We slide into the booths, and Kate leans over and gives me a hug. Then, she does the same to Mack. His eyes go wide.
I haven’t told Mack that Kate knows. Kate won’t tell a soul. But it doesn’t surprise me at all the way she accepts him.
“Oh em gee, I’m so incredibly glad you guys made it to the party! It wouldn’t be the same without you. Anyway, so let’s get the introductions out of the way, Jules, Mack . . .” She gestures toward the four men sitting down the curved row of the booth. “This is Ere, Dante, Gabriel . . . and . . . well, the man at the very end. He goes by Shadow. You can just call him that.”
“Wow, guess I’m not the only weirdo here,” Mack whispers in my ears, and I let out a giggle because . . .
These men . . . are different.
Ere looks like a regular man though. With dark hair and a sexy gleam in his eye, he’s dressed as a classic Prince Eric. Not the high concept we’re going for with Mack. Dante . . . well, something’s a little suspicious about him, but I can tell he’s supposed to be King Triton. He’s shirtless, wearing a crown and what appears to be a large fake Santa Claus–like beard. There’s something off about the crown, but I can’t quite figure it out. Still, he’s a hulking chunk of man. Next is Gabriel. He’s dressed like the seagull. Wings and everything on his back, which look particularly real.
“Wow, those wings are really . . . immaculate, Gabriel,” I say.
His face lights up immediately. He has a happy, innocent glow about him. “Thank you so much, Jules,” he says in the most earnest voice I’ve ever heard. “I grew them myself.”
“Okay then. Great work.”
Next to Gabriel is one more of Kate’s boyfriends. He’s definitely dressed to the theme, but there’s no telling what he looks like. He’s wearing an eel mask, but his eyes glow an eerie light blue through the eyeholes. On his body is a green suit.
He doesn’t look particularly prone to talking, so I turn to Mack instead.
But Mack’s already looking at me. And we’re making the same face at each other. Like, Who the hell is that guy?
I let out a laugh. “Wow.”
But also, something strikes me when I see Mack’s face. His eyes, they’re different than they were. Now he looks . . . happy.
Really happy.
And in the depths of a place I never usually feel, happiness surges through me as well.
The lights change in the building; they lower and then burst, and disco balls glitter the room with flashing colors.
“Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome your favorite mermaids to the stage . . .”
The music blasts as the drag queens strut onto the stage, each in their own version of Ariel. The pink dress. The yellow dress. The ship-wrecked scrap of white with a sash made of rope.
The energy in the room is palpable. The excitement is so thick with joy you could practically suck it down with a straw.
“Get down on this floor and dance!” one of the queens commands.
Beneath the table, I feel a hand rest gently on my knee. Then a whisper at the shell of my ear. “C’mon. Let’s do this.”
***
I’m drunk. I don’t know the last time I was drunk. I’m drunk off scotch on the rocks, I’m drunk off the signature Mermaid Margarita, I’m drunk off the life force of this room.
The lights are flashing now, the music loud, the drag queens mingling with the crowd and dancing with everyone.
Mack’s hand is hard against my lower back, our bodies pushed against each other. My drink sloshes in my hand, arm in the air, as we jump together to the music playing at the highest possible volume.
Kate is surrounded by her men, all of them in a circle and touching her in various ways. She looks ecstatic. And she is, in fact, ecstatic, I know because she took some ecstasy. She gave me two tablets as well.
“Here’s a little present from me to you for coming out tonight,” she said in the women’s bathroom.
“Shouldn’t I be giving you the gifts? It’s your birthday.” And I hadn’t even gotten her anything.
“Psh.” Kate waved her hand. “Fuck convention. Who gives a fuck?”
She dropped her pill under her tongue, but I’m not so brave. Instead, I pushed the little tablets into one of my clamshell cups.
And now Mack and I have been dancing fools out on the dance floor with the other aquatic creatures. I’ve never felt more alive.
Mack pulls me against him, his mouth against my ears. “Let’s get a drink.” The timbre of his voice vibrates all the way to my nipples. “I think I need a break.”
I’m surprised because of how strong he is, but then I realize he must not be used to being out of the water for so long. I wonder if he’s uncomfortable.
I nod and gesture to the tiki bar outside. “Let’s go to that one. I could use some air.”
Because if I’m honest, I don’t have the best lung capacity to begin with. It’s not like I’m running on the track every Saturday morning. As usual, I’m out of breath. The dancing is taking it out of me as well.
Mack grabs my hand, our fingers intertwined, and then he squeezes tightly. He takes the lead, pulling me through the crowd, his body tall and hard ahead of me, protecting me from the jabs of elbows and hip bones from the rowdy dancers all around us. A shark through a school of fish.
When we make it to the tiki bar, the outside air feels particularly cool, but my ears are still ringing from the sound. I wipe sweat from my brow with the back of my hand.
There’s no sweat on Mack, but he leans forward and brushes the side of my mouth with his thumb. “Some of your lipstick is smeared.”
I put my finger to the same spot and rub there, his thumb and mine touching. “Here?”
