Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 14 of 37
~ Chapter 14 ~
"Hey Hon, it's Cade. It's about twenty past eight and I was just wondering how you're doing. Lemme know if you're on your way or if you decided to stay home again, 'kay?"
I closed my cell phone, making sure that the vibrate option was on. Wednesday night and Infinitá was louder than usual but the voices droned together in one pulsating hum that was drowned out by the music. Already I could feel a headache coming on. My eyes were sore and irritated from the constant smoky haze. I rubbed them.
As my eyes slowly came back to focus, I looked to the bar and saw Tiffany. She was talking with a couple of customers but something seemed off. As I looked, I noticed that they would accent their laughs or gestures with touches to her. She looked uncomfortable, but when she backed away, they came forward. One was bald and kind of scrawny compared to the other guy who was built like a vending machine. If anything stood out about them, it was that they were wearing 3-piece suits. When Baldy smiled at Tiffany, I felt a chill. His human smile was no friendlier than him baring his teeth. I've seen angry canans whose snarls were warmer. Vending-Machine walked to the other side of Tiffany to pick up a drink from Marc who looked agitated.
Tiffany was trapped between them.
Baldy was so close to Tiffany that I got claustrophobic, vicariously. My eyes throbbed and my nose hurt. I couldn't imagine how Tiffany was putting up with their smell. Then I could see that she wasn't. She wasn't smiling or playing coy anymore. She looked genuinely frightened. Vending-Machine pressed himself, sideways, into her back and I saw Tiffany look at Marc. Marc was saying something to Vending-Machine, but the human ignored him.
Baldy jerked and I saw his right hand in the shadow of the bar fly forwards and grope Tiffany's crotch. She screamed - I could hear that above the music at least - and slapped him on his left cheek. His head flinched to the right. The other patrons around them stopped and looked at them.
Bruiser, the bison bouncer appeared out of nowhere beside Baldy. I anticipated his bulk, easily overtaking Vending-Machine, throwing the two out of the bar. Bruiser talked calmly and never initiated a threatening gesture. Marc followed up and the two humans removed themselves from Tiffany and Infinitá. Marc turned to Tiffany who snapped at him and walked, quickly, away. Bruiser and Marc exchanged words and Bruiser disappeared back into the crowd.
I tried to make sense of what I saw. Was Marc that sheepish as to allow one of his servers to be harassed like that? It was a good thing Bruiser was nearby to stop them. Tiffany was really nice to me and I didn't understand how, even if they were shit-faced beyond everything, they could do that to someone.
I checked my phone. No messages. If Aaron were coming, he would be here. At least he would give me a call and my phone's volume was maxed as well as being on vibrate. There was no way I wouldn't notice if someone called me. I sat at the booth debating whether I should see where Tiffany went. I took one last look at my phone and at the people around me. No Aaron. I walked towards the bar.
If Marc saw me coming, he gave no indication but whenever I tried to wrestle a spot at the bar to get his attention, he would be either mixing drinks or taking orders on the other side. He seemed to be keeping himself busy. Annoyed, I looked to where Tiffany went and tried to trace her steps.
At the end of the bar was an alcove that led to an employee's only section as well as an emergency exit. Despite how busy Infinitá was, the alcove was empty. A slight breeze carrying fresh, clean air filled my nose. The emergency exit was propped open just a slight crack and my eyes thanked the breeze. With a sidelong glance towards Marc who still never looked at me, I stepped through the door and into the alleyway.
Leaning on the brick wall shared by the employee's area was an orange felan. She wore a tight black shirt that showed her midriff and low-cut jean-shorts. She was another waitress - Katrina, Kat, Tiffany's girlfriend. She wasn't fazed by the opening of the door and took another drag on her cigarette.
"I charge by the hour - even if all you do is stare," Kat yawned, dull eyes turning alert when she looked at me. "Oh. Hey, Kit. Didn't know it was you." She adjusted herself on the wall and motioned to me, "Come 'ere and have a sit for a bit."
Kat wasn't someone I really talked to, nor ever really saw. Aaron and I were friends with Tiffany, but Kat was usually in a different area of Infinitá, picking up all the empty cups and pitchers. If we saw her at all.
"What's eatin' ya, Kit?" she offered her smoke but I politely turned it down.
"Did Tiffany come out here?"
Kat shook her head, "Naw, she's in one of the back rooms. I gave her some Xanax and told her to take the rest of the night off. Those fuckers did a number on her."
"Well it looked like they got booted out, hopefully for good," I prompted.
"Yeah..." Kat trailed off. In the silence between us, she took another drag and I watched the smoke exhale from between her cherry lips and disappear into the yellow darkness.
"She's lucky to have you," I reached for conversation.
"You'd think," Kat trailed again and I looked at her quizzically. She sighed softly, flicking the spent cigarette down the alley. "Tiff doesn't love me."
"Oh?" I offered weakly.
"She doesn't really like women. She's only a lesbian because she's afraid to be hurt again. Her ex-boyfriend used to beat her and I offered her a place to escape to."
"I'm sorry," I empathized.
"Not as much as he was," Kat smiled, "He tried taking her back at Infinitá one night and pow!" she swung her right fist through the air, "I cold-cocked him! The bastard got a taste of his own medicine, I'd say. When he came to, Bruise escorted him out of the club. We've never seen him since."
"I don't know if I'd be able to do anything like that," I awed with respect at Kat. "You really care about her."
"Yeah," she paused. "Though we probably won't be together much longer - at least we won't be together long-term. But while she's still in my life I'll do my best to take care of her and help her get back to who she was before that asshole."
"I reiterate," I said smiling, pulling a mint from my pocket, "She's lucky to have you."
"Well what about you?" her eyes glinted green as she smiled mischievously at me. "I saw you eyeing Aaron quite a while before you actually hit on him."
I felt my face flush and I looked at her dumbfounded, "I don't remember seeing you."
"You just didn't know what to look for," she smiled coyly, "Nothing gets past these kitten-eyes. Though I have to compliment you on your... unique ice-breaker. I almost laughed myself to death when I saw you aiming that mint!" I groaned and Kat laughed.
"Umm," I hesitated, "What do you know about Aaron's last boyfriend?"
Kat froze for a second and then smiled warmly. Her eyes betrayed her solemnity. "Have you ever looked at two people and immediately knew they were made for each other?"
My skin tingled and my stomach dropped, but I did my best to keep my cool. The air retained a modicum of a breeze and we listened to the heartbeat of the city and backlit shades crossing the sidewalk yards from us. The deep bass thumped my body in counterpoint to my own heartbeat.
As if sensing my uneasiness, Kat started. "I'm gonna go check on her," she said as she moved towards the door. I offered her a mint but she waved it off. "Too much candy will rot your teeth," she cajoled while messing my hair. Before she went back inside, she turned to me and smiled. "Yer sweet, Kit." With one more glance, she was gone.