Amy was nervous; she asked herself, "What am I doing here?" If it hadn't been for the two glasses of wine and that nasty joint after work with Sherry, the office secretary, she would have taken another way home and she wouldn't be in this uncomfortable position, questioning herself. It was pretty cold out as she stood in line outside trying to look nonchalant and avoiding all eye contact with the people walking by.
She originally had plans to go to dinner with Sherry but it turned out that after Sherry bitched and complained about her boyfriend the whole time at the bar, he called wanting her to go to a concert right away at Madison Square Garden.
Of course, being the wimp that she is she complied and was off within five minutes, leaving Amy alone at the bar in the middle of the city on a Friday night.
"Sorry about this Amy but I know if you were in my position you would do the same thing," she calmly stated rushing to leave.
"Oh yea, definitely," Amy lied.
Not that Amy minded that much, it wasn't like Sherry was great company or anything but she had planned on having a nice dinner, a glass of wine and then schlepping back to Collette's condo in SOHO and maybe doing some work before bed. Collette was the office manager for the company they worked for and she and Amy hit it off from the start of Amy's employment two years ago. In fact when Amy came in from Boston for the quarterly sales meetings she almost always stayed with Collette. Unfortunately, Collette's mom in California had an accident and she had fly out to be with her.
Amy wasn't used to being alone in the city: it felt strange. Collette and sometimes some of Collette's friends were her usual dinner companions but since she had to be with her mother in California Amy was on her own in the big city.
Collette enjoyed Amy's company and always insisted Amy stay with her during these sales meetings. Amy was a little nervous staying at Collette's alone but there was no way she wanted to pay the $300 a night a decent hotel was charging these days. Besides she promised Collette she would take care of her cat, Muffy while she was away. In that regard Amy felt like she really had no choice but to stay there.
With her little buzz from the wine and the couple of hits from Sherry's funny cigg earlier that night she was in a curious mood. She felt all dressed up with nowhere to go, free of husbands and kids and even friends. When The Midnight Rambler flashed through her mind she immediately and unequivocally ignored it. However with her buzz on, the more she tried to ignore it the more she could plainly see in her minds eye the tacky flashing neon sign.
Amy could sometimes be impulsive and within seconds said to herself, "I'm going to do it."
She told herself that she was just curious and was going to check the place out and that it would be exciting and fun, nothing more, nothing less. When else would she have the chance to do something like this? Her 12 year marriage was rock solid but truth be told it was also rock boring. Amy also thought about her college days and how she worked all the time to get good grades but never left room for fun. Amy thought that college kids today were all about having fun and experimenting with everything life had to offer whether it be drugs, relationships, exotic drinks or even their sexuality. Nothing was off limits for these spoiled kids. Deep down, Amy knew she was envious of their carefree lifestyle.
Just because her sex life was barren she didn't want to be like some of the other wives she knew who were sleeping around and carrying on affairs behind their husband's back. But she also thought just because Norman wasn't interested in sex it didn't mean she also had no interest, further aggravating her was the fact she just read an article in Cosmo stating she was now entering her sexual prime. "Whoopee," she thought
Amy ruled out right away going to a club or bar, as she didn't like the idea of men hitting on her. A compromise she worked out was to stop by the Midnight Rambler on the way back home to Colette's. Since she knew no one would recognize her she could go have a thrill and observe the crazy scene and then walk back to Collette's right around the corner. She told herself the fact it was a girl/girl bar had no real influence on her decision, she just wanted one more drink at a fun happening place without the annoyance of being set upon by a bunch of drunk oversexed men.
'Oh God, I wished I had another joint," she thought to herself.
She had heard about this bar several months ago while dining in SOHO with Collette and her friends, Sarah and Lisa. Amy was distracted reading the menu when Lisa started complaining about how The Midnight Rambler, which she felt was once a great old fashioned New York City dive bar, had been taken over by a bunch of dykes from New York University.
Sarah, correcting her said, "Lisa, technically speaking from what I have heard it's more of a lipstick lesbian bar not a dyke bar."
Colette then chimed in with, "I think your both wrong because I overheard students from NYU talking last week waiting for the train and they said it's a place where NYU girls go to experiment with their lesbian until graduation phase, or their LUG phase!"
"Actually you are all wrong," added the waitress, a perky brunette named Elisa who was quickly slamming drinks down on the table. "What I hear is happening is that the bar has become real popular with Connecticut and New Jersey housewives who come in during the weekend to live out their lesbian fantasies reliving the college days they never had, and let me tell ya, judging by the license plates on the cars it seems to be attracting a pretty good crowd.
At least it's a more upscale crowd. After work at night I use to have to dodge all the used rubbers along the sidewalk from all the customers doing the nasty in their cars."
In unison the three women let out "Eeeww gross, that's disgusting!"
Elisa continued, "Now I just have to avoid all the finger and dental dams on the sidewalk."
"OK, I just lost my appetite" Sarah responded.