Chapter 1
I hated being like this. Being empty, not feeling the excitement of creativity flow through my fingers. I ,Sophie Brown, art genius and pied piper of the paintbrush was staring at a blank canvas. The canvas had been blank for about a month and it bothered me. Canvases begged to be ravished by ink, graphite and passion. One left blank was an insult to the artist. It was so because it meant that the artist's imagination was stagnant. That he/she was slowly losing the artistic equivalent of Midas' touch. I raked my brain for inspiration but nothing came forth." Actually I could paint…. .NO".I quickly dismissed that thought. Shame and scandal flooded through me. "You are disordered. Occupied by unnatural passions.." the litany of accusations laced in guilt began. A deep sigh escaped my lips subconsciously. For about three months I nursed a raging crush on one of my close friends. I had never anticipated this new development . We had been friends since freshman year of high school but we weren't as close as we are right now. Our group was made up of seven girls, now young women. In high school I thought of my interest as mousy and a little dull for my liking. However it seems when you put adolescence and ill-fitting school uniform aside, out comes a new creature all together. She had blossomed into a woman so desirable and sensuous it was borderline sinful to think about it.
I first noticed her fully when we had gone clubbing at a dingy club. The club was dim lit and packed with dozens of sweaty gyrating bodies. In we went, excited to be out drinking sans adult supervision. "Girls let's get some shots! woohoo!" .We were served, three rounds each. I had never been much of a drinker prior to this episode. So I copied what everyone did. Including downing two bottles of malt drinks. Being the light weight that I am,I quickly fell into a daze. Oddly enough I enjoyed it. Meanwhile my interest let her hair down. God she looked like a damn gypsy lady. I am talking about Salma Hayek in traveler garb. My girlfriends had already declared me drunk. The DJ put some slutty pop song on and immediately all but my interest and I got up to dance. Dance meaning grinding into each other. So there I was slowly sliding off my seat in the booth we had occupied. My crush noticed and scooted over to support me. "D'you wanna throw up babe?" she said directly into my ear. "Nooo" I replied. My head was resting on her shoulder. She smelled nice. I inched closer to her neck, the tip my nose grazing the skin there."…skin so soft…" I murmured. I wondered how it would feel against my lips. Before I knew it, I had planted a gentle kiss on her. "Whoa, whoa" her arms swung and held me away from her. "Okay no more drinks for you. I am going to get you water, you sit here and be a good girl." she said loudly but only enough for me to hear. I nodded and watched her walk away. She looked good walking away. My mind had started clearing up a bit. What had just happened? My girlfriends were still busting moves on the dance floor. "Did I just..?" My eyes grew wide as a knot formed in my neck. "You sobered up quickly." She had already returned. I needed to get some air. My face was burning up. My palms felt sweaty and my stomach felt queasy. "Oh Lord, She thinks am a total pervert". I really valued what my friends thought of me and I wasn't looking forward to being labelled the annoying sex pest. I sprung up only to be stopped by my interest. "Aren't you going to drink your water?" she asked. Her hands were wrapped around my forearms. I felt my blood rush. Now a thing to note is that Mariah, my crush is just over five feet tall. I am a good five feet six inches. She looked up at me expectantly. By now the song 'habits' by Tove lo was playing. She licked her lips and her dimples showed simultaneously. I had never noticed the playful sparkle in her eyes. My cheeks proceeded to burn even more. She arched an eyebrow at me. "What? Dog ate your tongue and sobriety?" she asked sarcastically. On came a popular rap song. Mariah dropped her act and squealed in excitement. "That's my jam! Oh my God you have to dance with me" she said as she led me to the dance floor. I barely had time to say no. I expected us to bop our heads and maybe do the dougie dance. How grossly mistaken I was. Mariah wriggled her butt against me. I stiffened but quickly recovered. I imitated the sway of her hips. My other girlfriends saw us dancing and began loudly cheering us on. I actually enjoyed myself. Soon banger after banger, I danced myself silly. I am a pretty good dancer so I did some moves just to impress my mates. Soon a couple of random guys came and asked to cut in. We let them as they were actually a little cute. We then decided to rest a bit as the DJ had switched to songs with less hype. Mariah once again grabbed my hand and led me back to our booth. I dint mind the extra contact I was getting.
As soon as we sat down a round of drinks was brought to our table. "Courtesy of those two gents over there" shouted the waitress as she pointed towards the same guys we had danced with. Three other guys joined them and they greeted each other enthusiastically. The one I had danced with, George, swaggered over to our table. "Hey ladies, my boys and I were wondering if we could have this dance. You know drinks cost money and since you owe us…" he paused suggestively. George was really attractive and it seemed his friends too had got the memo regarding the looks department. By now we were surrounded by sweaty couples furiously sucking face. The DJ was to blame given the slutty slow music blasting through the speakers. My girlfriends glanced at each other as if waiting for someone to go first. Tanya was the loud and free-spirited one of our circle. She sprung up and latched onto George's arm. "Sure thing" she said flirtatiously. The rest, psyched up by Tanya , got up and grabbed a guy of their choice. The atmosphere in the club was heavy with booze and lust. Someone was leaving this place pregnant for sure. I dint notice Mariah was eyeing me with a small smile on her lips. Her eyes were hooded and her head tilted in my direction. I was chewing on a piece of gum I found in my pocket. I wasn't entirely dressed in a clubbing outfit as Mariah and Co. had ambushed me at the coffee shop I worked at before whisking me to the club. I had a slim-fit black button down shirt and black skinny jeans on. I admit I dint look bad in my work outfit. I had undone the top three buttons to my shirt to allow myself to cool down. Mariah shamelessly stared at the part of my chest that was exposed. She bit her bottom lip before gently pushing my shirt away to expose a tattoo just below my collar bone. She opened her mouth to say something but I beat her to it. "It's Arabic for Beloved " I explained. Mariah scrunched up her features and gestured to her ear. I scooted over and put my lips right at her ear. "I said it's arab-" I was cut short by soft lips moving against mine. Needless to say it was a pleasant surprise. I cupped her face and reciprocated the gesture. She playfully bit my lower lip and I let out a chuckle. I broke off the kiss and nonchalantly picked my drink off the table. I took a swig and cocked my eyebrows at a mock-annoyed Mariah. I had had boyfriends in the past and this thing with Mariah was just admiration which had been corrupted by raging hormones and alcohol. Or so I thought.
Mariah got up and walked towards the dance floor. She stopped midway to cast me a flirty glance. "Two can play this game" I thought determinedly. I walked towards the floor as if I was tailing her. I let my hair down and it fell in lovely waves. Mariah stared blatantly at me. I walked keeping my eyes on her as a small smile spread on her face. I went past her and right into Reggie, one of George's friends. Mariah was genuinely surprised. She looked scorned and turned accusingly to face me. I shrugged and shot her a smug smile.