The Lipstick Clique (4 page)

“Treasure…” She started, but thought better of it. She exhaled and stared at her friend for a moment, then backed away and shut the door. She watched Treasure’s Jeep back out of the parking space and burn rubber from the Publix supermarket.

__________

“
Whoooooooo
!!!
Whoooooo
!
Whooooooooo
! Crank that shit up Skye, let’s
roll
!” The girls came running out of the supermarket with brown paper bags filled with cash. They had jubilant smiles on their faces, and Skye noticed that Milan had never looked happier. Skye hot-wired the new vehicle, a silver Ford Mustang, and they skirted away from the Publix supermarket going 55 miles per hour in the inner city. Seven blocks away, they spotted a car wash and pulled in.

“Hello!” The car wash worker spoke when he saw the three girls pull up. “What type of car wash would you like today? We have a special going on today. A car wash, wax, wheel clean, interior vacuum, and your choice of interior fragrance for only $30. Are you interested?”

Skye had come up with a plan while the man was speaking. “Yes, let me get the special, thank you.”

He grabbed his tablet and started writing out a receipt. He snatched it out of the book and handed it to the driver. “O.K., drive up to the X and we’ll take over. You’ll pick your car up over there.” He said, while pointing to a line of cars that had been washed and were now being dried off.

 
Skye smiled at him and they all exited the car, each of them carrying bags of money. There were a few men standing around waiting on their vehicles to be finished, but when they spotted Skye, Milan, and Lena, they forgot all about their vehicles and tuned in to the lovely ladies. They watched the women’s every move, but none of it registered until they all walked up to a silver Nissan Pathfinder at the front of the line of cleaned cars. Without saying a word, they threw the bags of money inside the SUV, jumped in, and drove away from the premises like it was theirs.

The guys who were working dutifully to shine the vehicle, took off running behind the car to no avail. They stood around staring at each other in confusion. One guy slammed the tire shine liquid on the ground and hung his head low. He just knew he was about to be fired, and he needed that job.

The owner of the car dropped the hoagie he had been eating as he stood there wide-eyed and in utter disbelief. He couldn’t believe his damned whip had just been stolen with him standing less than 15 feet away. As angry as he was, he had gotten the SUV through illegal proceeds, so he was definitely not going to call the police on them.
Damn!
He thought to himself,
I just bought that damned whip! Fuck!!

He had an extremely sharp memory, and he knew that no matter what, one day he would see them again. And when he did, there was going to certainly be hell to pay. He had a tattoo on the back of his hand that said
Grimmer
, and he kissed it whenever he promised himself something. He kissed his tat and closed his eyes.

__________

Not only was Treasure angered because The Lipstick Clique turned their backs on her, but she was also angry because the girl that worked in the strip club had tried to get her murdered! For her to have been so much of a survivor, it made her feel bad that she had let so many things seep through her exterior armor in such a quick time frame. It made her feel as if all of the lessons that she’d learned in prison had been in vain, when that was certainly not the case.

Carrying a new mind frame and a new plan to match, she stopped at a convenience store and went inside. The citizens of Columbus, GA were the complete opposites from the harsh, cold, and uncaring citizens of her hometown. Philadelphia was so different from Columbus, that it almost seemed like a joke to her. Up there, people would only speak to you when they wanted something, or were trying to progress to a certain position, but in GA, it seemed as though they were speaking to her like they were her next of kin.

“Hey shawty what’s
yo
name?” A guy said to her as soon as she walked into the store. She ignored him and walked past him. She was on a mission, and didn’t want any distractions throwing her off of her planned path. But the guy continued to follow her. “Damn shawty… I can’t get a name from you?”

Exasperated, Treasure turned around and stared at the man. She was about to curse him out, but thought better of it when she remembered that she had no friends in the city. She sighed and picked up a five hour energy drink bottle off of the shelf. “My name is T. What’s your name?”

The man laughed for a second. “Cool… My name is 5.”

Treasure frowned and shook her head. She grabbed a Red Bull out of the refrigerator and walked to the counter. The man was walking directly beside her. She turned and looked at him. “Listen, Please stop following me. You’re bringing me attention that I do
not
want. Why don’t you give me
five
feet as a courtesy?”

The man held his palms up at her. “I’m sorry Ms. Lady, let me leave you alone. It was nice meeting you.” He turned and exited the store.

That was weird!
Treasure thought as she paid for her items and got back into the car. She swallowed the 5 hour energy drink and chased it down with a can of Red Bull. She had things to do, and sleep would only get in her way.

__________

Milan was amazed at how simple it was for them to get hotel rooms in the area. It seemed that everyone minded their own business, and didn’t have time to notice that just maybe, she was on the 6 o’clock news with a reward for her capture. Her and Lena had gotten their own room and Skye had separately gotten hers. She flopped onto the bed beside Lena. “Hey baby girl!”

“Hey Milan!” Lena started, but got cut short.

“What I tell you about calling me
Milan
?” Milan snapped as she tried to swallow her anger. “Let’s try this again Lena!”

Lena jumped out of fright. She didn’t mean any harm to Milan, because she was really beginning to look up to her. “I’m sorry mama.” The young girl said as she hung her head.

