I said yes, of course, though it wasn’t really a question.
“What are we celebrating?” I asked.
My roommate guided me to the table, which was covered with an array of dishes in paper containers, with the name of the Cantonese restaurant in large letters covering the entire white tablecloth.
“Your raise, silly,” she said, winking at me.
She set out three bowls and chopsticks, and we sat down to eat. Gina had ordered confit duck, shrimp dumplings, fish balls, fried rice, and egg tarts. She and her mother finished almost all the food; I barely touched it. I felt a lump in my stomach that grew heavier as the time to head to the club approached.
“Have some more, Vera, you need to eat well.” Mrs. Meng put a dumpling on my plate. “You’ll be going out to celebrate later, right?”
I glanced at Gina.
“Yes,” I murmured.
“I knew it!” Gina exclaimed, slamming her hand on the table and sending a bowl of soy sauce toppling over. “Did Enzo invite you out again?”
I shoved a dumpling into my mouth to dodge a reply. Meanwhile, Chaoyue Meng stacked a dozen paper napkins on the table, dabbing at the spilled sauce like it was some sort of crime scene cleanup.
“Come on. Where are you going? Can you tell me? Wait,I’m not sure I want to know…”
“To Club Montari,” I coughed, choking on a piece of shrimp. “Have you ever heard of it?”
Gina had already pulled out her phone.
“Regina,” her mother tried to take the phone away, unsuccessfully. “No phones at the table!”
“This is important, Maa,” Gina turned to me, showing me her phone screen. “Look. It’s not far.”
It was practically next door to Cutnam. The club’s website was a mystery: just an address and a phone number, the rest a black void, like they’d never bothered to finish the site. No details on what kind of club it was, no lineup of famous DJs, no ticket sales, no hype about special events. Just nothing.
“Do they have social media?” I asked.
“Couldn’t find any,” Gina replied, her eyes narrowing. “Seems like a sketchy place, you never know… But hey, Enzo invited you. You’re going, right?”
I knew what Gina was thinking. A young girl walking alone at night to an unknown club with a bag full of money didn’t seem like a good idea. But I hadn’t had time to tell Gina that this wasn’t an extension of our date, but that Enzo had offered to help me, so why wouldn’t I trust him?
I had to go. Anything that helped me get rid of the money before Monday was worth the risk.
But Enzo had never said I had to go alone. If he wanted to use the night to spend more time with me… oh, come on. He’d waited a whole year. He could wait one more week. So I handed the phone back to Gina and asked the question I knew she was dying to hear.
“Do you want to come with us?”
Her facelit up.
“You mean, go to a mysterious club I’ve never heard of and can’t find any information about online?” Chaoyue Meng removed the soy sauce bottle from the table before my roommate had the chance to slam it again. “Of course! You don’t mind, V?”
“I’d prefer you came.”
Mrs. Meng crossed her arms.
“Daughter, won’t you ask for my opinion?”
“No, Maa. Baa and Daidai mentioned they were having a night… what do they call it?”
“Men’s night,” she whispered.
“Exactly. You can join them for once.”
