CHAPTER ONE
Juliette
On The Rox, the hottest club in the city, was coated in ultra violet light. Roaring its familiar roar to me, the dance floor full of simultaneously moving bodies to a quick tempo rhythm some local DJ was spinning. Carol already had a man with his hands all over her as she bopped around, every so often grabbing on to a broad shoulder or a petite arm for support in her drunken state. Ashley, my boss and best friend, just had her eyes closed whilst acting out every song lyric like some sort of modern mime artist, unaware of anyone or anything around her. It was quite brilliant to watch, myself in the middle just flicking my hips in every direction in an attempt to be sexy. Whatever sexy was, I was trying to look it.
Raspberry Mojito in hand, I saluted Carol with my glass as we caught eyes and she winked at me – proud she had pulled a guy so early in the night. Ashley eventually opened her eyes and leaned in close to shout something in my ear over the thudding music.
"He's fucking ugly!" Ashley gestured to the old guy grinding on Carol.
I turned to her and nodded as we exchanged a laugh, "She's got her beer goggles on, she can't be stopped now."
Still moving to the music, we both turned back to the subjects in question, the two of them on each other like a pair of teenagers hooking up in a park at night. "It's like watching something from animal planet." I scrunched up my face in mock distaste.
Ashley spluttered and elbowed me in the ribs playfully, a bit of her drink sloshing over the edge of her glass and landing on the already sticky dancefloor.
The guy she was dancing with, a middle aged balding man with a mustard coloured button down shirt and camel coloured chinos, whispered something in Carol's ear then held up one finger to indicate 'one minute' before turning from us and shuffling through the crowd towards the bar.
"Oh my god." Carol mouthed at us both as he got out of earshot, waving her hands in time to the music as we swayed towards her, closing in the gap her dance partner had left on the dance floor. "He's gone to get us shots, I can't believe I've already pulled!"
Ashley, thumbing at her engagement ring until it became loose around her finger, freed it from her hand and placed it on the opposite one, "Well I'm not gunna get any free drinks like Carol if I'm wearing this bloody thing!"
"I don't think a fiancé would stop anyone taking a shot at you Ash." Carol's words had a hint of envy in them.
I spotted the old guy pushing his way to the front of the bar in the distance, trying to flag down a barman like he was James Bond, his shirt looked even more hideous in the ever-shifting light of the club. "You really know how to pick them Carol." I muttered.
She ignored my jibe and began to rummage in her clutch bag for something, "I need my phone, I'm gunna get his number when he gets back."
I loved Carol, she was 20 years older than me, single and always ready to mingle. Even if that meant mingling with the worst looking guy in the club, just so she could feel validated. We had barely anything in common, but we saw each other 5 days a week at work. Work friends were a novelty like that, cause even though we didn't always agree, we still felt like we were a family.
After a few more misjudged dance moves, Ashley spotted a free space at one of the tables on the edge of the dance floor and guided us towards it before anyone else got the opportunity to take it from her.
"So, what's the Knight in Shining Chinos called then?" I hollered over the music, throwing my purse at the table and hopping on one of the available stools. Trying to stop my dress from riding up to my chin, I struggled to slide fully on to the high seat with any grace. Being short had its disadvantages.
"He's called Kevin, he's from North Leeds, do you know where that is?"
Ashley managed to get herself a seat by batting her long eyelashes at a tall young guy sat down on the opposite table, he offered it up willingly as she flicked her blonde hair at him. That was Ashley's superpower, bewitching guys. She paid him no mind as she dragged the newly acquired stool next to mine. "What I miss?" She asked me, the guy who's seat she just took still gaping at her.
"Lover boy is called Kevin, Carol wants to know where North Leeds is." I fill her in, giving the poor guy a look that said, 'better luck next time'.
Taking a sip of her cocktail, she beckoned Carol to move closer in so she can hear her better. Carol complied and shuffled in, her large cleavage pooling out of her low cut black dress and resting on the table top.
"You know Leeds right?" Ashley laughed, "Well think North of it."
"Alright you sarcastic bitch," Carol looked over her shoulder in the direction of the bar, "Shit he's coming back, how do I look?" She faffed with her hair, a poker straight black bob that didn't seem to move an inch with the amount of hairspray she had used on it. I couldn't resist following Ashley's lead in winding her up, "Same as when he left Caz!"
She gave us both a bittersweet, red lipped smile as Kevin plonked a tray down in front of us all, 4 clear shots lined up on it perfectly.
"Right ladies, drink up!"
The logical and less intoxicated side of me questioned a strange man in a shit yellow shirt giving three women free drinks that they haven't attended once, yet I still picked my glass up with the others.
"To a good night." I toasted before we all threw the burning liquid down our throats in unison and fought the feeling that we may have just been spiked.
