This is a short chapter to dive further into Rita’s personality
Start the story from the beginning Chapter One: Rita Lauren)
(Continued from : Chapter Six: Lander May)
Chapter Seven: Rita Lauren
“Two minutes” yelled an indeterminable voice from outside accompanied by three knocks. I have not been able to figure out why the two minute call is followed by three knocks on my door and the one minute call followed by four.
I opened my eyes and looked at myself in the mirror. I still need to put my eyeliner and lipstick on. Not sure why, but those never lasted into the second show. As I dolled myself up again, I wondered what to do about May. He clearly recognized me tonight and was trying to hide the fact that he did. He tried to sneak out during my first set, but he is never as smooth as he thinks. He surely had his eyes set on Aggie,
“One minute Lily,” yelled another voice. I didn’t even bat an eyelash and continued applying my lipstick.
The door opened with a man shouting, “Earth to Lily, didn’t you just hear me?”
I turned around and noticed Frankie with his head poking his head out from the hallway.
“Sorry, didn’t hear you there. Guess my head was in the clouds.”
That was totally a lie, I had heard him loud and clear. I had forgotten that I was Lily. I had hopped that choosing my middle name would make this easy, but I think it just made things harder. I had for years ignored my parents and my brother when they called me Lily. They always told me that Rita would be a name that I would grow into, but the truth was I had this Aunt Rita that would come around and they didn’t want to confuse us.
“No worries, happens to the best of us. We get in that space and nothing can really reach us. Well, you better hurry up the crowd is waiting for you.
I quickly finished my lipstick application and hurried out of my own dressing room. A perk of being the co-owner’s sister and the headliner
The girls of The Gems were just getting off the stage. They were the new act and I new they would last. There were not Frankie’s type, not at all sultry and didn’t had It.
~~
The second set was livelier than the first, and I was tired. I had been doing more singing and dancing in the last week than I could remember. I hurried back to my dressing room to change out of my show clothes into something far more comfortable.
I pulled out a black sleeveless dress that came up to my knees from my closet. This particular dress had a plunging neckline shaped like a “V” that revealed some of my fronts, but still allowed something to be left to the imagination. Across the waist was an intricate pattern of sparking beads that was confined in a rectangle by metallic thread . At the bottom of the dress were 2 spiral shapes in the same sparkling bead material. This new style was known as the dropwaist and was sweeping across Four Lakes. One of the perks of this undercover job, is first access to the entire fashion industry. And a nice dress with a killer pair of shoes is my greatest weakness, not that I would let May ever know.
“Knock, knock,” said a gentle voice.
“Come in.”
“You were great tonight,” said Aggie as she opened the door and walked in. She sat on the only seat in the room. “Ready for a drink?”
“Ah, just another show. Yes, I could use a drink. Not used to doing two shows a night.”
“Yeah, its a grueling pace. But you are hot right now, and Frankie wants to capitalize on it.”
“Speaking of hot, I noticed that a gentle was dancing you during my first act,” I said with a slight giggle in my voice.
“Oh, you mean the guy with the dog?”
As she posed the question, I knew she was trying to get out of answering me. Her cheeks began to blush and she was squirming in her seat. “Yes, I mean the guy with the dog. Seamed as though you were giving him some extra attention.”
“That was nothing, just another wolf in the pack. He asked some questions about the club and about you in fact. Maybe he was smitten by you, like every other wolf that comes into this club.”
“Never-mind the questions about me.I think he was smitten by you and so was his dog. If he was after my attention he would have stayed
for my entire set.”
“Well, I guess I clearly missed that one,” she said has she turned to the mirror to touch up her makeup.
“I wouldn’t say that. He could return tomorrow to see you,” I winked at her, but knew she wouldn’t get the reason. For I knew this “mystery” guy that she talked to and might have some influence on him seeing her again.
“Not like Frankie would allow it anyways. He has a strict no dating policy with all of his girls, including you.”
“Ya, ya I know. One of the worst parts of this place. Lots of guys falling over you to buy you a drink and take you out somewhere nice, but you can’t even talk to them outside this club. If there is one reason that would make me quit, that is it.” I stomped my bare foot onto the hard floor to invoke the “anger” that I felt and wanted Aggie to believe I had.
“We going to get something to drink?”
“Just hold up, I have to get some shoes on.” I fumbled around in the closet and picked a pair of shinny black heels. There were about 3 inches in height with a rounded front and a simple strap in-front of the lower ankle; comfortable and stylish the best of both worlds. Any other night I would have welcomed a night with the girls and to get dolled up, but I was still undercover and my detective shoes were joining the party. “Ready, where shall we go?”
“Where the night takes us,” she chuckled. Aggie grabbed my hand and we exited the club with our elbows locked.