"What are you wearing tonight?" Jules asked, who was in the bathroom doing her makeup.
"I don't know." Said Ariadne. "I only brought one dress and I was saving it for a more important occasion. But I might have a skirt somewhere…"
"Woah." Jules peaked her head out the bathroom door. "You only brought one dress? Seriously?"
"I can't exactly afford to buy dresses where I live Jules." Ariadne excused herself. "Besides, it's just dinner."
"And a show." Jules pointed out. "A show with Jayne Alvers, hello!"
"So what do you want me to do?" Ariadne asked sarcastically.
"Just do as I say."
At six-twenty five, Eames arrived to Suite 1783 wearing one of his colorful button-up shirts with a grey suit.
"You ladies ready?" he knocked on the door politely.
"We'll be right out!" Jules called. Eames fiddled with his room key as he waited. When the door opened, he almost dropped the card to the rug.
"Well if it isn't the two prettiest girls on the ship." He smirked. Jules stepped out in a red V-neck bandage dress that matched the tone of her fiery hair. After her came Ariadne. The dress she borrowed for the night was coated in silver sequins and went down to her knees. Eames walked them both to the elevator, each girl in one arm. As the elevator was opening to the deck where the restaurant was, the women were already laughing at his jokes.
"Well hello Rodger!" said Eames in a tone that said 'Look at me'. "Joe."
"You made it just in time." Said Arthur.
"We'll it doesn't take me long to get ready and neither do my dates." He bragged. Ariadne and Jules giggled again.
"Wow Ariadne…" Arthur looked at her in Jules dress. "You look great."
"Thank you." Ariadne smiled at him. Joes grip on Arthur's hand got tighter.
"I'm hungry." She said. "Can we go in?"
"Certainly."
Jules rolled her eyes at the blonde and Ariadne smiled evilly as they were led to their table. Eames sat between his 'dates', Arthur sat next to Ariadne and Joe was between him and Jules.
"Our menu changes every night." Said the waiter. "We have our best dishes on tonight's menu to kick off the first night of the voyage. Would you like to start with a bottle of wine?"
"Yes, thank you Sir." Said Arthur. "Some classic Milano Red Wine."
"Milano?" Joe mouthed.
"And a little of your best champagne." Her boyfriend added.
"Very well Sir." The waiter walked off. Ariadne looked down at the menu.
"I don't get why you like Milano wine so much. It's from California, they don't know how to make wine."
"Ah hem." Ariadne coughed to get Joe's attention. "For your information, my grandparents run that vineyard." Jules was already warm inside. Joe put her hand to the cross around her neck.
"Forgive me, I had no idea." She said sincerely.
"Maybe you shouldn't bash anything at all." Jules cut in. "You never know what'll happen."
"Like that time at the Paris Rollergirls bout." Ariadne remembered. "The guys who sat in front of us were obnoxious. They were booing at the Circus Freaks and cheering for the tuxedo-themed team, when it turned out that one of the Circus Freaks skaters family was sitting right in front of them."
Eames snickered.
"They were so humiliated they left." Said Jules. "And the game didn't even start."
"I get it." Said Joe as if the conversation was attacking her. "I learned my lesson."
"I'm sorry, but what are roller girls?" Arthur asked. Neither of the former-skaters were too surprised he didn't know.
"They're women who play roller derby." Ariadne explained. "We were thinking about joining the league in Paris when we get back."
"So you're staying in Paris?" Eames asked.
"That's where the best chefs work." Said Jules. "And where the best architecture is."
"And where the best ballet dancers live." Said Joe.
Ariadne wanted to ask Joe if she's ever seen Black Swan but from what she knew, Joe would hate it.
"So is it true that you guys are forced to have small feet?" Jules asked. "I heard they did some drastic operations on bigger feet."
"Totally false." Said Joe. "There are a lot of dancers with big feet."
The waiter returned with the two bottles of fancy alcohol Arthur requested. After the waiter opened the bottles and placed them on the table, he said "Would you like some appetizers?"
"I'll have the octopus." Said Jules.
"And I'll have the fruit platter." Said Arthur. Eames looked over as the waiter left.
