Nudge 16 The Sex Club That Isn’t a Sex Club
The Sex Club That Isn’t a Sex Club
Aiden sabotaged me. I can already tell, as I stand in this alleyway of urine and crushed dreams. And in front of my girls, no less, as some sort of sick, twisted joke.
‘I think we’re here.’ Raina stops us in our tracks as we crowd around the desolate-looking door.
It’s tall and ominous, perhaps once dark green in colour, but now a chipped mess of peeling paint and scribbled graffiti. There’s no one in sight and nothing to hear, just silence and a unified air of regret.
‘And you’re sure that—’
‘I already asked. He promised it is not a drug thing or a sex club,’ I say.
‘Do we trust him?’ Kimi asks. ‘Because this really looks like a sex club.’
‘Jury’s out right now. And how do you know what a sex club . . . ? You know what, never mind.’
‘We really need to rethink this whole herd-mentality thing,’ Devi mutters.
Our gazes stay fixed ahead, taking in the dubious door. Where have I taken them? Or better yet, where has Aiden made me take them?
Raina speaks first. ‘There’s a ringer.’
‘I’m not touching that,’ Kimi immediately replies.
I’m not close enough to state it with an absolute certainty, but I can just tell in my gut that the buttons are going to be sticky.
‘I have hand sanitiser!’ Raina says.
Devi shudders. ‘Not enough.’
‘You’re up, Mads,’ Kimi says, hand on my back as she lightly guides me to the front of our huddle.
I get it, I do – my suggested plan, my fingers on the sticky icky call bell. But that doesn’t make me any more willing to do it – maybe we’re all better off turning around and going home.
‘We’ve come this far.’ Raina is clearly reading my mind. ‘There’s nothing stopping us from at least seeing what’s behind the door.’
‘So, press the bell then,’ Devi says, doubt still peppering her voice.
I can feel all three sets of eyes on me as I inch forward, the soles of my trainers gracing the dubiously speckled step by the door. My friends catch their breath in unison as my hand lurches forward, mere inches away from the button ahead.
‘Girls?’ I pause, looking back at them.
They’re huddled tighter than before, gripping on to each other as they cower two metres from where I stand.
‘We believe in you! I’m sure it’s not dangerous!’ Raina says.
Devi nods. ‘We’re just gonna wait back here till we know you’re OK . . .’
I can’t even be mad at them. I’d be doing the exact same if I weren’t the one responsible for bringing us to this godforsaken place.
I turn back to the door, holding my own breath as I reach for the bell a second time, this time actually pressing.
The quick buzz fills the air, short and sharp, before a muffled speaker crackles to life.
‘Name?’ a voice asks.
‘Erm, Maddison Clarke, but I might have a booking under Aiden Edwards . . . I’m not sure.’
The silence on the other end lasts far too long, sending my stomach into a tailspin. I still can’t shake the feeling this could all be one sick joke and Aiden truly has sent me into the middle of nowhere.
‘Maddison Clarke, got it. With friends? How many?’
‘Four! Well, three. Three . . . plus me, so . . . f-four in total.’ My palms are sweaty and I can barely string a sentence together any more. We’re not even in yet – how am I supposed to cope when we’re inside? I still don’t even know what we’re facing when we get there.
‘Cool. Come in.’ Another short buzz sounds before the latch is released on the door in front of me.
I push it open and turn back to beckon to the girls, watching as they creep closer.
Their eyes are still fearful, as I’m sure mine are too.
But we have come this far and I cannot back out of this now .
. . I need to at least stay long enough to relay this back to Aiden.
We make our way down a dark hallway to the only other visible door at the end. There’s no signage, no instruction and very little light, just our guts and the muffled shuffles of our soft-soled shoes.
‘Not a sex club,’ I say.
‘Or a drug thing,’ Raina adds, as we all motion to the handle for the final door.
We turn it together, our fingers lingering on the handle, and open the door to wonderland.
I can hear a unified gasp behind me as we creep into the room, taking in the paint-splattered walls and wooden tables. Nineties R a place that has managed to capture what happiness is.
A couple of hours in, sirens sound from the DJ booth and the crowd cheers, abruptly halting their moves to smile towards the stage. We turn with them to see a man enter to applause, clutching a microphone as he amps the crowd up further.
‘All right, all right, you all know what time it is!’ he bellows into the mic, much to the glee of the people before him. ‘The drinks are down, the crowd is here – it’s time for us all to . . .’
‘PAINT THAT MATE!’ the crowd screams around us.
The chant bounces off the walls clear and strong, with a certainty that has the four of us as lost as when we first entered.
‘Who’s feeling brave tonight and ready to win their table a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound tab and one of our beautiful T-shirts?’ he asks.
Kimi turns and shouts to us. ‘Two hundred and fifty? For what? I’ll do whatever it is for two hundred and fifty quid!’
The man hushes the crowd ever so slightly. ‘Tonight, we’re doing things a little differently. I only need one willing volunteer, because I’ve been informed that we have a special lady in the audience who has been dying to give this a try.’
Oh, no.
The gut bubbles are back and the cogs are all fitting into place. All at once I understand. I don’t even need to hear him say it out loud.
‘Is there a Maddy C in the crowd?’ he asks, much to the screams of my friends.
Even if there was some way to hide, their pointing and screaming has rendered it utterly useless. They know as little as I do, but they’ve done everything but whip out a flashing neon arrow above my head.
‘Get up here, Maddy!’
Through no force of my own, I’m pushed through the waves of people all the way to the stairs.
Each person I pass smiles at my taut face with glee, blindly willing me on with no explanation or reassurance.
They can’t wait for me to be there and they’re thrilled to be watching whatever foolishness Aiden has signed me up for.
‘Here she is, folks!’ the host cheers as I creep onto the stage, blinded by the lights and overwhelmed by the sea of people below me. ‘Go on, Maddy, tell us a bit about yourself – where are you joining us from today?’