Bright neon lights glistened a purple-pink hue across the trembling woman in the bathroom stall, shaky sobs quietly muffled by her hoodie sleeves. Her heart felt like it had been stabbed deep. Staring down through a waterfall of tears at her phone she was met face-to-face with her worst fear: proof of her boyfriend cheating on her with her "best friend". The text following the picture was just a healthy twist of the knife.
'Imagine if she found out lol'
She wasn't laughing. Whether it was a drunk text, a sick joke, or intentionally malicious, it gutted her and left her spiraling into the dark. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing before slipping her phone back into her pocket and pulling herself together. One final deep breath and a shake of her hands gave her the courage to exit the stall and freshen up her hair and makeup. Raccoon eyes wiped clean and mascara reapplied, bangs gently brushed out with her fingers, nose blown and tiny glittery stickers dotted under her eyes and across the bridge of her nose. It may not have been enough to stop the pain in her chest but it was enough to make it through the night. She forced a smile and quickly made her way back to the show to dance her feelings numb. A familiar face greeted her immediately at the venue entrance, eyes bright and bubbly as always.
"Hey Molly! You look so cute, I missed you so much!" Black hair blinded her vision as her friend hugged her tight, practically squeezing the sadness out of her. "It's been so long! How have you been?"
"Not too bad," she lied while nervously fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. "How about you? I watched your stream the other night; you're getting really popular online." A warm grin beamed softly up at her suddenly-bashful friend. "I'm so happy you started sharing your music more, Jiro! You sound amazing!"
"Thank you so much! You were a big inspiration, after all."
They'd known each other for nearly ten years, having first met in an online forum for the underground rave scene. Jiro was, at the time, an up-and-coming artist in Japan trying to find a voice to her sound. Molly, on the other hand, was simply an American fan of a dying era discovered too little too late...or so she thought. The scene was still alive and well - if you knew where to look. And who to talk to. Enter the forum and the rest was history; they'd been inseparable ever since despite the physical distance, meeting up at shows around the world and breathing new life into their shared passion, and spreading the joy felt deep within through hard beats, hyper melodies, and bright colorful bracelets with a message. The black-haired woman waved at another friend near the stage and politely excused herself, dancing off and chuckling in high spirits. Molly took the opportunity to show herself to the bar and ordered something strong. It was going to be a long night - fun, but long.
'And she never thought she'd get to play a live show,' the brunette mused to herself, shaking her head with a lighthearted eyeroll. She took a swig of her drink and shuddered at the burn of alcohol down her throat. A soft fruity flavor lingered on her tongue after the fact, basking her in am almost warm afterglow. 'I knew she'd make her dream come true. I'm so happy for her.' Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes despite her smile and she carefully wiped them dry with her thumb. She didn't want to be caught crying on the dancefloor, good or bad. With steady resolve she stood up tall, fluffed her skirt, and wandered back to the crowd drink-in-hand. 'Let's make this a night to remember!'
The night carried on under the neon lights with everyone dancing their hearts out and cheering on the deejays on set, last but not least of the night was Jiro herself. Despite the hours of moving to the beats the throng of attendees went hard to her sound; they were all bouncing in time to the bubbly tune mashups then switching it up to an almost artistic thrash dancing when the beats shattered to the drop of the beat. She'd been experimenting a lot with future bass, happy hardcore and breakcore styles, blending elements of each and various electronic soundbites in the background, and all her practicing had paid off much to her own bewilderment and disbelief. Here she was, playing her own hour of live mixing in front of thousands of fans and supporters. Just like she'd always dreamed of. Molly cheered as she danced about and glanced up just in time to catch her friend let a wave of emotion wash over her in the form of a steady stream of tears rolling down her cheeks and the biggest smile she'd ever seen plastered across her face. Jirou was in her element. Her set had so much raw energy and emotion it could be felt in each and every heart there that night. The crowd roared when she shouted into the mic to 'rave on forever' and ended the night with an homage to the artists who inspired her most and a very emotional thank-you to everyone who came out to party. As she was wrapping up the final song a cluster of confetti cannons hooked to the ceiling burst and shot celebratory glitter and brightly-colored paper stars and hearts and rainbow bits to rain down on their little world below. It was like something straight out of a fairytale; it was magical. Absolutely magical.
