Lotus

"Babe, I just don't think it's gonna work tonight."

Nazli continued walking as she pulled out her phone. Amirah sighed, half in exhaustion and half in frustration. Every bar they'd tried was closed or empty. No concerts, no shows, not even a moon in the dim night sky, polluted by the light of the city. They'd been out for hours, and each time they'd returned to the rain soaked streets disappointed. This was supposed to be their night - together! So often they were too exhausted to partake in the finer things in life, and even after getting engaged they had so little time. One night of fun - and fate had denied them.

"Do you want me to call an Uber?" Nazli said, pausing.

"Not yet, babe. There's... something has to be open, right? It's ridiculous we haven't found anything." Amirah replied, glancing down the rows of blackened windows that sat along the street. "Just a block or two further, please?"

Amirah made those eyes, again. She knew Nazli couldn't resist them - so big and pouty, her glistening amber gems against an olive-brown face and cyan headscarf. It was getting later, and the moonlight clouds above them threatened further rain.

Nazli sighed, louder and longer this time.

"Just a block." she said, looking down at Amirah.

Amirah smiled wide and hugged her fiance before resuming her bouncy, upbeat stride. It was hard for Nazli to resist the energy the smaller woman gave off; moments later, she found herself keeping pace, her movements noticeably less enthusiastic.

Further through the empty streets they walked, suddenly aware of a dull, throbbing hum. It was coming from nowhere in particular, but both felt it had a distinct source somewhere nearby; as they continued it grew in both volume and regularity, until it resembled the beat of... music? Loud, electronic, and yet somehow hollow and haunting - but it was something, wasn't it?

"Hah! I told you, babe! I knew there had to be something open!" Amirah said excitedly, hurrying towards the curb and looking around for the source of the distant song. "Where do you even think it is? I feel like we'd've known about it if it was anywhere big..."

The two paused a moment, Nazli still holding her phone in one hand. Curious, she unlocked it and swiped over to her maps app, zooming in on the nearby area to see where - if anywhere - the music was coming from. Aside from the closed and vacant shops surrounding them, there was one marker that stuck out to her. It was unlabeled, aside from the name "CLUB" in capital letters. There was no phone number, address, or even a photo of it, but its location on the map indicated that it was just around the corner and down an alley from where Nazli and Amirah were now standing.

"...Babe, I'm... hesitant about that." Nazli said, turning the screen to show the smaller, bubbly girl. "This is, like, textbook sketch, right? It doesn't even come up with an address."

Amirah looked at the screen with suspicion, quickly fading as her lips curled upwards into a grin. Nazli glared at her, knowing exactly how they'd be spending the evening.

"It... should be fine! If there's music it must mean people there, right? And if people are showing up, how sketchy can it actually be, y'know?" Amirah said, turning towards the distant sound. Nazli turned with her, responding with her own cautious smile.

"...better to at least try rather than go home bored and exhausted, I suppose." the taller woman said, taking Amirah's hand and heading further down the street with her before turning a corner. She'd expected some night owls to be having fun, of course - not like this.

Whatever CLUB was, it justified the longest line they'd seen all evening. A dozen people were lined up in an alleyway, basking in the glow of a bright red neon sign. Below it were two dancers, placed on each side of an inconspicuous set of double doors. Their curvaceous bodies twisted, moved, undulated in ways neither Nazli nor Amirah could explain. It was beautiful in a way one would have to see to comprehend. The dancers stared at the couple as they approached from beside the alley, not once interrupting their odd movements. Moving. Twisting. Beautiful red light -

"...huh?"

Nazli looked around only to find herself - and Amirah - standing in line. The loud throb of the music was almost deafening now, even as they stood outside of the club itself. It was making her head spin! When... when did they get here? Had she just forgotten? Confused, Nazli nudged Amirah's shoulder.

"Babe, were we... always in line?"

Amirah blinked, seemingly dazed. Her voice sounded sleepy, content; they'd been tired moments before, but somehow, she seemed... well-rested?

"W... Hm. I... can't remember. Did you see those dancers, though? Maashallah, their bodies!"

Nazli looked forward above the crowd at the dancers by the door. While they danced, they were saying something to the first person in the line; a short, squat-looking man. The loud throb of the music drowned out their words, but she could tell they were arguing. Perhaps more accurately, the short man was yelling something at the two as they brushed off his insults, nearly ignoring him.

