As we left the bus stop and walked the remainder of the way to work, we bumped into Todd, who had the same idea about being early as Mike did. After we shared greetings, we proceeded past Tony and into the building.
Once through the door and around the corner, it was easy to see how busy the place was. It was humming like a beehive.
People were moving chairs and tables, cleaning floors and draperies, porting stacks of clean shot glasses and champagne flutes. The entire energy was very hectic.
Just as we had almost reached the stairs, a bunch of yelling drew our attention to the kitchen area. A food delivery service was dropping off goods and the head of the kitchen was arguing that something was 'terribly wrong' with the delivery.
"You have no right to substitute something from our order for something else that's completely different! Lemons are not grapefruits! Not grapefruits!", he yelled, shaking a grapefruit at the delivery man.
"Woah.", I said, turning to look at Mike first, then Todd. "Is this what you meant by I would have to see? Your 'Alpha Serious'. Is this what happens every time the owner is gonna show?"
"Yep!"Todd and Mike said in unison.
I just shook my head.
We went our separate ways at the dressing rooms. Stepping through the doorway, I wasn't surprised to see that Marilyn was already there. As I walked to my locker, I said 'hi' to her. We then chatted for a few minutes before continuing the serious work of getting ready.
Not sure what to do with my hair, I sorted it out with a brush before putting it up in a messy bun.
I had changed my outfit and Marilyn looked stunning as usual, when two young women entered the change room.
I'd never seen them before. They looked younger than Marilyn and I, only about 19. My best guess was they were the dancers who were absent the first night I'd worked.
Marilyn had told me those ladies had caught the same stomach bug on their way home from a vacation in South America.
"Ronnie. It's great to see you back!" Marilyn said with a smile.
She put her hand on the arm of one of the girls. "And it's good to see you, Amber!"
"I feel so tanned and relaxed.", Amber said.
"Considering the break you had from here, I don't blame you." Marilyn said in a hushed tone. "And besides," she said, now talking at a normal volume, "the sun is stronger near the equator."
"We had such a great time!", gushed Ronnie. "South America is beautiful! Or at least Costa Rica is!"
"We will have to show you some of our photos. I didn't get them all posted." said Amber.
"We went to this amazing local beach party! I wish you'd been there. You would have loved it.", Ronnie stated.
Marilyn smiled and then said suddenly, "Oh, where are my manners? Ronnie, Amber, this is Sinead. She's the new hire."
"Hello." Ronnie and Amber said in unison.
"Hi, nice to meet you." I said.
Marilyn was about to say something, when a knock on the door sounded.
"Twenty minutes!", a voice said.
Then footsteps sounded in the direction of the guys' dressing room.
"Well, I'd better let you ladies get ready." Marilyn said to Amber and Ronnie.
For the next twenty minutes, Amber and Ronnie got changed and did their makeup, while Marilyn put the finishing touches on her hairstyle. I just sat on a chair and relaxed.
Suddenly, the dressing room door swung open and in came Angelique and Essence.
The mood in the room changed instantly. It got heavier and oppressive. At first I thought that the pair were going to ignore everyone else in the change room entirely. But we were not that lucky.
After glancing around, Essence and Angelique, sauntered over to Ronnie.
"Look who's come crawling back." purred Angelique.
"I thought she'd quit and just made up an imaginary vacation!" cackled Essence.
Both laughed; a horrible sound.
I looked at Marilyn, but she didn't meet my eyes.
"She couldn't quit.", scoffed Angelique, "She's too poor. Too bad she's such a bad dancer, or she could make more money."
"Poor, a bad dancer and unpopular!" Essence added, "If she wasn't so pathetic, I'd feel sorry for her."
I'd had more than enough of this venomous pair. If no one else in the room was going to stop them, I would. I just needed a plan. As my eyes wandered around the room, I noticed an abandoned water bottle- perfect.
I reached my power out and took energy from the environment around me. I wrapped the energy tightly around myself like a cloak, and walked over to retrieve the bottle.
Keeping Angelique, Essence and Ronnie in my peripheral vision, I checked to see if anyone noticed me. But they were still busy demoralizing a poor Ronnie, who sat hunched in her chair, trying her best to ignore them.
'This will fix them.' I thought, as I unscrewed the lid off the water bottle, letting the lid drop to the floor.
I walked in their direction and suddenly squeezed the bottle, grabbing the empty stool beside them as if I tripped, and exclaimed, "Oops!"
The water I directed went up in the air and came down on the heads of Angelique and Essence, without a drop splashing on Ronnie. The coiffures of both bullies were wet and slightly disheveled- looking.
For a moment the silence was unbroken.
"Oh, my! How clumsy of me!", I exclaimed, straightening up and keeping my face innocent and eyes wide. "I've gotten you all wet. And we've only 10 minutes before show time."
Essence looked murderous. "You've ruined my hair!", she screamed. Angelique was looking herself over in a mirror, inspecting the damage. "My curls are drooping!", she whined.
"Good-for-nothing!" Essence hissed, her face twisted with rage. She stepped forward and raised her hand.
Fast as a python's strike, I grabbed her by the wrist and held her, her hand was only a few millimeters from my left cheek. I stared, hard and cold into her eyes.
"Now, now.", I cooed. "A delicate and fragile star, like yourself, should be more careful." I applied pressure on her wrist. Not enough to leave a mark or break anything, but just enough to hurt. "Or you might end up getting hurt."
I let go of her wrist. She let it drop to her side. I was pretty sure she got my meaning.
"We don't want that, now do we ladies?" I asked, looking around at all present.