Champagne and Cigarettes

Champagne Room

Part 1

"Hi Zach, good to see you again,"

you say, more high-pitched than your actual voice, hugging him lightly.

"This here, is Loopy," he introduced, pushing the timid but perspicacious looking man in your direction. "Nice to meet you, Loopy," you said, shaking his hand and pushing a strand of hair behind your ear.

"And of course, the notorious nafla," you said yourself, before shaking his hand. He gave a swift nod in your direction with a charming smile across his face.

"I'm Bloo." A voice deeper and raspier than you had expected emerged from the smaller looking of the bunch. "So nice to meet you," you spoke, smile plastered on and shaking his hand.

And so you went on greeting all the people there.

Awhile after you'd sat down and was in deep conversation with the rappers, you saw a bright light emanating from inside your bag. "Do you need to get that?" Loopy interrupted himself to ask you, also having caught glimpse of the light. "Nah, it's all good" you chuckled dryly, thinking you'd already turned it off. After doing just that, you couldn't help but notice Zach sending you a glare at your rookie mistake.

Later in the evening, Zach pulled you aside to ask, "what the hell had gotten into you" and going on about how unprofessional your behaviour was. Instead of fighting him on this, you stood silently, tuning him out as you thought about going home and getting some sleep at the end of the night. "Are you even listening?" he exclaimed with a scoff to which you nodded absentmindedly.

"Whatever. Go do some shots with the guys." He hurried you along with his hands, eyebrows raised, and you did as told. You laughed at their stupid jokes, touched their arms and downed drink after drink as per requested. In all honesty, it was getting hard to keep up with how much you'd been drinking, and although your tolerance was high, you used this as an excuse to go to the bathroom and take a break.

The floor was filthy and viscous in the hallway, but that didn't stop you from removing your heels and sitting on the ground. You let out a deep sigh and closed your eyes, while waiting for your phone to boot up.

"Rough night?" A voice spoke.

You reluctantly opened your eyes, only to recognize him from the champagne room. Your eyes went wide, then you began to get up in a hurry. "No no, please sit" he grinned, before sitting next to you.

He grimaced, looked at his hand and then you, "why is the floor... sticky?" You broke out a small laugh, and he too started chuckling. "I really don't know," you said shaking your head, before leaning it against the wall and looking into his dark eyes. Curious, you asked "what are you doing out here?" He glanced at his entangled hands above his raised knees before speaking, "needed a breather?"

It seemed more like a question than an answer which prompted you to smile at him. "You?" he asked, to which a simple "same" seemed to suffice.

"So you and Zach are like, friends?" he hesitantly asked. You chuckled, throwing your head back and tongue pressing against your cheek. "Yeah right, this is strictly business boo".

"it's Bloo" he quickly let out, eyes fixated on you.

"My bad," you popped, pursing your lips and awkwardly eyeing the floor.

"We should probably go back in, right?" you asked after silence had fallen upon you, scrunching your nose displeasingly. "Yeah," he said, letting out a sigh.

He got up first and reached a hand out to you. "I don't want to" you playfully whined, although still grabbing his hand and getting up.

You adjusted your shiny black sheath dress, and took a deep breath looking at Bloo again. He smiled slightly and gestured for you to go first. Your eyes widened as you realized you actually did have to go to the bathroom now, and embarrassed as you were you let out a dry chuckle and told him to head in first.

"Shit," you muttered out at the first glance you got of yourself in the luminous bathroom mirror. Quickly you adjusted the shoulder length blonde wig. You re-applied your lipstick, crossing both fingers and toes that Bloo hadn't noticed, even though you didn't think he'd tell anyone. And it wasn't as if you were ashamed of your job; you just didn't want people to recognize you. So, you tried to disguise yourself, that meant wig, lots of makeup, fake eyelashes. The friends you had tried to tell about this job had been quick to assume you were just a prostitute but that wasn't it. No, your job was to talk to whichever VIP guests had hired you, and party with them. Seems kind of stupid but if you got the looks for it then why not?

Zach had become somewhat of a regular with you. The first time you met him you and Zach seemed to vibe pretty well together, but it didn't take long before he acted like a sort of manager whenever he hired you. Your need of money was bigger than the giant middle finger you wanted to throw in his face though.

You made your way back to the champagne room; a small cheer came from some of the wasted boys as you entered, and you dived straight back into work. The night went by with indistinguishable conversations and drinks. It seemed Bloo had disappeared as you couldn't catch sight of him, but then again, he was pretty ready to leave when you had talked earlier.

You were snapped out of your own thoughts when you heard the request thrown your way. "What?" you almost shouted but held yourself back as to not make a scene. "Come on, it's not that different from what you're already doing" he said quietly in your ear.

"What, Zach no. I'm not giving your friend a fucking blowjob." You moved back and gave him a look of disbelief, while shaking your head. However not soon after that, what followed was a sudden hand on your thigh, you looked at the owner and realized it was Zach's good friend. As you made eye contact, he suddenly squeezed your thigh hard, and you could feel his hand starting to move places it should not. You could handle Zach's meaningless opinions on how to do your job, what you could not stand is him breaking the contract and allowing his friend to do so as well.

You got up furiously and started to make your way out, when you heard Zach yelling after you. "Hey, I already paid you, you can't leave!" You stopped in your tracks, nostrils flaring at this point. Swiftly turning around, you rummaged through your bag, "here's your fucking 500 dollars" you snared, throwing it on the table. A couple oohs were thrown out as you left the room, and you could hear Zach getting shit from his friends. Music to your ears.

You got outside and without wasting a second you quickly popped a cigarette between your lips. You flicked the wheel of your disposable lighter again and again, protecting the flame from the wind with your off hand, but you got nothing.

Everything was turning to shit, and you reached your breaking point. Letting out a quiet whine as threw the lighter at the ground and kicked a trash bag behind you, which was followed by the clinking sound of soju bottles falling to the ground. As your anger subsided lightly, you realized you were freezing cold, and crouched down embracing your knees to try and stay warm. All you wanted to do was scream and punch Zach in his big ol' face. Thinking back to the hand on your thigh, you felt a shiver go down your spine, and tears filled your eyes. You sighed loudly, followed by a sniffle and then peeled the fake lashes off. "God, I hate this night" you whispered to yourself, eyes staring at the ground.

"You need a light?" You heard a voice clearly from above you and snapped your head up.

"Bloo?"