21
bottles moving, at least two per hour, 'cause that's what's going to pay the overhead."
"Remember, you've got to dress sexy, look sexy, feel sexy, you know?" Kartik grinned. "Here's a piece of advice: The shorter the skirt, the better the tips. I'm talking crotch-length, babe," he said, making a cutting motion with his hand across his thigh to demonstrate.
Alan reached out to grab her elbow, making Eliza recoil. "Whatever you do, never, never, never, ever, ever, ever let anybody in if they're not on the list. The list is God. It could be my mother out there, but if she's not on the list, tough luck, Ma, no list, no entry. Unless it's a celeb, but that goes without saying. I'm frigging serious. The only way we can keep the place hot is if absolutely no one can get in."
A model in a baby T-shirt and ripped jeans slunk out of the bathroom and plopped herself on the armrest of Alan's chair. "Baby, I'm hungry," she pouted. Eliza recognized her from a recent Victoria's Secret commercial. She'd been wearing a lace teddy and three-foot-long angel wings. The ad always irritated Eliza---what kind of lame sexual fantasy involved underwear and hokey feather-covered appendages?
"Get the chef to make you something," Alan said irritably.
"I love your necklace," the model said in a thick accent, flicking her eyes at Eliza.
Eliza nodded. "Thanks." She fiddled with the leather string Ryan had given her in Palm Beach, feeling a pang of anxiety.
22
"What do you think? You up for it?" Kartik asked. "The best summer of your life?"
Eliza smiled, thinking she'd heard that line before. "When do I start?" she asked, elated that she'd landed the job so easily. She would be back on the A-list as fast as you could say, "By invitation only."
"Saturday," Alan and Kartik replied in unison.
"In two days?" Eliza blanched, looking around. Hello, the walls were still exposed Sheetrock, weren't they?
"Relax. It's only a soft opening, for a premiere party. You know that new movie that's an update of Gone with the Wind with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Chad Michael Murray? Favor for a friend of ours. You know Mitzi Goober?" Kartik asked.
Eliza nodded. Mitzi was only the most feared publicist in the tristate area.
At twenty-seven Mitzi had achieved immortality by landing on the cover of New York magazine as a "party grrrrl." Two years ago she'd spent a month in jail after her teacup Chihuahua attacked an unsuspecting waitress's fur-trimmed uniform vest, landing the waitress in the hospital and Mitzi on the cover of the tabloids. It was widely reported that Mitzi had laughed off the incident and called the waitress a "fashion victim," setting off a class war that resulted in aggressive and diminutive canines being banned from certain Hamptons eateries. But now she was back, a bestselling prison memoir under her belt, and more popular than ever. It was the Paris Hilton effect--there was no such thing as bad publicity in the Hamptons.
23
"But..." Eliza wordlessly motioned to the surrounding mess. It was hard to believe that in less than forty-eight hours the place would be turned into something resembling a decent watering hole.
"They'll be done by then, I promise you. By the way, how old are you?"
"I just turned seventeen . . ." she said tentatively, wondering if she should have lied.
Kartik waved a hand dismissively. "You're not bartending, so its cool.
Eliza realized she didn't know what exactly she would be doing, or even how much she would be making. It seemed a little rude to ask, especially since the interview was obviously over. She figured they would straighten out those details later.
"You guys fans of Dante?" she asked, on her way out the door.
"Huh?" Kartik looked at her blankly. Alan was already nuzzling the underage panty model, his hands disappearing up the back of her shirt.
"The club. Seventh Circle. It's about the seventh circle of hell, right?" she asked, wondering if she sounded like an idiot, because that was how her new boss was looking at her. She remembered from English class that in Dante's Inferno, the seventh circle of hell was where Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, and a bunch of other boldface names in history had ended up, due to sins of violence and pride.
24
"Sure, whatever." He shrugged. "Dante's cool. He's that new DJ from Paris, right?"
Eliza made a note that being literate was something that her new job--whatever it was--would not entail. Just wear the short skirt and keep the celebrities happy. She could do that.
25
is there such a thing as an accidental lap dance?