Madison, twenty-five, and bored out of her mind, had plans to ditch her post-graduate work and party hard enough that she'd be too drunk the next day to have a hangover. If that dreadful headache still insisted on making its presence known, her antidote came in tablet form, dark orange, in disguise to look identical to the 800mg ibuprofen she Saran-wrapped and dropped in her purse. Her pick-me-up of sorts.
She was well aware, putting the two pills right next to each other was a rookie mistake, in fact, she thought it to herself the moment the tablet was secure in the makeshift wrapper, but the notion to make them distinct from one another slipped her mind, replaced with the need to optimize space in her bag.
Her bag, if one could call it that, was big enough to fit her keys, wallet, and the small pills but her phone couldn't fit successfully without being a tad too long so she opted on holding it in her hand the whole night after she called an Uber because if the photography majors' soirée was as uninteresting as the coordinators, there would be no need for her to keep it elsewhere.
Contrary to her belief, it was a rager that served expensive champagne instead of tequila and she knew that the gorgeous girl in the shiny dress dancing on top of the bar had the right idea...that was the type of night Madison planned on having too.
Observantly, she scoped the surroundings, from the mill of bodies on the dance floor to the mini crowd that had gathered around to watch miss Coyote Ugly, Madison glanced from the wallflowers, and the lounge-goers and back again before deciding to herself that she wanted to be where the fun was, which was clearly at the bar.
The girl's boyfriend was standing protectively at her feet, as close to the bar top as he could allow, looking like a man Madison would beg for or drool over had he even step foot in the Figure Modeling room, let alone undressed.
Girls were her thing, she liked them the most for sure but he was...wow. Definitely a guy so attractive that it was difficult to make eye contact so she lowered her gaze a bit, a shy tick of hers.
He was so Together, almost stern, she could see how the two worked well as a couple, though she did wonder how a guy could be so confident in a girl that beautiful being the life of the party. Hell, she had the DJ's attention and still her boyfriend didn't seem to mind. From what she could tell, they seemed like opposites, but the complementary kind for sure.
"Is that your girlfriend?"
"Yeah."
"She is so fucking hot."
Once Madison realized he wasn't one for small talk, she danced with the girl, who had pulled her right on up, and the both of them had a time. In a way, it felt she had known this girl, Maze, all of her life with how inviting, carefree and fun she was.
And when they went off to the bathroom, Madison's only intention was to help her headache, be of service to this wonderful woman in some way, so much so that she'd forgotten she had ecstasy in her bag to begin with.
Naturally, once she remembered it was far too late, her eyes grew wide and panic ensued but Maze ensured her that she felt fine, everything was fine and to stop acting insane before the random girlies fixing their makeup thought she was trying to hurt her. She fanned Madison to help her calm back down and stated that if anyone was going to freak out, it'd be her and her alone.
"Fuck it." Maze said, shoulders back. "Maybe it was meant for me to pop a Molly."
She didn't know why that made them laugh hysterically.
Fast forward to now, Blu was narrowing his eyes at this new addition to their twosome, trying to decide whether or not he could take her word as truth.
"You're looking at me like that and I get it, I totally do, but I swear on my life it was an accident."
His body language read that he didn't like her at all. He was close enough to Maze to be her shield and Madison found herself sending a silent prayer that her next boyfriend be just as serious about her, because this "friendship" she was witnessing was the pinnacle of endearing.
"How many times will she have to say that before you actually believe her, Maui? I know for a fact she's not lying."
"Maze, please. You're high."
"It hasn't even kicked in yet. Now stop acting like my damn daddy..." She crossed her legs before thinking her words over. "Scratch that, you're acting like Valorie. Especially with the little glare you keep doing." Maze nudged his shoulder hard enough that his arms uncrossed. "Loosen up, sheesh."
"Loosen up? Oh, right. Maybe I should dance on a bar and get drugged next for the sake of an epic night."
"Maybe you should. If I'm not worried, then you shouldn't be either."
