CHAPTER 3: Behind The Mask
910 Words
The dancers only used the back door. If she had come in with Lucas Langston as his executive assistant, Andra, she would have walked through the main entrance.
Mari rose from her seat next to her, reaching for her perfume on the vanity table. She sprayed a generous cloud around her neck.
Leha scrunched up her nose as the heavy oud hit her. Mari noticed and giggled.
“If you've ever been inside a VIP lounge, you'll understand why we do our makeup and wear our scents loud.”
Leha didn't reply. She bent over to slip her feet into her leather heels.
“What's with you tonight?” Mari asked, squatting to meet her.
“Nothing, I'm fine,” Leha replied, her voice sprinkled faintly with a Spanish accent.
The outfit was slightly uncomfortable as it was new and she was unused to it. The skirt tickled her skin as she adjusted the corset straps.
“Make some more effort. Donna said we have some VIP bookings tonight.”
“Mari, let's go. They won't even be seeing our faces clearly.” She picked up the eye mask sitting on the dresser and strapped it to her eyes.
“Besides, the VIPs stay in their lounges, while we dance in the main lounge,” she added.
The others finished up their preparation and the five ladies walked out. Their heeled boots hit the hardwood floor sharply.
The music was muffled when they went to the music room to organise their list for the night. The DJ on duty handed them their headsets.
“Beat, can you do me a favour tonight?” Leha asked. Then she turned to her colleagues. “You all, in fact.”
“What's that?” Beat asked her.
“ I want to do a solo. Maybe after the third set.”
Mari looked at the rest of the masked ladies. They shrugged in approval.
“The song is Balcón.”
“Alright. I'll communicate when it's your cue.”
She nodded wordlessly and they filed out to go on stage.
They took their positions. Leha stood in their midst. Mari was in the spotlight as usual.
Leha shut her eyes, trying to disconnect from her immediate environment. The inside of the mask was already growing damp against her face.
She focused her thoughts on the slight relief she would feel when she turned in this week's earnings.
The low lights hid the audience from her. The team moved with precision that guided her more than she knew. As for Leha, she had little time to practice between her other engagements. She mostly relied on memory.
“Leha…” she heard the girl behind her whisper urgently. She looked around and immediately slowed her movements and fell back in sync with the rest of them.
The first three dances ended too quickly. Leha heard the crackle in her ear as the spotlights dimmed.
“That's your cue, Leha,” Beat said through her headset. She nodded imperceptibly, glancing out of the corner of her eye to see that her colleagues had vanished from the stage.
She heard the familiar tune in her headset and looked up. Even the men nearest the bar went quiet.
“No es miedo a caer, más bien ganas de lanzarme…”
She let the first notes pull her forward, one hand rising above her head as her body followed the slow ache of the music.
Leha inhaled as she stretched backwards, falling back into the past, when dancing was only an expression of passion to her. Not a means of income.
“Quiero lanzarme…quiero lanzarte…”
More conversations fell quiet. She could feel the eyes on her.
The music finally faded out slowly as Leha ended the dance with her neck bent forward. Her hair fell over her face.
The spotlights dimmed again as her colleagues came back on stage. She was catching her breath for the next song when she heard the crackle in her ears again.
“Donna sent for you,” Beat said.
Breathing heavily, Leha walked off and went down the short, dark hallway back to Donna's lounge.
She opened the door and stepped in, ready to explain the solo that hadn't been approved. She waited for her boss to speak first.
Donna wasted no time once she saw Leha. She exhaled a slow stream of smoke from her mouth.
“One of the VIPs requested a private entertainer. Lounge 3.”
Leha felt herself go weak. Her face fell.
“Donna, we agreed. I don't do private performances.”
Donna's eyes hardened. “Perhaps you'll also not do your remaining shifts for the week. I already told them we're sending Leha.”
Leha stood in place for a few moments. She tried to speak, but nothing came out.
“Are you going or not?”
She didn't want to deal with another man staring at her from up close. Not after the disgust in Nate's eyes, and not after Lucas's disconcerting attention that morning.
“Leha?”
“I…” she swallowed the lump in her throat. Donna's gaze was still fixed on her. Lucas's sharp eyes from that morning flashed in her mind.
She suddenly shuddered. What if this somehow made its way into the life she lived during the day? Her heartbeat seemed louder in her ears.
“I'll go,” she breathed out. Her heart raced faster than she said the words.
- Writer
