Originally written in 2015 for a contest by Romance

The prompt: Write about a love formed in the dark. Literal or figurative.

Quick note: Again, not my best work this one.
The edited and re-written version of this story will be the prologue/first chapter of my upcoming project, a paranormal mystery romance, so stay tuned for that!

See you again

The club was dark, pretty much pitch black. Except for the rapid flashing of the stroboscopes.

It was as if I was seeing everything in freeze frames. One second everything was black, the next moment the dance floor was bathed in a kaleidoscope of colours. Pink, blue and green.
On the dance floor bodies were sweating and grinding against each other to the heavy beats.
It was giving me a headache.

I squinted my eyes in the dim lighting, reaching my hand out for my drink on the marbled counter before me. The thick glass was cool and heavy in my fingers, but I only felt the ice cubes jingle inside of it.
My drink was already gone. Again.

I sighed and looked up to find the bartender, a blond woman in her mid-twenties. I pointed at my glass and she smiled at me, leaning forward to refill it, giving me a nice view of her cleavage in the process.

I smiled back faintly and nodded in thanks, unsure if she was trying to hook up with me or just hoping to get a nice tip.

Usually, I wouldn't care, I would leave with her, got to her place and have a good time. She was hot enough, I didn't care that she was probably a few years older than me.
But not today, I was not in the mood for flirting tonight.

To be honest, I didn't really want to talk to anyone tonight. I wasn't the type of guy to talk about feelings and such stuff anyway. I just wanted to have a drink, or a couple of drinks and try and forget why I was still stuck here.

I shouldn't even be here today, I should have left early this morning, mounting the plane to Australia to stay at my aunt's place during the holidays.
I should be surfing on Bondi beach, laying in the sun and picking up beach babes.
Instead, I was freezing my ass off in Chicago.

I didn't even want to recall who was responsible for this, didn't want to remember the talk I had with my mother just yesterday.
Ever since she got together with Gregory, my life was a mess. Well, it was never a bowl of cherries to begin with anyway. But then again, this guy was just... a nuisance.
He didn't approve of my lifestyle, the partying, the girls, or anything I did. As if my mother was a nun... she must've forgotten to tell him of her three ex-husbands.

I sighed quietly and took a gulp of the whiskey, feeling the booze burn in my throat and warm my insides. Turning around in my seat, I let my eyes wander over the dance floor, over the mass of bodies, writhing and wriggling to the sounds of heavy guitars, bass and drums.

"What's wrong, honey?" The bartender purred and I looked up from my empty glass to find her leaned low over the counter, exposing her enormous boobs to me. "Tough night?" She asked smiling and refilling my drink once again. I nodded and took another sip, avoiding her stare. "Well, I could help you out, you know?" She winked at me, a small flirtatious smile tugging at her pink lips.

She was definitely on the hunt for something more than just a generous tip.
I smiled again, unfazed by her attention and turned to watch the club again.

My eyes wandered over to the VIP lounge which was a little quieter and more lightened than the rest of the club. It was where all my friends were seated, in a private corner, secluded from the rest of the party goers. It was where I would be sitting too usually, laughing the loudest and being surrounded by the cutest girls.
But as I said, not today.

As if he had sensed my stare, Ryan suddenly looked up and met my gaze with his. I nodded in his direction and raised my glass.
He smiled widely, exposing a row of bleached white teeth that seemed to glow in the sparse light above us.
He looked at me puzzled as if to say 'What's up, bro? What are you doing over there all alone?'
I just shrugged and took another sip of my drink. Just then two girls in short dresses, obviously tipsy and giggling like mad, sat down next to Ryan and he forgot all about me the instant he saw just a glimpse of their exposed skin.

I rolled my eyes, imagining their drunk and silly talking and finished my drink. It really was a bad idea to come here tonight, I was not in the mood to deal with drunk girls, horny bartenders and loud music. Just as I was contemplating to stand up and go, my gaze suddenly fell onto a petite girl on the dancefloor, dancing all by herself in between the pile of bodies.

She was wearing a lace top and tight black jeans that clung to her slim legs.
Her raven black hair was all over the place but she didn't seem to mind. Eyes closed, she was engrossed in her dance, lost in the music.
There was something about her, that just called out to me, that caught my attention and wouldn't let me take my eyes off her.
Her dark hair fell over her eyes, obscuring her face and making it impossible for me to say if she was pretty or not. But she was definitely a sight to behold with the way her hips moved against the beat of the music.

Strangely enough, I felt like I knew this girl, like I had seen her before. There was such an odd familiarity in her movements, as if I knew which turn she would make next. And I began to wonder, how I knew her, where I had seen her before. I doubted that she came here often, I would have definitely noticed that cute little butt of hers way earlier if she were a regular.

Maybe she happened to be a model, one from the magazines, out partying and having some fun. No. I shook my head, there was something more, something deeper than just the sight of her body that I remembered. As cheesy as it sounds, it was almost as if my soul recalled her; her presence, her scent and her touch.

Suddenly I found myself standing at the edge of the dancefloor, where the music was rumbling against my eardrums and the stroboscopes were piercing my eyes. Without even noticing, I had walked over to the dancing girl. I was in some kind of trance, I couldn't even remember if I had paid my drinks... or maybe I was just drunk.

I stared at her again and as she raised her arms towards the ceiling, I saw her top riding up a few inches, exposing a stretch of smooth pale skin on her stomach, along with something like a tattoo on her hip. It was still way too dark to see her properly, so I began to wade through the writhing crowd slowly, making my way to the mysterious raven-haired girl.

