The Black Swan

The bouncer outside The Vagabond was brutal, he threw people out of the place without mercy. They didn’t get any second chances. If you’re out, you’re out for good. No special treatment for anyone, it didn’t matter how famous or wealthy you were, if you did something stupid, there was no returning. That’s what I liked about this place, you couldn’t bribe no one. Of course, maybe I was naïve for thinking that, but the bouncer’s didn’t need bribes, their salary was far more generous than any bribe any of these people could afford.

The line outside the nightclub was not even a line. It was a death row, if I wanted to get in the regular, ordinary way, I am hundred percent sure, I’d get by ten years older when I’d finally get in. It was endless. Thank God, Roy was the father of this unholy community, and with me under his arm, I got in in in just seconds. He stopped right in front of the entrance and threw the keys of his black Porsche Cayenne to the side of one of the bouncers.

“Sir,” One of the jacked guys gave him a nod as he caught the silvery chain.

“Ben, this is my sister, Ally.” Roy shoved his right hand in to the pocket of his black jeans. The bouncer just nodded, not quite understanding, what my brother dearest wanted from him. “Remember her face and I want her name to be on the list. All the time, okay?”

“Yes, sir.” I looked around and saw some squealing girls, who looked insanely underage. They were basically throwing their souls at Roy, who just winked towards them and ate them without bating an eye. He was like god, but of course, look at him, he looked stunning in that black shirt of his. Two top buttons were undone, leaving a good view of his chest piece; his sleeves were rolled up, showing his tattooed arms, if he wasn’t my brother… I would have surely fallen for him.

“Don’t you think it was little over the top?” I chuckled when he handed me his elbow.

“What exactly?” He threw few nods here and there as we went inside. The place was crowded. Was that Disclosure I was hearing? Jenna was not going to like that. She used to be a dj long time ago and Disclosure was her hobby horse. When Will was too busy with his girls, she came to the Vagabond and practically saved his ass in add gaining popularity around the Miami. She was good. They argued a lot about it.

“My name on the list.”

“Even mom’s name is on the list, so hush.” He laughed as we undeniably approached the bar. Suddenly we stopped. It seemed like he murmured a silent fuck under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” We were in the middle of some I supposed to be group of friends. They were dancing carelessly around us. I tried to get on my tip toes to see what he was seeing, but I failed miserably. It was hard life being short.

“Okay, listen,” He placed his palms on my shoulders eyeing me. Roy had an uneasy expression on his face. What the hell was going on? “Fine, you’re wearing some baggy pants, which might consider as hot and the t-shirt is not that bad. In overall, you look good. A dress and heels would’ve been better, but that’s not Ally, right?” He gave me a comforting smile.

“What the hell are you talking about?” My eyebrow shot up.

“Just keep it cool, Ally.” As we got through the crowd I understood what was he speaking about. That bastard.

“Nikki, Andrew…” Roy greeted a blondish girl around her thirties. She was leaning against the counter and next to her was a tall and handsome devil. They turned their heads towards us. I couldn’t tell if I wanted to hit every bit of blood out of their bodies or I wanted to laugh my ass off of how they both stared at me. They were two hypocrites rotting on their throne. Nikki was the reason I moved to California. At the very beginning she was a mere bartender, everything was fucking super until my brother decided to promote her as a manager of Vagabond. That was when she made my life a rotting hell. There wasn’t a single time when she came to work on time and sober and I could brag as much as I wanted to Roy about her behavior, as long as she got the booking done, she was staying. And she’s still here, and still with Andrew. See the girl hated me, hated with a passion, and it was only because of Andrew. We liked each other, he even drove me home from my shifts and then Nikki got promoted, which was sort of convenient for Andrew. See, they were friends, and why not become lovers? Andrew got everything through bed. After the decision, there was not a single time when Andrew acted the same around me. He ignored me, was very rude, so did Nikki and then I cracked and flew away. Thank you Lenny Kravitz, for the inspiration.

“Roy, you’re up for poker?” Andrew and Roy shook hands.

“Nah, man, not tonight. I have a special guest. I guess you remember my sister Ally?” Roy grabbed me by my forearm, I didn’t want to move from my place, I wanted to disappear. Right now Roy was making an ass of himself in my eyes. He told me they won’t be here and I believed him.

