by Dawn Atkins
So, everything was normal, he guessed. Life was good.
They’d had sex and it hadn’t ruined a thing. And it was over. Though that gave him a major ache down below. He’d love more sex with his eager, responsive roommate.
Leave it alone. Maybe he was just coming out of his funk. And that was good. Pushing for more only meant trouble.
As if she knew he was thinking about her, Heidi looked up and gave him a little wave. He waved back, just the way she had, glad no one was around to point out how stupid he looked doing it.
8
BREAK TIME. YES. Heidi carried her 7-Up into the dressing room and sat at the table, lifting her feet on the next chair in relief. Jasmine and Autumn were at the mirrors doing hair and makeup, and she watched them work while she drank and rested her feet.
After four nights at the bar, Heidi had begun to feel more comfortable. She’d only dozed off twice in her salon chair at Shear Ecstasy today—one reason she was glad she had few clients—so she was getting used to the late hours. Her feet barely throbbed, thanks to double-wrapped blisters. Of course, she wouldn’t turn down a foot massage, but Jackson wasn’t offering.
He’d been friendly, but not physical, since their shower sex. No lingering looks, either. Or not when she’d noticed. He was acting as if nothing had changed. She wanted more, but refused to act needy. Mind-blowing sex was probably the norm for Jackson and she didn’t want to make too big a deal out of it.
It wasn’t that big a deal, really. Jackson was the first of many lovers she expected to have. And he’d started her off right. Helped her declare her Sexual Independence Day with all the roman candles and bottle rockets she could ever desire. Except she wanted more. Lots more.
The idea, however, had to come from Jackson this time.
In the meantime, whenever she thought about sex, she cooked something. The refrigerator was now jammed with deviled eggs, peanut-butter bars, brownies, chicken salad, stuffed celery, two kinds of Jell-O and a banana cream pie. Luckily, she’d lost her own appetite, so she wouldn’t gain weight thanks to all this nervous cookery. She was a horny Julia Child.
Jackson’s eyes went big with delight when he saw the bulging shelves and offered to pay her for her cooking, too. Lord. She wanted his body, not his money, but that seemed to be hands-off.
For now.
Rox stuck her head in the break room door, a tray full of drinks on one hand. “Autumn, grab some towels for Taylor, huh?” Autumn stopped dabbing foundation on her chin, glanced up at the cupboard where the towels were, then at Rox—opening her mouth for a retort, Heidi could tell.
“I’ll get it,” Heidi said and pushed to her feet.
“You’re a doll,” Rox said, smiling. “I’ll be back after I deliver these drinks.” She hurried off.
Heidi caught Autumn’s stare in the mirror. Autumn was wondering about her. She watched people, Heidi had noticed. She’d bet trust was an issue in the woman’s life, and her blunt remarks were a defense against hurt.
Heidi put the stepladder between Autumn and Jasmine, climbed it and stretched over the makeup lights, careful not to burn herself. She opened the cupboard and felt around the paper towels, napkins and boxes of toothpicks for a bag of bar towels. If she could just…reach…behind…oops! Three rolls of paper towels tumbled out of the cupboard, two thumping Jasmine on the head and shoulders. “Hey,” she said, stepping back with the curling iron she was using, a cigarette dangling from her lip.
“Sorry.” Heidi snagged the bag of towels and carried it out to Rox, then returned, grabbing the scattered paper towel rolls to carry up the ladder and put away. “I can’t believe they store all this junk in your dressing room,” she said to the two dancers as she rose between them.
“What can you do?” Jasmine said. “Damn. My hair.” She stomped a foot and frowned in the mirror.
“We get no respect,” Autumn added, stroking blush on her cheek.
Heidi climbed down and watched Jasmine try to put her hair into a ponytail. Her nails kept snagging on the overtreated curls. “Can I help with that?” Heidi asked her.
Again both women stared at her in the mirror.
“That’s right,” Jasmine said, nodding. “Jax said you were a hairdresser. Go for it.” She held out her arms in invitation.
