Club Stratum
Atlanta, GA
United States of America
October 2016
“This is the farthest from a posh model
party,” Eun-seok groaned. Jin-kyong ignored him completely and went off to join
Soo-yeon, who was busy getting drinks for the three of them. The blonde-haired
lady turned once Jin-kyong tapped her on the shoulder, and a large grin came to
the eldest one’s face.
“How are you finding it?” Soo-yeon had to
yell. The music in the cramped area was increasing more and more as the seconds
passed. Jin-kyong opened her mouth to reply but barely heard herself over the
intense music that filled the area. Soo-yeon turned back for a moment to claim
the three glasses and passed the pink one to Jin-kyong; she winked and motioned
for her to follow her back to Eun-seok, who was most likely still in the same
area with a dour look on his face.
In all honesty, Jin-kyong was sort of
expecting a tamer party as well. Not one wherein she could take advantage of
the open bar and end up dancing on the tabletops with a lucky guy or gal. Part
of her agreed with the sullen-faced Eun-seok, but she didn’t dare tell Soo-yeon
that.
To their amusement (and her pity), Eun-seok
was indeed still standing there. Soo-yeon laughed and gave him the glass, and
proceeded to comfort him. Jin-kyong caught bits and pieces of her words, the
music jostling through them and the chatter of people around her disrupting the
kinder, bubbly sounds that came from Soo-yeon’s glossy lips.
“I want to leave!” Eun-seok yelled.
“But we just got here! Drink that!”
Soo-yeon yelled back, immediately taking a gulp from the electric-blue drink.
The male grimaced but followed anyway; he took a dainty sip from the glass and
proceeded to make a disgusted face.
“Fucking disgusting.”
The dark-haired lady laughed anyway and
drank from her glass yet again, siding up to Soo-yeon who flashed a grin and
proceeded to pull her onto the dance floor. “Finish that,” Jin-kyong managed to
hear from the other, “and let’s dance.”
“What about Eun-”
“He can handle himself.” Jin-kyong craned
her head to look at him and felt a small ounce of relief upon spotting him
earnestly chatting with one of the other models from their company. It made her
feel less guilty about the whole ordeal. “Let’s let Eunnie find some loving
tonight.”
Jin-kyong laughed but found herself wishing
the same for her own. The thought made her cheeks go pink and she instantly
downed the rest of the drink, leaving the glass on a nearby counter where many
other drained glasses were abandoned as well.
Before she knew it, the two of them were on
the dance floor. A DJ who was positioned on a more elevated area manned the
booth, headphones on and eyes closed as he too swayed to the beat of his own
music. Hundreds of people surrounded them, dancing and drinking while others
were in corners taking selfies and talking loudly in an attempt to break the
sound barrier.
Apparently, Soo-yeon just wanted to dance.
The lights from above shone on the blonde’s
golden dress, lighting her up in a way that drew Jin-kyong’s attention. She
noticed many things as her friend as illuminated; noticed how the other’s
eyeliner was done perfectly, noticed how her eyes weren’t done up, noticed how
the glass was out of her hand and how Soo-yeon’s arms were coming closer and
closer –
The blonde model pulled Jin-kyong closer,
prompting her to dance.
So she did, dancing along with her friend
and forgetting about the rest of the world. She forgot that Eun-seok was
probably flirting with the first person he saw, forgot how uncomfortable and
hot the dance floor was (despite the artificial air conditioning), forgot how
she wanted to rip her own silver heels from her feet and throw them into the
nearest bin.
She forgot all of those and just danced
with Soo-yeon, eventually throwing her head back and laughing. Unbeknownst to
her, Soo-yeon was watching her with an awfully fond smile, eyes now open and
peering at her best friend who was, for once, letting loose and enjoying
herself.
Inviting Jin-kyong to an alleged ‘posh
model party’ (as Eun-seok said it) wasn’t a mistake, after all.
Soo-yeon moved closer, gently nudging
Jin-kyong’s shoulder. “You look like you’re enjoying,” she whispered. At that
moment did Jin-kyong’s eyes snap open and her dancing halted rather awkwardly;
her arms came down and she smoothed down her skirt as if it was sticking up.
“Oops.” In response, Soo-yeon shook her
head while laughing, and pulled her friend closer to the center, enticing her
to start dancing once more. The other was about to decline and go away for more
drinks, but the older lady pouted and kept her hand on the other’s.
“Come on, Kyong.”
Away from the crowd, Eun-seok appreciated
that he was able to make it away from the cramped mess without scarring his
eardrums too much. The twins he had been speaking to shared the same
sentiments, and the three of them had decided to spend their time quietly
critiquing the outfits of those who passed by. Once it had gotten too boring,
they proceeded to judge the ones dancing drunkenly (and faux-drunkenly) on the
dance floor.
The shorter twin squinted her eyes,
focusing them on a certain pair dancing. She sighed. “There’s nothing to
critique about Soo. She’s too freaking perfect. It’s like she belongs there
with the model crowd,” she commented. Despite her words, there was no tone of
bitterness in them. The male beside her ran a few fingers through his grey-dyed
hair and smirked.
“Eun-seok. It looks like Kyong is enjoying
herself,” he remarked. “Dancing in the arms of Soo-yeon and whatnot.” Eun-seok
tried not to point out how blatantly obvious his friend was being. “Must have
had a couple of those cocktails in one go. I don’t think she can hold her
liquor like Soo does.”
“She can handle herself.” Eun-seok said
blankly. The twins – Hae-won and Hae-jin – gave each other looks. Exhaling,
Hae-won grabbed Eun-seok’s arm and proceeded to drag him to the bar, Hae-jin
following after. “What are you doing-”
“You need to vent something out.” He
replied firmly. Hae-jin moved and looped her arm through Eun-seok’s free one
and helped her brother in leading him there.
“You’ll be grateful for our intervention,”
she chirped. Eun-seok attempted to get away but gave up eventually, letting the
two siblings take him drinking.
A small voice in the back of his mind reminded
him of Jin-kyong’s condition on the dance floor, but the constant pulling of
the twins pushed it away.
No comments:
Post a Comment