“Hey, Ally, it’s been a long time,” Nikki smiled at me that make and believe smile of hers. Oh god, Ally, take a grip of yourself, don’t murder anyone tonight, please, Ally, hold on, wait for Jenna and pray to god she’s not feeling too homicidal too. “How are you doing?”

“Super,” I smiled, willing to really kill Roy.

“You look great, Al,” Andrew grinned and there she blows! Nikki was not smiling anymore. Her lips connected with the whiskey glass and she did not let go until it was empty.

“Excuse me,” She nearly smashed the glass against the counter, which made Roy a bit jumpy. “Andrew, can we talk for a moment?”

“Yeah, sure…” Andrew exhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. I suppose they went out for a smoke, cause outside was the only place where Nikki could smash Andrew’s head against the dumpster. That’s what you get for making silly little Ally a compliment. She was… insane. Always has been.

“How are you holding?” Roy put his arm around my shoulder.

“I’m holding so I don’t fucking kill you, that’s how I’m holding.”

“Ally, stop it, what can they do to you? You’re not a waitress anymore. You’re not twenty…”

“Yeah, but, bro, I’m still a bartender and I live from salary to salary, while you all have everything.” That was true, I was some sort of a black sheep of the family. To be completely honest, my family was very wealthy, but I didn’t want to spend what they had worked so hard for. The only thing I accepted from my family was the apartment in Huntington Beach, cause let’s be real, with my salary, I can’t even afford a place to live in.

“They don’t know it. You live in California, poor people don’t live in Cali, sis…”

“They do, look at me.”

“I’m looking,” Roy stroked my cheek with a sincere smile on his face, “and the only thing I see is a beautiful girl with some tattoos who can make chaos reign in a couple of seconds.” The chaos thing, was he really referring to what Nikki was doing to Andrew right now? “Get behind the bar and start working.”

He never gave me the opportunity of being a bartender at this place, so why was he now? Last time I checked, I was the same ole Ally, his little naïve sister, who, I believed, was adopted. Just look at him, he’s 6’2 and I’m 5’5. That can’t be natural. My whole family was charismatic and charming, but not me. I was simple.

I nodded and did as he told. This was my time to shine. I was indeed a flair bartender, I guess that was the only reason why Mark hired me at 25 degrees, so customers would be entertained not only satisfied. Nowadays there was a huge competition between bars and it was an advantage if one of the bartenders had a few tricks up their sleeve.

My feet hesitantly carried me through the bar, where two bartenders- a young blond girl with some bullets tattooed on her neck and a dark haired guy- were attending their customers. I looked around the place, getting used to the setting. On our way here Roy told me I don’t have to do it for long, just for a bit, so the people start flowing in.

“Jay, rest for an hour or so, Ally, will take over,” Roy took a seat on one of the white leather stools and the guy quickly exited bar. The silent type, I guess. “Okay, Ally, I’ll be your first customer. Make me something simple, like… Sex on the beach.”

“Sex on,-“

“Just do it...” He laughed.

Fine, It took me a moment to get used to the whole arrangement of the glasses, when I found one, I needed to find where were they keeping some ice. I guess in the black bucket and then the booze. There was booze at the each side of the cash register. I took out a bottle of vodka and peach liquor. Roy looked somewhere in the back, it seemed like he was looking for someone. I took the ice in the scoop later throwing it in the air and catching it with the glass, on the sound of the ice falling into the glass, Roy jerked his head with raised eyebrows. I threw the glass into the air, taking the vodka bottle with my left arm and swinging it to the other. The cold glass landed straight in my palm. At first I was afraid I would break something, I had to admit my knees were shaky, but the first seconds are the worst. A couple of swing movements, peach liquor, some tosses and turns and his Sex on the Beach was ready, only without the tiny umbrella, cause I couldn’t find one. My bad.

“Enjoy, mister.” I placed the glass with a mild thud in front of him. He was smirking.

“Thank you.” He handed the drink to the girl who was waiting in the line, she looked surprised, but did not decline.

