“Oh, hello,” Jeannie said with a huff. Her hand went to her chest. “Didn’t expect someone to be lurking on the other side of the door.”
“Sorry. I was just giving Klara the grand tour. Klara,” I said, patting her arm, “This is Jeannie. She’s a regular but not a bunny. Right?” I asked with a faux grin. I wasn’t sure how to classify her since she was around a lot but didn’t live here. It was annoying that she popped up even when most of the ladies were gone.
“Not really a bunny. I would say more of a hangaround, but that’s more of a biker thing. I’m just a girl,” she said with a big smile. She seemed less on-edge today. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot.
Klara’s head tilted a bit and she casually pointed at Jeannie. “You look so familiar. Were you a dancer, by chance?”
Jeannie grinned. “Well, I’m a dancer, but an exotic one. Do you dance?” she asked, her eyes looking her up and down.
Klara still had the frame of a ballerina, the posture, and the attitude. “I danced professionally for a few years with ARB but it’s been some time.”
Jeannie flipped her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. “How lovely. I took ballet when I was a child but grew up.”
Nope. I stand with my original judgment.“Say, Jeannie. Don’t you have a home of your own?”
Her grin was sinister almost and her brown eyes turned to slits. “Yes. I was only stopping by. I hoped the girls would be back by now. The clubhouse isn’t the same without them.”
Matching her smirk, I answered, “No, they truly have been amazing to me. Fast friends. But Sugar and Kristie have kept us good company the last few days.” She didn’t have to know Kristie wasn’t around much. She was super kind when she peeled herself off Rooster long enough to grab a bite to eat.
Jeannie’s brows pinched, but only for a second. I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t staring her down. “Sugar. Interesting choice. Anyway, I gotta run. But I’m sure I’ll see you around later.”
Klara scrunched her face with an obviously fake smile and said, “Mmkk, buh-by. See you later.”
Jeannie grimaced then stepped between us to leave.
We watched as she walked down the hall for a fewseconds before Klara pushed me into the room. She shut the door behind me and we looked around to see if anyone else was in there.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Seems empty,” Klara said as she started poking around. She stopped briefly and looked over at me. “That woman is a bitch.” She ran her hand over her sleek, dark hair, then went back to investigating the room.
“Ugh, I thought so, too. But the other ladies love her,” I said with an eyeroll.
“She’s very familiar, but I’ve only been to strip clubs back home. I can’t imagine where I know her from,” Klara said with a curiosity to her tone.
“You’ve been to many strip clubs?” I asked as I smelled one of the perfumes on the vanity.
She shrugged. “Here and there. Mostly when I was still performing.” She looked over her shoulder at me with a sly grin. “It’s very difficult to go home to rest after a show. Not many places open late. Plus, we usually got free drinks from the thirsty men.”
I tossed a makeup brush at her but she just tsked, tsked as she went on snooping. “I thought the same thing. That Jeannie seemed familiar, but I haven’t been to any strip clubs.”
“Maybe she just has one of those faces. Like a categorical bitch face,” Klara said as we both kept looking around.
The room held several sets of bunk beds and was quite cramped but was over-the-top girly and fun, with lots of pastels, plenty of storage space, fun and colorful tapestries, fairy lightsstrung along the walls, and more makeup and fragrances than that of some beauty counters.
“It’s like a never-ending sleepover,” Klara said. “They all live here?”
“Well, not all,” I snapped. “Jeannie doesn’t, yet she comes all the time. But a lot of the women around do.”
“And they like this?”
“Well, it’s safe for them. They all have reasons for being here, but none really talk about it much. I get the feeling they’re hiding from bad men, but I could be wrong.”
“How terrible… but fortunate they have a place to lay their head.”
After a few minutes of quiet searching, I mused, “I didn’t get to have many sleepovers when I was young. Well, a few when I was very young, but not when I was a teen.”
Klara stopped poking around. “That’s so sad. I was always at a friend’s house or they were at mine. Mostly other dancers. But I was never alone.”