“You’re on duty out there, aren’t you?” Autumn seemed to be giving Heidi an out if she wanted it.
“I’ve got a few minutes of break left.” She grabbed a bar stool, centered it in front of the mirror where Jasmine stood and motioned for her to sit.
She sat. “My hair won’t take a curl worth a damn anymore.”
Heidi ran her fingers through Jasmine’s extensions, testing the texture and condition of the hair to which the false strands had been attached. “It’s dry. You might want to give it some recovery time. Your natural color is nice.” New hair, a rich chestnut pushed out of her scalp, contrasting with the brassy platinum she’d dyed the rest.
“No way. Blondes get bigger tips.”
“I do fine,” Autumn said. Her auburn hair was shiny and abundant and seemed untouched by color.
“You’re just lucky Mother Nature gave you gorgeous hair and a spectacular rack,” Jasmine said, pressing her own breasts together and studying them like a mother ensuring her child’s face was clean. Her halter top, spacesuit silver, barely covered her nipples. “Some of us had to rework ourselves.” Satisfied with her endowments, she let them drop into place.
“I say go with what you’ve got,” Autumn said, scrubbing on mascara with hard, quick strokes.
“Your hair’s a good length for your face, Autumn,” Heidi observed.
She stopped, mascara wand midair, and turned to look at Heidi directly. “It’s a little flat at the top, don’t you think?” She scrunched her petite nose. “Not good when you’re as short as I am.”
“Root intensifier would give you more body. And I’d go with layers on top.”
“Layers?”
“May I?” When Autumn nodded, Heidi scooped up her hair, bouncing it. “Layers would make it lighter.”
“You think?” Autumn sounded eager, despite herself.
“Yeah. I’d go with…” She named a hair product and Autumn wrote it on the mirror in lip liner and thanked her for the tip.
Heidi turned back to Jasmine, then picked up the curling iron she’d been using. It was plugged into a wad of extensions at an overused outlet. “Let me give it a try, huh?”
“Be my guest,” Jasmine sighed.
Heidi clicked on the iron. The overhead lights dimmed.
“One of these days we’re going to set this place on fire,” Autumn said.
“Seems like you should have a private dressing area,” Heidi said, running a comb through Jasmine’s hair, using a technique designed to protect the extensions. “A place to collect your energy, prepare to perform in peace.”
“Exactly.” Jasmine stamped her foot. “We’re the stars, we deserve star treatment.”
“Be happy Jackson fixed up the stages,” Autumn said.
“But we’ve got mop buckets in here and cleaning supplies. The bartenders and bouncers eyeball us every shift break.”
Heidi picked up the now hot iron and began to curl Jasmine’s hair.
“They’re on break. Give them a thrill.” Autumn shrugged.
“And we could at least have real bathroom stalls.”
“That’s true,” Autumn said thoughtfully. “You know, there’s that storage room with a bunch of old furniture in the back. Why couldn’t that be the break room?”
Finished with the iron, Heidi began to gently shape Jasmine’s hair into an upsweep. “Maybe you should talk to Jackson,” she ventured, keeping her voice casual. She knew the women would not appreciate being told what to do by a near stranger.
“We should,” Autumn said. “We really should.”
“Thank God for Jax,” Jasmine sighed. “Did you see that preppy creep last night? He barely opened his mouth in a prick-like way and Jackso
n hustled him out of there.”
“He can be one scary dude when he flexes and frowns,” Autumn said.
“But it’s all an act. He’s a teddy bear.” Jasmine sighed.
The idea warmed Heidi and she had to say something. “It’s nice how Jackson looks out for…everyone.” She’d sounded dreamy and her face heated.
Sure enough, the two women zeroed in on her. “How’s that going…you living with him?” Autumn asked, watching Heidi closely.
“Good,” she said, steadying her voice. “We’re trading housekeeping for rent.”
“I see.” Autumn’s mouth twitched.
“You slept with him yet?” Jasmine asked. “Ouch. Watch it.”
Heidi had slipped and poked her in the cheek with the tail of the comb. “I, uh, I…well…”
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Jasmine said. “Jax is a blast in bed. We bounced around for a while. No big thing.”
