Chapter 7: Only One Rule
"Girls, the world must be flat," Karita announced to Sugar, Ariella, and Carmine with flourish.
"Why's that?" Airella asked, twirling a strand of fiery hair around her index finger.
"Bella hasn't talked for the last, count 'em, TWO minutes," Karita proclaimed dramatically, putting her right hand to her forehead and falling weakly into her chair. Unfortunately, her 'weak' fall held just a bit too much force-the chair went toppling backwards, and Karita fell, sprawled, onto the ground of the Moulin Rouge garden.
Ariella, Sugar, Bella, and Carmine immediately burst into hysterical laughter, and Sugar offered a hand to her.
"Graceful, Karita," Nini called from across the garden, where she stood with Arabia and China doll smoking cigarettes. "No wonder the men don't flock around you, if you're that clumsy in bed."
"Oh, Nini," Karita said, her voice drenched with false admiration, "I'm sorry. I wish I was as talented a whore as you! It's my dream, really."
Nini opened her heavily-lipsticked mouth to snap back a reply when the doors of the dance hall swung open, revealing Satine. Immediately, the diamond dog's dark eyes began to sparkle deviously; Bella halfway expected her to begin rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
"Aw, look, it's our Diamond!" Nini drawled. "Inside so early? Why, it's barely the crack o' dawn! But I s'pose that's what Harry's little favorite has to do to keep him satisfied."
China Doll and Arabia began to snicker appreciatively, and Bella felt a wave of intense loathing wash through her as she waited for Satine to make a biting remark in return.
However, the only thing she said was a weak, "That's not true."
"Aww, sure it ain't, Princess," Nini said with an exaggerated wink. "Now, really, do you expect us to believe that? I mean, we're just as, if not more talented than you. We just aren't so desperate for the job that we'll fuck a man two times our age and three times our body weight-"
"Nini, you'd fuck a DONKEY to get ahead here, and everyone knows it."
Bella's angry, dangerously audacious tone rung out across the garden, and everyone else immediately fell silent.
"Now, really," Bella continued, taking a few steps towards Nini, "There's no reason to be rude to Satine just because she has enough class to stay involved with her own SPECIES, with the exception of Harold, who, by the way, is HAPPILY married to Marie and would never do such a thing."
"There's no such thing as happily married," Nini sneered. "You're a child; don't you even try to understand the real world, sweet'eart."
"I've probably been in worse shit than you've ever dreamed of, sweet'eart," Bella retorted evenly.
"Aw, I doubt that, Angel girl," Nini said tauntingly. "And what the hell are you thinking, trying to suck up to the Sparkling Diamond? She doesn't talk to the little people."
Satine narrowed her bright blue eyes at Nini, but didn't dare say anything.
Putting a hand to her chest, Nini continued, "I, personally, haven't ever met such a heartless bitch."
"You obviously don't know YOURSELF very well, Nini," Karita piped up angrily, putting a hand on her waist.
"Oooh," Nini drawled, "The little future parlor wife speaks up. Honey, why don't you go have a cuppa tea? You don't belong here."
"I'd tell you to go to hell," Karita said sweetly, "But I think you'd enjoy it there."
"Ain't it sweet, Satine?" Nini asked slyly. "I mean, all these little can-can girls are sticking up for you! But I can't help but wonder...do you even know their names?"
Everyone's eyes fell upon Satine, and she remained silent.
Biting her lip, Bella counted the seconds.
One...two...three...four...five...six...seven....
"Aw well," Nini drawled, "Looks like she doesn't ca-"
"That's Bella," Satine interrupted, gesturing towards Bella. "And Karita. And Ariella, Sugar, and Carmine." A sweet smile stretched out across her perfect face. "Any other questions, Nini?"
Nini scowled, muttered something under her breath, and stomped off into the dance hall, China Doll and Arabia behind her giggling to each other.
"Thank you, girls," Satine said gratefully, sinking down with nonchalant grace into an empty chair. "Normally, I would have been able to handle her, but...I just haven't been feeling well lately, and-"
"No problem," Bella cut her off with a smile.
Satine flashed a smile back, looking genuinely relieved.
"Thanks again," she said. "It's so nice to have people to talk to-"
"Chickpea!"
Harold's voice rung out across the garden as he pushed open the doors of the dance hall.
Satine immediately sat up a bit straighter and called back in a smooth, professional tone, "Yes, Harold?"
It was a strange thing to witness...almost as if they'd been watching her transform into someone else.
Which, of course, was what the Sparkling Diamond had to be able to do.
