Page 4 of Deck of Scarlets

He nodded once and stalked off to the stage, disrupting the strange pattern on the wall, but not without looking back once more to double-check my well-being.

And I still had to pee. Shit. How am I going to do this?

By now, the line had dwindled to a couple of girls, and their lack of attention allowed me to sneak right inside, locking the door tightly. Their shrill voices of protest and pounding knuckles on the other side made me giggle uncontrollably.

Now for the hard part.

Inside, the bathroom smelt of cheap soap and marijuana. Graffiti all over the walls started to jump out at me, and even the toilet warped.

I swayed a bit, trying to steady myself. “Shit.”

Another set of fists pounded on the door. “Hurry up!”

The struggle to slide my underwear down to my ankles from underneath my tight dress and sit on the toilet took longer than expected, or maybe shorter; my concept of time was fully lacking. Judging by the bitching outside the bathroom, my guess would be longer.

I tried to judge which way the toilet moved until my ass hit the porcelain seat hard, shaking the backing loose. The relief of peeing had me sighing loudly, and I cleaned myself up for what seemed like an eternity, smothering my hands in the cheap soap. As I strutted out of the bathroom, the line of girls called me inappropriate names, so I waved obnoxiously back to them, sending them into a tizzy.

Finally, I was back with my friends near the front of the stage before the first act.

“Did you fall in?” joked Nickie. The room spun slowly, making my mind go a little hazy.

I nudged her shoulder playfully. “Shut up and give me that flask!” Nickie held the shiny object out of reach.

“What gives?” I shouted, trying but failing to steal it.

“Trust me, you’ve had enough,” she warned with a lazy smile, her eyes half closed.

“You think she knows?” Jeremy called Nickie over my head.

“Oh, she definitely does.”

Their vague conversation held no interest for me, as all the lights went down, and the background music stopped.

A microphone screeched on, and a female’s voice filled the quiet room. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another year of Summerfest!”

The room erupted with whistles and screams of excitement.

“Now, we have a few new bands tonight, and some returning favorites. So, without further ado, please welcome to the stage for the first time, Gods Sacrifice!”

Multi-colored lights danced feverishly across the stage, changing in hue and intensity until finally shedding an intense white light on each of the five black-clad men standing center stage. The band before us, called Gods Sacrifice, had red paint splattered on their band’s logo on the backdrop behind the drummer. The lead singer’s dark and seductive voice sang the lyrics to an unfamiliar song, pointing at a fan in the crowd as she screamed, “I love you!”

The exact lead singer I collided with by the entrance of the bathrooms.

Josh.

My eyes laser-focused on him; I watched the vibrant colors switch to deep blues and purples, changing the club’s vibe.

“My God, he’s so hot!” screamed Nickie in my right ear.

I kept my mouth shut, mesmerized by how he moved along the small stage, using every inch to sing the lyrics. Even with my trip down the psychedelic drug lane, I knew his features were temptations.

“You can say that again!” agreed Jeremy.

Nickie shook her head. “I call dibs!” She punched his arm playfully before snagging the flask out of his hands and taking a big sip.

“Let me dream, bitch!” he said as he bumped her hip.

Nickie tossed him back the flask and rolled her eyes. “Ha, sure.”

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