Read the Table

Vivian - Present

“Finally. It’s about time we re-evaluated the terms of our deal.” said Vivian, hoping to project more confidence than she felt. Ruby had insisted on this meeting location and Vivian could tell why, the place was meant to throw her off her game in every way. Physically and mentally disorienting.

I could definitely use a meeting place like this. It would put potential clients in a much more malleable mood.

“Oh?” Despite her question, Ruby didn’t look surprised in the least. “And why is that?”

“I’ve gone above and beyond for you, Ruby.” Vivian pressed ahead quickly. Just being here was torturous and she couldn’t afford to let Ruby wait her out and take the advantage. “I delivered you a win that could have, should have, been mine to claim.”

“Hmmm.” Ruby said, sounding unimpressed. “As I recall, I told you what the challenge was, allowing you to prepare yourself ahead of time. And you compensated yourself rather well for that victory.”

“And you’re damned lucky I did, without those resources I never could have saved Danica’s neck from the noose.”

“You were compensated for that as well. A complete set of her pills.”

“I needed to buy something from her, no one would believe I did that out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Nor should they,” Ruby laughed. “Have you ever done anything out of the goodness of your heart?” Vivian didn’t answer. “I didn’t think so. No, Vivian, I think our current deal is working just fine for the both of us.” She looked as if she was ready to wrap up the meeting. Vivian did not want to pull this card, but she couldn’t let herself be buffaloed by Ruby again.

“I’m not sure I made the deal with the right person,” Vivian said. “It seems to me like Al might want to know how you were recruiting behind his back. And considering half your team punched me in the mouth on opening night, I’m not sure I’m doing it for them either.”

The room remained illuminated by the single bulb, but the change in Ruby’s mood seemed to swallow up the light.

“You might be accustomed to dictating terms back on Earth, Vivian. But don’t let your surroundings confuse you - you are not on Earth and you are not in control.” Ruby began walking a slow circle around Vivian. Classic cheesy bad cop move, don’t fall for it. “Do you know how many sets this place connects to? I don’t, and I am not sure anyone really does. Obviously you followed my directions to find this room - you’d never have found it otherwise.”

Ruby stopped behind Vivian and whispered behind her ear. “And what would happen if you hadn’t, hmmm?” She continued her orbit. “In the best case, you’d have wandered through empty hallway after empty hallway until the vertigo drove you mad. In the worst case… you could have blundered into another active set. You think Al and I are reprehensible? He won’t touch you as long as he thinks you’re on his team, and me…? Well, I’m on your side as long as you’re on mine.”

“How can I ensure that?”

“You can’t,” Ruby said. “But I can ensure that if you found yourself face-to-face with Yuki, on her turf? You’d beg for Rhonda’s fate. We kept her working because she is useful, but Yuki? She’ll play with you like a cat and a spider. And before you try to come back with a quip or try to pull one of your negotiation tricks, consider this… how do you know I gave you the correct directions out?”

“No quips, no tricks, just a question. If I disappear out of the hotel with no explanation, who does Al suspect?” Now it was Ruby who paused. Vivian pressed. “And if I can do it, the rest of the contestants will start to think there’s an escape route they haven’t found. They will tear the place apart looking for it. Your show will collapse overnight.”

Ruby had the same look of teeth-grinding restrained rage that she wore during the premiere.

“Perhaps.” Ruby said in a measured tone. “Perhaps I’d have a lot of explaining to do in that case. But you’d still be squashed like a bug under a bootheel in the interim.”

“You can downplay it as much as you like, but I think we both have a gun to each other’s head here. And since we either sink or swim together, it’s time you start paddling a little harder.” Vivian moved in closer, but Ruby did not back down. Not physically.

“What did you have in mind?”

“If you can change people to make them worse, you can also change them to make them better. I want one of those changes, like the one you proposed in the voting round. Keep it subtle, under everyone’s radar.”

