I have been (justly) criticized for writing several erotic stories in Loving Wives that lacked the erotic part. I have tried to do better here.
This part of the story ought to be in Erotic Couplings, but overall Meet Me in Moonlight is a ghost story, so I've listed it as NonHuman.
*****
The club was stifling; too many bodies in too little space, and the beat was overpowering, shaking my bones and driving a spike through my temples. I'd caught a ride out here to meet my friends and celebrate our graduation from the nursing program but the noise and crowding were more than I could take. I'd already started seeing flashes out of the corners of my eyes, the auditory symptoms wouldn't be far behind, after that I could go off like a bomb or fold up like a baby. Fuck that, I pushed out through the fire door; the alarm didn't stand a chance against the DJ.
Outside felt cool after the club. A half dozen cars were strewn across a gravel lot behind the building, beyond it was the sea, a skinny pier sticking out into the water giving Poseidon the finger. The beat was still pounding inside; the dumpsters steel sides resonated buzzily in sympathy. Every step toward the pier was balm for my brain. The flashes were already fading away.
I would love to tell you a story about how I sustained a brain injury saving little children from a speeding car, or fighting fires, or some other heroic act, but the simple fact was that one day I was fine, and the next day I couldn't stand to be around lots of people and/or lots of noise. Nothing changed in my life to make it happen, just a big "Fuck You, Steve," from the universe. Steve, that would be me. I'm an Aries, I like reptiles, I am a home care nurse, and I'll never get to go to a Metallica concert...
I stepped over a sagging gate and walked out onto the pier. The sound of the surf blended with the subsonics from the club, so I kept going, my footsteps soft on the worn boards. I was almost to the end when I saw her, sitting on the deck, dangling her feet over the side and leaning against a post. Actually, it was the arc of a tossed-away cigarette that gave her away, then the flare of a lighter as she lit the next one. I edged past her, headed for the end of the pier.
"Hey, stranger. Can't take the club?" Her voice was low and slightly rough, what my mom would have called a "smoker's voice." Mom should know... it was the cigarettes that killed her.
I turned back toward her and leaned on the railing. "Crowds bother me. What about you?"
"I love the ocean; I need to be close to it." The end of her cigarette glowed as she drew in on it, I could just make out that she had fine features and dark hair.