Knowing Toria's idea of fun, Reyona was not surprised when her sister pulled up in front of a retro club.
Teasing her, Reyona turned to her and asked, "Where is the surprise?"
Toria rolled her eyes and said, "I can assure you that by the time we leave, that righteous look on your face will be gone."
She jumped out of the car and was already moving her body to the thin strain of music coming out of the club.
Before Reyona could rethink her decision, Toria was already opening her door as she gave her a mock bow while saying, "Come down, Milady. No backing out now."
"Who said I was going to back out?" Reyona said confidently and she stepped out, putting a little sashay in her walk as she headed towards the main entrance of the club.
"That is the spirit," Toria hooted from behind her.
Reyona slowed her walk as she saw two bouncers in front of the door with a small number of people in the queue.
Most of them were already staring at Reyona appreciatively.
Glad that she had the shades on, Reyona wondered how this could be anyone's idea of fun.
Standing in line for minutes just to get in there to listen to overly loud music while bumping against different bodies on a miserly dancefloor, which is obviously too small for the sea of bodies packed in there, can never be her idea of fun any day, any time.
"There is a line. Maybe we should..."
Toia tucked her arms into Reyona's and pulled her along with her as she hailed the men at the entrance. "Rio, Sahad. Fancy seeing you two here," she said as she stretched upward to kiss their cheeks in succession.
"We work here," one of the burly men said with an indulgent smile on his face.
"And you do such a fine job at it too," she said automatically while shifting aside to point at Reyona. "Have you ever met my sister? Isn't she gorgeous? Now, you don't want to lose business by keeping her out here all night, do you? Thanks, hon."
All these she said in rapid succession, after which she blinked puppy eyes at the one she had called Rio.
He was the one standing directly in front of the door.
He stepped aside and opened the door, as he said. "You are supposed to show your ID, princess."
"I am the ID, baby," Toria said as she blew him a kiss.
"Bitch," she heard the first person in line say as she passed.
"I love you too," Toria said with a wink as she went inside with Reyona.
Just before the blast of music deafened her to everything else, Reyona heard what Rio said to the guy in a forbidden tone. "You are not qualified to be in here."
"But my ID is..."
"When I say you are underaged, you are underaged," was the last thing she heard Rio say before she was drawn into the ear-scraping electronic music that a female DJ was currently belting out from her instruments upstage.
Reyona was sure her ears were going to bleed out before the end of the night.
Just as she had predicted, she could already see bodies packed on the dance floor, both on the main floor and on the upper level.
She was thinking of the best way to escape from this madness when she heard someone squeal, "Toria!"
Her sister, who had also been looking around as they entered, spotted the person calling her as the latter pushed, shoved, wiggled, and clawed her way through the wiggling bodies who had no intention of giving her space to pass.
"Selene!" Toria called her the petite lady who wore clothes Reyona was sure she couldn't breathe.
"You came!" Selene screeched over the loud music to be heard. "I thought you were going to ditch us for the night."
"Us?" Toria brought her to a madhouse with her friends right on hand. Just great. Reyona thought.
"Where is Simon?" Toria asked as she snatched the drink in her friend's hand and downed it.
"Sniffing after Nancy as usual," Selene said with a grin as Reyona wondered how her sister had not heard of the most basic safety precautions at a place like this.
Don't take drinks that were not served in your presence!
After Selene and Toria laughed at an inside joke as they looked over at the dance floor, where a young man and a widely dancing lady were tearing up the floor, Toria turned towards Reyona and said, "Meet my sister, Rey. Rey, this is my partner in crime."
Selene grinned as she said, "No, I am the innocent one. All my vices were learned from Toria. Nice to finally meet you, Rey. That outfit is to die for. Toria speaks highly of you."
"By highly, she means I call you the boring, serious sister, while I get to be the unserious one."
Reyona knew Toria was joking, but she stiffened.
The image of Thomas calling her a dry stick automatically came to her mind's eye.
She wanted to leave.
"Toria, come, let's do the boogie dance! This bunch of assholes have been showing off because I wouldn't dance with them. Now that you are here, we can... oh," she completed when Toria inclined her head towards Reyona.
"I am here with my sister tonight. You are going to have to..."
"No, no, no. I am fine," Reyona said immediately. "I will be fine. Just go ahead and have your fun," she said, raising her voice so she could be heard.
"Are you sure? This night is about you, remember?"
"No, it is about having fun. I will not keep you from doing that," Reyona said with a small smile.
"Thank you, Rey. You are the best," Selene said excitedly.
Toria looked towards the dancefloor, then back at Reyona. "No, this is not..."
"Go!" Reyona said as she gave her a little nudge. "I will be here."
"Where?"
"There." Reyona turned and pointed in the direction of the seating area.
"You should join us," Toria insisted.
Not happening "Maybe later," Reyona said, just to get Toria going. "I will get a drink first."
"Still, I shouldn't..."
"Take her away, will you?" Reyona said this to Selene and the latter was more than happy to do so.
"Stay where I can see you!" Toria screeched as her friend pulled her away.
"Yes, mummy," Reyona said with a smile.
Her smile waned as her sister turned away.
"What am I doing?" Reyona thought as she headed to the bar to get whatever would soothe her suddenly patched throat.
Everywhere she turned, she saw young people.
Some of them even looked like they were not old enough to be in such a place.
Either way, they are in a place where they belong.
Not an imposter pretending to be what she was not.
The gaze of appreciation that made her feel good earlier only made her feel itchy now as she saw men turn lascivious and leery gazes at her.
A lady slapped her man's face when he stared at Reyona with such an enraptured gaze as she passed.
"Babe, you are hot," one of them said and Reyona felt like puking.
Planting her legs one after the other, she managed to get to the bar without slapping someone in the face or plucking their eyes out to hand it to them.
"What the hell are you doing?" she thought to herself again as she saw sweaty, excited people standing at the bar to get their drinks.
She looked longingly towards the door and then back at her sister.
Toria was dancing but still, she caught her eyes and waved at her even while doing the boogie, whatever that was.
Reyona knew she had been watching her.
Trying to escape now would be seen for what it was: running.