"You've got glitter on your cheek, sweetie. Here, I'll get it."

I watched Paulie in the mirror as I fluffed out my long blonde wig on my head with my paddle brush. He leaned over Cha Cha, wet the tip of his pinkie finger with his tongue, and dabbed away the supposed glitter mark.

"You know," he continued, "sometimes when I'm walking around I see people who have random glitter spots on them. I always wonder where they've been."

I chuckled at this, fixing some of the curls at the bottom of my wig with my fingers.

"No, really. One time, I was on the train and I saw this business guy reading the Wall Street Journal? He had a little piece of blue glitter shining just under his eye. I spent the whole damn ride wondering where the heck he'd been. Was it a child's birthday party? A hooker? Was he secretly a drag queen, too, and where did he work?" Paulie started applying powder to the offending spot which had held the glitter on Cha Cha's face as Cha Cha's sweet eyes were closed.

"That's silly," I said, sucking my cheeks in and starting to apply the finishing pink blush to my cheeks just so.

"Weirder things have happened and you know it," he said, beginning to apply lash glue to the lashes he would momentarily be attaching to Cha Cha.

I popped my lips a few times, making pouty kissy faces to know I was completely done.

"Did you finally finish?" Paulie asked, looking at me incredulously. "It took you as long as two drag queens to get ready. We counted with ourselves."

"Do I look pretty?" I asked, still staring at myself in the mirror and further fluffing my wig by bunching and separating with my fingers.

"You look gorgeous, darling, simply gorgeous. Now stop fucking with that wig, its being fluffed to death. It can't get any bigger." Paulie sucked his lips in and looked to the side with a knowing smile. I started laughing into my hand. I knew what he'd been about to say. It was not the first time he'd made this joke. However, there was a child present who would ask questions about such a dirty subject.

"Aww, Cha Cha looks darling," I smiled sweetly to him, taking his hand like a proud mommy and scooping up my purse.

"Hopefully not too darling. If he does, the bouncer won't let us in," Paulie said, looking worried.

"The bouncer's seen him perform. I bet he thinks Cha Cha is like twenty-seven. Don't worry about it. Isn't that right, Cha Cha?" I asked, mussing his wig, my long fake nails really getting in there.

Paulie's face dropped. "No! I just got that wig all done! Georgina, how dare you!" He sucked his teeth and sat Cha Cha down again and leaned over, fixing the wig now last minute.

Cha Cha started laughing at this, but his nerves were clearly showing through. Tonight was the night we were taking him to his first gay club that was not our own. It was just down the street from Paulie's apartment, so soon we would be dashing as fast as our heels could take us down the street.

In a couple of minutes, Cha Cha's coffee brown and blonde wig looked perfect once more. As Paulie went into his purse to find his keys, I took Cha Cha's hand again and winked at him. He grinned at me as I led him into the hallway.

"Wow, look at all of those wreaths, huh? Which one is your favorite one, Cha Cha?" Paulie asked, swinging Cha Cha's other hand like a child's as we walked down the hallway to the elevator.

"I like yellow one," he grinned. My head turned to a wreath made of yellow wheat and checkered gold ribbon two doors down from us. My eyebrow raised.

"That's a Thanksgiving wreath," Paulie laughed, "they must have been super lazy."

"Oh," Cha Cha giggled. In the cramped elevator, he began to ask questions. "What club like? It like our club? People sing? Dance? Other people like us there?"

"You'll see," Paulie grinned at him.

"Password?"

"Jack, it's me," Paulie sighed, getting annoyed.

"Pass. Word," Jack repeated slowly.

Paulie growled, looking back at us. I shrugged with my hands in the air. How was I supposed to know the password? He seemed to change it at will anyway.

"Jack, you know we can't be seen out here like this," Paulie barked at him in a hushed way, getting as close to Jack's eyes behind the slot in the door as possible.

"Password."

Paulie exhaled deeply. Cha Cha's head tilted and looked up at me. I shrugged again. Unexpectedly, Cha Cha unclasped his hand from mine and he went up to the slot in the door, his eyes nowhere level to Jack's.

"Is password 'password'?" he asked innocently.

The metal slot slid closed and the door swung open. Revealed to us was a fat man with a bushy beard and a kind smile. He looked curious. "I didn't know you had an accent!" he grinned at Cha Cha. "Where you from? You Spanish?"

"This is my Latin child, back off you jerk," Paulie snapped at him, taking Cha Cha's hand again and leading him inside. As I walked past Jack I smacked him upside the back of the head.

"What's the matter with you," I scolded him, "it's like a fucking a week before Christmas and we're wearing stockings. Fuck you."

