Julia Lelieveld and the fifth element

I looked around expectantly. The first to respond was Pete.

“Yeah, when we went to Dynamic a few months ago, we ran into them. Really really nice. But they come from a different direction than us and it is more than an hour and a half drive to see them. So that’s why we occasionally meet in Dynamic. We have agreed that we are actually friends, but when we see each other there is always a spark.” And he gave me a wink, with a big smile on his lips.

I smiled back, typical guys.

“And Peet, how is she?”

He sighed briefly.

“She’s beautiful,” he said, swooning. “She has beautiful dark skin, long braids and light eyes. And she kisses as well as she dances.”

I think he was in love. “And you Eddie?”

He glanced at me from the front seat. “Her name is Yvonne. We haven’t seen each other that often.” And he shrugged nonchalantly. Okay, so he didn’t want to dwell too much on it. I looked at Bas questioningly. He reacted just like Eddie. He said her name was Zoe. He also said she’s cute. I wondered why Bas suddenly reacted so absently.

“Well, I hope to meet them.”

“Oh, that will certainly happen”, Peet replied enthusiastically.

The boys then talked about the football match that would take place tomorrow. I kind of half-listened. I didn’t care much for football. It’s one of the most popular sports here in the Netherlands, but I never cared much about it.

After the boys had spoken about football, I didn’t think this was possible, there was silence for a while. Until Peet suddenly asked me. “Say Julia, do you actually have a boyfriend?” He looked at me curiously. I noticed that Eddie and Bas were also looking at me curiously. I had to laugh to myself for a moment, at such a moment they are just like women.

I thought about my answer for a moment. No, I didn’t have a boyfriend. Matthijs and I had once been boyfriend and girlfriend, but that had actually turned into friends. Although we sometimes had a “spark”, as Peet had described it. Besides Matthijs I had really only had two boyfriends. Klaas, I had met him a year and a half ago during a festival near us. I did meet up with him every now and then, but that quickly faded. And then of course we had Sam. I really had fun with him. I met him during the autumn break last year. My parents and I were at a holiday park in Limburg. He was also there with his family and it was love at first sight. We were inseparable that week, but then broke up as friends. But to come back to Peet’s question, no I didn’t have a boyfriend. There were, of course, plenty of beautiful boys at school. But since Mama died, I hadn’t really needed it. I really lived in a haze. That haze was now slowly disappearing.

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend,” I said to him with a laugh.

“That’s a shame too, such a beautiful girl like you.” He said it more to himself than directly to me.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I looked at him surprised.

“Yeah, you should.” And he winked again. I looked outside Bas and saw that we were in town, it wouldn’t be long before we would be there. And with that thought, I saw that we stopped along the sidewalk at a large black building. There was a small line outside that ended at a large steel door in front of a very bloated bouncer. Above the door hung a large black sign with the name “Dynamic” in neon blue letters.

It looked impressive. I was curious what it looked like inside. With the same thoughts, I doubted whether we could enter. Many discotheques require you to be eighteen to enter. Then they didn’t have to ask for ID at the bar if you wanted liquor. Eddie probably saw me looking at the bouncer. “Do not worry. Goof is a member of my father’s gym. He’ll let us in.”

Dissolved. We paid the taxi driver and immediately agreed to meet outside the door for a quarter to three. I was about to join the queue when Bas grabbed my hand. “Come on, we don’t have to wait.” I walked with the boys towards Goof.

“Hey guys, it’s nice to have you back,” said Goof in a friendly voice. He sounded very different than he looked. “Hi Goof. We’re looking forward to it again!”, said Peet cheerfully.

Goof bellowed a big laugh that was very contagious. I looked around for a moment and saw the other people waiting in line looking at us irritated, but also impressed.

“And who do we have here? Is that your girlfriend?” And he looked at me and Bas. As if my hand was on fire, he released it with lightning speed. “Um, no Goof, this is a friend of ours, Julia.”

“The more the merrier. Welcome to Dynamic, Julia,” he said warmly.

“Thank you.” And I gave him a big smile. He smiled back and pushed the door open for us. When we stepped in, the music met us. And I had to say, it was good music. A combination of today’s music, R&B and Rock, totally my style.

