Kat

I applied my lipstick, then hurried to the door when the doorbell rang.  “El, come on in.”  I motioned Elanius inside.  “I have to run down to the nightclub real quick to handle something – I should be back in 30 minutes, max.  You’ll be okay entertaining yourself for a bit?”

“Mm-hmm, I have access to the internet and more knowledge.”  They gave me a grin.  “Also, nice dress.  I never see you wear anything other than red, though.  You allergic to other colors?”

“Red is my color,” I explained simply.  “Oh – watch out for Goose, he’s bound to try to steal any food you have.”

“Oh, I can protect my own food,” Elanius responded automatically.  Then they paused as I got to the door, confusion on their faces.  “Wait, who is Goose?”

I didn’t answer as I headed outside, chuckling to myself.

You could have just told them you adopted a dog, Ezra pointed out.  But he seemed a bit amused, too.  At least they like dogs.

I almost want to stay and see how surprised they are when they spot him.  I got in our sportscar – well, mine, really, Ezra rarely touched the thing – and headed off to the club.  But the sooner I get there and back, the sooner we can relax and do movies.

You have to get dressed up just to drop in?  Ezra never complained about the amount of time I took to get ready as opposed to him, but he did seem confused.

I’m a boss, I explained.  I want to make sure I look professional whenever I’m in.  I don’t want the owner to change their mind about letting me help manage stuff, plus I want everyone to take me seriously.

He almost laughed.  They take you seriously.  It’s hard not to.  People just do what you say automatically without even thinking about it, because you have that commanding tone that people just instinctively want to obey.

Yeah, it helped to have that confidence.  Fake it if you don’t have.  Honestly, I wasn’t always as confident as I wanted to say I was, but I just pretended I was when I wasn’t.

I reached the club, thankful to have reserved parking, then swept inside and across the floor to the stairs which led up to the offices.  I spotted the person I was looking for before I reached my office and made a detour.

“Croc?”  I asked.  “You said we had a situation and I was needed?”

The lead bouncer, affectionately known as Crocodile for her obsession with said reptiles, nodded, then jerked her head towards the office.  “Owner’s kid showed up and tried to buy drinks for their crew.  They’re all underaged.  We didn’t want to kick them out because the kid was ready to cause a scene, but we can’t serve them, and having them in here is an issue – we don’t want to get pinged for it.  I was hoping you could handle it better.”

Oh.  Uggh.  Handling bratty kids was not my specialty.  Honestly, Ezra was better at that side of things, but I was in charge here, so I might as well attempt to deal with this.

I really hoped I could get it taken care of quickly and get back home for movie night as planned.  I was looking forward to it.

I took a deep breath, steeled myself, then let myself into the boss’s office, where three young people were lounging, all with annoyed expressions on their faces.

“Finally!”  The boy I recognized from the owner’s pictures as his son hopped up on his feet, his expression turning cross.  “Someone’s here to handle this.  You’d better be here to let us out!  Keeping us locked in here is totally unfair and – and illegal, probably!”  He looked triumphant, like he’d come up with the ultimate trump card and I would immediately cave at the threat.

It wasn’t illegal, but I decided not to argue that point.  “You’re Brandon, right?  The owner’s son?”  I gave him a polite smile.

He immediately puffed up his chest.  “That’s right, that’s me.  So you know who I am and know you have to do what I say.”

His friends, a boy and a girl, both looked at me expectantly, some admiration in the girl’s eyes.  Ah.  He might want to impress her.  I had to figure out how to handle this without letting him lose face, or he’d complain to the owner, who would then take it up with me.

Politics were so not my thing.

Don’t be so nervous, Ezra murmured.  You have this.  You know how to handle this.  I can help you if you want, but you don’t really need it.  Just channel your inner boss but make sure he thinks he’s winning.

I sent him a silent thank you, then focused on the boy.  “I appreciate that you want to have fun, and that this seems like the ideal place since your dad owns it, I really do.”  I tried to keep a sympathetic tone, but just enough dominance there to let them know I was in charge and they shouldn’t interrupt.  “But do you know what happens if we let you stay and we serve you alcohol?”

The kids all looked at each other, almost confused, then the girl shrugged.

“Well if the boss says so and you don’t report it – which surely you wouldn’t – then nothing, right?”  She had that expectant tone like surely I wouldn’t do anything to make life difficult for the owner’s son.

I shook my head gravely.  “Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.  There are close to a hundred people in the club right now, and any one of them could report seeing minors – or even be off-duty police, we have several who stop by – and if you were spotted, it could mean a citation.  A citation looks bad for the club, and by extension, for the owner.”  I gave the boy Brandon a pointed look.  “Part of our job here is to make money for your dad, and we can’t do that if the club loses its reputation, gets citations, or someone gets arrested for serving underaged kids.  If we serve you, we may be threatening your dad’s livelihood.”  Okay, I was exaggerating a tad, but maybe the risk of his dad losing the business was enough to make the kid realize what he was asking of us.  He wouldn’t care if one of us was risking getting arrested, but risking getting the club shut down – and all his money taken away by extension – was another story.

