• It was a little after eight when she arrived at The Club. She went inside after saying goodbye to Caleb. And of course promising to text him later, or at lest answer when he calls or sends a message.
    Once inside she scanned the crowd that was illuminated by colorful lights. The entire crowd was what Caleb would call, “idiotic, punk, New Yorkers.”
    She smiled as the sound of familiar music pounded in her eardrums, she could feel the vibrations from the sound on the floor.
    Jamie came up to her, smiling. “Awesome! You came!” she said, hugging her. She could smell the slight bit of alcohol on her friend’s breath. It was Jamie after all, what did she expect?
    By the end of the night she would probably be wasted. Mai-lynn didn’t really feel like drinking tonight and would probably leave the party sober.
    “Yeah, of course” she replied, having to speak loud to be heard over the music.
    Just then a guy came up behind Jamie and put his arms around her waist. “This lady owes me a couple of dances, mind if I steal her from you?” He asked with a charming smile.
    Mai-lynn couldn’t help but return the smile as she shrugged. “Go ahead, have fun,” she said.
    “You better have fun tonight, too” Jamie said to her with a wink before leaving with her mystery guy.
    Now alone, she looked around for someone she knew. She spotted a group of friends on the other end of the warehouse. Having nothing else to do she made her way towards them, moving through the sea of dancers. Once she approached the group, they all greeted her.
    “Hey people,” she said, joining them..
    Mai-lynn looked around at the faces. There were seven people, three girls and four guys. She knew them all. Except one face appeared to be unfamiliar.
    “Oh, right, guess some introductions would be nice,” said one of her friends, A.J., noticing that she was glancing at the one guy.
    A.J. was a tall and slim. Quite friendly, unless you got on his bad side or if you were simply over the age of thirty. He loved to cause trouble, especially with the law.
    Most called him an adrenaline junkie, which would be what his name stood for. Some people preferred to call him “Adrenaline”. Of course neither were his real name, just his street names. She had no clue what his real name was. There were a lot of people whose names she didn’t actually know.
    Like his name, she didn’t know him that well but he seemed like an alright guy. Aside from having been in jail a couple times and only being seventeen.
    A.J. slapped the unknown guy on the back. “This is Joshua, we hang out, once in a while,” he said.
    Joshua stepped forward, smiling at her. “And you are?” he asked, staring into her eyes.
    Blood rushed to her cheeks and they turned slightly pink. The darkness of the room shielded that, this she was glad of.
    “Mai-lynn,” she said, returning his smiling, trying to keep it cool.
    He came closer to her and took her hand. He kissed it, gently. “Pleasure to meet you,” he said, flirtatiously. By now her face burned, but she didn’t pull her hand from his grip.
    He was likely just stoned or something and wasn’t thinking. Yet the attention made her blush and gave her butterflies.
    Normally attention from guys didn’t bother her, but tonight she was entirely sober and at a loss for words. To her luck the DJ took over, pausing the loud party music.
    “ ‘ight, time to tone this down for a while,” he said, beginning a slow song.
    Her friends had drifted off to dance and it was now just her and Joshua standing there. He let go of her hand, and stood there staring at her.
    “Ummm…What’re you staring at?” she asked. Man she felt stupid! Where was a beer when she needed one?
    Joshua grinned at her in response. “A pretty girl, wondering if she wants to dance.”
    Okay, so definitely on something. She mentally shrugged to herself. She probably wouldn’t see this one again. So why not try without a beer or a couple hits of someone’s joint?
    “Go ask her?” Mai-lynn suggested, tugging him away from the wall, onto the dance floor.
    “Ladies’ choice, maybe she’ll ask me.” He replied, trying to hide his smile.
    “Too bad for her now, missed her chance I guess.” She replied, wrapping her arms around his neck.
    Joshua placed his hands on her waist. “Nope. She didn’t miss it.” He whispered in her ear.
    As they danced, Mai-lynn noticed that his hands were kept at a respectable level on her hips. A smiled crossed her face as she rested her forehead on his chest while she thought about the way he acted.
    Hammered or not, most guy’s weren’t like this to her. She pondered what this meant with curiosity as they danced.

