Sweat & Snowflakes

"It's too fuckin' hot!" said James as he tossed and turned half-naked on his memory foam bed. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead like dew drops on spring flowers. His skin was so sticky that he spread his arms and legs out like a snow angel to avoid touching himself. He grabbed a little remote control on his night stand and turned up the speed of his tower fan, but the warm air blowing harder made no difference. He lived in a small, yet cozy studio apartment with furnishing akin to a page in an IKEA catalogue. He lived on the first floor of an old, creaky building located at the center of the Universe: Los Angeles, California. When he moved in a year ago he thought it had a lot of charm to it, stray cats and all. It smelled like a used book store even though there were no books, but he liked it because it reminded him of the school library where he met his first love in his hometown in Wisconsin. His neighbors were rarely seen, but always heard stomping around like baby elephants strategically throughout the day and in the early mornings when James would come back home from the nightclubs intoxicated from alcohol and the occasional ecstasy pill. On top of that, the water heater was constantly broken, so cold showers were the norm. However, the unbearable heat during this time of the year made the freezing water exceptional. James got up from his sweat-soaked bed and trudged toward the bathroom to take his second shower of the day. He moaned with delight as the water his his body like a thousand little knives. Suddenly, he heard a faint banging noise coming from his front door. He wasn't expecting anyone on this lazy Sunday and wondered who it could be.

James opened the door with only a towel wrapped around his waist. He didn't bother to wipe himself down since he was already sweating profusely. James' best friend Tony walked nonchalantly through the door with black sunglasses and beach attire on. Tony was the more fashionable and attractive of the two. Many people they've met always assumed they were life partners rather than best friends. This bothered James, but Tony saw it as humorous. James looked at him confused. "What's up, dude?" Tony, with his sunglasses still on, stared at the tennis match playing on the flat screen television in front of him. "Day Trip," Tony replied. At first, James thought Tony wanted to trip on L.S.D. again, but he was not in the mood to chase mythical creatures in this heat wave. Then, James remembered seeing a post on his Instagram feed about a daytime music event one of his favorite nightclubs was hosting on the rooftop of The Roosevelt Hotel. "I got us tickets last minute." Tony held up his phone and played House music. He started dancing as if he was at the event already. James was skeptical to go. It was already hot enough indoors and he couldn't imagine how it would be outside. In his head, he began listing all the things he could get done at home instead of going out. "Eh, I don't know. I have a lot of stuff to do today." Tony lowered his sunglasses and looked straight into James' eyes. "Like what? Laundry?" James looked over at his sweaty bed sheets and shook his head. "Fine, I'll go for a little bit." Tony put his sunglasses back on and smiled.

The rooftop of The Roosevelt was packed with party-goers locally and from around the world. It was like a scene from a rap music video on MTV with beautiful, exotic women dancing around in floss-thin bikinis. Their tan skin glowed from the scorching sun. James felt overdressed with cargo shorts and a Milwaukee Bucks jersey. He wanted to take it off, but didn't want the responsibility of carrying the jersey around and was also embarrassed of his uneven tan from playing tennis all summer. He wished he had a girl to carry it for him, but the last girl (who would have carried his jersey forever) decided she didn't want something "casual" anymore and left him one morning with a sticky-note on his night stand saying, "Let's just be friends." They never spoke again. James lost Tony in the crowd, but knew he would turn up eventually with a couple of beers in hand and a couple of girls in tow. The rooftop was blazing, but the speakers were bumping with bass and the crowd was going wild. James still found a way to complain to himself about the heat even with the buzzing energy surrounding him. James finally spotted Tony with the beers and the girls. "Yo, I'm leaving in five!" James screamed over the music and gestured a "five" with his right hand. Tony slowly shook his head and mouthed, "No, you're not." He pushed the beer into James' hand to shut him up. One of the girls, very attractive and very drunk, danced all over Tony while the other girl danced gracefully by herself. James took a swig of beer and observed the girl dancing by herself. She was petite, but had curves. She was much shorter than him and had a cute baby face with long, dark hair caressing it. He saw guy after guy try to dance with her, but she shot all of them down with that No, thanks look. He laughed. He took a few steps forward and casually stood next to her while bobbing his head to the music. He didn't try to dance with her, but offered her his beer instead. At first, she looked at him skeptically to make sure he wasn't trying to force himself on her like the guys before him. She realized he was offering his beer, so she took it and drank the rest of it. She shook the empty bottle to his face and yelled, "Down for another one?" He nodded and followed her to the bar.

