last night
the bedroom
a bitter mid november night bare legs exposed cos black tights won't go with the playsuit the hem flirts a little too hard with your arsecheeks but the pattern is so pretty and the way it cinches your waist feels like a first dance
2. the alcohol run
thin wad of notes in a balled fist a litre of gin split three ways at some point we stopped keeping tabs on who owes who one gets the pre drinks the other the uber the third the dutty chips at 3am
the queue
political chats are happening behind you your mates slur and slice through an agenda of world crises whilst you are transfixed by the forearms of the man in front of you his shirt sleeves rolled to just above the elbow tensing and releasing like a bass player teasing a funky riff from taut strings a desperate croak sneaks out of you
you alright hun?
unconvincingly you turn the croak into a coughing fit your friend slaps your back her eyes slant and soften in genuine concern
4. the bouncer
sometimes you forget you're a grown ass woman who fills out tax returns and owns a vase you grin the grin of a shit liar as the bouncer's narrowed eyes dart from your passport photo to you and back again it still feels like a triumph every time they wave you in to the belly of the beast
the bar
honestly what is money even for if you cannot buy a round of drinks for your best friends in the whole entire world and the girl with the deep wine coloured lipstick that you've just met whose name is mary or mandy or perhaps harriet golden oceans with islands of jager in the middle down in one your hearts immediately start beating at 160 bpm
6. the toilets
music bleeds down the passageway we two step in time squeezing pelvic floors to keep from pissing ourselves under a cubicle door a tampon is passed to a grateful hand strangers call eachother babe love and pumpkin absentmindedly a woman lifts her top to stroke a caesarean scar you can take a few minutes to fall apart in here no questions asked the code of conduct is watertight everyone is beautiful do not answer that text be a love and guard the door with the broken lock whilst excess is expelled down a long suffering toilet bowl
the smoking area
takes a few moments to adjust to the fact that we don't have to shout to be heard out here perhaps we prefer the forced intimacy of having to lean in to eachother in the loud and dark the licence to touch and linger longer than british ettiquette allows
the dancefloor
if you didn't already know we're not here to fuck about hair tied back away from our necks shorts worn tight to our hips an airhorn call to duty summons us find us dangerously close to the speakers where the throb and wobble reigns dextrous waists wine up against any man who can keep up hands rest on bent knees small of back pops and twists asking and answering the same question we dip and sway salute with barrell fingers yes mate yes sweat collects between and under breasts thin cotton tops damp to the touch dj drops banger after banger vicious a delicious ache in the pelvis we bubble butterfly tick tock hands press against the wall all the better to throw it back we make it clap turn it up reload that somehow we have formed a tight circle moving with and for eachother bending and refracting let's go let's go let's go chants spread and pitch to a euphoric crescendo when the last song ends and the lights come up we blink dumbstruck the floor beneath us sticks the sweat on our skin dries to a quiet itch
the walk back
with takeaway boxes sploshed with a pallete of miscellaneous sauces we debrief on the night's shenanigans eyes wide but unfocused words slow to assemble in succinct order some nights we return with bodies brimful of catharsis others we are cowering from the demons that only come out under strobe lights regardless there has never been a night we haven't made it back pint glasses of tap water perched on bedside tables another day forces its way through the windows we often don't make it into our own rooms falling into fitful sleep on one bed a tangle of hair and hope and dormant hunger
Really lovely stay - well decorated, clean and nice touches like cereals for breakfast x