I Will Never Forget You, My Big Beautiful Giraffe (a Memory of the 6’9” Man I Danced With At The Club)
Yellow diamonds in the light.
The Owl, one of the horniest clubs in Chicago.
y2k songs blaring. Modelo lights, tequila shots, and vapes.
Drunk younglings sweating against each other with their tattoos, piercings, and armpit hair.
And there he was-
My big beautiful giraffe.
Lanky, skinny, goober.
Khaki shorts. Boat shoes. Long sleeve button down.
Huge, GIGANTIC, dumb eyes. Like a newborn baby seeing the world for the first time
Now we’re standing side by side.
Oh, and this white girl? She is dancing. And she is going through something .
Drunk. In the club. No one else in this room exists but her.
Shaking and gyrating, ‘til my heart pulses into my throat, ‘til my vision blurs, ‘til all the club lights blend into one beautiful beam, making everyone look angelic.
I can’t get enough.
Truly, I could get myself killed just by dancing. All in the effort to show everyone on the dance floor that I took a beginners hip-hop class in college.
As your shadow crosses mine-
I am not surprised you gravitated towards me,
frankly because we are the two most attention grabbing objects in the room.
A dancing drunk white girl from Florida
and a lanky goober that is 6 foot 9.
We were meant to be soulmates for the evening, i believe it to be so.
You were frat flicking the air, and I am shouting, jumping up and down as high as my legs let me go. We were both in manic states.
What it takes to come alive.
“YOU’RE SUCH A VIBE”
“Ha! THANKS!!”
“I never go out like this!”
“I can tell!”
“You are like REALLY good at dancing!”
“Thanks! I am a try-hard loser!”
It’s the way I’m feeling, I just can’t deny
“I don’t know how to say this. But you just. You have it!”
“Shut up!”
“No you shut up!”
“OKAY!”
This is stupid . This is embarrassing .Why are we even talking in the club? You are shouting up to me from the ceiling, towering like a goddamn telephone pole. People are staring, people are annoyed by us. We are rambunctious. We’re taking up too much space. We are being too loud.
But I’ve got to let it go
You know what. Nothing matters. Everything is hilarious.
This club is one big jungle, and I have this big giraffe that is looking at me like I am the most beautiful girl in the world.
“You are gorgeous!” He said.
“Buy me a drink then!”
“Okay!”
We found love in a hopeless place.
He got me four drinks. AYYE.
We found love in a hopeless place.
We danced the whole night long, we closed that place down!
We found love in a hopeless place.
We made out sloppily and it was hilarious because he had to bend his whole body in half just to reach my face.
We found love in a hopeless place.
No, we did not hook up afterwards. I feel like I need to clarify that. He did give me his phone though to put my number in it, which I didn't do. I actually took his phone and got myself an uber home with his money, and he called me a cheeky bastard for that, which is pretty fair. If you are reading this right now, my big beautiful giraffe, I hope you know I think of you when this song plays in the club.