"Any regulars today?" Nora asked as she brushed her pretty, straight, bright blonde hair. She had a slim nose and face, and big blue eyes and, just as Ninja, spoke with an accent.
They could have easily spoken in Romanian with each other but that brought the risk of getting slapped hard in the face.
Ninja shrugged and pulled over a navi blue crop top. "We'll see. Maybe, Frank will be in, he usually visits Saturdays. And you?"
Nora snorted. "I don't have regulars, you know that. I'll probably stick with the goons."
She frowned at the glittery mini skirt that she was pulling over her hips. "Doesn't that get boring?"
"Hm, sometimes. But it keeps them busy, so that you can be the star."
Ninja rolled her eyes at her but with a smile. "If you want us to swap, you can just say so."
"Meh," Nora made. She stood up and straightened out her skintight red dress.
Leaning over the makeup table and moving up close to the round, ornament mirror, Nora applied some red lipstick. Ninja still remembered the time well when they had done their makeup on the floor of their sleeping quarters. It had not always turned out well. There had been some hard slaps in the face.
Ninja was about to reply when she noticed that there were unusual sounds coming from beyond the door of their dressing room. Raised voices yelled orders and furniture was moved around as if the cleaning team were having a fit.
The girls frowned at each other, and Ninja went to open the door and peek into the lobby. In there, the cleaning team and goons were, in fact, tidying and rushing around in a frenzy.
She spotted Magdalena, one of the cleaning ladies; a heavy-set mortal in her sixties, with super short, grey hair. She was quickly sweeping the floor in front of the private rooms.
"Hey, Mag, what's going on?"
Magdalena turned and hurried over once she spotted Ninja. She pretended to sweep around in front of her feet, speaking with a lowered voice. "The boss is coming in ten minutes. We just heard."
Ninja frowned. "Which one?"
Magdalena made wide, meaningful eyes. "The boss."
Ninja's brows shot up but the cleaning lady hurried on and went to sweep another corner. Quickly, Ninja returned to the relative safety of the dressing room.
"Bax Hench is coming here." She immediately said.
Nora almost dropped her mascara. She caght it with the corner of her eye, instead. "Ouch!" She complained, but then was quickly distracted by Ninja's words. "Seriously?" Nora asked excitedly while pressing a cotton pad onto the spot in her eye. "Oww... What's he doing in this dump?"
"No clue." Ninja shrugged.
"Well, you better do your hair. It's a mess."
Ninja sighed and started braiding her brown strands and some glittery fabric into a French plait.
A couple of minutes later, the fuzz outside calmed down, and the bar was covered in silence. One of the goons came to tell them it was time for work. They left the dressing room and joined the rest of the girls on the floor. There, they all stood in a line.
Usually, Carry, the only female goon, went to check all of their outfits. If they did not appease her standard of the day, there were some hard slaps in the face.
Ninja assumed, Carry considered herself a strict mother hen of sorts. She wasn't.
Today, however, Carry was sitting on a couch in the corner, smoking a cigar, watching them, and twirling a strand of curly brown hair around her finger. The other goons were lined up as well, by the door and, next to them, the cleaning staff.
There were two unfamiliar faces in the room. One was a woman standing in a corner, close to the goons. She had dyed, fire red hair and a stinging look in her grey eyes. She looked fit and tough, was watching attentively. Ninja assumed she was a bodyguard.
The other was a man. He stepped up to the line of girls. He was a handsome guy; brown short hair styled to a T, chiseled jaw, almond shaped, amber eyes.
But it were not only his looks and his power that made all the girls swoon over the boss. It was his unavailability. None of the girls had ever managed to seduce him. It was almost a contest, at this point. The going theory of the girls was that he had a lover; a tragic love story that kept him from cheating. Ninja's going theory was that he was into women.
"Hello, Ladies." Bax Hench said, contently mustering each of them as he slowly strolled past.
Ninja could not understand the hype. He was the man that was responsible for this, after all. He was the guy who kept the ball rolling, and the girls rolling in.
And the fact that Ninja could not break him made the hatred bubble up in her stomach, up into her throat.
She wanted to hurt him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to bite his jewels off and watch him bleed. She wanted to...
"Heeyy," Ninja joined the others in replying in a cheerful, flirty voice.
"You all look lovely today. I see, Carry has been keeping an eye on everything..." Hench threw her a look over his shoulder.
Carry gave him a flattered smile and had a puff of her cigar.
"I'm sure you're all wondering what I'm doing here." Hench sympathized with the girls who were watching him interestedly; their fear hidden behind flirty eyes. "I'm here on a very important mission," he explained, bobbing a casual hand to his words as he still walked past slowly. "A very important person needs some... support. Let's say... a personal assistant. And because this person is so important, I would like to send them two of you. As a... Christmas present."
The girls avoided looking at each other with skepticism, excitement, curiosity, and especially, with hope. Ninja avoided puking.
"I hear that you have exceptional numbers due to some exceptional girls. And so, I decided to pick some of you, to move to a new home."
When Hench received the muted but excited reaction from the girls that he seemed to have been hoping for, he turned to the goons standing by the door.
"Now, Security. Since you guys watch all day..." Hench gestured bemusedly at the men. "Who here, would you say, is the most... outstanding member of this team?"
The goons exchanged looks, some muttered amongst each other.
"What, no favourites?" Hench prodded in disbelief. "Don't be greedy, now."
"Nora." One of them said and received glares from some of his colleagues.
Nora looked like she was suppressing a grin. Ninja tried not to smirk at her.
"Nora. And now, girls." Hench turned back to their lineup. "Who here, do you think, would make the best personal assistant?"
They too started looking at each other but without talking. The answer was clear yet no one wanted to speak.
Hench waved a luring hand. "Come on, spit it out."
"Nina." Nena quietly said from the end of the line.
"Nina." He repeated. "Nora and Nina. Step forward, you two, will you?"
They exchanged a glance but both made a step forward. The other girls were watching them, looking pleased but jealous.
"Nina." Hench prompted.
"Yes?" Ninja said.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as his sights locked onto her. Hench moved closer and grabbed her chin, made her stare him in the eyes. She held his look without moving her face. His breath smelled like fresh toothpaste. Ninja hoped hers did not smell like the puke she had just swallowed.
"And what makes you so special?" Hench asked daringly.
"Most of my customers come back every week." Ninja replied simply.
His smile broadened. It made him look sleezier, rather than more cheerful. "And why is that?"
She raised a shoulder to a vague shrug. "I get them."
"You get them." Hench repeated smugly.
Ninja nodded.
The little smile finally turned into a grin. He stood up straight and stepped back from Ninja. Hench waved a hand at the goons and headed for the door. "I want them packed and ready by tomorrow."
Immediately, movement entered the room again, as everyone picked their tasks back up.
Ninja caught the gaze of Magdalena. The familiar cleaning lady had tears in her eyes but a smile on her lips. She moved on to do her job.
Hench paid no attention to everyone's attempts to look busy, and simply walked out. His bodyguard followed him and closed the door behind herself.
This left Nora and Ninja standing there, unmoving, amidst the vain swarm of busy bees.