He was reviewing a report that was laid out on his desk when Natalie walked into his office. “Please have a seat,” he said with one of his rare genuine smiles. “I really liked your report on Bergdoff’s. The addition of the product photos and the displays were a valuable asset. Well done, Natalie.”
A blush of pride swept across her cheeks.
“Thank you Mr. Stein, I’m glad you liked it. I wanted to make sure our present market placement was clear. It gave me cause for concern, and I hoped to give you everything to make your own determination.”
Recently Natalie’s position as Administrative Assistant had gained a new title, ‘Market Developer’, and she was very proud of it. Basically, she was a watchdog for the company, keeping an eye and reporting the placement of the product line in the stores that carried it, and the image portrayed. She was a spy. And she freakin’ loved it.
And she loved Mr. Stein, he was the most laid-back boss who ran his company with an iron-fist, without being threatening or intimidating. He was motivating and encouraging, even when he was yelling at someone. She hadn’t known at the time how lucky she was to have landed this job straight out of high-school.
“You did exactly that Natalie. It was obvious our product was moved to a lesser vantage point, almost like it was tucked in the corner, which is worse than not being on display at all,” he continued as his brows furrowed with frustration.
Mr. Stein was a troll looking man, short and round, who always wore a suit, but never his jacket unless he was coming or going. He knew everything that went on with his company, and was very proud of it. He took care of his people, and they respected and loved him in return. His wife was an extravagant breath of fresh air, who would rather wear gold ballet flats and pencil slacks rather than the designer clothes all her friends wore. She would sweep into the office with their young twin boys following behind her, and it was as if she left a trail of fairy dust wherever she landed. And Mr. Stein cherished the ground she walked on.
“I agree with you Mr. Stein, this won’t bode well with our commitments to our designer label obligations,” Natalie verbalized what she knew he was thinking.
“I know,” he replied gruffly.
Vici Luggage had paid an exorbitant amount of money to a designer in order to manufacture a line of luggage with her name on it. They were her exclusive licensee for baggage, except handbags. And the company could lose the contract, along with millions of dollars, if the problem wasn’t rectified.
Did Natalie dare tread where her next question would lead?
“I thought the salesman was supposed to keep an eye on these things as well?”
She jumped when he slammed his fist onto his desk, along with everything on it.
“Yes, he’s supposed to, but when I started seeing a dip in the sales there, along with other stores in the city, I knew something wasn’t right,” he growled. “That’s why your work is so important. Your eyes are invaluable, they never see you coming. You’re perfect.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Natalie replied humbly.
His cool mask of control slipped over his face again as he sat up in his chair. “Alright, Natalie, I just wanted to say thank you, and I look forward to your next report.”
She knew he was dismissing her. The few minutes they’d spent together had a lot packed into it, and she was happy to get back to the quiet of her desk. She got up and moved to the door.
“I’ll have another one on your desk very soon, Mr. Stein.”
“I know you will,” he smiled at her, then went back to his papers.
Natalie had done what she’d always planned on doing, she’d moved to Manhattan as soon as she’d received her college acceptance letter. It came in the afternoon, and that evening she was on a bus to Port Authority. Katie, a girl she’d worked with at Rocking Horse Dude Ranch over the summer, was living in Greenwich Village and going to NYU. She’d told Natalie before the summer had ended that they still needed another roommate. Natalie called her and immediately had a place to live, right in the heart of the village.
Lisa was attending the same college as Natalie, FIT, (Fashion Institute of Technology), but she was going full-time and staying in a dorm. Natalie’d decided on evening classes and had looked for a full-time job. Vici hired her on the spot, but that first week she thought they were all bat-shit crazy. Natalie came to realize she was a perfect fit. She had a feeling that the designer was having an affair with the Vice-President, the Sales Director, who she was warned to watch-out for, was really just an over-zealous woman who worked her ass off to keep her job in a man’s world, and finally the Office Manager who was the sweetest closet-queen and had hair like George Michael. And Natalie was the baby of the group. They’d all taken her under their wings and taught her the ways of their world.
Natalie dove into the pile of paperwork that was sitting on her desk. It was Friday and she wasn’t staying a minute past 5:00. She and her roommates had plans to go see a male strip show at a little out of the way club early tonight, then they were going to head to Limelight. Mr. Stein had received free passes and had given them to Natalie. He takes care of his people.
Natalie was sharing a two bedroom apartment with three other girls. Two of them, Katie, who went to NYU, and Elizabeth, who went to FIT as well, both were from New Paltz, and were wild in a good-girl kind of way. You would never have known it by looking at them.
The bar where the male-revue was going to be was within walking distance from their apartment. They headed down West 4th Street and past Washington Square Park, filled with the usual struggling bands and performers, towards 6th Avenue. Natalie loved the Village, it was an intimate world within the concrete jungle that made you feel free to be anyone you wanted to be.
Katie and Elizabeth smoked a joint on the way there, singing, ‘Sit on my face, and tell me that you love me,’ as Natalie shook her head in disbelief, laughing at the spectacle they were making. But no one batted an eye, nothing phased New Yorkers. When the girls arrived, they headed downstairs to the basement, the place was called Duck & Dive, a favorite spot of the nearby locals.
