Night Shift

Manda closed her eyes as she lifted her face towards the sky, feeling the warmth of the tropical breeze illuminate her smooth, moisturized face. Her tiny grey shorts squeezed under her but as she sat on the bare slick boot of Rickoe’s convertible just outside their house. Manda could now feel the conducted heat of the aluminum body snake its way into her body and she felt like lying there on the car, to feel all the warmth. Her kinky hair made her look more provocative, and her tiny pink top was just the perfect fit for the day. Before she could divulge on sunbathing, out came Rickoe, Mustee and Josh. Mustee wore only a silver lingerie while both Rickoe and Josh decided to match outfits- grey shorts, a sleeveless t-shirt and red canvas.

Rickoe’s eyes were all lighted up when he saw Manda. They had been seeing each other for a while now but every time he saw her, Rickoe seemed to blush himself silly. He moved towards her and gave her half a hug before jumping into their white convertible. Josh took up the other front seats as Mustee and Manda sat on the back. 

It was time to tune their gears and shift into auto pilot. As Rickoe started the vehicle, he could feel Manda’s hands all over his chest, caressing his neck and shoulders. He smiled to Josh, who looked at Mustee and they all laughed. Rickoe started the wheels. Josh got some rolls of weed and the party had begun. With some deep trap and afro house beats, Mustee and Manda couldn’t help themselves. They danced all over the car, waving their hands in sync with the beats.

***

CJ was the mastermind of party planning. He knew one or two things about how to get it down. So, that morning, when Rickoe told him to arrange one, he was up for the task. He always had a shopping list

1.       First he needed to know where the party would be. And that wasn’t a problem. His old house would do the trick. It was in the outskirts of the city, right in the thick of modern housing installments of high rise apartments where there was no particular time where anyone would be busy sleeping. For in the outskirts, even the cops were the party gurus. So, his little bungalow, which was a bit out of order was the obvious choice.

2.       He also needed cars. Cars to move people. The babes and the dudez. He had a good network of friends so that wasn’t an issue.

3.       The people. The people make the party. So, here, CJ had to be very choosy. He couldn’t invite people who would come and dance alone on the dance floor like lone rangers while babes looked at them like spectacles. He couldn’t also invite hogs who would be drunk and pass out in an hour. He needed hard core party animals. A.K.A mafisi.

4.       The ‘good stuff’. A good party can never have sane minds, and so, people have to blow their heads out in high statelessness. And so, the drugs would be in plenty.

***
Night sneaks in 

Rainbow lights. Blaring speakers. Rolling heads.

Hands on buts. Hands spanking buts. Hand wobbling. Hands having minds of their own

Smoke moving. Like a wave of wind. From one nostril to another. Smoke being breathed out like air. And being sucked like vacuums.

Booze changing hands. Booze wetting hands. Booze falling on chests and breasts. On the hairs and faces of dudes. Like rain.

The lights were off such that the only lights entering the room were lit from outside, as it seeped through the holes of the walls and the windows. Creating a sort of after-life immersion into limbo. This life. This moment in time where the lives of everyone in the room is suspended. Whether their spirits roam free, where they get a chance to get out of their bodies. They now feel every touch, they now see everything, so clearly-crystal. Manda is now skin to skin on some guy, who is touching her breasts. Fuck. She pulls away from him. At least she has her senses on her, but she needs them turned off. Completely. So she grabs another bottle. She doesn’t know where the other guys are. For they must have been devoured by the crowd’s hungry souls. Manda feels the trance hit her body, like she is being possessed. She grooves to the beats. They are slow, but fast all the same. She lets her hair move behind her in a shadow, mimicking her movements. She feels the heat.

People are now using glow sticks to illuminate the scene, and glowing paste has been plastered all across their bodies so that they look like they are on fire. They are on fire. It’s all over their faces, on their lips, chests and hands.

Rickoe finds himself with Mustee. She has now moved to him and grabbed his body. She wants him close to her. So that she could feel his strength as he rocks her body. Rickoe cannot refuse because by this point he is too high to know anything about it. Mustee’s lips are lit with glowing paste, such that they look oblivious. Mustee, in her wet, booze drained body, wraps her hands around Rickoe. Rickoe falls back onto a chair close to the wall and Mustee is on her. At first, the kiss comes slow, then, Rickoe is so tuned up that he can’t simply stop. It was sweater than heaven. And now he can feel the rush of adrenaline in him, and his face is glowing all over with kissing stains. They were electrifying and so hot together.

How does he do it? Manda wondered. How does he make all the girls feel so alive with him? 

Manda feels a drumming sound inside her head. She could hear it get louder and louder as he watched them make out. But Manda knew that Rickoe was off today. He must have been off today. That is why she felt him not circle his hands all around him when they hugged. That is why, when he looked at Mustee, she bit her lips sinisterly, and she ignored. He must have been off today. So, deep down, Manda convinced herself that Rickoe still loved him, that Rickoe never meant the kiss he was having with Mustee, that all was well. Because to Manda, she had learnt that sometimes, love is like a piece of cloth that you wear and take with you everywhere you go, lending it out to everyone who deserves it. You take it all over until its gets dirty, faded and torn. And that you have to wash, and keep on stitching with different strands of string. – Black and white, Pink and Blue, Purple and Yellow, Black and Green, until in the end, you love becomes beautiful and colourful.