"Do you hear yourself?" He shut his eyes and breathed heavy. "I knew we shouldn't have fucking come here."
"Hey, it doesn't help all too much if you put her in a bad headspace before everything starts to kick in. She could really spaz."
"Yeah, you heard her, I could really spaz, be my peace."
"I always am."
"Good so let's not act cute tonight."
They stared each other down like they were having an old Western Showdown. Blu spoke up first.
"You mean the world to me and all, but I'm not lying when I say I could wrap my hands around your throat sometimes."
"Ooo, I would love that. You know what I could wrap my hands around?" She scooted closer to him, draping her legs over his thigh and massaging the nape of his neck in one motion. He didn't urge her to go on, the message was loud and clear yet that didn't stop her from planting a trail of kisses on the side of his face and holding his chin to whisper whatever it was that made him turn candy apple red right into his ear.
Oh wow.
Maze was good. Seriously. His nerves seemed to melt away the longer she looked at him, running her fingers through his hair. The stern expression on his face softened up drastically as he fought a smile.
"Doesn't that sound like fun?" She asked, her eyes dark enough to reflect the strobe lights.
He shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "Sure. It will never happen, though."
"It can if you want it to. We can take Love in this Club to a whole new level." She smiled at him knowingly, the way in which she pressed her cheek against his a checkpoint that she was starting to feel the effects. "Let's make a baby."
"Let's make a baby?" His brows lifted and his eyes met Madison's as if he forgot she was there in the first place. "That normal?"
"Yeah. It's kicking in. She'll be really open to say whatever is on her mind."
"Interesting. You wanna have my kids, Maze?"
"Of course. At least like twelve, just leave it in." she groaned. "Why do I feel so good? It's like raw waves of pleasure."
"My pills are really, really, really fucking pure. Plus nothing can top the first time."
"Omg, I remember my first time. I really only had sex out of spite when I was nineteen... I overheard Blu talking with his other friend that I couldn't stand. As a matter of fact, his name was Stan. Dude named Stan who I couldn't stand..." Maze giggled. "He was asking Blu questions about this girl, Gia who had a fat crush on him. She took him out on a movie date, gave him head in the theatre. Stan asked if they did it and he said yeah and I swear I could've died right there on the spot, Mads. In my mind, I had no one else that I wanted to share that moment with- my first time- besides Blu. I physically couldn't picture anyone else, and it didn't matter to me that we were friends. It didn't matter to me that we hadn't even kissed before. Am I crazy for that? Is that weird?"
"God, no, absolutely not!" Madison assured. "Every girls wants to feel comfortable losing their virginity,"
"And protected," she added, "and... I don't know. Loved. I wanted it to be special... No doubt, it would've been that way with him. Instead, I let some rando hit it at a bar that I was too young to be in. I don't even remember his face, couldn't point him out if he was standing right in front of me. My mind wasn't on him."
"Damn..." Blu started to connect the dots in introspection, "that's why you were giving me the cold shoulder. And then trying to rub it in my face after."
"Duh! It felt like I was growing crazy so I had to balance the scales. Remind you and I both that I didn't need you. I'm not about to like someone more than they like me."
"You mean me and you?"
"Of course."
"That could never be true."
"You have no clue."
"What do you mean?"
She grabbed at her hair for some sort of leverage as if it could control the euphoric feeling that was making her heart speed up and everything brighter. It was hard to remind herself to stop talking when her skin cells had turned into spiraling staircases leading straight to paradise anytime she made contact with Blu's skin.
"I'm gonna explode."
Maze could hear Madison tell her not to hold back. "It's okay, I'll get more water. You'll feel all sorts of sensations and revelations." Her voice echoed. "Just let it all out."
"Do I even have a choice?" Another wave washed over her when she looked at Blu, the urge to dance had slipped into something more complex- the urge to dance on him, the urge to climb him like a pole, the urge to battle anyone who threatened her place in his life, the urge to give him the world. "This is...so...bad..."