“I hope one of these guys is gonna be diving right down between my legs tonight,” Elizabeth was saying as she and Katie worked on their second pitcher of Kamikaze’s. Elizabeth turned to Katie, “You’re lucky, you’ve got a great big football player to take you down whenever you need it.”
“What good does it do me when he’s still in Buffalo and I’m here?” Katie laughed.
“Would you two shut the hell up, you guys have gotten laid more in the past month than I have in the past two years,” Natalie laughed at them.
“Yeah, what’s up with that, Natie?” Katie asked, her words starting to slur as she leaned into her.
“I guess I’m not the boyfriend type,” Natalie tried to joke, but the reality of it hit a raw nerve.
“Who says getting laid has anything to do with a boyfriend?” Elizabeth added as she downed her shot.
Katie and Natalie looked at her a moment.
“I guess I can’t argue with that.” Natalie picked up a shot. “Here’s to getting laid,” she cheered.
They refilled their glasses, spilling more on the table than what got in the little glass circles.
“Here, here!!” they toasted.
“LADIES,” the loud voice came through the speakers, “are you ready?” he teased.
“YEAH!!” the crowd of female voices roared.
“Then without any further ado, may I introduce to you, the one, the only, Boys From Brooklyn!!!”
The women went wild as the lights shone down on the nearly naked specimens of the male variety. Katie and Elizabeth were on their feet, screaming and clapping their hands.
“Oh. My. GOD! I don’t believe it!” Natalie said in disbelief when she realized who one of the guys was.
The girls’ radar must have still been tuned in because they’d heard Natalie’s exclamation over the noise of the women.
“What is it?!” they asked as they
brought their faces close to hers.
“I know one of those guys,” Natalie said slowly, still studying the olive skinned man with the black hair and mustache, who was on display with the other ripped men.
“Which one?” they asked eagerly.
“The third one from the left,” she told them, pointing to Johnny.
“Ooohh, he looks yummy. Maybe you are gonna get laid tonight after all.”
“Oh no, I don’t think so.”
There was nowhere in Natalie’s mind she could go and envision herself having sex with Johnny.
“Then maybe I will,” Elizabeth cocked her head to the side and sized Johnny up, then down. “Yep,” she said smiling, “just maybe I will.” She turned to look at her friends with a smirk, “Somebody’s got to take one for the team.”
“Jesus, Liz!” Natalie laughed. “Alright, I’ll get his attention at some point, and introduce you guys.”
The show started. All the guys were good, and Johnny was great. His performance was just as fantastic as the night he’d danced with Maria in Albany. Memories, all the memories, came flooding back to Natalie like a tidal wave, and she couldn’t help but gasp with its enormity. Her eyes were on the strippers, but her mind was filled with Michael. And she wondered what he was doing right now.
Melancholy made her heart ache for what never was.
Johnny rushed over to their table when his act finished, all sweaty and almost naked, except for a thong.
“Holy shit, NATALIE! How are you?!” he exclaimed as he pulled her into a tight bear-hug smearing the smell of his perspiration all over her.
She didn’t mind, it was really good to see him. Finally, her feelings were validated, seeing him made her feel like she wasn’t crazy, and that she hadn’t imagined everything. Which was exactly how she’d felt after they’d all disappeared.
“JOHNNY, what a nice surprise! You danced incredibly, of course,” she turned to her roommates, “right?!”
“Absolutely!!”
“The BEST!”
“These are my roommates, Katie and Elizabeth,” Natalie introduced them, as promised.
“Hello you beautiful ladies, and thank you,” Johnny beamed. “You’re living in the city now?” Johnny asked Natalie.
“Yes, I’ve been here about a year, and I love it. I work at Vici Luggage, I love my job, and I take classes at FIT at night. What about you?”
“I work for a manufacturer in logistics, but I needed extra money, so here I am,” he said, smiling and shrugging his shoulders.
“Have a drink with us,” Katie extended the invitation.
“I have to perform again, but when I’m done I’d love to. You’re not running out, are you Natalie? I’d love to catch up.”
“No, we’ll be here for the entire show,” she answered him.
She thought it really was good to see him.
“Excellent,” Johnny flashed his lady-killer smile, “and maybe I can give you a private show.”
“GO Johnny, you bad boy!” Natalie laughed.
As Johnny walked away, Natalie could feel Michael’s ghost, the one that had never stopped haunting her, wrap itself around her, letting her know he was still there.
***
“Hey, Johnny, my man, how have you been?” Michael said into the phone the following Monday as his smile split his face in two. He was genuinely happy to hear from his old friend.
It had been a long time.
When Michael went back to Brooklyn after he and Paul had sold the second kilo, he’d locked himself away. He moved to Queens after that and lost touch with all his friends as he began to build a new life for himself.
He needed a clean slate, a new beginning in a different place, surrounded by a fresh set of people.
He was married now, and she was pregnant with a girl, his second child. He and his wife had problems before she’d gotten pregnant, and Michael had hoped the baby would make things better.
It hadn’t, and he found himself in that familiar place of feeling trapped and lost, that nothing he did could ever be good enough. Some demons never leave no matter how much life changes.
