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I hate nightclubs. Oh sure, the music, the dancing, the drinking and the ‘vibes’ are soooo nice. Or so my friends would say. I, for one, am not a fan, the music is just a grating mess of notes and bass that rattles your bones and dashes whatever sense of clarity you still had. And I’m not sure if you could call that disgusting hooch the bar was brewing safe for consumption. And don’t even get me started on the ‘vibes.’ Getting covered in spilled drinks, and getting punched in the face by a groggy muton who’s had one too many aren’t my ideas of a good time.
And yet here I was, in a hole-in-the-wall nightclub in the ass end of Melbourne New Australia, because my friends needed a driver, and I didn’t have an excuse lined up. Today, I found myself bumming around the lesser travelled part of the joint, near the bar, and waiting for my friends to have their fun, and making sure they didn’t party too hard, lest they have to be carried out in a stretcher. Such are the woes of the ‘sober guy.’
I tried to find something to occupy my mind and distract myself from the pounding bass of the latest house hit. When I heard a commotion at the door that grabbed my attention, with a group of about 5 aliens all coming in together. One of them, an adder, one of the new viper species that had been popping up lately, seemed to be their own ‘sober guy.’ She was giving orders to the rest of her group, consisting of a muton, another Viper, of the usual variety this time, and two mutant hybrids. Aliens weren’t odd to see around these parts given the generally accepting nature of the Australian people to the alien refugees once the war had ended, and the fact that I was in a cheap area, so they could afford to come. That said, the adder was a particularly rare appearance.
The adder pointed out to the club, and then back at her current location, probably indicating where to meet back up afterward. She then separated from the bunch as they went to go party, and retreated to my calmer little retreat. She didn’t stray near the bar, confirming that she was their designated driver as well as chaperone, not unlike myself. With a huff they sat down and assumed a similar dour expression to the one I was wearing. Briefly glancing towards the dancefloor, I watched as my friends, all human, continued to dance without a care in the world, a couple of them even mingling with the new arrivals. I looked back to the adder, her posture still betraying her dissatisfaction at her continued presence. Not unlike how I felt at that moment. I contested with myself over if I should go and try to strike up a conversation, soon realising it was either that, or sit alone for the next couple of hours with precious little to do, so I decided to go for it.
I walked over to her table, weaving past another few party goers returning to the floor with their drinks, the adder didn’t notice my approach until I announced myself by asking, “You got dragged here too I take it?” They looked up at me, seemingly surprised that they’d been approached, taking a moment to study my appearance before replying.
“Yep, and I can’t even drink, cause I have to drive them all home…” She sighed, her voice surprisingly human-like despite the anatomical differences between us.
“Yeah it sucks doesn’t it? Not that the hooch here is particularly worth drinking. Can’t stand the music either.” I sympathised, trying to keep the conversation going.
“Oh don’t even get me started on the music! All that electronic beeping and whirring, when you have all this perfectly serviceable pre-war actual music right there! I do not understand what people like about it at all.” She complained, a fire in her eyes now.
“Oh? So what do you like then?” I asked as I slid into a nearby chair
Hmm? Uh, like, have you heard of Queen?” She stammered, clearly not expecting such interest in her tastes.
“ Have I heard of Queen? ” I responded, in a half-mocking tone. “Have I heard of one of the most popular and influential bands of old earth? No, definitely not.”
“Yeah ok ok, stupid question, but I’ve met a surprising amount of people who haven’t heard of them.” She admitted. “But yeah, stuff like their music, I fell in love with it the second I heard it. I love the lyrics, and the melodies, it’s all so evocative! Much more than this stuff.” She gestured towards the DJ booth at the head of the dancefloor.
“Not everyday you meet someone with some taste, your friends don’t share it?” I looked out at the crowd, seeing one of my friends climbing up onto the muton’s shoulders.
