Hualing knocked on the door to the kitchen. She stood with one hand on her hip while one foot tapped against the floor. There was a brief pause as Quang watched with trembling nerves for the bartender to come through. Lorenzo pulled the door back a crack, only sticking his head out as he looked at the singer.

"What is it, Hualing?"

"I want all three of these people out of this bar!" She stomped her foot. "Now!"

"What? Why?"

Hualing pointed towards Vic. He leaned back in a chair and patted his hands against the edge of the table like it was a set of drums. His head bobbed to the rhythm while he mouthed the lyrics to an oldie. "Him! He's been nothing but trouble. And they're all his friends."

Lorenzo squinted towards Vic. "Doesn't look like he's doing anything to me."

"He attacked me!"

"Did not!" Vic blurted out, only briefly pausing his jam session to respond to the accusation.

"Did you not hear the ruckus we were making just a few moments ago?"

The bartender shook his head. "No, I didn't. Hualing, is this really needed right now?" Selene walked up to the door, looked through the crack and looked at the frustrated Hualing with confusion.

"You okay, Hualing?"

"No!" Hualing blurted out. "Your friend attacked me! Humiliated me!" She again pointed towards the still-grooving Vic at the other end of the bar. "I don't understand how anyone would want to be around a… boisterous jerk like that!"

"Come on Hualing," Quang said after he inserted himself into the conversation. "I watched everything. Vic may have been rude, but you agreed to that scrimmage! Not to mention that you were the one that threw the fan at him in the first place!"

"I wouldn't have done that if he wasn't harassing me!" Hualing's eyes turned red while her speech became slurred. "H-He came into this place and just started... trashing me!"

"What do you want me to do about it?" Lorenzo asked.

"I want him gone! And his friends! He's the kind of bum that will hangout where he's not wanted, no matter how many times you tell him to leave!"

Lorenzo looked back at Selene. She was shaking her head from side to side. "Sorry Hualing, but we need Selene working here. She's picking up that shift that we've been desperate to fill. And just from what I've already gathered, she's a quick learner."

"But I'm the one that brings people into this place!" Hualing placed her hand over her chest. "Without me, nobody would even think about visiting this dump!"

"They come here for the alcohol, Hualing."

"And my singing!"

Lorenzo chuckled, only to catch himself and stopping mid-laugh. "No, they don't. It may seem like that to you, but the record books say otherwise. Along with tip money."

For a moment, Hualing’s anger turned to utter confusion. "Wait, people actually give tips here?"

"If you're a bartender."

"Fine! I see how it is!" Hualing turned around and stormed off towards the bar's entrance. "You never wanted me here, did you? No one ever split tips. You let people heckle me on stage. And now you're making me put up with it off the clock?" Hualing opened the glass door wide, letting the conditioned air escape. "Consider this my last day!" She then walked out and let the door slam shut behind her.

Everyone else still in the room stared at the bell that swung from side to side. It rattled, the sound of it crashing against the glass pane overcoming its usual high-pitched chime. After a moment, those still inside turned to look at each other.

"Sorry about the scene," Lorenzo said while scratching his neck. "Hualing can get pretty uptight about some things, but I've never seen her get that mad before.

"Man, you don't need her," Vic said while making a shooing motion with his hands towards the front door. "Let me be your DJ!" He reached into his bag and pulled out a couple of cassettes. "I've got a playlist that will keep customers coming back!"

"Er... Yeah. I'll think about it," Lorenzo said, unamused. He looked down at Selene who was still staring at the door with a bewildered gaze.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Is she going to be all right?" Selene asked.

"No clue. You know how the popstar types can be. I'd say it's a fifty-fifty chance of her coming back."

"Do you need her to bring in customers?"

"Nah." Lorenzo shook his head. "I was telling the truth about alcohol being what really draws people in. We thought having a one-hit wonder perform on stage every night would help bring attract new patrons, but it turns out it's easy to make money as a bar when you've got an extended happy hour!"

"Oh."

"Although this does give us a chance to try out that karaoke machine the manager bought not too long ago. A drunk may sound way worse than Hualing, but the tradeoff is that they pay us. We don't have to write them a check at all!"

"Sounds like a win-win!" Vic blurted out.

"Yeah, that's one way to look at it." Lorenzo stepped back inside the door to the kitchen and held it open. "Come on Selene. There's still a lot I gotta show you." Selene took one more look back at the closed door before following the bartender back inside the kitchen. With both of them gone, Quang took a seat on the opposite side of the table as Vic.

"You happy now?" Quang asked in a low volume.