As Ashley feigned interest and asked Kevin about himself and Carol thumbed the newly acquired digits of his phone number into her phone, I let my gaze wonder over the club through the white iron divider that ran down the centre of the room. Multiple cream leather booths lined the perimeter, each filled with lovers and friends alike. One booth in particular stood out, a woman about my age, with shoulder length brown hair and small eyes, had her back against this rouge looking guy's chest who's lap she was at on, her head lulled on his shoulder as his hands explored in unknown territory under the protection of the table. No doubt she was getting some, lucky bitch.
My eyes quickly moved on to the next table, a blush creeping up my cheeks, where four glamorous looking girls sat around one large cocktail pitcher and drank from it with brightly coloured straws. They looked like supermodels, all legs and petite frames.
Everyone there seemed to have something in common apart from me, they all seemed stinking rich. Well, maybe not those glam girls - they were sharing a drink.
On The Rox wasn't some seedy little night club, despite what that couple were doing in that booth not-so-secretly, it was the place for business men and women of the city to come and let off steam, splashing cash on expensive liquor and cocktails. Lucky for myself and Carol, we had a very generous boss, Ashley wasn't afraid of using the company credit card to fund the occasional Saturday night out.
Turning back from my people watching to tune into the conversation at my own table, a change in music pace quietened off the dance floor just enough to make it easier for me to move my arms around to reach for my drink without accidentally elbowing someone. Carol was draped over Kevin like a curtain as Ashley watched on in confused horror and hilarity.
"What do you do Kevin?" I asked politely, finishing off the last of my mojito and placing it next to the cartilage of empty shot glasses. He seemed more than happy to talk about himself, although his little round eyes didn't light up the same way they had when Ashley had spoken to him.
"I'm a businessman."
"Can you be a bit more specific?"
I shared a look with Ashley as Carol dived in for the specifics, Kevin cleared his throat and looked down at her. "I deal cars."
This seemed to delight Carol. "Ooo cars! I love cars!"
I could see right through him though, Kevin was nothing more than a two-bit entrepreneur trying to make his fortune so he could fit in a place like On The Rox, and Carol just wanted to sleep with a millionaire. She would have to look further than Kevin if that was the case. He was clearly faking it like the rest of us.
He started to go on about the showroom he'd just opened out of town, and I knew I was losing my ability to pretend to care. Pawing at my purse and rummaging around the bottom of it, my hand finally landed on my lighter and carton of cigarettes, dying for a smoke and for a reason to get away.
"What do you ladies do?" Kevin eventually moved the topic of conversation away from himself and directed his question out to all of us. Ashley picked it up like a baton, like the natural leader she was.
"I'm the owner of an independent jewellers, Carol is my Senior Sales Consultant and Juliette here is our Apprentice Designer." She placed a hand on my shoulder as she spoke.
Carol's face seemed to screw up as Ashley described her as 'Senior'. I sort of felt the same about the word 'Apprentice', but in the opposite sense.
As Kevin began to discuss his prized collection of cufflinks, I pulled a cigarette from the pack and held it like a wand in front of Ashley's face, indicating I was going out for a smoke before I was bored to death. Kevin didn't seem to take the hint and tried to include me in the conversation as I shimmied off the stool and offered it out for Carol to take. "Aren't you a bit young to be in the club Apprentice? And to smoke too?"
I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself and gave Ashley and Carol a knowing look, budging past Kevin so I could make my escape.
"I'm 20," I corrected him, "definitely too young for you though, old timer."
I left before I could see the result of my offence and made my way towards the exit. Carol was going to hate me for that one.
It was a lot less crowded at the end of the club as most people wanted to be nearer the dance floor. As soon as I got past the bar and squeezed myself through the throng of people loitering by the doorway, I bust out into the open. A bouncer, dressed all in black, held a velvet rope out for me so I could walk through into the sectioned off smoking area. I thanked him over my shoulder as I strode on carefully, watching as people queued up the side street against the rope in the hopes that they could at least get a glimpse inside the already full club. I felt like a pretender, like I should have been there with them in that line peering into the lives of people who drove flashy cars and lived in grand houses.
The slight chill of the late summer night bit at my bare shoulders and legs, I instantly regretted not wearing something a little less revealing, the heat from my lighter as I sparked up the end of my cigarette gave my hands and the end of my nose a brief relief from the cold. Nobody else was in the smoking area, except another burley bouncer at the other end of it behind another lavish looking velvet rope. That had to be where the elite jumped the line, so they didn't have to deal with us peasants.
The bouncer gave me what I could have mistaken as a smile as I slid against the wall and sat on the cold curb, unbuckling my shoes whilst taking a long drag of my cig. I hated heels, but somehow always ended up wearing them out. Then I'd always end up taking them off as soon as they started to pinch, leaving me to walk around barefoot like a neanderthal.
Multiple groups of shadowy figures passed on the other side of the barrier, laughing, arguing, stumbling. Not one of them noticed me hiding in the darkens under the windowsill like the faker I was as I continue to smoke in silence, the sound of my favourite beat and the chatter of the busy Saturday night streets to keep me company.
I was finally alone. Just the way I liked it.
That was when he turned up to ruin it.