Like a cat needing to be cuddled, she nuzzled up to Blu, straddling his lap as she often did, wondering if his shirt was big enough to fit them both. She tugged at it to estimate. "You don't understand," her hands found his, the warmth radiating from his palms enough to ground her. "I wanna live in your skin."
"Feels like you already do sometimes."
"Kiss me."
"Is it even okay to-?"
She pulled him by the front of his shirt, pressing their lips together with a force that almost made their teeth gnash. Rough and wild. Blu was loving it way more than he'd admit to anyone as he matched her urgency, holding her thighs down to halt the motion in her hips that was causing his boxers to stir.
"You want me too, right?" She asked, pupils fully dilated and voice filled with an odd uncertainty that wasn't the Maze he knew at all.
"I could never not want you." He assured, committing this picture of her to his memory. The parting of her mouth, desire radiating off of her like heat waves, purple and red lights all around. Everyone else had disappeared. He could paint her like this so she could last forever, plaster her on billboards for the world to see. Of course he wanted her back, he couldn't imagine a life where he didn't. "Is that even a question?"
"I just- I thought you found the one. That's so fucking corny to say, 'the one." Like, who says that? But I was scared, asking myself what if this Honey girl is the end all be all? What if I don't compare. I started thinking to myself that we might not be as close as we are now. We'll drift apart. Or maybe one day you'll wake up and think I'm not enough. It's like we're back in middle school, running the pacer test and I'm saying wait for me, please don't leave me. Again and again, I picture you leaving me so I always try and move on first. It never works."
He kissed her again, with more control, afraid that the action of her speaking would trigger an equal reaction in him and the next thing he knew he'd be revealing how he wanted to assassinate those men who tried to hurt her in the gas station or confess how he was sickly jealous of Shebazz, admit he thought of marrying her an unhealthy amount and finally tell her the reason why the guy from the coffee shop stood her up with no explanation that one time.
"You think my love for you is the same as yours, or you probably think it's less than. But I lose my mind when it comes to you. My heart triples in size when you're around. Our love is not the same." She said.
Tonight he'd let her believe that. She could have her little theory but there was just no possible way Maze liked him enough to discover where coffee shop guy lived through social media alone, stand in coffee shop guy's doorway, pull him by the ironed-button down shirt collar until his feet dangled, until he dropped the pink roses and demand he think twice about attending a date with him like Blu had done for her.
He wrapped her up in an embrace, hands resting on her lower back, lightly nipping at her warm, soft skin with his teeth.
"I really want you."
Maze whispered, the sensations in her body building up, causing her to cry out. He sucked kisses down her neck that turned into hickeys which made her moan so loud, she would've felt embarrassed if she were in her right mind. She did have enough sense to push Blu back by his shoulder in order to catch her breath. Her body felt like a doorbell that kept being rung.
"You okay?" He asked, his thumb tracing over where his lips were, eyes low, taking her in. Her heartbeat had sank so far down just watching him.
"No, no, I'm not okay. I feel so empty, you have to fill me up. Right now."
"We can't." Never mind that his loins were aching with her words.
"Why not? No one would even notice, I could sit on your lap and go." She let out a dreamy sigh, her womb pulsing with the thought. "God, I could just go and go and go..."
His slid his hands up her body, wrapped then firm around her neck as he imagined all the things that could mean.
"Your hands around my neck while I'm riding you...Tighter, please," Maze held his wrists, closing her eyes briefly to revel in his touch as it tightened around her throat, 'I would love that." She nodded mindlessly, the feeling between her legs unbearable. "I love that."
"Um." No one noticed Madison had returned from grabbing waters until just then. She cleared her throat, "Yeah. I'll just set these here."
He let go, Maze reeling forward with all the breath that rushed back into her.
"We've been tiptoeing around this for years. Let's just fuck now. I need it, I don't want to wait anymore."
Blu grit his teeth when she bounced in his lap, always hand in hand with self-control and impulse. Head spinning with how quickly they'd gone from love to sex. "Nah. Not when you're high like this. That's dubious consent."
