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| "A bad kid... the way they made me." |
Amber rolls her eyes, groaning, “those toilets are obscene. If men can’t find the decency to clean up after themselves, they’re not allowed in here anymore.”
“Amber?!” Vanessa gasps, “how long have you been here? When’d you even get back?”
“Not long.” Brushing off her query, Amber removes her jacket and throws it over her shoulder for Vanessa to catch. She quickly stows it in under the counter, unable to contain her shock with her mouth agape. Emilia wears a similar expression; blush spreads across her cheeks as she gets the bigger picture.
Under her jacket, Amber has a leather vest with a black laced corset underneath. Her stockings, the lace cuff barely visible above her boots, are attached with straps running down both sides of her legs. She walks over to Emilia. Stopping a few feet away, her hand rests on her hip. Emilia gulps but quickly regains control of herself. “You heard everything?”
“Yeah.” She then smiles and reaches over to pat her twice on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you’re the first sob story to come in here.” Amber turns her back and makes her way to the stage. In the meantime, everyone within earshot is treated to a speech she’d give hundreds of times. A rock instrumental accompanies her. The chords shift and the overall intensity builds as a result.
“I hear it all the time. When we can’t meet the needs of others, it’s always our fault. We let them down. We’re blind to their flaws. To see that we deserve better than what they put us through.” She casts a soft glance of sympathy toward Vanessa, who looks away. Emilia observes this and shifts her gaze back to Amber. The energy in the room changes as her words hit home and become more personal. “We bring ourselves down because we don’t meet the expectations of the other people in our lives. Well, I’ve got news for you. That’s their problem, not yours.” Without making the cognitive decision to do so, Emilia nods. Her eyes cloud with tears, which clear as soon as she blinks and short streams trickle down her cheeks.
Satisfied with her point firmly made, Amber smirks and flips her hair. She takes a stick of gum out of her breast pocket and chews it until she blows a bubble the size of a baseball before popping it and pulling it back inside. Mid-chew, she says, “let me show you how it’s done.”
The volume of the music goes up as Amber dives into the box of props. Vocals come into play, all of which relate back to Amber’s speech. How people are assigned meager roles by the people around them and their true selves are never allowed room to shine. Two choices are left to everyone. Either you can surrender to those expectations or rise above them.
After several moments of rummaging, Amber emerges holding two batons. She takes center stage, clenching one in each hand as she shuffles left to right for a spicy salsa. The volume decreases as she adds, “me, I’ve always been the bad kid. The girl everyone made narrow minded judgements about the moment they met her. Fearing I’d lead the innocent down the wrong path. Thinking I only put myself first.” Arms crossed over her chest, she spins in a circle and comes down on one knee. She pops another bubble; in the same breath, she flicks the switches on the batons to activate their LED lights. Two red rings on each side pulse in a pattern similar to a turn signal- innermost first, outermost next, both go off, then start the sequence again.
The music builds back up. Amber rises to her feet and winks in Emilia’s direction. In a dizzying display, Amber uses every trick in her arsenal. She throws the batons in the air, spinning them in opposite directions and catching them behind her back. Positioning her arms at three and seven o’clock, she spins one leg in a circle over her head, rotating the baton at seven while keeping the one at three stationary. Then pulling both in tight with her arms crossed, she spins around twice and stops on a dime to raise her right hand in the air. For every trick, Emilia and Vanessa hoot and whistle. When all was said and done, ravenous but appreciative applause erupts from both of them.
Wiping the sweat off her brow, Amber folds her gum back into its foil wrapper and replaces it in her pocket. She slogs over to the bar and throws down the remaining margarita as if it was just a tequila shot. Amber smiles through her gasps. “I’m not proud of how I obtained the funds to buy and restore this place but, in the end,, it was worth it.” After taking an extra moment to catch her breath, she addresses Emilia, “it took a lot of guts to do what you did tonight, kid. Be proud of that.”
“Yeah, I took the first step and left him. But I don’t know where to even begin… where do I go from here?”
“A good friend of mine took me under her wing when I had nothing and taught me everything she knows. In her memory, I want to be that person for others.” Briefly, she catches Vanessa’s eye and points, “after this, I’m not taking in any more strays, got that? Any girls that come through here, we make them feel like they’ve got a safe place to call home, give them the tools they need to thrive and send them on their way. Understood?”
Fighting not to crack a smile, Vanessa nods. “Got it, patrons are ok but no more roommates.”
“Good. Besides,” she wraps an arm around Emilia, “this one’s special and we gotta start her off right.”
Together, all three clean up the place and the scene fades to black as they exit stage left.
The lights come back up one last time and the story finishes on the street view, Amber’s bar in the far distance. There is no more dialogue. Only synchronized footwork to the last song. It’s a celebration of many things. Womanhood, taking control of your own destiny, new beginnings. The possibilities are endless.
Similar to Emilia’s solo performance, a multitude of dance styles are on display and bleed seamlessly into each other. The verses alternate between cha-cha and salsa, swaying hips and legs back and forth as well as side to side. The pre chorus, all three shuffle upstage with samba walks. Then for the chorus, the rapid-fire kicks of jive for Amber and Vanessa in the back and step dance with a little balletic flair from Emilia, commanding front center stage effortlessly.
As suddenly as the number begins, it also ends. A velvet curtain falls on the scene, drawing everything to a close.
* * *
“Well,” Talia finally said after Scarlet communicated that she’d finished, “that’s quite a story, I must say. But will it really be exactly like that?”
“The introduction number was a little too ambitious with the little time we had. Our last show was almost a month ago. Alejandro made adjustments where he could but even with his budgeting skills, he can only do so much. Amber did one last job to finance the show and that covered all the expenses plus the month we lost. At the very least, we’ll break even this year. If everything went perfectly, we have a good chance of coming out ahead.”
She raised a slight eyebrow. “I assume all those tricks were well rehearsed, then?”
“Exhaustively. And there wouldn’t be actual alcohol in the drinks for the show. Of everyone, Emilia worked the hardest to show Amber she could rely on her for future projects.”
“Right…” Talia picked herself off the ground and dusted herself off. “Thank you for telling me everything.” She had her hand on the doorknob to her bedroom when she asked, “where would you have fit into this?”
“I honestly don’t know.” She shook her head, half exhausted, half wistful. “Possibly some time before Amber makes her grand entrance. My idea probably would’ve made more sense for an encore…” At the reminder of where she’d been that night and where she currently wasn’t, she gulped and her grip on the toilet seat tightened. “I should be there now…”
“What about Ruby? If she wasn’t part of the show, as Amber wanted it, how she’s spending the night?” “No idea. I left so suddenly. I think I told her to watch the rest of the showcase in my place and to meet me at Calypso afterwards.”
***
Music:
"Bad Kids" and "Scheibe" by Lady Gaga
"Bad Kids" and "Scheibe" by Lady Gaga
...if I'm being honest, "Bad Kids" didn't come out quite as good as I hoped it would. I knew for years it was the song I wanted to use for Amber's solo. But I could never get a visual together that would translate into words. All I could think was some sort of music video with tight synchronized choreography a number of female artists would put on MTV, whether it was Madonna, Pat Benatar or Gaga.
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