After a while, they said something to him that caused him to completely freeze. The contrast was jarring and immediate; one second he'd been animated, argumentative, his barely-audible shouting almost moving to the beat of the electronic music that was making it harder and harder to think. The next, he stood completely still. One of the dancers' lips moved, and the man turned sharply right and walked away.

The line moved forward. Amirah absentmindedly wiped away a bead of drool from the side of her mouth.

Every partier was given the same treatment. They'd all approach the dancers, words would be exchanged - and they would immediately turn and walk away, the joy and revelry gone from their suddenly-languid bodies. Whenever the couple moved forward in line, the music would grow louder and more and more of the dancers' voices could break through the cacophony.

"Babe, this is, um..." Nazli began, perking up to listen to the dancers.

"Super cool? I know, right? God, all these new clubs are going so hard on the aesthetic!"

Amirah's smile barely subsided as she listened along with Nazli. By now, the music was loud enough to physically shake their bodies; the constant beat was ethereal, dim, repetitive. There was the heavy, sensual electronic beat, but below it, something else - a deep, vibrating tone, that seemed to never change its pitch despite constantly falling in tone. It hurt their brains - the hurt of vodka, pink and red with lust and connection, being drunk straight from the bottle.

Closer now, the two could read the neon sign hanging above the door. It was plain, with simplistic, thin lettering in red.

LOTUS. Nothing more. The image of it stuck in their vision as they moved their eyes.

Red lipstick touching red lipstick was all Nazli could see for a moment before it occurred to her that they were next in line. She'd been so... focused, on the dancer's voice. Amirah nudged her, as if to tell her to focus. The partiers - they were being inspected. It was difficult to make out over the music, but they were examining each and every person in line with hawkish eyes hidden behind their thick, tinted sunglasses. Every inch was scrutinized, from their hair to their shoes - and all were rejected.

"You're not going to cut it, honey." the dancer to the left of the door, with bright pink lips, said.

"Get lost."

And with a wordless heel-turn, it was only Nazli and Amirah left to approach the dancers. Their bodies - everything about them - felt hot. The music was throbbing in their ears, their hearts, their minds, rocking every inch of their body. Admittedly, both were nervous; Nazli's body thrummed with anxiety at being rejected like the others, her heart practically about to burst from her chest.

Amirah stepped forward, giddy as she always was. The two dancers took it as an invitation, the one with red lipstick putting a foot forward to get a better look.

"B-Babe-!?" Nazli asked.

Amirah wasn't paying much attention to Nazli, right now. Whatever focus she had was being sucked up by the women before her, her mind drained of purpose outside of those soft, red lips. She barely noticed as the woman in pink did the same to Nazli, eyeing up the tall, slender woman, eyes running across every inch of her olive skin like a knife - and then digging so much deeper.

The dancers moved their bodies in the loveliest of ways. Each minute change made their generous breasts roll, jiggle, dance along with the music; mesmerized, the two women stepped towards them further, unaware at how closely they were being scrutinized - and not caring, either.

"You'll need work." the dancer in red said, doing something indescribable with her hands that sent shivers down Amirah's back.

"Oh, yes, so much work." said the pink one, sliding her back up against the wall and craning a high-heeled leg.

Nazli's head was vibrating on the inside, in tune with the dull hum of the music. Beside her, Amirah was panting. Her face was bright red, and as the tiniest beads of sweat began to drip down her forehead, she slid a nailed finger up into her headscarf, adjusting the fit. Why was it so tight? Why was all of her clothing so tight? The dancers - they were wearing barely more than black latex bikinis, marked with droplets of what looked like some kind of glowing pink and red glitter paint.

"But we like work." said the red one.

"Oh, yes, we do so love it." chimed the pink.

"Especially on girls as pretty as yourselves." they spoke in unison. Amirah couldn't take much more of this. Practically drooling, she couldn't help herself from approaching the red dancer, extending a cautious, needy hand towards her barely-concealed breast. She made no effort to pull away, to stop Amirah from exploring her body - Amirah's hand practically sank into her flesh, full and pillowy and dense, something she'd been envious of her entire life. The dancer didn't react, didn't even make an effort to pull away.

