They Knew Each Other

I was waiting a long time for the perfect moment to come along, for the DJ’s tempo to slow down for me. My head oscillated back and forth, my neck struggled to carry the weight of my head, and my eyes hazed from the room’s blue hues mimicking the way light moves underwater. I raised my head, but suddenly the bartender was gripping my wrist and I was facing an upside-down crowd, while the front of my torso was facing him. He tugs on my wrist to gently bring me closer to the counter and guides my head to rest on it. Still behind the counter, he serves me a glass of water with a straw. I steady myself to take a few sips, resting my head down between breaks. The beats flooding the room began to slow down and lighten; the weight of the sound waves being easier for my body to carry. So, I finished my drink and stumbled away to the nearest door. I was hoping for it to be an exit, but it was an entrance to a balcony. I forgot I was on the third floor. I turn around to grab the doorknob, when a hand lands on my shoulder. My eyes met with worried big blue eyes framed by long blonde eyelashes. “Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?” The raspy feminine voice draws me in because I can’t hear her well, but she thought I was going in for a hug and held me. I was gonna pry myself off of her, but at that point I was too fatigued to navigate any of my limbs, so I stood there helpless. I recognized I was helpless. This woman could be anybody, willing to become dangerous to anyone. Fear developed in me, shutting my somatic nervous system down even further. 

She sits me down on a stone bench. Its cool surface wakes my body up a bit. She brings a bottle of water to my lips, but I turn my head away. She tries again, but I turn my head away again. 

 “You need water to feel better.”

 “I don’t know what you put in that water.”, I mumbled.

 “I didn’t drug this bottle.”

 “Not this bottle? You drugged another one?”

 “No, I meant I’m giving you water that is safe to drink. I want to help you.” I’m too paranoid to drink it so I just push the bottle away. She seems to respect that and screws its cap back on. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be difficu- well… ungrateful. I just don’t know you.” “No, I get that.” 

We sat there in silence for a bit. It’s cold and breezy outside and that helps to sober me up more. We were quiet so long that I forgot that she was sitting next to me, or rather I forgot it was a stranger sitting next to me. She looked over to me with those huge eyes scanning my face. I flinched back because they looked so bug-like. The closer I get to sobriety, the more I realize how strange this woman looks. “I feel better now. Thanks for sitting with me and making sure I was okay.” I didn’t want to hold this woman up any longer. “It was no problem. It’s important for women to watch out for other women. Do you know how you’re getting home?” I had to think about it for a while. 

“Yeah, I’ll just wait till the sun comes up. Then I’ll walk home.”   

Her eyebrows mushed together.

“You live…nearby…or?” 

“I’m fine with the distance I have to walk.”

“Let me just drive you home.”

“Nah, I’m good, but thank you again.”

“Let me call you an uber then. Don’t worry about paying me back.”

“If you’re so willing.”

If she’s this eager to help by paying for my uber, I might as well take her offer. She asked me if I walked to the club, and I told her I did. She laughed a little. “In those shoes?” I explained to her that I originally came here with glittery flats, but I traded them with one of the women I was networking with. She took her stilettos off because her feet were hurting, and when she saw that I was eyeballing her shoes so hard she asked if I wanted to try them on. I was then prompted to strut with them across the limited space craved by tables and intoxicated people. I even climbed on top of the tables. I twirled and jumped from table to table. Entertained by my act, the woman let me keep her shoes and I let her keep mine. She then gave me her modeling agency card and called her friends over so they could all head out. I think the alcohol in her system contributed to her giving me her shoes and card, but I’ll take what I can get.  

“So, you want to model as a profession?”, the stranger asked.

“I want to create art with my body somehow, but I’m still trying to figure out how I want to fully execute that.” 

“Can’t you do that with modeling?”

“I get bored with that medium.”

She laughed again. “Well, I hope you find your desired medium.” “I hope so, too.” Creating art is such a trying process that requires you to bleed out 10 gallons of your own blood into what you’re making just to produce 2 ounces of a refined product. Yet, I come back again and again to meet with the ideas that tease their existence in my head. 

I look back at the woman sitting next to me. Her eyes were fixated on the tables in front of us. Then I heard her whisper to herself, “I wanna dance freely like that.” Abruptly, she gets up and climbs onto one of the tables nearby. She stands up slowly and wiggles a bit to test its stability under her weight. She then spins and dances on it. She looked goofy and slightly uncomfortable up there, but in that moment, I recognized a person who wanted to experience freedom in childlike joy; someone who wanted to play and have someone to play with. So, I climbed a table to play with her. I grabbed her hand and we leaped from one table to the next. We danced, ran around the balcony, and traded stilettos. Playing with her brought up an essence within myself I haven’t experienced since I was a little girl. There was a moment when we tired ourselves out, so we rested on the stone benched we sat at before. During our rest, she called an uber for me, but at that point I didn’t want to leave her. She looked up from her phone with a huge bright smile, “I really enjoyed acting a fool with you, hehe. I felt like a little girl again…I know this may sound strange, but you have a soul that I think I’ve met before.” I’m not really the spiritual type, but her words resonated with how I was feeling in that moment. 

My uber finally gets here, and as I’m getting into my ride, I realize something. I don’t know her name. I yell out to her.  

“Wait!..What’s your name?” Her eyes got bigger than usual, probably because she too realized that we don’t know each other's name. With another large smile she replied with, “Clara. What’s your name?” I giggled through my response, “Bianca”.