"That's your choice," he said with a noncommittal look, taking my money for our cover charges. What a jerk. Paulie was right. My eyes narrowed at him as I took our drink tickets.

I followed after Paulie towards the bar. Cha Cha was looking around everywhere, his eyes wide. I leaned on the bar and the barman came up to me right away, eyeing Cha Cha curiously just like Jack had.

"Two Shirley Temples and a Heineken," I ordered. The barman didn't move, staring at me instead. "I said 'two Shirley Temples and a Heineken', Walter," I sighed. What was with people not listening tonight?

His brow creased and he filled a pint glass with Heineken from the tap. "This one is for Paulie, right? You want Shirley Temples for yourself? Why do you never drink anymore, George? It used to be so fun when you'd-"

"I don't recall asking for a conversation about it," I cut him off, getting annoyed quickly.

"Come on, George. You want to make it a Shirley Temple Black? You reformed?"

"No, I'm not reformed," I sighed.

"What back there?" Cha Cha asked, pointing at an area that had a couple of couches and a coffee table. My head snapped to Paulie and he seemed to be thinking over an explanation.

"You get our drinks, Paulie. I'll take Cha Cha over to the jukebox. I wonder if they have any Motown on it?" I said quickly, beginning to drag him out of view of the couches. A few people were back there in shadowy form, the lights very low. I didn't care to dwell on it.

A slower song, "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas & the Papas, started up when we were halfway through the dance floor and I felt a hand clap down on my shoulder. Startling hugely, I turned towards the direction of the hand and breathed out, my own hand going over my heart.

"Oh hey, Miracle," I breathed.

"Hi. I haven't seen you in a long time. Who's this?" Miracle looked down at Cha Cha from a foot and a half above from him. Cha Cha was staring up at her like he was seeing indeed a miracle as her name suggested. She flipped back the long curls of her wig over her shoulder and beamed at him.

"This is Cha Cha Valentine. He just started at the Majestic a couple...few weeks ago? You should come see him some time," I smiled to her, shamelessly promoting him.

"Quite a looker. I wonder what you look like out of drag, Cha Cha," she said, putting her other hand on his shoulder.

I had to snicker. I leaned in to her and she leaned into me knowing I was about to relay something good. "Don't flirt with him," I whispered to her so he couldn't hear me over the music.

"Why?" she whispered back, mystified.

"He's kind of fourteen. Shh, don't tell Jack," I told her quietly.

"No wonder he's got baby cheeks," she giggled. Then she started looking around. "Hey, Paulie with you?" she asked in the same quiet tone.

I sighed, knowing what was coming. I leaned into her again and she did the same. "Do you mind not doing that stuff tonight? Cha Cha's here and all," I sighed, exasperated.

Her face softened and she nodded. "I just want to buy some from Paulie. I won't do it in front of the baby, though. Girl Scouts' honor?"

I nodded and pointed at Paulie who was still at the bar waiting on the Shirley Temples. Miracle winked at me and swayed away with the music in that direction.

"What you whisper about?" Cha Cha asked.

"Oh nothing," I smiled fakely at him, half dragging him to the jukebox and as far away from the couches in the room off the bar as possible. He looked confused, but loyally went along with me anyway. I felt bad having to lie, but I couldn't tell him the answer to his question.

When we got the jukebox, I showed him how it worked with the buttons flipping the catalog and he started having fun with it. But even having only been in the club for about ten minutes I was beginning to have second thoughts about bringing him in here. It had been really Paulie who had wanted to come here.

My eyes glanced over to him in wondering about our drinks after a while, and my eyes widened as big as plates. I gasped, turning Cha Cha away completely opposite of the bar. Because right on the bar, Paulie was cutting brown powder for Miracle with a little razor blade on wax paper. On the goddamn bar. The bartender was leaned on the bar, watching with casual interest.

"Um, hey, Cha Cha. On second thought, do you want to meet some of my friends? They're usually here on a Saturday. They'd be in the lounge if they're here," I said, yanking him towards the lounge behind the dance floor in a panic.

"Friends? I want meet friends!" he luckily agreed. I wanted to get behind him and push him through the doorway behind the dance floor, my panic rising to my throat.

What the fuck, Paulie. What the fuck was he doing? Is that why he wanted to bring us to this club? What the hell was going on?

We entered the lounge and like a divine placement two of my old friends were there. Sasha waved and Ganya grinned as he got up to greet me. "Who is this little monster?" he asked, placing a hand on top of Cha Cha's head.

"I swear it's been so long I wouldn't be surprised if it was your love child," Sasha sighed, taking a long drag of his cigarette and then flopping his arm regally back on the couch.

