twin flames {zjm}

flame one.

Dahlia
—

             Clubbing on a Saturday night in New York City sounded like a nauseating idea the first time I heard it. I was exhausted. Physically and mentally drained. I didn't really want to be surrounded by sticky strangers nor did I want to have random guys grabbing at my ass all night. I wasn't in the mood to go celebrating anything tonight, let alone my twenty-third birthday. There wasn't really a point, in my opinion, it was just a filler year. All I could think about was how crowded the club was going to be, not to mention how fucking cold.

Inhaling deeply, I ran the mascara wand over my eyelashes three more times before reaching for the lip liner.

"You're thinking too much again," Noor started. "I can see it on your face." She told me pointedly, slipping on her heels.

I met her eyes in the mirror, applying my dark nude lipstick with my right hand. "I'm not," I said, smacking my lips together. "I'm going, aren't I?"

She hummed before picking up the perfume flute I keep on my dresser. I've told Noor multiple times that I wasn't one to keep up with her model lifestyle, though she insisted that tonight I had to go out and commemorate myself.

Noor was my cousin and, as of the last three months, my roommate. She was moving out of the IMG apartments around the same time that I was moving back to New York from the west coast. We were both looking for places close to the heart of the city and we were familiar enough to instantly move in together.

I ruffled my hair in the mirror, once, twice, a third time. Me and Noor's curls were very similar, our whole appearance was very similar actually. Our Moroccan features proudly stood out, the only difference is that she was a whopping six inches taller than me.

"Ready?" She eyed me, stuffing a couple of tampons into her clutch.

"Um..." I squinted, my eyes darting around the living room to see if I was missing anything. "Yeah." I nodded, pulling at the bottom of my burgundy slip dress. My phone was the last thing I fetched before we stepped out of the apartment and into the crisp city air.

There was a unique type of energy in the wind this evening that I could feel deep within me. It was absolutely exhilarating. My body didn't want to leave the apartment, but my spirit was raging on. Almost as if it would break out of me if I didn't go on my own.

My New Years' resolution was to listen to my gut instinct more. Seeing as how it was only halfway through January, I couldn't break my commitments just yet. I would never admit this to Noor, but the only reason I wasn't putting up a fight was because tonight, something within me was telling me to go out. Telling me that I should let myself enjoy this night. Knowing how stubborn I could be, if I really didn't want to go clubbing for my birthday, Noor wouldn't even be able to get me out of bed. I would've practiced my narrative, preemptively prepared counterpoints and somehow convinced her that neither one of us was leaving the apartment tonight.

I looked down at my phone as we waited for the Uber we ordered to arrive. I paused for the camera to scan my face until it unlocked the device to display four new messages.

Theo • 8:17 PM
- Uh me and Malia are here and the entire second floor is rented out :/
- Rich kid bought it out for his birthday so we only get the downstairs bar and the small dance floor
- Hella crowded hurry !

Dev • 8:21 PM
- on my wayyyyy y'all there??

I shoot a quick message to Devya, letting her know that we were ready and just waiting on our Uber. I completely ignored Theo, opting to show Noor his messages instead.