from a pure Mexican heritage which gives her dark olive-brown skin. She wears a long, loose fitting, raven black sun dress - it's bottom reaches down just above her ankles. Her black heels are a few inches high and ends in black leather straps, which buckle on the front of the top of her feet. Esme's hair is deep brown and wrapped in a long pony tail by a few hair bands. Her pony tail reaches all the way to the top of her perfectly round butt. Unlike Joe, Esme is deathly afraid of social settings.
Joe and Esme used to come to Encrucijada more often years ago when it wasn't so expensive. As Encrucijada scaled up, the prices of the drinks began to escape Joe's means, and they frequented the establishment less and less. Esme doesn't work as she had just graduated with her bachelors one month prior, so they rely on Joe's pocket when they go out.
Tonight is a special night.
There is a collection of various glasses on the table in front of Esme, all of which are empty. The same kind of drinks have congregated in front of Joe as well. The key difference is that Joe isn't feeling the alcoholic buzz like Esme has just started to. The only way Esme ever opens up out of her shy little world is, like most young impressionable girls, to get alcohol in her. Joe knows this, and as such, buys her round after round. The drinks are pretty weak when taken alone, but after a few of them, Esme begins to feel their potency kick in.
Joe raises his voice due to the loud thumping of the music, "Hey Esme, here is a 20. Go to the bar and get us another round of Orange Crash." Joe doesn't like the fruity orange drink at all. Esme does, though.
"Sure thing, Papi." Esme grabs the 20, stands up, and saunters towards the bar. After Esme leaves, Joe pulls out his smartphone, holds it in both hands under the table, and thumbs away at it's on screen keypad.
* * * *
Sitting on a tall wooden stool, Esme waits for the bartender to mix her drinks. With the order already placed, she bobs her head to the music echoing to the bar from the dance floor.
"Excuse me. What drinks did you order?" Esme looks over her left shoulder. Standing behind her is a young, tall Asian man, his face betraying his Chinese origins to Esme. Esme knows a Chinese man when she sees one. His English is perfect though, with no trace of any accent.
"Oh... um..." Esme stutters a little while trying to remember the name of the drink she had just ordered. Her face swells up a bit.
The Chinese man notices Esme turn her head down to the bar and blush. Even though her hair is bound in a ponytail, some errant hairs, which have escaped her noticed over the evening, slide over her curvy face.
Amused, the Chinese man introduces himself, "Where are my manners? My name is Brian. Um... I'm not bothering you, am I?"
Esme awkwardly turns her head left and right ,"Oh, no... Not at all!" Embarrassed, she grabs the loose hairs on her face and tries to cover her reddening cheeks.
Without even acknowledging her shyness, Brian looks away from her and asks, "What is your name, beautiful?"
Esme's brushes her loose hair and tucks it behind her ear closest to Brian, "My name is Esme."
"What a pretty name for something so young and cute. Are you..." Brian is annoyingly interrupted by the burley bartender passing two orange colored drinks to Esme. Esme blows a sigh of relief as Brian's question is stopped mid sentence.
Esme passes the 20 to the bartender, "Keep the change!" The bartender replies with a thank you, then walks off.
Looking at Brian, while averting his gaze, Esme blurts out, "Well it's been nice I gotta go."
With a glass in each hand, Esme quickly pushes past Brian, is quickly swallowed up by a crowd of people near the bar, and is gone.
The bartender returns, chuckles, then off handedly says to Brian, "Ha... Those drinks were only eight bucks total. You must have spooked her good, buddy."
Brian ignores the bartender, turns around to face the crowd, and adjusts the collar of his light gray Italian suit. He slicks his hair back, places his elbows behind him on the bar, and smirks.
* * * *
Esme returns to the small, round table in the corner of the club and plops down both glasses. She runs her hands under her backside to straighten out her wrinkled dress, then sits down.
Joe looks at his smartphone to check the time then grabs his Orange Crush, "What took you so long, beautiful?"
Esme waves her hand, dismissing him, "Oh, nothing really..." then forces a smile, "just some dude hitting on me at the bar."
Joe lazily sips his drink, "Did he bother you?"
Esme responds, "No, not really." She notices that Joe's concern wasn't all that genuine. Plenty of times before, Joe had gotten angry over much smaller incidents, but this time he seemed to almost ignore her.
Joe looks around the table near Esme, "Where is the change, beautiful?"
Slightly annoyed that Joe didn't push the issue further about the man who hit on her, Esme overtly lies to slight Joe, "The bartender was the guy hitting on me, if you must know. I thought he was cute, so I gave him the rest of your money as a tip." Esme takes a swallow then looks away from Joe.
Joe leans back and places both hands behind his head, stretching, "Well, aren't we a bit feisty tonight?"
Esme shoots Joe a nasty look. Joe realizes she is picking up on his nonchalant mood. He has to change gears quickly to keep her in an open minded mood.
Joe leans forward, moves the table candle aside, grabs one of her hands and apologetically looks at Esme, "Listen, I'm sorry. Did you want me to get jealous like I normally would? We've been together for six years and I think that I'm finally learning to trust you. To not be so protective of you when we go out to have some fun." Esme notes that this is one of the more sincere things Joe has said in a long time.
Maybe she is being too harsh on him. She doesn't want to ruin his good mood tonight, either.
Esme grabs the long pink straw in her glass and swirls around the orange liquid, "No, it's okay Joe. I'm sorry. I'm just not so used to you... um... respecting me like this. I expected more of that Spanish jealousy your famous for." Esme smiles to herself then sips the straw.
Joe chuckles. He had always loved her smooth, authentic Mexican accent. Her voice is part of what makes her so drop dead gorgeous to most men. Joe knows how lucky he is to have her in his life.
Some months ago Joe would get extremely jealous of Esme around other people. Their fights got to the point where they nearly broke up a few times. One day, Joe remembered that it was his father's Mexican pride and jealousy that drove his mother to divorce him. After that epiphany, Joe decided he would do anything to make Esme his forever. Anything...
As both of them are trying their best to not offend the other, they sit in silence, taking in the low thrumming vibe music permeating throughout the club.
Joe stands up, brushes his dress shirt, extends a hand to Esme and smiles at her, "Hey beautiful, let's dance a bit, okay?" Esme loves to dance, and her legs were getting restless from sitting all night.
As they leave the table, Joe quickly picks up Esme's orange drink and hands it to her, "Hey, this thing cost me 20 bucks. Finish it up!"
Esme feels a twinge of guilt and doesn't protest. She didn't feel like drinking anymore, but she feels obliged. She fingers the pink straw aside and hurriedly gulps the sweet orange alcohol down her throat. After she was done they leave the table. Esme notices, however, that on the table, Joe's orange drink is still full...
Even though she is shy, Esme knows how to dance. Joe is no slouch either. The two of them slice the dance floor up with fevered feet. Esme's vision blurs slightly as Joe pulls and pushes her around in circles. She begins to feel a bit tipsy, and asks Joe to slow down a bit. Joe nods and graciously slows down. Esme wasn't sure if it was the alcohol making her see things or not, but Joe seems to not even pay attention to her as they dance.
