One Night Stand

Cheapside

Amber White was in high spirits. Four years of struggle and her life finally seemed to be going the right way. Taking a deep breath, she went back to her small apartment in a corner of Cheapside which she had rented with two other women - Brenda and Joyce. Joyce was rarely home.

Brenda was a burly African-American woman in early thirties. She worked as a waitress but her main job was somewhat that of a pimp. Things like these were common enough at Cheapside where whores roamed free and druggies ruled the streets. Amber knew for a fact that Joyce had more than enough cash to move into an upscale NYC apartment, but preferred Cheapside because it provided her with a low profile life.

Amber threw her bag on the floor and flopped down on the bed. Joyce looked up from her laptop.

"Had a nice night out?" she grinned.

"Life changing," Amber grinned back, "How's the business going?"

"Tough," Joyce said putting a cigarette between her lips, "What's gotten into these girls? I pick 'em from the streets, I teach them the art of survival and them give 'em a job. And once they has enough, they jus' run away!"

"Poor girls, they don't realize how tough the world outside is," Amber sympathized and thought, Ofcourse they want to run away! Who wants a life like that?

"Say, Amber," Joyce said looking at her, "You got any big time plans?"

Of course I do, I'll soon have enough money to move out of this hell hole and...

Tears threatened to spill over as a sudden memory came unbidden.

No, don't think of the past now. Sofia...NO, Amber, focus!

"Nope, nothing big," she replied nonchalantly.

"That's good," Joyce nodded approvingly, "At least you aren't like those airheads, thinking they can make it big in this industry."

"Well, some do make it big," Amber argued.

Joyce turned to face her and looking straight into her eyes said, "No, honey. Once you enter Cheapside, you never leave. You either die here or you're hunted down."

Amber shivered at her tone.

"You better not be plannin' on leaving," Joyce warned, reading her mind, "If you've got any stupid plans, drop them before D.O. gets news of them."

***

As cold water of the shower rushed down her body, Amber tried to clear her head.

What have I gotten myself into?

Joyce, she could deal with. But what about D.O.? D.O., for those who were ignorant enough to not know was the man who owned half of Cheapside, he was the man behind every shady deal, every drug operation, every booming night club in business. He was the master puppeteer of Cheapside on whose fingers the entire crowd danced. If you ever displeased him, God save you.

Amber happened to be one of his many cronies. D.O. had realized early on that Amber's beauty could be of use when sealing in drug deals. When D.O. asked for a favour, nobody had the courage to refuse. And as a result, Amber had ended up being wound up as a lay member of his gang, offering assistance with his deals, sleeping with rivals to extract information or seducing men into the path of drugs. She was never given reasons or background information. She was simply a messenger who did as he told. Since it was infrequent of him to ask her help, she simple accepted it as a health risk of living at Cheapside. Some things came with strings attached.

Despite her wishes, she found herself at the centre of his operations. And like Joyce said - once you're in, you're in. There's no way out. If you do, D.O. hunts you down and makes sure you never spill out his secrets to anyone.

"I don't care what the cost is," Amber thought, "If I can get rid of this life, that will be enough."

It was in this life that Amber was stuck and she wanted out, fast. André Felix Dufort would be her card to freedom.

At first glance, Amber White looked like any other girl living in Cheapside, trying to live her Hollywood dream. But behind her long painted nails, her slim legs and slender waist, she hid a past dark and unforgiving. But unlike others, she wasn't trying to run away from it but rather towards it. Because there were people she had had to leave behind, people she now wanted back.

***

One of the advantageous things of being a celebrity is that you have a lot of friends in high places. As a result, it wasn't difficult for André to have a side talk with his director and make sure Amber White was given a small side role.

"She's quite beautiful," the director remarked.

She's even better in bed, André thought and immediately scolded himself for such thoughts.

"How do you know her? Is she a good friend?" the director persisted.

"No, of course not," André said, "A friend of mine happened to suggest her and she seems perfect for the role anyway."

And that was how Amber White scored her first movie role.