After a few failed attempts by the girl to get the bartender's attention, James realized that he knew the bartender and yelled his name, "Jesse! Jesse!" The bartender looked James' way and shot him a smile. James grabbed the empty beer bottle from the girl's hand and showed it to him. Jesse nodded. James smiled at the girl. She whipped out her phone, opened a notepad app and began typing. I'm Nicole, Nikki for short. She gave the phone to James. He started typing. Hi Nicole, Nikki for short. I'm James. For the rest of the day they communicated like this. After their fourth round of beer, James and Nikki found themselves in the middle of the dance floor. James wanted to play hard to get, so he danced beside Nikki instead of behind her. Nikki caught onto this and smiled. She played along, but secretly wanted to grind on him like a stripper on a pole. The Universe must have heard her because in a millisecond the dance floor suddenly became crowded and forced James and Nikki to become comfortably close. James felt a cool breeze kiss his face and he smiled. The Dj transitioned smoothly into a new song and the crowd screamed ecstatically. James and Nikki looked at each other with that I love this song! expression on their face. The strobe lights painted them with seductive hues and a cloud from the smoke machine hid them away like forbidden lovers. Then, the tempo slowed and Nikki stealthily handed a bullet-shaped object to James. He knew immediately what it was. He held it against his nostril and sniffed aggressively. Everyone around them became a blur. A chill ran down James' back. He felt the drip in the back of his throat and it made the hair on his neck stand on end. He focused on Nikki and Nikki focused on him. In that moment it fell silent, but they felt the music vibrating through each other like a secret language between them. Nikki closed her eyes and swayed back and forth in bliss. James leaned in closer to Nikki's face. He pouted his lips. Then, out of thin air, a single snowflake fell onto her little button nose. Nikki opened her eyes and saw James inches away from her face. He stared at the snowflake with his mouth slightly agape. She smiled and pecked James on the cheek. Then, she realized what was going on--it was snowing.

The music didn't stop even when the snow began to fall heavily. The crowd was still dancing and screaming as if the snow was just another special effect of the event's production. A man dancing by one of the massive speakers yelled, "Whoever thought of the snow machine is a genius!" Suddenly, the event's security swooped in and cleared out the rooftop in a minute. James and Nikki felt the chill in the air intensify and ran indoors, hand in hand. Nikki released James' hand when she spotted her drunk friend with Tony. She ran to them with James following close behind her. The crowd from the rooftop was now squished in the hallways of the hotel making it difficult for Nikki and James to get to their friends. "Tony--I--need--to--throw--up," Nikki's friend covered her mouth with both hands, but it was too late. "Lisa!" Nikki yelled as she watched her friend vomit all over Tony. James was shocked, but held back giggles as he heard Tony groan in disgust. Nikki immediately took her friend to the women's restroom. James went with Tony to the men's restroom and let out a hearty laugh. Tony took off his vomit-drenched shirt and threw it at James. "Fuck!" Tony yelled as he washed up in the sink. James continued laughing, "That's what you get for going after drunk girls." Tony wiped himself down with paper towels and replied, "She was hot, thought." James shook his head. They exited the restroom and James looked around to see if Nikki was in the hallway. She was nowhere to be found.

I should've got her number...I should've kissed her, James thought to himself as he opened the door to his studio apartment. He paced back and forth in his living room thinking about Nikki. He sat at the edge of his bed and scrolled through his Instagram feed. He saw a post from the rooftop event with the caption, "Unexpected snow at The Roosevelt." He clicked on the comments section. He saw one comment from @nikki_syx9 that said, "Missed connection: James with the Bucks jersey. Meet me in front of The Roosevelt at 6 p.m." James checked the time and it was already 6:10. He ran to his closet and grabbed a thick jacket and bolted out the door. He ran all the way back to The Roosevelt hoping Nikki was still there. When he arrived there were still party-goers floating around trying to find some place to go, shivering and full of energy. He caught his breath for a moment, then felt a gentle poke on his back. A soft voice asked, "Where's the after party?" James turned around and saw Nikki's smiling face. He picked her up and kissed her slowly as snowflakes gently fell on them.