“A couple kinda do, but they all just like to party. The music doesn’t really mean anything to them other than a way to get amped up. And they get amped . See the muton guy carrying that human around? Last time, he tried doing a flip in the middle of the floor, messed his neck up for a solid week afterwards, but he came out of it with 2 new friends to go clubbing with the next time. I decided I’d start following along after that to keep them from doing anything really stupid. I take it you have a similar story?” She questioned.
“Ehh kinda, they just know me to be the sensible type who’s not going to get suckered into drinking when I’m the driver, on account of the drinks here tasting like watered down floor cleaner. Normally I’d have an alibi lined up, but I wasn’t so lucky this time. That lass on your friend’s shoulders actually came here with me, she’s always been quick to socialise.” I watched as the duo kept parading around the floor, when a thought hit me. “Jason Williams, by the way.” I introduced myself, turning back to the adder and extending a hand.
She stared at me for a moment. “Call me Talitha.” She responded in kind, quickly shaking my hand, while I could have sworn I saw a flash of a grin on her face, or perhaps it was her tongue.
“So then Talitha. What does one such as yourself do to pass the time in a situation like this?” I queried, partly to make conversation, but I wouldn’t have minded a couple of suggestions either.
“Stare at my phone for most of it really, I tried to join the dance floor once or twice but…” She trailed off.
“Not a dancer?” I offered
“Yeah, I can’t really… vibe, with the rest of them. I don’t know how they do it really. Just throwing their bodies around, without a care in the world. Not my style.” She concluded. “You’re the same then?”
“Similar, I just can’t stand the thought of looking ridiculous out there. I don’t exactly know any routines. And I know what some people would say, about how no one’s watching you, and to just dance for yourself, But…” I started to trail off.
“Why dance at all if it’s just going to make you look ridiculous.” Talitha finished for me. “I know how it is.
“That’s… about it, yeah.” I admitted, falling quiet as the conversation died down again.
“So…” Talitha began, shifting her thin head towards me. “You said you usually have an alibi to avoid coming out. What is it typically?” She initiated, perhaps I was finally getting somewhere.
“Typically? Well, I’ve got a few, you can’t use the same excuse every time after all. Most common is that something’s come up at work, though I’m on vacation right now, so that’s no good. Sometimes it’s family issues, but my mother ‘fell down the stairs’ last week. Eventually, I had to give in…” I trailed off. “But it’s not all bad, I got to meet you at least.” I off-handedly commented.
Talitha rocked her head back, staring down at me across her snout. She seemed to contemplate my words for a moment, before lowering her head back down and laying it on a hand she propped up on the table. “I can’t say I hate the company…” She stared out at the dance floor again, as people continued to party. “Say… You interested in any of them?” She asked, with a smug grin on her face.
“W-What? Me?” I pointed at myself, startled by the question. I received a nod in confirmation, and continued. “Uh, no. No, I’ve never seen any of them as more than friends, never really seen anyone that way really.”
Talitha’s eyes bored into me. “I’ve met a few people like you…” She noted, implying she knew something. “You’re sure you’re looking in the right place?”
“Like… if I might be gay?” I question, confused by her insinuation. “I don’t… think so. I don’t really have any inclination towards either men or women.”
She chuckled lightly, her gaze softening a bit. “No, not men… I mean, perhaps you’re looking for the wrong kind of person. Maybe, your soulmate isn’t even human.”
I felt my heart twist at the suggestion. Was she suggesting that I would find love, not with a human, but an alien, like herself?. I thought on the matter, what people had said being in love was like. I’d never experienced anything like it with anyone before. Catching yourself looking at them at every chance you had, enjoying their company at every moment, without care of circumstance. Getting flustered, or otherwise emotional when you see them. It had all never manifested before. But perhaps Talitha was right, I had only ever tried to set my sights on other humans, but there was already precedent for others finding love in another species, an alien. After all, who would I be to discount the mind, or soul of another being, just because their body didn’t match mine. If we could connect over something so simple as tastes in music, perhaps we could connect on a deeper level too.
