Girls Night Out (Part 2)
A few songs later, Tony nudges Amina to look behind her. Upon turning around, she spots that the second wall man, red tracksuit, is now vigorously grinding up on two girls. The girls are tall, slim, and young, probably no older than 21. They are surrounded by the bar to one side and a group of tall and muscular older men on the other side who are forming what looks like a fort around the girls. Red tracksuit continues to dance around the two girls as they try to slide and slither away from him. They move around the dance floor towards the bar, where he follows them. They move towards the fort, hoping the men will intervene since they are substantially bigger than red tracksuit. However, they find no refuge as the men are too busy scouting the dancefloor for any single ladies to approach. By this point, Amina and Tony have stopped dancing and are discussing what to do. One of their friends from the group looks over to assess the situation that has made Amina and Tony stop dancing the shoki. After watching the endeavours of red tracksuit for a couple of seconds, he simply shrugs and says well, at least he’s persistent and returns to dancing.
The girls begin to move closer to Amina and Tony. Red tracksuit promptly follows them. The growing and visible discomfort of the girls’ prompts a young man in a navy hoodie to tap red tracksuit’s shoulder in an attempt to make him stop. However, red tracksuit ignores him and navy hoodie walks away hands in the air as if to express that’s he’s done everything he could.
Amina and Tony have been watching the developments for a few minutes now. Tony makes the first call and concludes that they should return to dancing since someone will eventually intervene. Amina, having witnessed the girls move across the entirety of the dance floor without receiving as much as a second glance, is more sceptical than Tony. She manages to make eye contact with one of the girls and mouths are you ok?To which the girl mouths back, help. This sign is all Amina needs. She reaches out her hand, which the girl takes, then she pulls them to join her groups' dance circle, thinking this will send a clear message to the boy. However, red tracksuit follows after them and continues to violently thrust his hips towards the two girls. Amina puts her palm out at him, like a crossing guard at a car. He ignores her message and puts his leg up the side of one of the girls again. Amina then tells him you need to stop. He ignores her once again and proceeds to try and pull the girls away. Seeing that he was not to be reasoned with, she places her hand as a barrier between the girls and him and says with as much confidence and power she can master you need to leave. Red tracksuit, who now looks agitated, swings his arms outwards and puffs his chest at her. Tony who has been watching the incident decides to pull the girls across the dance circle to the opposite end. Amina takes this chance to close the circle as if to create a blockade between red tracksuit and the girls. This seems to finally send a message. Red tracksuit throws his hands in the air and walks away. Amina exhales; the encounter had been scary but at least she came out of it unharmed. Despite her racing heartbeat, she goes back to dancing, this time without swinging her hips.
In almost no time at all, black tracksuit is now tapping at Amina’s shoulder with the ferocity of a debt collector knocking on a debtor’s door. It is clear that red tracksuit had informed him of the incident that preceded. As Amina turns around, he aggressively demands can I ask you a question? To which Amina replies no and turns back around. He then taps her shoulder again this time, demanding even louder and more forcefully: CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION? as if to make it clear to Amina that he is here for business and not to proposition her. Amina promptly responds, no and returns to face the group. Unable to understand why he is not being given the attention he believes he is entitled to, he taps on her should once again and restates, I just want to ask you a question and Amina says no once again. By this point, black tracksuit's expression resembles someone who has just been told that one plus one does not equal two. He is in disbelief that Amina would afford him neither her time nor energy. He abruptly spins her around and demands one final time I CAN’T EVEN ASK YOU A QUESTION? This time Tony steps in to ask Amina if everything is okay, and before she begins explaining black tracksuit finds his way between them and is now calmly questioning Tony if Amina is with him. Upon establishing that they are in fact together, black tracksuit gives Tony a handshake, a pat on the back, and a safe bro! before deciding to leave.
The exchange leaves a bitter taste in Amina’s mouth. She stops dancing altogether even though her favourite Drake song is now blasting through the speakers. Her night is ruined, while black tracksuit is now parading across the dancefloor blissfully grinding up single women and stealing kisses whenever he can. This is all too much, so Amina decides to call it a night, and asks Tony to escort her to the metro. On her way out, she asks to the bouncers why they had simply chosen to watch instead of intervening during the debacle, to which they simply shrug their shoulders in indifference. Feeling demoralized, she proceeds to leave the bar. Tony follows behind her and walks her to the nearest metro. However, following the events of the night, she no longer has the same confidence, so she tells Tony to call her an Uber instead.