Jasmine had slept with Jackson? Had mind-blowing sex with him and considered it no big thing. Oh, dear. Heidi had lived a sheltered life. “Just one time,” she said, trying to shrug.
“That’s typical. The give-it-to-me-one-time syndrome,” Autumn said. Again, she studied Heidi in the mirror. This time she seemed concerned for her. “Jackson’s a good guy, but he doesn’t let people in. He’s wrapped up tight.”
“And so bossy,” Jasmine added. “Get your car tuned. Don’t walk alone in the parking lot. Make sure Sabrina gets her shots. I guess it’s sweet. A pain, but sweet.”
“More smothering than bossy, Jaz. He’s everybody’s big brother…but he’s a loner. Seems contradictory, but that’s the deal.”
“Maybe he just needs the right woman,” Jasmine said.
“Loners are loners for a reason,” Autumn said, but she was saying it straight to Heidi. “I never slept with him, but I know the type.”
“Like I said,” Heidi inserted, “it was one time.”
“And it’s understandable,” Autumn said. “You’re new in town and Jackson was handy. As long as you don’t expect more.”
“What more could there be?” Heidi said. Like Jackson, Autumn seemed to think Heidi was in danger of falling in love with her first good lay.
“Once you hit college, you’ll meet lots of guys.”
“How’s that?” Heidi asked Jasmine, fluffing a last strand in front, anxious to change the subject.
“A miracle. How’d you get it to curl so well?” Jasmine turned her head a little, admiring her hair.
“Hold the heat longer on it. Tease it out very slowly.”
“Oh, yeah. We know all about holding the heat and teasing it out slow, don’t we, Autumn? The hotter the heat, the slower the tease, the bigger the tips.”
Autumn laughed.
“You get the idea,” Heidi said, pinning up the back of Jasmine’s hair.
“What are you studying, anyway?” Autumn asked her. “In college?”
“Psychology.”
“Ooh, you’re going to be a shrink?” Jasmine said. “Practice on us maybe.”
“You could use parenting lessons, that’s for sure,” Autumn said before Heidi could comment.
“Don’t start,” Jasmine snapped. “I’m not a bad mother.”
“I just think some of the things you do…like bringing Sabrina here—”
“I had a transportation conflict.”
“If you weren’t paying for horseback riding lessons, you could hire a sitter.”
“She’s always judging me,” Jasmine said to Heidi in the mirror. “Just like my mother.”
“I’m your friend, not your mother,” Autumn said.
“Then act like it.” The air went crisp with tension. Anger pulsed, eyes snapped in the mirror, breaths huffed.
“It sounds like you both care about Sabrina,” Heidi said softly. “You both want the best for her.”
The women’s gazes shot to hers, wary and waiting.
“It’s hard to watch someone we care about do things we think are unwise, right, Autumn?” She pinned a coiled curl high on Jasmine’s crown.
“Exactly,” Autumn said, sounding vindicated.
“And when you’re in a tough situation, Jasmine, it’s painful when someone you respect criticizes you.”
“Yeah.” Jasmine shot Autumn a so-there.
Autumn rolled her eyes.
“Is there something you’d like Autumn to do differently, Jasmine?” Heidi teased a lock, while Jasmine considered the idea.
“Yeah. Stop rolling your eyes,” she said.
“Then stop saying stupid things,” Autumn retorted.
“You’re so negative.”
“I’m the only one who cares enough to tell you what you’re doing wrong.”
“You and my mother, who’s always lecturing me how I don’t appreciate all her sacrifices, I squandered my talent and my beauty and my blah, blah, blah.”
“What could Autumn do that would feel positive?” Heidi gently directed their dialogue before it could descend into emotional mayhem.
“I don’t know. Watch Sabrina once in a while so I can go out.”
Autumn blinked, looking surprised. “But you said I’m too judgmental.”
“Because you were criticizing me at the grocery store.”
“Sabrina needs more vegetables. She’s getting chunky.”
“She hates vegetables.”