"Blu, what?"
"He's actually right," Madison chimed.
"It's not about him being right, it's about the fact that I would literally be begging him to take me back to the room no matter what... pill or no pill...the difference is that I actually... like so, so deep in my insides need it. I want him to get lost inside of me and never pull out, just sleep in it forever." She bit her lip, staring at Blu with heavy eyes. "Mmm...I've waited so long. Literally any way you want it, swear."
He thought for a moment, "Any way I want it?"
"Any and every way you can imagine. You could bury my face down in the mattress and fuck the shit out of me until I cry and I'd be the happiest woman alive."
"...should I go?" Madison cleared her throat, "because I can totally leave if I'm third-wheeling."
"There's always a third wheel. At this point it feels weird without one-" Blu stated.
"-Wait, you're so right.." Maze thought aloud, a pensive expression on her face. "Brazil, Shebazz, Honey...And in that order-"
"Plus you being here gives me a reason not to give her what she wants. I'm a strong man but even Superman has his kryptonite."
"Madison being here won't stop me."
"It'll stop me."
"You sure about that?"
"Absolutely."
"What about 'I always get what I want' do you not understand?" She yanked his collar again, wrapping her arms around his neck if only to feel that sensation inside when their bodies were pressed together. "Can you imagine? We'd fit like a puzzle. Stick like glue."
"Did you drive?" Blu asked Madison, scooping Maze up in his arms, pulling her dress down in the back fluently like he was used to all of this.
"No, I Ubered."
"Good, you're coming with us."
And it was a good thing that she did, the sheer force of Maze trying to launch herself on Blu had the car swerving every which way, it was a miracle they arrived to the Airbnb without the cops on their tail.
Madison barely had time to marvel at how nice the beach house was without being on Maze duty but she did let out a long drawn out wow.
"I know, right. She set this up for my birthday." He was in the middle of restraining Maze's arms behind her back with the shirt he was wearing, since she tore it down the middle in the car.
"Aww, how sweet. And happy birthday! I'm sure you'll never forget this one."
"Yeah it's a night to remember, no doubt."
She could understand why the girl was crazy about him, his appearance was only one aspect. He was a good guy, tender with her and accepting, the love he had for her was tangible, and vice versa. It was like watching two people who were made for each other.
"You're gonna go now, right?" Maze asked, though her sights never left Blu. Her hands tied behind her back and she was still giving him bedroom eyes, making him sweat.
"She's not, actually."
"He's right, we might as well make it a sleepover." Madison laughed, noticing it was already 2am.
"Well, I'm not tired, and if I was, I'm pretty sure it'd be difficult for me to sleep like this," she attempted to wiggle her arms even a tiny bit- to no avail. "What're you gonna do next? Tranquilize me?"
"I don't even think that would stop you." Blu shook his head.
"You're probably right," she giggled. Madison could tell in Maze's expression that she was shifting into the next mood, eyes shiny with things unsaid.
"In all seriousness," Maze paused, a part of her too accustomed to suppressing. She bit the inside of her cheek and still her mouth moved. "I could never not love you. You taught me how it should look, your family welcomed me with open arms even when my own mother didn't. You were always there for me. You with your island accent, long hair, eyes that glow like stars. The flowers, the trips to your home. That goofy ass laugh you do when you're drunk- which, let's face it- is pretty much two sips in to any alcoholic beverage. I don't want to know life without you. I love you so so so much. Like if you were in another world, I'd find a way to you, I don't care." She sighed, the comforter full enough to swallow her while Blu stood statuesque, letting her words fill the air. He looked over his shoulder to Madison.
"Thank you for your help. I'll take it from here,"
By the time her driver arrived, Maze had fallen asleep, surely because the night's festivities had caught up with her. Or perhaps her confession took a lot out of her to admit.
Madison waved from the backseat while Blu watched to make sure she was picked up safely. He waved his goodbye back.
And sure, she might have been officially kicked out of their room, and probably their lives forever but that night or morning or whatever- felt like there was magic in it.