“Roy!” An oddly familiar female voice shouted somewhere behind him. “I can not find Ally anywhere! If your lousy ass has done anything to her, I swear to…” And then my sweet Jenna saw me, I smiled towards her, but to think she would greet me, hell no. “What the fuck?! You bastard, you’re making her work for you? On her vocation? Have you gone completely mental?” She hit his upper arm, but he just exploded in laughter.

“Listen J, it’s just for fun. She’s not working,” He rubbed the place the encounter had hit. To be completely honest, she had one heck of a right hook.

“The hell she’s not! She’s at the other side of the bar when she's supposed to be here, getting fucking wasted with me!” Her hand pointed out to me. "What's your problem, asshole?"

“Are you the new bartender?” A fine voice addressed me somewhere from behind. The blond girl was smiling and this smile was not fake, this was genuine.

“Oh no, no, no. I’m Roy’s sister.” She raised her eyebrows. “I am a bartender, but not here. I used to work here, but never again…”

“You’re… his… sister?” Was it that hard to swallow? The background noises consisted of Jenna yelling at Roy while he was laughing and some customers shouting for a drink. Okay, fine, let’s work.

“Yeah, couldn’t tell right?” I moved a couple feet to the left to a pretty drunk guy who was waving his Ben Franklin in the air. That’s a rude gesture, but why not. It’s not like Roy could fire me if I imagined to say something to the guy.

“You are little… and not terrifying.” Terrifying? Roy? The one who’s being beaten up at the moment? By a girl? How could he be terrifying?

“I’m adopted… Joking.”

“Baby, give me three Jimmies on the rocks…” Done. A few flying glasses, a few flying ice cubes, spinning Jimmies and what was left of the Franklin was my tip. Wow. Now that’s called a tip.

“Ally, what are you doing?” And there she was. Nikki was standing in front of me. Completely wasted, hardly keeping her eyes open. And Andrew simply went her by. Way to go chump and he didn’t even have a black eye. Imagine my surprise. “Look at me,” her tone got a little harsher, “What… Are… YOU… doing?” She was yelling. Roy, who was now happily laughing alongside Jenna, turned his head and they both frowned.

“I suppose your… job?” I placed my forearms on the counter, my face was glowing from the fakeness of that make and believe smile she handled so well.

“My job?” Was she retarded? Nikki was holding on to a long island glass, I strongly believed the glass was her gravity point.

“Am I speaking a language you don’t understand?” My god I was down this road again. Like the never ending madness of this mental torture. And I was the one who was too little to understand life. Yeah, because Andrew so cared for her at this moment if she embarrassed herself or not. That’s what happens when you wind up with a man-slut.

“No, you don’t understand…”

“Oh really… And what don’t I understand?” And there was Will, I didn’t have time to go and say hi this evening, so I hadn’t seen him, but to be honest, he hadn’t changed nor had his habits. He was coming for a refill of his glass, when he noticed Roy and Jenna. They started talking, leaving me here with the wasted crazy lady. Andrew joined them. Thank you backstabbers! I appreciate it, it’s not like I want to take this bottle of Bacardi and smash it against Nikki’s head, no, certainly not.

“Andrew doesn’t give two shits about you”

“Yeah? Well, that’s fantastic,” I clapped my hands together, “but, honey, you know what, maybe he doesn’t give two shits about me, but he doesn’t give even a single shit about you. No one does, and that’s the sad truth.”

“Fuck you!” If she considered the past me, the one with the bright red pixie cut for a threat, then what did she think of me now?

“Ally!” Roy was shouting my name and gesturing for me to come over.

“One moment, Nikki, we can continue this later,”

“Don’t you turn your back on me, you bitch!” The grand reuniting, I was so glad I met Nikki that there are even tears of happiness raising in the corners of my eyes. Me and the other bartender girl switched places and I went closer to Roy. I stopped hot in my tracks. That was not serious.

“Oh my god… you weren’t kidding.” Brian was standing there, next to Will, Andrew, Jenna, Roy and there was even Dimples. I think I have to apologize to Dimples for not knowing his name.

“Ally?!” He was a lot more surprised than I was. Actually everyone was surprised, and not understanding anything. Only the bartender was attending her customers and of course Nikki was doing her thing- she fell on the ground with a loud thud and no one even blinked an eye. “I swear this is not what it looks like…”

“You’re not a creepy stalker?”