Chapter 61: Nothing Special

It was a mixed bag, being in the middle of the pack. Jenna wasn’t the most beautiful woman in the Moonlit Garden, nor was she the most popular, or most sought after. In almost every respect, she was smack dab in the middle and she’d almost grown comfortable with that. She could get along with everyone else just fine and no one had anything really bad to say about her, but…

“Hey, Sam!” Jenna sat up straight on the couch. As the earliest riser out of them, she’d usually already finished making and eating a simple breakfast before she lazed around on one of the couches, enjoying the late morning quiet. It almost always meant it was Jenna who greeted people when they left their rooms, and today the next up was their star. “Got any good plans today?”

Samantha’s face lit up. “Yeah! Me and Razia are going to go spend some time with my family. With as busy as things have been, I haven’t gotten to in a few days. I’m actually supposed to meet up with Razia like, ten minutes ago!” She waved as she slipped out to the garden.

“Bye Sam,” Jenna said to herself, frowning. There was no point in being hurt at being brushed off like that. As far as she knew, Samantha and Razia were best friends and did a lot of things together, both at work and out of it. They already had plans for the day. It wasn’t their fault that Jenna did not. She disappeared into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine. It was a little early, but no one was working that day, so why not?

Two glasses later and she was sprawled out luxuriously across the couch, hands dangling over the edge and playing with the leaves of the plant as she stared at it upside down. The plants were lovely and gave them something to do to maintain the place each day, but they weren’t very interesting. They made for poor conversationalists but great listeners. She wondered if plants could get annoyed at people messing with them.

Another of the doors opened and this time Isa came out of her room. Jenna sat straight up, vision swimming for a second. The dusk-girl was wide awake, dressed and made up for the day, and didn’t even look at Jenna.

“Wow,” Jenna whistled from her spot on the couch. “Looking good, Isa. Got somewhere special to be today?”

“Yeah,” said Isa as she walked on past. “Away from here.” A few seconds later the gates clanged shut.

“Huh,” said Jenna. “Good talk.”

Before she had the chance to settle back in, Lucy emerged from her bedroom. She turned to Jenna, who perked up with excitement. “Did Isa just leave?” she asked.

Slumping, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, you just missed her. She…Oh, okay, bye.” There went Lucy, hot on the trail.

There sat Jenna, alone and feeling sorry for herself. No one in their group disliked her as far as she could tell, but she didn’t think any of them particularly liked her either. That was the real shame, the curse, of being middle of the pack. Jenna wasn’t at the top or the bottom, she was somewhere in between, easily ignored and forgotten while the rest of them made friends and had fun. It was their day off and everyone else was hanging out with each other and going out, and all she had going for her was…A third glass of wine, maybe? She didn’t think it would help anything, but it would hardly hurt, so Jenna poured herself another glass and settled in.

It wasn’t so bad when they were working out of inns and taverns and even the Silk Lounge. The constant flux of people coming and going made the lack of any particular attention on her less noticeable. Who cared if Samantha caught everyone’s eye first? There were plenty of men to go around. It wasn’t a big deal if the other girls were closer with each other than with her, there was always someone to talk to, always something to do. Until now.

What was wrong with her? What made Jenna so much less interesting than everyone else? She really wanted to know. If she knew, then maybe she could do something about it or at least stop wondering why. The money was good, not having to worry about a roof over her head was even better, but somewhere along the line things became so much lonelier than they were, and that was a problem that seemed unique to her.

Lynne came out of the room she and Samantha shared. Just to prove something to herself, Jenna said nothing. She sipped at her wine, staring off into the distance and just waited. The slender blonde woman disappeared into the kitchen and came out with an apple and she too headed for the gardens. Not once did she even look at Jenna. She took a deep breath, then let out a frustrated roar, collapsing backwards into a lying position on the couch. Most importantly, she didn’t spill a drop of wine.

Another door opened, and the last occupant came out. Kelli was new, and much like everyone else, Jenna had no idea what she thought about her other than vaguely feeling that she was solidly okay. Sure she made a few mistakes and could be mouthy, but it was better than just being there and existing while being unnoticed. “Everything okay?” Kelli asked her.

“Yep. Everything’s great,” said Jenna. “Just another day in paradise.” She drained her glass dry. It didn’t make her feel any better.

“Right,” said Kelli, eyeing her. “Where’s everyone?”

Jenna gesticulated wildly with her wine glass. “Out and about. Samantha and Razia are visiting family for the day. Isa is out doing Isa things, and Lucy went after her. Lynne left for…I don’t know where, she didn’t say anything. You’re right here and I’m on the couch feeling shitty. Did I miss anyone?”

“I think you got them all,” said Kelli with a crooked smile. “Why’re you feeling shitty? Did something happen?” She came a little closer, stopping at the foot of the couch.

