Ariel's Secret Life

Kicking off her old black Vans and stepping onto the cold linoleum floor, Ariel breathed a sigh of relief, happy to finally be home. The bar she worked at had kept her three hours past the time she was supposed to be off, and now she literally only had two hours to sleep before she had to get up and head to school. Unfortunately, this had become pretty standard routine in Ariel’s life.

Collapsing onto her tiny twin sized bed, not bothering to change out of her sweaty work clothes or washing her face, Ariel instantly passed out. It felt like only minutes had passed when her alarm woke her up.

A year ago, Ariel had been accepted at the University of Las Vegas. Though she was thrilled at the time, she knew her druggie mother would never help her in any way financially. So, she packed all her belongings into a single backpack and hitch-hiked her way from the trailer park in Arizona to the beautiful and bright city of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Having saved every penny she had earned since birth, Ariel was able to rent a small studio apartment near the university. There was mold in the bathroom, roaches in the kitchen and none of the appliances worked, but it was the only thing Ariel could afford, even when she was working overtime almost every night.

At school, Ariel held her rented textbooks in her arms making her way to her first class. She was exhausted, having slept only a handful of hours in the past week, but her determination to graduate and go onto med school was what drove her.

Steps away from her pre-calc class, two hands shoved her from behind, knocking her down onto the floor. She heard a gaggle of laughter from behind her and she immediately recognized the laugh.

“Disgusting trailer trash.” Kelly and her group of friends walked by Ariel, laughing as they went.

Not that she had ever really had a conversation with Kelly, but Ariel knew of her. She grew up in Malibu and was the daughter of some big hot-shot lawyer, so she had money coming out of her ears. They literally had no classes together, so Ariel wasn’t even quite sure how Kelly knew her, or that she grew up in a trailer park. But for the last two months, Ariel was Kelly’s target of hallway harassment, as if they were still in high school.

Staying down on the floor, Ariel watched and waited for Kelly’s high-heeled Louis Vuitton’s to walk away before she began collecting her books she had dropped.

“Fuck them,” another voice said beside Ariel. She looked up and saw her friend Henry kneeling beside her. He gathered some of the books she had dropped then helped her stand back up.

“Thanks,” Ariel said, taking her books from him.

Henry was another pre-med student. They became friends when they were paired together for chemistry class. He was the only one Ariel had gotten close to since moving to Vegas. Most people seemed to have the idea that they were actually more than friends, which, if Henry preferred women to men, they might be.

They both came from almost nothing and had worked very hard on their own to get to where they are now. Ariel had a hard time opening up to anyone, even before moving to Vegas. After many nights hanging out and drinking cheap Wal-Mart wine, Henry spilled out his whole life story to Ariel, telling her how he grew up in a very strict Mormon household, and when he finally came out to his father when he was 17, his father nearly beat him to death. His mother finally stopped him, pulling the man off of his son, but that was the last time Henry saw either of them, taking off and never looking back. Ariel could hardly believe the story and after listening to Henry, she told him every detail of her messed up childhood as well.

“You look exhausted,” Henry told her, as they walked into pre-calc

“Yeah,” Ariel said, rubbing her eyes. “I had to stay until three in the morning at Pete’s,” she told him.

Short Pete’s was the bar Ariel served at. Her manager, Nick, was the biggest shum-bag Ariel had ever met, and this is coming from a girl who grew up in a trailer park where men three times her age began hitting on her the moment she started developing. She knew part of the reason he gave her the job was because of her large 34C chest and thin waist. She often caught him staring down her tiny t-shirt that was her uniform and licking his chapped lips.

“Jesus, Ariel,” Henry exclaimed. “You can’t let them force you into staying that late. You’re a student. It isn’t fair.”

She shrugged as she sat down in an empty desk, Henry taking the one beside her. “What else am I supposed to do?” she asked him. “Working overtime every day is the only thing keeping me from getting evicted.”

“You know,” he told her. “I can get you a job at the Rio. Just say the word.” Henry was currently one of the head bartenders at a club in the Rio hotel. He had offered many times to help get Ariel a job there, but she always turned him down, simply for the fact that she knew she would be making the same amount of money, no matter where she served, plus the Rio was a lot further from her apartment than Pete’s was, so she’d have a further walk at the end of her shift every night.

