Page 2 of Something Tangled Something True
“You people?” he seethes. “Are you fucking kidding me?Youare about tomarryme. From the sounds of it, all you want is to be likeus people.”
When Russ was a quiet nerd with nothing but pocket change and a small startup company, I had wanted to be a part of his family. Now though? I’m not so sure.
When he gets like this, it's hard not to think about how different my life would’ve been if Ryder and I had worked out. But we were young. I had so many plans for my future, and he was grieving, making our time together little more than stolen moments.
The press of my friends’ eyes into my spine burns each of my vertebra as I stand with fire in my chest and a lump the size of Texas in my throat. “I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I croak out, a sudden wave of sadness hitting me like a punch to the gut.
I hang up without another word, silencing my phone as Mayte whispers, “Our ride share is here, Lols.”
I blink back the tears threatening to overflow and spin on my heel, piling into the minivan that is our newest Uber.
“Where could we get some drinks at this hour?” Mayte muses from the front seat.
Our driver doesn’t say anything; he only nods his chin in the direction of the largest strip club I’ve ever seen.
“Ooh, can you drop us off there?” Johanna asks, and he nods.
Once we pull up, our driver tells us, “They close late, and itcan be hard to find a ride at this hour. I don’t want you ladies getting stranded, so take my number and call me if you need a ride. I have an early drop-off at the airport, but I’ll get you when I’m done.”
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much. That’s really thoughtful!” Karmella tells him, jotting down his number before we head inside. We pay the cashier for general admission, which, strangely, comes with tickets to abuffet.
“Aseré, this is the best brunch buffet I’ve ever seen in my life!” Karmella shouts over the music, her brown eyes bright. We make our way to the end of the buffet, where men in penguin tuxedos serve every breakfast item under the sun.
“It’s weird, isn’t it? At a strip club?” Yanet asks, but she grabs a plate anyway.
“And they don’t have alcohol. They stopped serving at 2 a.m. like the clubs,” Mayte grumbles beside me.
“Maybe that’swhythey offer brunch. Keeps people here longer, and maybe it decreases the rate of drunk drivers if people wait around and eat before they leave,” Ewelina chimes in.
“That’s a good point,” Johanna says, pointing at the bacon for the man to pile onto her plate.
We all take seats in the black velvet chairs at the front of the stage. The dancers are dragging themselves through the motions, one of them spinning around the pole with her eyes barely open. It’s a stark contrast to her rhinestone hot-pink bikini and holographic heels, but it’s late, and I’m just impressed they’re still moving at all.
We throw money at them anyway, enjoying our brunch.
A woman a few seats down from us catches my attention. The man with her gently rubs circles on the back of her arm, his eyes focused on her rather than the group of men in suits crowded around him at their round table.
I’m close enough to hear him whisper, “It’s okay, baby. We can gohome. Tonight was a lot.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t want to get in the way of your job.”
So it’s a work outing?I’mall toofamiliar with those.
“Your comfort is so much more important. Come on, let’s get you home,” he tells her, pressing a kiss to her temple and standing to announce their departure. A couple of the guys he’s with make comments about him being “pussy whipped”, but he brushes them off.
I guessthat’swhat it’s like to care more about your partner than you do about your career and the lowlifes you work with.
Too bad I wouldn’t know anything about that.
And there it is again, that sour feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me something's just not right.
A hand rests on my thigh, fingers curling, giving me a tight squeeze. “Hey,loca. Everything okay?” Mayte asks me quietly.
I clench my eyes tightly shut and shake my head, finally ready to say what’s on my mind, but a new song plays overhead, this one louder than the rest, and several dancers make their way out onto the stage.
Karmella, Johanna, Ewelina, and Yanet are in the front row now, dancing and cheering on the ladies trying to make a living. I can’t help but smile. These women, no matter the physical distance between us, have always supported my goals. It never mattered how hard my body has tried to squash my dreams or how difficult opening my own studio has proven to be. They’ve always been in the background, cheering me on the same way they are the exhausted women on stage. It pulls my mind back to the present, and I can no longer get the words I had prepared to say out of my mouth. Instead, I shake myself out and give her a small smile I’m certain is anything but reassuring.
Mayte nods, turning her attention back to the dancers.
