Bianca came up to me, gave me a hug, and kissed my cheek. I suspect everyone in the lounge was interested in what was happening.
“David, I would like to introduce my sister Eva and our close friend Anabella. Nino said you might be able to help them become models.”
I got a closer look at the girls. The good news was they were taller than Bianca was. Most Cuban women were short, but these two were almost tall enough. The only problem was they’d done their own makeup. I motioned for Galen, my makeup guy, to come over.
“They want to be models, and I need to take their pictures to send to my agent. Do you think you could help them?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Bless you. Let’s get you both fixed up,” Galen said in his southern drawl and sent them to wash their faces.
The band started to play.
“Dance with me,” I said to Bianca.
She was every bit as good as I remembered. By now, everyone had some mojitos in them, and the dance floor filled up. Bianca kept an eye on her charges as Galen and the girl who did hair worked on them off to the side. When they were finally done, I was amazed at the magic they’d pulled off.
The girls were funny as they vamped it up posing. I snapped a few pictures and sent them off to Adrienne, though I didn’t expect much to come of it. Even though they were both cute, they just didn’t have
I dragged Bianca back onto the dance floor. It took all of five minutes for her sister and their friend to get into trouble. Bianca left me on the dance floor to track them down. It was clear she was mad because her face turned red. The two girls pointed at me. That didn’t look good.
“What’s up?” I asked as I was motioned over.
“Did you buy them drinks?” Bianca asked.
I looked at their hands, and they both had mojitos.
“In a way, I suppose I did. I told the bartender that the first round was on me. But I didn’t intend for them to get drinks,” I explained.
“
“You might as well get one too,” I suggested.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“Do I need to?” I asked.
Cassidy and Caryn showed up, each with a drink in their hand.
“I hear you are to thank for these,” Caryn said.
I needed to shut that down. It looked like the bartender was just handing out drinks if someone new walked into the lounge. I bought one last one for Bianca and closed out my tab. I was sure Caryn would have a talk with me once we got back home about spending money.
Fritz and Paul joined us at a big table. I had a good time dancing with everyone. At some point, someone got smart and had the bartender start making mojitos by the pitcher. I spotted Anabella and Eva sneak some refills, but they didn’t get out of hand. I figured Bianca knew, so I kept my mouth shut.
Bianca and the two girls were good dancers, and soon everyone wanted to dance with them. I took a break and ordered more food since I hadn’t eaten any dinner, and it looked like the mojitos were starting to have an effect on people.
I also ordered another faux Coke. The stuff was weirdly addictive. It was orange-brown with a slight greenish tinge around the edges. Granted, Mountain Dew was the color you would expect radioactive sludge to be, so maybe it wasn’t so strange by comparison. The flavor was, at best, interesting. I would describe it as sweet, with an initial tartness that seemed to fade away to a berry taste. At the end, you had a bit of a medicinal aftertaste that reminded you of herbs and was a touch bitter. Then, about five minutes later, the medicinal aftertaste would come back. I’d never had a drink that did that.
The reason I ordered a second one was the caffeine jolt it gave me. I might have to figure out where I could buy more of this stuff. I could envision a future time in college where I needed the energy to pull an all-nighter or drag my sorry ass to class. Cuban coffee was right up there, but sometimes you just wanted something you could grab and run with.
I was interrupted in my eating by Cassidy sitting down in my lap.
“What can I do for you?” I asked to hide my irritation.
“Rub my shoulders,” she ordered.
We’d been practicing our bone strikes, and they affected our joints differently than our usual workouts. Soon Cassidy was moaning like we were having sex.
“Just like that … uhm … harder …”
“I call next,” Bianca said as she came back to the table.
“You better be careful. If he gets his magic fingers on you, you’re a goner,” Cassidy warned.
“I did something to my hip, and it has been killing me all week.”
“I’m sure that after several sessions, you’ll feel good as new,” I offered.
“Do you really know what you’re doing, or is this just a way to get me to take off my clothes?” Bianca asked.