“Thanks for the offer, Henry,” she said, flipping open her binder to the homework she had done the previous day. “But it doesn’t make sense to work all the way over there. Plus despite the fact that my manager is a creep, at least I get good tips from drunk men who just come in to stare.”

“Fair enough,” Henry said. “But also,” he whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening, “there is other work I could get you,” he reminded her.

Months ago, a night of studying turned into drinking. Ariel and Henry found themselves giggling like school girls discussing hot guys in their classes and even hotter professors.

While he was in the kitchen, getting another cooler from the fridge, Henry’s phone rang beside Ariel and he told her to just answer it. Without checking who it was, Ariel answered the call.

“Henry’s phone,” she said into it.

“Hi, this is Charles,” the voice on the other line said.

“Charles who?” Ariel asked, drunkenly.

“Charles Mayron,” he replied. Ariel remained silent, showing no indication to the caller that she knew who he was or what he wanted. “I met you last time I was in Vegas and you set me up with a woman.”

“Like a dating service?”

“Umm, no,” the man said. “I was wondering if you could hook some of my friends and myself up with some ladies while we are in town this weekend. We have been in business meetings all day and could really use some relaxation.”

“Okay, Mr. Mayron,” at the sound of Ariel saying his name, Henry perked up in the kitchen, looking towards Ariel on his phone. “You clearly have the wrong number because my friend Henry-”

Grabbing the phone from her and cutting her off, Henry put the phone to his ear. “I’m sorry about that Mr. Mayron. Left my phone in another room for a minute. How can I help you.”

Ariel stared at him in confusion as he spoke to whoever was on the other line. Mostly just listening to them.

Finally he spoke. “That should be no problem at all. As soon as you send me my fee, I will have some ladies sent over to your room. Pleasure doing business with you.”

He hung up the phone and looked at Ariel who stared at him in complete shock.

“What the hell was that all about?” she asked him.

“Umm,” he looked down at the cell phone in his hands, trying to think of a way to word this. “I sort of act as a middle man between high-paying business type men and,” he paused for a moment, “escorts.”

Ariel’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re a pimp?”

“Umm, kind of,” he admitted. “But for classy and expensive prostitutes and not ones you would get just on the corner of the street.”

Henry went on for the next hour explaining the works of this little business he had. Through working at the bar, he had met many escorts and also people willing to pay big bucks for evenings with them. He explained to Ariel how he didn’t take money from the escorts, he charged more-or-less a fee for helping connect clients with the right person.

At the time, Ariel was a little shocked to learn this. But as time went on, she got used to it as she saw him taking many calls from men who were on vacation in Vegas. Even one night, while she sat at the bar he was working at, a man in a tailored suit came up to them, asking Henry if he was the man to speak to for particular “services.”

Ariel eventually saw it as what it was for Henry, an extra side job to earn a little more money towards school.

Their professor came in, beginning the class. Quickly, while his back was turned towards the board, Ariel leaned over and whispered, “Thank you, Henry, but no.”

It was two thirty in the morning by the time Ariel was finally walking up the stairs to her crappy apartment. Another late night at Pete’s and all she wanted to do was sleep, but she had a paper due in six hours, which meant she was pulling another all-nighter.

Approaching the door to her apartment, the first thing that Ariel noticed was the letter taped to her door. Pulling it off, she began reading it.

“Effective May 1, rent will be raised to $1000 a month. Please make checks payable to Sunshine Apartment Complex Mng. Thank you.”

A combination of her emotions and exhausted legs gave out on her and Ariel fell to the concrete floor. She couldn’t afford this. There was no way with her loan payment and other bills she could afford another $200 a month towards rent. She already was barely getting by, having almost nothing at the end of her pay checks to buy food for herself.

She crumpled the paper in her hand and she cried on the floor. There was nowhere else she could afford to live that was walking distance from the university, and there was no way she was going back to Arizona. She sobbed and sobbed as the future she was working so hard towards was slowly slipping out of her fingers.

Finally calming down a little, she smoothed out the dreaded paper and re-read it. If she wanted to stay in Vegas, she had no other option.

Henry was pulling textbooks out of his locker when Ariel first saw him. Approaching him, Henry looked up and saw her.

“Hey babe,” he said, smiling. “How are you doing?”

“Do you still do,” she paused, biting her lip, “that thing?”

His eyes narrowed in confusion. “Yeah?”

She took a long and deep breath. “I want in.”