The Troubadour had opened its doors in 1957. It wasn’t the largest music club, but it had a classic bar up front along with several other bars and a kitchen. Then there was a large room with a stage taking up the back wall. Admission for tonight was open seating. We could either hang out downstairs, or there were tables in the balcony. I wanted to get sweaty and dance, so I opted for downstairs. Several others in our group decided to grab tables upstairs as a base for us all to go to when we needed a break.
It didn’t take long for the place to start to fill up. Flo wasn’t happy when Trip decided to go upstairs and sit down. I told her to go with him, and I would watch Halle.
As the show was about to begin, someone in Birthrite must have spotted me because a large security guy pushed his way through the crowd.
“You and your guests are to come with me,” he said.
He took us front and center. A few minutes later, Jett and her bandmates stormed the stage and rocked out. They did a few covers but rolled out a lot of their own stuff. They ended up playing for nearly two hours with a break in the middle. I know I had a blast, and I sweated my balls off—it got hot in there as everyone danced. This was the most fun I’d had since I’d gotten back to LA.
◊◊◊
We all ended up back at the house. Bill had stopped and picked up alcohol because I’d told him all we had was wine and scotch. We bounced inside and found my dad watching Netflix.
“We’ll be out around the pool,” I announced.
“Enjoy it while you can. Your mother will be here tomorrow to ride herd on you,” Dad warned.
“Pfft,” I said in response, which made my dad laugh.
We both knew I wouldn’t get away with anything with her around. Then again, she’d been known to ramp things up just to see how much she could embarrass me.
First, though, I wanted a shower. Once I got everyone out around the pool, I went inside, jumped in the shower, and changed into my board shorts. I figured if my Japanese friends wanted to go skinny-dipping, I would swim with them, but I wasn’t going to be the one to lead the charge tonight. I was on Brook countdown and didn’t want to do anything to possibly upset her. Running around naked might just do that, especially if one Halle James was in the house.
“Dude!” Bill complained when he saw me with a towel around my neck.
“What’s got your boxers in a bunch?” I teased him.
“Ai told me that you were going skinny-dipping with them.”
“No, I told them if they wanted to do it, they could use my pool,” I said.
I jumped in and splashed water at my friend as he danced away. I laughed out loud when Trip didn’t hesitate. He stripped off and did a cannonball to join me. There was an unwritten rule: if you want to get a group of girls naked, you had better go first. Trip had broken the seal on their hesitation. Soon clothes were flying, and everyone was in the pool. The group that had stayed on the balcony at the club had a few drinks in them. Those of us who were on the main floor dancing were sober. The ones who had their drink on were a little freer with their hands than the rest. I was glad I had my swimsuit on, or it might have gotten more interesting than was good for me.
I saw what Bill liked about Asian women. They were tiny little things I could imagine doing naughty stuff with. Teresa, on the other hand, was a Brazilian with a killer body. In a lot of ways, she reminded me of Tracy, who was all woman. Not many women have an hourglass shape like those two had. Then there was Halle. She was simply gorgeous. Halle had a more athletic build, but her features were striking. Teresa was a beautiful girl, but Halle James was destined to be a leading actress for good reason.
I think Teresa saw that Halle had my full attention because she started to flirt with Trip.
When things slowed down, and people started to get out of the pool, Halle found me talking to Misaki. I’d told her that Halle and I had a history, so she left us alone.
“I think my brother is going to steal Teresa from you,” she teased.
“Damn him,” I said, trying to act frustrated.
“She told me that her mom taught her chocolate, coffee, and men were all better if they were rich.”
“Yeah, right,” I said.
Halle was pressing the gold-digger theme she’d heard from someone. My guess was Lexi. Halle shook her head at me.
“Bill and Ai are taking off. Lexi told them they couldn’t use her room,” Halle shared.
Ah—suspicions confirmed!
“They left it a mess last time,” I agreed. “They can go to Ai’s hotel room and let the maid service deal with however they leave the sheets.”
I sometimes forgot that Halle was somewhat innocent. She blushed at my frank assessment.
“Sorry. Too much information?” I asked.
“What time does Brook get here tomorrow?” she asked, ignoring my question.
“Around noon,” Lexi said, scaring me to death.
“The hell?” I said, whipping around. “Between you and Fritz, it’s going to be an easy decision to put a cat bell on the both of you.”