“Might I offer an alternative?”  I suggested, before any of the kids could get too upset as the realization of what I was saying sunk in.  “About three blocks from here is a new club.  It’s designed specifically for teens and underaged young adults.  No alcohol, but if you want the fun of a club without risking getting your dad’s club’s reputation, that’s just a few minutes away and should be just as fun.  Besides,” I added the clincher, “this is an LGBTQ+ club.  Unless you’re cool watching a bunch of men making out with each other and women doing the same, you might feel more comfortable at a regular club.”

The girl practically recoiled.  “It’s a gay club?”  She sounded so offended, I seriously wanted to slap her.  “Brandon, you didn’t say that!  I don’t want to be seen in a gay club – what if people get the wrong idea?”

Oh, yeah, people might get the wrong idea, all right.  They might think you were actually a nice person instead of a bigot, I remarked snarkily in my head.  At least I still had a way to express my true feelings while I still kept a professional – if frozen – smile on my face.

The other boy looked like he wanted to throw up.  “Eww, Brandon, what was the idea?  You don’t have feelings for me, do you?”  He practically glared at Brandon, who now looked like he was caught in an awkward place.

Great, time for me to jump in and rescue him.

“You know, LGBTQ+ people are just regular people,” I informed them in as professional a tone as I could manage.  “They just happen to love someone that you personally aren’t attracted to, and that’s okay.  I’m probably not attracted to the same people you are,” I told the girl, “and I bet you and Brandon aren’t attracted to the same people, either,” this was directed to the boy.  “That’s essentially what LGBTQ+ people are like – they’re just attracted to someone you aren’t.  That doesn’t mean they’re naturally interested in every man or woman who crosses their path any more than you are.  And Brandon’s dad appreciates these people and wants to create a safe space for them, because too many people don’t understand that they’re just as entitled to love as everyone else.”  I gave them almost a warning glance.  “This is a safe space for them.  If you don’t understand or respect that they’re allowed to make their own choices, we will ask you to leave, regardless of who you know.”  I deliberately turned my attention to Brandon.  “I’d recommend bringing your friends back after you’re of age,” I told him.  “Maybe on drag queen night?  They might find that LGBTQ+ people can actually be a lot of fun, when you’re not too busy being worried about them being different from you.”  That last bit was directed more towards them.

They actually had the decency to both look a little embarrassed by my speech, while Brandon seemed almost – relieved?  Wait, had I misread the situation?  Was the boy right and Brandon was actually interested in impressing the boy more than the girl, but wasn’t out yet?  If so, I hoped I’d helped him out a bit, but I also hoped he’d reconsider trying to get with someone who was prejudiced.

“If you want to head to the other club, I’ll have Croc take you to make sure you get there safely,” I told them.  “Or should I call a cab?”

I waited expectantly, not giving them the choice to stay, and after a pause, Brandon gave a little nod.

“I want to party,” he said with a small smile that told me he was trying to salvage this.  “Uh, let’s go to the club.”

The other two were a bit subdued, but they agreed to this, much to my relief.  I let them gather up their things while I stepped out the door to Croc, who was an extra tall, muscular woman with some serious scars across her face and one forearm and seemed all stern and emotionless – until crocodiles were brought up.  And then she immediately melted into a fluffy marshmallow.

“Can you escort them to the teen club?”  I murmured quietly.  I figured the other club could use some extra business, plus this might help Brandon’s reputation with his friends a bit.  “And, uh, try to make sure they don’t see too much on the dance floor.  It seems that the owner’s kid’s friends aren’t so keen on gay people.”

Croc snorted and rolled her eyes, but nodded.  “Yep, I’ll get them there safely.  Kids picked the wrong place, though.”

I agreed.  Of all places to plan to party, an LGBTQ+ club?  Maybe Brandon was hoping to find out their feelings on the subject, but if so, that had gone poorly.  I smiled politely at the kids as they emerged, sighing in relief as I watched Croc escort them out as quickly as possible.  Great.  Catastrophe averted, I was pretty sure.  I decided to send the owner a quick message just in case he heard about it, so he’d know what happened just in case Brandon’s friends decided to whine some more and Brandon ended up complaining to the owner.  I honestly thought Brandon seemed okay with how things ended, and his friends, too – though they clearly weren’t thrilled at being lectured, even if my lecture hadn’t been nearly as harsh as I’d have wished – but I didn’t know what would happen after they left.  All I could do was hope the owner would understand if the kids were brats.  After all, the owner did appreciate LGBTQ+ people or he wouldn’t have opened a club like this.

I made a point to say hello to the other manager, who was buried in paperwork and payroll stuff – and not as good with people or handling situations like that or Croc wouldn’t have called me – then headed back out to my car, relieved that I could keep my promise to be back within 30 minutes.