Prologue - There's No Place Like New York

There’s No Place Like New York

I fucking love New York.
It is 3 something in the morning and I am dancing on the stage of my favorite club in my favorite city.
Everyone, everyone is here. We breezed past the door guys when I presented them with a smile and a handful of blow-pops. Commanding the stage is the guy in the suit, lip-synching to every Brit-Pop favorite the transvestite DJ plays. The Mick Jagger doppelganger is wandering in the crowd along with those guys from that band everyone is talking about; and somewhere is my faux stalker, the coat check guy, who we’ve avoided by stashing our hoodies in a corner so I don’t have to deal with his disturbing new nickname for me (Jen with the sparkly eyes).
My new friend Riley is dancing next to me. I am kicking out my fishnetted legs next to her fishnetted legs and we shake our hair – hers black and asymmetrical, mine red and curly – in time to the music. Even though I can’t see him, I know how Adam, my best friend and roommate, is dancing—he is biting his lower lip, leaning slightly backward, his arms outstretched as he shouts the words to his girlfriend, Lauren. We’re the common people Pulp is singing about—dancing and drinking and screwing—and all of it is exactly, exactly what I want.
It is dark and smoky and loud and crowded and perfect. I know my clothes and hair will smell like smoke in the morning; I know that I’ll be drunk and tired during the long ride back to Brooklyn; I know that real life exists outside Saturday nights at Don Hill’s; and yet, as I grab my vodka 7 off the speaker as Pulp mixes into The Strokes, I can almost remain in the moment forever.
In this instant I’m not thinking about my shit day job, what I’ll do tomorrow, who I want to make out with, or why I have yet to accomplish anything with my life—I’m thinking about how much I love this song.
I love this song! I love dancing to this song! I love dancing to this song in New York City!
This night is the reason I left Kansas. This night is the reason I love New York.
I fucking love New York.