Page 16 of Crushed
CHAPTER 5
Scarlett
I awoke to clattering pots and pans. Metal on metal didn’t sound that crisp in the water. So I wasn’t drowning. Not really.
I had already met the target. Why was I still having nightmares?
I sat up. My dorm room was situated near the communal kitchen. The smell of bacon snuck into my nose, followed by the smell of something sweet. I glanced at the clock; it was almost afternoon. I hadn’t woken up this late since I was a teenager. It had been a long couple of nights, but I guess that was all it took to get acclimated to the night shift.
Teagen popped up in the doorframe. Her brown hair was perfectly curled, resting on her shoulders as if she permanently had that girl next door look. “You’re up,” she said. I grunted. “Do you like pancakes and bacon?”
“Who doesn’t like those things?” I said, my voice crackling with sleep.
“Only the heathens,” she joked. She winked. “Come eat with us. Iris got some tangerine juice from the local farmer’s market. It’s good, but if you don’t come now, it’ll be gone by the time you get there.”
Tangerine juice? “I prefer coffee,” I croaked. “Of the very, very strong variety.”
“We’ve got that too.”
After I brushed my teeth and threw on a decent outfit, I went to the kitchen. It was a decently sized room, with shared cooking equipment and utensils, and a sign hanging above the sink that said in big letters:You use it, you wash it!Two refrigerators stood on opposite ends of the back wall, with labeled shelves, giving each server an equal amount of space. Above a small, round table, there was a shiny poster of a flower field with a windowpane drawn over it in permanent marker, as well as a painting of a gloomy coastline.
Teagen looked up, and Iris pointed to the stove, her eyes rimmed with black makeup. “Serve yourself. Take as much as you’d like.”
I scooped up some cheesy scrambled eggs, two pancakes, a slice of bacon, and poured myself the largest coffee mug I could find. Trenta, I give you Quaranta. The eggs were fluffy, the pancakes were the perfect amount of sweetness, and the bacon was crispy and crunchy. It was heaven.
“Aren’t you going to use syrup?” Iris asked.
“These are great without it. Who’s the chef?”
“I dabble,” Teagen said, raising her hand. “We’ve got a gourmet chef that works on the restaurant side. You cansometimesconvince her to make you something special, but a lot of the time, it’s just us over here. Dahlia used to pay for us to have our own personal chef, but she was kind of crappy at it, and she ended up quitting a few weeks ago.”
“Ah,” I said.
Teagen sucked down a long gulp of a dark orange drink, then slammed her wrists into the table like she remembered something. “Did you hear that Dahlia is selling the club?” She turned towards Iris. “I overheard it in the dressing rooms. She’s in talks with someone.”
“She’s always saying she’s going to sell.” She shoved a bite of bacon in her mouth. “But yeah, the club has been on the market for at least a month now. She’s not going to actuallysellthough, you know? This is her baby. She can’t give it away. I’m sure she just wants to see what it’s valued at.”
“Wait. You knew and you didn’t tell me?” Teagen asked. Iris shrugged. “Did you know?” I nodded. “Everyone in the world knows, but me. Great. Anyway, I heard she’s in talks with someone. Someone big. He’s not a club member though. Someone outside of it.”
“She’s not going to sell,” Iris said.
“Butifshe does, what then?”
“She won’t. But if she does,” Iris peered to the side, then picked up her drink and downed it. “Then we’ll continue to serve like we always do. Speaking of—” Iris turned to me. “You made it through last night’s performance without any loose flames. How do you feel?”
“Good,” I said. “Better.” I took another forkful of pancake. Once I was done chewing, I added, “Like you said, I had to slow down.”
“Right. Slow and steady wins the race.”
Teagen raised her eyebrows and popped in, “But not when it comes to the club members.”
“Which reminds me. You hid in your room afterward,” Iris said, wagging a finger at me. “You know Dahlia will charge you a fee if she catches you spending too much time back here when the club is open, right?”
I took a deep breath. “Right.”
“Is talking with club members harder than fire dancing for you?” Teagen asked. She wouldn’t believe me if I told her the truth, but she continued on before I could make up an answer, “I saw you talking with Cormac.”
“I saw that too,” Iris said. “What did you think of him?”
