Page 20 of Sending Love Letters to Animals

“We’ll just go, dance to a few songs. Drink a Ramune, take a few group photos for everyone, and then come back here,” I said. “Two hours. Tops.”

“Agreed,” Jules said as she heaved herself out of her seat. “They better have a discount on their snacks because ya’ girl is hongry.”

So, against our better judgment and desire to lay out in front of a giant T.V. for six hours straight, Jules and I headed out. Friendships were more important than movies. That’s what I told myself, at least.

Beggin’ by Maneskin was thumping from the speakers when Jules and I finally made our way inside the club. We had braved the freezing temperatures outside in the line that stretched from the front door to the corner. Luckily, Liam had not lied to us about the cover charge being waived for the night. By the time Jules and I got to the front door where the bouncer was waiting to screen visitors, if he had asked for any money, I would have turned and walked away without a second thought. However, the two of us were greeted with a smile and waved inside. Unfortunately, for the people behind us in line, the bouncer then announced that there would be a wait before anyone else was let inside. We had gotten to the club in the nick of time.

The Low-Key Café is an all-ages club, not a café. Not really. They serve drinks and foods—nothing alcoholic—but it’s more of a club. Teenagers and some people in their early twenties, show up on Fridays and Saturdays mostly to dance, take pictures for their social media accounts, and socialize.

Nestled between a hotel downtown and a high-end department store, the Low-Key Café is all about aesthetics and what’s trendy. They play music that’s likely to be popular on TikTok, serve food and drinks that look good in Instagram pictures, and the place is decorated with picture-taking in mind. Imagine neon lights, vibrant, trendy colors, and lots of teenagers dressed in their trendiest clothes while they dance to songs you’d hear playing in the background of fifteen second videos. If you can imagine that, you can picture the Low-Key Café without ever having been there.

When we entered the club, the lights were set to teals, whites, and bright blues with a dash of pink here and there. Almost everyone was on the dance floor, their faces illuminated startling white underneath the lights. A few people were at the drink and snack bar to the right side of the giant room, and a few groups here and there were posing for pictures. If you don’t take pictures of your night out and post it on Instagram and Snapchat, did it really happen?

“Well?” Jules shouted over the music. “Where are they?”

The two of us were standing right inside the front doors, scanning the crowd for our friends. When I didn’t see them by the snack and drink bar, and I couldn’t find them around the perimeter taking photos, I knew they had to be on the dance floor. After a few seconds of scanning the faces flashing in the white and teal lights, I spotted Aubrey. Once I located her, Liam, Elijah, and Daniel were not hard to spot. They were all clustered relatively close together.

“There!” I shouted back. “There in the middle.”

“Imagine,” Jules replied. “Center of the universe.”

I laughed.

“Should we get something to drink?” I asked.

“Let’s just go join them,” Jules said. “As soon as they see us, the clock starts counting down.”

Jules was right. Until our friends saw us, it was like we didn’t exist in the club. We could spend six hours in the Low-Key Café, but if our friends didn’t know we were there until the last half hour, it was like we had only spent thirty minutes with them. The sooner we saw them, the less time we’d have to stick around. Since the two of us wanted to spend two hours or less in the place, it was pertinent that they immediately saw that we had arrived.

Grabbing Jules’ hand, I pulled her toward the dance floor. The two of us pushed our way through the perimeter and made our way to our friends at the center. The music was deafening and the lights were blinding, so once we were right in front of them, dancing along with the four of them, it still took a few seconds for our presence to register with them. However, once Aubrey saw us, the rest of our friends realized we had arrived. Quick hugs and fist bumps were exchanged while we all danced around the center of the dance floor.

It was difficult to actually dance without bumping into other people. Fridays were always packed at the club. Everyone was in the mood to blow off steam after a long week of school, and they showed up in droves. The fact that two guys were dancing at the center of the dance floor, garnering a lot of attention from everyone else in the club, exacerbated the issue. A quick examination of the situation while I danced in the tiny space provided let me know that the two guys were obviously a couple.

Two things happened when I realized the guys on the dance floor were a couple. Firstly, I felt my territory—as an out and proud gay man—had been encroached upon. I wanted to flare my neck frills, spray the closest solid object with urine, and hiss threateningly. Merely to let the other gay guys know that the space had been claimed by a gay guy already. Secondly, once my crazy mind realized that was, well, insane, I actually laughed out loud at my insanity. Being an openly gay teen in a relatively small town in the twenty-first century has that affect. You get a lot of attention that you equally hate and love. Anything that intrudes upon the delicate balance is immediately assessed for threat levels.

The threat can be the usual stuff. Am I safe? Is this person homophobic? Super religious? Or it can simply be an assessment of whether or not your fabulousness is being eclipsed. As if there is room for only one or two queer people in any given space, which is counterintuitive to being an out and proud queer person.

After watching the guys for a few moments, my feelings of jealousy and having my territory threatened were sloughed away by the look on the tallest guy’s face. He looked anxious and out of place, though the awkward smile that adorned his face let me know that he was doing his best. The shorter guy with him obviously couldn’t dance, but he looked like he was having the time of his life. It was apparent that the taller guy had probably come to the Low-Key Café to make his boyfriend happy. How could someone hate on that situation?

Maneskin faded away and Supalonely by Benee started to play and the dance floor reduced by half almost immediately. My friends and I all exchanged looks and exited the dance floor. As soon as we were out of everyone’s way, Daniel and Aubrey immediately started sucking face. Liam and Elijah ignored it, but Jules and I exchanged a look and rolled our eyes, which made us laugh loudly. All of us were breathing heavily, though it was hard to tell with Daniel and Aubrey. They were giving each other mouth to mouth.

“You want a drink?” Jules asked.

The music wasn’t playing as loudly as when we had first entered the club—or we had simply gotten used to it—so Jules didn’t have to scream at me to be heard.

“Pineapple fizz, please.” I responded.

Jules gave me a nod. “Imma grab me some Lomo. You want?”

I shook my head, and Jules disappeared before I could change my mind. Daniel and Aubrey were still attached at the lips. Elijah and Liam had their arms over each other’s shoulders and were taking a typical “bro” picture for future posting on Instagram. That way, girls at school would hopefully comment about how cute they were and DMs would be slid into at some point. I contemplated pulling my phone out to take a few pictures for my own socials, but decided against it.

Elijah pulled me close and forced me to take a few pictures with Liam and him, so selfies were unnecessary. I could take the lazy route and steal the pictures they took for my own social media usage. Or I could tag myself. Effort on my part to curate my social media accounts wasn’t necessary. Each time they snapped a picture, the lights in the club had changed, so we looked normal in one, blueish in another, and tinted pink in another. We’d have a variety of choices to post.

It came to my attention that a lot of people in the club were chasing the two guys from the dance floor down to take pictures with them. Confusion overtook me as I watched the activities for a few moments. I didn’t recognize the guys, but it was possible they were Insta-famous or something. I didn’t really keep up with what the newest and trendiest things on social media were from day to day. Trends came and went before I had a chance to be involved. I knew just enough so that I didn’t seem totally clueless when my friends talked about stuff, but I didn’t put much effort into being knowledgeable about the things that happened online, either.

“That’s the kid—the taller one—that CNN did the story on. That gay guy from Whitmer who declared war on the establishment?” Elijah leaned into my ear to scream when he saw where I was looking.

“Oh,” I said. “I thought he had pink hair or something? Isn’t that what set the whole thing off?”