“Shut up, Ryan. ‘Fore I knock you out!” Malu is still heated.
Robin points her finger at Malu, “Cut it out! You heard me?”
She switches her focus over to Ryan. He’s starting to feel like Robin is on his side. “And you… I know what you’ve been doing to Lopaka. Being careless and playing with his emotions.” She points her finger at Ryan this time, “Cut it out! Both of you better cut this shit out, you heard me? You guys know that our guest count has been low recently. We can’t be having any bad word-of-mouth. The last thing we need is for everybody to be afraid that our own security is gonna punch them out if they come to Violet,” Robin reprimands. “Ryan, you’re not gogo-ing tonight.”
“What! No, I’m good,” Ryan counters.
“No, you're not. You’re gonna go to the hospital and get your nose checked out,” Robin orders. She looks over to Malu, “And you’re taking him.”
“What?!” Malu is shocked
“What?!” Ryan has the same reaction.
“Yes. Now, shut up and get out of my office,” Robin demands. The two boys eye each other out while leaving Robin’s office and head off to the Emergency Room.
Once the boys leave, Robin starts coughing profusely. Her health has been wavering recently. Alone in her office, she gasps for air in between coughs. She can barely catch her breath. She knows that she has to keep her stress levels down in order to stay healthy.
Robin’s coughs start to get heavier and deeper. Trying her best to steady herself, she clings to her desk for stability. Luckily, after a couple minutes of constant coughing, Robin finally calms herself down. She takes a few deep breaths in and exhales slowly. She repeats this until she can breathe normally. She’s been so busy that she forgot to take her medication; a common occurrence with Robin trying to run the club herself.
After she’s gathered herself, Robin dusts off her dress and grabs the microphone off her desk. Pretending as if nothing happened, she steps out of her office with a smile on. She turns on her mic and says, “Who’s ready for the rest of the show?”
14. Cosmopolitan
- 1 1/2 oz Vodka
- 1 oz Cointreau
- 1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
- Splash Cranberry Juice
It’s 2:15am and the club has been closed for fifteen minutes. Outside of Violet, there’s still a few groups of people waiting for rides and chatting. The smoke-filled air and alcohol-filled guests slopping around look like a scene out of a zombie movie; a typical Friday night.
Back inside, the Fish y Chicks pack their belongings and tidy their dressing room. They take off their false eyelashes and stuff their dollars bills into their suitcases; they made a lot of tips performing tonight. As they take off their heels, Robin walks in.
“Here you go girls,” Robin says and hands them each a white envelope containing their payment for tonight’s performance. “Good job tonight. Despite the little hiccup we had in the middle, we did pretty well.”
“Yeah, what happened?” Alexus asks. “We were performing and everybody was living for it and then the next thing I know, there’s a boy with a bloody nose.”
“Gay boys and their drama, you know how it goes,” Robin states pragmatically trying not to reveal more than she needs. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking. We need to amp up the show, we need to bring in more people and since Jamba Nay left us—”
“God bless dat girl,” Arita interrupts.
Robin shoots Arita a sharp look for interrupting. She repeats, “Since Jamba Nay Transy is gone, we need someone else to fill the role of the fourth girl. Plus, it’ll give you guys more time to change between numbers.”
“Honestly, I no tink we need a fourt’ girl anymore,” Arita says in full Pidgin English. “We good wit just da tree of us. Da audience loves us and we cannot have anyone ruin our fishy reputation. Plus, no more dat many pretty drag queens and we—”
“Shut up, Arita,” Alexus says under her breath.
“This is not a dragocracy,” Robin starts, “This club is a business, and it’s my business. When you have your own club, you can make your own rules, but for now, what I say goes.”
“What happened to Jamba Nay again?” Karmen asks out of the blue, interrupting an intense moment with her lack of social cues. Robin, Alexus and Arita look over at Karmen, who’s looking back at them blankly. “Is there something on my face?”
“You really are a blonde,” Arita makes fun of her drag sister.
Karmen checks herself out in the mirror, making sure there’s nothing on her face, but then gets distracted by her own reflection. She puckers her lips at herself in the mirror starts pretending she’s doing a photoshoot.
