Charles leaned back and watched the altercation between the young man and the short drunk who had just stumbled in. Like them, he'd nearly jumped out of his skin at the faulty lights that flashed on and off. After that, Charles continued viewing the tiff over his glass of wine. The taller young man with the weird accent stuttered his way through a few protests just before the other guy apparently dropped the act and poured the glass of water the young kid had gotten all over his head.
As they both drifted away from each other and the opening act fizzled out, Charles turned around in his bar stool and scoffed. The older woman, Marion, excused herself, saying something about powdering her nose or some other kind of nonsense. His eyes found the gal sitting near him, Virgina, who had commented on the spineless display behind them with a distasteful snort and a drag on her cigarette.
"I didn't realize this Jig cat had invited kids." Charles said out loud, smirking and searching his pockets again for his lighter. Eventually he found it, took out his cigarette case and nabbed a smoke, the case's CH monogram glinting softly in the poor lighting in the room. "Sorry I couldn't find my lighter earlier, I was a bit...distracted." He said, his eyes roaming over the getup the budding actress was wearing.
Virginia looked back at him and winked. "I got that effect on people." She blew smoke gently in his direction, blanketing his face in the stuff seductively. Then, she leaned forward, letting him have a primo view of her considerable assets. Christ, what a dish...he thought, resisting the urge to loosen his collar.
"What's your story, fella?” She asked. “What brings your likes to this juice joint?"
"Oh, just a letter. Nothing all that thrilling." Charles teased, leaning against the bar. He knew damn well what brought him here, and there was a part of him wondering if she was here for similar reasons. "I'll just bet your story is much more fun."
"What, little old me? Why, he probably just wanted a celebrity to attend this speak easy." Virginia giggled softly, taking another drag on her cigarette and eyeing the old beat up lighter in Charles' hand.
He raised his eyebrows a bit at the word 'celebrity'. She'd said earlier that she was in the pictures, but being famous was a different matter entirely."Really? I should've guessed. A face like yours oughta be in the swanky pictures. Do you do talkies?"
"Mm, one talkie so far. Those things are so unpopular though I must say, I hesitate to go any further with them!"
"I prefer the classics myself, though I actually mean music.” He continued, smoking his cig like a human chimney. “I don't really enjoy jazz all that much. It's not dancing music, really. Wiggling around the stage maybe, but not real dancing."
Virginia leaned close to him and slowly lowered her hand on his wrist, lingering over his watch. Charles felt like he was melting but managed to keep his cool, even as she whispered in his ear,
"Perhaps that's because you've never seen me dance to jazz, Mr. H."
Charles savored the moment, then carefully leaned back a little, remembering that there were at least four other people in the room with them. She leaned back as well, inhaling another long drag of smoke. A smile crept onto his face as he asked, “'Mr H.'?” It took him a moment before he remembered the monogram on his cigarette case. “Sharp eyes to boot. Virginia, was it? The name's Charles...I'll tell you the H later."
Virginia chuckled throatily and said, "I look forward to it.”
Around them, the foyer fizzled with energy. Tension of all kinds pervaded the atmosphere of the room, as the guests mingled and waited.
