NIKKI & JOE, CASUALLY | ✓

25: skin to skin

            'Nicolás!'

I yank my hand out of Joe's. Apparently, she didn't trust my taste for finding her a one-night stand and decided instead to pull me to the dancefloor. We don't make it past the bar.

'Michael?' I stumble into a hug. His fingers swipe my bare skin, so soft they're almost ghostly. 'I thought you couldn't come.'

I did invite him on our recent date but he said queer clubs ain't really "his thing" and that he and his mates already had plans to go to a "normal" club. Why am I disappointed he's here?

'Yeah, The Neon Aeon were bunk, so thought we'd give this place a try. My sister wants to do special effects makeup,' he explains when I wince at the illusion of his split throat. Arms still locked around my waist, Michael grins at me, eyes glinting from the depths of his skull. 'Brought some mates. Hope you don't mind.'

I mutter summat about how I don't own the club but his attention is caught elsewhere. I follow it to Joe beside me.

'This is Joe,' I introduce. 'My friend. Joe, Michael.'

'Nice to meet you. Nikki has told us a lot about you.'

Not entirely true.

Incredible how in a club full of people and blasting with music, it's still possible to have awkward silence.

I notice the three men watching us, an awkward distance away. I introduce myself to them though they stare at me incredulously until one finally pipes up. 'So what're you s'posed to be?'

I glance down at myself like I've forgotten my own costume. 'I'm Bow. From She-Ra. It's an animated series.'

Michael's arm slings around me though he holds me at a distance to take in my costume, unabashedly allowing his focus to trail my bare arms and stomach. 'You look mint.'

'Is this a couple's costume?' asks another friend, looking between me and Joe.

'No! No, there's a bunch of us. It's a group costume,' I correct, unable to look at her. She can't be pleased at this accusation.

On cue, Caleb emerges from the employees-only corridor, lavender pigtails sweeping the filthy floor and sobered up enough to steer his chair on his own. Eilidh comes along behind him, hiding a yawn behind a scorpion claw.

It spreads to me so that when Caleb calls my name loud enough to make it over Let's Kill Tonight, I respond with a yawn. 'They're–' He freezes.

'Caleb, this is Michael.'

'Michael.' Caleb drags out the name. He moves his chair back a foot to better see him, eyes flicking up and down until he smiles earnestly. 'Nice to finally meet you, Michael. I'm Caleb.'

Caleb shoves a hand out that Michael can't shake because his mate has just handed him a shot and what's probably a rum and coke.

'Double fisting, I dig it.'

Michael stares at Caleb, then at me. I bite down my chuckle though I can't judge his shock. Caleb takes a while to get used to.

Rishi and Sarah emerge from the dancefloor, out of breath and with a lot more glitter on them than when I last saw either. 'It's Time Warp soon.'

'What's Time Warp?' Michael asks.

'From Rocky Horror Picture Show.' When this doesn't spur any kind of recognition, Rishi sneers. 'What kind of uncultured cretins are you bringing into our house, Nicolás?'

'He's joking,' Sarah disclaimers in case Michael can't tell. Which he probably can't considering Rishi says it in the same cold drone as everything else. Sarah's persona flows effortlessly into the kindness and somewhat forced peacefulness of Perfuma. 'It's a dance. Like YMCA. It's a tradition every Halloween here.'