Blue Angel (27 page)

“I don’t know that much about relationships. I never have good ones.”

“Do you think I have something to worry about? Is she having an affair with Bette?”

Poppy felt a tug of jealousy just at the thought of it. Then she remembered how good it felt to be with Patricia, and she let it go.

“I don’t know. I doubt it.”

Her phone rang. Strangely, the incoming number was Bette’s.

“Speak of the devil,” she said. “I’m going to take this outside. Be right back. Hello?” she said, pulling on her coat and walking outside.

“Hey, Poppy. It’s Bette. I need a favor. Can you cover my shifts this week?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything is great—never better. But I’m away, and I’m not going to be back for a few days.”

“Agnes is going to freak,”

“I know. But this is a good development for you, Poppy. You can fill my place—it’s a chance for you to be in the spotlight.”

Poppy’s mind raced, imagining herself headlining the show every night.

“Agnes might fire you for this. Missing one show for a private party is one thing—but bailing on a whole week? And the Valentine’s Day show is coming up. Will you be back by then?”

“I don’t know, so I need one more thing from you: get Mallory an audition with Agnes. I would set it up myself, but she is going to be too angry with me to listen and give Mallory a chance. Without me around, she will be looking to you to lead things. I’m counting on you to make this happen, Poppy. Can you do it?”

“Yes,” she said, excited and confused at the same time. “I don’t get it, are you quitting?”

“Just get Mallory the audition. And be ready to rock your performances this week so Agnes doesn’t miss me too much, okay? The show must go on, and all that.”

“Where are you?”

“Vegas. Go to
Popbaby.com
, and you’ll understand.”

The line went dead.

Poppy went back inside.

“Do you have an iPhone?” she asked Alec.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Go to the Web site
Popbaby.com
.”

He pulled up the site. “What am I looking for?”

She took it out of his hands and skimmed the posts. “Holy shit! Look at this:
Zebra Changes her Stripes: the perennially private pop star is seen out and about with new gal pal, burlesque performer Bette Noir
. She’s hooking up with Zebra!”

“That’s just a gossip site. That stuff isn’t always true.”

“Look at this photo.” She showed him a picture of Bette and Zebra kissing at a Vegas Starbucks.

“I guess she’s not with Mallory,” he said.

“See? It’s all cool. Just call Mallory up and work it out.”

“It’s not that simple. She still cheated on me. She slept with Bette when she was never willing to do that with me as a couple.”

“Maybe she needed to do it for herself before she could do it with you.”

“I don’t know. I still think the club is a bad influence on her. She’s blown her whole legal career.”

Poppy took a deep breath.

“I have a confession to make: I set that up. I got her busted.”

“Why the hell would you do that?”

“I was jealous. All I wanted was for Bette to teach me everything, to help me become someone at the club. And she showed more interest in this random woman who didn’t even want to be a performer! It was so unfair. Even Agnes seemed to like her. So I wanted to throw Mallory off her game. And maybe get her in trouble so she stopped hanging around the club. I never thought she would get fired. And it just made things worse because without the job she started hanging out at the club more. And now she wants to be a performer.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Yeah, she does. I have to get used to it, and so do you.”

Alec actually looked frightened. “I can’t believe this is my Mallory.”

Poppy shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. But I guess you have to see that for yourself.”

“How?”

“I’ll think of something,” she said. “But now I have to get back to my new girlfriend.”

She loved the feeling of the word
girlfriend
on her lips, and it made her even more eager to hurry back . . . and feel Patricia on her lips.

For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was happy. The least she could do was help Alec and Mallory feel the same.

T
he Blue Angel was unusually empty and quiet. No one was practicing, and the dressing room was dark.

Mallory sat at a table with Agnes, uncomfortably fidgeting with her handbag. She had been summoned there with a curt phone call, and now Agnes was barely speaking. The owner of the Blue Angel appraised her like she was a side of beef.

“I like the red hair.”

“Thanks,” Mallory said.

“You know why I called you?” she asked, lighting a cigarette. Mallory suddenly felt as if she was in a Polish espionage film.

“Um, no.”

“You can work as stage kitten tomorrow night?”

“Sure,” she said.

“You know I fired Bette.”

Mallory felt her stomach drop.

“Why?”

“To me, loyalty, a person’s word, is everything. She stopped showing up; she is done here.”

“I’m sure she can explain,” Mallory said.

“Enough of that. What do you want?” she said. Mallory was confused. Agnes had called
her
.

“You mean . . . in life?”

“Don’t be coy,” Agnes snapped. “Do you want to be a dancer or do you want to watch other people?”

“I want to be a dancer,” she said, without hesitation.

“Poppy is going to headline my Valentine’s Day show instead of Bette. We need another girl, and Poppy says that girl should be you.”

Mallory looked at Agnes as if she must be kidding or mistaken.

“Are you sure?”

“No! Of course I’m not sure! You screwed up your first night as a stage kitten.”

“I mean, are you sure that’s what Poppy said?”

“Yes. Of course. She was very clear. I was surprised, too. Still, I will take a chance. But . . . if you screw up, this is the last time you will be on that stage. In fact, if you screw up, I don’t even want to see you in the audience. I’m about over it with all of you girls.”