Which pretty much covered why Nini wasn't the Sparkling Diamond. Bella was sure that Nini had only one personality, and that was the bitch queen.
"Did you want to sing Sparkling Diamonds or Red Room tonight?" Harry called.
"They're putting Red Room in the show?" Sugar asked in interest. The five of them had made up the lyrics on a whim jokingly a few months before, and it had become their signature song. Thanks to it, they were known to the customers of the Moulin as the Red Room Diamonds or, as Harold had become accustomed to calling them, the Great Red Room Rubies.
Satine nodded. "You girls don't mind, do you? Harold mentioned something about you making it up..."
"No, no, it's fine," Carmine said quickly.
"Satine!" Harry called again.
"I'd better be going," Satine said, sounding a bit reluctant. "I'll see you later."
A chorus of farewells rang out from the table from the assorted Red Room Diamonds as Satine got up and walked over to Harry.
"She's a sweetheart," Karita announced as soon as the Diamond was out of earshot.
All the other girls nodded in agreement.
"But...did you see how she just...changed when Harry talked to her?" Sugar asked, eyes wide. "It was like the girl that was there a second ago just completely disappeared. It was kind of...creepy."
"She's an amazing actress," Ariella proclaimed.
"She wants to be one," Carmine piped up. "An actress, I mean. A famous one."
"How do you know?" Bella asked, interested.
"I heard her talking to Marie a while ago," Carmine responded. "She wants to be the next Sarah Bernhardt."
"I'm sure she could be," Sugar said.
A silence fell over the table, broken by Karita who asked, "Now, Bella, why so quiet?"
Bella felt a blush rise to her cheeks, and she looked down, causing her blonde curls to tumble over her flaming face and hopefully hide it from her friends.
"It's just...that American man that was visiting," Bella said, "You know, Andrew Johnson."
"Ooh, you remember his name," Ariella said teasingly. "Must be serious."
"Shut up," Bella commanded, looking up long enough to stick her tongue out at her. "It's just...he paid me for over a week just to talk to him. To TALK to him, for God's sake! And I sort of...well, I liked him. He was sweet and funny...a good conversationist."
"Whoo," Karita said with a devilish grin. "Bella's in lo-ove."
"And Karita's not?" Bella snapped. "But then...a while ago, he kissed me. And then things just went...downhill from that, if you know what I mean. And when he thought I was sleeping, he whispered, and I QUOTE, 'I love you, Beauty. I'm going to get you out of here'."
"Beauty?" Carmine interrupted with an amused smile.
Bella felt the cursed blush come back to her cheeks, and she mumbled, embarrassed, "That's what he called me. Little pet name thing..."
She could feel all of their eyes on her, and she hurriedly continued with her story.
"Then when I wake up, HE'S gone, and the only thing that was there was rose and a stack of francs. He hasn't come back since."
Sugar immediately wrapped her arms around Bella.
"I mean, I know I shouldn't care," Bella said, then decided to rephrase it. "I DON'T care."
The response to that statement was four extremely skeptical looks.
"Well, I don't care MUCH," Bella said huffily, "But the point IS, he said he loved me! You can't just say you love a girl and then LEAVE her."
"But to most men, we're not girls," Ariella pointed out bitterly. "We're just courtesans."
"I mean, they come stomping in ready for a good time," Carmine started.
"Here we are now, entertain us!" Karita mimicked, warbling horribly off-key. Bella couldn't help but laugh.
"But then they promise us more," Carmine continued. "And they just don't get that we're people too...we have feelings."
Bella snorted. "I doubt that crosses their mind. To them, we're just diamond-obsessed whores."
She began to bat her eyelashes at a frightening rate and sing in a ridiculously breathy tone.
"Meet us in the red room, close the door and dim the lights!"
"We're the Great Red Room Rubies so you'd better treat us nice," Sugar threw in laughingly.
"Buy us diamonds, rubies too!" Carmine instructed.
"You might like us but we don't like you!" Karita threw in.
"Classic Karita," Bella laughed.
Ariella finished, "Karita, Ariella, Sugar, Carmine, and Bella...too."
"You can't rhyme too with you and then with too again!" Karita protested.
"Try and stop me, Miss Poetess," Ariella challenged.
"Oooh, be afraid, Scarlet Starlet," Karita said, lowering her voice several octaves. "Be VERY afraid."
"Ooh, I'm shaking in my shoes."
"I bet you are."
"Girls, girls, break it up," Sugar instructed, giggling. "We don't want any cat fighting going on now, do we?"
Karita hissed over-exaggeratedly at Ariella, who made a scratching motion with her right hand in return.
