Money Makin' (Completed)

21.

Zuria

After a long day of job searching and coming up with nothing, I was finally back at Retta's with no hope for my future at this point.

"Honey, I know it's hard but you'll find something." My mother spoke on FaceTime with me and I couldn't help but to cry.

I'd really allowed myself to have no job, no money and no experience in anything while I depended on a man to care for me. Though it wasn't farfetched, I shouldn't have never allowed it since this was the outcome of falling out and not being together.

"Don't cry, Zuria." She went on as I move the phone away from my face.

I was bawling at this point.

"I don't know what I'm going to do." I sobbed as I got back into the car, wiping my tears.

"Why don't you just come home? I've told you already, you can stay here until you find some place to work. No charge." She went on and I shook my head.

I refused to go back home, I refused to let everyone around me be right. Plus she took Mitch's side way too much, I didn't want or need to hear that everyday.

"No." I shook my head.

"I'm just going to stay here and figure somethings out on my own." I expressed to her, I needed to do this on my own.

"My prideful daughter." She shook her head, looking at me.

"Fine. Just make sure to call me soon and let me know what's going on."

"Alright?" She asked for assurance and I nodded slowly.

"Alright." I told her.

"Okay, honey. I love you." She said to me.

"Love you too." I told her before the call ended and I looked up at the WiFi bars becoming low, meaning I probably wouldn't be able to use my phone efficiently for a few minutes or make any calls, considering my phone was off.

Sighing deeply, I looked down at my hands, wondering what the hell I was going to do. This hole was getting deep for me and I needed to figure something out immediately.

"Zuria!" I heard Retta calling me as she came into the house.

"Zuria." She called again as I got up and made my way into the living room.

"What?" I asked, unenthusiastically as she held up a flyer in my face.

"New strip club opening downtown next week. They're having auditions in two days." She spoke excitedly.

"You and I are going." She went on, making me jolt my head back.

"No the hell I am not." I told her, furrowing my eyebrows.

I didn't know who the hell she thought I was but I'd never be a stripper. Not in this life. Not in my next one. I don't care how bad it got for me.

"Girl, no. Look, we can be bottle girls, you see how much their offering bottle girls there. Two thousand dollar sign on bonus." She tapped the paper, try to get me to think that this was a good plan.

"I can't even get hired at the place you're at now, what makes you think I'm going to get hired at a huge place like this?" I asked, wondering where her common sense was.

Plus every girl in the city probably had the same idea in their minds. It wouldn't be just us, there would be competition and I wasn't here for that.

"Well I heard it's black owned. So that's why I just quit my job at Pete's and I'm going down to this club in two days." She went on, tapping the paper again.

"You better get with it or get lost, Z."

"You're 23 and this is the real world. People don't have Mitch's in their everyday lives and nobody is going to give you anything. It's either you go and get it or you fall flat on your face."

"Simple as that." She said as she placed the paper down onto the table before she walked out, leaving me there with nothing but my thoughts.

*
two days later

"I don't know about this, Retta." I spoke as she straightened my hair while I looked at the mirror at her.

I'd ended up giving in and deciding to go and audition for this damn strip club. Even though I knew in the back of my mind that it wasn't the best idea but what else did I have to lose at this point?

"You'll be fine, Z. We're only going to be bottle girls, nothing more, nothing less." She explained to me and I nodded slowly, just thinking how this would all play out.

I'd never worked in a strip club before so I didn't know what to expect. I've been to plenty of them but I never knew what happened behind the scenes.

"What is it like to work in these type of places?" I couldn't help but to ask.

"Well.." She trailed off.

"Majority of the guys are dogs so don't even think about trying to find a man there or anything, they're there to see ass and to drink. That's it." She spoke sternly.

"So if we do get hired, just go there everyday with a positive attitude and remember you're only there for your money." She shrugged as I nodded slowly, mentally preparing myself for this.

Lord knows I was not ready for any of this but that was life. A bunch of chances and risk.

"Alright, all finished." She said as I flipped my new weave from the old bundles that she'd had lying around.

I needed my hair done for this audition and this was the only way that I'd be able to look like something.

"Thank you so much, friend." I said to her as I continued to shake my hair in the mirror, watching as these old bundles moved as if they were new.

They were surprisingly sleek and ready to go.

"You ready?" I asked her after I'd finished admiring myself in the mirror.

"Yeah, just let me finish my make up." She went on and I nodded slowly, looking in the mirror to make sure my makeup looked like something as well.

"You're wearing that?" She asked, referring to the bodysuit and denim jeans that I had on and I nodded slowly.

"Yeah. What's wrong with it?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows while she shrugged.

"It's a strip club, Zuria.." She trailed off.

"You want to get hired right?"

"I mean yeah but.." I trailed off, doing a 360 in the mirror.

"Then you gotta be sexy." She said to me, making me look over to her.

"Look, any other day, that's fine. You're fine as hell and your ass is poking in them jeans but this place is there to sell sex."

"And though we're not going there for that, I'm sure whoever owns this place is going to want all of their women to be sexy." She went on.

"Plus we're going up against how ever many other girls and you know these hoes sell sex everyday anyway.." She trailed off, instantly making me reconsider.

"Alright, fine. Give me a minute." I nodded slowly, knowing she was right. I needed this job, so I was going to show whoever the hell owns this place that I deserved it.

*