She will not dance for Two Trick

“No,” Glimmer says, mustering up her voice the best she can. “No, I’m not going to dance for you.”

Two Trick scoffs and rolls her eyes. “You take a bitch out of her cage and she thinks she has can control something,” she stands up and stretches. “I’m leaving then, but I’ll be back in a few hours.”

She strides over to the box and places it on the entertainment center. “Touch that, and I’ll make sure whoever replaces Alexander is worse than he was, got it?”

“What will happen if I touch it?” Glimmer looks at the box.

“I told you what would happen, and I’ll know if you touch it, so don’t,” Two Trick snaps at Glimmer and walks to the door, then looks back at her. “Think David is worth all this trouble?”

Glimmer feels tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. She doesn’t answer, but she nods. Two Trick tilts her head to one. “You better be right. Because once you’re in, you’re in.”

“I figured,” her voice is barely above a whisper. “I just… want to see him again.”

“Think he wants to see you again?” Two Trick smirks, cocking her head to one side. “Think he cares about a little dirty dancer like you? Do you think anyone will ever want to see you outside your playpen? You’re pathetic. Worse than me.”

“What the hell is your problem? Haven’t you ever been in love?” Glimmer barks, her voice breaking towards the end, and she slams her mouth shut.

Two Trick glances at the door. “You know what you and I probably have in common? Our jobs don’t allow us to fall in love, because if we do, shit like this happens. And sometimes, the truth about what we want isn’t what we want to hear.”

Glimmer feels her stomach drop, and she blinks the sadness welling in her eyes. David’s face is gone blurry in her memories, and she wonders how much of what she remembers is just romanticized. Two Trick snorts, shaking her head as she wrinkles her nose at the thought. “You know how many men fake it for a night? Men are better actors than girls assume. Glimmer. You shouldn’t have fallen in love.”

“You don’t know him,” Glimmer manages.

“It’s sad you think he’s looking for you.” Two Trick steps out after her comment, leaving Glimmer alone in the room.. Who falls ass-first into the couch and thinks about it, frantically grasping at the mental fragments that were supposedly David.

…

…

Glimmer is asleep on the bed when Two Trick returns, dressed the same but loosened up. The storm outside still has her complex bunkered in.

Two Trick turns on the TV and slumps into the couch with a loud burp that rattles the room. Glimmer blinks and reaches for the clock beside her bed. It’s not yet midnight, but she’s slept through the morning, midday, and evening.

On the TV, a cartoon starts to play, the characters with big heads and small bodies solving some kind of comic situation. Their features are cute, the voices are pitched, and the art style is one she fondly remembers from her youth.

Glimmer was having a dream, but she couldn’t remember it, and she knew her face was wet with tears, and wondered what it was. She at first hopes it was about David, but decides not to when she feels how wet her face is. “Maybe I was just crying,” she mouths, her mind recollecting its functions and redirecting it to her hunger.

Suddenly, a smell comes to greet her nose, and she carefully steps out of bed. “What did you bring?”

Two Trick doesn’t answer, so Glimmer goes to the furthest end of the couch. “Was there food?”

“Yes,” Two Trick doesn’t even look at Glimmer. Her false face is tinted blue-white from the TV. Without the lights shedding their glow above, Two Trick looks like a hologram. “There was food inside a box outside your door. It looked like you didn’t answer the door when the server-BOT came to deliver the complimentary lockdown grub.”

“Oh,” Glimmer sees the box on the couch, a hotbox for one. “Thanks.”

“I would’ve eaten it if I hadn’t already,” Two Trick finally glances at her. “You didn't even shower?”

Glimmer shakes her head, reaching for the box. Two Trick grabs the box, denying her the food. “Wash up. You smell like piss.”

Subconsciously, Glimmer wonders if she somehow wet herself in her sleep. She was drenched in sweat, and confused it to be natures release. When she finds out it’s not, she just collects new sleepwear and underwear from her dresser.

It’s a cold shower. It’s also filled with thoughts and more **** thoughts of her lover. When it’s over, Two Trick is in the kitchenette. The delivery box is opened, and she’s eating a portion of it. Glimmer yelps. “Hey!”

“I had to try it,” Two Trick says, grinning with her mouth open. She slides a tray with only half of the meal left. “It’s really good. I should have figured, since the restaurant downstairs was so good. This place doesn’t slack, does it?”

“You asshole!” Glimmer blurts out, almost in tears. Frustration was filtering out in anger that was bleeding through the depression she was now experiencing. “That was mine!”

Two Trick grins wider and shrugs. “Apologize.”

“Why should I?”

Two Trick pulls out a scratched and cracked flip phone from an era before its time. “Because you’ll want this.”

“And what is that? I’m not allowed to have a phone, you know?” Glimmer takes the tray and starts to pick at the cold chicken, rice, and steamed vegetables.

“Just a little seal of the deal. I got it programmed for you, the princess of this amazing room.”

Between bites, Glimmer looks at the phone. “What is it, though?” She takes it and thumbs it open, finding small buttons and no touchscreen. The display is dim, but she knows enough to fumble-fuck her way through the controls and functions. Eventually, stumbling over “contracts.”

“A little private phone connected to a network,” Two Trick says, eyes going to the phone. “Every time you use it, you owe me or Sevens a favor. Sexual, or whatever else. But, because I’m so nice, the first 3 times you use it, you aren’t expected to do anything in return.”

“Gee,” Glimmer says, looking at a contract with no information. The number is locked, the profile picture is blank, and all other details are redacted. “Thanks. Is this so I can get more of my clients killed?”

Two Trick giggles. “That’s a cute thought, isn’t it? Glimmer Veil… wishes **** upon more of her clients because she’s too good for some of them. She won’t spread her legs for X anymore! She demands bigger…”

Glimmer doesn’t bother spitting anymore at her. She’s too tired and hungry. “Who is this anyway?”

“Who knows?” Two Trick yawns. “Came on the SIM.”

Glimmer stared, praying to a God she didn’t know was real. David Warner…? Two Trick cranes her neck. “I’m gonna take a smoke. I’ll be even **** and offer you a puff, too.”

“I’m fine,” she says, feeling the chassis of the phone, now a lifeline to something more. “I’m probably going to eat and go to bed.”

“Booooore,” Two Trick moans. “And here I thought showgirls were supposed to be fun. Aren’t you girls supposed to be addicted to **** or something? Or are you just a sadist who gets off at her job easily?”

“That’s not me,” she closes the phone, seeing that the battery has already drained a considerable amount. “Does this have a charger?”

“Somewhere.”

“Where is it?”

“Bitch, be happy you got something from me.”

“WHERE IS IT!” Glimmer almost yells, but finds herself fearful of Two Trick's sudden change of voice. “Sorry…Thanks… for whatever this is.”