I loved dancing very much, but it had been a long time since I had done that. I wondered if I hadn’t forgotten it yet.

We entered a black hall. On the left we could drop off our coats and on the right were the toilets. At the end of the hall there was a staircase on both sides that met at the top at a large glass door. Between the stairs was a large passage to what appeared to be the disco. As we dropped off our coats Eddie said to us.

“Okay, if we break up, we’ll meet here in the hall at two-thirty.”

The boys nodded like it’s natural for you to go to a nightclub together and then everyone would go their separate ways. Oh yes, it will. I nodded too and set my phone to alarm just to be sure. Although I didn’t know if I would hear it with this loud music.

We walked under the stairs to a large hall. On the right was a bar running the entire length. In the middle the floor was lowered where the dance floor was. Around the dance floor were tables and small lounge seats. It was already quite busy.

The boys automatically walked to the other side of the room where we found an empty seat. There were cushions all around a low square table. We had a view over the dance floor which I really liked. I noticed that I felt good. Between all happy and beautiful people. There were some good dancers on the dance floor. I felt like dancing. Geez, that was a long time ago.

But sitting here like this I really felt like enjoying tonight. To be a bit like old Julia. I tried to put aside the thoughts and feelings that had dominated the past nine months and enjoy it. I saw Peet scouring the dance floor, probably his girlfriend. Eddie and Bas were comfortable in the pillows. “And is she here yet?” I almost had to yell to make myself understood by Peet. “Not yet, but she will be soon.” And he quickly looked back at the dance floor.

His mood was infectious. I felt a warm glow over me.

“What do you want to drink?” I asked the boys. They looked at me questioningly.

Peet standing next to me said, “I have a beer.”

I looked at the other boys questioningly and said in unison. “A beer is good.”

Well, they didn’t seem very excited either. But then again, Peet was not easy to match when it came to enthusiasm. I walked towards the bar and felt a hand on my shoulder.

“I’ll walk with you, you don’t have to carry everything back alone.” It was Peet.

“Thank you.”

We found our way through the many people to the bar. They were a little older than us. I estimated the average age to be around eighteen or nineteen years old. Even though I saw some older people but also some young people just like us.

As we walked to the bar I wondered what was wrong with Bas and Eddie. They were both a bit quiet and didn’t seem their best. Peet would answer me. I think he was as honest as a four-year-old kid.

“Hey Peet, what’s wrong with Eddie and Bas?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. They’re just a little tense.” And he waved my concern away with his arm. I looked at him questioningly.

“Tensed?”

“Yeah, they’re just looking forward to Yvonne and Zoe coming. But it remains to be seen whether they will actually come, of course.” And he shrugged.

Okay then. They went to the disco in the hope that they would come.

“But you did meet the girls, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but they couldn’t get them. Look, they’re really just friends. So if they meet another boy they will of course not meet again. And Eddie and Bas know that too. But they hope they’ll come, because they’re secretly fond of them anyway.”

Gosh, what a complicated affair, I thought to myself. Often it is the girls who make it so difficult for themselves. I shrugged and waved it away. I didn’t think about that anymore. That might have come. I was now going to try to have fun.

The bar was all lit up in blue neon light. The girl who stood behind the bar with us wore a black navel sweater with a small luminescent “D” on her left chest. She had brown dreadlocks with a blue twist here and there. Or it just seemed that way because of the light. While she was taking my order I saw that she had an eyebrow and a lip piercing. She was a really nice girl to watch. I was allowed to, a little differently than usual. Less than a minute later she returned with three beers and a red vodka Red Bull. I loved that drink. It was delicious and it gave me enough energy to dance the night away. We walked back to our place with our drinks and I saw a blond girl sitting next to Eddie. She was slightly fuller than me and had a nice round face. Her hair was in a wavy blonde bob which looked great on her. I gave Bas and Eddie their drinks.

“Hi, would you like something to drink too?”

I had always been taught to be hospitable. Fortunately I had received enough money from papa, because it was not cheap here.

