Alex and Morello both looked up with matching annoyance as Nicky crashed into the seat between them. She'd missed the first half of the Burlesque Idol competition and Alex was seriously starting to wonder if she had gotten locked in a cubicle. She'd kept sending texts saying "On my way", "Five mins!", "Just got held up" – it was weird even for Nicky.
She watched Morello tug her arm away from Nicky's grasp. She raised an enquiring and unsympathetic eyebrow as Nicky looked at her. Her friend shrugged and leant over, "What? A girl can't help when she's got a number two backed all the way up, ok? I should've listened to my nanna – ya gotta eat beans as you get older."
"Jesus." Alex muttered, shaking the thought out of her head and refocusing on the stage as the emcee motioned for the crowd to pipe down.
"Ok everyone! Welcome back to Burlesque Idol 2017! We've got a couple more acts to come so please make sure you keep yourselves well lubricated…" the emcee waited as the crowd wolf whistled and yelped their appreciation. "Let's keep the razzle dazzle coming. Next up the 1920's tapping sensation, please welcome the alarmingly gorgeous, Gin Minsky!"
Alex took a steadying breath as the next act came to the stage. She knew her crew were up last but it certainly didn't help her nerves. She looked over at Nicky's leg that was bouncing up and down and kicked her foot.
"Quit it. You're making my teeth clench." She hissed and was met by a pronounced sniff and a roll of her friend's eyes.
She caught something else in those eyes for the brief moment they made contact – more than nerves. Fear? Anxiety? Edginess? She was about to lean over and ask when she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump in her seat. Sylvie gave her an apologetic look as she crouched down next to her. "Sorry. I'm nervous too."
"I'm not nervous." Alex whispered back, offering her best impression of her very own trademark smirk, "I just fear for my life in a room full of jumped up lesbians."
Sylvie snorted "Yeah yeah. How could they resist you right? Hey, can we talk, maybe at the bar?"
Alex nodded, ducking through the crowd and following Sylvie up to the relatively unpopulated back of the bar, as most of the audience crowded down by the stage.
She ordered two drinks and joined Sylvie on the end of the bar as the flapper music sailed out over the rest of the crowd.
"What's up?" She asked, leaning over as she offered Sylvie a glass of scotch.
"It's Stella. I'm worried about her." Sylvie shouted back into her ex's ear.
Alex felt her jaw clench involuntarily and she felt her lips moving before she could censor herself, "Well that would be a complete waste of your time Sylvie cos she sure as hell ain't worrying about you."
She saw the veil of hurt quickly melt away. "Always so careful of other people's feelings aren't you Alex?" Sylvie asked with a caustic smile.
Alex sighed, and leaned over again, "Sorry Sylv. Believe me, I wish I was wrong."
"Well I don't know how you would even know anything about Stella and me, and besides," Sylvie waved her hand, "it's not as if you give two damns about my love life anyway." Alex let a guilty little rock settle in her stomach – the truth was, she was more concerned about Stella playing Sylvie along because it involved Piper, not because she'd really considered how Sylvie fell hard for bad girls...
Sylvie continued before she could respond, "Anyway, that's old news. I'm clearly talented at picking out asshole players. You get used to the let down." She let her words hang for a minute, accenting them with a pointed facial expression before continuing, "The reason I'm worried for her is that I heard her talking to Aydin last night – and it's not the first time."
Alex felt her face harden, legs deaden and senses sharpen. "Go on." She said calmly, keeping her eyes fixed ahead as she listened.
Sylvie knew that tone, it was the one you didn't fuck with. She leaned over and talked into Alex's ear.
"The first time was a few weeks ago, I saw them chatting outside as I was walking toward Nurse Diane. It was down one of the alleys off the main street. I'd taken a short cut. I looked away as Aydin looked toward me and I'm pretty sure he thought I didn't see him because when I looked back he was gone. I asked Stella who he was, just casually, but she just said some guy asking about the time. But then I saw them again a week later. Same corner. I let it go cos I figured…"
Sylvie trailed off, knowing she'd let it go because she didn't want to know – and knowing that Alex knew that too.
"But last night, we were…" she paused waiting for Alex to turn her eyes to her before she offered a coy shrug of her shoulders "…you know, hanging out. And afterwards, I heard her take a call. I know she thought I was asleep because I heard her say so. She said his name a couple of times. Said everything was set for tonight and she wouldn't let him down…I don't know…I couldn't hear everything, but I know it was Aydin. She sounded…scared. Young. I don't know…"
Alex let the information fire through her brain. She fought the desire to rage, to stream out onto the street and find Aydin, to run backstage and pull answers out of Stella. Instead, she nodded and finished her scotch slowly.
"Thanks Sylv. I'll take it from here." She stood up, dropping her glass on the bar.
"Alex," Sylvie took a step in front of her, making her ex-lover's eyes meet hers. "Don't do anything stupid. And by that I mean…" she pulled Alex in by her lapels, holding her an inch or two away from her "…don't kill someone and don't get yourself killed, you asshole."
