Kept

She pulled her hand away from her face. “My dad is coming to visit. He thinks that I don't focus enough on school, and he wants to make sure that I'm not partying all the time.”

“Oh.” Alexis's relationship with her father was a bit strained. When her mother took her on shopping trips in all the famous cities in the world, her dad paid for it. But he never came along, always too wrapped up in the business world to take time to see his own daughter. And any time he did come, it was just to tell Alexis that she wasn't doing a good enough job. It always riled me up, though I never said anything to her about it.

“I don't understand why he doesn't think I'm doing a good enough job. I mean, I made the Dean's List last semester. Just because I am hanging out with some guys, and going to some nightclubs doesn't mean I can't keep my head on straight. Right?”

I nodded. “Of course you're right. Your grades are fine, I’m sure. When was the last time you saw him?”

She shrugged. “Maybe Christmas? I don't really remember. Oh God, that's terrible too.”

“What's terrible?”

“That I can't remember the last time I saw him. Like, I think he was there for Christmas Eve, but my mom had a huge party, so I don't even remember if I saw him. Oh, Calla, what do I do?”

I looked around our apartment, and I knew exactly what we needed to do. “The first thing that we’re going to do is hide all the booze.” I pointed to the top of our cabinets, where we had at least ten bottles of liquor, and a few other bottles of wine that had been given to us as gifts.

She made a face. “Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea. And, then, I'm also going to have to hide my lingerie that’s hung in the back of my closet in the trunk.” The trunk. It was where we hid everything we were embarrassed about when someone important was coming over. Sex toys, condoms, porn, and any lingerie that we had. The trunk was infamous. We never actually told guys about it, but somehow they already knew. I think it was just that type of talk that happened in the gym when guys were showering together or doing something else equally manly. Not that a bunch of straight guys in the shower was that manly.

“I will vacuum and dust before work tonight. I'm sure it'll be fine. How long is he staying?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean he’ll probably just come for dinner tonight, and then stay for his meeting in the morning. I doubt he’ll stay any longer than that. It would definitely fill his quota for family time for the year. Wait. Did you just say that you have to work tonight? But it's Thursday.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I'm on tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday. Though I'm not really sure how it works. If I get a date tonight, then would I see someone else tomorrow? It seems kind of weird to me.”

She shook her head. “It's all weird to me.”

She decided not to press any further, and stood up, moving over to the kitchen where she grabbed a stool so she could start to pretend to reach the bottles. After she had missed three times, I offered to trade places with her. I could tell she wanted to do it on her own, but short girl problems made her realize she needed my help.

Eight

As I arrived at the club that night, I felt like everyone's eyes were on me. I had barely walked through the door when Monique pulled me aside by the arm.

“Everyone is talking. They've seen it all on the news. Has anyone come to you?”

I shook my head. “No. No cops, no reporters, no one knew I was there. I don't know how you got that detective to keep his mouth shut but thank you.” I felt like I was on pins and needles all week. Anytime someone opened the door in one of my silent midterm halls, I would look up, anticipating handcuffs and a news crew, but it never came. Monique had certainly done her job to keep the lid on my situation.

“Well, good. However, some of the girls are little bit upset. They've known the judge for years. So just give them some space, okay?”

“Sure. Wait, like space meaning I shouldn't be here?”

She looked me up and down. “Girl, please. No one is going to stop you from making any money. Oh, that's right, money. Here's yours. It's just a little something, but it's a preview of what can come. Good luck tonight.” She gave me a white envelope; it felt heavy in my hands. I didn't want to open it in front of all the other girls, so I stepped out into the hallway, and just took a little peek. There was at least a thousand dollars in there… in all hundreds. I hadn't even done anything, and I'd still made a grand. Enough to cover my rent for almost two months. I walked back into the dressing room, and put my money in my bag. I grabbed the black corset and matching ruffled panties off of the rack, and got dressed. A tall blonde walked up behind me.

“Hi, I’m Vivienne. Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened to you last weekend. Some of us have been there before. Though, it doesn't usually happen to the nice guys.” Her voice was like velvet, and I couldn't tell if she was being sincere. But somehow she put some sort of trance over me, and I couldn't look away. She had almost translucent skin and wore deep red lipstick with a shiny blonde bob. She was incredible looking, almost ethereal.

“Oh, thanks. Yeah, it was pretty rough.”

She nodded. “I'm sure it was. I remember when Jimmy got whacked last year; it was terrible. News crews everywhere, cops questioning me for months afterwards…”

I interrupted her. “Months?”

She shrugged. “Well, I mean Jimmy had a bit of the history. And I was with him through a lot of it. I hadn't been to the club in over a year when I came back single.”

“You were with a client?”

She put her finger up to her lips, and smiled devilishly. “We're really not supposed to be, but the Madame made an exception. Jimmy’s crew used to spend a lot of their money here. Of course, a few of the guys were mobsters. But you don't need to worry about any of that; they have their regulars. Girls they can trust. They're definitely not going to flirt with some girl whose last client ended up dead, know what I mean?”

Suddenly, her velvety voice sounded more like poison. She was making sure that I wasn't going to get with any of her clients. “I know exactly what you mean. But I've learned pretty quickly here that the men kind of choose for themselves. Oh, and I'm really sorry about Jimmy.”

I turned around, continued to powder my face, and put on my lipstick. Two could play her game, and I knew exactly how to play it.