The chords of the guitars were rattling in my ears and the bass' vibration was thumping against my diaphragm, making my heart rate pick up as my body slowly began to move to the music, becoming a part of the heap of people, sweating and moving in unison. The singer's voice broke through the row in slow but powerful lyrics, echoing through the hall, just to be drowned out by the instruments the next second.

I glanced around in the dark, seeing only pink, blue, green and then black.

I stumbled a little further as the crowd thinned a little, as if to make room for me and there she was, right in front of me. Strands of her hair were sticking to her forehead, but I could tell that she was definitely beautiful with her high cheekbones and long lashes.

She opened her eyes lazily and looked at me, as if she had sensed me staring. Like a magnet, her eyes immediately caught mine. I couldn't make out their colour, but she threw a lopsided smile in my direction and crooked her finger at me, beckoning me closer.

I didn't hesitate, I slid up next to her and was instantly surrounded by her scent as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

The stroboscopes flashed pink, blue and green again, before casting everything in shadows. When I could see her again, she looked up at my face and smiled. Her eyes were a vibrant shade of green, sparkling like emeralds and her pupils were small like pinpoints.

"I'm Cat." She shouted over the music as she let go of my neck and ran her hands down my arms, she turned around, wrapping me up in a whiff of her perfume.

For a moment I felt lost, I stared off into the distance unseeingly, ignoring all the dancing people around us and travelling to a faraway place.

I was walking on a dusty road, the way ahead was foggy. As the mist lifted slowly, I saw a girl, red hair was cascading down her back.

'Katerina.' I called out and she stirred, turning around. Just as I was about to catch a glimpse of her face, I was pulled back into reality.

Only the fragrance of roses and lavender remained.

I blinked, once, twice.

"What's your name?" Cat asked over her shoulder as I hesitantly slid my hands down her body and splayed them out around her waist.

"Leo," I shouted back and she let out a little laugh that made me frown. "What's so funny about my name?"

"Nothing!" She assured me, still grinning. "It's just... you're a lion... and I'm a cat. It's like we were made for each other." And then she started to move her hips again in a slow rhythm. To say the least, it was making me quite hot how her ass was just inches away from my crotch and I was finally beginning to enjoy the evening.

All of a sudden an arm shot out from nowhere and Cat was pulled away from me. My eyes fell onto a girl in a short denim jacket with a blond bob and pink highlights.

"What do you think you're doing here?" She shrieked and pulled Cat further away from me.

They disappeared into the throng of people, I only caught a short glimpse of them as they appeared to be having an argument.

A moment later, Cat was by my side again.
"Let's get out of here." She screamed into my ear and began to push forward, weaving through the dancers and heading for the entrance.

As the cool air hit my face, the thumping and rumbling of the music became muffled and I could breathe again. "Come on." A small hand closed around mine and Cat began to drag me away from the club and onto the dim street. A streetlight in the distance was casting a golden-orange glow over the alley.

Our steps were echoing through the empty street as we walked towards the streetlamp.

I was the first to break the silence.
"So... where you wanna go?" I said, turning my head to the side to get a better look at my companion.

I couldn't tell if she had even heard me, she seemed to be deep in thought, but suddenly she stopped and came to a halt in the middle of the street.
"I don't want to go home and see Jason." She said. "I want to hang out with you a little longer, you're cool."
I smiled a little, but I remembered her tiny pupils, this girl was high on God knows what. Even in my drunken state of mind, I knew that I should probably get her home. I started walking again.

"Who's Jason?" I asked, hoping to find out where this guy lived and that it was near enough to reach it walking.
When I got no answer, I looked at Cat again. She seemed to have drifted off again, staring into the distance.

I stopped and moved right before her, putting my hands on her shoulders.

"Cat." I coaxed softly. Her lips were moving and it seemed she was mumbling something incoherent. I bent down to her level, so I could look into her eyes and then I noticed, that she was singing quietly to herself, her voice barely above a whisper.

I didn't recognize the song, but for the second time this evening, a strange sense of deja vu was coming over me and I felt goosebumps erupt on my arms and the hairs on my neck stand up. I felt like falling, feeling this strange sensation in my belly and my view was coated in fog again.

'Leonardo.' The red-haired girl said as she turned around and faced me. Her eyes were green like emeralds and lined with thick long lashes and her face lit up as she smiled at me. She had the same features like Cat.

I blinked and was back in the street in front of the club, still clutching Cat's shoulders.

"Cat," I said again, a little louder this time and she seemed to snap out of her stupor. She blinked a couple of times before her eyes focussed in on mine. She mumbled an address and lucky enough, it wasn't to far from the club.

I carried her up the stairs to her apartment and lay her down on the bed. As I bent down to take off her heels, she was already asleep. Her black hair was sprawled out all over the pillow and around her head. Without any further thought, I leaned down over her sleeping form and pressed a light tender kiss onto her lips.

I laid her shoes down next to the nightstand and looked down at her, she was smiling. I looked at her face and remembered the smile the red-haired girl in my strange vision had given me. It was the same lopsided smile she had given me back in the club on the dancefloor.

I found a slip of paper and a pen and wrote down my number and my name before turning to the door.

I still didn't know how in the world I knew this girl, but I knew one thing: I was going to see her again. 

[Word count: 2408]