“You’re the mother. Make her eat them. You spoil her, Jaz—giving her every frivolous thing she wants.”
“You don’t get what it’s like with a daughter, Autumn. I want her to have everything. I want her to do better than me, you know?” Jasmine spoke softly. “I’m scared she’ll stall out. Like I did.”
“There’s nothing wrong with what we do,” Autumn said stubbornly. “It’s an art. I’m proud of my body.”
Jasmine just looked at her in the mirror.
Jasmine’s fear and Autumn’s defiance covered shame. And Heidi wanted very much to help them both if she could without prying or offending them. “Even freely chosen, your life isn’t easy. You struggle. And you have doubts.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine said. “I have doubts.”
Autumn didn’t say anything, but she didn’t contradict her friend, which was as close to an admission as Autumn was likely to make.
“Despite what Sabrina says she wants or you think she needs, Jasmine, the intangibles mean more than what you buy her.” Heidi continued, “Love, listening, respect, spending time with her—that’s what will build her self-esteem and her confidence in her future.”
“Exactly,” Autumn said. “Just what I meant to say.”
“Trust your love for Sabrina,” Heidi added.
“Yeah…that,” Autumn chimed in.
“It must be nice to be so perfect,” Jasmine said to Autumn, her dark eyes crackling.
“Oh, it’s glorious, believe me,” Autumn said with a self-mocking smile. Her face softened into kindness. “I wish I were creative like you, Jasmine. She sews her own outfits,” she said to Heidi.
“I didn’t know that.”
“I love that new one that’s all white lace,” Autumn said.
“I could make you one in black.” She turned on the stool to face Autumn. “Want me to? Trade you for babysitting?”
“You’d do that?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, then.”
“All done,” Heidi said, handing Jasmine the hand mirror, smiling inside at what had happened. She’d fixed Jasmine’s hair and helped sort out the friends’ quarrel just as she’d done at Celia’s.
“It looks great,” Jasmine said, turning to examine the back. “You’re amazing.”
“It does look better,” Autumn said. “Less slutty.”
“Hey,” Jasmine said.
Autumn shrugged.
“I was thinking I’d offer a discount at my salon to everyone at Moons,” Heidi said. “Free cut with a weave maybe? Twenty percent off on extensions?”
“Twenty percent?” Jasmine said. �
�That’d be great.”
“I’m building my customer base.”
“You need money, huh?” Autumn said. “You know, you’d make bigger tips if you’d dress sexier.”
“I earn my tips doing a good job.”
“That’s not how men work, hon,” Jasmine said. “Bigger cleavage equals bigger tips. That’s math even I can do.”
“Use what you have to get what you want,” Autumn added.
Heidi shrugged, not wanting to offend the women, but disagreeing.
Autumn caught on and her eyes glittered with quick anger. “But you’d never stoop to what we do, right? Strip for money?”
“Don’t start, Autumn,” Jasmine warned. “And we’re dancers, not strippers.”
“I’m not ashamed. I like getting men fired up. What’s wrong with that?”
“You have every right to do what you’re doing,” Heidi said softly. “And Moons seems like a decent place to work.”
“Damn straight.” But Autumn wasn’t as comfortable with this as she’d sounded. There was tension in her jaw, defensiveness in her tone, bitterness in her eyes.
“It can be a drag, though, you have to admit,” Jasmine said. “Some of the men are pigs and it’s not like you want your fifth-grade teacher easing a folded bill into your thong.”
“Everybody sells themselves, one way or another,” Autumn said. “Plus, name a job where you take home a grand a night. College degree or not.”
Prostitution, of course, but that wasn’t the point. “That’s definitely a lot of money,” Heidi conceded, leaving a silent but hanging in the air.
“You’re damn right it is,” Autumn said, a muscle in her jaw ticking.
“But it goes so fast it might as well be pennies.” Jasmine sighed.
“That’s because you spend it on stupid things.”
“There she goes again. Being negative. Attacking me.”
“Okay, okay,” Autumn said. “I’m just saying, think before you spend. Isn’t that right, Heidi?”
