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They go flying in two opposite directions.
I pluck one off the pillow right next to me, and the other from the edge of the bed. They’re Oklahoma driver’s licenses. One with my face staring back at me even though I’ve never owned an Oklahoma driver’s license. My lips tug up at the corners. The birthdates on these put us at twenty-one years old.
I glance up at Addy and finally crack a full smile. “How the hell did you get these?”
“Boss.” She blushes, the pink hue rising over her cheeks. “He has connections.”
Connections.That would be an understatement. Addy finally told me who Boss is—why the party gave him such a wide berth, and why so many girls were looking at Addy with their gazes swimming in the depths of envy. His father is a local football legend, having graduated from the same college and heading straight into the NFL twenty-plus years ago. He’s played for some major teams, and though I’m not one to watch sports, even I’ve heard of the guy.
The loft we went to, the friend of a friend of a friend’s, is owned by some other bigshot football player, too. A friend of his dad’s, in theNFL.
I knew something was up with Boss, and it made perfect sense when Addy finally told me. I guess she wanted me to get to know him forhim,without any outside influence or expectation of who he might be. I don’t think it would’ve changed my opinion of him either way, but I do understand where she was coming from.
“It took me weeks to convince him,” Addy says, breaking through my thoughts. “But what fun will New York be if we can’t get into a few nightclubs, you know? So,” she plucks the IDs from my grasp, “I think we should test them out tonight. See what kind of trouble we can get into.” Her caramel apple eyes sparkle with mischief and excitement.
She makes it impossible to sayno,which is probably how she convinced Boss to get these in the first place.
I breathe out a laugh and shake my head. “You’re impossible, but I’m down.”
Her resulting squeal pierces my ears as she throws her arms around me in a tight hug, making us fall back against the mattress yet again. “It’s going to be so much fun! And Jude will be there, too—you know, if you’re still interested,” she adds with a knowing gleam in her eyes.
Despite every reason not to, my breath hitches, my heart pattering against my insides with an emotion I’m not used to feeling.
I can’t even put my finger on what it is, exactly.
Interest? Excitement? Anxiety?
Truth be told, it all feels the same.
______
“So, the place is called Club Vee. I’ve never been, but I’ve heard it’s really cool,” Addy says a few hours later, as we’re getting ready in her bathroom—her more than me. She knowshow to glam with the best of them. “Think dark, luxurious dungeon vibes,” she tacks on.
I pull her mascara wand away from my face before I leave a streak of brown trailing up my forehead, my body falling forward toward the bathroom counter with my laughter. I brace the impact of my weight with my forearms at the lip of the sink and fully crack up. I don’t know what’s so funny about that statement, it just is.
“‘Luxurious dungeon vibes?’What does that even mean, Addy?”
She snorts out a laugh of her own at my comment. “Shut up,” she says, but there’s no bite whatsoever to her words. “You’ll see,” she adds with an amused puff of breath. “You’ll like it, trust me.”
She’s notwrongwhen we enter the dim nightclub a few hours later. It’s a room full of iron bars, steel beams, and dark concrete floors, but there are velvet couches the color of deep emerald, and halos of muted, diamond-encrusted light painting the room in a galaxy-like mural. Hexagon-shaped, mirrored panels lining the ceiling help to add to the starlike illusion.
I spot my reflection in them as Addy leads me through the club, and I smile up at that other version of myself, imagining I’ve crawled through constellations and galaxies, slipping my way into this parallel universe to find me.
I laugh at the idea but find it oddly comforting.
Now would also be a great time to mention that Addy brought that flask along with her again but gave me almost the entire thing this time.
My skin buzzes along the surface, a playful hum whispering through my limbs. And I can feel that I’m still smiling, when I raise my fingers to my face, feeling the gentle curve of my lips.
Addy tugs me through a throng of bodies that pass by in a blur, guiding me toward a roped-off area of the club. When we arrive, Boss motions to the bouncer that it’s okay for us to enter.
What a strange life that must be,I think, to hold such an odd power because of who your father is, and the expectation of who you might someday become, too. We’re all just people. It’s never made sense to me why some are valued more than others—unless you’re a teacher, or a doctor, or a first-responder, or a scientist, someone contributing to the betterment of the world. Those are the people who deserve special recognition.
I want to be one of those people someday,the thought drifts around in my alcohol-soaked mind. Not so much booze that I can’t hold my own, but enough that the number of bodies crowding the club isn’t even a thought in my brain right now.
I pull my focus back to the room around me.
The picture tonight looks a lot like the one at the party last night. Girls dancing along the bounds of the roped-off area in an attempt to catch Boss’s—or one of his friends’—attention, sending heated looks their way from where they’re grinding on each other on the dance floor.