I lost Jack in the crowd at the Loop Lounge and didn’t find him again until it was nearly daylight. We spotted him walking down a cross street, shirtless and waving a small American flag in one hand. Sarah pulled the car to the curb and we collected him from the sidewalk. I was tired and didn’t care what had happened to him or where he’d gone to half the night and he didn’t ask why this girl was driving my car. He just climbed in laughing, Sarah was laughing too, and I remained silent as I pushed away the part of me that hoped he might have been lost forever. We turned back onto Van Houten Ave, and when we reached the top we could see the sun cutting its way between the tall buildings of the New York City skyline.

Jack and I started on the north end of Van Houten and bounced back and forth across the street, from bar to club, headed south to an unknown but inescapable end to the night. By the time we reached the Lounge, Jack could hardly stand, but they let him in anyway.

The Loop Lounge was purple, most clubs were dark or moody, but the Lounge was just, purple. The windows were covered by thick plum curtains that erased any glimpse of the outside world and spotlights fired out columns of purplish light that caught the smoke swirling up around the heads of the sweating dancers, casting it into the purplish dye. Even the teeth of the girl at the bar stood out in a row of bright purple pearls when she smiled at me, or maybe she’d been watching Jack as he tried to light my cigarette. He grabbed a candle off the bar dumping wax down the front of his jeans, and the girl’s perfect smile broke apart into a loud, laugh. She opened her mouth wide revealing a shining silver ball sticking out through the middle of her tongue.

“You got a tongue ring?” I yelled out over the pounding music and then felt stupid. She just nodded and the little silver ball popped out between her lips and slid back and forth then disappeared.

“Awesome.” Jack yelled louder. “You know what those are great for?” Her eyebrows rose.

“Sorry, he’s nuts.” I said. “What’s your name?” I put myself between her and Jack and didn’t have to yell as loud.

“Sarah.” She said. She was wearing a short t-shirt which hovered a few inches above loose black pants, slung low over her hips.

She was about a head shorter than me and had dark, shining eyes.

I introduced us and Jack started to dance making Sarah laugh again.

“See? He’s nuts.” I said again and turned around. Jack looked at me then Sarah then me again and I gave him a slight nod, just raised my chin, and though drunk, he noticed. He yelled out something incomprehensible and melted into the crowd of bouncing people behind him.