Vanessa was old, but not too old to forget her trashy club.
She wished she had her phone with her so she could look at the map. Before her, was not the trashy, stinky hole she was used to coming to.
There were huge, expensive cars in the small parking lot, people everywhere, and when she thought people, it was those people with money and class.
She didn't know she was blocking the gate until a horn blared behind her. She turned, embarrassed.
"I'm so sorry," she mouthed before she stepped aside.
She felt uneasy and dirty all of a sudden when she took it all in. This wasn't her crowd… She should leave.
Yes, she should leave and never come back here.
But a few feet away, she saw Melanie with a tray of drinks, making rounds to the people outside, and that made her dread even more.
Was she supposed to be a waitress too?
Just when she turned to leave, she heard Melanie's voice calling out to her.
"Yo, dinosaur!"
She stopped, yes, but she didn't turn to look at her or the gazes from the outside crowd.
"I was starting to feel like you weren't coming," Melanie said in her usual condescending way.
Vanessa turned to her. "And miss you selling drinks? Not a chance."
Melanie rolled her eyes at her. "Well, whatever. We're strangely short-handed, and Paul has been looking for you for three hours now."
Vanessa grimaced.
"Why?"
Melanie shrugged. "Who knows? To perform? To wait on these drinking brats… To get blown?" But then she gasped, raising Vanessa's panic.
"What?"
Melanie looked around before she whispered to her, "I heard some girls are talking about a private lap dance for a celebrity."
Vanessa let out a huff of laughter. "And you thought that it would ever be me in that room with them?"
Melanie eyed her weirdly before clicking her tongue. "I thought as much, but who can really blame men and their weird fetishes? I won't be surprised if they want to shoot an orgy inside or some kind of a sex carnival."
Vanessa shook her head to hide her smile.
"Looks like I should start picking up the empty bottles to appease my boss."
Melanie winked at her before she went ahead with her job. She was a weird little shit, Vanessa thought to herself.
It was ten minutes later that she got an audience with an overwhelmed Paul in the staff walk-in closet.
"There you are…" Vanessa called out to him as she started to change into her uniform, which had been hanging there for more than six years now.
Good thing she was weird enough to wash it once or twice every week.
"Hey, Vee," greeted Paul, drained.
"You feel alright there, buddy?"
"I… I… it's a very big crowd with so many needs and I… I just can't…"
Vanessa went to sit beside him silently.
"Yeah, it can be overwhelming, but it's probably nothing you can't handle," she said, looking at the door.
"Well, maybe our inventory that should last for the whole month is going to deplete tonight."
Paul smiled at that. "I didn't know I was this scared of success."
"No, you're not," Vanessa argued. "This is too sudden, even for miracles."
Paul laughed.
"How did you even pull this off?"
Paul shrugged. "I didn't. I just came here and found a long line waiting outside… We weren't even open!"
Vanessa smiled at that. "Well, you handled it nonetheless. The drinks are flowing, the speakers are blasting, and our bouncer is waiting tables…"
Paul smiled, though sadly.
Vanessa stood up before offering her hand. "Let's go show them that we don't shrink from a fight… We annihilate the opponent."
Paul accepted the hand before they went outside.
It was so obvious that the place wasn't used to that much crowd.
Too small to be a bar.
Too cramped to be a club.
And too hidden from the world to be a hotspot.
"Let me help with the cocktails at the counter while you make sure our supply is never running dry."
"That sounds like a plan," Paul said before heading to their storage room, already calling their supplier for more drinks and maybe some snacks.
Should he hire a cook? Since people were puking their guts out from drinking on an empty stomach.
Vanessa loved this.
People coming to her not for sloppy seconds, but to enjoy her cocktails and maybe listen to their woes.
It wasn't long before Paul came to her, panicked.
"What?" she asked, getting scared herself. Brood, the bouncer/temporarily bartender, tensed beside her.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, concerned.
That made Vanessa look at them with unmasked interest.
Paul waved his head in the air, looking for words.
"Anytime now," Vanessa said sarcastically, earning a displeased growl from Brood, which she shrugged off.
Paul pointed at her. "You have a visitor in the VIP room."
Vanessa felt her body shudder, and not in a good way. "The secret celebrity with a granny fetish?"
Paul was surprised. "What? Vanessa, you know that you can say no, right?"
Brood looked at her before he went to tend to another customer on his side.
Vanessa nodded.
She knew that much, but would she ever say no to whoever was making this place sing tonight?
Wouldn't that just look selfish on her?
She waved at Brood before she went to the VIP room, dreading her life for the umpteenth time.
To her surprise, all she found was an expensive-looking girl on one of the couches with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.
Vanessa shrugged.
Well, she wasn't a lesbian, bi, or whatever, but she could definitely make her come if she puts in the work.
So she walked to the pole as per routine.
