*If you don't like it, don't read it, blah blah man on man, homosexuality blah. Anywho, I still haven't earned that M rating, but I promise that I might soon!*
After a few hours, James told me to get ready, because we'd be leaving soon. He said it quickly as he was taking out the trash, so I didn't get a chance to say anything to him. In fact, I hadn't been able to say anything to him since he kissed me.
I climbed the stairs and got ready in our shared room. When I got downstairs, everyone was in the living room, watching TV. James was the only one dressed to go out.
"Are you ready?" James asked, standing.
"Uh, yeah," I said, looking at the rest of the roommates.
"Alright, let's go!" James said enthusiastically. He was already opening the front door, so I assumed nobody else was coming with us tonight, either.
"So, where are we going?" I asked nervously as we started to walk down the street together. James seemed to have an idea of the direction he wanted to take.
"A club I heard about," James said, but I could tell there was something more to it.
"So, uh, we should talk about…" I said, unsure of how to finish.
"Oh, you mean…on the couch?" he asked.
"Yeah, I, uh…why?" was all I could manage to say.
"Well, I wasn't sure if when we went out for lunch, if we were just two friends going to lunch, or, you know, 'going out' together," James said.
"What?" I asked, the reason behind his spontaneous kiss even less clear.
"Well, I wasn't sure if you we went on a date or not, so I figured that if you kissed me back, you liked me, and we therefore had gone on a date," James said, as if it made perfect sense.
"We…we went on a date?" I asked.
"I-I'm sorry. I mean, I thought-Aren't we…I mean, right now we're not…."James stammered. It was cute to see him flustered.
"Oh! Oh. Oooh. So. This is a date?" I asked.
James stopped walking. "I'm sorry, I thought that we were-I guess I misread some signals, or…"
"Well," I said, gaining a very brief sense of confidence from knowing that James was into me. "It could be. I mean, if we both want it to." It was hard to keep the giddiness out of my voice.
James seemed to perk up. "Definitely!" James chirped, before regaining his usual cool, mysterious aura. "I mean, you know, if you want to."
It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one excited by tonight's prospects. "Well, I guess, if you really want to, I could, you know, manage," I said.
"Alright," James said coolly. "So, we're dating."
"Yup," I said, mockingly coolly. "Where are we going anyway?"
"I already told you, we're going to club," James said with a little devilish smile.
We continued to walk and chat for a while. I wasn't too familiar with the part of the city that we were walking through. It was getting to be a trendy part, but still seemed a little dangerous. I was a bit paranoid, walking through a strange part of the city in the dark, but James made me feel safe.
We stopped in front of a little club in a slightly safer area, with blacked out windows and loud music coming from within. There were only a few people standing outside of the door, so we got past the bouncer and through to the club pretty quickly.
I didn't immediately notice anything remarkable about this club. It was dark and colorful flashes of strobe lights, a few little tables with beat up benches, a big circular bar in the middle, and a dance floor on one side. It was somewhat crowded, and kind of difficult to see. James took my hand and led me to the dance floor. There was a poppy song with a pounding bass on, and James started dancing like an expert. I sort of awkwardly wriggled and twitched, trying to look half as good as James was. He looked so beautiful, moving to the beat of the song, it felt like I couldn't see anyone else in the club.
And then I did notice the other people in the club. They were mostly dressed colorfully and eccentrically. I noticed several people making out. I also noticed that they were making out with people of the same gender. I figured that this was the part of our date that James was keeping a secret. He wasn't just taking me to a club; he was taking me to a gay club.
I was almost a little disappointed. Did he really think that I would be shocked by a gay club? I mean, I hadn't really ever been to club before, but this was hardly something subversive or even too interesting. And, because we are a gay couple, it goes to reason that we would go to a gay club. I decided that I didn't care, I was just happy to be there with James.
We continued to dance our way through a few songs, and I started to get into it, moving more easily with James' skilled moves. The floor was really crowded, and we were continually bumping into other people, but that just sort of added to the effect. After one song ended, a voice came booming out from over the speakers. I could hardly understand what the DJ was saying, but the message was clear as everyone moved off of the dance floor, and began to surround it like a stage. James and I were right at the edge of the dance floor. I looked around, uncertain of what would be taking place for everyone to watch. The DJ's voice boomed through the loud speakers again, but I still couldn't make any sense of the blurred words. Everyone began cheering, and Lady Gaga's "Marry the Night" started to play. Everyone seemed concentrated on something on the dance floor, but I couldn't figure out who they were staring at. I looked at James, and he smiled that same devilish grin and nodded to the dance floor. I followed his gaze, and then I saw her.
She was about six feet tall, wearing six inch heels, a black lace body suit that was covered in glitter, a disco-ball bra on top, and she had huge blonde hair, and more makeup on than I have ever seen on a single person. In short, she was a drag queen. James had taken me to see a drag queen perform. The music started to pick up, and she began dancing along with her lip syncing. She twirled her way around the ring of onlookers, picking up tips from eager hands. James handed me a dollar bill, and I reached out as she danced past. She stopped just before she got near us, and began slowly gathering the money in her hands, dramatically enunciating the pop lyrics. When she got to me, I smiled, and she took the dollar, and leaned over to give me a big, wet kiss on the cheek. I could feel a large lipstick stain, and I smiled even brighter. James turned to me and laughed.
The rest of the night was filled with equally wonderful performers. Luckily, James had brought quite a few dollar bills, so we were able to tip appropriately. After the show was done, everyone flooded the dance floor, and several of the drag queens dotted the area, dancing with friends and dealing out wit. We danced for a little longer, but James and I got really tired, so we decided to leave after a few songs.
As we stepped out of the bar, we saw the drag queen that performed "Marry the Night" smoking a cigarette with a small entourage just outside of the exit. I stopped James and tentatively approached her.
"Sorry to bother you, I just wanted to say that you were amazing," I said, knowing how lame I sounded.
The drag queen smiled and said "Well, if you really want to show your appreciation, you and your friend meet me backstage in ten minutes with a wad of cash and a bullwhip." She winked, though her words were somewhat slurred, because she was obviously more than a bit tipsy by now.