Lia spent the rest of her evening in silence as she slung drinks. Joker did not speak to her on the subject of her transfer. Business was slow tonight, so that left the bartender ample time to perform the usual chores, although, considering the fact that she was jumping to another location. She gave herself permission to slack off on her duties. Lia figured she had earned herself the break considering how well she handled seeing a customer get shot in the face, and then watched as a couple low level goons carted the body off to God knows where.
Even with the slacking off, Cornelia took it upon her to get the stain off the carpet. Grabbing a brown plastic bottle from under the bar, she poured cold water over the stain and sprayed it with the contents of the bottle. As a woman, and a meta, Lia was pretty adept at getting blood stains out of carpets and most fabrics. Watching as the hydrogen peroxide ate away at the dried gore, Lia came to a conclusion that the required knowledge of getting out blood stains must make women very talented killers.
Getting on her knees, she dabbed away the peroxide, nodding her satisfaction at the lifted stain. Chuckling, she scanned the rest of the carpet, it looked dirtier with the suspicious clean patch. The Centerfold was the pits, when compared to places like Grin and Bare It. Lia was pretty sure Cove was about to face foreclosure (or meeting a sticky end at the hands of whatever gang he paid to keep his club protected and barely buoyant in the financial sense) when Joker came in last month and hit him with an offer that Cove couldn't refuse, even if he wanted to. In this line of work, on this side of town, no one said no to the Joker. Although, somehow Lia was getting away with it. Essentially, her blatant refusal to reveal what she was to the Clown was a basic "fuck you."
Only now did it occur to Lia, how satisfying that was. Of all the people who caved in to the Joker, brutally tortured and murdered as a result, she was one of the select few who managed to live a little over a month upon issuance of her refusal to Joker. The thought was rather amusing, it made up for the fact that in other demands, she'd been made to roll over and submit.
A month was a long time, it made her wonder if she'd make it to the holidays. Lia had always been fond of Christmas, the snow made the city a bit nicer. It covered up all the garbage in the streets and made the walks to and from work a bit more pleasant.
Pushing a wild ruddy strand of hair from her face, Lia sent out another batch of drinks to the floor. Her one waitress had finally felt the desire to grace the club with her presence. With a sneer, she spun the closed bottle in her hands and set it behind her. This particular waitress was called Brittany, and she had developed the habit of withholding the bartenders' share of tips, preferring to keep the majority of the money for herself. Much to Cornelia's annoyance, she'd confronted the snooty little waif multiple times on the matter, only to find that the little bitch had the high opinion that the tips were the result on her good looks. Lia couldn't see it, chemical blonde with sunkin eyes, sallow skin, and bad breath. Tonight though, Brittany looked pissed and was putting in the effort to make that known.
Coming back to the bar with a tray of empties, she let the tray fall to the surface with an obvious clang. "Somethin on your mind sport?"
Lia looked up from cleaning a glass and smirked. Brittany wasn't amused in the slightest. "Heard the boss was sending you to Grin and Bare it starting tomorrow…."
The high pitch of her voice seemed to go up and octave, its sickly sweet tones reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. Lia shrugged and maintained eye contact "What's it to you."
Brittany smiled "Sleepin your way ta the top? Hadn't pegged ya for that?"
Setting the glass down, the bartender leaned closer "Oh, Brittany, I don't have to stoop to your levels to get ahead in life."
The waitress gaped at her and was set with a comeback, until Lia raised an eyebrow "Don't go spreading rumors, especially ones involving our boss…"
Leaning forward she hissed into her coworker's ear "He just shot a customer in face because he spat in my face, don't make the same mistake…"
She watched as the shudder ran up her coworker's spine. Smirking Lia drew away and returned to cleaning the stemware "Besides, the boss isn't exactly my type and last I checked. He's got a girl….
Sliding the clean martini glass onto the ceiling wrack among its fellows, Lia paused and mused aloud. "Seems to have a thing for fake blondes…"
The bartender smirked as Brittany all but ran away with a tray of fresh drinks, shaking her head Lia muttered after her "Doll, that hair dye is starting to chew on what's left of your brain."
(Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updates. A coworker of mine is on vacation, so I'm working a full time schedule until she comes back the week after next. Good for my wallet and my plans to do a solo trip to Germany next year. Bad for my sleeping schedule. I'm also working on an original short novel so that's taken some time away from writing fics. Anyway, hope you enjoy this new installment.)
