He shifted anxiously in line. Every order in front of him was more time he would be late. Eventually he got up to the front and put in his order. As soon as he got his hands on the drink he nearly bolted out the door.
Then he saw her.
It was like a train hit him as he watched her walk out of the shop. The same girl who was lying in his bed right now. The same girl he had brought back last night and left there when he was late for his new gig. The same blonde hair, the same body he’d held less than an hour ago, and was that the birthmark he had seen on her neck?
Of course it had only taken him three days in the new city to sleep with someone. He was slim, and smooth-talking. He could slip in between someone’s legs easily. Except now he thought he was watching her walk out of this cafe when he knew she was down the block in his bed.
A twin? Or just some other blonde girl. His mind rushed. Who cares, he was never gonna see her again. He went to work and hoped she wouldn’t steal anything when she left.
But when he got back to his apartment at the end of the day she was still there, sitting on the couch, exactly as he’d left her.
“Have you been here all day?”
“Is that a problem?” It wasn’t. He enjoyed her company for the second night in a row. She was exactly his type, almost eerily so. He welcomed her into his bed again, of course he did. He’d never turn down the chance for sex, even if she had made him late that morning. She felt too good to be true.
He had remembered to set his alarm that night. The next morning he woke up on time and was getting her out of that bed. Two nights was plenty, and if they were meant to meet again he figured they would. She resisted every tactic he had to get her to leave, insisting she couldn’t wear the same outfit she’d worn two nights ago. Eventually he pulled her out of bed and they left his apartment together.
“This is the most embarrassing walk of shame ever.” They were riding the subway, her in his Penn State hoodie which was so big it looked like she wasn’t wearing any pants. The train stopped and he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“This is my stop.”
The train doors closed between them and she was finally whisked away. He sighed, he would never get that hoodie back.
He had to get to work and so he spun around and made his way up through the terminal. He makes his way through the crowd of people, each one walking a different way going to a different place. But in the middle of it…
She was there.
She was walking through the crowd, dressed in a flowy blue top and a tight black dress underneath. It was the same blonde hair, and he could recognize her silhouetted form anywhere now. He stopped dead in his path when he saw, like every joint in his body was locked up.
She was making her way through the station, and he made a split-second decision. He was frantically pushing his way through people, cutting through the traffic. His hand gripped her shoulder, it was exactly the same one as the night before. He pulled her around and studied. All her features were the same. The words were drawn right out of his mouth.
“What the fu- Oh my god.” She gave him that same look, and those sea blue eyes lit the fire in him he’d felt for the past two nights.
“But we-” he stuttered over his words. The subway air filled his lungs with a deep inhale as he collected himself, and he dove into those ocean eyes. “You’re all I’ve been thinking about.”
The switch up perturbed her. “You didn’t have to do the whole mysterious bit to get me back to your bed.” She bit her lip, he didn’t know what to do.
“You’re gonna come back tonight?”
“I still remember my way there.”
She kissed him quickly and suddenly strutted away. It felt like he was coming down from a high. She was a face in the crowd again. He was so confused by the whole situation that he wasn’t sure if it was a hallucination, or if he would ever see her again.
Yet that night, there was a knock. She was there in a short leopard print dress, ready to attack. And she did.
There was a heat between them, something he had never felt before. It covered him in sweat and he bathed in the red light he turned on. They went on for hours, it was ecstasy he’d never tasted before. She kept going even when he was done, until she was singing in his ear.
He embraced her, brought her close, and rode the high. She collapsed next to him, and he passed out almost immediately… He woke up the next morning to the same feeling, her hands were all over him.
“What are you doing?” The words fell out of his mouth, he was barely awake.
“Do you want me to?” she looked up wide-eyed at him. He pulled her on top again and they went back at it.
When they finished, she laid on top of him and whispered in his ear. “Tonight. At 9. Meet me at that bar down the block.” She slipped off him and began to grab her clothes.
“What?”
She put her dress back on and grabbed her heels. “You heard me.” She twirled around to him and blew a kiss. Before it reached him she was out the door. He thought about what she said, and abruptly jumped up to write it down.
She haunted him that day. He thought something must have happened that night because he saw her everywhere. On the street, at the train station again, at Cava during the lunch rush. She was dressed differently each time and he had fully accepted that he was imagining it all. Each time she walked through his peripheral he slipped further into this insanity.
For some reason he felt like he needed to go to that bar. That night he changed into the silk black button down that always worked, and put on his pants that were just tight enough in all the places she liked. It was a whisper that called him down there.
Immediately he saw her, it must have been the sixth time that day, sitting at the bar. He sat down and the drinks poured themselves. She looked at him like a shark in a tank full of fish. He liked it. Between the flirting, something caught his eye.
It was her.
She was sitting down the bar, ordering a drink, and yet she was right in front of him. She noticed him looking past her and questioned, “What is it?”.
He stumbled out of his seat and down to her. “Oh my god what are you doing here?” She was surprised to see him.
“What the fuck are you?” She was caught off guard, down the bar the girl was still looking at them both.
“What?”
“You’re here… but you’re right there.” He gestured down to the exact same blonde girl watching them.
“Oh baby, you’re so drunk. Here, maybe this will help.” She grabbed his face and pulled him in. They made out for a minute while her drinks were brought to her. Eventually they pulled away and he almost fell over. Colors are swirling and all he can see is her face. Both of them.
“Baby,” she put her hand on his chest, slowly moving it down.
“Do you want to go to the bathroom baby?” He nodded drunkenly, and she grabbed his hand and led him through the dancefloor. On the way there, he passed another one of her and she winked at him as he was dragged past.
The two of them flew into the bathroom and quickly into a stall. The door was barely locked before both of their pants were off. The walls of the shall were shaking and the girl was almost louder than the music. Between motions, he asked her.
“What are you?” After a moment she leaned in again and whispered to him.
“I’m everywhere.” She leaned back and in a minute they were out of the bathroom stall and moving through the dance floor.
He lost her in the crowd, his hand left floating in space. Before he knew it, there was the girl. She was grinding on him, giggling as another one came up behind him. He spent a moment in the bliss, it didn’t feel real. That was until a hand with the same dark blue nails as the previous girl grabbed his and pulled him from the floor.
He followed the blonde girl he was talking to at first back to the bar. She called over a bartender, and another one of her walked over.
“What…” he barely managed to mutter before she asked for something from the bartender.
“Take him to the room,” she said. He was led behind the bar, and through a series of doors, each of which he forgot.
He got sat on a red suede couch, and felt the blood-soaked cloth beneath his hands. He was ragged, shirt barely buttoned up, and his hair had clearly been played with. The bartender walked out of the room and left him alone. It was mostly empty and there was a singular light hanging above the couch.
After a moment, the door opened, and two of the girls walked in, two he hadn’t seen before. They were both dressed crudely, and slowly walked toward him at the same time.
“What the fuck?” He barely managed to get out. It felt like there was a weighted blanket the size of the world on top of him. They continued to approach him, stalking towards him like a wild animal.
“What are you?” Still nothing as they walked.
“Who the hell are you? The both of you? Are you the same?”
Their heels stamped the olive green carpet as they got closer, quiet. He succumbed to the girls, and the questions fizzled out as they reached him. Both kneeled down and began kissing his neck. One grabbed the buttons on his shirt as the other moved up to his mouth. His head leaned back, and he settled in.