The Etiquette of Smoking

Let Vickie Keep Her Secret

The rest of Sunday night went by easy enough. There was a small fight that broke out between two drunk guys at the bar that Niki and I cleaned up so Ian could continue serving drinks. There wasn't much work for us though, thus not a lot of tips. To be honest, I'd made about 6 bucks, but that's okay. Niki kept me laughing all night as she joked about everything from the weird guy in the back who stared owl eyed at everyone, guys and girls included; to her daddy issues being the reason she was confident enough to serve drinks topless but not enough to be a full-blown stripper. She seemed to really like me and asked me a lot about myself. I was grateful for her kindness and curiosity in me. I rarely got questions about myself, and when I did it was simply formality, but Niki actually cared and listened. I told her a little about Gavin, but not much. I mostly talked about my home back in California and my friends from high school. I made sure to reciprocate and Niki told me about her life back in Indonesia, where she was born and her passion for music. She told me about how excited she was that her YouTube channel had been receiving a lot of attention recently for her covers. I made sure to tell her how happy I was for her and asked her a lot of questions about singing and music, which she happily obliged in answering.

We talked nearly all night, which was fine since most of the business in the club was gone by midnight. We sat at the bar the entire time we talked and sometimes Ian would stand and listen, occasionally throwing in a comment or question. I felt overjoyed after I left work. Happiness that I'd had such great conversations with 3 of my coworkers. I wanted to get to know Chad and Max more but was unsure of how to start or even keep up conversations with them until I knew more about them. Regardless, I left work ecstatic and excited for work on Wednesday.

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I woke up the next afternoon feeling great. The apartment was empty, I knew, as Gavin had work at 2pm and it was currently 3. So, I took the next few hours to shower, eat cereal, scroll through my phone, and dance to music that Gavin usually found annoying. I normally had to listen to my music with headphones when he was around or risk hearing a tirade of complaints for my "shit taste."

I washing the dishes and wondering why after so many years of singing, I still sounded like a cat going through a wood chipper when my cell phone rang across the living room. I turned the water off and dried my hands on my shirt sloppily before running over to the couch. My caller ID simply read 'unknown' but I answered it anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hey! It's Niki. What are you doing right now?" Niki's soft voice came through from the other end, making me smile but also furrow my brows in confusion.

"Hi! I'm doing the dishes...um, how did you get my number?" I laughed, sitting down on the brown couch and watching the women on the TV slap each other. Niki laughed before replying.

"I found it in Ethan's office in your file. He doesn't lock his filing cabinet, you know." She explained like it was no big deal that she'd stolen the personal information of another employee.

"Oh." Was all I could reply I thought of the humor in her choice to use the word 'found' and not 'stole.'

"Yep, so wanna come shopping with me? I need some new stuff to wear at the club, all my stuff is blah." Niki asked me to come shopping and I jumped at the chance to solidify a friend out of her.

"Sure! Where are you going?" I asked, standing up and making my way to my bedroom to change. I heard Niki shift on the other end and the jingle of keys before she replied.

"Ivory. I'll come get you, where do you live?"

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