I must have stayed silent for too long because Anna cackled, “Girl, if you have to think about it this long to remember, it has been too long!”
“Amen!” Clara chimed in.
“Thanks, guys,” I said moodily, the buzz of the wine not working well enough to keep me from getting irritated. I took another sip from my glass. I had agreed to go out with them, but did I have to fuck somebody just to keep them happy too?
“Aw, come on, you know we’re just kidding,” said Anna. “We just want you to relax a little.”
“I’m relaxed! Look at me! I’m in a dress that’s way too tight and drinking at eleven at night on a weekend! What more do you want from me?” I said, only half-kidding.
“First of all, you look hot,” said Clara diplomatically, pulling the hot straightener through a section of her hair. “That dress is amazing on you. Green is definitely your color. Second, I’m really glad you’re going out with us. We’re not trying to give you a hard time. Just, you know, maybe having sex would relieve some stress, that’s all!”
“Well, let’s just start with getting me to the club before we try to pimp me out for my own good, okay?” I joke. “Where are we going, anyway?”
Anna’s and Clara’s eyes met briefly, and they both smirked.
“It’s…a surprise,” Anna said evasively. “It’ll be fun.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, but how different could one club be from the next?
Very different, it turns out.
They didn’t tell me it was a sex club until we were already in a cab on the way there.
We had almost arrived when Anna turned to me and said, “Okay, I should probably tell you now before we get there.”
“Tell me what?” I said apprehensively.
“The place we’re going tonight…it’s a sex club.”
“What?!”
I turned to Clara in disbelief, who just grinned in my face.
“You knew about this?” I accused her, narrowing my eyes.
“Yeah,” she shrugged. “It’s no big deal. It’ll be fun!”
“I’ve been there before,” said Anna. “Some people go just to look. We’re not going to do anything.”
“Wait, so… Then what’s the point?” I asked, confused.
“Oh, so you want to try it out?” Anna teased.
“No,” I blushed. “But why go to a sex club if you’re not going to have sex?”
“It’s just something different,” said Anna. “And the bar is nice, and it’s entertaining, and you can consider this payback for missing my birthday party.”
She was kidding, but I still felt a pang of guilt.
“Fine, whatever,” I said, resigning myself to what was going to happen. “But if it’s too weird, I’m leaving.”
“You’ll be fine,” Anna reassured me. “It’s kind of cool to see what people are into.”
Now that there was no way out, I started to wonder what exactly went on at a sex club. I was both repulsed and intrigued. What do people do at a sex club? Have sex, obviously… But how does it all work?
My curiosity was greater than my fear by the time we pulled up to the outside of the club. I don’t know what I expected, but the plain, unmarked building didn’t even look like a bar, much less a sex club. You could walk by it every day and not know what it was.
We showed our IDs to the bouncer and strolled inside, the sound of our high heels clicking sexily giving me more confidence than I really felt. Anna had reassured me that the club has a way of easing you into the action, and when you first walk in it’s just a normal bar like any other. She was right. The first thing I saw when we walked in was a long, marble bar, dimly illuminated with red lights. The vibe was sexy, sophisticated, and chic. I noticed a few couples standing around, talking and drinking fancy cocktails. It wasn’t grimy or weird at all.
At least, not yet.
When Clara’s brother Maddox appeared, along with Axel and their friend Declan, I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
I’ve been obsessed with Maddox for as long as I can remember, but he’s always treated me like a little kid. I could die from embarrassment running into him here, of all places.
For a wild moment, I thought maybe Clara had planned this as a prank or something, but the shocked look on the twins’ faces told me they had no idea we were coming.
Maybe this would be my chance to show Maddox that I’m not a little kid anymore.
Once we agreed to all split up and pretend we hadn’t seen each other, Maddox was really polite and even bought me a drink. If he was irritated that his little sister and her friends showed up to ruin his good time, he didn’t show it, but he was probably just being polite. There were a couple of moments when I even thought he might be flirting with me, but that was impossible. Maddox had always acted like I was an extension of Clara. There was no way he could ever be interested in me. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t notice that he looked hot as hell with his dark hair curling around his eyes, softly lit by the sexy red glow of the bar.
I was both reluctant and relieved to leave him to go into the first room with the girls. I could’ve talked to him all night, but I also wanted to see what this place had in store.
And now, here I am, about to experience the inside of a sex club.
The three of us clutch our drinks in our hands and walk into the next room, which is also dimly lit. There are large, plush couches and pillows everywhere, and even a king-sized bed hanging from the ceiling by chains. Romantic, sensual music plays softly in the background. I see two men in suits talking on one of the couches. Nothing unusual there. But on the bed, a man and two women, all fully dressed, are taking turns passionately making out with each other. I’ve never seen anything like that in person.
“This is like the, uh, ‘getting to know you’ room,” whispers Anna, not taking her eyes off the people on the bed. “People don’t actually have sex in here; it’s just where you talk to people and maybe find someone you’re interested in.”
“How do you know that?” asks Clara.
“Look,” Anna says, gesturing to the door we just entered through. “There are signs on both sides of each door that give you an idea of what the room is supposed to be used for.”
She’s right. Now I see a discreet sign on the door with a question mark and a little symbol of hands shaking. I guess that’s supposed to signify that this is where you meet people to have sex with.
It’s so weird. But also a little exciting.
We see the men in suits eyeing us, so we leave the room quickly. The next door takes us into a hallway, lined with several doors with different signs. Some doors are open while others are closed.
“Some of the rooms are private, and if it’s locked, whoever is in there doesn’t want company,” explained Anna. “The rooms with open doors, you can go in and look whenever you want. But people always, always have to ask before touching.”
“How do you know all this stuff?” I ask her.
Anna smiles and wiggles her eyebrows at me. “I told you, I’ve been here before. What can I say, I think it’s neat!”