"I'd say so. Should be asking you the same thing." Realizing that the bartender was busy with training Selene, Vic propped his feet back on top of the table and leaned back in his seat. "Selene keeps her job and that snob won't be working with her anymore."

"You really had to make such a fuss, didn't you? Couldn't keep your eagerness to fight to yourself, huh?"

"She asked for it, Vic. I can't back down from a challenge. How do you think the other folks in town would handle the news that I turned down a fight from a washed popstar? No one would take me seriously."

"Because you're such a well-respected member of the community as it is?"

"Depending on who you ask."

"Whatever, man." Quang shook his head and looked up at the clock. "All I'm saying is that things could have gone a lot better if you just knew how to act like an adult."

"Things could have gone a lot worse too if I didn't know how to defend myself." Vic then reached into his pocket, smiling as he looked at the two dollar bills in his hand. "Gotta admit, I'm shocked that she managed to keep her end of the bet. You know how many times someone wanted to put some money on the line for a fight only for them to back out after getting folded?"

"Vic?" Quang asked.

"What's up?"

"Please. Just shut it."

----------------------------------------

"You did great today, Selene!" Lorenzo said as he held open the door for the new hire. Selene walked out with a smile and t-shirt slung over her shoulder. "Now wear that on your first shift and a pair of nice pants. You got the basics down pretty quickly, so I have faith that you'll knock the first shift out of the park."

"Thanks Lorenzo! I'm going to go home and get some rest, but I'll be here right on time."

"Good, I'll see you then."

Lorenzo disappeared back into the kitchen while Selene ventured further into the dining area. Her confident smile immediately inverted upon seeing Vic leaning back with his legs propped up against the surface of the table. His eyes were closed while his hands rested on his slowly rising and falling stomach. With one swift motion, Selene took the crisp black shirt that the bartender had given and smacked Vic on the cheek with it. The impact made a brief yet powerful smack with the impact sending him falling out of the chair.

"Ah!" Vic scrambled up from the floor with his hand rubbing his now red cheek. "What was that for?"

Selene flung the shirt back over her shoulder as she stared down at him. "Don't play dumb. You know exactly what that was for."

"Don't you wanna hear my side of the story?" Vic moaned as he used the seat of the chair as leverage to get back up. "It's not what Hualing made it out to be."

"l know you enough to put the pieces together myself. Not to mention that I had a conversation with Hualing right before she quit. She's not the friendliest person in the world, but there's no way she did what you claim unprovoked."

Vic turned to Quang for help. "Come on bro! Tell her what really went down!"

"You did start off with the insults, dude," Quang replied.

"What kind of insults?" Selene asked of Quang.

"He was talking about her singing. Her career. Stuff like that."

"Of course!" Selene's mean glare returned to Vic. "You and your pretentious taste in music! You couldn't just leave her alone, could you?"

"I was just telling the truth! Her version of Passion and Patience wasn't anywhere near as—"

Another whip from Selene's shirt hit him in the back of the head. "No! Just because you didn't like her version of your favorite song doesn't mean you get to chastise her!" Selene let out a huff and rubbed her face with one hand. "I can't believe I have to talk to a grown man like he's a child going to detention in middle school!"

"It's not like she didn't say mean things about me, either."

"Well, it's safe to assume you started it."

"But do you really think her reaction was warranted, Selene?" Quang asked. "Vic was definitely in the wrong, but it seems to me that Hualing has got her issues that she's got to work out."

"She's not perfect, Quang. No one is. She's been through some rough stuff recently."

"Like trying to figure out which sports car to take to work?" Vic bemoaned.

"She's not rich! That's why she's working as an entertainer in a bar. The short of the story is that she got let go from her label. And even though her cover was a huge hit a few years back, take a wild guess at who got to keep the majority of the profits."

"The big guys at the top of the company," Quang replied.

"Exactly. And now she says she's been blacklisted. Hualing hasn't been able to find a single producer in the city that would take her."

"Oh," Quang said while scratching the back of his ear. "Now I feel bad. Why did she quit if she really needed this job?"

"Probably frustrated with how she's been treated," Selene replied, accompanied by a shrug of her shoulders. "Are you happy with your job, Quang? I'm sure there have been times when you've wanted to walk out."

"Guilty."

"Well, the good news is that Lorenzo didn't seem all too upset by her leaving. Seems to me that if she wants her job back, she can come in at any time."

"Not the wisest business decision if you ask me," Vic said. Both Quang and Selene darted their eyes towards him, staring at him with frustration.

"Let's get going Quang. Before I lose my job that I've only had for a few hours." Selene walked away from the table, t-shirt still resting on her shoulder. Quang and Vic both followed behind her.