Jenna shook her head no. “Nothing happened. Not a damned thing. I’m just bored and want to do something but I don’t know what. Everyone else is doing something on their day off.”

“What, you don’t have any family or friends to go visit?” Kelli scoffed. “No one?”

Well, there it was. It was like a dagger sinking into her gut and twisting it. “No one,” she said, sighing and looking straight up at the ceiling. “I used to have Amy, but she got pissy when Mr. Q got arrested and left and I haven’t seen her since. You’re in the same boat, yeah? No one around here wants to hang out with you either.”

It was the wine speaking for her, but Jenna wasn’t too far gone to realize she went too far with that one. Kelli just made a face and said, “Gee, thanks for the reminder.”

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that,” Jenna said, instantly apologetic. “I didn’t mean to say -- I mean, you’re fine, it’s just…”

Kelli arched a brow at her. Jenna shrugged, smiling weakly. “They’re not used to you yet is all. You seem okay to me.”

“High praise, coming from the other unliked bitch,” Kelli shot back. Neither of them said anything for a minute, staring each other down. Eventually, Jenna gave in and looked away. “Look,” Kelli sighed, lifting Jenna’s feet and sitting down on the couch under them. “I’m sorry about that. That was mean.”

“Kinda was, yeah.”

The new girl let out a groan and slumped into the plush cushions. “I don’t know how to be around here. The last place I worked, everyone was so cutthroat and ready to stab each other in the back. You had to fight for your spot, fight to be noticed, fight just to stay in favor with whatever asshole was running things. People had friends, but you never really got close. One night you could be buddy buddy and the next enemies. This place is downright weird in comparison.”

“Well, we’re not like that. Mostly.” Jenna poured a fourth glass of wine. The bottle was half empty at this point. She knew she should probably slow down, but why? On second thought, she offered the newly filled glass to Kelli. “We’ve all been friends for a while, and leaving the Silk Lounge together brought us even closer together.”

Taking the glass, Kelli toasted her silently and took a sip. “I’m jealous of that,” she blurted out. “This rapport you all got. All of them get mad at me for trying to talk to them. At least, they do when I start asking questions. Is everything here supposed to be hush hush? I just want someone to talk to.”

Oh how Jenna understood that. She nodded sympathetically, shifting and making herself comfortable with her legs in Kelli’s lap. “I get it. Well, unless you keep saying mean things, I’ll talk to you as much as you want.”

“Really?” Kelli’s eyes lit up. “That’s so great. I have so many things I want to know. Like, what’s Razia’s deal? Why isn’t she sleeping in the room she works in?”

That made Jenna laugh. “She lives with Mr. Q next door. They’ve been shacking up since we left the Silk Lounge. You had a friend who worked there, right?”

“Kind of. Friend’s a strong word. I knew a girl and she came to the neighborhood I was working in at the time after the place got burned. What happened with that?” Kelli took another drink of wine, eyes locked on Jenna’s and eager.

That suited Jenna just fine. The best part of being the middle girl was getting a little bit of everything from everyone. Even if she wasn’t the focus of conversations, Jenna heard things. She wasn’t stupid, it was easy and fun to piece things together and get the juiciest bits of gossip just by being there and people forgetting she was there and lived off of gossip as much as she did water and air. “Well, there’s the story Sam tells, and then what I think happened,” she said.

“Ohhhhhh?” Kelli pressed on, grinning.

“According to Sam, Mr. Q was looking for Razia and had Sam pass on a message. But the owner of the place, Otho, offered to sell Samantha’s life to him for a ridiculous amount. Razia got pissed and dragged us out of there, yelling out a bunch of secrets and getting everyone to fight each other. That much is true,” she added. “I was there for that. I nearly shat myself when the brawl broke out, but we made a break for it and started working taverns.”

“And what do you think happened?” Kelli asked.

“Well,” Jenna’s voice lowered to a conspiratorial hush. “I think Mr. Q was looking for Razia just like Samantha said, but I think it was because they planned on burning the Silk Lounge. It wasn’t because of Samantha, that’s just the excuse they used.”

“Why would they want to do that? Wasn’t the Silk Lounge one of Mr. Cicero’s places?” Kelli finished the glass of wine and held it out for a refill. Jenna poured awkwardly from her lying position, spilling a little on her stomach and making both of them laugh a little.

“Yeah, but Mr. Cicero didn’t do shit to them!” Jenna wiped some wine away with her thumb and licked it clean. “He even showed up opening night to inspect the place and give his blessing. What I think happened is that Otho pissed off Mr. Cicero and Razia took him down in exchange for being able to open up her own place. It was after that the rest of us met the bossman at a tavern we were working at. He beat the piss out of a bunch of guys bothering Isa.”

