Seven

Chapter 9

"You let him kiss you?" I gape over at my friend.

"It's not a big deal, Lil." Mesha shrugs.

"Do you kiss a lot of your...clients?" I struggle for the word and glance at the woman filing my nails hoping I'm being somewhat ambiguous about the topic.

"Don't worry about them." Mesha glances at the nail techs.

"You're practically my therapist aren't you Renata?" Mesha smile to the woman fixing her acrylics.

"Oh I know everything." The woman, Renata, smirks.

"And I only kiss the hot ones." Mesha answers me.

"Isn't that against rules?" I ask her.

"Not kissing. I can choose who I want to kiss. But fucking and meeting up with them outside of a scheduled appointment is a big no no." Mesha clarifies.

"Hmm." I turn to watch the woman doing my own nails.

"Are you judging?" Mesha asks timidly. And when I look over to her she looks worried and a little...embarrassed?

"No! No not at all. Just...was it nice? Like does it not feel weird kissing old guys?" I ask her bluntly.

"That's why I get to pick who I kiss. He was like forty but didn't look it. And was actually a decent kisser." Mesha concludes as if it even surprised her that the forty year old knew how to kiss decently. You'd hope he'd had some practice by forty.

"Plus he gave me this." Mesha motions down to her new Louis Vuitton hand bag with a loving smile. Of course she'd look at a new hand bag like a mother looks at a new born.

I'm kind of glad I didn't get the escorting job, I really don't think I could do what Mesha does. I guess Seven picked it right for me. She's so confident and she's definite in her choices and decisions. Like she knew exactly how she wanted her nails done where as I jumped between three different shades of the same colour. I ended up with a pinky nude. Mesha also would've been able to handle what happened last night at the club much better than I had. My face is still actually kind of sore from when that guy grabbed me.

Mesha didn't ask what was wrong with me when she came to pick me up this afternoon for a manicure. She could just tell I wasn't as bubbly as usual and I've put that down to my interaction with that guy at the bar and my second weird moment with Seven in the storage room.

In the back of my mind I knew what it really was though. Today was the anniversary of my parents deaths. I never mark it on a calendar or even consciously acknowledge the date approaching. But the day comes around every year and my mind just goes to a weird place. I can't help but think about them and imagine what my life would be like if they were alive. How different I'd be. How different my circumstances might be.

Realising something was clearly on my mind Mesha decided she was going to take me out after I'd finished work at the bar tonight. She's dropping me off after our nail appointment and picking me up once my shifts done and I'm kind of excited. I haven't gone out clubbing in awhile and I've never gone with Mesha. I have a feeling I'll be in for a big night since she's a lot of fun.

The nail technicians are very skilled and finish our nails quickly. Mesha drives me to Club Venus in her red Mini Cooper, she's quite the erratic wee driver and weaves in and out of traffic sporadically. She always drives with loud female rap beats beating through the speakers, it's actually a vibe but my first few times riding with Mesha's driving was...well alarming at first. But I realised her heavy foot and command of traffic were well controlled in that same way Mesha seems to have jurisdiction over everything in her life.