"A fruit platter? Would you like pads or tampons with that?" Eames teased. Ariadne and Jules snickered.
"Very funny." Said Arthur trying to handle Eames taunting.
"No seriously way to man up Rodg! Waiter can you get this 'man' a miniskirt and two tickets to Wicked while your at it?"
Ariadne didn't know why she was laughing so hard. Poor Arthur was being insulted in front of his trophy-girlfriend. Maybe that's why she was laughing.
"It's just something to snack on before the entrée's get here." Arthur defended.
"Alright, alright," Eames put a hand up to halt him. "We know you like to snack on."
"What do you have against Rodger?" Joe asked neurotically.
"It's a long story." said Ariadne. "If they were to tell you the whole thing you'd be bored to tears."
Arthur started pouring Joe's glass of champagne. No one else asked for a glass so Arthur moved on to the wine. The trio at the table all brought their glasses to him to fill. When the waiter returned to take entrée orders, Ariadne and Jules both ordered a rare steak and Joe simply asked for a salad.
The brunette and redhead looked over at each other like lurking vultures after they observed Joe's repulsion of the mention of steak.
"Let me guess, the theater doesn't let you eat anything but salad." Jules assumed.
"I'm a vegetarian."
"Oh ok." Jules nodded. "She would hate Lioness." She whispered in Ariadne's ear.
"Lioness would rip her to shreds." Ariadne whispered back in hope that Joe couldn't hear. "How do you deal with Rodger eating meat?" she asked.
"I try not to eat meat in front of her." Said Arthur. "She's a little sensitive about the subject."
"Have you read The Jungle?" Jules asked.
"No. What is that?"
"Don't read it." Eames advised. "Anyway, who's looking forward to seeing if Jayne Alvers's voice is real or not?"
"This might sound crazy, but I love Jayne Alvers." Joe admitted. "My dad listened to her dad's music all the time. He's like Bon Jovi meets Mick Jagger."
"And she's like Pink clashed with Joan Jett." Said Jules.
"Why are her eyes two different colors?" Arthur asked. "Is that even real?"
"She said she has heterochroma." Said Jules. "And he dad's voice is real but that doesn't prove that hers is real."
"We're going to meet her tomorrow." Said Ariadne. "I think we're having a spa trip with her?"
"What?" Joe asked in disbelief. "That's insane, you're so lucky!"
The food came quickly and the brunette redhead duo was too busy cutting up and eating their steak to talk much. They listened to a conversation between Joe and Eames about life in England compared to France. Since they were on a ship, all the food was free. When everyone finished, they left and headed strait for the theater.
"They could still edit her voice." Ariadne pointed out to Jules as they sat down. The lights were on as the five sat down in the middle row. Eames ordered drinks for Ariadne and Jules and they were put on the little tables by their seats. For fifteen minutes they socialized before the lights went off and on.
The huge audience in the room applauded as a man with dwarfism pushed out of the purple curtains. He put his hands up to settle them down.
"Welcome to the Greek Theater. Is everyone enjoying the cruise so far?" The applause was weak. "I said who's enjoying the cruise?" The applause was a little stronger. "I am Nick, head of the entertainment staff here on Calypso. We have real treats for all of you. For one, we have celebrities and their roller girl mom's on board. Jayne Alvers is here!"
A lot of the women in the audience including Jules and Joe clapped loudly.
"You ready to hear her come out and sing?"
The audience was going wild as the music to 'Proud Mary' started playing. When the music blasted, the curtains opened to show the stage with three wheel ramps one left, one right and one forward. Everyone on stage was wearing yellow shirts and black pants. The girls all had pigtails. What was unique about the number was that they were dancing in roller skates.
As Jayne sang in the middle of the number, she actually jumped off the stage and skated through the center aisle. The dancers all performed a series of jumps and spins.
"Now I really want to go back." Said Ariadne.
"They have me convinced." Jules muttered. The number finished and Nick entered the stage while Jayne and Shane stayed. The night went on as they asked married couples how long they've been together, made jokes, asked for advice and in the end, the couple married the longest got a complementary bottle of wine.
So far, the boat was like Heaven on water.