~~Makena~~
It’s all set. I will work for Fay at Club Risqué.
As for accommodation, I take up Ayara’s offer to stay at her guest room. Her house is in Karen, a wealthy Nairobi suburb, which is near my school. I want to live near Benford.
Ayara wants to live with me rent-free, but I do not want to owe anyone ever again, not even my close friends.
I will pay the rent and buy the food. So, I thank Ayara and settle into the half green half cream room. The combination is a little strange. She is apparently repainting her house after the ‘business-related’ scuffle with her ‘friend’.
On my first day of work at Club Risqué, Fay enthusiastically introduces me to everyone. Brian, the mixologist, AKA the guy who makes her blush; Mike the DJ, he is wearing a blue snapback hat backwards, and blue mega headphones that cover his ears.
The bouncers are Biggie and Fred.
The waitresses are Diana, the one who smiles too much, Lillian from Embu like me, and Nectar, who is quick to say that she is a waitress and working here until her first solo song is picked up by the radio stations.
Then there is Sussy, she has a sweet, homely smile and easiness around her.
Judging them in terms of first impressions, I like Sussy the most and then Nectar. I’m glad when Fay pairs me with Sussy.
For the first day, I will be Sussy’s understudy. I will just follow her around and see how things are done. We go to the backroom and Fay brings out a couple of new dresses for me. Days before, she asked me my size.
“White for Mondays, blue on Tuesdays, gold on Wednesdays, black on Thursdays, red on Fridays, gold again on Saturdays and green on Sundays.”
She lays them one-by-one on the table.
“You have nothing to worry about. Biggie and Fred will be there always. No one will touch you. They know better. This is Biggie’s house.” Fay tells me.
“Thank you and thank you for the job,” I say.
“No problem,”
I change into the white dress and gold heels. In the mirror, half my thighs are showing.
“Wow, you look great,” Sussy says as I come out of the backroom. She pins a round metallic nametag on my chest.
“Queen,” It reads.
I prefer to use my other name for this job. As if it means that I don’t work in a club.
It’s 7 pm. The club is dimly lit, and the disco ball is making the white dress pop. Sussy picks two trays from the counter and gives one to me. I follow her as she begins her shift.
“What can I get you?” She asks the male and female new arrivals who sit in lounge chairs by the corner.
“Two cold tuskers and a Smirnoff for the lady,” The man says.
Sussy takes the order, and we return to the counter.
“That’s all…see you have nothing to fear.” She smiles.
Well, it looks easy enough. When the next customers arrive in Sussy’s corner, the VIP area, we still go together.
After the third time, I go alone.
“What can I get you?” I ask my first customers over the loud music. The squad is made of three men and two women.
“Johnnie Walker please and the best chaser you got, on the rocks.”
I deliver the order, and all goes well.
Later in the night, I serve three more tables. My first customers wave at me, and I go to pick up the bill.
“Queen, is it?” One of the men read my name tag. “Beautiful name. My friends and I are going to the new club Serene down in Westlands. We were wondering if you could accompany us.”
Fay and Sussy already told me I will get such offers. It comes with the job, but I alone have the choice about what to do with them.
“No, thank you, Sir. Enjoy your night,” I say and head back to the counter.
Later I go to the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. What would mother say if she saw me working in a night club?
It is a decent, well-paying job. Fay is paying me fifty thousand shillings.
I look down at my short bandage dress and panic. I burst into one of the washrooms, sit on the bowl and take off my high heels.
Then I sob my heart away. What am I doing with my life? Two girls walk into the washroom.
“Sssh, someone is crying,” The first one says.
“Are you okay in there?” The second one asks.
I stop sobbing and go quiet.
“That’s a broken heart cry,” The first one observes.
“Just let it out, sweetie,” The second yells.
“No.” The first one comes closer to the door. “He doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t deserve your tears. You are a queen, and you are beautiful.”
I look down at my nametag and smile; the irony of it.
They forget about me. I hear then gossip about a guy called Jason. Just because he bought them two bottles of beer he thought he could take them to a cheap motel and fuck both.
“Once a guy bought me three chardonnays, and he didn’t ask for anything. Not even a kiss,” The first one says.
“What are you saying. That’s nothing. Once my boss gave me fifty thousand shillings and even hired a room at the Hilton for me…but I told him I don’t sleep with married men…so he had to take off his ring,” She declares.
“You are sooo wise,” The first one remarks.
“Oh my god, I love that song,” The first one yells. The DJ is playing a Chris Brown song. I hear them put their eye pencils, brushes, and lipsticks back in their makeup bags and rush out of the restroom.
When I am sure they are gone, I put my heels back on and walk out. I don’t want them to see me. I don’t want to be known as the crying waitress.