"This is Cha Cha Valentine. He works at The Majesty," I formally introduced him again.

"Another drag queen, huh? We always need more of those. Say, is your club hiring more queens? I could use a regular gig," Sasha said, taking another drag off his cigarette.

"I'll have to ask Frankie," I said quickly, looking over my shoulder. Ganya caught this and gave me a knowing look. Cha Cha wandered over to the orange block of a couch and sat next to Sasha, who shifted the cigarette into his other hand as to not accidentally burn him.

"You talk?" Sasha asked him. Cha Cha started to look very nervous.

"His English isn't very good," I supplied for him and he looked at me gratefully.

"Can you understand my accent?" Sasha chirped at him, now switching to a sweeter tone. Like crazy magic, just knowing Cha Cha could hardly speak English had seemed to change Sasha's entire opinion of him, just like everyone. Slowly, Sasha began speaking Russian to him in his small town dialect, and just from his tone I could tell he was flirting.

"What you say?" Cha Cha asked, tilting his head like a kitten and smiling.

"Oh, how precious," Sasha cooed.

I leaned in to Ganya. "Tell your boyfriend to stop flirting with that fourteen year old boy," I whispered quickly. Ganya started laughing. Gently, he started speaking Russian in a swimming sounding tongue and Sasha's face fell.

"That's okay, it would never work out between us anyway. Ganya doesn't like threesomes," Sasha said brightly, taking another drag from his cigarette.

"I just told you that boy is fourteen. Don't you talk about threesomes," Ganya laughed.

"What's life if you can't talk about threesomes?" Sasha asked conversationally to Cha Cha. Cha Cha burst into giggles in his usual gesh gesh manner and I couldn't help but start giggling. Sasha started laughing, too. "What the fuck is that?" he asked, doubling over in laughter at Cha Cha, "that is the cutest laugh!"

"Cuter than mine?" Ganya asked, sliding next to his boyfriend.

"Way cuter, are you kidding me?" Sasha snickered.

"Oh, my heart," Ganya joked.

I plopped into a purple chair with awful psychedelic daisy patterns all over it opposite of them. I found myself exhausted. "Ganya, can you please bring us some drinks? Paulie was supposed to, but... Well, could you bring us at least two Shirley Temples?"

Ganya's eyebrows creased. "Yeah, sure," he said, getting up.

Sasha and I started talking about gossip while he was gone, and Cha Cha sat patiently and listened in with eagerness. Sometimes he would ask who somebody was and Sasha was all too voluntary to give up the good stuff about each and every one of our friends.

"Pearl moved away with her young boyfriend. She got so old she couldn't stand New York City anymore. How in god's name do you get tired of this city? She's about sixty, maybe senile, so I don't know. Her boyfriend, though. He must have worked for the post office because the package he was carrying-"

"How many times do I have to tell you that boy is fourteen?" I interjected yet again, sighing with my fingers pressed on the bridge of my nose.

"Sorry, you look so much older, sweetheart," he said again, putting his hands on Cha Cha's shoulders, his cigarette precariously close to the fibers of his wig. Cha Cha beamed proudly.

The beads that provided a curtain for the doorway shifted in a washing tile sound like dominoes hitting each other soon enough and we all looked up at it. Ganya stood there holding the Shirley Temples in either hand and quickly set them down on the coffee table. He gestured at me to come with him and my eyebrow raised. Sasha stopped speaking, too.

I got up, reluctant to leave Cha Cha, but I knew he was in good hands. Sasha may have been flirty and had a loose tongue for sexual topics, but he meant no harm. I knew this with confidence.

"What's up?" I asked, going with him beyond the curtain and leaning against the wall with the jukebox which was now playing the Beatles' "All You Need is Love".

"We have a problem," he whispered to me, gesturing with his chin at the bar. My eyes flashed in worry and they raced to the bar. Was Paulie... But then my eyebrow raised.

"I don't see anything wrong," I said to him, confused. The bar was flooded with patrons but Paulie was not among them. Then my heart dropped, knowing exactly where he was. "...Paulie's in the other lounge isn't he," I sighed with a dragging soul.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Ganya said, his voice increasing in alarm.

"What- What is it?" I asked, knowing he didn't usually get panicked.

"We have to get your friend out of here. You see those three people with the blue jackets? Look too similar? You don't know because you haven't been here for a while, but those are police officers-"

"Fuck," I gasped, my hand going over my mouth in rising panic like Ganya's.