The one in pink slathered something across Amirah's arm. She jerked away, snapped out of her daze to find Nazli staring at her, a concerned look across her face. Bright pink, glittery liquid dripped from her skin. It was... pulsating. Tensing up with the beat of the music. It made her hot, too hot, much too hot; in a slight panic she began to wipe it away, slicking off some of it onto the floor and spattering Nazli with residual, glistering droplets.

When did the music get louder? How didn't they notice?

"We like you." the dancers said. Even though their eyes were concealed, both girls knew they were being stared at. "Welcome to LOTUS."

Interrupting their dances for a moment, the two dancers returned both feet to the ground and pushed open the twin doors. Neither Nazli nor Amirah were prepared for the gush of sound, light, and passion that struck them like a gale-force wind as soon as the doors cracked open. The music was already deafening, vibrating the very ground they stood on, but now it was an unfathomably-loud maelstrom of aggressive, sensual sounds. Red strobe lights blinked from inside, a thin trail of mist coating the floor - and yet, it was much too dark to even see beyond ten feet of the interior.

Neither wanted to move. Their bodies did it for them, and with almost synchronous movements, the two girls stepped inside. Barely audible, the dancers giggled under the noise.

"Have fun." the pink one said, before turning her attention to a new bunch of arrivals. The twin doors shut, trapping Nazli and Amirah inside a tight blanket of sound, darkness, and neon.

Oh, God, was it loud.

The dull binaural throbbing of the music was even more apparent now, mixing with the aggressive, industrial synth like bands of galactic stardust in an empty night sky. Immediately the girls' bodies began to heat up, especially contrasted with the rather chilly, wet evening they'd just left. Dozens upon dozens of voices echoed all around them, but with the light so low, it was impossible to determine a source for the myriad of whispers and laughs coming from the darkness.

And then the strobes clicked on.

In tune with the music, the entire club went alight with bright, red neon; it covered everyone, everything - and God, were there a lot of people in here! There were easily a hundred - perhaps much more - all dancing, chatting, drinking in the painful red light. They circled the bar, mingled on stages and dancefloors, and stared upward at the... the center stage.

Nothing moved - at least, not in the way as the women on the center stage did. There could be no comparison, no way of describing how their bodies danced, twisted, bent around the steel pole they were hanging on to. Everyone was mesmerized, cheering and hollering and laughing, gazing up at the works of art made animate twirl seductively around steel poles in black high heels. Their hair was long, seductive, moving like water as they swayed and bounced. They were wearing essentially nothing other than simplistic, black panties and electrical tape pasties over their nipples.

Nazli blinked. A man carrying a drink had bumped into her, spilling it all over her blouse; it glowed dimly in the low light, wresting her out of the trance she awoke rather startledly from. Her breathing was rapid, drowned out by the frenetic energy of the dancers all around her, bumping into her, rubbing against her, whispering and mumbling and saying things to her that she couldn't hear nor understand.

She turned to Amirah, finding her panting and staring straight up at the dancers, now twirling upside down on the poles. With a hand, she tried to rouse Amirah, finding her unwilling to move or even say anything. The dim light of the strobe revealed that she'd been drooling.

Two dancers, dressed similarly to the two women outside, passed between Amirah and the center stage. Her vision interrupted, she shook her head, pulling herself out of her trance and looking over at Nazli.

"H-Hey, babe?" she said, her voice wavering and uncertain.

"You... doing okay?" Nazli asked, turning to bring Amirah's gaze away from the pole dancers. The liquid coating her blouse was making her feel strange. The pulsating heat and noise from the crowd wasn't helping. For a moment, the thought of leaving crossed her mind - before being pulverized into nothing by the pulsating beat of the music and the heavy, reverberating tone beneath it. That wasn't allowed. Not yet. She hadn't yet had -

"A drink?" Amirah replied, gazing up with red-tinged eyes at her fiance. Yeah, that sounded good. Nazli nodded, trying to figure out where exactly the closest bar was. It was pushed back behind a roaring sea of partiers, decked out in glowing bangles, risque clothing, (if you could even call it "clothing"), and smears and droplets of the same liquid that the dancers outside had smeared across Amirah's arm. "I... I'm really thirsty."

"Yeah, yeah, that - yeah. Sounds good." Nazli said, gazing off into the red, artificial fog. "I think the bar's that way."