“She went to heaven, Karmen, remember?” Alexus explains for what feels like the millionth time, “You were here for her last show.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot.” Karmen says, not really remembering. She puts her hands into a prayer position and says “R.I.P. Miss Transy.”
Robin shakes her head with disbelief of how dumb Karmen really is. “Anyway, I’m throwing a competition next Friday. It’s going to be a drag competition and the winner will be our fourth Fish y Chick.”
The three girls gasp in unison. “What!” Alexus says in shock.
“You can’t do dat to us!” Arita pleads.
“Cool!” Karmen says with a smile. Alexus and Arita both shoot Karmen a dirty look. Karmen looks in the mirror again thinking that she really does have something on her face this time.
“Well, it’s too late now because I just posted it to the club’s Instagram.” The girls gasp again, even bigger this time. “The competition will take the place of your show next week, however, you still need to be here. Right after the winner is announced, you will perform a number with her to present the new Fish y Chicks to the world. Oh yeah, and the winner will be chosen by the audience.”
The girls lose it. “Ho her God!” Arita says dramatically and holds her head as if she’s going to faint.
“So, by this time next week, the three of you will have a new sister,” Robin informs, “And I expect you all to welcome her with open arms, no matter who she may be.” Robin points a stern finger at Arita and she nods in agreement. “Alright, good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Just as she’s about to exit the dressing room, Robin turns back around and tells the girls, “And don’t be late. I deducted twenty bucks from each of your pay tonight for starting the show late. Good night.” She leaves the room and closes the door behind her.
The three girls open their envelopes and realize she wasn’t kidding. “Shit, she did,” Arita confirms. “I was hoping she never see us come running in.”
“That bitch sees everything,” Alexus comments, then instantly fears that Robin overheard her. She looks to the door, which remains closed, and sighs in relief.
“Yay! We’re gonna get a new sister!” Karmen cheers. The other two girls look at her with contempt in their eyes.
“Oh Nay, Karmen. Not Yay,” Arita corrects her ‘Fish y’ sister. “We don’t want another a girl.”
“Oh, no other girls. Got it.” Karmen takes note and quickly changes her stance on the matter to fit in.
“Alright girls, here’s the deal,” Alexus starts to devise a plan, “We can’t stop the competition from happening, but we can affect who will win.”
“How we gonna do dat?” Arita asks.
“Leave that to me,” Alexus replies.
In the main part of the club, the Violet staff are closing up. At the front bar, Kaleo counts the money in the bartenders’ registers, while Ashley counts the money she made at the door. Sam and Chico sweep the floors, Yuki washes the rest of the dirty cups and the other bartenders close down their respective bars.
The club is silent. As with most nights, the staff quietly wrap up their tasks. They welcome the quietness after having had pop music blaring over the speakers for the entire night.
The Fish y Chicks leave their dressing rooms lugging their suitcases behind them. They wave g
oodbye to Tisha and Momi at the back bar and head toward the exit. As they pass the front bar, they each kiss Kaleo goodbye.
“Bye guys!” Alexus shouts out loud, so she doesn’t have to kiss everyone else individually.
As they finish kissing Kaleo, Sam stands in their way, blocking their path. “You weren’t gonna leave without telling me goodbye, were you?” Sam questions playfully.
“Of course not!” Alexus says. Sam, trying to take what little affection that he gets, gives each of the girls a big bear hug.
“Whoa, what about me?!” Beau shouts sarcastically. Alexus and Arita look at Beau and stick the middle finger simultaneously as they head out the door. “Oh come on!”
Karmen, trailing the other two, looks at Beau and blows him a kiss out of pity. She quick-steps and tries to catch up to her friends. As she runs, her ass bounces in her tiny booty shorts, leaving nothing to the imagination. Beau stares and checks out her ass, then quickly remembers that she’s a trans girl and cuts his gaze. Having such a narrow mind, Beau fears that someone might call him gay. He looks around to make sure that no one saw what he was doing and goes back to cleaning the bar.
