Secret Door

Sixteen

 Life with Alex was becoming a whirlwind. We were becoming regulars at downtown clubs and parties around the city. We would drink at home, then go out and drink some more, before coming back home and smoking before we fucked and then went to sleep. Then we would wake up at 5 in the afternoon the next day and do it all again. Alex pretty much permanently moved in with me after a while of it. The rest of Arctic Monkeys didn't mind any of it. In fact, they participated in most of the antics, aside from the sex of course. We all gathered at friend's flats and popular clubs for wild nights that lasted well past 6 in the morning. Alex almost always supplied the drugs and I was never sure how he did. I never saw any of his dealers during the beginning. We would just show up together somewhere and Alex would magically pull weed out of his jacket while everyone cheered. I wasn't worried. It was fun, it was fantasy. I was in love and it was dangerous and sexy. When I would look at Alex dancing against me in the heat of a morning with his unwashed hair falling in his face, his unkempt two-day old clothes wrinkled against his frame, and a joint between his lips I felt like I was somewhere better than heaven. 

I don't even know how it happened. Alex had all these connections. We just went out one night and got totally hammered together then came back and fucked. The cycle just repeated itself endlessly and the parties became longer. We were everyone's favorite guests, mostly because we were always drunk before we even arrived. Plus we would do just about anything. One night Al spotted a real fit bloke at one of the parties. He kept eyeing him and I had to smack him a couple times before he turned away to tell me of a plan he had.

"Relax, Mi. I have an idea, alright."

"What?" I grinned before taking another drink of beer. 

"This bloke is good-looking right? I mean I know you can agree."

I took a glance over at him. He was pretty fit. Tall, slightly muscular but not too ripped, scraggly beard and longer hair pulled back into a small ponytail. He was wearing grey trousers that fit well from behind and a black t-shirt. I nodded to Alex.

"So...let's take him back to our place," Alex suggested. His eyes were twinkling.

I looked at him hard for a second. "A threesome? With some random bloke? He's probably straight. You'll just embarrass yourself asking."

"No, no, no. You can tell he's gay. I mean, just look at him. Plus he hasn't been talking to any women all night, but you and I both know a man like that could get any bird he wants at any time. The reason he's not: he's only into blokes. He's not approaching them though because, you're right, he looks straight. When you're not in a gay club, every man looks straight. It's a right scary experience trying to hook up. So, we'll make it easy on him by approaching first. He'll agree, I mean look at you. You're enough to make him agree by just looking," Alex explained. He was so high. 

"Me? Have you seen yourself? I might as well not even be here. Guys are always looking at you when we're in public."

"Oh, shut up," Al blushed, smacking my cheek playfully. "Now, let's go get him." 

That next morning, I woke up to Alex completely naked next to me without any blankets on him and a mess of scattered, very racy, Polaroids on the floor. I laughed out loud until I couldn't breathe. Our third partner was nowhere to be found. 

Soon, all of our friends heard of the incident and it became a popular story to tell at parties when everyone was drunk our of their minds. Alex and I kept all the Polaroids, but hid all the especially lewd ones. We showed a couple to anyone we were sharing the stories with, though. These were the more tame ones. The most infamous of these being Alex laying next to our mystery man, Victor, with his arms around his neck. Alex was clearly high out of his fucking head, and Victor was smiling with a cigarette in his hand. Alex shirt was riding up on his chest and Victor had his hand on Alex's exposed hip. I was in the side of the picture holding up a beer bottle with one hand and the camera in the other to take the shot. I had the craziest look in my eye. Looking at the picture afterwards was unnerving in a way I couldn't explain. I looked insane. I hardly remembered any of that night.