I return to the bar. Brian is doing his thing with such grace. The way he reaches for Brandy and mixes it so effortlessly with a smile in his eyes awes me. He loves his job.
My shift is over at four in the morning, and I head to the bus station. I can take a taxi, but that will cost me two thousand shillings instead of a hundred shillings. I need to save every penny I get.
The fast-food joint across the street is open. It is called Mama Mia Fast Food. I am so hungry I walk towards it. I realise the S on the neon sign is broken, so it reads ‘Mama Mia Fat food.’ Then again, I’m not so hungry.
I go home to Ayara’s house and crash in my room for five hours before rushing to class. This becomes my routine, and by the second week, I am used to it.
Work at the club from six to four, then sleep from five to nine. Luckily all my classes began at ten.
To avoid running into Daniel, I take the long walk to class through the art department. Instead of eating at the cafeteria, I carry my own food.
When I am not in a class, I’m at the library. Reading a book or snoring over one. My self-fulfilled prophecy came true. The day before I came to Benford, I had told my friends, Wanja and Nduta I would spend all my time in the library.
On most Saturdays, I stay in with Ayara, and we watched Trevor Noah’s stand-ups.
“Because it takes a man to take another man out of your mind,” Ayara reasons and hands me the crisps as we sit down before the TV. We watch Trevor Noah and laugh until we cry. We drool at how good looking he is and forget about our boy problems for a while.
On Sundays, I visit Wanja in Githurai, or she comes over. She looks different these days.
She wears makeup and weaves, and she looks a little lighter-skinned. She has also bought an iPhone worth a hundred thousand shillings.
“Eish, chief’s daughter. What are you eating in that Githurai?” I tease her.
She just laughs and says no more.
I worry we are drifting apart. I want her to be open with me as I am with her. I tell her everything that happened with Daniel, embarrassing as it is.
“You will get over him soon. No one ends up with their first anyway. I don’t know anyone who ever ended up with their first. I guess we all must kiss a few frogs first. That is just the way the world is, you know,” She consoles me.
She broke up with Noor too. It’s as if it is the break-up season, everyone is breaking up.
“Yes.” The frog analogy makes sense, just not to my heart.
I don’t feel like I will ever get over Daniel and I don’t want to kiss frogs.
The rumour around campus is that he is back with Lynn. When I heard it, I felt like I would pass out. If I ever run into the two of them together, I’ll die.
***
“Need a lift?” Andre, Daniel’s friend, nags me.
This is the third time this week. He has been timing me as I come from class and follows me with his Mercedes S class.
“No, thank you,” I hastened my steps to the bus station.
He still follows me, and it ticks me off.
“No, thank you and not ever.”
Does he think I’m stupid? Daniel has probably told him we slept together, and now he wants to try me as well. Soon I’d be known as the rugby team’s whore.
There is such a girl in Benford. She is a third-year student. The rumour is she slept with half the rugby team.
“Hey, I’m only trying to help,” Andre informs me.
I put on my earphones and walk away.
The next day I hurry from class, late for my shift. The last lecturer stayed overtime.
Fay may be a good friend, but she insists on a good work ethic. She never stomachs lateness.
“Need a ride?” Andre asks me again.
I’ve been at the bus stop for fifteen minutes, and no bus has passed through.
I look at my watch and then back at Andre. “Yes.”
He looks at me, startled. He is not expecting it.
“And just so you know I will never ever sleep with you,” I warn in an icy tone as I get into his Mercedes and put on my safety belt.
“Whoa, okay,” he promises. “Where to ma’am?”
I raise my head high. “Club Risqué.”
He tips his head in a mock salute. “Right away.”
“I work there.”
“No shame in your hustle.”
We ride in silence, and I keep checking my watch. Andre tries his best as he navigates through Lang’ata Road traffic. If he keeps this pace up, I might get there on time.
“We will get there in time, don’t worry,” he confirms as if reading my mind.
“I know…and thank you again.”
Forty-five minutes later we are parked outside club Risqué.
Before I get out, Andre turns to me. “He is not doing well, you know.”
I feel chills on my skin. He is talking about Daniel.
“He just stays in and drinks and talks about you…he misses you,” Andre says.
I don’t know what to say.
“Thanks for the ride.” I bolt out of the car and into the club.
At the entrance, I high-fived Biggie, the bouncer. He smiles. He rarely smiles. I go up the step of the blue carpet and into the staff room. There I change into my blue bandage dress.
As I zip up my dress, I think about what Andre just told me.
He misses you, and he talks about you all the time.
Could it be true? But if it was then why was Daniel not looking for me? Why was he not apologizing? Boys lie, Andre must’ve lied to me, which made more sense.
This must be another game they are playing. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.