***
The girls and I are lining up, waiting to get into The White Rabbit.
The line is long. And I mean long! It’s almost two blocks down the street. I don’t think we’ll get in any time before 1am.
Well, that’s what you get for trying to be ‘fashionably late’.
Shut up, brain.
I have my back turned to the street, rubbing my arms for warmth.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” I turn and Max is smiling at us. He asks, “What do you chicas think you’re doing with all the regular folk? You’re VIPs!” He offers his elbows to Nat and I, we take them and the girls follow as he walks us to the front of the line.
Some of the waiting club-goers groan and a smiling Natalie struts passed them like a peacock and boasts, “Yeah, that’s coz we’re VIP, bitches!”
As we approach the front of the line, we’re greeted by a huge African American man. He’s bald and looks badass. Max fist bumps him and presents us to him, “B-Rock, these ladies are personal guests of Nik’s.” I hand him my VIP pass and he smirks at me, “You hold onto this, mami. You’ll need it at the bar.”
Awesome!
B-Rock (cool nickname) unhooks the red velvet rope and we follow Max just inside the hall. We reach another set of double doors and Max clears his throat and smirks at us, “Ladies, welcome to The White Rabbit.”
He pushes open the double doors and I almost pee.
My ears are assaulted by loud R-n-B music which fades into loud Pop music.
My mouth hangs open as I follow Max into the first floor of the club.
This place is unbelievable!
I always thought The White Rabbit was a strange name for a club until now. It all makes sense.
Max takes my hand, I take Nat’s hand, she takes Mimi’s, and Mimi takes Lola’s hand. We form a mini snake. He leads us into the main club area. There are booths all around the edges of the huge room, there isn’t a spare seat in sight. You have to walk down four or five steps to get to the dance floor, which is packed full. The outer rim of the room is higher than the dance floor. The dance floor is retro tiled in black and white.
Max leads us to the bar and I’m actually dumbstruck by how awesome this place is.
There are waitresses walking back and forth from booths to the bar and they are all wearing costumes. They wear a short light blue and white pinafore dress with puffy sleeves, thigh high white lace stockings with garters, and four inch white maryjane heels. They also wear long blonde wigs with a light blue bow tied atop their head, false eyelashes, pale makeup, and bright red lips.
Get it??! The White Rabbit is an Alice in Wonderland themed club!!! So freaking awesome!
I love this place!
“I love this place!” I yell this to Max who bursts out laughing.
Max offers, “Sweetheart, you haven’t even seen the VIP area yet!”
I’m in awe.
There’s more?!
I’m suddenly giddy. I take another look around. All the walls are painted deep purple; this has been done whimsically and the artist has mixed white through the purple in a swirly pattern. There is a huge bronze Cheshire cat statue by the bar, people are gathering around it and taking photos with it. Some fantastic Alice in Wonderland prints and paintings hang around the wall. There are even original cartoon cells.
Oh Em Freakin’ Gee!
Max leads us to a staircase and we climb up. As soon as we reach the top, an Asian Alice smiles at us and says, “Good evening ladies, do you have a VIP booth reserved?”
My hearts sinks. I sputter, “Uhh…”
Max interrupts me, “Yeah. It’s under Safira. These are Nik’s guests.”
Asian Alice’s eyes widen slightly. She utters, “Of course, please come through.”
We follow her to one of the bigger booths, it can seat at least ten people and I’m confused as to why she would give us this one when there are only four of us.
The girls, Max, and I take a seat. We order Cherry Bombs and I look around while we wait.
Max was right, the VIP area is even better than downstairs. The booths are black soft leather with bronze buttons down the sides. Every booth has their own waitress and the music is not as loud up here so you can talk to each other without yelling. More cells, prints, and paintings line the walls.
Nik arrives at our booth and speaks, “Ladies, I’m so glad you could make it.”
He’s smiling at us (dimple and all…yum!) and I know he’s genuinely happy that we came. He looks delicious in grey slacks, Italian dress shoes, and a light grey sweater which he’s pushed the sleeves up to the elbows.
I shriek, “This place is awesome!” Nik laughs as takes a seat beside me.
He begins, “I can’t believe you’ve never been here.” He feigns being upset. “I was a little hurt actually.”
I laugh at his antics and respond, “Well, you lured us here and I can tell you I’ve only been here twenty minutes and I already want to come back!”
He leans in close to my ear and says, “I’m glad you like it.” He leans away, winks, and adds, “Now to make sure you have a good time.”
Swoon.
***
Fuck. Me.
I knew these girls were good looking but, damn, they clean up nice.
They all look stunning but I’m actually a little disappointed that Tina is wearing a lot of makeup. She’s normally adorable but tonight she looks sexy. When I leaned in closer to her I caught her smell. Goddamn it, she smells like cake! Like vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar mixed together.
The dress she’s wearing shows off her body; it hugs every sweet curve. She looks hot.
I’m feeling a little protective of her. I don’t want any of the guys here to make a move on her. I want her to relax tonight.
Yeah, keep tellin’ yourself that.
Hush, brain.
Someone behind me clears their throat. Ghost is standing there with Trick. I gave the boys the night off because I want the girls to enjoy themselves tonight and when we we’re celebrating at lunch the other day everyone seemed to get along really well.
Trick takes a seat next to Lola but Ghost remains scowling at Natalie who is staring right back at him.
Oh damn, it’s a stare off.
I’m just about to tell Ghost to sit the hell down when Nat straightens her back, leans her head forward slightly, and scowls theatrically hard at him.
I can’t believe my ears when I hear him chuckle behind me. Ghost isn’t what many would call a people person. But he has his reasons.
He rolls his eyes at her and plonks himself into the seat next to her.
Everyone has a drink and starts conversations with each other and I find myself listening to answers Tina gives to the questions asked of her.
I find out she’s lived in New York two years, formerly a California girl. She’s twenty eight. Nat shares Tina’s apartment with her. She has a cat named Bear. Her dad lives in Cali but her Mom’s passed away. That’s too bad. She and Nat have been friends for as long as they can remember and they’re both of Croatian descent. She also advises that she’s a lightweight and to not let her drink more than three drinks.