"You wanted to see me?" Vanessa asked, and the girl looked genuinely confused.
"You're Vanessa Holmes?" the girl asked, blinking her eyes wildly.
Vanessa felt like she was being insulted somehow by her question.
"I could call somebody else inside," Vanessa forced a smile. "How about a young brunette? Beautiful, funny, fit, and very professional…?"
"No."
She heard the girl breathe out the word before she saw her standing up with the flowers in hand to give them to her.
Her face was a mask of professional politeness. "Ms. Holmes, these are for you."
Vanessa accepted them awkwardly, still eyeing the girl, unsure.
The girl smiled at her again.
This time, she blushed. "I'm sorry for my earlier behaviour. It was rude of me to assume."
Vanessa just stared at her blankly.
The girl cleared her throat. "My name is Sylvia Walter, Mr. Harrison's secretary."
Vanessa still didn't understand, and looking at the girl, Sylvia, it seemed like she was supposed to know the guy.
Sylvia felt very awkward under Vanessa's stare, so she returned to her backpack and retrieved a laptop, setting it up before pointing it at where Vanessa was standing.
"My boss wanted to talk to you," Sylvia said softly, as if she was embarrassed for Vanessa somehow.
Vanessa shrugged.
"The Mr. Harrison?" she asked dryly, and Sylvia nodded.
Vanessa nodded before she heard herself say, "Alright, call him."
It was as if Mr. Harrison was waiting for the call because the video didn't even ring once before a face appeared on the screen, smiling at her, hair and body wet, probably from the shower if the bare chest suggested anything.
"Hi," Mr. Harrison waved shyly, trying and failing to rein in his giddy smile.
Vanessa frowned.
That wasn't a Mr. Harrison, but her customer Anthony from last night.
She peeked behind the laptop and found Sylvia, mentally wishing she wasn't there.
"You can leave now," Vanessa told her in her dry tone, making Sylvia tense.
"I'm so sorry if I..."
"Now," she said, pointing at the screen. "This is private."
Sylvia nodded before she went outside, practically running.
"You don't look too happy to see me," observed Anthony, and Vanessa wanted to laugh.
"What's all of this, Anthony?"
"All of what?"
Vanessa didn't know how to explain, so she settled for scowling menacingly at him.
"I'm sorry," Anthony said, and he seemed apologetic enough, which made Vanessa all the more mad at him.
"Do you even know what you did?"
"I made you upset," he said matter-of-
factly. "Is it the flowers? Are they not to your liking? Or that I sent my secretary to deliver them instead of me? Is it...?"
Vanessa had to close her eyes to hide her leaping soul.
"Vanessa? I'm sorry… I'm going to do better from now on."
"I like them," Vanessa found her shaky voice say. "The flowers"
Anthony stared at her before his face split into a blinding grin.
"Then I should probably warn you that there's a card in there with your name on it. The passcode is the last four digits."
Vanessa dug a black card from the bouquet, and she opened her eyes even wider at the sight.
They exist? And truly, her name was there… VANESSA HOLMES.
Vanessa couldn't help the tears that escaped her eyes. "Why?"
"Because I can? Because you deserve all the riches of the world? Because I like you, and in a very dark, twisted way I thought you'd appreciate my money more than my love?"
He ran his hand through his wet hair. "I don't know, Vanessa. I'm just... dumb at the moment."
Vanessa laughed. "So, Mr. celebrity… do I know you from anywhere?"
Anthony blushed, then shook his head. "I don't think so, and I'm not a celebrity."
"Well, my club is suddenly overcrowded because there's a celebrity, and besides you, I never saw some weird person lurking around."
Anthony went pale instead. "Is that why you were mad?"
Vanessa shrugged. She didn't know.
"I'm so sorry… shit. I just posted my location last night by accident. It was meant for Hector, my driver, and somehow…"
Vanessa laughed even more, making Anthony confused.
"You're really cute when you're flustered, you know that?"
Anthony smiled, showing off his dimples.
"Then I don't think I'll ever be anything else, Vanessa," he said softly. "'Cause you make me flustered."
"Is this your idea of a date?"
Anthony blushed. "I wanted you to dance for me, like you did last night."
Vanessa felt lighter then.
This? She was used to this. Entertaining patrons…
"You want to jerk off to this?"
"I just want to watch."
Vanessa nodded before she stood up, chose a song from a playlist, and started to sway her hips, finding the rhythm.
"Are you going to record this? Because I'm going to get naked and I'm going to touch myself for you."
Anthony looked blushingly thirsty, but he managed to shake his head slowly.
"Vanessa?" Anthony squeaked. "Can I be your exclusive customer?"
Vanessa smiled broadly. If only he knew.
"It's going to cost you greatly."
Anthony swore then and there that he'd pay whatever the price just so he could have Vanessa to himself.