One More Time (Bremmy 1)

Chapterish 49

RAVE

10:52 PM

We've been at the nightclub for twenty minutes. And I've decided every single person in a ten-mile radius over the age of 21 must be here. It's jam packed with pre-New Years vibes. Liquor flowing like a fucking river. Lights ain't the only thing blazin' amirite. And I haven't danced like this since college.

"Here. HERE! Everyone gets one." Travis distributes a tiny pink pill to each of us, shouting over The Chainsmokers and Halsey. He can't compete with them.

"What is it?" Meg says. She shimmies her crop top down in a poor effort to conceal her midriff.

"Yea, what's it gonna do?" Nate echoes the sentiment.

"Who cares?" Alex tosses his head back, swallowing the pill.

"Where did you get it?" Brooks asks.

"Don't ask. Just take." Travis flashes a smile, throws his head back and pops his own pill.

I glance at Brooks who kind of shrugs. Perfect Brooks. No one's ever shrugged so well.

"Don't ask. Just take." I roll my eyes, mocking Travis.

The two of us pop our own pills.

I've never been one to just take without asking first. Disclaimer: I'm not a casual drug user. But what happens in a Vail nightclub... #don'tforgetaboutD.A.R.E.

"And more shots!" Trix says as the skimpily dressed waitress drops another bottle at our table.

"Yes, more shots! God I live for bottle service!" Alex shouts.

Trix clumsily pours shots into plastic shot glasses and throws one in each of our hands.

"To fucking 2019!" Nate shouts over the music.

"To fucking it nice and good!" Alex roars over all our laughter. There's a loud crash as our glasses clank and flying vodka splashes our faces.

It stings on the way down. The music blasts my eardrums. My other senses are on fire. I can feel the rhythm of the beat on the floor. I can feel it pounding in my chest.

"Let's dance!" Trix coos, yanking Travis by the arm toward the dance floor. She pauses only to try and grab my arm too.

I hardly resist. I let her pull me into the sea of body glitter. Brooks follows me, guided by the magnets again.

We lose ourselves under the flashing colored lights. Rays of blue and green and purple shooting across the dance floor. Neon orange and pink glow sticks everywhere. Girls dance on raised platforms stationed like pillars around the room. The EDM is a real game right now.

I feel like I'm at an underground rave, tripping, high on some under-the-counter hallucinogenic. I'm dancing like I'm at a high school rave. Brooks and I grind into each other. Basically grind into everyone else too. We're packed like a horde of sex-driven lusty sardines.

Only the fire behind Brooks's eyes brings me back to the moment. To the raw magnetism between us. Fitting Electric Love a la BØRNS is the soundtrack to this moment. Too fitting. I'm feeling it in my bones. It is electric love.

He rubs his hands over my hips, up my bare midriff, over my crop top. Electric. The heat. Electric. Bodies writhing and glistening with sweat under the neon lights. Electric. The blood coursing through my veins. Electric.

The full effects of the drug and the shot I washed it down with are hitting me. I haven't been this fucked up in months. I gotta hand it to Travis, the nightclub was an excellent idea.

I'm shaking. I'm high. I'm drunk.

I'm a fucking unicorn.

I'm not sure of anything but I can feel everything –arguably the best sensation. I can feel the lights and the music and the emotion. I can feel a hand leading me away from the dance floor. And then I blink and we're down a dark hallway. Lights flicker above us. It smells of beer and piss and I'm not sure how we got here. But we're pressed against the wall, making out like two kids hiding under the bleachers –like two people who will never live to see another day.

Brooks leans hard against me, breathing deeply to the beat of the music. People walk by us. They don't stop. They don't care. We are free from judgment here. I gasp for the breath in Brooks's mouth, panting against him as he takes my lips between his teeth. I moan into him and we lose ourselves. The beat of The Chainsmokers' Closer vibrates on the walls and under my feet.

We are closer.

Minutes later we are back on the floor, back to dancing again, our stolen moment a shared secret. Trix has given up on shots, as she can hardly stand on her own now. Travis steers her over to the side of the crowded floor. Meg and Nate are falling all over each other but still dancing.

Behind them I see Alex and Katie grinding on a platform for the dancers. Both decked in one hundred glowing necklaces with neon war paint smeared all over their faces. They're laughing and smiling and somehow still managing to make out.

"I've got to take her," Travis yells over the music. I can tell he yells it but it sounds like a whisper with how loud it is in here. Trix is hanging all over him.

"OK!" I scream back moving closer to him. My hand is still holding onto Brooks's.

"Let's go with them." Brooks's words are right behind my ear. He's leaning down and I can feel his warm breath on my skin. "Are you ready?"

"Yesss," I nod, smiling. I'm so drunk. I'm so ready.

Brooks and Travis start towards the door. They look so similar from the back. Trix throws her arms around me and kisses my cheek. She's stumbling again. I'm stumbling again. She has neon glow paint (is it paint? I hope it's paint) in her braid.

"EMAY!" She giggles. "I jus luv yew so much!"

"I know, I know," I say, laughing. "Love you too! We're are gonna head outs. Come on!"

I half walk –half drag her after the boys. She reminds me of Barbie right now, a thought that makes me smile when I remember that Barbie reminded me of Trix. Halloween is the last time I was even remotely this drunk.

Travis stops to help once we're at the door. He takes Trix's hands from around my neck. I stand upright again. 

We walk into the night, laughing and screaming and still reeling from the drunken high –the high high. The cold air feels refreshing against our skin –still hot and prickly from inside. I walk beside Brooks and the others walk behind us. Trix laughing at Travis as he sings into the cold air.