Maylene pulls out the air mattress box from the bag. She brings the box over towards Paul and starts opening it while giving him a knowing look.
Extremely annoyed and frustrated, he asks her, "What?"
She smirks as she pulls out the deflated mattress from the box. "She likes you."
Paul blinks at the woman and shakes his head. "She's the spy."
Now it's Maylene's turn to give him the confused look. She stops messing with the air mattress. "What makes you say that?"
The man sighs and runs his left hand through his hair. "She's the only one who knew and it makes sense with."
Maylene gives her friend a sad smile. She can tell this conclusion is killing him inside. "I'm sorry, Paul."
"Don't be." He quickly says. "This just shows me I can't trust anyone."
She raises an eyebrow at him. "So you can't trust me?"
"Not after this!" Paul practically screams.
Maylene notices he looks like he's on the verge of a mental breakdown. She takes a deep breath. "Paul, just get some rest, okay? We can talk after having some sleep." Fortunately, Paul turns in on his bed. Ghost Reggie can haunt him. He doesn't care anymore. Ghost Reggie can take him for all Paul cares.
After Maylene sets up the air mattress, she hears Paul quietly snoozing. She decides to go check on his landlord, make sure the young woman is okay. Once she walks down the stairs, she hears noise on the ground level. Paul had mentioned he lives above a cafe/bar. He also asked her to be the bouncer there.
As she walks through the doors, she notices the bluenette from earlier is angrily moving furniture around. There is a blonde boy behind the register watching the bluenette nervously while stocking the alcohol. "Excuse me." Maylene's voice starles the two workers and they look at her.
"How'd you get in here?" Barry asks the woman. Dawn avoids looking at Maylene.
Maylene smiles at them. "I'm Maylene, a friend of Paul's. He asked me to be the bouncer here."
Barry opens his mouth to speak, but Dawn quickly cuts him off, "We're not hiring."
The pink haired woman raises a surprised eyebrow while Barry gives her an apologetic look. "Okay. Well, if you change your mind, I'll be upstairs." Maylene turns to walk out the back doors but then she says, "He's like a little brother to me."
Once Maylene is gone, Barry looks at his boss. "Zoey and Kenny can't come in tonight! We need a bouncer!"
Dawn sighs. Barry is right. Right now, she needs to separate business and personal. So what if Paul and Maylene are dating? What he does in his own time is up to him. Maylene is even staying with Paul in his studio apartment! And Paul had yelled at Dawn to leave before Maylene arrived. Why does Dawn's heart hurt so much just from thinking about these things?
"We either open or we don't, Dawn." Barry's voice breaks her from her thoughts. She sighs and leaves out the backdoor to go up the stairs.
After knocking on Paul's door, Maylene answers. She smiles sweetly at Dawn who gives her a tight smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Maylene asks.
Dawn takes a deep breath. "Since Paul is hurt, we are hiring a new bouncer. Are you interested?"
The older woman smirks at her. "That depends." Dawn raises an annoyed eyebrow. "Are you interested in Paul?"
Blushing, the bluenette says, "I don't see how that's relevant."
"Let's talk outside." Maylene says as she quickly grabs her coat and walks past Dawn. The bluenette follows reluctantly. Once outside, the pink haired woman speaks again, "Sorry. It's just, Paul is sleeping, and he gets really grumpy when woken up."
Dawn can't help but smile softly. That is totally Paul. "We open in 20 minutes and need a bouncer."
Maylene smiles at the girl. "Okay. Then we have time to talk."
"Uh. I need to go help set up."
"I'll help later. It'll make it quicker."
Dawn sighs. She can't escape this woman. She needs a bouncer. "What do you want?"
The older woman thinks for a bit. Paul did say this girl can't be trusted, but it looked like he trusts her. "I should be careful around her. I know nothing about her." Maylene thinks to herself before saying, "What are you paying Paul?"
"He saves $200 on rent every month."
"I'm not living here, so what are you willing to pay?" Maylene already has lots of money since she ran a successful boxing gym and then sold it after Reggie passed. She doesn't need the money, but Paul asked for a favor, and she at least owes him that much for reporting him.
"Can you really be a bouncer?" Dawn eyes the skinny woman who flexes an arm.
"We both know Paul wouldn't have brought me if he knew I couldn't do the job." At the mention of his name, Dawn looks away dejectedly. Maylene is really finding it hard to believe that this girl is the spy, but then again, you can't always believe what you see.
"$15/hr."
"Sounds fair." Maylene shrugs.
"Your shifts are from 8PM-4AM. I'll have paperwork for you to sign later."
The pink haired woman smiles at her. "Sounds good!" The two walk inside, and Maylene starts for the stairs so she can change into a bouncer appropriate outfit. When she comes back, she helps Dawn and Barry move the last of the furniture. Soon, they finish setting up the bar. Maylene signs the employment papers and faces Dawn who is filing the papers away. "We're not dating, by the way." She says in a last effort to analyze the girl. Dawn doesn't react, so Maylene just leaves to the front of the bar.
Once Maylene is gone, Dawn mumbles, "Why do I care?" and then heads out to help Barry at the bar.