Chapter 20: Girl's Night
*You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. – Goethe*
Several of the girls from TRAAC were going out on Friday night to celebrate Tina getting engaged. Helen resisted Wednesday and most of Thursday. Then, around three, she finally caved. Having agreed, she texted Jolene and Bunny. Jolene said that she was not feeling well. Bunny insisted on getting Helen a new outfit.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Helen considered backing out. She was forty-three. A size eighteen. That, she was proud of. She was about to move into a size twenty and now eighteen was getting loose.
The wine colored velveteen A-line dress ended just before her knees. Bunny picked out a pair of camel color knee high boots to go with it. The gold necklace with the small pearl pendant hung around Helen’s neck. At the last minute, she added small gold hoop earrings.
She had never been to Constellations since it reopened as a bar and was excited to see it. They all met in the parking lot and went to get in line. Helen never thought that she would be going to a club with an actual line outside.
“Have you ever been here?” Helen asked Erica.
“Last year. My sister had her twenty-first birthday here.” Erica said as they moved up.
“You’re making me feel old!” Helen laughed. “I was twenty-one so long ago that I’ve had a twenty-first anniversary of turning twenty-one.”
The girls around her laughed.
“That’s why we love you, Miss Helen!” Tina declared. “You’re like my mom, but cool.”
Helen laughed as they moved up more. “I’m sure she’d love to hear that.”
“She’d love to hear anything.” Tina grinned mischievously. “She’s deaf.”
“Oh! Tina!” Helen was shocked.
Tina laughed as they moved again. “Comes in handy when I want to talk to someone and don’t want everyone to know.” She signed what she was saying and then added something at the end.
Eliza, Tina’s sister, turned and looked at the man at the door. “Damn, he is hot.”
“Helen, he’s closer to your age than ours. Take him for a spin.” Gloria encouraged.
Helen blushed as they moved up again.
“ID’s, ladies.” The handsome man said.
Helen felt really old as they all pulled their IDs out of pockets and phone cases. She pulled her wallet out of her purse.
“You’re good, baby.” The man checking IDs told her before she even got her wallet open. He flashed his light up in the corner before checking the other IDs. “Thing keeps trying to die on me.”
Helen stepped over to where the younger man was. This man was the gatekeeper. From the look on his face, Helen did not meet his standards.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.” He motioned Helen to the side and for Gloria to step forward.
“Aren’t you going to stamp her hand?” Gloria demanded.
“She’s not going in.” the gatekeeper replied.
“If she doesn’t go in, we don’t go in.” Tina declared and the other four women agreed.
“Girls, it’s fine.” Helen said hiding her tears. “Go have fun, we’ll do something some other time.”
Helen was walking away and the girls followed her. None of them saw the first man shaking his head or telling the gatekeeper he’d be lucky to still have a job tomorrow. The girls caught up to Helen and surrounded her.
“Don’t pay any attention to that asshole.” Gloria said, hugging Helen.
“It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” Helen said with a waiver in her voice.
“Yeah, but that was just….”
“Bullshit.” Eliza supplied for her sister.
“Ladies.” A man in tight jeans and t-shirt with Constellations written in reflective cursive was running to catch up with them. “I’m sorry, there seems to be a misunderstanding. Please come with me.”
Confused, the group followed him back to the door. He stamped their hands with the over 21 stamp. Returning the stamp to the gatekeeper, he simply shook his head in disbelief.
As they were leaving, two more men approached the gatekeeper. “Come with me, boss wants to talk to you.”
The shorter man led him through the door and they disappeared down an opposite hallway.
The man that was leading the group of women, guided them upstairs to the VIP area. A few words were exchanged and an additional stamp was placed on their wrist. He then led them over to a sitting area with two couches and chairs with a coffee table in the center.
A woman in a white Oxford shirt with a gold Virgo Constellation pin on her collar approached them with a smile and a bottle of pink champagne. “Mr. Frank said that you were here to celebrate Tina getting engaged. Which one is the lucky girl?”
Tina smiled and raised her hand slightly as the other women looked at her.
“Congratulations. My name is Emily and I’ll be your server tonight.” She pointed to the ceiling. “You’re under the Virgo constellation, if you order anything on the floor, just tell them you’re under Virgo and it will be added to your tab. VIP kitchen closes at midnight, just let me know if you want anything.”
“Do we need to give you a card for the tab?” Erica asked.
“You’re tab is being taken care of.” Emily replied with a smile. “If you want, I’ll go get some glasses and a bucket for this, unless you want to wait…”
“I’ve never had champagne!” Tina exclaimed. “I want it now!”
Emily nodded and a gentleman in the shadows brought out an ice bucket on a stand. Emily then took their orders and told them where to find the kitchen menu. The bottle of champagne was placed in the ice and Emily disappeared through a hidden door.
“I’ve never been up here.” Tina whispered excitedly.
“I wonder if it was Frank that is taking care of the bill?” Gloria asked.
“Think we can see the observatory?” Eliza asked.
The girls excitement surrounded Helen, but it was lost as she stared at the giant solar system hanging above the large area below. When her kids were little, the second grade field trip had been here. At that time, the solar system sat motionless, but now the planets slowly spun in their orbits.
“Helen, we’re going to go dance.” Erica said and Helen looked at the throbbing mass of bodies beneath them.
“You girls go, I need some liquid courage before I go down there.” Helen said over the loud music.
“Don’t hide up here the whole night by yourself.” Tina ordered.
“I won’t.” She promised looking back at the planets.
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