Nancy
turned just as Bex took to her feet, yanking her blouse over her shoulders. Her
ample bosom almost spilled from the cups of her capacious bra. They glowed
pastry-white in the half-light. ‘Hey, Vince, Vince! Check out the real thing!’
She
gave her boobs a jiggle.
Jonas
had obviously heard her; several onlookers tittered. But Jonas did not flinch;
he did not even pretend to take an interest in what a wine-supping colleague
was saying. His eyes remained on the two sequined catwomen cavorting in tandem
to a Lady Gaga mix. Jonas’ hooded eyes did not blink as he lifted his glass and
took a nip.
This
seemed to fluster Bex who was still standing. ‘C’mon, Vincent! I’ll let you do
me both ends!’
Jonas
afforded his friend a small shrug as he replaced his glass on the table. His
eyes never left the stage.
‘Hey,
Vince! Vince!’
Nancy
knew her work colleagues would savour this moment. Bex’s attention-seeking
monster of an inner child doesn’t get her fix. But Nancy found the scene embarrassing
to watch. And where was Bling?
‘Last
chance, Vince! I ain’t puttin’ out for you much longer!’
She
was replied only by muffled applause as the two catwomen concluded their
routine. Bex collapsed into her seat, perplex and defeated. ‘Stupid gay.’
At
that moment, Nancy caught sight of Mr. Bling making his way to the alcove. His
bulk drifted with smooth grace as though a ship to harbour. He fingered his
cuffs as he took a bow to Jonas and imparted words with minimal lip motion. And
Jonas did something that surprised her: he moved. He leaned over and listened.
Per syllable, Mr. Bling seemed to inspire more reaction from Jonas than the
catwomen, Bex or his wine-supping colleagues. Nancy would have taken little
notice of this exchange had she not seen Bling monitoring her table moments
ago. Why was she still here? Why hasn’t Mr. Bling and his colleagues shoved the
three of them out through the Nexus backdoor?
Bex’s
tone had thickened with the booze and incense. But she wasn’t talking to Cora;
her eyes sought out Nancy’s. Drunk people always seemed to sniff out the sober
on which to dump their unpenned emotions. Bex, earnest and bug-eyed declared,
‘What the hell was I thinkin’ coming here for my birthday, anyway? The Nexus is
a pretentious dive. Jonas is a wanker who shouldn’t snub the likes of us paying
customers who have made him rich! I have thousands of friends on Facebook and
I’m going to say some stuff about it; I’m going to rubbish this hole to the
ground!’
Nancy
almost begged Mr. Bling would come over. How much was he willing to take from someone
who had driven out Jonas’ business? Nancy didn’t like things that didn’t happen
as expected.
Cora
wobbled to her feet. ‘C’mon, Bexie, Liquid Envy’s just down the road. We can
head off there.’
‘Yeah.’
Bex’s eyes were still on Nancy’s. ‘Get your coats, girls. There’s still time
for a crack. The night’s young.’
Contempt
surged inside at Bex’s assumption everyone agreed with her. Nancy fortunately
was well-practiced at the subtle fob-off without the other realizing. She would
dish it out at the most inconvenient moment.
Bex
straightened up with surprising agility for an imbiber of several vodka
doubles. ‘Shift it, Cora, I wanna get out of here! This place is a dump!’
The
two women made a spectacle of themselves as they donned their coats and gathered
their bags. And they were alone within an arena of empty chairs – that was,
except for Nancy. As always.
Nancy
grabbed her things. A multitude of eyes watched from the gloom. Nancy sensed
the advent of a collective sigh of relief from the now-thinned crowd.
Nancy
waited until they had entered the foyer before speaking. ‘Did you notice we
were being watched? We were inches from being barred.’
Bex
merely sneered. ‘Why do you always have to sit there and…and make observations? You’re a bloody watcher,
you are. I must’ve been mad to invite you to my birthday bash.’
Defensiveness
reared a spiky head. Nancy quickly swallowed it down. ‘You drove people out yet
nobody did anything. You could have held an Anne Summers party right there on
stage and I think security would have let you do it.’
Bex grinned at this thought. ‘Hmm. Well, maybe
Mr. Jonas had a soft spot for me after all.’
Nancy’s
smile felt brittle on her face. ‘Yeah, maybe he did.’
Cora
was loafing near the doors calling a taxi. Nancy would mete out her not so
subtle fob-off once the taxi had pulled up.
