Chapter 5 – Celeste
I’m running late by the time I arrive at The Exchange and I’m worried that I’ll get Rachel in trouble. But no one seems to notice.
“Right this way,” says a security guard, walking me to a curtained-off room where beautiful women are milling about.
Some of them are drinking out of cocktail or wine glasses while others are applying their makeup or doing their hair.
“Hello,” says a high-pitched, nasal voice. I turn around to see a tall, skinny brunette, her hand outstretched. “I’m Bianca.”
“Celeste,” I tell her, shaking her hand.
She snaps her fingers and a tuxedo-clad waiter walks over to us, holding a tray full of drinks.
“Oh I don’t really…” I start to protest, but she picks up one of the glasses and hands it to me.
“You must be new,” she says, looking me up and down. I can’t tell whether the look is meant to be approving or not. “I haven’t seen you around.”
Before I can answer, she clinks her glass against mine.
“Cheers. You’ll really probably want this,” she insists.
I smile and then take a drink with her, the fruity liquid burning its way down my throat. I do my best not to grimace. It’s not like I’m an alcohol virgin.
I’ve had my share of wild drunken nights drinking wine coolers at high school parties. Rachel and I have had hot toddies at her apartment or a couple rum and cokes in my dorm room. I’ve even been to a frat party.
I just don’t particularly like drinking because I like to remain in control of all my faculties. I also didn’t think I should drink on the job, but apparently this job is different than most, in more ways than one.
“I’m filling in for Rachel tonight,” I tell Bianca.
“Oh, that’s right,” she says, nodding.
Suddenly her look definitely looks approving. Impressed, even.
“She told me she’d asked you to come in her place so she could spend Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend.”
“Yeah, instead of a lecherous old rich dude,” I joke.
The smile falls from her face and I realize that probably sounded judgmental. I should keep my comments to myself. I hate how socially awkward I always turn out to be.
“They’re all rich but they’re definitely not all old,” Bianca says. “Or not that old, anyway. Actually, many are trust fund guys or self-made tech billionaires. Some are nerdy— if you’re into geek culture— while others are charming, and quite handsome to boot.”
“Oh,” I tell her, trying to dig myself out of a hole.
It sounds like she’s running a matchmaking service instead of an… auction service. Is she running it? Is she the “Madam” here? Should I call her “Madam Bianca”? I have so many questions but I can’t ask them since my foot is still stuck in my mouth thanks to the last stupid comment I blurted out.
“I was just kidding,” I tell her quickly. “About them being super old. And about anything else I may have said that might have been taken the wrong way. Sorry about that. I’m nervous. This is my first time doing… this.”
Or anything like this. At all.
“In fact,” Bianca continues with a shrug, as she takes another sip of her drink, picking up where she left off, obviously without caring about what I was saying, “A lot of us wish we could date these guys. I know your BFF Rachel did, before she found her own rich guy who doesn’t know about her deep dark secret job.”
“She did?” I ask, annoyed that there was something this smug girl knows about Rachel that I didn’t.
I can’t tell if Bianca is being threatening, or welcoming. I know I probably offended her with my comment. And I’m glad that anyone here is talking to me. I thought I’d be a wallflower no one would want to look at.
But maybe she’s messing with me. I just never trust people and can never be sure of their intentions.
“Yeah, but Rachel suffers from the same problem that most of us do,” Bianca says, with another shrug.
“And what is that?” I ask.
“She’s a bit too wild and experienced for these guys to take seriously. It’s a conundrum, no doubt. Most girls only work here because they’re sexually open. But the majority of the guys who come here only seriously date the shy, innocent types. So, I think you’ll do well here.”
She raises her eyebrows at me knowingly.
“What do you mean?” I ask her, feeling stupid.
“Oh, just… you know,” she says, smirking. “You’re new here. You seem innocent. And you’re a virgin, right?”
I can feel the heat rushing to my face and I know it’s turning red.
“I… um…”
Damn Rachel.
Rachel has never had much of a filter but I can’t believe she told her co-workers— or at least this Bianca chick I’ve never heard of— that I’m a virgin. That’s a private fact about me. It’s not hers to share.
I would call and curse her out— even if she is at the dinner where she hopes to receive a marriage proposal— if we were allowed to have phones in here. Since we’re not, I’d left mine in the car and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go out there and get it. But the first chance I have, I’m going to let her know how I feel.
I don’t have time to think any further about it— or to further answer Bianca’s prying question, because an older woman in a ball gown— Is she the Madam? Who the hell is the Madam? I can’t help but wonder —clinks a spoon against her wine glass and calls out, “Okay ladies, time to get this show on the road.”
Bianca pats my shoulder, as if to tell me I don’t have to formally answer her question— she already knows. Then she says, “Don’t forget your bracelet, hon.”
“Oh yeah,” I reply, looking around until my eyes fall on a table in the corner that has different colored bracelets lined up in rows.
I had imagined paper or rubber bracelets like the kind given out at skating rinks, carnivals or clubs, to show who has paid or who is old enough to drink. Silly me. These are sparkling diamond bracelets, with different colored gems accenting the diamonds.
“Rachel said to get a yellow one.”
“You want a pink one tonight, Dear,” Bianca says, with a patronizing smile.
I look at her, distrusting her words.
How I wish I had a phone, and that I could confirm with Rachel. I had never been able to figure out why she had told me to wear a yellow one, or what it all even means.
“But Rachel said—” I insist.
“You were late and you didn’t hear Terri’s announcement about it being Valentine’s Day,” Bianca says, in a rush, as if she’s already tired of helping me. She nods towards the lady who had told us to get the show on the road. “Tonight, there are only Valentine’s colors and a different system.”
I look at the bracelets lined up on the table. Bianca’s right. There aren’t any yellow ones. Just red, pink and white.
Bianca winks at me as she holds open the curtain that leads out onto the stage. I guess I’m going to have to trust this tall, meddling stranger, because I don’t have any other choice. The bracelet color that Rachel instructed me to get is simply not an option.
It looks like I’ll be going with pink.
I gulp the rest of my drink down. Suddenly the waiter is back at my side.
“A shot, dear?” he asks, holding up a small glass full of clear liquid.
It’s tempting. I don’t know what awaits me out there and the cocktail I just finished sure feels good swirling around inside my veins and my mind. It aids me in not thinking too much, not asking too many questions like I usually do.
I look over at Bianca, who is waiting for me to join her as she goes out onto the stage. I’m afraid she’ll disapprove because we don’t have time, but she nods at me and winks, as if knowing how much I need this drink.
“I don’t really do shots…” I start to say, and the waiter places the tray on the table and holds up a smaller size glass full of the cocktail I’d just finished.
“That’s why we have this chaser,” he assures me.
Looks like I’ll be doing a lot of things tonight that I don’t usually do.
“Okay, thanks,” I tell him, pounding down the shot and then gulping the chaser before I can feel it hit my stomach.
This time I can’t hide my grimace. It was rough, but I’m already grateful for it as I relax a little bit more.
I think about the guys waiting out there to bid on the pleasure of my company, and maybe more. Are they really handsome, and rich, and enviable, like Bianca says?
My heart skips a beat as I finish the chaser and hand it back to the waiter with another nod of thanks.
Then I grab the pink bracelet and hurry to catch up with Bianca, anxious to see what awaits me beyond the curtain.