Ruby’s hands crackled with power and Vivian briefly panicked that she’d pushed too far. Even moreso when Ruby quickly and violently grabbed the sides of Vivian’s head, holding it with unnatural strength. Vivian swatted at Ruby’s hands defensively but could not dislodge them. She felt the surge of energy pulse through her temples and her eyes as Ruby… altered her. When Ruby released her, Vivian stepped back and clutched her head - her vision swam and slowly returned to focus.

“Was that absolutely necessary?” Vivian demanded.

“No. I could have made that easier. But I also could have made that worse.”

“What did you do?”

“You like to think you can read people, so I made it a little easier for you. You are now much more attuned to others’ emotional signals. You’ll be able to spot people’s tics or tells when you observe them. Except when you’re gambling, we can’t let you bankrupt the house after all. But I’m sure a bigshot working girl like you could find a use for it.”

Vivian chose to ignore the ‘working girl’ line. “So I can spot when people are lying.”

“Maybe when they’re lying, maybe when they’re aroused, maybe when they’re just craving a drink. It’s up to you to learn how it works.”

A little practice and I should be able to work that out. Vivian immediately began spinning scenarios to test it.

“I take it you’re satisfied?” Ruby clearly didn’t care for her answer, and did not wait for it. “Now that’s settled, Vivian,” She said Vivian’s name with deep contempt. I did not need the transformation to read that. “Let’s talk about Round 2.”

Janet

“Not it!” Luciana called.

Danica shook her head “That’s a really immature way to approach this decision. And besides-”

“Not it!” Sarah and Mallory said nearly simultaneously. Janet kicked herself for not speaking more quickly.

“Besides.” Danica talked over them. With the group sans Vivian all tightly gathered around the breakfast island in their common room, the crosstalk could be hard to deal with unless you shut it down. “I’m obviously taking the ‘closer’ position on the first day.” Danica looked to Rhonda, who simply nodded. “And so will Rhonda for the second.” Danica didn’t see any objections to that plan. “That just leaves the other positions - two activities, two dinners. Any volunteers?” Splayed out on the table in front of them were seven cards with their names on them, along with two envelopes labeled for Team Al and Team Ruby. The hosts had clearly put differing levels of effort into this. Ruby’s cards were inlaid with gold leaf over a beautiful deep red background, looking like invitations to a white-tie event. Al had simply printed his on card stock, only the grace of God kept it from being in Comic Sans. The envelopes had inner folders labeled “Afternoon,” “Evening,” and “Closer,” into which the girls would place the cards reflecting their choices. Even though this was technically a team event, they had naturally come together to discuss it as a collective. None of them placed any stock in the team structure.

“I’m completely tapped chips-wise, I’ve gotta tag along on someone else’s date.” Sarah said, looking to Luciana and Janet.

“You can come with me.” Janet said. I don’t really want to be alone with Michael again right now. It was awkward as all hell after Danica had been thrown out last night and left him wound up, but he’d been the perfect gentleman afterwards. He’d jumped in the shower to take care of the… situation himself, while Janet waited on the balcony and tried very, very hard not to think about what was happening in the bathroom. Then he’d let her sleep in that creepy bed while he watched TV in the living room of the suite. Janet had heard the theme song of Harem Hotel play more than once. Is he watching old seasons? Why? She’d pondered that until she drifted off to sleep. He’d never joined her in bed or done anything inappropriate, but Janet still felt as if she’d done something wrong. Violated Danica’s trust. And considering how gorgeous Danica looked to Janet now, that one really hurt.

“Luciana, you want to take him first?” Danica asked. Luciana shrugged. “Fine. Decision made. Janet and Sarah, that means you’re taking him to dinner.” Danica, considering the matter closed, slipped the cards into their respective positions and sealed the envelope.

“What about you?” Ronnie asked Mallory. “Vivian’s not here, so take your pick.”

“I don’t know… Maybe we should wait for her to decide…” Mallory had finished the flask and had a fresh tumbler of whiskey in front of her. Whatever objections Danica might have raised to Mallory’s drinking never materialized. Danica’s letting a lot of things go right now. Weird that she seems OK with that. And with Ronnie and Michael. Janet wondered, Maybe she is just happy not to be eliminated.

