A Cup of Joe and a Second Chance to Go Please
There was nothing I loved better than the aroma of Summer in the city. The scents of soft pretzels drifted under my nose, enticed my senses. It all made me glad to be alive. I sat in a bistro chair at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard.
In front of me, was the Sunday Times. This edition the paparazzi was going crazy over Bella Mia, a former showgirl/lounge singer, from back in the heyday of the Twin Cities. There wasn’t a playbill ten years ago that didn’t carry that girl’s name all over it. She was hailed as a member of high society once she had sky rocketed to fame. There was a touch of class about her that set her apart from others who had tried to move forward in their careers like she had. With the voice of an angel, she had no trouble getting a record deal. Her first album, The Color of Money, soared to the top of the charts. It had sent her career like a missile that headed straight to the stars.
I looked down at the picture of her in the paper from years ago. She was an uptown girl, who radiated total elegance. Dressed head to toe in mink, pearl earrings, and a cocktail dress. The article spoke of the last time she was seen was when she had gotten out of her car, just off Broadway Street, at the clock tower. She was about to get the key to the city.
To this day I wonder what ever happened to that beautiful woman. I sighed to myself. I gulped down the rest of my iced julep, and got up.
I raised my hand, and whistled to hail the cab that nearly passed me. It screeched to a halt, and I felt my eardrums shrivel from the screech. I got in the in the cab with Mr. Speed Racer himself, my hands left permanent indentations in the seat. To calm my nerves, I popped in an after dinner mint, and held my breath as we headed back to the studio.
It was Fashion Week there, and this week was the lingerie contest. The winner got a sweet deal for sure. A contract, and tons of moola to boot.
However, just the thought of being forced to deal with those childish models put my mind into a foggy mist. I would rather be doing anything but that. I really wanted to take a nice, long, evening stroll, down by the waterfront, and listen to poetry in the park.
The ride in the cab took longer than normal, as the driver had taken the wrong turn at the tunnel. There wasn’t much to do while I waited for him to get his bearings, other than stare at my shoes which were in desperate need of a shoe shine due to the rainy days we had, and all the mud.
Finally, thirty minutes later, we arrived at Park Avenue, in the middle of the art district.
The front red door reminded me of a stop sign, that screamed, “Go back, models on the loose.” There was nothing worse than catty women, except when they were catty, hormone filled women. It was like they all went to school to perfect both.
I entered the main hall of the building, I was instantly annoyed by these women, mostly young girls who are used to lives of indulgence. That’s how it was when you came from old money.
My only thought as I looked at these women in disgust was, how badly I needed a weekend in the country. I could be riding in a horse drawn carriage right now, while I headed to the corner pub.
I reached in my pocket, and felt for another mint. Instead I pulled out a transit pass, and ticket stub from my last time doing just that.
Such good, relaxing memories flooded my mind. I recalled the sweet ale that was served there, and the even sweeter girl who brought my ale to me.
Beautiful, sweet, Sally Smithers was everything a man could ever seek out in a lady. Her family ran many of the local businesses there. They did everything from the old time bakery, to the fish market. The Smithers were far from rich, but were not as poor as some of the villagers.
I remember the last time I saw Sally, she brought me my usual mug of ale. That’s when I asked her out for a candle light dinner. She agreed. We went to my place in the city, in a building that was know as The Terrace.
Dinner was wonderful, the chicken roasted to where it fell off the bone, or maybe it was just the red wine that made it seem that way.
On the way back to my place, we had decided on a nightcap that followed a balcony sunset. I looked down into Sally’s eyes, then I bent my head down to kiss her. The kiss lasted a few minutes. It was so incredible, I felt as though I would shout from the rooftops. How on Earth did I get to take a trip down Lucky Street? I met this wonderful woman. Looking at her eyes as green as the emerald aisles of Ireland, seeing the hair that was reminiscent of the red wine we had drank, I knew I was in love with her. I heard wedding bells as I looked at her, and knew I wanted to make her my wife. I even envisioned myself as I lifted up her veil. I saw myself as I said I do, and as we kissed for the first time as husband and wife.
Such wonderful memories, though sad ones at that. I never got to marry my lovely Sally. She had revealed to me that night she was promised to another. She left shortly after we kissed. Her only words were about the fun she had, but now it was done.
The sound of a loud thud, then the crash that had followed jarred me back to reality and the fact I was surrounded by the walking dead, also known as The Models From Hell. Two of the girls had started a fight, and one had the other girl’s hair in her hand. She had taken to the movement of up and down with the girl’s head, as it hit over and over off a makeup table.
