“What can I get you?”
“What’s your specialty?” Harriet asked as she surveyed the bottles of liquor on display behind the bar.
“I have a Sea Breeze that will blow your mind.”
Harriet raised an eyebrow and hesitated before saying, “Not normally my kind of thing, but with a pitch like that, I have to try it.”
She turned around and leaned back against the bar as she looked around, taking note of the other revelers. One in particular caught her attention.
“Who’s that?” she asked the bartender, pointing to a Chinese woman with long black hair, five-inch heels, and a skin-tight red dress that started just above her knees and ended just above her cleavage. She held a flute of champagne as though it were part of her ensemble.
“That,” said the bartender, “Is Twenty.”
Harriet looked back at him and arched an eyebrow. “Twenty? You’re kidding, right?”
The bartender shrugged as she handed over the Sea Breeze. “That’s what she goes by. Whether that’s her real name is anyone’s guess.”
“What does she do?”
“No one’s really sure. But she’s always at the most expensive clubs and bars, always in a different outfit, although all of them are in the same vein as the one you see her in now. Oh, and she never orders anything other than champagne.”
“Interesting,” Harriet said slowly as she turned her head back to look Twenty over anew.
“Interesting. Sad. I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective,” said the bartender.
Harriet turned her head again to look back at the bartender. “Sad? What do you mean?”
“Just that anyone who works so hard to stay in the spotlight is probably avoiding something?”
“Avoiding something? What can you avoid when you’re in the spotlight? Doesn’t that space tend to attract attention?”
The bartender nodded her head from side to side in a yes-and-no gesture. “It attracts a certain kind of attention. And I said she’s probably avoiding something, not someone. Sometimes the best way to get away from your internal demons is to go out and chase someone else’s.”
“Oh, so mysterious!”
The bartender shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I’m just guessing based on what I know.”
“From all your time observing people while making their drinks?”
“What? No. From my Masters in Psychology.”
This time Harriet raised both eyebrows and the bartender raised both hands, palms facing outward. “Hey, if you have a better idea for paying off a mountain of student loans, I’m all ears.”
Harriet didn’t, so she paid for her drink (which, she had to admit, was delicious, although not quite mind blowing) and made her way over to Twenty. The woman was already conversing with a handful of other people, but, never one to wait on the sidelines, Harriet pushed her way through them and reached out a hand towards Twenty. “Harriet,” she said in a manner that was almost coy, confident without being pushy.
Twenty hesitated, looking from Harriet’s hand to her face before putting on her best smile and reaching out her own hand as she said, “Twenty.” It wasn’t exactly a handshake. Harriet believed a strong handshake was everything, but instead of locking thumbs and gripping Harriet’s hand, Twenty gently folded her fingers over Harriet’s, almost like a monarch expecting her ring to be kissed.
Taking her lead from Twenty, Harriet gently squeezed Twenty’s hand, just enough to acknowledge the interaction, before letting go.
“Come here often?” Harriet asked, pursing her lips around the straw of her drink and sucking without breaking eye contact.
Twenty’s shrug was barely perceptible – more like a glance down and to one side before she looked back up at Harriet. “Not very, but they do make a mean Sea Breeze here.”
Harriet was so far from expecting this that she laughed and almost snorted her cocktail up her nose. Upon recovering herself (hardly the impression she had been hoping to make), she nodded and said, “Best Sea Breeze I’ve ever had.”
Twenty nodded slowly in agreement, her head tilted to one side as she looked at Harriet thoughtfully.
Harriet found herself blushing. She never blushed. What was it about Twenty that made her act so out of character? Who was this woman?
Twenty asked Harriet what she did and how she found herself at this particular bar on this particular night. One by one, the rest of Twenty’s entourage drifted away as the two of them chatted. Harriet was so flattered to be the center of Twenty’s attention that she didn’t think to ask the mysterious woman any of the questions she had just been asking the bartender a few minutes ago.
Was it a few minutes ago?
How much time had passed? How many drinks had she had? Was this the same Sea Breeze she had been drinking when she introduced herself to Twenty? Was this even a Sea Breeze?
Sea breeze. Harriet realized she was feeling a sea breeze wash over her – a real one, not the cocktail. When had they gone outside? How had they gotten outside?
Then the breeze was gone and Harriet was encased in darkness. She heard a gruff voice saying, “Took you long enough.”
“Sorry, but this one wouldn’t shut up.” Harriet recognized that as Twenty’s voice, but different somehow. It had lost its silky smoothness and acquired an edge.
“Always some excuse.” The gruff voice paused, as though waiting for Twenty to defend herself. She didn’t say anything, but Harriet could almost feel the hate radiating off her. Where had that anger come from? She had been so warm and welcoming when they were in the bar.
“Here’s your outfit for next time,” the gruff voice said when Twenty didn’t speak up.
“Do I get to breathe in this one?”
“You breathe when the boss tells you to breathe.”
He didn’t seem to expect an answer. Harriet heard something metallic and heavy slam shut, causing the world around her to shake with reverberations. Then she was moving and she couldn’t hear the voices anymore. She barely had time to wonder where she was going before she lost consciousness.