She smiled sweetly at me. “No thanks, I already have.” And she held up a glass of red wine. “I’m Yvonne.” And she held out her hand.

I shook her hand. “I thought so. I’m Julia.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Of the same.”

What a nice girl. I saw Eddie put his arm around her with a big smile. That was a very different sight. Peet was right. Eddie had really been waiting for her and now that she was there he was back to himself. Only Bas was not yet himself. He looked around the room a little disappointed.

I took his example, as if I could find Zoe for him. I didn’t even know what she looked like. I enjoyed my drink. That was a long time ago. Peet was still standing next to me looking at the dance floor to see if his girlfriend was there yet. I looked with him to see if I saw a dark girl with long braids and light eyes, but none fit that description. I heard the DJ shout something through the microphone, but I didn’t understand. Everyone reacted enthusiastically and with those sounds the hippest song of the top 40 came out of the speakers. It was a lovely R&B song that you could dance to.

I felt how I automatically moved to the music. Yes, I really wanted to go dancing. I threw back my drink, put the glass on the table and leaned towards Bas. “Come on, let’s go dancing.”

He looked at me a little incredulously. “No, another time.” And he looked away from me again.

Then not, my gosh what a crank.

I looked at Peet, who was also moving along to the music.

“Peet, shall we?” I held my hand out to him and he smiled broadly.

“Are you sure? I’m used to African blood when it comes to dancing.” He raised his eyebrows and laughed at his own joke. I laughed with him. “Just wait and see.” And I gave him a wink.

“Come on then.” He took my hand and we walked to the dance floor.

We moved to the rhythm of the music. It felt wonderful. We were standing close together, he had his hand on my lower back and I had my arms over his shoulders. It should be intimate, but it wasn’t. We just danced. It felt good. I didn’t have such feelings for Peet at all, and neither did he for me. I could tell from the way he spoke about his girlfriend. We dropped to our knees and he took the lead. Geez, he was really good. He moved smoothly to the beat and smiled at me. I smiled back and followed his body to the beat.

“I’m impressed,” he said, laughing in my ear.

“Me too,” I replied.

Soon we were in the middle of the dance floor enjoying each other’s dance skills. Peet wasn’t much taller than me, I wasn’t used to that. The other guys I often danced with were definitely a head taller than me. Somehow a longer guy fits better.

In the meantime, three songs had already passed, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did Peet. Another song came and we started dancing close to each other again. It was really comical, I just had a smile on my face just like Peet. This was a really long time ago for me, but it felt fantastic again. Behind Peet I saw a beautiful dark girl with long braids and light eyes emerge from the crowd. I smiled at her and she answered with a big smile. She gave me a wink and stood behind Peet. Which made him stand between us. He looked around in surprise, and that look in his eyes was priceless. He really loved this girl. I let go of him and I waved at them. They both waved back enthusiastically and blended into each other. She was a very good dancer. They looked good together. I walked back to our spot with a smile, where Eddie was still with Yvonne and Bas still alone. Eddie and Yvonne probably weren’t dancers. Bas still had the same expression on his face. I sat down next to him and looked at him concerned for a moment.

“Just let it be, it’ll be over soon,” he said reassuringly. Not wanting to argue with him, I raised my hands as if surrendering. He gave me a smile and nodded to the table.

“Red vodka Red Bull, right?”

“Entirely right.” Gratefully I took a sip of the drink Bas had fetched me.

“You can dance well.” I looked surprised at Bas. Gosh, I never get a compliment like that and already two in one night.

“Thank you.” And I looked at him gratefully. “Don’t you dance?” I actually thought Bas would be a dancer. I thought he had the character for that.

“Yeah, but I’m not really in the mood.”

“Are you waiting for Zoe?”

“Yeah, actually,” he admitted honestly.

I wish he enjoyed tonight a little more.

“Shall we dance together until then?” I looked at him questioningly.

“No sorry, not tonight. Another time?” He really didn’t want to.

“That’s fine, another time.”

I wanted to look at the dance floor again but my view was blocked by a big beautiful muscular boy. I looked up and for a moment I couldn’t believe my eyes.