She keeps a toothbrush at my place
As if I have the extra space
She steals my clothes to wear to work
I know “ her hairs are on my shirts
It was an early Friday night in early November when DJ called me up and said that she was bored. I didn't know what to make of that since she always calls me and says she's bored. This evening, however, we decided that we were gonna cure her boredom by going out. I don't know if I'm supposed to call it a date or anything, but that's what it feels like. Before I got dressed, I had been tearing through my closet for hours before finally deciding on something. I don't go to clubs - I don't know what the fuck to wear. Sue me.
Just as I was spraying on the last bit of cologne, my cell phone rang and 'Queen Dawn' popped up. "What?" I answered.
"I'm downstairs. Let's go."
Knowing that cabdrivers have a tendency to leave your ass, I shuffled out of my apartment and downstairs to where DJ stood, halfway out of the car, smiling wildly in her leather jacket, tight ass jeans and high leather boots - the typical Dawn James attire. Before I even began to greet her, she looked at me awkwardly. "What?" I asked, noticing her uneasiness.
"What the fuck are you wearing?"
"Something wrong with my outfit?"
"Everything! You're going to a night club, not a country club!"
"Well we don't have time for me to change," I shot back stubbornly. Personally, I like my sweater and Dickies.
"It's only 10 o'clock. We have plenty of time. We'll just take the subway over," she added, signaling the cab's departure. "I know you have something cooler than that in your closet."
"What if I don't?"
"Well then we'll just stay in and watch movies," she laughed. "I've never been opposed to a Blockbuster night over being embarrassed to be seen with a dork."
We reentered my building and made our way upstairs, attached to one another's side like adjoined twins. As soon as she entered the apartment, she ran up the spiral steps to tear apart my bedroom searching for an outfit. "If you fuck up my room, you're gonna clean it up!" I called up to her.
She responded by throwing a pair of my Diesel Yokees over the balcony. "Put those on!"
"Don't toss my shit around, either!"
"Shut up and get dressed." Seconds later, my black button-down Kenneth Cole came flying over my head, landing on the coffee table. "Put that on, too!"
"Dawn, if you throw something else, I swear to God I'm gonna clock you."
I moved out of the way when I saw black Timberlands flying at me. "You better be dressed when I get down there," she replied.
For whatever reason, I obeyed and quickly replaced my outfit by the time she reached the bottom step. "Oh, hell," I said, seeing her black and white pinstriped blouse. "We're twins."
She looked at my outfit and laughed heartily. "Well at least everyone will know we're together." Walking to the door, she threw my jacket back at me and exited the apartment. "Let's move, homeboy.”
I never liked this Apple much
It always seemed too big to touch
We paraded through the streets of New York as if we owned the damn city. Not even the chill of fall-soon-to-be-winter was going to stop us. We headed straight to Penn Station and took the downtown 1 right to 23rd street. I didn’t know where the hell I was going, but all I need to know was that the name of the place was Suede and that I had DJ by my side to guide me.
I can't remember how I found
My way before she came around
The club, which resembled more of a hole in the wall than anyplace I’d hang out, was packed when we arrived. I’d always heard that this is the city that never sleeps, but never really believed it until now. In fact, it seems like the people in the motherfucker don't even stop to rest their eyes. The very second that we walked in, we were greeted with the typical club stuffiness of marijuana and sweat. Immediately, I was convinced that this isn’t where I wanted to be.
“What’s wrong with you?” DJ asked, throwing her jacket into my arms, trying to be heard over the loud music.
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“What?” she yelled.
“I said, are you sure that this is what you want?”
“Yeah! You don’t?”
“Not really!”
“Why not!”
“Well, I’m not much of a dancer!”
She led me through the moderately-sized club, pushing past people that found the need to dance wherever there was a free space. It was all a big blur to me, but somehow, we landed in the corner just beyond the women’s bathroom. “Okay, now what’s your problem?” she finally asked, quietly.
“I was just saying that this isn’t really my scene.”
“Well besides a baseball game and the New York Stock Exchange, what is your scene?”