At the back bar, Tisha and Momi finish cleaning and shut everything off. They head over to the front, where everyone else is. “Hey boys. How’d you do?” Tisha asks with a smile. Momi, following just behind her, doesn’t ask and doesn’t have a smile. She’s still upset with Parker.
“Pretty good,” Parker answers Tisha. He looks to Momi, who’s avoiding eye contact. He realizes that she’s still mad.
“There were a lot of bitches tonight,” Beau adds to the conversation.
“Good. You deserve to get ALL the bitches.” Momi takes her frustration out on Beau.
“Well I did get you, so I guess you’re right,” Beau claps back, bringing up the fact that they slept together.
“Ugh. Shut up, Beau!” Momi shouts.
“Dude,” Parker exclaims as to say I’m standing right here. Her boyfriend, remember?
“What? This ain’t news to you,” Beau responds to Parker’s reaction. Parker just shakes his head.
“How long you been working here, Beau?” Kaleo asks without looking up.
“About a year,” Beau replies.
“Then act like it,” Kaleo shuts him down.
“Ohhh. Burn!” Sam says and laughs from across the room. Beau acts like he doesn’t care.
“How long have you been in Hawaii?” Tisha questions Beau.
“Uhhh I don’t know, about eight years. I came for college, but I stayed for the ladies,” Beau flaunts. Momi rolls her eyes.
“What did you study?” Tisha asks kindly.
“Psychology,” Beau answers. Everyone bursts out with laughter. “What?”
“People would go psycho, if they ever went to you as a psychologist,” Ashley joins in the conversation.
“Oh, so you have your B.A.?” Tisha inquires while everyone is still laughing.
“No,” Beau answers under his breath.
“Oh, you're B.S.?” Tisha explores further.
“No,” Beau is short with his answer.
“Yeah, tell her why you don’t have your degree, Dr. Phil,” Momi jumps in sarcastically.
“Why?” Tisha asks curiously.
“Cause I got kicked out,” Beau responds.
“For masturbating in one of his classes!” Momi interrupts and finishes the sentence. Everybody cracks up again.
“What?!” Parker exclaims while laughing. This is the first time he’s hearing this.
“This ain’t news to you, Parker!” Beau fights back.
“Yes. Yes, it is, pervert!” Parker responds.
“Whatever you guys, it’s not that big of a deal,” Beau defends himself.
“That’s what she said,” Kaleo cuts in, implying that Beau’s dick is ‘not that big of a deal.’
“That’s what I know,” Momi confirms Kaleo’s last remark and holds her thumb and index finger in an inch measurement implying how small his penis is. She squints at her fingers with one eye.
“OHHHHH BURN!” Sam says again as he and Chico join the group.
“Shut up, Sam!” Beau is embarrassed. The staff cracks up again, for a third time, at Beau’s expense.
From the sink area in the corner, they hear a loud crash followed by a “Sorry!” As per usual, Yuki’s butterfingers dropped a stack of cups. “I got it, I got it,” he reassures the group.
“Yuki!” The entire group says in unison.
“You ok?” Kaleo yells in his direction while still counting money.
“I’m good, I’m good. I got it,” Yuki continues to reassure and collects the dirty cups off the floor.
“Didn’t you come for college too, Tisha?” Beau asks and tries to get the focus off of himself.
“No, I came in high school actually, in the middle of my junior year,” Tisha informs. “My dad was in the military, he got stationed at Pearl Harbor, so he moved my mother, my brother and I out here and we’ve been here ever since.”
“You guys must’ve been happy when you found out you were moving to Hawaii,” Sam assumes.
“Yeah, we were, but biiitch… that plane ride though… that was no joke,” Tisha enlightens the group. “I’m black, I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” the group chuckles, “and I’m not gonna speak for all black people, but my ass cannot swim! So when we were flying over the Pacific ocean and all you could see was blue… ooo, I closed my window shade and prayed to the good Lord above.”
Yuki walks over with a stack full of clean cups and adds them to the others. He’s been listening to the conversation from his corner. “I remember that flight,” Yuki gets involved in the conversation, “except I was coming from the other direction.”
“Oh yeah?” Tisha turns to Yuki in interest.
