Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 69: Kiss From A Rose

Well, shake it up baby now…

Shake it up baby…

Twist and shout…

Twist and shout!

In line with the rest of the girls, Gwen was rocking the dance routines she had been taught for opening night at the Gloom Room A Go-Go. After a week of grueling rehearsals and training with the other waitresses and staff, Gwen had everything from the menu to the choreography down cold. In a rare stroke of luck, she hadn't had to act in her superhero identity of the spectacular Spider-Woman, and she'd been able to devote all of her time to preparing for the job.

The Gloom Room A Go-Go was based on the same principle as the famous Coyote Ugly bar chain, with waitresses who not only served the customers but also put on singing and dancing shows for them. Unlike Coyote Ugly's country-western theme, the investors backing the Gloom Room A Go-Go went for a retro '60s theme, hoping to appeal both to older baby boomers and trendy young hipsters, two groups of whom there were plenty in New York City.

Gwen had to admit that the décor and the music both seemed weird to her. This wasn't just her parents' era, this was her grandparents' era, since her mother Helen and her Aunt Nancy were born in the 1960s. Listening to songs like Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, she had a hard time understanding why people like Renata, the club's manager, or part-owner Jonathan Caesar, said it was so revolutionary. Still, the swinging atmosphere of the club had an infectious energy all its own, and Gwen didn't need to act to convey the fun she was having as she alternated between dancing and waiting on the customers.

One thing was familiar to her, of course-namely, the uniforms the waitresses had to wear. Renata called them "angel dresses", micro-mini dresses with flared skirts and long wide trumpet sleeves, along with patterned tights and knee-high go-go boots.

Gwen knew full well that sex sold in any era.

Some things were just timeless, after all.

SPIDER-WOMAN  #69

"KISS FROM A ROSE"

The next morning saw Gwen at the Blue Star restaurant, sipping some coffee as she waited for her boyfriend to show up. Gwen hadn't seen him much in between training for her job and getting ready for the new school year, and she had been looking forward to this brunch date as a means of catching up.

It wasn't long before Randy Robertson appeared, his dark, handsome face contrasting beautifully with the brightness of his eyes and his smile. Gwen's heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, and the smile she gave as she hugged him in greeting was even brighter than his.

"How've you been?" Gwen asked Randy as he sat down.

"Tired, actually," Randy sighed. "How about you? What's working at this Gloom Room place like?"

"You first," Gwen replied, her enthusiasm replaced by concern. "What's got you so worn out?"

"I've been doing some community work over in Harlem, where my parents live," Randy explained, referring to the Manhattan neighborhood that had become iconic for the cultural, social and political role it had played for the black community not just in New York, but in America as a whole. "Believe it or not, we still have to raise hell to get adequate services from the city-it's funny how places like the Upper East Side get their streets and lights fixed so much faster than ours."

"So what are you doing?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Helping to organize the protest rallies," Randy explained. "I've been filming some of the speeches and demonstrations, and putting them up on places like YouTube, Mother Jones, places like that. I'm sorry if I seem tired, but-"