One of the partiers dancing beside her overheard what Nazli and Amirah were talking about. The short, curvaceous woman turned her head, smiling wide. Her eyes were lit brightly by the red strobes, bouncing off the droplets of reflective, glittery liquid that covered her revealing outfit.

"You guys are going to get a drink?" she asked, moving closer to the two women. "Get the red one, before it starts."

Amirah paused her slowly-rolling hips - when did she start doing that? - to get a better look at the woman. "The... red one? Before what starts?" she asked, perplexed.

Without responding, the dancing woman smiled and turned away from them, back into the dimly-lit crowd. An unseen hand brushed against Amirah's neck - when she spun around to find its source, it had vanished, leaving behind only the dim wetness of the liquid glitter that coated her arm. It was moving in tune with the music, now, her body growing hotter and hotter merely by its presence. She turned back to Nazli, who hadn't noticed. Should... should she mention it? Mmmh, she thought, why bother? Whatever it was, it was making her feel so good! She... she didn't want to be a bother. Not on their nice night out - together!

"That was... weird." Nazli said, struggling to speak over the music. Was it getting louder? It was so hard to tell - perhaps it was only in her head. It felt so good...

Amirah slowly began moving her hips again. She tugged at Nazli's arm, the music animating her and practically forcing her to dance. How could she resist? It was a feeling like no other, whatever it was, exactly. She'd feel even better after a drink! Did she think that? Probably! Smiling, she coaxed Nazli closer to her gyrating body.

"Let's hurry up and get drinks! I'm getting booooored." she said, her voice cloy and teasing, barely audible under the music. Amirah licked her glossy lips and pulled Nazli closer to the dancing crowd. For a moment, the taller woman hesitated.

"Are you feeling, like... giddier than usual, babe?" she asked. "God, my head..."

"Not really! I'm... I'm just, like, super excited!" Amirah replied, almost dragging Nazli behind her. The dancing myriads bumped and rubbed and shifted against them; coupled with how scantily-dressed most of the attendees were, it did little to help the growing heat in Nazli's chest. So many beautiful women, their bodies full and gorgeous, latex and leather shining with brilliant red light. All were moving so delicately and ferociously at the same time, shifting and moving in tune with the beat of the music. It was nowhere near the complexity of the two women outside, of course, but it was clear that they, too, were emulating it.

One of the dancers, a woman dressed in little more than a latex gimp hood and pasties, spilled her drink all over Nazli's shoulder. Damnit - she'd have to... to get it... dry cleaned. Why did that take so long to think? It's too hot in here, too crowded - she needed a drink. Amirah looked back at her as they shoved past the other attendees, a wide smile on her face. Her eyes were glittering red in the low light.

"Are you gonna get the red one, babe? It sounds, like... yummy!" she said, taking a moment to glare at another woman wearing a form-fitting turtleneck - and, evidently, no bra beneath it. The two of them stopped as Nazli looked over at her.

"Wow, like, nice tits!"

Nazli and the woman made eye contact; for an instant, she could've sworn she was mouthing something at her.

"It's starting soon."

Before she had the chance to say anything herself, Amirah dragged her away, back into the frenzied sea of stifling heat and skin.

The further they went, the more they brushed against bare skin. It was entirely too hot; Amirah was burning up! Her skin tingled wherever the glittery, wet liquid coated. Sensations were blending into others, her mind threatening to give under the pressure of so many competing feelings. Each demanded her utmost devotion and attention! Her skin was on fire! Breaking with Nazli for a moment, she ripped away her dress shirt, slinging it over her shoulder. Under it she barely had more than a sheer v-neck, something she'd been hoping would tempt Nazli during dinner - now it was basically transparent with heat and sweat.

Someone beside her whistled. Nazli blushed, though partly from the heat and arousal of her surroundings. "I, like, can't even believe you actually wore that! Y-You really want to... take your shit off here?"

"It'll be fun." Amirah replied, licking her chapped-feeling lips again. Were they always that dry? She wanted to keep licking them. Her tongue felt different as it slid across them - or maybe that was her lips themselves? The mental haze of the club was choking every thought and every feeling - but licking her lips and swaying her hips made it easier to think. She'd keep doing that. God, she wanted a drink.