"Babe, I just don't think it's gonna work tonight."
Nazli continued walking as she pulled out her phone. Amirah sighed, half in exhaustion and half in frustration. Every bar they'd tried was closed or empty. No concerts, no shows, not even a moon in the dim night sky, polluted by the light of the city. They'd been out for hours, and each time they'd returned to the rain soaked streets disappointed. This was supposed to be their night - together! So often they were too exhausted to partake in the finer things in life, and even after getting engaged they had so little time. One night of fun - and fate had denied them.
"Do you want me to call an Uber?" Nazli said, pausing.
"Not yet, babe. There's... something has to be open, right? It's ridiculous we haven't found anything." Amirah replied, glancing down the rows of blackened windows that sat along the street. "Just a block or two further, please?"
Amirah made those eyes, again. She knew Nazli couldn't resist them - so big and pouty, her glistening amber gems against an olive-brown face and cyan headscarf. It was getting later, and the moonlight clouds above them threatened further rain.
Nazli sighed, louder and longer this time.
"Just a block." she said, looking down at Amirah.
Amirah smiled wide and hugged her fiance before resuming her bouncy, upbeat stride. It was hard for Nazli to resist the energy the smaller woman gave off; moments later, she found herself keeping pace, her movements noticeably less enthusiastic.
Further through the empty streets they walked, suddenly aware of a dull, throbbing hum. It was coming from nowhere in particular, but both felt it had a distinct source somewhere nearby; as they continued it grew in both volume and regularity, until it resembled the beat of... music? Loud, electronic, and yet somehow hollow and haunting - but it was something, wasn't it?
"Hah! I told you, babe! I knew there had to be something open!" Amirah said excitedly, hurrying towards the curb and looking around for the source of the distant song. "Where do you even think it is? I feel like we'd've known about it if it was anywhere big..."
The two paused a moment, Nazli still holding her phone in one hand. Curious, she unlocked it and swiped over to her maps app, zooming in on the nearby area to see where - if anywhere - the music was coming from. Aside from the closed and vacant shops surrounding them, there was one marker that stuck out to her. It was unlabeled, aside from the name "CLUB" in capital letters. There was no phone number, address, or even a photo of it, but its location on the map indicated that it was just around the corner and down an alley from where Nazli and Amirah were now standing.
"...Babe, I'm... hesitant about that." Nazli said, turning the screen to show the smaller, bubbly girl. "This is, like, textbook sketch, right? It doesn't even come up with an address."
Amirah looked at the screen with suspicion, quickly fading as her lips curled upwards into a grin. Nazli glared at her, knowing exactly how they'd be spending the evening.
"It... should be fine! If there's music it must mean people there, right? And if people are showing up, how sketchy can it actually be, y'know?" Amirah said, turning towards the distant sound. Nazli turned with her, responding with her own cautious smile.
"...better to at least try rather than go home bored and exhausted, I suppose." the taller woman said, taking Amirah's hand and heading further down the street with her before turning a corner. She'd expected some night owls to be having fun, of course - not like this.
Whatever CLUB was, it justified the longest line they'd seen all evening. A dozen people were lined up in an alleyway, basking in the glow of a bright red neon sign. Below it were two dancers, placed on each side of an inconspicuous set of double doors. Their curvaceous bodies twisted, moved, undulated in ways neither Nazli nor Amirah could explain. It was beautiful in a way one would have to see to comprehend. The dancers stared at the couple as they approached from beside the alley, not once interrupting their odd movements. Moving. Twisting. Beautiful red light -
"...huh?"
Nazli looked around only to find herself - and Amirah - standing in line. The loud throb of the music was almost deafening now, even as they stood outside of the club itself. It was making her head spin! When... when did they get here? Had she just forgotten? Confused, Nazli nudged Amirah's shoulder.
"Babe, were we... always in line?"
Amirah blinked, seemingly dazed. Her voice sounded sleepy, content; they'd been tired moments before, but somehow, she seemed... well-rested?
"W... Hm. I... can't remember. Did you see those dancers, though? Maashallah, their bodies!"
Nazli looked forward above the crowd at the dancers by the door. While they danced, they were saying something to the first person in the line; a short, squat-looking man. The loud throb of the music drowned out their words, but she could tell they were arguing. Perhaps more accurately, the short man was yelling something at the two as they brushed off his insults, nearly ignoring him.
After a while, they said something to him that caused him to completely freeze. The contrast was jarring and immediate; one second he'd been animated, argumentative, his barely-audible shouting almost moving to the beat of the electronic music that was making it harder and harder to think. The next, he stood completely still. One of the dancers' lips moved, and the man turned sharply right and walked away.
The line moved forward. Amirah absentmindedly wiped away a bead of drool from the side of her mouth.
Every partier was given the same treatment. They'd all approach the dancers, words would be exchanged - and they would immediately turn and walk away, the joy and revelry gone from their suddenly-languid bodies. Whenever the couple moved forward in line, the music would grow louder and more and more of the dancers' voices could break through the cacophony.
"Babe, this is, um..." Nazli began, perking up to listen to the dancers.
"Super cool? I know, right? God, all these new clubs are going so hard on the aesthetic!"
Amirah's smile barely subsided as she listened along with Nazli. By now, the music was loud enough to physically shake their bodies; the constant beat was ethereal, dim, repetitive. There was the heavy, sensual electronic beat, but below it, something else - a deep, vibrating tone, that seemed to never change its pitch despite constantly falling in tone. It hurt their brains - the hurt of vodka, pink and red with lust and connection, being drunk straight from the bottle.
Closer now, the two could read the neon sign hanging above the door. It was plain, with simplistic, thin lettering in red.
LOTUS. Nothing more. The image of it stuck in their vision as they moved their eyes.
Red lipstick touching red lipstick was all Nazli could see for a moment before it occurred to her that they were next in line. She'd been so... focused, on the dancer's voice. Amirah nudged her, as if to tell her to focus. The partiers - they were being inspected. It was difficult to make out over the music, but they were examining each and every person in line with hawkish eyes hidden behind their thick, tinted sunglasses. Every inch was scrutinized, from their hair to their shoes - and all were rejected.
"You're not going to cut it, honey." the dancer to the left of the door, with bright pink lips, said.
"Get lost."
And with a wordless heel-turn, it was only Nazli and Amirah left to approach the dancers. Their bodies - everything about them - felt hot. The music was throbbing in their ears, their hearts, their minds, rocking every inch of their body. Admittedly, both were nervous; Nazli's body thrummed with anxiety at being rejected like the others, her heart practically about to burst from her chest.
Amirah stepped forward, giddy as she always was. The two dancers took it as an invitation, the one with red lipstick putting a foot forward to get a better look.
"B-Babe-!?" Nazli asked.
Amirah wasn't paying much attention to Nazli, right now. Whatever focus she had was being sucked up by the women before her, her mind drained of purpose outside of those soft, red lips. She barely noticed as the woman in pink did the same to Nazli, eyeing up the tall, slender woman, eyes running across every inch of her olive skin like a knife - and then digging so much deeper.
The dancers moved their bodies in the loveliest of ways. Each minute change made their generous breasts roll, jiggle, dance along with the music; mesmerized, the two women stepped towards them further, unaware at how closely they were being scrutinized - and not caring, either.
"You'll need work." the dancer in red said, doing something indescribable with her hands that sent shivers down Amirah's back.
"Oh, yes, so much work." said the pink one, sliding her back up against the wall and craning a high-heeled leg.
