Sex & Drugs & Dungeons & Dragons

D15. Ecstasy and Anguish

"Fuck off," she replied, and gave him the finger.

"Oooh," he smiled at his friends. "She's got a mouth on her. Guess that means she likes it rough." He reached out to grab her hair, planning to yank her painfully into his arms, but Mickey intercepted him with a hard right cross to his jaw. The guy twisted backward, momentarily stunned. His friends stepped back – they obviously hadn't expected anyone to actually put up a fight.

Mickey took advantage of the momentary opening. He spun Hope around and pushed her toward the dance floor. "Run!" he yelled. Griffin and Tony followed Hope into the thick of the crowd. The music and lights still pulsed and they could feel vibrations moving up their legs and tickling their knees. Dancers eyed them angrily as they clawed past them, but as they closed behind him they helped delay their pursuers. They were about to get away, get lost in the sea of people.

But then Mickey noticed a huge surge ahead of them, at the club's front entrance. The crowd of gay-bashers there had finally broken through past the bouncer. They were shaking their fists and yelling "Die faggots!" Some of the dancers were turning to face them, others falling back in a panic. Mickey altered his course once more, pushing Tony, Griffin and Hope toward a bathroom marked "Ladies".

The crowd surged and knocked into Hope, almost knocking her down. Griffin grabbed her before she hit the floor and pulled her, the heels of her doc martins dragging on the dance floor, through the bathroom door.

Once inside he looked up to see Mickey trying to open a small window. But it was painted shut. Hope regained her balance and pulled off one boot. "Get away from the window!" she told Mickey and put her arm across her eyes, covering her face with the baggy sleeve of her army jacket. Then she smashed her boot into the window, shattering it. Not finished, she slipped out of her jacket and threw it over the window, protecting them from the jagged broken glass.

Tony scrambled through and then Hope. Griffin came next, and was surprised at the height of the drop when he crested the window sill. The bathroom, it turned out, was well above street level and he tumbled upside down as he flipped through it, dropping a good seven or eight feet. Fortunately both Tony and Hope were below him. They weren't able to catch him but they grabbed him so he landed on his ass instead of his head.

Griffin scrambled to his feet and looked around to see they'd landed in a dark alley. He looked up at Mickey, who was leaning out the window. "Take off!" he yelled.

"Aren't you coming?!" worried Tony.

"No I gotta help Brett and Cassie! Get out of here!" he insisted, throwing down Hope's jacket before disappearing back inside.

"You think they're gonna be okay?" asked Griffin.

"I hope so," replied a clearly worried Tony. Then he nodded, as if convincing himself. "I think so. Mickey said they've handled those kinds of assholes before. Cassie's an ex-boxer."

"Oh shiiit!" Hope exclaimed with a combination of realization and admiration. "Cassie is a man!"

"Yeah," confirmed Tony, "now let's get out of here before we get our asses kicked." Tony continued to hurry them down the alley.

"Well that was nuts," Griffin mumbled stupidly, his head still spinning with a cocktail of adrenaline and LSD. "And we're not even gay... wait."

"Yeah...speak for yourself, dude," Tony told him.

"You're gay?" Tony looked a little embarrassed. "But what about all those Boris Vallejo calendars? The ones with all the naked girls? You bought them because the chicks were hot."

"I lied," Tony admitted. "You ever seen the dudes in those calendars? The barbarians?" Tony frowned and shrugged. "I like muscles."

"Holy shit," Griffin sighed, the truth finally clicking into his brain.

"So Mickey," Hope postulated, "you guys dating or something?"

"Naw," Tony replied. "More like a brother. Him and Cassie and Brett, they're all just friends. They didn't have any gay friends when they were my age, figuring things out, you know. I'm hanging out with them because, well, I guess 'cause they're my people." Tony didn't look at Griffin when he said this. In fact, he was intentionally looking everywhere other than Griffin.

"That's cool," Griffin said, grabbing his hand and spinning him so he could look him in the eye. "But you know we're your people, too. Me, Derek, Cobi...Hope. I mean, I don't think Derek and Cobi are gay, but even if we're not, that doesn't mean we're not your people, right?" Griffin directed the last word to Hope.

"Of course, dude." Hope reached out and rubbed Tony's shoulder.

"Yeah, okay," Tony said. Then he glanced out the mouth of the alley. "I think the coast is clear. Let's get the hell out of here."