Upstairs to the 18th birthday party.

Knowing I have already probably failed at keeping to the request that Yui doesn’t cum before her and I re-join Piya after work tonight, I leave my girlfriend to Holly and Jessica and make my way upstairs along with Dawn and her school friends. Up on the mezzanine level, there are more than 100 people cramped into the function space, mostly teens; mainly girls but a spattering of older adults as well. The parents and their friends of the birthday girl Fon. Almost as soon as I step foot off the stairs and onto the landing, the drunk girl I’d spoken to earlier points me out dramatically.

“That’s him! He’s following me,” she declares far too emotionally as someone so young and affected by **** tends to do.

Lawan runs over and tries hugging her to get her to put her arm down and stop pointing at me. I don’t know if she’s more worried about the girl Shannon making a scene or that she seems to have a problem with me.

“I’m not following you. Dawn invited me up here to have a drink,” I say trying to sound neutral to calm her down.

“Well this is Fon’s party and I don’t think you should be up here. Private party only,” Shannon continues to argue with me.

“That’s right, it is my party and I want him up here too,” Fon steps forward to join my side of the argument.

“Thank you Fon,” I say to her before adding, “considering I kind of own this place. I can go pretty much where ever I please anyway.”

“Please don’t kick her out Roo!” Lawan pleads thinking I’m about to throw one of her friends out of my club.

“I’m not going to kick her out Lawan. I just need her to hang around up here and not go off wandering into other parts of the club. My security might kick her out if they catch her when I’m not around to help,” I tell Shannon and Lawan hoping the warning that she could be asked to leave will be enough to get her to behave.

As we’ve been talking an Asian couple in their late forties or early fifties comes over sensing there might be a commotion going on at their daughter’s party.

“Hello. Is everything alright?” Fon’s Father asks me.

“Everything's great. I was just stopping by to see that everyone is having a good time,” I tell Fon’s Dad.

With her parent’s there Fon, Dawn and the other two girls use the distraction to slink away, not wanting to get stuck talking to the adults for too long during the birthday celebrations.

“You work here then?” the polite gentleman asks having not seen me as a part of Fon’s friends’ group before.

“I’m one of the owners here,” I say reaching out my hand to introduce myself to the pair of them, claiming ownership of The Loft seeming to impress them.

“Oh, we didn’t know. We booked Fon’s party through the blonde girl,” Fon’s Dad seems to do the talking for the pair of them.

“That would be Holly, one of our partners,” I say before further adding what I might be doing around a bunch of recently graduated school girls, “your daughter goes to St Magdalene’s right?”

They both nodded. “I’m seeing Miss Yui,” I say.

Fon’s Mum speaks for the first, “ooh our Fon’s likes her,” which makes me smile.

I excuse myself from them saying I need to check how the bar staff are doing. Shannon had wandered off a little while into the conversation with Lawan chasing after her. Before I go Fon’s Father lets me know that they will message Shannon’s parents soon to come and collect her so she doesn’t cause too much trouble.

I make my way behind the small bar we have in the upstairs function area, checking in on the barmaid working there to see if she needs anything. More ice, spirits, soft drinks or waters? Everything is fine, the function is running a tab on the till so there's no need for any change either. I stay behind the bar for a bit to help, serving a few drinks as people come and ask for them. It gives me a chance to watch the crowd without being too obtrusive.

Before I’m about to leave, Dawn and her three friends from earlier make their way up to the bar just as I’m done serving the last customer. Dawn resting her breasts on the bar-top in front of me.

“Are you going to get drunk with us now Asian Fucker?” Dawn blurts out, her earlier discretion gone.

Fon’s and her adorable friend gasp in shock at what Dawn just called me whereas the smokey-eyed one I met at the front gate just seems to narrow her eyes even further at me and levels me the same unfathomable stare. The combination of dark eyeshadow and RBF look ticking all my boxes.

“Dawn! I’m working and would you stop calling me that around strangers,” I tell Dawn off a little.

“But that’s what you do. Fuck Asians. Just like us,” Dawn counters back. Having her friends with her along with a couple of drinks in her is making her even more forward than normal.

“You and I have never done anything, Dawn,” I say shaking my finger at her causing two of her friends to laugh at Dawn getting knocked back.

The other serious one mutters under her breath, “I knew Lala was lying.”

“Now, I’ll have a drink with you if you stop with the name.”

“But we're not really strangers, are we? You know me and this is Fon’s party, so you know her. This is Lini,” Dawn says of the friend I’m having a hard time not getting stuck into a staring contest with. Lini Long. The name settles into my mind. “And this is Fantasia but everyone calls her Fang,” Dawn completes her introduction of everyone.

“They do not! You know I hate that name,” Fantasia says without losing the same adorable smile she always has.

I tell the girls my real name, not that it will get Dawn to start calling me it, and see what they want to drink. “What would you like to drink? I’m not asking you, Dawn, as everything you’ll tell me will have a dirty name. Fon, it’s your birthday, what would you like?”

Fon asks for a Smirnoff Double Black and I get four from the bar fridge along with a beer for me. Popping the lids with my bar blade I propose a Happy Birthday toast to Fon before we all take a drink.

Having collected their drinks from me, Fon wants to go back downstairs to dance some more. I bid them goodbye to go and enjoy themselves. Lini, the last to leave, has to break our intense eye contact to walk away. I watch as the four of them glide effortlessly through the tight crowd and off into the night.

Giving them enough time to leave so I’m not following Dawn around, I pass back through the function until I run into Lawan. Shannon has finally sat down in a chair to take a break and get a drink of water.

“Hey, Lawan. I was just at the bar with Dawn and her friends. I would have gotten you a drink too,” I say to her.

Lawan turns her nose up at the thought, “Nah I’m good. Lini’s with Dawn.”

“You guys don’t get along?” I ask.

“Her and Miss Yui don’t like each other. Lini misbehaves in her class. She was never really mean to me until I said we’d slept together. She called me a liar and is a bit of a bitch now.”

I’ve never actually heard Lawan swear or call someone a name before. I’m quite surprised.

“Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. You and I both know the truth and I’ll never forget it,” I tell her to reassure her.

Lawan seems to cheer back up instantly. “Do you still think about me and our time?”

“Of course, I do. How could I forget? You were incredible.”

“Me too! I’ll never forget my first time. You made me feel so special. I loved the way you made me cum,” Lawan says getting more animated.

Even though the loud music covers our conversation it’s probably not the time or place to discuss it right now. Especially as I find myself starting to get aroused at Lawan’s enthusiasm for remembering. “We should probably talk about it another time though.”

Lawan looks around recalling where she is and changes the subject, I think. “Oh right. Oops. Hey, when Piya moves out in two days I’m going to be staying at her house to look after it for her. I’ve never lived by myself. Can I call you to come over if I get scared?”

“Of course. I’d never want you to be scared by yourself,” I tell Lawan.

While we’ve been talking Shannon’s mum has come to pick her up. Lawan offers to help walk her down the stairs and out to the front of the club where her mum is waiting in her car. I watch to make sure they get down the stairs safely before restarting my round back down into the club.

At the foot of the stairs, Fon’s friend Lini emerges from the tightly packed bodies gyrating on the dancefloor. I stop when I see her intense dark eyes. Lini steps up onto the first step of the stairs I just came down. Rising up next to me, she shouts into my ear so that she's heard properly.

“You didn’t ask me what I wanted upstairs,” Lini yells into my ear over the music.