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Chapter Fifteen
Corentina
“I’ve been craving steamed pork dumplings like crazy,” Poppy tells me from her seat on my couch. She’s flipping through a fashion magazine, and I know I shouldn’t, but I really want to mess with her.
“Are you pregnant?” I ask, cocking a brow. From the shocked expression on her face, she hasn’t realized I’m messing with her yet.
“What? No! I’d have to be bumping uglies with someone for that to happen. Let me tell you, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a bumping-ugly experience. Too long.” Poppy sighs at the end, and I bust out into a fit of laughter. God, she’s hysterical. Since my time here, she’s easily become my best friend. We spend a lot of time at Diamond Dancers together, and since we have the same days off, she usually comes to have lunch, go shopping, or we have dinner together. Of course, that’s when Rémy isn’t busy.
Things with him are going okay. The whole Brittney thing really messed me up. It caused doubts about him to flood my mind, but since then, things have changed. I still kind of kick myself mentally because I didn’t give him a chance to explain when everything happened. I immediately shut down, and sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I hadn’t let him explain. Our relationship could’ve been over before it even started, and all because of a woman who’s likely lying. I say “likely” because Malcolm found images of Brittney out drinking on social media. Now, I hope she’s lying about being pregnant, because if she isn’t, she’s only putting that baby in danger by acting the way she is.
“Why don’t we go out and get some food then?” I suggest, and Poppy looks right at me with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Tell me we’re about to go get some banging Chinese food.” She clasps her hands together, and I nod, laughing.
With a wave of my hand, I say, “Come on, girl.”
Poppy and I leave my apartment, and she opts to drive to her favorite Chinese place. We get there, she parks, and we both go inside. A nice older woman greets us and takes us to a table nestled away in the back. We sit down, order some water and an app, and wait for our server to come to the table.
“I don’t know if you’ve realized this yet, but you’re the only one at Diamond Dancers who’s actually nice to me.”
I arch a brow at Poppy’s words. “What do you mean?”
Her expression falters and she grabs her water to take a sip. “Well, I was at the bottom of the totem pole. I’d mainly worked behind the bar and as a waitress. It was on a whim that they decided to train me to be a dancer. The other ladies don’t like that. They even started rumors about me being with people, just to make it make sense to them, I guess.” I shrug. “Other than you, Tessa is the only other nice one.” Poppy frowns slightly, and it’s obvious how these rumors have hurt her. She’s such a sweet person, and it hurts me that people would make up things about her, just because she was given an opportunity.
She said Tessa and I are the only nice ones, but I know for a fact we have at least ten girls on the roster. God, that’s horrible. “I’m sorry the others are mean to you. Don’t let them get you down. You know who your true friends are, and you’re incredibly talented.”
Poppy smiles widely. “Thanks, Cora, you’re a great friend.”
“No need to thank me. I’ll stand up for what’s right, and who’s right,” I tell her, genuinely meaning every word of it.
A server approaches our table and smiles. “Evening, ladies. Have you had enough time to look over the menus?”
“Yes, we’ll take an order of both fried and steamed pork dumplings, crab Rangoon, shrimp fried rice, your specialty donuts, and some fresh scallops.” The waiter looks at me like I’m crazy, but we’re two women who work out all the time. Burlesque dancing burns a lot of calories.
“Sure thing,” he says as he walks away.
I take a sip of my water, and Poppy’s words completely catch me off guard.
“I need to say this, but if I were a lesbian, I’d totally bang you.”
I spit out my water, and we break out into hardcore laughter. I dab the napkins on the table in front of us to clean up the mess, and the two of us continue laughing. This is what people need—friends like her.
I haven’t told Poppy everything that happened with Rémy, but I have to get it off my chest. There are so many feelings running through me at any given moment, and to be frank, out of all my coworkers, she’s the only one who even has the slightest indication Rémy and I are together.
“What’s the matter? You look upset.” Poppy’s words catch me off guard, but in a different way than her last remark did.
I lick my lips and stare right into her eyes. “I’m conflicted as can be. Rémy gave me the details about his marriage to Brittney, if that’s even what it is . . . and I . . . I need someone to tell me I’m not being stupid.”
“And you want me to be that person? I’m honest as can be, but I don’t ever want to hurt anyone’s feelings.” Poppy doesn’t surprise me in the least. I know she doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. She’s too kind to do that.
“I need someone else’s perspective because my feelings could be blinding me. I might not be seeing things the way I’m supposed to be, and you’re the only person I trust to tell me the truth. You’re kind of my only friend right now.” The latter might be sad, but it’s true.
“Aw, Cora. Okay, spill. What’s bothering you so much?”
“I learned about Brittney the other night, so . . . that’s a start. What do you know about her?” I trust Poppy, but I want to know all the information she has.
“Ugh, she’s the troll Rémy married in Las Vegas when he was drunk off his butt. How he even managed to be attracted to her is beyond me. She’s whiny, needy, and shows up all the time to cause trouble. Yuck.” Poppy scrunches up her nose in disgust.