My boss had ran over to break the girls up, and ended up with another one of the models pushed onto me. It had also caused the cup of joe she was holding froth on top to fly up in the air.
Naturally though, it was as if gravity had woke up peed off at me for the day, and caused the drink to spill down the front of my shirt like a brown barrel that headed down Niagara Falls. The froth was now on top my head, it looked some kind of shampoo that I had forgotten to rinse out.
The girl looked mortified at what had just happened, her face looked a bit like someone who had been out in the sun too long. Her hair was like melted chocolate, and the cute little uniform she had on fit her hour glass shape just perfect.
I read her name tag that said Caffeine Nation, Emily, Barista. She held a bag that had a catchy logo on it that stated, “Bagel to go?” and had a cartoon bagel underneath it.
The cheese steak sandwich that the bag held safe, ripped at the bottom, landed with a plop on my shoe. Emily’s pretty eyes ran up and down me, as she scanned the mess. Her eyes looked as though they would flood any minute. She stood in silence, and I began to laugh.
“Hey, is this a coffee date? Let’s do lunch. I dunno about you, is it Emily? But anyway, I don’t normally do blind dates, but if you want, we can go down to the French Quarter, and have a pedicure for lunch. You know what? I’m thinking after that, we can do some window shopping, you know, just shop ‘til you drop type of day. Make it like a real girls’ night out on the town. What do you say Emily?”
Emily looked at me in a fashion a bit like a child who was excited they had retrieved the cookie from the cookie jar, but terrified that they had broken the cookie jar.
Her tear-filled eyes started to slowly dissolve, and the naturally orneriness in her smile began to show.
“Um, would it help to say I’m sorry? Probably not. Geeze, I am such a klutz. My boss sent me here for this stuff for Lilly Lavoom, and now I’m sure I’ll be fired.”
As I moved my head to look around Emily, I saw Lilly was actually the girl who was on top of the other one, her hand was held back by my boss.
“Well Emily, this might not be an issue. Seems Miss Lilly’s going to be tied up for awhile. Say, shall we get the hell out of here?”
Emily perked up, and giggled. Her eyes shot up and down, as she looked at the mess on my clothes.
“Yeesh, we’d better get you out of those clothes. Sir, uh, I didn’t catch your name. If you want, I would be happy to pay for this mess.”
“Naw, this was fun. Oh, the name’s Mick McCliene. Micky Mouse to some people. How often to you get to meet a cute lady in a skin-tight uniform who offers to not only get you out of your clothes, but also pay for the privilege?”
Emily’s cheeks flamed up as her hair moved back and forth with her head as she shook it. She was so cute, so sweet, I wanted to get to know more of her.
“Boss, I’m heading out to get out of these clothes. I’ll be back.”
My boss muttered something as he didn’t even notice me as I slipped out with the cute, little girl who dumped food all over me.
Back at my apartment, Emily waited outside as I showered. She had called her boss, and told her she was ill, and was taking the rest of the day off. She waited on my couch and I heard the television as she flicked the channels back and forth.
I got dressed, and headed out to the living room. I couldn’t help but smile. I saw Emily had drifted to sleep. She looked like an angel laying on the couch. Her eyes closed, I heard a small hum escape her lips. She stirred just a bit, and I covered her over with a near by blanket.
I sat down in a chair and turned off the television. I watched Emily asleep so peacefully, I felt myself doze off as well. We were both sound asleep until my phone rang. Emily shot up off the couch, the blanket flew over top of me. I wrestled with it to get it off, and just managed to get to my phone in time.
My boss was in an uproar, his voice sounded like a lion who had a thorn stuck in his foot. “Mick, get your backside back to this office now. Lilly has been taken off to jail for assaulting Casey Killums. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but figure it out, and do it fast.”
With that, he hung up, the click in my ear was more like the executioner’s axe after it chopped of my head. I simply did not get paid enough for this. While I rubbed my head hard enough to try to rid myself of the images of me as I headed back into work, not a clue as to what I would do, Emily’s phone rung over and over.
She looked down at it, her hands shook as she reached for it. She didn’t seem to be in a hurry to answer it. She as she turned her gaze back to my face, her whole demeanor changed. Her endless perkiness fell away, replaced by a sad clown. Her act had come to an end as tears broke forth, the gate opened, and her emotions flooded out.