I rolled my eyes at her and turned towards the excruciatingly long line of women that was forming just next to us. “What’s your point?”
“The point is that you need to expand your horizons. Loosen up!”
“I want to go home.”
“You’re really not about to stand here and whine about going home, are you? You just got here, Justin.”
“Yeah, and I don’t like it.”
“Give it ten minutes. I promise you, you’ll find some fun if you just lighten up.”
“But Dawn”“
“Here, I’ll take your jacket,” she said, extending her arms to accept both of our coats. “I want you to head to the bar, get something to drink.”
“I don’t wanna drink.”
“Well, shit, Justin. Find some pussy and get the fuck out of my face. Do something with your miserable self.”
“Don’t add insult to injury, here.”
“Don’t ruin this night for us.” She smiled that hundred-watt smile and disappeared into the club’s haze, leaving me to entertain myself.
I tell everyone I smile just because I got a city love
I found it in Lydia
I took her advice and went straight for the one thing that I knew could always put a smile on my face “ alcohol. By the time I reached the bar, I had no earthly idea as to where DJ could have possibly went. But then, by the time I’d downed a couple of shots of vodka, straight up, I honestly didn’t give a fuck.
I made my laps around the crowded club, pretty much eyeing anything in a skirt. My mind told me to go after the pussy, as Dawn so eloquently advised, but my heart told me to back up off the whores.
And I can’t remember life before her name
“Justin!” I heard in the foreground. It’s a common name, I know, but I was positive that it was being directed at me. “Justin!”
I peered in front of me until I finally found the culprit. A redhead of diminutive stature, who could’ve been blonde, deceiving me in the dim atmosphere, was staring back at me. “Do I know you?” I asked.
“You better! It’s Ani!”
“I’m sorry?”
“Ani! We went out last month! How come you never called me, man?”
Oh, so now I’m supposed to call everyone after I fuck ‘em? “I’ve been busy,” I smiled.
She narrowed her light green eyes at me and lightheartedly grinned back. “You want a drink?”
Eh, what the hell. I scanned the crowd quickly for DJ’s short haircut before being led to the bar by Anna. Or was it Dani?
“So what have you been up to?” she yelled, attempting to converse over the loud music.
“Working and shit,” I replied, taking a drink of my Guinness.
She nodded in comprehension and glanced towards the dance floor. “Do you dance, or just hang out at the bar?”
“The bar,” I answered, nervously.
“You’re not willing to give the dancing thing a try?”
“Nope.” I took another swig of beer and immediately ordered another.
“Well what’s the point in getting drunk if random hookups aren’t going to be included?”
I decided that she was right and hopped up from my seat, just as the year’s most popular ‘I-don’t-dance’ tune came blasting through the speakers.
“Yo, my bitches don’t dance. We just pull up our pants and do the rockaway!” I had been on the dance floor all of eight seconds when I recognized Dawn’s loud, intoxicating voice over the entire crowd. “Lean back!” I looked up to find her across the room on one of the couches that decorated the club, a cup in one hand, her other arm draped across the shoulder of some broad shaking their ass in front of her. “Now that’s what the fuck I call a chain reaction!”
I caught her eye and headed straight towards her. When she finally spotted me below her, most of her composure was restored and she hopped down from the sofa happily, swaying back and forth as the song suggested. I followed suit, slightly, doing my best to lean back without looking like an idiot.
“Hey, you!”
“Hey,” I laughed, taking notice of her inebriation.
“Havin’ fun?” she yelled.
“Not really.”
“I saw you at the bar. You’re not fucked up yet?”
“Hardly.”
“Here,” she began, handing me her drink, “take this.”
I looked down at the neon blue substance cautiously. “What is it?”
“Just drink it. You’ll be gone in no time.”
I took the cup, as told, and squinted at the burn of the alcohol against the back of my throat. But by the time it hit my stomach, I knew exactly what she meant. That shit was like a pick-me-up multiplied by a throw-me-the-the-fuck-around. “Dawn, if you’re tryin’ to drug me, I swear to God”“
“Shut the fuck up and dance with me,” she laughed, taking her cup back.
