I wasn’t supposed to be there night. I was supposed to be at home, in my bedroom studying for a test I had the next week. So, how did I get there?

Jordie.

Jordie is my best friend in the whole world, and she is the one that dragged me out to the new club opening. Apparently, it had been the talk of the town for a year, but according to her I live in such a deep, dark, hidden hole full of old books that I would never know if something new came along. To be perfectly honest, she was kinda right about that too.

Somehow she got me to cave into going, maybe it was the constant whining and begging that got me to go or maybe it was the fact she bought me a new book every day for a week. Whatever the reason, I ended up telling her I would go. Opening night snuck up faster than I was ready, all of a sudden I was being forced to squeeze my body into a pair of leather leggings, pulling on a fishnet crop top that exposed the red lace bra I was wearing underneath, and putting on red stilettos that I was almost positive I would break my ankle wearing.

I remember standing outside of the club waiting in that long line and Jordie saying to me, “Brinley, everyone is drooling over you!”

She had been so excited that people were just outwardly undressing me with their eyes. I, on the other hand, had felt so out of place and awkward. I wanted nothing more than for the night to be over. We were easily granted access to the club, although the bouncer did take his time racking his eyes over both of our bodies before motioning us in and copping a feel of Jordie, only to have her giggle and throw him a wink over her shoulder.

Once inside the club we were assaulted by loud music. It didn’t faze Jordie one bit, she had started dancing the second the beat had made its way to her ears. I had almost curled in on myself, trying ever so hard to avoid eye contact with every single person in the building. As if knowing I would be this way, my friend smiled sadly at my demeanor.

“Come on, babe.” Jordie stated grabbing me by my arm and leading me over to the large bar at the back of the dance floor. I swear my eyes popped out of my head when I saw the bar. It was made of glasses with LEDs behind which illuminated the bar, drinking glasses, and all of the bottles that were sitting behind the glass. That was pretty and all, but the bar extended up where another bar for the upper level was located. The floor of the upper level was completely see through. So, the people sitting at the bar on the lower level could watch the bartender on the second story work. It blew my mind to see something like that.

“Brinley, he asked what you wanted to drink?” Jordie shouted at me over the music effectively breaking me out of my trance.

“To drink? I don’t know, you know I don’t drink J…” I looked sheepishly at the bartender, who looked at me with an annoyed smile.

“She’ll have an Atomic Cherry.”

The bartender nodded his head going off to make the drinks.

“You are going to have to loosen up, okay? I brought you out to have fun not to curl up and hide.”

I looked down at the ground as Jordie scolded me. I had forced her to stay in on so many occasions for a variety of different reasons it would be wrong of me to be selfish once again and ruin this night for her. I simply nodded my head as the bartender came back with my drink and two shots of something for Jordie.

“Bottoms up!” Jordie shouted, bringing one of the shot glasses up to her lips and downing it before following it with another. My eyes widened as I quickly sipped at the drink that had been ordered for me. I made a face at the sweet taste, but kept drinking till it was gone. I looked over the rim of the small glass to see Jordie staring back at me with wide eyes.

“That atta girl!!” She threw her hands up in the air, turning towards the dance floor.

Without hesitation I followed her lead.

This is where the real problems begin. You see, I don’t hold alcohol well, it goes right to my head same with Jordie. So it was no surprise that within thirty minutes of the first drink there had been about two shots for me and heaven knows how many for Jordie. The point is that I was way out of my league, I had more than my fair share to drink. I was having trouble forming full thoughts, let alone sentences. By the time we were an hour into being there I had lost Jordie and I honestly didn’t care.

I can barely remember whether I had been dancing alone or maybe with someone? No, I was dancing with someone, that’s why I left the dance floor. Someone had been trying to get their grubby little hands into my leather pants, even after I had tried to say no and keep doing my thing. I remember pushing him away only to fall on the ground - him and his buddies had laughed at that. My eyes started to sting with tears as I turned my back and tried my best to run away from them. He had called out about coming back to suck his dick when I was done being a whiney little whore. That of course only made it worse, if I wasn’t crying at that point I knew that I was crying then.

All of the doors and hallways blurred together, I couldn’t find the door, the bathrooms, or Jordie. The tears by this time were streaming down my face, I was trying to form sentences but nothing was coming out. I remember tripping over something, ending up for the second time that night on the ground. No one made any move to help me up and I didn’t have the emotional strength to gather myself together and continue looking for my friend.

Ever so slowly, I crawled into a small nook that was hidden in the shadows. Once, I was sure I was hidden I realized that my hiding place was actually a poorly lit stairwell. For a second I thought about making my way up those darkly lit area, but the tears still falling from my eyes demanded more of my attention than the curiosity that was rising in me. I hadn’t been sitting there long, licking my wounds, when a voices drifted down the muffled hallway.

“I don’t care what the fire department says Lou, we were cleared by them months ago, they can’t go back on it now!” A dominating voice yelled at what seemed like the top of his lungs.

I shrank back farther against the wall, closing my eyes and praying that whoever it was, was set on walking past the stairs, not up them.

“I know, sir. I’ve tried talking to them. But they want to talk to you. I know, you are trying to enjoy this party, but as the owner you have to deal--”

“DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO!” I made the mistake at that moment to let out a very loud whimper. The hall grew silent, except for the sound of my whimpering and sniffling. Loud, hard footsteps rushed the short distance to where I was hiding in the dark. A large hand reached out at me, flinging me out into the middle of the hall.

“Who are you?” My eyes were closed as the angry man yelled down at me. I was to scared to do anything, but curl myself up into a ball and cry even more. The alcohol wasn’t making me fearless like it did with so many others;instead it was making me into a coward or maybe I naturally was one already.

“Sir, be gentle with her. She is jus--”

The nicer man was once again cut off as I was picked up from the ground and shaken roughly. I’m pretty certain the angry man had said something about opening my eyes or he would call the police, honestly I’m not sure. But I do remember looking at the most beautiful emerald eyes, right before I threw up on the owner of those entrancing eyes. Then I blacked out in his care.