Inspired by "Lover I Don't Have To Love" by Bright Eyes
He arrived at 5th & Wash ten minutes after one. He was already intoxicated. His glassy eyes revealed a cloudy mind. Inside the club trendy retro music slammed into his ear drums but they were numb from all the nights like this before.
He stared into the streams of smeared light against the dark until a girl with shinny red lips interrupted his vision. He smiled shyly. She strutted towards him, staring at him seductively with her big brown eye.
He felt his already red face flush more. “I like your shoes,” slipped out.
She looked down her green skirt floated to her calves to reveal bare legs and red high heels. She looked up at him, peeking through black and blonde bangs that flirted with her eye lashes, “Thanks. Can I follow you?”
He looked over his shoulder putting his hands nervously in his blazer pockets, “Sure.”
She followed him to the crowded bar where he ordered them both whiskey sours. He grabbed her hand and they found a seat in a big brown vinyl booth that wrapped them up and secluded them from the waving crowd of over made-up boys and girls.
“What’s your name?” He pried.
She stirred and sipped her drink. “Do you know what time it is?” she asked.
Closing time came at two. She invited him up the street to her main street loft apartment.
They walked hand in hand along the dirty wet street. The sweet smell of early spring filled their noses. She pulled him aside to the corner of an alley. She grabbed his shirt and pushed him up against the faded bricks of a shop. She kissed him hard, forcing her tongue into his mouth. With no control she pushed herself up against him, and he grabbed her around the waist and held her tighter to him than strangers should be.
Their minds spun with the influence of alcohol and drugs. They didn’t talk. She didn’t want him to know her. And he could remember who he was. They were in a surreal state. Everything was a dream.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a container of white pills. She offered him one. He accepted and swallowed. She took one for herself. It skidded down her dry throat. She didn’t notice the discomfort. She looked at him sad but he couldn’t see her face.
The world faded in and out. The street lights strained to stay on, flickering on and off. Halos of light blinded them, and then slowly dimmed to the size of fireflies.
He sat on the damp curb and leaned against a parking meter. He looked around, in a foreign state, he couldn’t remember anything familiar. She gripped the parking meter next to him and swung down the pole until she was straddling it pulling up her skirt revealing a sliver of cotton underwear. She kicked off her shoes.
“So where’d you park?” She inquired.
He looked at her, his eyes half open with no emotion. “No idea. I’ll find out in the morning.”
Fog hung heavy in the air as they pulled themselves to their feet and stumbled up the deserted street.
They made it up a narrow yellow staircase to her dingy apartment with a huge gaudy couch covered with an orange and olive green afghan. She laid herself on the sunken cushions and pulled her skirt to her thighs.
His arms felt separate from his body as they pulled off his blazer and t-shirt. He leaned over and kissed her forehead then kissed her more passionately than pure love would ever allow.
Their bare skin melted together.
A digital sound rang on the wooden coffee table. The faint light of dawn crept in the sheer windows.
He untwined his fingers from her long hair and answered his phone and then hung up. He peeled himself from her.
He pecked her cheek and dressed.
She pretended to care. She gave him the wrong number.
He returned to his life throbbing as he came into reality.
She turned over and wrapped her naked shoulders in that ugly afghan. Another promise broken. | 
