Two Little Girls

After a party at BLVD, one French martini, two kir royals, three games of pool, and hours of dancing with and without blue glowsticks (we were emulating the x-ed out people, not partaking), I found myself at an afterhours party down in Tribeca in the early hours of Sunday morning. When we arrived, I volunteered to get drinks for our group of three, so Ernest and Raj had a seat on a couch while I went up to the bar. While I was waiting to get the bartender's attention, a girl came up to the bar and edged in next to me, also to get some drinks.

Standing side by side, both of us waiting for the bartender, the girl said to me, "Try hypnotic on the rocks. It's so good." I looked at her and found a pretty young girl with long brown hair, smiling at me with her eyes sparkling as if she was letting me in on a secret. I asked, "Hypnotic?" She replied, "Yeah, most bars don't have it, so we're lucky," and flashed me another warm, mischievous smile.

At that moment the bartender came over, and the girl ordered two hypnotics. She said, "You'll see, you're going to love it." I wasn't sure if she was ordering two for her, or if one of the drinks was for me. I glanced back and Raj and Ernest. They seemed to be doing fine, so I turned back to the bar. A man had come up behind my new friend. She was clearly acquainted with him, because she snuggled up against him. It was dark, and he had a hat pulled down low over his eyes, so I didn't get a clear look at his face. He seemed several years older than my friend.

The bartender came back with two plastic cups filled with turquoise liquid on the rocks. The girl took one, and passed one to me. As she did so, she turned to face me fully, away from the man behind her, and said, again with a smile, "Don't worry it's on Javiar's tab." And then with a small nod toward the man behind her, she mouthed, "He's so hot," and started giggling. She then told me that her name was KC.

I was intrigued by KC, and her dynamic with Javiar, but also conscious that Raj and Ernest were by now probably waiting on their drinks, wondering what was taking so long. I motioned in their direction - they were only about 15 feet away - and said to the KC, "I have to get them a beer and a water. They're going to be wondering what's happened to me." She asked, "Oh, is that your man?" And I replied, "Yes." I asked her what the deal was with Javiar, and she told me that she had met Javiar at a party like the one we were at, and that he had been crashing at her place for the last week. She also said that the party was Javiar's. Some of Javiar's friends came up to the bar, and one of them started talking to me. I politely pushed him off, and then waved past him at Raj who was looking at KC and I.

The bartender came back towards us and before I could place my order, KC told her to get us a beer and a water. As the drinks were coming back to us, Javiar, who had paid us both very little attention up until now, leaned in and said to KC and I, "Just tip her our out, and you're all set." I thought to myself, of course. Tipping the bartender out was the least I could do after getting free drinks on Javiar's tab. I started rummaging in my purse for dollars. KC tried to say something nice to the bartender, and the bartender gave her attitude, so then KC told her to get us two more hypnotics. By then, my first drink was almost all gone.

I realized I only had a five dollar bill, and held it up to KC, thinking that it would not be enough to tip out the bartender, attitude or not. I said, "This is all I have, but I'll put the drinks on my card." KC looked in her purse and started counting out bills, smiling and telling me not to worry. I said, "KC, that is so sweet, but you really don't have to do that. I'll just put the drinks on my card." KC looked at me and said, "It's ok, we're both in the same boat here, right?" As if to say that we both had to look out for one another. I immediately felt like she was right. How rare is that, to find a genuine feeling of sisterhood in an afterhours party over blue hypnotics?

We continued chatting, and I eventually went back to the boys and brought them their drinks and sat down. KC talked to Javiar for a bit up at the bar, and then came and sat down next to me. Now it was the four of us sitting on the couch in the middle of the floor of the party. The place was getting more and more crowded. Javiar was moving through the party from group to group, not paying a whole lot of attention to KC. KC was sitting next to me watching Javiar. She said to me, "He's on coke. He offered some to me but I don't do that shit." I said, "That's good. You should stay away from that stuff." I then asked her a bit more about herself and Javiar. She told me that she was a freshman at John Jay college, and that she was from Maine. It was becoming clear to me that Javiar was bad news, and that KC was far to sweet to be with him. We were both a little giddy. Me from the night, the hypnotics, dancing and flirting with Raj earlier, and now this interaction with KC.

We had only been sitting down for a few minutes, and KC said, "Let's make Javiar jealous. Can I kiss you?" I remember giggling, and I must have looked at her uncertainly because she said, indicating Raj, who was sitting beside me and watching this exchange closely, "He won't mind. This is every guy's fantasy." I was thinking that that was probably true, but said, "You'll have to ask him." (Mad points for me). KC leaned across me and said to Raj, "Come on, I can kiss her right?" We were both staring at him smiling. He didn't say anything, but he nodded his head and kept watching. Then KC and I kissed. I was aware that Ernest, by that point, had quietly gotten up off of his end of the couch and walked around so that he could see better what was happening between KC and I. We kissed a few times, then paused. Then kissed again. I was aware that the night had taken a crazy, rather delicious twist. I was wondering what Raj was thinking.

Soon after, KC got up to follow Javiar off into the crowd. Raj, Ernest, and I stayed a little while longer, finishing our drinks and talking. I think both of the boys were a bit dazed, as was I. Ernest wanted to know if there had been tongue involved, and I said no and explained the obvious, that girls don't like having tongues shoved down their throats. Ernest said, "What do you mean? You don't like kissing with tongue?" He seemed genuinely curious, so I explained that sometimes tongue is nice, mainly when you are in the heat of it, but not all the time. Ipromptu kissing lesson.

Then, we stumbled outside to find the sky already glowing a pale morning blue. It was 6 am.