Chapter two

Chapter two

Julie

On the following day, I push myself to get up at seven in the morning to take a shower and prepare for my morning run.

There are two things I never give up in the morning: my giant dose of caffeine and my run. They are essential for me to be able to face the rest of the day, as I am a nocturnal person and I work at night.

Tonight, I'm working at After Dark, and I have to be in a good mood to face the night.

I put on some leggings, shine the sneakers, pick up the smartphone and select the playlist "Pop Divas", with the songs cheering me on to run.

I walk out the door singing ‘Baby one more time’ as I warm up on my way to George’s house, my running mate and best friend. He knows everything about me — my musical dreams, and my unrequited passion for Danny.

"George, let's go! Wake up!”

I knock hard on the door of his house.

"I'll be right there, little girl," he screams from inside. "Let me say goodbye to mi amor .”

If George wasn't gay and so well married to the handsome Ben, I'd drop that crazy crush on Danny and grab him for myself. He's beautiful, intelligent, successful, smells and dresses well. He has dark hair and deep, blue eyes. He's basically a younger Colin Egglesfield... it would be perfect if he wasn’t into the same thing as me!

"Little girl, what's wrong? It looks like you fell out of a moving truck! What, you didn't sleep again?” As he speaks, George sticks a doughnut in his mouth, without giving me time to complain that he is eating crap. He's on an intense diet because he has a wedding to attend, and he needs to fit into his smart Armani suit.

"Yes, the Playboy TV live special didn't let me sleep again," I reply, trying to find a lighter side to it at this time.

"You need to do something: either jump on Danny Boy, that Greek sex god, or get another mullet to remove the cobwebs and scare away that frustration.”

"If I jump on him, he's going to keep thinking I'm a kid and I want to play catch-up, and that I don't have any attractive friends or acquaintances.” “Come on, turn Rihanna on and let's run.”

We ran about three miles together with our pop divas, and on the way back, we stopped at Starbucks. This was a tradition that we couldn’t let go of: having a cappuccino with vanilla and resting a little on one of the sofas at the café.

"Julie, what about the audition to be a backing vocalist of that pop band? When's it going to happen?”

"Next week. But I don't know...”

"No, no, no!”, he interrupts me. “Don’t try to fool me with lies that you don't know if you should go. You've been working at After Dark for years, and the handsome fool never gave you a chance. You’re just not gonna throw that opportunity out the window. You have a phenomenal voice.”

At this point, my phone beeps the sound of an incoming message:

Jo: Any news? Did you talk to him?

She sends me the same message every day. My friend still has the hope that after all these years, one day I'm going to wake up, knock on Daniel's door and declare myself to end this for once and for all!

I: Nope.

That's my standard answer. As soon as I press "send", I get a fright as the phone vibrates in my hand, and I answer without even checking who's calling me so early.

"Hello?”

"Ju, it's Danny.” "He's the only person who calls me that. "Are you out? I'm knocking on your door and you're not answering...”

"Hi, good morning" I answer. George rolls his eyes when he hears my mellow voice on the phone. I give him a little push. "George and I are at Starbucks. Do you need anything?”

"I just wanted to let you know I'm going to take an emergency trip. A property appeared that the broker said would be perfect for the new branch of After Dark. The guys are thinking of expanding to other cities.”

"Oh, it's okay. Are you going to be gone long?”

"I don't know yet. I'm planning to stay there a week to study the place and do some surveys. Maybe a little more, but I'll let you know.”

"All right, Danny. You can rest assured, everything is gonna be okay at After Dark. Are the boys going too?”

“Zach's going, but Rafe's staying to take care of everything. If you need anything, call him. I need to run so I'm not late. Take care of yourself. Hugs.”

"That’s fine. Have a nice trip. Hugs.”

I hang up the phone with a sad face and George raises his eyebrow, questioning what happened.

"He will travel to see a property. I can't believe I'm not going to see Danny for so many days.”

"My God, Julie, get over this man! You need to grow up, girlfriend! I'm going to take you out and you’re gonna meet a hot guy and get Daniel out of your head.”

I laugh at his comment.

"Let it go. Right now, the only hot thing I want is a bath.”

***

At 5:00 p.m., I arrive at After Dark and get ready for my shift. Before starting work, the waitresses always get together to go over the details, listen to the band's rehearsal, and get feedback from the night before.

As I enter the main hall, I am startled by Rafe's screams on the phone.

"Son of a bitch! I can't believe you're doing this to me today!”

My eyes widen as I put my hand over my mouth. That's the kind of reaction - whichever it may be - that I'd expect from anyone but Rafe. He is polite, charming, his tone of voice is ratherhoarse, driving most of the regular party girls crazy and he never curses.

Obviously, just like me, all of my colleagues are shocked.

He hangs up the phone looking as if he had lost his best friend. Everyone scatters, afraid of this new — and frightening — side of him.

Except for me; I am not afraid of danger.

“Rafe, what happened? How can I help?”, I ask without letting his nervousness get in the way.

“No!”, he harshly exclaims, but then, he looks at me and softens his tone. “Sorry. No, Julie.” He passes both hands through his hair, showing all the tension he’s under. “I have to find a new singer within the next two hours. I’m toast.”

“What happened to Snash?”

Snash is the lead singer of “The Band” - a name as stupid as the singer’s - who plays here at the bar during weekends.

“The fool gave up singing. He said he had a vision with some guru who told him to drop everything and travel to India in search of inner peace. Can you believe it?”

No, I cannot. Well, considering that he was always into this inner peace thing, yes I can. What a sod.

“I can help, Rafe. Can you let me sing? Pleeeeeeaaase.” I played out my best version of Puss in Boots to try to persuade this man clearly in need f help.

He gazes at me, brushes hishands through his hair already totally disheveled, and lowers his head again.

“Kitty, you know that’s taboo around here. If I do that, Danny will kill me.”

“I don’t understand why he doesn’t let me perform at the bar. I am a great singer, you guys know that. I won’t embarrass you.”

“He thinks that if you perform here, the guys are going to chase you and you are too innocent to handle these sharks.”

“You guys are being ridiculous. I am twenty-three years old, gosh. I’m not a little girl, I know how to take care of myself. When will all of you realize that?”

“I am aware that you are a woman, but Danny looks at you and Jo as his little sisters. That’s sacred for a guy.”

“That’s stupid and you know it. Who are you replacing Snash with?

“I don’t know Julie, I have no idea.”

I pull away from him, foaming with anger. How can they be such assholes? Something needs to be done about it.

I stay at the bar helping Justin, the bartender, getting the drinks in order, until Rafe comes to me an hour later, seemingly defeated.

"You know when Danny finds out that I’ve let you perform, he's going to finish me off, right?”

"You didn't get anyone?”

"No, Julie. Nobody. Can you do it?”

I scream and jump on top of him.

"Wow! Absolutely!”

He drops me on the floor and shakes his head, rustling out an “I’m fucked”. Afterwards, he goes to the office while I dance away my victory and call Jo and George, asking that they bring me suitable clothes, make-up and their moral support.