Chapter 4: A Catfight

"Hi," Angique said. She got no answer.

"You seem quite alone, honey."

"I'm used to it."

The girl sat in a corner, just a few yards away. She leant against the pink-and-silver papered wall, hugging her knees. Her hair was darkish blonde; her voice sounded tired. She wore a white t-shirt that was too big for her. The face peeping through the curtains of her hair was a girl's, but she definitely had the eyes of a woman — guarded, even hostile. Angique didn't remember seeing her before at the Club.

"Are you new in here, honey?"

"I guess so."

The answers were short and non-committal. It annoyed Angique, as she had done nothing to give this complete stranger a reason for hostility. She had come to the Club in the wee hours of the night. It was something she did more often, having worked late. She just needed a glass of something and the Club was always open. She thought it was one of its main attractions. She liked sitting here, sipping and thinking in the middle of the night — sometimes chatting with another night owl, sometimes alone. Tonight she thought the room would be empty and was surprised to find the girl huddling against the wall.

"I am Angique, honey, no need to bite my head off. What's your name?"

"I know who you are."

"Ah, you do? Well, there you have an advantage. I don't know you, darling."

The girl hesitated. Then she obviously made a decision. "I am Kimmie, " she said. "Sometimes Kari."

"Two names? Why?"

The girl just shrugged.

"Okay. I'll call you Kimmie."

"Suit yourself."

Angique took a sip of her calvados. She peered over the rim of her glass to the girl, noting she didn't look back.

"Did you come over here with the rest from Bianca's?" she asked, but there was no answer.

"I'll take that as a yes," she concluded. The girl shrugged.

"Am I bothering you?" she then asked.

"I was happy alone."

"I see. You look unhappy, though. Has someone been hurting you lately?"

The girl's eyes flashed in Angique's direction. Her mouth worked, but no sound came from it. Then she started rocking, hugging her knees.

"What is it to you?" she growled. "Are you a shrink or something?"

"Oh God, no!" Angique exclaimed with a laugh.

The girl shrugged. The silent spell stretched.

"I have been thinking," Angique went on, smiling. "I hope you don't mind that I did." The girl just looked up.

"You see," Angique went on. "When you add 1 to another 1, you get 2, most of the time." She chuckled and sipped. "At least I do. And that is how I came to thinking you got hurt by someone or something, sometime recent."

Silence.

"Because, you know," Angique carried on, undisturbed. "This place has been my watering hole for years, and I am not at all sure that I am happy with this bunch coming over. You see, this has always been a place where women with a certain, let's say lifestyle felt that they were save and could be themselves. A free haven, as it were. And right now I don't think the batch of girls you came with agrees with that. I think they despise me and every evil thing they assume I stand for."

Silence. Angique chuckled.

"Your mouth must be as good as new, honey. Unless you save it for other activities." The girl leapt to her feet.

"Don't make fun of me!" she cried and ran out of the room. Her t-shirt flapped around her skinny frame.

Angique shrugged. My God, she thought, shortest fuse I ever saw on a girl. What is it with humor and these Bianca lesbians? She let the calvados swirl in the round belly of her glass. The metal of her rings made the crystal chime. Then she looked up, hearing another sound. It came from near the entrance of the Club. A piece of white cloth peeped around a column. Angique grinned. "Playing hide-and-seek, honey?" The flap of white hastily disappeared.

"I am having a drink after a hard day's work. You want one too? Maybe a soda?"

A moment passed. Then the girl appeared from behind the column, standing in the light. Her bare feet pointed slightly inwards; her fingers choked the hem of her shirt. Pointy breasts showed where they stretched the fabric.

"I don't do that!" Her voice sounded like a challenge. Angique shrugged. She had Kimmie in plain view now.

"Okay," she said. "No drink then. But I hope you stay for a bit."

"I don't mean the drink!"

Angique just raised her eyebrows in a questioning way.

"If you think I'll let you fuck me, you are wrong!"

The girl spat the words out. Angique gasped at the unexpected turn of the conversation, if one might even call it a conversation. "Why would I think that, honey? You look sweet, but why would I want to fuck you?"

The girl walked closer until she was almost where she had been before. She let her back slide down the wall, holding the shirt so it wouldn't hike up. Her spindly arms wrapped around her knees again. The scowl was in place.

"They all want to fuck me," she murmured. "All the girls from Bianca's."

Angique crossed her legs and arranged her skirt. "Now would they?" she said. "Oh my. I never thought they were like that? They fuck around? I thought they were quite a stuck-up bunch; hardly believed they might fuck at all." Angique grinned. "Aren't they all just cozy couples going steady, making sweet love Hollywood style?"

"You know better," Kimmie said after a short silence. "They are players, all of them. They are hypocrites fucking around in the dark; cheaters and liars all of them. But I won't play. I won't!"

Wow, Angique thought, a true waterfall of words. Then the girl's eyes zoned in on hers, blazing with venom. "And you are just like them! I saw you with the girl on the leash. I bet you threw her away afterwards, having done with her! And now you want me."

Angique sat silent, stunned by the outburst. Then she slid off her stool and took a few steps toward the girl.

"Kimmie," she said, keeping her voice soft like velvet. "You don't know me, honey. We never met, but you already condemn me?" The girl just scowled, acting cool. But Angique saw how she trembled and went on, keeping her voice low. "Bobbi loves me, Kimmie. We have been close for almost a year. I care for her. She loves it when I abuse and humiliate her, but I would never hurt her." Angique leant forward to catch the girl's wild gaze. "I know it is hard to understand. Maybe you should ask her the next time she's in. Just ask her."

A tear ran down Kimmie's cheek. She shook with soundless sobs. Angique took another step and reached out for her, but the girl twisted her body to avoid contact.

"Don't touch me!"

"You can trust me, baby," Angique whispered. "What is going on? You can tell me." Through the sobbing she heard a halting voice. "They hate me. Every one of them hates me and wants me gone."