I quickly cast my eyes over Talitha again, realising just how much I’d been subconsciously looking at her and her body since I’d introduced myself. Alongside the genuine enjoyment I’d been having just chatting with her thus far, even for such a short time, and about such inconsequential topics. And I noticed now, a subtle burning sensation in my cheeks as I discovered all this. Was this what love was? Was this love at first sight even? And… with an alien, an enormous blue snake woman? And worst of all… had she noticed?
I tried to keep my composure despite my mounting revelations. “Uhh… I hadn’t, um, thought about it… that way…” I stumbled through my words. I looked back up at Talitha’s face, to see her eyes staring directly back into my own.
Her voice picked up an almost suggestive undertone. “Y’know, I had similar thoughts a while back, nothing about other vipers really… stood out to me, maybe I just couldn’t find anyone, our males are quite rare after all. However it was when I considered broadening my horizons though, that I thought about how fun it could be to get with someone completely unlike me. Like a human. Regrettably, I couldn’t find anyone who fit the bill, in all this time…” She trailed off. Twitching her gaze towards the DJ booth, she remarked. “This noise is getting a little distracting. Wanna find someplace a little quieter?” She asked.
Still a little apprehensive at just going for it, given how new the thoughts were, but unwilling to turn down her offer, I nodded. Standing up from the table I hesitantly asked. “Where did you wanna… go?”
Talitha simply got up, grabbed hold of my hand, and started dragging me along with her as she slithered away from the dancefloor. “We’ll find somewhere.” She plainly replied.
“Aren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye on your friends?” I hastily questioned as Talitha pulled me along, still bewildered at her sudden action.
“They’ll be fine for a few minutes, I have something very important to ask you anyway.” She coyly responded. She pulled me along past the bar and towards the bathrooms, taking a turn into the corridor leading to the fire exit.
“We’re not about to run out are we? Are we even allowed to be here?” I asked, unsure of her intentions.
Talitha giggled for a moment and stopped, though not letting go of my hand, not that I minded. “No silly, no one will interrupt us here. And it’s not a restricted area or anything, it’s just not the kind of place you tend to use unless there’s a fire… Or you have an important question to ask.” Talitha leaned against a wall, prompting me to do the same as she then let go of my hand.
“So then… uh… what’s your question?” I nervously asked, wondering why she was being so coy on the topic.
Her brow furrowed as her tongue briefly flickered in front of her face. After a moment, she sighed, and turned to face me, planting a hand on the wall beside my head. Despite the decisive action she still looked nervous as she asked, in as stern a voice as she could muster. “Would you date an alien?” Her eyes stared directly into mine, as if attempting to pierce my soul and drag an answer out by force.
A lump caught in my throat. Already she was asking for a definitive answer, so soon after even suggesting the idea. And as for why, only one thing came to mind. She was coming onto me. I tried for a few moments to form an appropriate response, my mind glaring at my gut when I finally stammered out. “I-I suppose so…”
Talitha continued to stare directly into my eyes, captivating my vision. “Then… how about…” Her gaze faltered, as it fell to the ground, and she sighed. “How… about…” She struggled for another second to push the word out. “...Me?” The question hung in the air, and confirmed my growing suspicions. She was actually into me, and… “Yes…” I was into her.
Her eyes widened as she processed how I’d accepted her roundabout way of confessing. “Really?” She gasped, leaning back from me and bringing her hands to her face. I let out a breath that I didn’t realise I’d been holding.
“I mean… I, uh, we can give it a go at least.” I confirmed, a little less confident.
Talitha’s hands fluttered before her for a few seconds, until they suddenly launched forward and wrapped around my waist. Her body and head weren’t far behind. I felt her torso collide with mine, as she pressed her head into my chest. I returned the sudden embrace quickly once I’d regained my bearings.
“Thank you.” She squeaked, as she squeezed me.