I tried to warn her that I don’t fuckin’ dance. Maybe it was the song. Maybe I was just in a ridiculously good mood, but the Spanish guitar of JC Chasez’s “Like I Love You” came on and I just had to move.
If you smile, then that should set the tone
Just be limber
And if you let go, the music should move your bones
I got behind her, she got in front of me, and the music took over us. We didn’t just lean back. Her ass mimicked the drum’s beat, her body fell into mine, and we became one entity, melting into the music.
Can’t nobody love you like I love ya
You’re a good girl and that’s what makes me trust ya
Late at night, I talk to you
You will know the difference when I touch ya
This is probably the most honest, purest form of fun that I’ve ever had in my life. I could just feel the smile on my face growing wider, turning into random bursts of laughter, expressing just how damn happy I was.
I can make you happy, I can change your life
If you give me that chance to be your man
As the song moved into the bridge, DJ turned to face me, laughing and smiling just as animatedly as I had been. She wrapped her leg around my waist and began grinding harder than she had before, making sure to get more than a rise out of me.
Maybe we’ll fly the night away
“I just wanna love you, baby,” she whispered to me, contrasting the falsetto of the singer’s voice.
Maybe we’ll fly the night away, girl
“I just wanna love you, baby! Yeah, yeah, yeah!” the crowd all sang along, imitating the song’s ad-libs perfectly.
The ‘break it down’ came and Dawn, well… broke it down. It was completely unsolicited and unexpected, but by all means, welcomed. She kissed me. When her lips touched mine, though it wasn’t for very long, it was as though time stood still. I dropped her leg, and cupped her face, understanding what DJ meant when she said that she wished some shit could last forever. The few seconds that our lips touched, I knew nothing outside of the two of us.
She pulled away, smiling sheepishly. She licked her lips, finished off her drink and mouthed the last words of the song. “Now everybody dance.”
And we did.
+++++++++++++++
Friday evening, we’ve been drinking
2AM, I swear, I might propose
We’d flown the night away for hours on the dance floor. We’ engaged in every move I never could’ve thought of, or even imagined myself doing. Then, we finally decided to back off on dancing and retired to one of the empty tables to drink this night to an end. Between vodka and whiskey, wine coolers and Jell-O shots, I really wondered how the hell we were supposed to make it home.
But we close the tab, split a cab
Call each other up when we get home
Apropos of Dawn’s hardly sober point of view, we hailed the first available yellow taxi, and demanded that it take us to Brooklyn first, before dropping me off at my midtown apartment. However, this all only occurred amid our intense make-out sessions from the street to the car, and from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
The second I stepped into my place, at almost 4AM, the ring of my phone scared the shit out of me while making me smile in the same breath. I picked up the receiver, not saying a word.
“Just making sure you got home safely,” she said, sensing my wait for her response. Her voice was thick with fatigue and sounded groggy, but I managed to find it sexy.
“I’m home safely,” I answered, heading up my stairs to sprawl across the bed. I even produced a genuine smile at the fact that she’d dismantled half of my closet when looking for my outfit earlier.
“Did you have fun?” she yawned.
They say yawning is contagious. I believe it now. “Did you?”
Falling asleep to the sound of sirens
“I asked you first.”
“You didn’t have to ask at all,” I replied, yawning yet again.
I got a city love
I found it in Lydia
The next thing I heard was the calm of Dawn’s paced breathing and I smiled again. Not because she fuckin’ fell asleep on me, but because she didn’t mind falling asleep on me. I switched the phone to my left ear so that I could lie on my right side as I always do. “Good night, DJ.” I didn’t hang up, but I left the cordless to rest against my cheek and waited for the serenity of her slumber to put me to sleep.
From the battery to the gallery
It’s the kind of thing you only see in scented, glossy magazines
I’m starting to think that some moments can last forever.
And I can’t remember life before her name
Lyrics: "City Love" - John Mayer (Room for Squares)
"Like I Love You" - Justin Timberlake (Justified)
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