At the Car Wash

[maddy_ricks]

I'M BROKE. LET ME WASH YOUR WHEELS. $4.

Maddy painted the words on a sandwich board and set up shop at the gas station. For a percentage of her profits, the manager allowed her to hook a water hose up to the faucet. She set up a station with buckets, soap, Windex, wet and dry towels and a cash box. On a steady diet of Slushees and hot dogs, she scrubbed cars until sundown in a bikini top, torn jeans, and a baseball cap.

"Anything for a buck," she muttered as she pocketed a few sweaty dollars and checked the time.

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[maddy_ricks]

"I'm not new in town," Maddy said. "I don't walk to the mailbox without SPF. I'm surprised you can't smell it." She sniffed her forearm, supposing that the coconut scent rinsed off by now. There was a faint sprinkling of freckles on her skin that attested to her theory. "Gross," she muttered, scrubbing at the marks.

[tiny_dancer81]

"I'm really sensitive to the sun too," Theresa said, her index finger lifting in the direction of the now-dark sky. She had, in fact, smelled the remnants of the suntan lotion, but it was just traces and she didn't want the human to become suspicious. The sound of her heart was like a really loud clock.

"And yeah, freckles only look right if you're a ginger," the vampire added. "I thought about dyeing my hair red a couple of years ago, but I decided against it because I couldn't pick a shade. Too dark and it wouldn't look any different from my real color, too bright and I'd end up looking like Ronald McDonald."

[maddy_ricks]

"You should try blue," Maddy said. "I could see you with a chunk of it near your ear." She poured her bucket of soapy water down a drain, which probably violated about 10 city ordinances, but it couldn't be any more environmentally destructive than what was poured into a Vegas gutter on an ordinary weekend.

She tossed a few sponges in the empty bucket and began to wind the hose.

"I tried pink once. I looked like a My Little Pony."

[tiny_dancer81]

Theresa imagined it, and it made her chuckle-snort. She'd worn her hair down that night, and she lifted it off of her neck to expose her ears. Maybe if she changed her hair, that could be a catalyst for the larger change she wanted to make.

"So what does the entrepreneurial spirit do if car washing fails? I'm, uh, looking for a job change myself."

[maddy_ricks]

She tucked the nozzle into the wound hose. "I work in a coffee and pastry shop, but I wouldn't wish that wake-up call on my worst enemy." She wiped wet hands on her jeans. "My band plays at this place off the strip. They might be looking for a bartender or something. You could talk to the manager."

Could the other brunette see over a bar? A pair of clogs might be in order.

"What do you do now?"

[tiny_dancer81]

"Uh..."

Theresa didn't know how to explain it. She'd been a whore for so long that she didn't really think about it anymore, and she'd been blunt with Holly because there was no reason not to. She looked down at her clothes, which were much more demure than what she'd worn when she was working the Boulevard back in California, watched the last of the soap suds gurgle their way into the storm drain.

"I'm in the retail industry," she finally said, because that was both the truth and a lie. "But I'd like to get out of customer service. I don't know if it can happen before the year ends, but I want to do something different soon."

[maddy_ricks]

"Oh, god, customers are the worst," she mumbled, the cigarette bobbing wildly between her lips as she turned off the water supply. It fell and bounced across the pavement. "Oh, shit." She chased after it and made a grab before it struck Theresa's shoe. Maddy inspected the cherry to make sure it was still burning.

"One summer I got desperate and sold vacuum cleaners door to door. I liked to load on the double entendre and see if the housewives got it or not. Twice the sucking power!"

[tiny_dancer81]

"Housewives always get that joke," Theresa said with a snicker. "The suburbs are full of women who spend their days dreaming about fondling the bag boy at the A & P."

The idea of working at a bar wasn't distasteful to the vampire, and it would mean a better chance of finding willing blood donors. She could always claim she was twenty four, which was what her fake ID said. If the other brunette was able to find employment in a place like that without issues, maybe she stood a chance too.

"What band do you play for?"

[maddy_ricks]

"Fraying Nerves," said Maddy. She thought about the bag boy at her neighborhood grocery store. Would she fondle him? No. He looked like Boy George's less attractive brother, a negative quality that looked even worse when paired with an apron and rubber-soled shoes. She puffed on the battered cigarette. "I wanted to name it the Cum-Twats, but I was overruled. You like rock 'm roll?"

[tiny_dancer81]

"The Cum-Twats?"

Theresa was laughing when she said it, and she was beginning to decide that she could like this one a little. "Yeah, I like to hit this club called the Funhouse. They only have DJs, not live bands, but it's still pretty cool."

Maybe she would put a blue streak in her hair, something really bright. There was a salon near her apartment, she could check it out. "I'm Theresa," she said impulsively, putting out her small hand for the other brunette to shake.

[maddy_ricks]

"Maddy," she said, shaking it. Her still-drying hand was the same temperature as Theresa's. "I've been there. It's okay. Awesome drinks if you don't mind moving into a cardboard box, just so you can pay your tab."

But that was the way with Vegas. She wished locals could carry some kind of residency card to get discounts.

"You like to dance? I try but I look like a retarded sea monkey."