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Fighting the heat that flushed my cheeks was impossible.
‘Oh my god, Cora! You were?’ Ruby’s voice hit a new register, and I considered throwing myself out of the moving car. ‘You sick little bitch.’
‘I wasn’t trying to watch you. Not spying or anything. You guys were making so much noise that I came through to tell you to knock it off. Finding you desecrating the couch was wholly accidental.’
‘Don’t be so uptight. People have sex. Well, most people do.’
‘I don’t care what most people do. Just have a little more thought when you trail some asshole home at two am.’
‘He’s not an asshole,’ Ruby said, pouting out her lip.
‘Yes, he is. He should be here where I am, and I should be on the way to university. Instead, he saw you hurt and tucked his tail and ran. That’s not a good man.’ The rough edge of the seatbelt dug into my fingers as I pinched it.
‘Cora, one day you’ll get it. Relationships are complicated. I can’t blame him for having somewhere to be.’ Despite the words, her eyes shone in the morning light. I knew fighting back emotions when I saw it. That same look had been on my face hundreds of times.
‘You can blame him for not prioritising you.’
‘I don’t.’
Well, I did.
‘Absolutely not,’ I said, shaking my head at Ruby. ‘Not a chance.’
‘You have to. I can’t perform with a broken ankle, and we need the money. I know you make money where you can with your photography, but it isn’t enough to keep this place and pay the bills. My wages cover most of it while you study, and I can’t take six weeks off with no pay.’ Ruby sat on the sofa, her plastered leg resting on the coffee table in front of her.
‘I’ve never had sex. How can you expect me to work at a sex club?’ Sweat pricked at the back of my neck as I paced the floor in front of the TV. She couldn’t be serious. There was just no way anyone would want to see me do what she did.
‘You don’t have to screw anyone. Performing is up to you, and it pays better. But you can just do hostessing, chat with people, and make them feel welcome. Maybe do a few podium dances…’
‘No-one will believe I’m you, Ruby.’
‘Sure they will. I don’t talk about my home life there. You never know who will be listening. They don’t even know I have a twin. They would never suspect me to be anyone but me.’
Ruby tugged at a perfume sample in the magazine she bought at the hospital. Tearing it open, she smeared it over her wrists as if nothing was amiss. The sweet floral smell hit me as I stormed past.
‘I don’t dress like you. I don’t wear my hair like you. I don’t have your kind of makeup.’ I grasped at straws as we went through the same conversation for the tenth time.
‘You know I’ll sort all that for you. No-one will suspect a thing. It’s only for a few weeks, and I need you to do it for me. I’ve been supporting us while you’ve been doing your degree. I need you to suck it up for a few weeks, Cora.’
Any other job and I would have done it with no problem. But how could I walk into a sex club acting like I’d worked there for months when I’d never even set foot in a place like that? A wave of dizziness threatened to send me to my ass, and I perched on the edge of the sofa, pushing my face into my hands.
‘I can’t,’ I whispered.
‘You don’t have a choice. We need the money.’
‘I’ll pick up a job. Down at the cafe downstairs or in a bar. There’s got to be somewhere that would have me.’ The desperation in my words made me cringe.
‘You’d have to work full time to make anywhere near enough to cover things, and you can’t do that and still attend your lectures. You’ll make more working three nights a week than you’d make at any of those places in a month. Plus, I really don’t want to lose the job.’ Ruby shuffled over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist.
‘They can’t fire you for breaking your leg.’
‘It’s hardly a normal career where I can sue them if they do. I’m freelance. They can do what they like, and the owner’s kind of a hard ass. Cold, quiet, and miserable. He’d love an excuse to get rid of me.’
‘Wow, Ruby, I’ll add that to the pro’s side of my list. That doesn’t make me want to work there any more than I already did.’
Ruby looked up at me with wide eyes and a pleading expression. ‘You know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really need you to fill in. It’s been forever since I last asked you to be me.’
‘Yeah, but sitting your maths prelim exam for you differs from working in a freaking sex club. You know I’m not experienced in all that stuff.’
