No Romo

Aces of Clubs

A year and a half had passed since Ava and Carter had came out to each other. It had been quite an eventful year; They'd started hanging out more and more, and it didn't take long before you couldn't tell their apartments apart by the items in them. It was getting rather frustrating to have to walk a mile to get a missing shirt or phone charger, so Ava proposed what they'd both been thinking about: Becoming roommates.

As one of Ava's friends had called it, "they were power roommates." All their rules were unspoken but agreed upon: Ava cooked dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Carter cooked on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. They always went out on Saturday. If you wanted laundry done, you did your laundry. And except for the first Saturday each month, if you wanted things cleaned, you cleaned them. The first Saturday of each month was cleaning day. Saturday was the only day they both had off, so that was the day when everything happened. Birthdays were postponed until Saturday; day trips were on Saturday; shopping was on Saturday.

The same friend who had called the power roommates had been nagging Ava and Carter about something for months: clubbing. As asexuals, a room filled with people grinding and making out wasn't really their idea of a fun time. Especially since Mercury, the club her friend, Skye, wanted to go to, was known to be more on the relaxed side with respecting personal space.

But it seemed like fun. Skye said it was fun. So finally, Ava and Carter agreed to spend a Friday night at Mercury.

Ava already had Friday off, and Carter got someone to cover his shift, so they could spend the entire day being extra. If they were going to go to Mercury, they at least wanted to look nice. And dressing up was fun.

"What screams, "I'm asexual?"" Ava sighed, thumbing through a rack of shirts.

"People don't know asexuality exists. You can't give off ace vibes and expect them to take the hint," Carter said. "Do you like the shirt?" He held up a short-sleeved purple button down shirt and raised an eyebrow.

"If we both wear purple, we won't get in."

"Sounds like a you problem."

"Well fuck you too." Ava eyed Carter, making sure he didn't make a joke about them bring ace, and went back to searching.

Eventually, Ava went for black skinny jeans and a green crop top, and Carter bought his shirt and white jeans. Neither one was in the mood to pass up an opportunity like this, so they also shoveled drugstore makeup, temporary hairspray, and cheap jewelry into their cart.

On a whim, Ava and Carter had gotten their ears pierced a bit over six months ago, and while matching outfits was too coordinated, matching silver and purple studs seemed casual enough to pass. After three hours of getting ready, they were good to go when Skye picked them up.

"'Sup virgins!" I forgot to mention that Skye was a bit eccentric. "Ready to have your eyes opened to the going-ons beneath our streets?" And then, in the true spirit of Skye, she winked.

"You do know we've both been clubbing before, right?" Carter said.

"Ooh! I forgot you were British. You don't look-"

"Jesus, Skye. Let's go. How much have you drunk?"

Skye hadn't drunk so much that she thought she was sober and permitted Ava to drive with Carter in shotgun. "You guys would be so cute tog-"

"That's nice, Skye. Reckon it's past your bed-time? Nighty-night," Carter interrupted.

The club seemed nice at first. Ava happened to know the bouncer from the coffee shop, and they got in without any struggle. For an introvert, Ava was on good terms with quite a lot of people. The night was just getting started as the two friends dragged Skye and a glass of water over to a booth.