“I won’t screw up.”

“I shouldn’t have to explain this to you, but the theme of that night is love. Dance something about love, getting love, losing love, sexy love. Whatever. And show up tomorrow night to help out.”

She stood up from the table, and walked off. Mallory waited a few minutes to see if she was coming back. When she was sure Agnes had disappeared, she walked away from the table and immediately called Bette.

“What the hell? You’re just dropping out of the Blue Angel?” she said.

“I guess you spoke to Agnes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me she fired you?”

“It’s not that important. Did she ask you to do a show?”

“Yes, actually. Did you set that up?”

“In a way.”

“You’re not coming back?”

“I am back—I flew in last night. But I’m done at the club. I have to move on, Mallory. I told you from the beginning I want to be famous.”

“I need to see you,” Mallory said.

“You know where I live.”

Bette opened the door wearing a silver lamé jumpsuit.

“I see your love life is influencing your fashion choices,” Mallory said.

“You don’t approve? I think it’s hot.”

“You can pull off anything,” she said.

They sat on the couch. Mallory thought of the first night she’d come to Bette’s apartment. It felt like a million years ago. And she still hadn’t managed to make things right with Alec.

“Why aren’t you more excited about your gig at the Blue Angel?” Bette said. “A dozen girls would try to fill that slot in a heartbeat.”

“I am excited. But I’m so upset about Alec. I got back on Sunday, and he refused to see me. He found out about the Baxter party from Billy Barton, and he thinks I just lie to him constantly and that I go outside the relationship instead of including him in my life. And when I look at it the way he describes it, I can’t even defend myself.”

“There’s nothing to defend. You can’t change what you’ve done, or the fact that you want to be a performer. The only thing you can do is find a way to bring him into this world so he doesn’t feel like he’s losing you to it. He’s just feeling threatened.”

“I think the worst part for him is that I hooked up with you. He can’t forgive me for that.”

Bette took Mallory’s hand.

“I think the only way to fix that is to bring him into that part of your life, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wanted a threesome, and not only did it not happen for the two of you, you went off and hooked up with a woman on your own. Totally emasculating. You need to give him the threesome. That’s the only way to set things right.”

“And how do I manage that? Dial 1-800-Three-way?”

“I’ll do it with you.”

Mallory looked at her, searching for some hint that she was teasing her.

“Very funny.”

“I never joke about sex. Look, you know I’m not into guys, but I would hook up with you, and he could watch, or if he was dying to jump in I could roll with it to a point. I think it would change everything for you two. Get you back on track.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll think about it.”

“How would I even go about bringing it up to him? We’re barely speaking.”

“You’ll figure it out. Either the situation will present itself, or it won’t.”

“I’d do anything to get him back. Maybe I’d even give up the Blue Angel. But I don’t want to have to make that choice.”

“I hope you don’t have to. But for now, you have to stop thinking about all of this. You’re not going to be able to perform if you’re worried about Alec. Put it out of your mind. Take the chance—let Moxie have her moment. Then deal with your personal life.”

“Okay. I’ll try.” Mallory looked at the
Us
magazine on the coffee table. “Are you in this?”

Bette nodded. Mallory flipped through until she found a photo of Bette kissing Zebra at a Starbucks. “This is surreal,” she said.

“The paparazzi will be following me in New York soon. Zebra is coming in two weeks to kick off the East Coast part of her tour.”

“So you’re just going to follow Zebra around the world? What about your own career?”

“I’ll figure it out. Let’s worry about you now. You have eight days until the Valentine’s Day show.”

“I know. I’m not ready to choreograph something that quickly. I’m not sure what to do.”

“Why start from scratch? Do the ‘Lose You’ routine.”

“That’s yours.”

“Not anymore. I’ve never performed it in front of an audience, and you’ve mastered it.”

Mallory knew what a tremendous gift it was for a performer to share her choreography.

“You’re amazing,” she said simply.

“I know!”

“Do you think I should change it in any way to match the ‘love’ theme of the show?”

“The song is about not wanting to lose someone, so that works. But maybe the costume should be campier. Less dark and vampy, more in line with the romance theme.”

They thought in silence for a minute.

“Maybe I could dress as a cupid?”

“Yes! A sexy cupid.”

“And I have an idea of something I want to add to the choreography.”

“Go for it.”

“Where will I get the costume? I couldn’t sew my own clothes if my life depended on it.”

“I’ll take you to someone. But you’re going to have to pay for it.”

“Not only will I pay for the costume, I will pay for the cab. Show me the way!”

Bette picked up her BlackBerry. “Max, it’s Bette. Clear the decks—I have an emergency costume situation.”

“And one more thing,” Mallory said, as they headed out the door. “I need to stop at a Capezio dance store.”

“We’ll get the supplies at M&J Trimming.”

“They don’t have what I need anywhere but Capezio. Trust me.”

V
alentine’s Day fell on a Friday night. Poppy had never been more excited to have a date. Unfortunately, because she had to get to the Blue Angel to perform, her date was a quickie in Patricia’s living room.

“I wish I could take you out for dinner,” Patricia said from between her legs.