Page 8 of Glass Wings

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“Hadley,” Hector said after a few moments of silence, “do you think my parents will ever come around? I miss them.”

As excited and joyful as Hector could be, Hadley's best friend and couch squatter’s mood fell just as fast.

She got up from her desk and closed the four steps in between their two chosen pieces of furniture. She collapsed onto him, cuddling into his chest. They were all each other had at the moment and sometimes it was enough.

“You're an amazing performer, Hector,” Hadley responded. “Once you audition and get cast in a professional company or production, I’m sure that they will come and be in the front row.” She popped her head up and kissed his chest, squeezing him extra tight. Hector came from a strict, religious family and they kicked him out once they became suspicious about his taste in partners.

“I’ll come to the club tonight,” she added, caving into his bout of sadness, intentional or not. He was training hard at his unconventional dream of being a professional stage actor. He took acting, dance, and singing classes like an addict.

Hector popped up, very excited.

“Thank you, thank you! I have got just the thing for us,” he said ashe jumped off the couch with a new spring in his step, leaving Hadley to fend for her life in a less-than-graceful aerial roll.

Hector ran over to his gym bag, unzipping it, and rummaged around for a few seconds before pulling out a plastic sandwich bag. He held it up in the air triumphantly.

“I picked up these ’shrooms from that dancer, Greg. You know, the one we always suspected dealt drugs. Guess what? He does! We were right! We are going to dance away all our feelings tonight. I might be married in the morning, who knows?”

“Whatever you need, Hector, I won't ruin the night.”

“Didn’t you have a job interview today?” Hector asked, bringing the bag into the kitchen that sat opposite her desk.

“Yes, I did,” Hadley lied. “It looks like I will start tomorrow.”

Hadley did her best to force some enthusiasm on her face as Hector pulled a banana out of a cabinet and began peeling it, then cut it up into slices with a butter knife.

“Dude, I’m so proud of you. So apparently, Greg said that if you eat these with potassium, you’ll have a better high.” He pulled out two servings of dry, scentless mushrooms from the sandwich bag and placed them on top of two banana slices as if they were crackers.

“Down the hatch,” he said with a huge grin.

Hadley grabbed the drugged banana sliced and placed it in her mouth. She chewed the bite, not realizing that it was a mistake, as her mouth filled with a bitter, horrible taste with the tones of the fruit. She gagged it down, giving Hector a watery-eyed thumbs up.

The eighteen-and-up dance club was a short ten-minute walk from their apartment. She loved how central the location was. Hadley looked over at Hector, rolling her eyes and holding back a laugh as she watched him check his hands to see if the mushrooms had already kicked in. He was dressed to impress, with glitter sprayed all over his face, chest, and arms. He was going all in tonight, and she loved him for it.

They stood in a short line once they arrived. Hadley shivered a bit as the sun started to go down.

“Who is this boy you are meeting?” she asked when they were near the front, “What is his name?”

“I put him in my phone as ‘Gym Hottie’. That’s all I’ve got.” He shrugged.

So much for true love.

Once inside the building, the music hit them hard, pulsing through their bodies. The smell of sweat and perfume clung inside her nose, and the lasers—gold, purple, and white—danced around the ceiling in the dark.

Hector disappeared from Hadley’s side immediately, and at first, she didn’t notice. There was a wave in the air as if the music were coming out from the speakers like an ocean tide. She put her hands up, trying to touch it. She could feel it. She could see it. Her hips swayed as she worshiped the beat, feet digging into the solid ground just in case she could float away.

The mushrooms had kicked in, and suddenly, she felt as if she were in the perfect place. The weight of the world melted off of her.

Stranger’s hands caressed her through the night, joining her worship of music. She was a part of it, riding that wave through its dips and valleys. Her thrill left her smiling, with her head falling back. Hadley looked up at the ceiling as she let herself go.

3

Hadley | Sacramento, California | Early 2000s

The next morning,Hadley woke up to the alarm on her phone vibrating underneath her bed. She tried to ignore it by slamming a pillow on top of her head. She writhed around, half-asleep, and buried under blankets and sheets for a few minutes before giving up. Her head and upper body fell to the floor with a graceless thump, the morning air colder than she wished. Then she rummaged around under the bed frame with her right arm for the vibrating, chiming piece of technology from hell and silenced it with the side button.

Hadley let the rest of her body fall to the floor and contemplated going back to sleep at this moment. The only thing she would be missing was this meeting, a meeting she didn’t want to attend.

It’s just sex, her brain chimed in with a friendly reminder.If this is the only way forward, take it.