“Yeah, my dad was in the military too. Air Force. Here’s a fun fact about me: I was actually born in Illinois. Random, right? Of all places. So, I’m a legal U.S. Citizen, but I spent most of my childhood in Japan.”
“That’s pretty cool. I wish I could’ve grown up in Japan.” Parker shows his interest.
“Yeah, it was pretty cool actually,” Yuki confirms.
“I’m hapa (hapa is a hawaiian word meaning ‘half’ or ‘part’). My dad is white and my mom is Japanese, and my mom really wanted to go back home to Japan after I was born. So, when I was about three, we moved to Japan, just outside of Tokyo, and that’s where I grew up.”
“So when did you come to Hawaii?” Tisha asks.
“Well, my dad got transferred here when I was twelve, so we packed up everything and relocated. When we first got here, I was in complete culture shock.”
“Me too!” Tisha concurs.
“Really?” Ashley asks Yuki. “But there’s so much asian influence here.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why! There were so many Japanese people here, but most of them didn’t speak or understand the Japanese language. I couldn’t wrap my head around it at twelve years old. I mean, I get it now, but it was weird for me back then.”
“Ahhh, yeah. I never thought about it that way,” Ashley admits.
“Right?” Yuki confesses. “I mean, now that I’m a little older, I love it. I love the mix of cultures here in Hawaii. You know, I lived in Japan for a long time and I’ve been back to Illinois to visit my dad’s side of the family, but in both places… I’ve never felt as accepted as I do here.
“Why’s that?” Ashley asks curiously.
“Well, I wasn’t asian enough in Japan and I was too Asian in Illinois, so when I came to Hawaii and everyone looked like me, I cried. I finally fit in somewhere. Anyone can fit in here and that’s why I love it. Not to mention the whole trans thing. People just seem to get it out here in Hawaii.”
“Yeah, we do. It’s more about who you are in Hawaii and if you have the Aloha Spirit,” Kaleo offers his opinion.
“Awww, that’s so sweet.” Tisha goes to hug Yuki, but Yuki runs away.
“I may be on
ly half asian, but I still fully hate hugs,” Yuki yells as he runs away. The groups laughs.
“I was stationed here too,” Chico joins in the conversation. He redirects his focus to Beau, “Can I have a beer, brother?”
Beau takes out two Bud Lights. “Anybody else for a shifty?” Beau asks the group. Sam gestures to hand him a bottle and Momi displays the beer that she’s already sipping on.
Beau hands Chico a bottle, “Thanks brother. Yeah, I was stationed here at eighteen years old, fresh out of high school. I didn’t know a single soul and I never even been on an airplane before.”
“Seriously?” Beau is shocked.
“Yup. I grew up in East L.A., you know, like the ghetto. We never had no money. We were lucky if we had enough money to buy tortillas, you know what I mean?” Chico jokes. “Nah, but my abuela took good care of us, me and my cousin, José.”
“What happened to your parents, if you don’t mind me asking?” Ashley asks.
“Nah, it’s cool. Um, my mom and dad were in a car accident when I was little, I barely remember it. And then, my cousin José’s mom, my Tia Rosa, she got caught up in drugs and abandoned him, so our abuela took us both in. She was the best woman I ever knew, man, with the kindest heart.
“You know, where we grew up, you didn’t get out. You either ended up in a gang, sold drugs or if you were lucky, you went to prison. My abuela, she knew we lived in a bad area, so she signed me up for the military and sent me away.”
“Aren’t you still in the military?” Tisha asks.
“Nope. Honorable discharge,” Chico chuckles.
“What’s that?” Ashley asks.
“Well, it’s better than a dishonorable discharge, I’ll tell you that.” Chico makes the group giggle slightly, “Nah, but basically, my abuela, she was sick. She had cancer for years, you know. Her health went up and down and up and down… and I got mad at her when she sent me away because who was gonna take care of her, you know? But my cousin, José, he reassured me. He was a year younger, so he stayed back and took care of her. I remember him telling me, ‘Go Chico. You have to go. Go out and make some money for our family.’ So, I did… and that was the last day I ever saw my cousin.” Chico pauses and starts to tear up.
On the Rocks Page 7