"The bartender has been paying them off with drugs and stuff, but sometimes they make us show them our I.D's and- and-"

"Do you think the back door is unlocked?" I whispered to him. My breathing started to come too fast and I felt dizzy. What if they found Cha Cha under age in here? What would happen to him? I swallowed, knowing full well what could happen, having experienced it myself. But Cha Cha was fourteen. How would he take that?

"Go get him, quick. Get out of-"

But Ganya didn't have time to finish that thought.

"POLICE!" one of the male officers yelled suddenly, swinging around from the bar and grabbing into his jacket, producing a badge immediately.

"Turn that shit off!" the female police officer shouted. Someone on the dance floor dove for the jukebox's electrical cord desperately and yanked it out of the wall, producing sparks.

"Uh- what?!" I heard Cha Cha cry in the room behind me in a startle. God, how much I wanted to be in that room with him. My entire body was afraid.

Couples had jumped away from each other when the police officers had announced themselves, but it was too late. They'd seen them on the dance floor together. "Line up!" the police officer ordered, spreading his legs in an authoritative stance. The female officer did the same, as well as the third officer with them who was male, but younger looking than the others.

"Come on," Ganya said, surrendering. I was frozen, thinking about Cha Cha in the room with Sasha. I just wanted to be in the room with him, no matter what was happening. I wanted to protect him, but I couldn't if I was stuck out here. The doorway was so close. Would they notice...?

I started to inch towards the doorway, but Ganya grabbed my arm. "Don't," he whispered, "they'll think you're trying to run. They'll arrest you if you run, you know that. It's better to just line up."

"But-"

"George, come on!"

He began dragging me towards the assembling line on the dance floor but I couldn't budge. "It will be over soon," he whispered to me, looking at the line in panic, "they might not even look in the lounges. Come on."

Giving up, I joined the end of the line with him and looked down at the floor. Stale smoke filled my lungs as I breathed hard, trying not to think about Cha Cha. The older male police officer was making his way down the line, inspecting I.D's. I began to try to fumble mine out of my purse when I felt his presence in front of me.

A low whistle made me jump and I immediately felt ashamed. My eyes peered up at him, perfectly at eye level to me in my heels. I secretly felt glad I wasn't looking up at him.

"Well aren't you the pretty one," he chuckled condescendingly. "What's your name?"

I blinked my eyes rapidly, trying to think up a fake name pretty fast. No way I was giving this pig my name, the beautiful name Frankie called me.

"It's Daisy," I said, recalling the ugly daisies on the couch in the lounge.

His face turned mean and I winced involuntarily, feeling more shame streaming in from my core. Why did I have to be afraid of him? He turned to the female officer and she nodded.

Fucking goddammit. She came up to me and motioned for me to follow her. Not tonight, dammit. Why tonight?

My eyes flicked up to Ganya's and he blinked slowly at me, assuring me. He'd take care of Cha Cha. But I had to go with the female officer now, to be searched to make sure my sex matched what was on my driver's license. If I was lucky, I wouldn't be going downtown.

As she led me down the hallway, all I could think about was Paulie. Goddamn Paulie. Goddamn him. Where the fuck was he? Why wasn't he protecting Cha Cha? Why didn't he prevent this? What the hell did he think he was doing, bringing a child into this club and doing that shit? Had he known the club was hot with police activity like this?

The female officer opened the door to the ladies' bathroom and I went inside ahead of her like a criminal, more angry than a bull who saw red.

It was past 2am, and Cha Cha was in Paulie's bed. It had taken a long time to calm him. As it turned out, they didn't search the lounges. Ganya had been right, having known their patterns. They were more concerned with identifying the people on the dance floor. Ganya had later explained to me how they didn't search the lounges because they knew that was where drug activity happened, and since they wanted drug activity to continue in the club for their benefit, they didn't raid the lounges.

"When did it get like this?" I had asked him, thoroughly shaken.

"Couple of months ago," he had admitted shamefully. "You know, I don't think you should bring your friend back here anymore. No place for kids."

I had wanted to take his advice running, but it was too late. Cha Cha was already exposed to something I hadn't wanted him to see.

Paulie hadn't been himself when he wandered out of the club with us, so I knew he was high. I was blindingly enraged at him, but it didn't matter because with him like this my words wouldn't get through. I'd lay it into him tomorrow when he had no choice but to listen, I promised myself fiercely. He was in the living room on the sofa, staring at the wall.

For now to satisfy my rage, I reached into Paulie's purse on the kitchen table and took out several small baggies of brown and white powder. I took these to the bathroom, emptied them into the toilet, and flushed them all.

While I was doing it, I only had one repeating thought: Fuck Paulie. Fuck Paulie and all of his fucking drugs.