I walked over to her, my attempt at cool and calm broken by this sad angel. “What is it Emily? Why so sad? Because you missed a call? Well, that last ding on your phone tells me that you have a voicemail, so if that’s the issue…”
“No, no it’s not. It’s the words on the voicemail. That mess up today. It just cost me my job. You see, I was on my final warning. There’s this girl at work Deena. She’s been screwing up, and blaming me. She’s dating the boss, so no way will he ever believe me. To make it worse, I am trying to keep me, and Mum from losing our home. She used to work all the time, but then she stopped working due to this and that. No job means no home. I just, I just…”
I was so sad for this poor girl. Her tears flowed down her face, her makeup ran, and it seemed the last of her willpower with it.
“Okay, so things aren’t that bad Emily. Really, they’re not. Everything happens for a reason, and this is just one thing. If you’re being treated so badly, then it’s a good thing not to be there.”
Emily looked up at me, and sobbed even harder. She fell into my arms, wow, was she ever a perfect fit. I could feel myself as I slipped into protection mode.
“Micky, it’s horrible. Trying to deal with the BS day after day. Having to keep everything up and running so Mum won’t have to worry. If I have no job, we have no home, nothing. It’s, it’s horrible, just horrible.”
Unable to stop her from the tears that ate at my soul, I just held her close, and let her go. I hadn’t felt like this in so long. It felt so right to have this sweet angel near me. She let out a huge sob, as she shook in my arms. Then it hit me. I pulled Emily up by her arms and hugged her. “Emily, you said you need a job right?”
“Yes, but.”
“Well, I need something too.”
She backed away from me for a moment, and her eyes narrowed. She placed her hands on her hips, and stood in a stance ready for an attack.
“If you think for one second Mister that I’m going to…”
“No, no, no. I meant my job. With those two women out of the picture, I need a model quick. You are so beautiful, so incredible, why not you?”
Emily moved back a step and looked at me. “What do you mean? I’m no model. I’m short and chunky.”
“Hardly, just come with me.”
With that I linked arms with her, and off we went to the studio.
Mass chaos reared it’s ugly head as clothing flew this way and that. A pair of panties sat on one of the crew members head, it was flung at him by one of those prissy models. Our lighting guy had a face full of powder, a model felt he was trying to sabotage how she looked under low lighting. Another girl chase my boss with a pair of pantyhose, she screamed she wanted the PINK fishnets because it made her backside look smaller.
Emily stood very small in the midst of everything, but compared to all those women, she held such class, such elegance, even in her uniform. Her eyes never left me for even a second, while the room filled with powder, light fixtures that swung dangerously loose, and girls that cussed each other out.
I told Emily to wait there, I grabbed the arm of my boss.
“Sam, this is the answer to our issue. This is Emily. She is going to be our fill in.”
“What, what are you talking about boy? Micky, this girl is not our model type. She’s short, and has breasts and curves.” His focus went to Emily’s breasts, her cheeks showed like fresh picked apples.
“Well Micky, I guess we have no choice. Get her into makeup and something skimpy. Let’s just hope we have her bra size. Oh, and get that girl into something more than a thong. Not used to having a real woman model our stuff.”
Emily looked like she wanted to crawl into the deepest part of the Earth, and hide forever. She hid behind a big plant when Hilda, our makeup artist popped up.
“What, no, I, no,” said Emily.
“Yes child, off we go,” said Hilda.
“Micky, wait. I can’t do this.”
“Oh yes you can and will. Oh, and BTW, the winner gets a contract, and twenty-five thousand dollars,”
“Well, in that case.”
“Off you go,” said Hilda, as she pulled her into a dressing room.
When I knocked on Emily’s door, I heard her on the phone.
“Yes Mama, this is the chance we always waited for. Maybe I can be as good as you Mama. Please come watch me Mama. This is the address.”
I tapped again, and walked in.
I felt my heart stop when I saw Emily. Her hair was done in coils, it made her look like a goddess. Her figure was more than apparent in the deep crimson corset and panties. The stocking, garter belt, and high heels made her hotter than any men’s magazine spread.
But her face, while she was stunning before, blew me away.
Before me was the woman of my dreams. She was not a barista, she was a goddess. If Venus was for real, this was her in the flesh, and so much of it.
Emily walked over to me, and pushed my jaw back up. She wrapped her arms around me, and gave me a hard hug. She put her hand over her red lips to hide a giggle, then broke out into a full fledged laugh.
“Wish me luck Micky. Maybe if this goes through, you can be my manager.”
