Facing Her Demons (Lesbian, Transgender)

Chapter Twenty-Two - Go to Glecon, He Said; It'll be Fun, He Said

Here's something I learned today; if I'm thinking too hard during work, Dylan will automatically assume I'm having the worst time of my life, and will do his damn best to make sure I have fun 'via drinky drinky time'. 

     At least, I think that's what Dylan said to describe going clubbing. I haven't been paying too much attention to him.

     "Come on, we're going," he declares as soon as the last customer leaves the store. I turn around in time to see him flip the 'Open/Closed' sign.

     "Going where?" I ask. 

     "One word." Dylan holds up an index finger. "Glecon."

     The both of us pick up the books that have been out of their shelves and left on the floor. "You're still on about the club?" I ask. "I thought you've already gone."

     "Nah, not yet. I recently found a car the person who owned it didn't want," Dylan says. "And we got paid yesterday, so I have more than enough for the gas and the booze."

     "You know we're being paid minimum wage." The books in my aisle are in their place. I move on to the next one over. "Either the prices dropped drastically, or you suck at math."

     Dylan mutters something under his breath. I'm pretty sure it's something close to 'smartass'. "I've been saving some money out of every paycheck for the last several weeks," he says. "Trust me, I have enough."

     "The last time I trusted a guy, I ended up getting grounded," I respond.

     He laughs. "That's a story I wanna hear."

     "No, it isn't."

     Dylan yawns noisily. "Man, I'm going to be tired on the road," he says. "I think you'll have to tell me that story if you don't want me sleeping behind the wheel."

     "Don't you threaten me."

__________

"I should have said no," I say as soon as we get out of the car. I stumble over the sidewalk edge as I try to get my jacket unstuck. "This city's giving me the, uh, what's the word kids use to describe feeling uneasy?"

     Dylan practically slams the driver's door. "Heebie-jeebies?" he suggests.

     "That's it."

     Imagine a ghost-ish town. Imagine it's in a sad winter setting, with a layer of snow too thin to make proper snowballs. (I've gotten better at snowball fights, which Michelle constantly complains about now. And since she introduced me to that first snowball fight, she has no one to blame but herself.) Put some modernized vehicles and a couple of up-to-date stores, and you're looking at Glecon. This is the second Above-Ground city I've been to, and already I'm finding Triglas to be the happier city of the two.

     "Franny." My coworker tilts his head to a direction. "The club's this way."

     "How do you know where it is?" I ask as I jog up to him. "I don't think Glecon has street names."

     After giving me the weirdest look he can muster, Dylan points at the pole near us, where a bright green sign is at the top with the words 'MAIN STREET' written on it in white. "Where the fuck did you look for the street names?"

     "Let's say you're going to question my intelligence a lot more the longer we stay here," I say, my face heating up.

     "Ain't gonna doubt that."

     Even though it's around eight at night, the club is open and in 'full swing' (Dylan's words, not mine). Unlike the Cat Call, the Succubi (yeah, even I'm laughing at the irony) was run-down, and instead of the dance floor I'm used to, there's a lit-up stage. A woman is in the middle of some kind of dance, and she's surrounded by sweaty human men in their forties. Well, at least half of them are in their forties; there are others closer to Dylan's age.