“Mike, bro, how are you? Long time no see!”
Michael could hear Johnny’s contagious smile through the phone.
God, just talking to him had made Michael feel like the young, carefree guy he used to be, back before things got out of control.
“I’m good, man, busy, the store keeps me going all the time.”
Michael’s father-in-law was in the furniture business and owned a retail store that was part of a franchise. With the money Michael had made from the blow, he bought a franchised location himself, and had increased the revenue by 50% the first year.
“I am so proud of you, you did it!”
“Thanks, John,” Michael replied, touched by his friends kind words.
He was proud of himself too. He was on his way to being the man he’d always wanted to be, albeit his journey had been a crazy and dangerous ride, he was still doing it.
Johnny was happy for Michael. He’d been scared to death for him after the whole J Board meeting. But Michael pulled a huge rabbit out of his ass, and turned things around.
Johnny didn’t know about the beating Michael had taken. No one did. That was one thing Michael had kept to himself, because he took it for his friends to keep all of them safe.
“You are NEVER going to believe who I ran into in The Village?” Johnny said excitedly.
“You’re wife, the one that you don’t have yet?” Michael laughed.
“I wish. Natalie, bro, and she looks fine as hell!”
The world dropped out from under Michael, wrenching his heart from him. ‘My God, I should have waited! Fate brought her back to me, and I can’t have her…again.’ A knife stabbed him, twisting and turning in his gut. The agony from the news was real and severe, but he had to hide his pain.
“You’re kidding me?!”
“She was at a club with her roommates where I performed Friday, she’s living in the city. Can you freakin’ believe it?!”
“And a boyfriend?” Michael couldn’t help ask.
“No, just them.”
Michael sat back in his chair behind the mahogany desk at the back of his store. The door chimed, signaling a customer had walked in. Frustration set in. He wanted to ask Johnny details about her, what she was wearing, was her laugh just as beautiful as it used to be, did she ask about him?
“Did you get her number?” he asked Johnny pointedly. The same feelings of possession still haunted him for her and he couldn’t ignore it.
“No, but she works at Vici Luggage in the city.”
“Listen, I’ve got to go, keep in touch, John. We’ve got to get together sometime soon,” Michael said as he stood and pasted on a smile for the woman moving through the room displays on the floor.
“I will, take it easy.”
Michael placed the phone in the cradle and moved towards the lady. But in his mind he saw Natalie’s face.
***
“I should have gone back to bed this morning,” Natalie growled to herself.
There had been no hot water in the morning, so she had to take a freezing cold shower, and that was just a pre-cursor to the shitty day that was unfolding. The Polaroid camera jammed at Macy’s while she was gathering information for her report. She had to run to the local camera shop, one the company didn’t have an account at, and get another pack of film, which took all the money she had in her pocket to pay for it. Now she didn’t have any left to buy lunch until she got reimbursed at the office.
It was 3:00 when the phone rang. Natalie was unwrapping a turkey club sandwich at her desk as a tomato slipped out and landed on her lap, along with a huge blob of mayonnaise.
“Shit!” she growled quietly as she picked up the receiver. “Vici Luggage,” she snapped, dabbing at the goo on her skirt.
“Is it shit, or Vici Luggage?” Michael chuckled on the other end.
She dropped her sandwich, whic
h succeeded in creating an avalanche of whole wheat toast, turkey and everything else that raced towards the greasy smear already on the black fabric.
“Michael?!” she choked out.
“Hi Natalie, it’s so good to hear your voice. Johnny called me this morning and told me he ran into you at his show. You naughty girl.”
The mischievous chuckle that only Michael had rang through the phone line, sending shivers through Natalie’s body as it reacted to him the way it always had. She pulled the mess from her legs as she struggled for words, while her heartbeat pounded in her head and pushed out all coherent thoughts. She reeled from the sudden surprise of hearing his voice after thinking she never would again.
“It was a huge surprise to see him, but the show was good,” she answered him, her voice trembling with her surprise.
“Was it now?” he teased her.
“He was always a good dancer, Michael.” she snapped, defending herself, as an uncontrollable smile spread across her face.
Natalie blushed as the images of the nearly naked men danced through her head.
“It didn’t hurt that they were naked,” he laughed.
“They weren’t completely naked,” she replied, knowing she was really reaching.
Natalie thought it was so good to hear his voice. It didn’t seem real, almost as if she were imagining it while inside the old familiar feelings embraced her. This was one of the things she loved about him, the joking and teasing, he’d always known how to get to her.
“Naked enough. If it were up to me, you wouldn’t have been there,” he said with a serious tone to his voice.
The words whooshed in on her, and left her speechless.
“I’d love to see you, I’m in Astoria, Queens. I have a store and I’ll be here late, if you can come by after work?” he continued. His voice was soft with a hint of tenderness to it.
A glimmer of pain shot through her with the memory of him abandoning her at her cousins in Astoria. She shook it away and forced herself to focus on right now.
Michael sometimes had a way of asking for something that gave no room to deny it. This was one of those times.
The Rooster Club_The Best Cocks in Town Page 24
