Abandoned Solitude

Stepping out of the cab, Amelia stood at the edge of the sidewalk and surveyed the venue for the night. Glaring at Hailey as she bounced out of the other side of the car, she stubbornly hugged arms across her chest and looked back at the building where pounding music could be heard filtering into the night. Neon lights spelled out the words 'Blue Moon' across the top of the entrance

"I am NOT going in there."

Coming to stand in front of her friend, Hailey tucked some stray hair behind Amelia's ear and pouted, sticking out her bottom lip and whimpering. "Please, please, pretty please Lia?"

Amelia refused to look at her. "A bird is going to come along and shit on that lip you know."

Hailey snorted and threw her head back with laughter, drawing the attention of the bouncers and most of the people waiting in line to be admitted to the club. "You did not just say that. Seriously, tell me you didn't actually say that out loud and I'm just hearing voices in my head."

Amelia, still refusing to look at her, couldn't help but smile. "You're hearing voices."

"Oh thank god. In that case, I think the voices are telling me they need a drink?"

"Hailey, can we just go somewhere else? Please?" Amelia knew she was whining, but couldn't help it as she looked past Hailey at the nightclub behind her. Dropping her voice to a whisper, she glanced around them before miserably looking her friend in the eye. "This is a Were club. Please? I really, really don't want to go in there..."

Sympathetic, but unwilling to be moved from her choice, Hailey simply shook her head. "Sorry sweetie. If we're leaving tomorrow, I've got friends to say good bye to tonight."

Amelia started to panic, tears building in her eyes and her breathing coming in quick and shallow gasps. She glanced down at what she was wearing. Though her shirt covered her front completely from waist to neck, it left her back entirely exposed save for the two traps forming an 'X' across her shoulder blades. The denim skirt suddenly felt too short, and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to walk in the strappy heels she wore.

Hailey, realizing an anxiety attack in the works, quickly grabbed her friend's hand and led her straight towards the head of the line. Flashing a sultry smile at the tall and muscular man guarding the entrance, she was immediately granted access to the curtained doorway despite the groans of protest made by those left standing in line.

Dragging Amelia across the threshold, they entered the club and headed straight for the bar.

Amelia couldn't get her eyes to focus. Between the panic flooding her body, the deafeningly loud music, the black painting of the whole interior and the blue lighting of the massive room, she was bordering on sensory overload.

Squeezing her hand briefly before wrenching it from Amelia's grasp, Hailey turned and caught the attention of the dark featured bartender by leaning across the bar, exposing several inches of cleavage, and smiling as she dramatically grabbed a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses. Shaking his head, he finished the drinks he had been making and sauntered over to where the two women stood.

Hailey poured the shots, and thrust the glass into Amelia's hand. Amelia automatically brought it to her mouth and drank, before spinning toward the bar and coughing the liquor straight onto the man's chest.

Blinking in surprise, he looked down at his shirt while Amelia stood frozen with shock, her eyes wide in terror. Hailey simply burst out in laughter that was drowned out by the volume of the music.

Blinking rapidly to prevent the tears from falling, Amelia sputtered an apology, her eyes never leaving the sight of his wet shirt, then turned and bolted from the bar.

A minute later, Amelia stopped dead with the sudden realization that she didn't know where she was going. She couldn't even remember how she had gotten in the building. The club was huge, and she had separated herself from her only ally. Spinning slowly in a circle trying to collect her bearings, she finally found a neon exit sign marking her escape, the red looking slightly purple from the exclusively blue lighting of the club.

Weaving through the crowd, she had almost reached it when a strong hand grabbed hold of her arm. The man pulled her close against his body wrapping his arm around her shoulder and steered her back the way she had come before turning them into a dark doorway she hadn't noticed before.

Desperation was starting to creep into Amelia's consciousness and she was weighing her chances of escaping the man's arms when they reached another door and he pushed it open, blinding her with the white lighting. Instinctively, she turned her face and buried it in the man's chest, only then noticing the dampness of his shirt.