Tapping her fingers along her bedpost, Olivia watched Gaby, her best friend and roommate, go back and forth between their bedrooms and pull clothes from their closets. She was relieved when Gaby took charge of the plans for Olivia's birthday as she had no clue what to do for herself.
For Olivia's 20th, Gaby thought it would be fun to have a night of club-hopping. Olivia trusted her to pick the clubs to go to because not only did Gaby know her favorites, she knew which clubs played which type of music. She had decided that they would pick three clubs and spend some time at each.
Along with planning the night, Gaby also dressed her up. She put Olivia in a tiny black and red tube dress that flared slightly from her waist. Luckily the dress had a built in bra for her 34B chest, because she couldn't wear a regular one without the straps showing. With the dress she wore black over-the-knee stockings and red pumps that gave her 5'3" figure a few more inches of height. Olivia didn't wear heels too often so she had to practice walking in the pumps to get used to them. To finish her look, they curled Olivia's black tresses to give them volume with her straight bangs pinned back, painted her lips a deep red, and winged her eyes with black liner.
"Well, I certainly look different," Olivia told her once they were finished. Olivia usually went clubbing in short shorts and a tank top with sneakers for comfort while dancing. She knew at the end of the night that her feet would ache terribly and she and Gaby would both be walking back to Gaby's car barefoot.
"Different? No, you look hot," Gaby told her. Gaby was dressed in white lace shorts and a purple crop top. She had on white wedges that turned her from 5'6" to 5'9". Her caramel brown hair was loose and wavy with a waterfall braid going around the back. Her white shorts looked good against her tan skin and large, but not fat, butt. She always claimed she got her curvy figure from her Hispanic genes, but Olivia knew it was because Gaby worked out three times a week. She was jealous of Gaby's figure, but Olivia's slender form wasn't bad to look at. She may have been small, but her hips did have noticeable curve and enough guys grabbed her butt, letting her know that working out with her friend also paid off even if the results weren't as grand.
"I can guarantee that tons of guys are going to be hitting on you; we may have to fight them off," Gaby laughed as she put her phone, wallet, and lipstick in her small clutch.
"You make that sound like a good thing. Maybe a few cute guys wouldn't be too bad to dance with, but I really doubt I'll get that much attention. Besides, that would be annoying wouldn't it?" Olivia sat down on her bed as the pumps were already starting to cause pain.
"Let's just go." Gaby told her as she pulled her from the bedroom so they could leave the apartment. "I know a DJ at the first club and he put us on the list so we can be in the VIP line, but we have to get there before 10."
***
The first club Olivia had ever been to when she turned 18 was the same club they were hitting first tonight. Called Le Marc, it played nothing but EDM, had go-go dancers in skimpy bathing suits and fishnets, and a rotating floor. Olivia loved that the dance floor moved, even if it was slow. A person could get on it but halfway through a song realize they're at the other side of the club. The only lights in the club came from the raised stage where the DJ played surrounded by five screens playing trippy imagery to the music. Beside the DJ were two go-go dancers in white bathing suits with black bras underneath, white go-go boots, and neon green fishnets. Olivia noticed that tonight the dancers' lips and eyelashes glowed under the black-lights above them.
With no time to people watch Gaby pulled Olivia right into the middle of the dance floor. She was surprised that she wasn't in pain from dancing in heels, just from standing in them, and that made her enjoy dancing in them even more. The beat around them could be physically felt due to the speakers being so close to the people. Olivia could feel her whole body vibrating to the bass. Smoke from cigars, cigarettes, and fog machines blended together and filled any space that wasn't taken up by a body. People pressed against them obnoxiously but the two girls ignored it as they danced together. "Happy birthday!" Gaby yelled.
After an hour of dancing, Olivia pulled them both to the side where the floor was stationary and tables lined the wall. "My throat is really dry," she shouted over the music. Gaby nodded in agreement. "I'll go get us water, but first I'm going to go talk to the DJ." Off she went into the crowd, leaving Olivia by herself.
Olivia leaned against the railing surrounding the dance floor and looked at the people in the club. She could tell that a good percentage of the people were likely high on drugs and enjoying the light shows given to them by people wearing gloves with LED lights attached to the fingertips. Other people were visibly drunk as they tripped over themselves while dancing. She laughed over this, though she knew that when she turned 21 she'd probably look the same.
Looking over more people, her eyes stopped on a man who looked out of place. Usually just the girls in clubs dressed up, wearing dresses and heels, and the men stuck to jeans and tee shirts. But this man wore a semi-casual button-up shirt with expensive-looking jeans. He was leaning against the half-wall that separated the regular tables from the VIP section. He was sipping on a drink while he watched the dancers just as she was before, but he had a look of disinterest on his face, which made Olivia curious. She wanted to go talk to him, but she was a shy person when it came to strangers. Clubbing seemed to give her extra confidence, but she still had to talk herself into doing daring things like initiating a conversation with someone she had never seen before.
After counting to three in her head at least five times, she finally made her way through the crowd, hoping the man wouldn't disappear. She got stuck a few times as dancers pressed against her, but she got through and was relieved to see that the man was still there. As she approached, she could tell that he was Asian and unusually tall. Even in her heels her chin just barely reached his shoulders. He also looked older by some years. She guessed and put him at 26. But she could tell that he was definitely handsome. Mildly tan with dark brown hair that wasn't too long, but not cut short either, giving him a boyish look that worked for him despite his age.
Before her nerves got to her and made her back down, she placed a hand on his shoulder for balance, reached up, and leaned close to his ear so he could hear her. "H-hi."
When she pulled away he just gave her a small smile and a wave. Not letting his gesture shoot her down just yet, she reached up again. "I was wondering ; would you dance with me?"
This time when she pulled back, he leaned down and spoke to her. "I'm not much of a dancer."
Olivia shrugged and gave him an innocent smile before reaching up for a third time. "Well, then can I just stand here while I wait for my friend?" The man shrugged and gestured toward the spot next to him. "So, I didn't know people who don't dance still fancied dance clubs," She said to him, trying to be nonchalant. For a while he didn't say anything so she thought he was ignoring her, but then she felt him move closer to her.
