“Sort of? Maybe?” I giggle. Actually, that might be a possibility. I definitely don't feel like myself.
“Is this about August? Is he messing with your head?” she asks me, suddenly serious.
We finally get to the escalator that leads up to the VIP rooms and the noise seems to die down a little bit. I wait for an older couple to pass us on the escalator going the other way before turning back toward Bunny. Her expression is concerned and eager.
“Actually… it's totally about August. But it's good, Bunny. It's really good.”
Her eyebrows go up and her crimson lips pucker suggestively. “Really good? Like, how good?”
My heart starts to flutter just thinking about it. “Like… send me over the moon good. Like it's all I think about good. Really good!”
“Yeah, okay… that's good for sure,” she says cautiously. “But you got fired? What is that about?”
I lead her toward Stan, who is standing outside VIP access. He nods at me in a professional way and opens the door. I give Bunny a sidelong look as she enters the private room, noting how impressed she appears.
“Well, August said I didn't really get fired. I got laid off.”
“Oh, honey, that sucks! I'm so sorry!”
We walk into the room, looking around. It's a
large space, but totally empty so far. The two girls from the tour bus sit at one and of a long, bright pink bar. There are leather armchairs arranged in small conversational units and hightop tables with barstools but nobody in them. Apparently we are early to the party. All at once, a dozen LED screens flicker to life and the stage the Kirkman will be on suddenly appears.
“Geez,” Bunny says in a low voice. “This is extremely swanky.”
“Open bar too,” I remark.
“Are you kidding me? Champagne!”
It's like we own the place. It's like something out of a TV show. The women who came to the show with Kirkman pretty much ignore us, but Bunny and I sit at the other end of the bar drinking delicious champagne out of flutes for the next few minutes, just marveling at this room. It really does look like something out of a movie, or like we are in the movie itself. It's kind of amazing.
“So what are you going to be doing? Are you going to try going back to school again?”
“I don't know about that…” I answer uncertainly. “For right now, I am going to be working… for August.”
She stops with the champagne flute halfway to her lips and blinks twice. Are you kidding?”
I shake my head tightly. I don’t know if it is the champagne or what but I feel completely filled with bubbles, filled almost to bursting. I could practically float away, I'm so excited.
“He gave you a job?”
“He says I have good instincts.”
Carefully she sets her champagne down on the bar. She spreads her hands over her knees, holding her fingers wide and tapping her kneecaps for a few moments before she looks up at me.
“Dahlia, I want you to answer me. I want you to think seriously about this question, and then give me an answer.”
“What are you talking about?”
She takes a deep breath.
“Will you do that?” she persists. “Will you answer me honestly?”
I set my champagne glass down too.
“Yes, Bunny… what is it?”
“Could you finally just admit… that I was right??”