“What for?” I asked, returning the pressure.
“I dunno… accepting me? It just felt right to thank you.” She admitted, looking at me again.
“So then, what happens now? We agree to date, go back to our friends, and meet up again later?” I questioned, curious at her intentions and still a little tentative.
A confident look returned to her eye. “What? Let you go so easily? But I only just got you…” I felt as her tail began to creep around my legs, coiling around me. The muscles felt odd against me as they shifted to keep coiling. Talitha’s head shifted out of view as she circled around my waist, leaving a little more of her body wrapped around me in her wake. “...I’ve got to take advantage of the moment.” She returned her head to my eye level, taking my face in her hands.
“So… you want to… kiss?” I nervously asked, pretty sure of what she was getting at, though still scared of being wrong.
“Oh he has a lick of sense in him…” Talitha sarcastically narrated, leaning into me, and coiling me a little tighter. “Stay still.” She brought her head closer, staring directly at me, grinning. I feared a little for my heart in the moment, with how hard it was hammering in my chest.
A moment later I felt her lips hit mine. Or at least what I could approximate to lips. They were scaly, though a little soft, and colder than I expected, but still nice. I tried to kiss back, though I didn’t really know what I was doing. Talitha didn’t seem to mind though, happily holding it a moment longer before pulling her head back. “Hmmm.” She hummed happily.
“That… was nice.” I say after a moment. Honestly surprised at how pleasant it was.
“Oh, you think we’re done?” Talitha’s tail constricted again, squeezing me a little harder. “That was just the appetiser.” As she said that, she stuck her tongue out of her mouth and hung it in the air in front of my face.
My breath caught in my throat. “So soon…” I watched as it slowly writhed in the air, tempting in a way, almost tantalising.
“Well… Only if you want, but this is how we make it really nice, and… unique, you won’t get tongue like this on a human girl.” She goaded.
Despite my hesitancy, I couldn’t break my gaze from her tongue. I wanted it. And she was right, it wasn’t something I was going to get from another human. “I want it.” I said with a newfound confidence in my voice.
“Good.” Was all she said before moving back in, meeting my lips again in another kiss. However this one didn’t stay as tame as the first. I soon felt her tongue poking at my lips, seeking entry to my mouth. I didn’t delay and parted my lips enough for her to worm her way in. Once she’d breached my paltry defenses, her tongue took to finding its way further in, running across the surface of my own, my hairs standing on end at the sensation. More of her long, serpentine tongue slipped in, running across every surface of my mouth. Her own lips parted a little, and I used the opportunity to move my own tongue into her maw, trying to feel out much of it as I could. “Hmm…” She hummed as I did so, telling me she liked what I was doing, so I kept at it. I moved my lips more, caressing hers, as our tongues continued to entwine. I brought my hands to her neck, just below her head, and lightly pulled her into me, an action that Talitha mirrored.
I let the wall take my full weight as I dedicated myself to the kiss. I tried everything I could to make it enjoyable for Talitha, though taking care to avoid poking myself on her fangs. Talitha meanwhile, kept exploring my mouth with the full extent of her tongue’s impressive length. I caressed the back of her neck with my hands, lightly scratching her scales, something she seemed to enjoy. Finally after a minute that felt like hours, she pulled her head back, retracting her tongue, gliding it over mine as she did.
Finally getting a chance to breathe, I only then realised how much of an endurance test it could be to make out like that. “Even… better.” I panted, confirming Talitha’s earlier assertion that it would be ‘really nice.’
“Don’t… say.” She replied similarly out of breath. She brought her hands back down behind my waist and gave me another earnest hug. “I’m glad I found you.”
I felt my cheeks heat up at that comment. “I’m glad you found me too, I didn’t think an alien could be this… enjoyable?” I replied, unable to find a good word.