Alex couldn't help but smile, putting her hands over Sylvie's and looking into her eyes "I won't. I can't promise I won't make a mess of everything though. I seem to be pretty good at that." They shared a rueful chuckle and, as usual unable to put things into words, Alex instead planted a kiss on Sylvie's forehead before moving back through the crowd to sit with Nicky.
She couldn't have seen the pair of intense eyes watching the exchange from afar.
Alex's thoughts were pinging around what Aydin was up to with Stella when she finally heard the opening strains of their number begin.
"And now…the six merry murderesses of the Cook County jail in their rendition of The Cell Block Tango…"
Alex stole a glance over at Morello whose face was frozen in a mix of fear and excitement. All of a sudden, she cared less about staving off Kubra and making him money, and yes, saving her own skin. She cared much more now about what it meant to Morello and the girls on stage to kill it tonight. She swallowed hard and sent a futile prayer up to a god she didn't believe in.
Soso was up first as Liz with "Pop". Beckoning them to the edge of the stage, she shared the end of her bubble-gum with a willing participant from the audience. Soso dropped to her hands and knees, her back long as she held the audience member's shoulders and pulled her mouth away from theirs. The bubble-gum stretched between them until it snapped in perfect time with the music as she jumped up and re-joined the chorus line behind her.
Next was Sophia, earning wolf whistles just from her strut down to the front of the stage, let alone from when she did the splits, crouching afterwards and creeping forward as she recounted the tale of Annie and "Six". She leant down from the stage, swiping a drink up from the closest table and throwing it back before mouthing, "You know some guys just can't handle their arsenic!" Joining in with the crowd, Nicky let out a whistle, momentarily deafening Alex who chose not to scowl at her best friend's annoyingness, just this once.
Poussey drew appreciative howls from the crowd as she prowled forward, looking dangerous and mouthing "Now I'm standing in the kitchen, carving up the chicken for dinner…" She tore strips off her outfit, accentuating the storyline of June and "Squish" as she stalked to the front of the stage. Wearing only fishnets, suspenders and a ripped up tank that left nothing to the imagination, she suddenly leapt down off the stage, strutting through the crowd and sitting on a wide-eyed woman's lap. Leaning in close, she mouthed to the woman, "Then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times." The crowd erupted as she jumped back up to the stage.
Alex looked over to see her smile mirrored in Nicky's goofy face, Morello's eyes shining with pride as she mouthed the words along with the ensemble.
"If you'd been there, if you'd have seen it, I bet ya you would have done the same."
Alex's eyes snapped back to the stage as she heard the music change, signifying Piper's character Hunyak's "Uh-Uh" story. She looked stunning, the only one wearing white satin and feathers amongst the other characters adorned in red and black lace.
She held the audience completely captive, perfectly mouthing the Hungarian character's words. As she moved, graceful and powerful at once, the other characters pulled parts of her costume off her from the dark, like shadows eating away at her innocence. It was cheesily symbolic, but still breathtakingly beautiful and Alex felt her traitorous body react; throat dry, chest constrict and heart jump.
A lone spotlight found Piper's character as the voiceover asked "Yeah, but did ya do it?" Magnetised, Piper's eyes dropped to Alex's and she locked on, mouthing, "Uh Uh. Not guilty."
Alex felt paralysed. She was dimly aware of Nicky digging into her ribs and whispering roughly in her ear "Ever heard of paranoia the destroyer Vause?" She would normally have shot a barb back but she couldn't move, eyes trained on the blonde under the spotlight.
The spell was broken the minute a silhouette started moving from the back of the stage. A stir went through the audience as they too snapped out of the trance Piper had weaved over them.
Stella stepped around the other women, as the spotlight swung to her, commanding the stage and telling her character Velma's "Cicero" story. Her arms wrapped languidly around two silk ribbons hanging from the ceiling as she walked forward. Reaching the end of the stage, she suddenly pulled herself up and manoeuvred her body impressively to be suspended above the stage.
The crowd was awe-struck, breaking into raucous appreciation as Stella grinned, winking at different women in the audience and holding her hand out, allowing herself to be swung over the crowd. As she swung, she dropped various articles of clothing until she was wearing the bare minimum, swinging inches above the enthusiastic crowd. She was stunning and talented – there was no doubt. There was also no doubt that Alex couldn't stand her.
Stella expertly dropped down to the stage and the others froze while she mouthed "Well. I was in such a state of shock, I completely blacked out, I can't remember a thing. It wasn't until later, when I was washing the blood off my hands, I even knew they were dead."
The cast sprang into action as they mouthed; "They had it coming!" while dancing in perfect choreography. Alex was truly impressed – she hadn't seen the final few rehearsals and the difference in quality from the last run through she'd seen was notable. Alex tried to put it down to the energy of the crowd or the adrenalin of the competition but deep down she knew it was for her. All this effort, all of it was to win the cash for her.
She suddenly wanted to weep and weep.
Instead, she turned her attention with the rest of the crowd to Flaca who flounced through the audience as Mona telling them the story of "Lipschitz". She pushed herself up to sit on the bar, pulling Bennett by the collar over to her. She tossed him backwards, returning to the stage to the whoops of the audience as she mouthed; "I guess we broke up because of artistic differences. He saw himself as alive. And I saw him dead!"