Milan smiled. “That’s more like it Lena. That’s more like it. Hey, grab that bag over there with the pistols in it. Let me show you again how to lock and load.”

__________

The walls in the strip club were worn and tattered. The foundation of the club itself looked so weak that if the wind blew, Treasure was sure that the entire establishment would roll over like a puppy. The stripper pole had patches of rust on it, and it seemed like each of the women had to slide down the pole using a specific technique in order to not get a skin piercing.

A blonde was working the pole to the best of her abilities when Treasure walked in. She was dancing against it, kissing and licking it, caressing and sucking it… she was doing everything except for sliding down it. The pole looked so rough, that Treasure couldn’t imagine any human being sliding down it; it looked like a vertical slab of cement. The permanent cigarette smoke lingered in the room, and the permanent stench of strip club aroma was so heavy and thick that it seemed as if it was engraved in the panels of the walls.

The DJ was screaming through the microphone so much, that no one could really hear the music being played. “Get down Snowflake!
Yessssirrrr
! If you ain’t
tippin
or
sippin
, then you needs to be
dippin
!
Ohhhhhh
look at Snowflake! Damn girl, you
sho
’
nuff
bad!”

The DJ irritated Treasure to no end, but she ignored it since it really had nothing to do with her. Men were scattered about all over the club. Most were in the middle of the room or as far away from the stage as possible, trying to avoid tipping the strippers. They were drinking their drinks as slowly as possible. Treasure couldn’t imagine surviving on the type of income these ladies were probably making.

Treasure had a seat at the front of the stage and leaned back in her chair. She had on a beige thigh length skirt and a red blouse with a beige flower on the shoulder. She was wearing a red pair of 5 inch pumps and her purse matched her skirt. Her red lipstick accentuated her thick lips, and her manicured nails had been cut short on purpose. She wanted no interruptions when it was time to fire the pistol, wanted nothing to get in the way of guaranteed power.

No matter how much trouble Treasure had gotten into, she still wanted to look and feel beautiful. She was still an aspiring school teacher at heart, and when she thought about the drastic change of direction that she had endured, it made her sick to her stomach. Her ex-boyfriend
Benji
had single handedly come into her life and turned it upside down. He had hurt her in so many ways, that she was absolutely positive that she would never love again in life.

When “Snowflake” neared the end of her set, the DJ walked to the edge of the stage and pulled out a large
roll
of dollar bills. He started throwing dollars and sliding them between her thong string while smiling at her. When Treasure saw the interaction between Snowflake and the DJ, she knew right then that she was his girlfriend. She could also tell that working in the strip club had not been Snowflake’s idea at all. Her facial expressions whenever the DJ glanced away told Treasure the whole story.

Her entire demeanor lacked confidence, and the way that she danced made it look as if she was in pain. Her fake eyelashes were deep-dark brown and extra-long. She was tall, close to 5’11 or taller. Snowflake had long hair, and her body was so tight that it was obvious that she was either fresh out of high school or a freshman in college. Her neck was slender and graceful, her mouth cute and thin.

When the song went off, Snowflake grabbed the money that the DJ had tipped her and angrily stormed off of the stage and into the dressing room. The DJ smirked at her and went back to his booth so that he could announce the next performer. There were a few women working the floor, trying to convince hard working men that they needed to pay them for their bodies. Treasure breathed in her atmosphere and paused at the peak. She gave her lungs a chance to understand her life, and when she felt that it fully understood; she exhaled.

She exhaled frustration, pain, suffering, struggle, smoke, madness, and exhaustion. It felt good to have everything leave her body, even if for a brief moment. When she inhaled again, all of her problems came right back. She thought about Milan and Skye, and felt horrible that they had decided to depart from her, but she knew that it was better that they leave her sooner than later.

“Fellas, please welcome Danielle to the stage! Make sure you tip her, because she is a
badddd
one!” That was the introduction that Treasure was waiting on. She removed her heels and grabbed her sneakers out of her purse. Evidently, Danielle already knew what time it was. As soon as Treasure looked back up, Danielle had run back off of the stage and into the dressing room.

Treasure jumped on the stage and started running after her into the dressing room. When she got back there, she saw Danielle changing clothes at a frantic pace. “I was waiting on your performance Danielle.” Treasure said as she walked closer to her. “But then I saw you run off the damn stage… what’s with that?”

Danielle tried to ignore her and just continued putting her clothes on. “Bitch do you hear me speaking to your weak ass?” Treasure spoke as she walked all the way up in the woman’s face. Danielle dropped her shoes out of nervousness and tried to reach for them, but Treasure kicked them away. “Do you hear me?!”

“Yea! I hear you!” Danielle said desperately. “There was nothing I could do Treasure! I’d told you about that lick, but I had no choice but to tell them when they asked me later on! They run Columbus, I couldn’t say no to
them
.”

Treasure looked down at Danielle and shook her head. “Who the fuck is
them
? You keep saying
them
like I know who those negroes are. Who
are
they?”

Danielle sighed, and her shoulders slumped down as she spoke. She had the look of a confused woman on her face as she answered. “I’ll have to introduce you to them Treasure. They were in the back of the club, so I know they were wondering why I ran off the stage and why you ran behind me. I’ll have to explain anyways…”