Kelli made a face. “Should’ve let them. Wouldn’t be a great loss.”

A pang of guilt tugged at Jenna. She’d thought similar things in the past, and hated herself for it. “Isa’s really not so bad when you get to know her. Once you realize she’s like that with everyone and it’s not personal, it’s a lot easier to just shrug the shit she says off.”

“She’s had it out for me day one. It’s definitely personal,” she said, drinking. “Anyway, Mr. Q beat the piss out of some guys, and…?”

“Oh, right. He beat the piss out of them and started coming around each night. Soon we were all paying him and didn’t have so many problems with shitty guys, you know? You’ve seen him smack people around.”

It looked like Kelli was battling with herself before she asked her next question. “Does it bother you at all? Working for a…Him?”

Now that was an interesting question. “Not really,” Jenna said, throwing her hands up into the air. “He’s scary, and if the stories of the curse are true then I guess I’ll die young, but not like there’s much going for me anyway. I’d rather enjoy myself and make some money while I can than live a long, miserable life scraping by.”

“Hey!” said Kelli, smacking Jenna’s leg. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve got plenty going for you. You’re way nicer than everyone else, and you’ve got good taste in wine.”

Jenna smiled, looking away. It was nice to hear, and the buzz from the wine didn’t hurt when it came to feeling warm and fuzzy around the edges. “It’s not my choice. Razia bought the wine, this is just the bottle I grabbed.”

“So you’ve got good luck,” Kelli shrugged. “Still something. So Mr. Q started coming around and things got easier.”

“Yeah. Seemed like we were all just enjoying ourselves and doing well, up until Maria got picked up by the Watch and sentenced to death.” That killed some of the warm and fuzzies. Jenna hadn’t been especially close to Maria, but it was hard not to feel her loss. Especially when Tricia worked there at the Garden with them at night, running drinks and food. It was a constant reminder that the city didn’t care about them and would chew them up and spit them out if they missed a step.

“After that, he disappeared for a bit. Took it really hard, I guess. When that bastard Darriq hurt Lucy, he came back and really fucked him up. Then he got this place for us. Isa said that he said he’s a killer. I think he worked for Mr. Cicero and this is his retirement package for years of service. They burned the Silk Lounge as one last job, he had a bit of fun with us and took some time to decide if he wanted it, and then he did. We’ve been here ever since, and he’s mellowed out a bit. Seems less on edge these days, until someone pisses him off. If he was a killer, I’d believe it. He’s dangerous, but he’s on our side.”

“Wow.” Kelli finished that glass of wine too, swallowing hard. “He does look rough, but he’s one of the only two people who’ve been nice to me at all.” She looked down at her lap, deep in thought. Right when Jenna was going to ask if she was okay, Kelli said, in a lower voice, “do you think I belong here? Maybe I don’t fit in and should just find someplace else to be.”

It was funny, how quickly things could change. If anyone had asked Jenna the night before whether she would care if Kelli left or not, she would’ve shrugged and given a noncommittal answer. Now, after spending a bit of time with her and sharing some wine, the idea stung a bit. “You belong here as much as I do,” said Jenna. “And if they’re going to be bitches to us, at least we got each other. Wine buddies, right?” This time, Jenna tilted her head up and drank straight from the bottle. Twin rivulets of darkest red trailed out the corner of her lips.

Kelli took the bottle from her after and drank as well. “Wine buddies,” she confirmed. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, letting things sink in and just enjoying each other’s company. When Kelli broke the silence, it was to ask, “So what do you like to do for fun?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure,” Jenna admitted. “I’m so used to working and spending time permanently on call for work that I haven’t gotten to do much for myself in a while. I’ve got the shards now, but I’ve got no clue what to do with them. Why? What do you like to do?”

“Alright, so here’s the plan,” Kelli said. “You and me, we go out and catch some beetle fights. Maybe throw our money away on some stupid bets, and get something to eat while we’re there. Then, we go catch a street show and jeer at the shitty actors and see if we can make them forget their lines. And then, we go out dancing and ignore every guy that comes our way. Unless they’re especially cute. How does that sound?”

Jenna was taken aback. Out of those plans, only the dancing sounded appealing. But this was Kelli, offering to spend time with her and go out and have fun. Maybe the beetle fights would be fun, and yelling at actors didn’t seem like it would be too bad. A bit mean maybe, but Kelli and Isa both seemed to have fun being mean, so why not her? “Yeah,” she said. “Alright.”

“Great!” Kelli beamed. “And while we’re out, I want to hear everything. Ever last dirty, juicy bit of gossip you’ve got!”

Jenna smiled. “Oh, I’ve got gossip for DAYS.” Yeah, this could be the start of something really great.