The finale was pure high-octane energy. Alex felt a buzz that dimly reminded her of her early twenties, doing lines of coke with girls and dancing to stupidly uplifting house music. But this was better. The brass band soundtrack was rousing, the crowd's attention electrifying, the dancing and stomping from the stage stirring and the fact that Piper was amongst it was almost too much for Alex.
The lights dropped with the sound of the cell door clanging shut and for a millisecond, there was complete silence - the eye of the storm.
It was broken by an immense roar of ovation from the crowd, their feet stomping as they whistled and called out to the women on the stage. Amongst their catcalls were proposals of marriage and begging to be "incarcerated" with them for a night.
Alex looked over to Morello, both of them bright eyed with tears, joy and exhaustion. They nodded to each other, silently acknowledging the feat. The moment was interrupted by Nicky in between them, who pulled them in to either side of her, kissing their heads and holding them in a vice grip. "If we lose I'm calling election fraud! And fake news! And wire-tapping! And just WRONG!"
Alex and Morello broke into unbridled laughter listening to Nicky doing her Trump impersonation, the feeling surprising Alex who hadn't felt such levity in what felt like weeks.
She looked up in time to see Piper's eyes departing from her direction. Those eyes had been pulled away by Stella who'd grabbed Piper into a close hug followed by a swooping ballroom dance move, earning more delighted whoops from the audience. Alex dug into Nicky's ribs and nodded to the stage, happy to pay her back for the mid-performance jibe "You were saying, oh wise one? Something about if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck…it's a fucking duck?"
She got up and stalked back to the bar before her friend had a chance to spin more bullshit about how it was all in Alex's head. She was taking a long sip of beer when she smelt a familiar strong perfume waft behind her.
"I get the feeling you're in for more than one win tonight Vause." The Russian accent purred behind her as a shot of vodka was placed in front of her.
Alex picked up the shot and turned to Red, following her pointed look up to the stage where Piper stood awkwardly as the other performers milled about, waiting for the judges to deliberate.
She turned back with eyebrows raised and clinked glasses, taking the shot obediently. She winced as it burned down her throat before her features clouded.
"I think you're under the same delusions as Nicky on that one Red. And if you're thinking we've got the Idol in the bag, well…one thing I've learnt is that nothing's certain in this life. Besides, I'm pretty much a genius at losing things so don't see why tonight would be any different…"
The older woman guffawed and rolled her eyes skyward "Bozhe moi! I don't think I brought my violin. I didn't realise we were having a pity party…"
"Huh." Alex huffed, chastened by Red's admonishment. She was behaving like a bit of a baby. But hell, it was true! She was the master of fuck ups. She motioned at Bennett for two more shots and placed one in front of Red.
"Ok Reznikov. Seeing as you're in such a positive mood. Why don't we make a bet. You predict three 'wins' for me that actually come through and last longer than a week, and I'll…" Alex stalled, trying to think of an appropriate prize.
"Massage my feet three times a week for the rest of the year." Red finished her sentence without hesitation.
"Ew." Alex said involuntarily, quickly rearranging her horrified face as Red's expression hardened. "Ok fine. And if I win and it turns out my life really is the spectacular train wreck I've been blessed at creating…?"
Red thought for a moment, before answering confidently. "I'll make you my piroshki's – on demand."
Alex squinted, looking expectantly at Red. "Ok fine, I'll share the recipe as well." Red relented holding out her hand.
"Woah. First you gotta tell me these predictions. I'm not shaking on some lame ass deal."
Red's smile snaked across her face. "OK. Number 1. You win the money tonight. Number 2. You rid yourself of Kubra Balik and his associated business for good. Number 3." She paused, enjoying watching the hope flicker over the younger woman's face "…well maybe two is enough." She turned in her bar stool, her back to Alex as she suppressed a smile.
"No! Uh, no way. Hey no changing the rules Red - you said three. You're not making it easier on yourself - massaging your feet has got to be worth my while." Alex struggled to keep her voice aloof.
Red smirked and turned back around "Ok fine." She shrugged, "Number 3. You get the girl back." She held her hand out and waited for Alex to shake it. The brunette sighed and gripped her hand, shaking it twice.
"Fine whatever. This is stupid...but I really do want that recipe so it works for me." Alex took a slug of beer, avoiding the amused expression of the woman beside her.
The head Burlesque judge meanwhile was making her way up to the stage, the all-important envelope held aloft in her hand.
"Here we go." Red spoke into Alex's ear as she gestured to the stage, "I'll be one step closer to foot massages in a few moments."
A/N – Hello! Broken record apologies here - I'm an over-committer and have had a lot on this last month. May is looking better so hopefully I'll get a few more updates out. You are all very good for sticking it out but I know it's frustrating waiting. I won't leave it unfinished I promise.
So. Next time we may see a couple of Red's predictions come true. I wonder which one/s!? There was a bit of conjecture around whether Piper actually took the drugs. As one astute reader pointed out, it was left a little ambiguous for you to work out but if it's still puzzling you, it will be made clearer a little down the track.
Thanks again for all your comments, more to come soon! x