“I just, I just. Wow. Emily, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Only one other woman was this stunning. Bella Mia. God, she was so intense. You looked just like her, but even more beautiful.”
She placed a finger on my lips, and the corners of her mouth formed a naughty grin. “Shhh…”
She moved toward me, and pressed her lips to mine lightly. She moved back, then walked out the door.
I left the room, I heard the queue for the models to head on stage sound. I headed for backstage and waited for Emily’s turn.
The lights flashed, and the music was so loud, I felt as though I was trapped in one of the speakers. The repetitive beat of techno music blasted over head.
Model after model bounced, and strutted on the catwalk, while photographers snapped endless photos. The show of flesh never stopped, and a yawn escaped. Never in my life had I seen such a sad group of females that tried to gain approval of their public.
The lights went dim, and the music changed. It went from techno, to a song I hadn’t heard in years. The smooth voice of Bella Mia flowed over the speakers like silk a crossed flesh, and the hair on my arms stood up straight from the chills that voice always gave me.
The title track played from The Color of Money. To match its seductive undertone, out came Emily, who seemed to saunter rather than strut. Her hair shined like diamonds in the soft lighting, and the silk of her corset had this magical sheen to it as well.
I felt myself about to fall over when my boss elbowed me in the side.
“Good Job Micky on getting us this dame. She’s hot, sexy, spicy, and sweet all rolled into one. Every man’s fantasy, right Mick?”
“No boss, she’s the kind of girl a man dreams of marrying. She’s everything I’ve ever looked for.”
“Well Man, I hope she has a manager, because SHE is our winner. Those other girls are nothing compared to this one.”
“You got that right.”
My boss left, and it was time for Emily to come off stage.
She headed to the back to await the announcement of the winner. She ran up to me, her arms wrapped around me.
“Oh Micky, that was so much fun. I don’t even care if I win or not.”
“Well Emily, I do hope you do. I know you will. If you are serious, I would love to be your manager.”
“If I win Micky, you will be.”
The host came onto the stage, and called for the girls. Emily looked at me, and gave me one last hug before she ran off to the stage.
One by one, they went through the girls. Daggers flew from their eyes, and tears flooded enough to make me think Noah was going to appear any minute with his ark.
It was down to Emily, and one other girl.
“And our winner is…EMILY,” said the host.
The other girl bolted from the stage, she lost a heel, and sounded like a banshee. Emily stood with her mouth to the floor, and hands that looked like they were in the middle of an earthquake.
My feet couldn’t move fast enough for me to get to my goddess. She looked like a queen when they placed a crown on her head, and a cape around her shoulders.
I wrapped my arms around her, her feet high up off the floor.
“Emily, you did it. All your dreams are about to come true.”
“Yes, they are, all thanks to you Micky.”
“Not me Babe, all because of a cup of joe.”
“Yes, remind me to thank joe later.”
“I will, over dinner.”
“Micky.”
“Yeah Em?
“Can we go home?”
“Yeah.”
We slid off the stage as the curtained dropped. I told my boss we’d be in tomorrow to sign all the papers. We snuck out the side door, we were greeted by a dark figure. I was ready for a fight when, I saw it was a female figure.
Emily looked up, her hands slapped back and forth. Her top almost tumbled out of her corset, and she threw her arms around the woman.
“Mama. Mama, did you see me?”
“Yes Daughter, I did. You were wonderful. So much like myself in my heyday,” said the voice.
That voice, I thought. I know that voice. It hit me like a double wide truck.
“Wait, you are, you are…”
“Micky, this is my Mama.”
“Bella Mia? How, why?”
“A good while ago I had lost the ability to sing or act anymore. I was very ill, and much of my looks vanished. With that, so did any hopes of a come back. It seems though, while my time is done in the world of stardom, my daughter’s has just begun.”
“Bella, I was madly in love with you as a child. You are still one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met. Your daughter takes after you. I would be honored to be her manager, and possibly give you a come back if I was permitted.”
“Mama, maybe we can do a show together with Micky as our manager. I have found my calling, and with the deal I have now thanks to him, we have no more money worries.”
“Well, we shall see. Until then, shall we all go to our place for dinner? I am famished.”
“Yes, let’s. How lucky I am. Dinner with two beautiful women, this is a better vacation than any I could have taken.”
We all walked to Bella’s home, and I realized that thanks to a cup of joe, we were all given a second chance.
Models Posing in… Loomis Dean Buy This at Allposters.com
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