lovers in a dangerous time

✦ WAKEEMA HOLLIS, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER ✦ HAZEL ROBSON the THIRTY year old has been in Manchester for ALL HER LIFE. The PERSONAL ASSISTANT is said to be LOYAL but also SUPERFICIAL but I guess we’ll find out for ourselves.

(triggers below: drug mention, abandonment )

Gus: but there’s only so many times you can hear about their friends leaving them for a guy

Gus: that’s also true so we’ll have to wait and see

Gus: that depends whether you’re accepting?

Hazel: you mean you’ve never had your friends ditch you to go get laid?

Hazel: guess you’ll just have to ask me and find out 😉

Gus: come on we all have some stories don’t we

Gus: well we’ll have to go out for drinks some time to talk about how lonely we are

Gus: of course.. drinks that I’m not serving for once 😂

Hazel: I guess that’s fair, but what you get to pour pretty girls drinks and listen to their sob stories lol

Hazel: I mean, I guess so - but what if your definition of embarrassing is different than mine?

Gus: I’ll make it my mission to find him

Gus: then I’ll know all the embarrassing stories about you 😉

Gus: lonely together? Jk jk.. unless…

Hazel: that’s one way to go about it...

Hazel: what makes you think I have any?

Hazel: is that so?

Hazel: oh? and why would that be? 🤔

Gus: hahaha not yet!!

Gus: I promise I'll find out though 😉

Hazel: oh really?

Hazel: I don’t know. I feel like if you haven’t figured it out now you might never.

Hazel: oh hey! it’s you! hi 😊

“Oh, babes..” Eliza trailed off before laughing “I think you need to keep a close eye on your staff because I know some of them be gettin’ up to some naughty shit for a bit of extra cash. I just thought it was allowed… anyway..” Eliza let out an awkward laugh.

“One, they aren’t my staff. I work for Franky personally, not the club,” Hazel corrected. “What you guys and gals do to earn your keep is between you and Franky but I don’t know if he’s going to like this place turning into a sex club.”

It was almost as though you witnessed the soul leave Bella’s body when she heard it had closed down. “I’ve been looking for it for at least 10 minutes.” she admitted before smiling and nodding at the other. ”That would be great, honestly. This city confuses the hell out of me.”

           “You would think they would have updated this by now,” Hazel said, smiling at the woman. “It does take a bit of getting used to by once you have the hang of it you’ll be fine. Or at least the places you needed to get to.”

‘Lap dances? I’d say that’s definitely not my area. Blowies in the back room? I could do that easily. Sign me up!”  She joked as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She was joking but.. was she really joking? “Honestly, I’m good with sexual favours which most find to be quite weird but it’s just easier than having to act sexy.”

Hazel blinked at the girl, waiting for her to start laughing or any kind of signal that she was in fact joking. “Love, this isn’t that kind of club,” she warned. “Maybe just serving the drinks for right now.”

“You’re right it will be fun and i can’t wait to figure out who it is so next time i see you I can fill you in on whether he says you’re doing a good job.” Gus laughed before raising an eyebrow at her words. “Well, unfortunately I don’t. As much as I’d love to do that sometimes because I do get some quite attractive people offering it on a silver platter for me I can’t. Unless, maybe one day during the week Paola is feeling kind and will run the bar or on her own. I might test it out and let you know how it goes.”

           “I swear if that man has any complaints about me he will never hear the end of it,” she laughed. “Well, if they’re giving it so freely then they should be willing to wait until your shift is done. It’s really the only polite thing to do.”

“Do I get to know a name of your boss? Or will I just have to keep wonderin’ if every man that walks in here is him? You’ve got an interesting story and now I’m gonna think every man in Manchester has you blocking out time for a quick shag. I definitely don’t get to block time out of my shift if I feel like having a quick one.”

          “WHAT WOULD BE THE FUN IN THAT?” she asked, laughing. “Don’t you think it makes your job a little more fun? Trying to guess which of these fine men feel the need to schedule having sex instead of just letting it happen?” Hazel feigned a gasp before smiling. “You mean to tell me you’ve never sneaked into the back for a quickie?”

“Eliza.” She spoke softly as she held out her hand to introduce herself. To be quite honest she was shitting bricks right now. She’d had enough of waiting tables at Nandos and rage quite not too long ago. She knew a few of the people who worked for Franky, as well as Franky himself as of recently, and something one of them said to her stuck in her mind. So she’d found herself hired at the club and ready to go. “Ha. I just hope I don’t end up on an awkward dancing compilation on youtube.”

          HAZEL TOOK ELIZA’S HAND AND SHOOK IT, giving the girl a friendly smile. “I’m Hazel - Franky’s PA,” she replied. “Well I’m sure the girls will give you some pointers. And I doubt you’ll end up on some compilation video. Maybe they’ll let you start with just lap dances until you’re more comfortable.”

“a gentleman’s club well that just explains it all really. What did you expect? The guy owns the go to place that probably causes the most drama in relationships or a getaway to cheat.” Gus laughed as he shook his head. “I thought he’d have put arranging dick appointments on the job description.” He shrugged his shoulders at her words with a smile “Well, you never know they could be back and if not you can always meet up outside of work hours now.”

          HAZEL BLINKED AT GUS, questioning if he knew who Franky was. She never thought he used the dancers as an easy lay, but then again, she didn’t ask him everything. “It should be a requirement, right? ‘Must be comfortable scheduling dick appointments’,” she said with a laugh. “It’s possible, but it’s not the same. You get used to seeing someone everyday and then they’re not there anymore.”

Ever since departing from the club, Melody had initally decided to take a minor break from Hazel even though she did see her as a friend outside of the club as well. Her plan was never to reutrn so in order to forget, she needed time away. But of course, having been working at the club again, she ran into her friend and immediately smiled at the other woman. “Well….. I am back..” she started with a soft laugh, folding her arms. “I’m the manager here now.”

          LETTING OUT A NOISE THAT MIGHT HAVE RESEMBLED AS SQUEAL, Hazel clapped at the news. The one saving grace was that she didn’t actually have to do anything when it came to the club but she did it to help out Franky when things were too much. “It’s about damn time,” she replied, smiling at her friend. She hadn’t been around Obsession’s long enough but it seemed like the only logical thing to do. “Well, at least we know Franky’s got some kind of smarts.”

Running her fingers through the strands of her long dark hair in order to pull it up into a loose bun, Ahyoung’s head tilted to one side at her friend’s words, pushing the glasses up on her nose and giving it genuine thought before even attempting to deliver an answer. “Well, I would say that each person has qualities that are both good and bad..” she began with a light sigh as she sat back in her seat, arms folding over her chest to dive deeper into her own thought process. “But I do think that someone can be inherently good or bad to the core. There are bad people who do good things, good people who do bad things, so on and so forth..”

           HAZEL NODDED HER HEAD, knowing Ahyoung had a point. “I guess their decisions make up more of their personalities than anything,” she muttered before shaking her head. She wasn’t sure what had been said for the conversation to turn so psychological, but Hazel didn’t mind it. With a smile crossing her face, Hazel leaned back in her seat, mimicking Ahyoung’s current position. “So what’s been new with you? It feels like it’s been forever.”