Do You Remember?

Chapter 1

Body heat mingled with the cold air inside the uncrowded discotheque as flashing lights illuminated the darkness at short intervals, bathing the small room with cozy privacy. One glance through the darkly tinted glass beside me at the hazy scene below revealed a day guilty of overstaying its welcome.

Peering closer, the dark silky face of a woman who appeared younger than her twenty-five years stared back at me. I tucked a stray wave of shoulder-length hair behind my right ear, before habitually pulling the bottom of my short strapped leopard-colored top over brown tight-fitting stretchy pants, my eyes flickering over my lean, medium-height frame. Looking at my watch, I noted that it was earlier than I'd thought, 6:10 p.m.

Sue Daniels, my bestie, must have noticed me peeking at my watch. "It's too late now to travel back home." She flashed me a curious look. "You sure your friend wouldn't mind me staying over too?"

I turned to look at the dark, slim, and tall, seventeen-year-old before me. Dressed in skinny blue jeans and a pink satin shirt, with bone-straight hair swept high in a ponytail, Sue looked older tonight. This was a good thing since the required age for entry into a nightclub was eighteen, which she'd be in a few months nonetheless. "She'll be cool with it. Don't worry!"

Sudden shame encompassed me in recalling the last time I overnighted at my coworker's, Mrs. Gail Cyrus's place. I'd gone partying and gotten drunk as a fish, and afterward, I'd been reluctant to return. But, after a lengthy lecture, Mrs. Cyrus had relented, insisting I call on her if I ever needed a place to stay.

Sue's voice pierced my thoughts. "No one's dancing!" She leaned closer and hollered over the blaring music, her eyes sparkling excitedly.

"It's too early!" I replied, anxious at the thought of dancing the night away, my feet lightly tapping, and my body slightly swaying. "Don't worry, it won't be long till the crowd thickens, and people start dancing."

Sue, who'd been staring at some invisible spot opposite her, looked at me suddenly. "That guy over there keeps looking at you."

Her words caught me by surprise. My gaze followed hers, to the other side of the room where two guys stood with beers in their hands, the taller one looking our way. "I think he's looking at you." I laughed, as my eyes darted away. He is not my type so I better not stare!

"No, he's looking at you!" Sue called back.

I pretended not to hear.

I suddenly felt Sue's eyes bore right through me. "So all this time you've been coming here and you never spilled? Why?" Sue asked, her eyes surveying the two guys I cared not to look at.

I had no answer. My private life was just that, private.

Sue wouldn't quit. "If I'd known, I would have begged you to bring me with you a long time ago."

"I don't think we would've gotten away with that. You're still barely eighteen! And please swear you won't tell anyone your real age tonight." I remembered the time the bouncers threw a friend of mine out just for bumping into someone. That was the unfortunate man I couldn't bring myself to fancy more than a friend, and also the night I met Richard Miller.

Sue hollered into my ears. "I ain't that dumb to snitch on myself."

"Great! Besides, you'd probably get thrown out if you did," I said, scanning the faces entering the club. My mind wandered to Richard, whom I hadn't seen in weeks. Though I knew he wouldn't be here so early, now and again, my eyes roved the place in anticipation of him!

What I'd initially considered a spark of mutual love, had soured by the fifth time I'd seen him with his confession that I would never be good enough because I was too poor. Not that he was wealthy, for he was more destitute than I was, but, he saw himself as deserving better than me. Perhaps he might reconsider one day.