Bowie and The Witch

My phone buzzes as I walk up the steps of my friends' apartment building. It's an aesthetic checkered staircase with velvet green walls and the lights leading me to her door are bright but not too bright. Before I knock, I pull out my phone.

"hurry!! i have a surprise for u ;)"

Great. I wonder what that could possibly mean.

I hear music and laughter on the other side. I knock three times and there she is, signature smile and champagne in her right hand.

"You get my text?" she says, almost like she's out of breath.

"Sure did not," I laugh. We hug and then she grabs my wrist, leading me through the apartment. There's about ten other people in here. Everyone's dressed in costumes and drinking bubbles and cheap beer, dancing and laughing and partying.

"Everyone! This is my friend I was telling you about."

I throw the group a small wave and everyone greets me with smiles and dramatic oohs and ahhs.

"So what are you?"

To my left, a tall man wearing a white button-up with a black vest is standing patiently waiting for my response. His hair was blonde and slicked back and he had a cigarette tucked away behind his ear. Marlboro 27.

"Oh! Um, I'm the Love Witch," I said, "You can call me Elaine." I began straightening out my dress and clacking my heels in an attempt to stand up straighter. Why did I always feel so awkward around new people?

"That's pretty cool. I dig your eye makeup there," he said, pointing his finger to my eyelid. It was a pretty shade of an electric blue with a simple wing.

"Oh, wow thank you. It definitely took much longer to finish than I thought it would," I said and then giggled. "And so what are you?" I asked him.

"The Thin White Duke! C'mon, don't tell me you couldn't tell!" He said it sarcastically and then threw me a wink. And then I knew exactly why I received that text when I got here. I think this was my surprise.

I smile and look around me. Everyone's gotten back to their conversations and I was meant to converse with the Bowie. He wasn't bad looking. Not bad looking at all. In fact, he was maybe the most attractive guy I've seen since moving to New York City two years ago. I was okay with this.

"So, tell me, where can I find one of those champagne flutes?" I asked him, trying to seem more relaxed than I was. All I needed was a little alcohol to calm the nerves.

"You stay right there," he said. "The pleasure is all mine, Elaine."

And then he disappeared into the kitchen. I plopped down on the soft yellow sofa and kicked off my heels. To my left on the side table sat an old brown film camera. I picked it up, looked through the viewfinder, and snapped a photo. Everyone looked over to me and started dancing their way over.

"Oh my god, we HAVE to get photos," insisted the girl dressed as the Little Red Riding Hood. I smiled up at her and handed the camera over to her.

"It's all you," I said.

Bowie made his way back and plopped down beside me, handing me the flute.

"What'd I miss?" he asked me. And suddenly the room felt so small and so crowded all at once. I put my thumb and pointer finger together and reached behind his ear, snatching the cigarette I noticed earlier. I placed it between my lips and he had already struck the match. I leaned in and let the smoke roll through the room.

"You wanna go sit on the fire escape?" I asked. "I mean, we can smoke in here. I think a little air might do me some good, though."

He jumped up and reached for my hand. I took it. And then we were walking through the living room, holding each other and making our way to the window. I caught the eyes of my friend. Steph's her name. This was basically her own live reality television. She was eating it up, no crumbs left. I laughed as she watched us and then began to climb out of the window, sitting on one of the cold, metal steps. My Bowie followed and sat in front of me, reaching for his pack of smokes.

"So what is your real name?" I asked him, taking a long drag.

"David," he replied.

"No, like your actual name."

"It's David. I'm just your average David." He laughed and flicked ash.

I smiled. "I'm Rose. Elaine's the character."

He nodded and took another puff. I reached for my drink and realized we left them inside. I sighed and looked out to the street below us, a dressed-up couple holding hands and singing a song I don't recognize. She's dressed up like an angel, him a vampire. I look at David.

"How do you know Steph?" I ask.

"She and I met on the Subway, just yesterday morning actually! She asked me if I had any plans for today and I said no. And then she proceeded to ask if I was single, if I wanted to meet someone.."

I got nervous. I didn't even think about that being a possibility. Is he about to tell me all about his amazing, beautiful girlfriend?

"Annnnd I said no to the first question, and then I may have said yes to the second one. And now I am here." He smiled at me, then put his cigarette out. I smiled and felt relief, looking inside the apartment. Friends were passing around the film camera, others were dancing to the music.

"I'm glad I showed up tonight," I said. "I didn't have any plans for the night myself. But Steph's always there to give me something to do. I love her for that."

He stood up and started to climb back into the window. I flicked my cigarette down into the street and watched as it faded out. David reached for my hand and I took it, stumbling back in through the window.

"Rose, get your ass over here!"

Steph was happy and she was drunk. She was never one to shy away from a good time, or hide her confidence. She didn't need to. Confident people don't think about hiding their personalities. Sometimes I wish I could be that way all the time. I gave her my hand and we started dancing around, laughing and stumbling and serenading one another to the sound of the Michael Jackson record that was spinning. And everyone else was doing the same thing.

A few hours passed and one by one, friends began leaving the party to go home for the night. David and I were sitting on the yellow sofa, playing some sort of card game David attempted teaching me how to play for at least the last thirty minutes. Steph waved at us from her bedroom door and told us to let ourselves out tonight if we weren't sleeping on the couches, and then she was off to bed. And David and I were the only two left standing.

"You live far from here?" he asked me.

"I'm a train ride away," I replied. "You?"

"Little far," he giggled. "I might take Steph up on that offer. This couch is pretty comfortable right about now."

He laid down and handed me the deck of cards. I set them on the coffee table and stood up, stretching my arms out and yawning. I looked at David and he was smiling, eyes closed and hands intertwined on his chest. He looked peaceful, soft, sleepy.

I unzipped the back of my dress and draped it over the back of the couch. David opened an eye to peek, and hopefully I wasn't too disappointing in my black lingerie. I giggled at him and threw on a mustard yellow blazer Steph had hanging on the coat rack. I walked on my tiptoes back over to David, kneeling down and giving him a small kiss on the cheek.

"What did I do to deserve that?" he asked, still smiling.

"You found me tonight." I grabbed his wrist gently and crawled under his arm, wrapping it around me and pulling myself close into his embrace of warmth and comfort. I didn't plan on meeting David tonight, much rather lay with him after hours of knowing each other. But something about this whole night, it just felt right.

In fact, it was perfect.