Talitha chuckled. “Well I find you pretty enjoyable too.” She gave me a final squeeze, one that I was eager to experience again. “But it might be time we went back and checked on our friends. Who knows what they could have gotten up to while we were back here. Fuckin’ party animals.” She released her coil and fell off me back to the floor, quickly righting herself again and grabbing my hand. “C’mon, let’s go.”
I followed along only semi-consciously, the other part of my mind still occupied with processing the recent events. I had a girlfriend now. An alien girlfriend at that. One that looked like a giant blue snake with arms. And I was positively buzzing about it. I ran the memory of the kiss we’d shared only moments before through my mind again. Trying to recapture the magic of the moment as she slid her forked tongue between my lips. My focus then flicked to her hand, holding mine, as she led me back the way we came. Her skin, her fingers, they felt different from a human’s, the small gaps between each scale, combined with their smooth texture gave them a far different feeling compared to that of a human. Not to mention of course, that she only had four fingers on each hand. I quite liked it.
We made our way back towards the main area of the club, and as luck would have it, we seemed to be gone just when something happened. “Oh for fuck’s sake… every damn time!” Talitha cursed as she dragged me along.
We saw the aftermath of whatever had happened, one of my friends had a black eye and a bloodied nose, and a muton, the one that had come with Talitha, seemed to be nursing similar injuries.
Approaching my friend, Stella, her name was, I hurriedly asked. “Stella! Are you alright? Can you tell me what happened?”
“Ugh… yeah…” She slurred as she began, though if that was the liquor or a concussion talking I wasn’t yet sure. “I uhh, was riding ol’ mate here around.” She motioned to the muton. “I musta swayed the wrong way at some point though, because he went tumbling forward, and I got a taste of the ground.” She tried to smile at me, though it was more of a pained grimace. At least she still seemed to be alert, so no big problems.
I looked over to Talitha, who’d gone to see to her muton friend. The hardy bastard seemed to be laughing more than anything. Talitha looked back at me, and nodded calmly. He would be fine, and if what she’d said beforehand was any indication, he would probably be best friends with Stella in a week.
“Come on Stell, about time we headed home I think.” I spoke to Stella, after tending to her injuries.
“Yeah… I need a lie down…” She replied. I helped her up, and let her lean on me as I helped her to get out of the club, and over to my car. My other friends all happened to be in attendance when she fell, and followed me out. That was, with one more follower.
I lowered Stella into the back seat of my car, and let her close the door. “C’mon, pile in!” I then ordered the rest of my friends, who promptly got in.
I turned my attention to the last follower of the group, Talitha had followed me out. “Well, not how I expected the night to end.” I commented as I approached her.
“You don’t say, my guys aren’t quite done yet, but I figured I should follow you out to see you off. And, to make sure we can meet up again.” She pulled her phone out. “Don’t go thinking you can get me all excited and then disappear into the night.”
“I’d be a fool to think I could, or that I’d want to for that matter.” I replied as I took my own out and opened my contacts, pressing the option to add a new one. “I want to see you again soon, on calmer terms.”
“Then it’s a date! I’ll be in touch…” I heard a beep as our phones swapped information. “But just one more thing tonight.” She quickly reached behind my back with one arm, and took my face in her hand with the other as she then kissed me once more. Pulling back she giggled. “And there’ll be more where that came from!” She teased as she slithered back inside.
I felt my face warm up, in stark contrast to the cool night time air outside. I turned to walk over to my car, getting in. “No way you managed to pull a girl like that!” Another of my friends, Nevin, commented as I sat down. “A snake woman even! There’s no way.”
I looked at him for a moment. “Her name’s Talitha, and she wants to meet again some time.” I Nonchalantly told him as I put my seatbelt on and started the car.
The vehicle erupted into a clamour of voices at my indirect admission, which I met with a pointed, smug, silence, allowing them to imagine what they wanted. My own imagination was too occupied thinking of when I’d next meet Talitha, and what we’d do together.
I don’t like nightclubs. But all things considered… I had a good night.