    __


    Hours passed by. Mai-lynn let the night slip between her friends, including Joshua. She now sat against a wall beside him. They were both exhausted from a night of dancing. She wondered to herself how she had made it through the night without a single drink.
    “You look tired, darling.” He said to her, gently placing his hand on her chin and turning her head towards him. Their gaze locked for a moment as Mai-lynn got lost in his eyes. She silently fought the urge to see what kind of illegal substances she could find on his lips. Then she remembered he had spoken.
    “I am, my feet are so sore!” She replied, yawning slightly.
    He stood and then offered her his hands. “Come on, I will walk you home,” he said, helping her to her feet.
    Mai-lynn nodded, her brain felt so flustered. It wasn’t the normal feeling she had when she was drunk. This was without alcohol. She craved a drink so bad right now. A good buzz to shut down her brain for a little while.
    Mai-lynn was beyond drowned in her thoughts. Dealing with her need for a beer, trying to figure out Joshua’s intentions, as well as the normal problems.
    It wasn’t until Joshua stopped walking did she realize where they even were. They had left the party and were now outside, standing under a fervent street light. The cool evening air felt refreshing.
    “Cold?” he asked, standing in front of her. He was staring at her with his blue eyes. Something about his eyes grabbed her attention.
    She shook her head, lost studying him for the first time. Every detail was illuminated by the street light that was above them.
    Joshua was taller than her by a few inches. He looked to be in good physical shape. Black hair, with that cute medium length, bangs in the face style. And of course his blue eyes. His clothing matched his hair style, without a doubt he was one of “them”, Brooklyn’s lower class, trouble making teenagers.
    He was just like everyone else at the party, including her.
    Now what were his intentions? He hadn’t been all over her while they were dancing, though he seemed like the kind who would be. He was a guy, that’s what they did. The things he said made him seem like he was just wanting her for one purpose, though nothing had happened.
    Guys all seemed to be the same, or at least the ones she hung around. Joshua looked like one of them, but he seemed to be somehow different.
    The way the street light shone on him, it made him seem like he was somewhat angelic. Entirely harmless, with nothing but good intentions.
    That couldn’t be the case, he was on of “them”. This would be so much easier with a beer or two! Less thinking would be involved.
    Mai-lynn finally came to a conclusion. He acted like a good guy just to get her alone. So she wasn’t too sure why, they were in Brooklyn, and had been at The Club. He could have been all over her there, no one would have cared. Not even her. She had no objections to not so good intentions. But for some reason he obviously wanted some privacy, at least that was what she had concluded.
    She really didn’t mind these intentions. So what if that was what he wanted her for? It would be exactly what she wanted him for. Right? So nothing wrong with that.
    She really didn’t mind having hooked up with many guys before, not really. It was easy, little caring involved and purely pleasure. It was just a mind block from her reality.
    That’s just how things were in this part of the world.
    “Well, might you want to get home now? Or we can go for a walk, it is a beautiful night,” Joshua said, his voice break the silence.
    Yes, they could have the entire house to themselves. That was what he wanted, right? Or maybe they would just head to a park. But his words, they didn’t hint that was what he wanted.
    Mai-lynn broke away from her thoughts. Her eyes caught on his icy blues, still wondering what it was about him that made him seem different.
    Wanting more time to figure him out she decided to take the advantage of it being a nice night, planning to make the walk last just long enough. “Home,” she replied softly, searching for her voice.
    No. This was all wrong. She didn’t want to figure him out. Or did she? Maybe there really was more than one type of guy. What if he was those kind of guys you read about in stories? The ones that actually care for a girl. You know, those romance novels where there is real feelings. Love. Passion. Not all pleasure and lust. No! That is not what she wanted. Emotions made it too complicated and lose all the pleasure. That isn’t how it’s supposed to work, not in this world.
    He nodded. “Alright, love. And home is where?” He asked. Every time he spoke he locked eyes with hers. Instead of letting his eyes wander her body. There he goes again. Being different. Mai-lynn wasn’t sure she could handle this walk home, but her voice kept working without her mind, wanting more time to figure him out.