A sweat-soaked towel hung around her neck as the black-haired deejay gulped down a bottle of water while watching the last of the concert-goers wander out. Her head was still spinning from the reality of it all and the fact that she was up on the stage, doing her thing live in person, in front of so many people who have been in the scene for a long time giving her recognition and praise on her work and her skills. Molly patted her sweaty back and chuckled at her friend's come-down from the experience, reassuring her that she did amazing and congratulating her with a hug, neither of them minding the sweat much. Once everything was packed up and the venue hosts bid them goodbye the duo made their way out to her car, where they found a small group of her friends from home waiting in the parking lot with bright smiles, post-dancing exhaustion, and a celebratory banner congratulating her on her first official live show. She couldn't stop her tears or her own overjoyed smile and pulled Molly along excitedly with her to meet them.
"I'm so happy you guys came!"
"Of course we came," replied a blonde man with a shock of black in his hair. His outfit and vibe reminded Molly of a Pokémon. "We wouldn't miss it for the world!"
"Yeah!" A woman covered head-to-toe in pink skin and neon spandex ran up and threw her arms around Jirou with a laugh. "You did so good! That was incredible!" She glanced back to the group and grinned, motioning toward another woman with long black hair and an equally long tongue peeking out beneath her shy smirk and said, "We've never seen Tsuyu dance like that before; it was like she stepped into a brand-new world tonight thanks to you and Nejire."
The woman, Tsuyu, nodded sheepishly and croaked softly, "This really was an experience I didn't know I needed, and now I just want everyone to know this feeling too." A few others in the group stayed silent but nodded as well, visibly tired and fighting back yawns with worn-out but euphoric glow.
Jiro felt overjoyed at her friends' words and couldn't help the laughter or the tears bubbling up from within. "You guys," she hiccupped between the tears, "mean so much to me, I can't thank you enough for being here tonight." She turned back to the brunette and beamed, excitement sparkling in her oceanic eyes. "Everyone! I want you all to meet my friend, Molly!" She slung an arm around her friend's shoulders and smiled back at the group. "We've been friends for basically forever, and at this point we're family. We're all family. Molly, these are some of my friends from school. We've got Tsuyu Asui there, then there's the pink lady Mina Ashido; the Pikachu-looking guy is Denki Kaminari; the dude with the spiky red hair is Eijiro Kirishima; the guy about to fall asleep in the back, he's Hanta Sero; and finally we have Nejire Hado, the biggest electronic music deejay in Japan and fashion model seen in magazines the world over. She was one of the first people to play tonight, remember?"
Molly perked up a bit, quietly starstruck. "You're the Nejire Hado? 'Cotton Candy Soundcloud' and the face of Beaute Naturelle?"
Blue hair tucked behind her ear, the other woman chuckled modestly. "That's the one, although those are more like hobbies to me now. I'm just happy to be able to share what I love with the people I love most."
"Classy as always," Jiro teased lightheartedly, "she's too humble sometimes. Helped bring so many people together, created a sense of belonging through music, like it was no big deal! She helped change the world, but it's no big deal or anything."
"Hey!"
She laughed. "Well it's true!" Turning back to fully face Molly, the black-haired woman sighed and placed her hands gently but firmly on the brunette's shoulders. "Tonight was truly special; thank you so much for being here, with me, with all of us. Here, gimme." She held her hand up in front of Molly, and when she returned the motion Jiro led her on a series of hand signs: fingertips touching as peace signs, two halves of a heart connecting to make one whole, palms flat against each other, and finally they interlocked their fingers together and the emotional woman slid a brightly-colored sparkly beaded bracelet onto Molly's wrist, and Molly followed suit sliding one of her own dusk-and-dawn themed bracelets onto her friend's arm. Raver's handshake, Molly called it. The pair admired their traded kandi and hugged each other tight, both fighting back tears. The bittersweet end to another great night. "You be good out here, okay? Stay safe, don't change. We'll meet again soon, I promise."
Molly nodded with a sniffle. "Y-Yeah, you too. I'm gonna miss you." She pulled back and shared one final smile with her friend before waving goodbye and watching them all pile into their vehicles and drive off into the dawn, leaving her alone with her feelings and the memories of the night. Good and bad and all. She slowly poured herself into her driver's seat and began the journey home, where upon entering her apartment Molly promptly bee-lined for her bedroom and passed out on her bed, fully-clothed and face-first with a smile on her face despite a hole in her heart. She always felt better after a night of dancing, she just wished her friends didn't have to leave so soon. If only the party could last forever.