i'm the life to the beat

“What can I say, it’s in my nature.” he teased. “Nice to meet you too and nice name. I’ve never heard it before which makes it ten times cooler.”

“Really?” The surprise at knowing he’d never heard her name before was as clear as the sky on her face. “You’ve never heard of another Tanisha? Damn.” She lifted a hand to gently pat at one side of her head twice. “Must’ve never taken a trip down to Brownsville, then. I guarantee at least three of us walkin’ the street at any given time.” A dry chuckle followed this admission as she shook her head.

Jace was on their way to their apartment, their footsteps were hasty since they were in a little bit of a hurry coming home. It was getting chilly outside and they never favoured cold. They were prone to sickness when this level of temperature was beginning to surround them. They looked up when they heard a woman calling out, raising their eyebrows. Cursing themself for not paying attention, they checked their pockets only to see their carkeys missing. Jace walked forward and nodded in gratitude. “Oh… that’s mine. My bad.” They held out their hand. “Should’ve watched myself.” They added a bit sheepishly.

Tanisha dropped the keys into the open hand, offering a bright smile. “Hey, no worries. I drop shit all the time.” She paused to look around before leaning in just a touch to ‘whisper’ behind the back of one hand, “I dropped a whole bag of groceries one time and didn’t even realize it.” A solemn nod followed. It wasn’t unlike her, honestly, considering how out of this world she usually was when she wasn’t asleep. “But, some good-minded folk like myself helped me pick up my bruised apples and ego. Nice people.”

Justin didn’t notice the girl who was chasing him until she called out to him. He turned around to see her holding his keys. “Shit. I need those.” He said, turning around and walking up to her. “Thank you. So much.”

“I reckon so,” she replied with a bit of a smirk, handing over the keys. “Now you’re gonna be thinkin’ of me when you gotta unlock your apartment door, huh? See what a god-send I am?” Though she sounded so full of herself, she was only kidding.

  “¡Adiós trabajo! Welcome freedom!” His shift was over and right when the clock hit 9:00PM Ciro was out of the hospital. He spread his arms and let the cool of the night air wash over him. It had been a hectic day with common colds and sprained whatever’s but now Ciro could focus on himself. Outstretched arms drew back to his side as he did a shimmy, his body still full of nervous energy even after the chaos he had dealt with all day. He wanted to dance and let loose. Excitement, something that would wear him out so he could get a decent sleep for once. “I don’t want to go home yet, does anyone know any good parties close by? Me anhelo de tequila.” 

“Bruh,” she started, stumbling in her heels a bit as she held a hand out for him to stop. “You’re too much, you’re goin’ full-throttle and you’re gonna pass the fuck out before you can even party! C’mon.” Tanisha smiled like a little girl with a secret, motioning for the stranger to follow her. She was baked like cookies and more than a little friendly at this stage. “I’m headin’ to this club, you gotta try it out. Great drink specials. There’s like three dance floors. You’re gonna love it, my man.”

“Have you ever just wanted to pack your stuff up, quit your job, sell everything you have and then move to Hawaii to live the rest of your days?”

“Not Hawaii. ... Maybe Jamaica.” She paused. “Or some Nordic country, filled with white folks with blonde hair.” Tanisha nodded slowly, grinning like an idiot. “Like a drop of chocolate in a sea of milk.”

Serena glanced down to her White Russian, stirring the whipped cream in slowly to take the bite out of the vodka. She took a sip, her eyes scanning across the dimly lit bar. “It’s weird how it’s always the same here,” she murmured to the person next to her. “Not just here, I guess. Everywhere. People cram themselves into dark dive bars, drink until they get good and numb, and then try to pick up the first person who agrees to go home with them, thinking it’s somehow going to fill that void. It never does.” She finally turned to look at the person next to her, the ghost of a smile dancing over her lips. “I know, I’m being pessimistic, but as sad as it is, there’s something tragically beautiful about it, y’know?”

Meanwhile, Tanisha was busy on her phone, her arms splayed wide across the bar with her drink (a Long Island iced tea, because she is trash) sitting directly in the middle of them, right up against her lips as she took gentle sips of it every now and then. Her tongue played with the straw as she typed at the speed of light, updating her blog with a funny little anecdote-- something that’d happened to her earlier, made even funnier by expanding the truth somewhat. She barely registered what was being said until she posted it and finally looked up at the blue eyed girl, one eyebrow cocked. “Yeah, I guess,” she said with a shrug. “I just like the drink specials.” Her eyes were wide and innocent, despite truthfully being as sinful as could be. But her eyes found a guy sitting some stools down from them, his own trained on Serena. “I think he’s about to try his chances with takin’ ya’ back to his, though,” she warned quietly with a subtle lift of her chin in his direction.

“So- uh,” Sam was browsing through a few dress racks; with the Valentine’s Ball coming up next week and her slightly nerve-wracking plan to attend, she’d decided she would begin to look for a dress now. Or at least, starting now. She’d always been a bit indecisive when it came to her own attires, wanting to appear as prim as she possibly could. After rummaging past several options, she then pulled out two - one silver, luminiscent and overly pristine, then the other was black, more elegant albeit a bit revealing. She cringed, “which one?”

Tanisha probably wasn’t going to buy anything from here. The prices were way out of her range, and she probably wouldn’t able to fit in most of them. Regardless, they had a bathroom and were nice enough to let her use it as she passed by. She just happened to get lost in the racks of beautiful clothing. However, when someone nearby said something in her general direction, the girl raised lazy eyebrows at the question, taking a long look at the girl, then her two dresses of choice. “... The black one, for sure.” Tanisha nodded, motioning towards the plunging neckline of that particular gown. “With that, regardless of where ya’ goin’, unless it’s a funeral, you’ll be bringin’ in all sorts of folks to come and see the show.” Another nod was issued before she brought forth her own dress, bright pink with too-large shoulder ruffles and an extra lacy skirt. “Check this out! Straight outta nineteen eighty five. I can hear Madonna singin’ about this shit.”