“It’s ok, honey. You just need to pick the activity or the dinner.” Danica said softly, but Mallory shook her head again.

Ronnie kept pressing Mallory to make a decision, growing more agitated each time that Mallory continued to demur. Ronnie finally threw up her hands. “I know what I’m doing tomorrow, I’m just gonna put the cards in here so we don’t miss the deadline. Change yours if you want, whatever.” She said, sliding her own card into the closer spot and tossing the envelope onto the table. This phase of the discussion over, everyone except Janet and Mallory dispersed from the table. Luciana made for the bedrooms since her call was coming first.

“Why don’t you just pick?” Janet asked, once the others had left.

“I dunno, I’ve gotta ask what Vivian wants.” Mallory said.

“Why? This isn’t like you, Mal. Magic or **** or whatever, you’re not yourself lately.” None of us are.

Mallory wiped a tear from her eye, then quickly looked around to make sure no one had seen. “I’m still just so scared, Janet. Mom was… She was this close to being…gone.” She shuddered and more tears replaced the ones she wiped. “I thought about her being one of those people. Like Ronnie was. Like Celene. Even though she made it through the round… What if it happens again next tonight? What if she and Michael fight and she loses more points-”

Janet hugged Mallory, pulling the blonde’s tear-streaked face into her shoulder to hide it from the others.

“I know, Mal. I know. I thought we’d lost her too. But your Mom is a tough cookie and she did what she needed to.”

“I just… I know it sounds stupid but Vivian saved her and… I feel like I owe her this.”

“I guess we both owe her.” Janet said softly. Michael had nothing good to say about her since she left his company, and pure hate in his eyes when she showed up here. Maybe he was wrong about her?

Speak of the devil. Vivian exited the elevator just then and Janet waved her over. “We were picking the roles for the date challenge.”

“What’s left to take?” Vivian asked, pointedly not commenting on Mallory’s appearance.

“She was waiting for you actually.” Janet said. “You can take the Afternoon or the Evening.” Vivian looked a little surprised that Mallory had waited for her opinion.

“Why don’t you choose, Mallory? It’s your father after all.” Vivian asked. This was not the correct thing to say, and Mallory just buried her head deeper in Janet’s shoulder to sob even harder. “Um, do you need a few minutes or…?

“She’s still just a little overwhelmed by what happened downstairs.” Janet spoke for her. “She’s really thankful for what you did for Danica. Even after we… hit you.”

“Oh… Um, you’re welcome.” For once, Vivian appeared unsettled - the show of raw emotion was clearly not something she was accustomed to. She was even leaning away from Mallory, as if it was taxing to be near it. “That fiasco on opening night? That was stressful for everyone. I understand. I’m over it, honestly.”

“It was noble of you. Heroic, even.” Janet said.

Vivian looked as though she desperately wanted out of the conversation, and her eyes landed on the cards upon the table. “Afternoon is fine, I guess. It’s all the same to me.” She said, trying very hard to sound calm. Vivian picked up the two remaining cards and the envelope with a small tremble in her hands. With that settled, Janet took Mallory by the hand and led her towards the team Al bedroom.

“C’mon, let’s get away from the others.” The three beds in her team bedroom were a study in contrasts. Ronnie had simply flipped her covers back in place, Vivian appeared to have made hers up with almost hospital precision, but Mallory’s was a trainwreck even though she’d only used it a handful of times. Somehow she’d already piled up the end table with random junk and kicked off half the covers. Making herself at home. Janet sat her down on the bed and joined her, maybe a little closer than she would have before all this. I’m just comforting a friend. That’s all. That kiss? That was just the hotel twisting me all up.

“How are we gonna get through this, Janet?”

“We’re gonna do it together.” Janet took Mallory’s hand in hers. The blonde leaned over, resting her head on Janet’s other (dry) shoulder. Janet’s heart rate quickened. She kept repeating her thoughts, trying to make them stay.

I’m just comforting my friend. My friend. That’s all.

She wasn’t sure she believed Mallory was only that. Not any more.