Bella forced a laugh, but she couldn't bring herself to completely forget about Andrew. A sinking realization washed over her as she watched Karita and Ariella attempt to battle to the death.
She missed him.
~*~
"Now, my little girlies, before you go out to dance tonight, there's something that Uncle Harold needs to tell you!" Harry announced in his usual jovial manner as he adjusted his top hat.
"What is it, Harold?" Karita shouted.
"Don't keep us in suspense!" Bella added dramatically.
This resulted in a round of laughter from the other girls, and Harold chuckled to himself as he waited for the noise to die down.
"Now," he started, "All of you know that I've wanted to transform the Moulin Rouge into a theater for quite some time now, and I have excellent news. The Duke of Monroth is coming to the club in a month or so, and he just may consider paying the finances for the transformation!"
The room immediately erupted in cheers and the swishing noise of can-can skirts as the girls jumped up and down in delight.
"Now let's get out there and can-can-can!" Harold shouted, leading the girls out into the club with his signature roar of, "Can you can can can?"
The crowd immediately erupted into lustful whoops and cheers, and Bella began to wave her pale pink skirt in time to the other girls. As she had on so many previous nights, her eyes scanned the crowd anxiously while she put her body on autopilot, singing along and performing her moves to perfection.
"I just can't get you outta my head," she proclaimed in unison with the others, still searching...where was he, for God's sake? Would he ever come back?
"Boy, your loving is all I think about..."
God, please let him be here, Bella prayed silently. Just let him be here...
However, all her hopes were crushed by the time they finished their number and Satine made her grand entrance on her trapeze, clad in a burgundy corset and matching top hat.
"I'll meet you in the red room," she purred seductively, "Close the door and dim the lights..."
Deciding that no one would miss her now, seeing as the spotlight was on Satine, Bella lifted up her can-can skirt and began to walk through the crowd. She could hear Sugar hissing, "Where are you going?" from behind her, but didn't turn around.
She was studying all the men sitting in the booths when suddenly she felt herself slam into someone, and her eyes fell upon them at once. It was one of the men that had always accompanied Andrew there.
"Is Andrew here tonight?" Bella asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"He's somewhere," his friend responded, not taking his eyes away from Satine as he replied.
"Thanks," Bella muttered. Where was he? Where was he?
Suddenly, she felt a strange tingling sensation seem to run through her body. Someone was watching her. She knew it. It was him.
An unexpected wave of panic ran through her, and Bella did the first thing that her mind thought of: ran.
Yes, she wanted to see him, but there was no way she could face him now! Not after he'd told her he loved her and then just...left.
She turned around to see him watching her intently. As soon as their eyes locked, the whole club seemed to fall silent. It was as though everyone had frozen in place, leaving only Andrew and herself...
"Among the many muted faces," she sang softly, "You try to find me in the spaces; you're drawn to my song."
"You only move to keep from sinking," she heard Andrew's voice respond. She immediately broke their stare and studied the floor intently.
"You close your eyes as if you're thinking," Andrew continued, his voice growing louder, "Afraid all along that in my eyes so revealing you'll find what you're needing."
Bella couldn't bring herself to move, even though she knew that the wise thing would be to leave right now, so she'd never have to see his face again. Never have to live with these strange emotions.
"Nothing but pennies in my pocket!" Andrew sang out, his voice ringing over all the chatter and Satine's seductive purr. Still, no one seemed to notice them. They all kept their rapt, undivided attention on the Diamond. "Nothing but faith to keep me warm! Well, baby then I'd be broke without it...tell me, how much for your love?"
Against her will, Bella stared up at him, then immediately knew she shouldn't have. It was as though he'd cast a spell on her: she knew somehow that she'd never be able to look away.
"Slip my heart in your back pocket, all that I've got to keep me warm," she returned, "So baby, don't leave me here without it."
"Tell me, how much for your love," Andrew repeated.
Bella tilted her head slightly towards the doors, then made her way outside without waiting for him to join her. She stood out in the garden and breathed in a bit of the smoke-filled air, waiting...
Sure enough, moments later Andrew emerged from the club and, without a word, wrapped his arms around her.
Bella didn't resist, and kissed him willingly. However, she couldn't ignore a teeny voice in the back of her head repeating the same phrase over and over.
'No laws
No limits
Only one rule...
...Never fall in love.'
Songs Used
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
Meet Me In The Red Room by Amiel (reworded by moi. *mwahaha*)
Can't Get You Outta My Head by Kylie Minogue
In My Pocket by Mandy Moore