by Sophia Quinto
It is one of those nights. We dance until our knees buckle, sing until our throats are scraped raw. The party is so full, you don’t even have to hold yourself up; the crowd does it for you. You can just give way, let them lift you up to the sky and bring you back down when the bass drops. It is in the pockets—the sweaty, dark spaces between swaying, buzzing people—that we hold hands, yell into each other’s grinning faces how we love each other so. We say it often, but somehow it means more on those nights. More real, closer to the skin, pouring out of every part of us, like it means what it means and also everything else. I love you, bitch!, which is to say, I love you and I love this and I love everything, just every little thing! The night crescendoes, like it always does, with Clarity by Zedd, and we file out, dragging each other through the disoriented crowd, holding hands in a chain like we did in kindergarten, laughing like we’re getting away with something. A lifeline to the cold air outside, the empty space. We stretch into it like a drop of ink in water, unfurling into the rest of the night, eager to find our next destination. It is only 12:00, and the night is young! We stumble down the stairs to the platform overlooking the beach, the tide so high it laps at the bottom of the stairs. My fear of the ocean can’t get me tonight—I am too in awe, too in love with everything. It’s so beautiful, we say, like we are seeing it for the first time, like we are beholding something once-in-a-lifetime. Maybe we are.
About the Author
Sophia Quinto is a Writing and Literature student at UC Santa Barbara’s College of Creative Studies, where she received first place in their Most Excellent Narrative Prose Contest. Her work has been published in Revolution Publication, The Bayou Review, Birmingham Arts Journal, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, The Ana, The Catalyst, and Procrastinating Writers United’s Long-Winded anthology. She served as a reader for Spectrum Literary Journal’s 67th and 68th issue and as a copyeditor for Lit Angels Literary Magazine’s 22nd issue.