CHAPTER THREE
As Jewel steps out of the cab into the dimly lit parking lot, she notices there are groups of people trying to buy last minute tickets near the entrance. Some of the bidders are clearly fangirls, who seem too young to be dressed as they are. Jewel goes back to looking for Alyssa. As she does so, she starts to feel a bit misplaced in her date clothes, as everyone else is dressed in appropriate concert attire.
In the distance, Alyssa is waving an arm around to get Jewel’s attention. Jewel walks over to see Alyssa holding a bag.
“Hey! Oh, you brought me clothes! Thank you! I was starting to dread this outfit. You simply are amazing.”
“Oh, don’t thank me. We both know what a good friend I am.” Alyssa smiles at her sarcastic retort.
“Of course!” Jewel states, playing along as she grabs the clothes from Alyssa and turns around.
“Now to fix this terrible outfit.” With that, Jewel marches off to the restroom to change.
“I’ll be right here!” Alyssa calls out.
In the stall, Jewel can’t help but feel cramped. “These stalls are never big enough for bigger, bustier women. Come on, not all women are toothpicks with feet. Seriously!” She complains aloud, and she really doesn’t care who hears.
“Amen to that, sister!” Another voice responds from one of the other stalls.
“You’re a big girl too?” Jewel asks.
“Big and proud! But people never seem to make stuff with us in mind.”
“Ain’t that right!” Jewel agrees before slipping her heels on.
As Jewel opens the stall, she walks over to the mirror. “Hair is in order. Dress… well, a little more revealing than usual, but it’ll work.”
She takes a moment to make sure her boobs are perky but still in their proper place in her bra before continuing. She wouldn’t want them falling out randomly.
“And make up…” Jewel continues as she leans closer to the mirror to touch up her lipstick and eye liner. She strolls out of the restroom.
Once back with Alyssa, they take a quick detour to Alyssa’s car to deposit the other clothes, then make their way into the venue. They are a little early, but there is already a small crowd of people gathering around at the base of the stage. Their first stop is the bar. There are only a few people sitting around; three men and one female. As Jewel and Alyssa sit down, they ask for beers.
“Remember that guy, Charlie, I hooked up with last week?” Alyssa asks.
“Yeah! Why did you do that, anyway? He wasn’t, well... anything special.” Jewel gives Alyssa a playful smile. A wave of comfort washes over Jewel as she realizes she made the right choice in going out tonight.
“Shut up! A girl has to have some pleasures. Anyway, he sent flowers to my work yesterday. He’s been calling me at least once a day and he texts me like every hour. I had to block his number. I was going to track him down and lay him a new one.”
“Yeesh, girl. Well, if you do that, let me know. I wanna help.”
“Jewel! I love hanging out with you. I can’t spill my gossip to anyone else and I know you’ll always be on my side.” Alyssa leans over to give Jewel a hug.
“Well, who hooked up with the geeky-looking guy in the first place? I mean, You’ve done all you can do, but if you want I’ll go give him a scare. I mean, if you think that’ll help.”
“Well, it may not help, but I’d enjoy it.” Alyssa chuckles.
Jewel doesn’t have a chance to respond before her attention is drawn to the two well-dressed guys a seat over. They aren’t talking anymore and are looking at the girls. Alyssa gives Jewel a sly smile as the men walk over.
“Hey, pretty ladies. Can we get you anything?”
“Maybe another beer?” Jewel states as she finishes her first one.
The man motions for the bartender and asks for two Manhattans. Soon, they are brought to Jewel and Alyssa. The first guy who is standing next to Jewel has short brown hair and dark green eyes. He’s wearing a grey dress shirt tucked in with a jacket and black pants. The other is wearing a black collar shirt and dark pants. He’s standing next to Alyssa.
These guys don’t seem to be dressed for the occasion. This is a rock show, not the opera! Jewel thinks to herself.
“I’m Dan, this is Greg.” Dan, the grey dress-shirt guy, continues, “We’re not cheap, you’ll appreciate a Manhattan much more than the fizzy water.”
Jewel lets her eyes roll at the remark. One beer wasn’t enough after my date with Optometrist dude, and will certainly not be enough to get me through the night with guys that can’t get a simple order right.
“What do you girls do for a living?” Greg asks.
Jewel encourages herself to be polite before speaking, even though she’s a little disappointed that gossiping with Alyssa was cut short by the pair of guys. “I’m a receptionist” Jewel offers.
“I work for a phone company, but just for now. My dream is to open my own boutique in Venice,” Alyssa replies. “You guys?”
“Oh, nothing special,” Greg vaguely responds before exchanging knowing glances with Dan.
Jewel turns to look at Greg and reminds herself to be civil. Clearly they didn’t even hear what the girls had said and were just waiting for the chance to talk about themselves. Trying to be open to dating normal men is harder than Jewel expected it to be. She’s realizing now that she can’t just shut every guy down. Since she gave an optometrist a chance, that also means giving guys like Dan and Greg here a chance… maybe.
Greg returns the glance to Jewel and raises his glass. “Hah. We’re the managers of this club.”
Dan nods in agreement before resting his hand on the middle of Jewel’s back. “Why don’t we go up to the office? It’s got a much better view.”
The two friends look at each other before responding at the same time. Jewel blurts out a loud, “No can do.” while Alyssa eagerly agrees.
Jewel leans in and whispers in her friend’s ear, “Alyssa! What are you doing? We don’t even know these guys. What if they’re rapists?”
“Oh, come on! They’re the managers! Ok, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll double check with someone that works here. Here comes one of the waitresses now.” Alyssa gets up to talk to the waitress, leaving Jewel in awkward silence with Dan and Greg before coming back a minute later.
Alyssa leans in to Jewel, “She says they’re harmless. Should we believe her?”
“Um, yeah. I guess so.”
At least this means I’ll get a better view of Ash when he comes on stage.
Since realizing she had a crush on him she’d been dying to see how he’s changed. She can only hope that it was for the better.
“I may not be able to date him, but he can serve as one great piece of eye-candy,” she whispers to herself as she gets up.
Dan asks what she said and she replies with an, “Oh, nothing,” before he takes the lead toward the stairs.
The club is quite packed now, and people are still piling in like mad. The two managers make their way through the crowd, leaving Jewel and Alyssa an easy path to follow through the mass of bodies. Finally, they reach the stairs and two bouncers part the velvet ropes to allow them up. They make their way down the hallway and into the office.