The Opening of The Rage

After opening their first club in downtown New York, three best friends decide to expand the franchise across the country to downtown Seattle. The owner, the best DJ in the country and the best bartender in the continental U.S. are stoked to open their new club The Rage. Opening night is approaching and there is still so much to get done. Let's hope this club is just as successful as their first.





It's the day before opening day.

Its late, Ricinieros De Leon is putting yet another late night preparing for the grand opening of his new club "The Rage". He looks around at the just finished decor and smiles as he admires his hard work. The lights, shining red and purple, along with the white lights from the exquisite bar nestled in the far right corner of the bar, reveal black painted walls, to suit the Industrial feel of the club. as he walk with the glassware across the cold concrete dance floor, he looks up into the very swanky V.I.P area. The deep purple and red velvet chairs and booths, looming over the common area. He sets the box on one of the booth tables, admiring the black leather that hides the cushioning on what he feels are very comfortable seats. He takes a look at the DJ booth and watches at the lights dance over what he knows will be the heartbeat of the club. Sighing, he takes a seat at the soon to be busy bar and wait patiently for the rest of the crew to appear.

Mona walked down the block to the new club, she had no doubt Nero was already there. She smiled at the thought of how hard they all worked to make this new club happen. Wearing her usual jeans, white tank and her leather jacket she reached for the keys to the club just in case Nero wasn't there. She turned the knob and it was open, just as she thought. She held the door open with her hip while she carried in the giant cooler of a new batch of her own beer. She saw Nero sitting down at a booth, "Hey big guy! Ya gonna help me with this or are you gonna make me throw my back out before the big night?" she smiled at him.

"Is Eve coming soon or is she already here?" she asked him.

Eve checked herself in the mirror of her 86 all black volkswagen cabriolet one final time and ran her hand over her face. "You can do this Evie, just get lost in it." She stepped out of her car and took a deep breath, then sashayed into the club, her mini purple tutu and her gogo boots with her signature headphones around her neck. She smiled as she she stretched her arms above her head, letting her tattoos stretch along her toned muscles. "Need some help there Mona?" She then nods over at Nero and smiles "Ready for tonight?"

Nero looks at Mona "You brought your own stuff now? We still have to unpack the spirits and get those up! the glasses need to go up too!" he says half-jokingly as he grabs the cooler from her. Turning he sees Eve walk in "EVE! perfect! we are a little behind, so if you could run your sound check early, and help us a little after, you would be a lifesaver!" he calls from down behind the bar. The time crunch was making Nero a bit manic, but mostly because he was excited to take the next step in his career...which was happening in less than 24 hours.

Mona raised her eyebrows in mock disbelief, "You really didn't expect me to bring my own before for opening night Nero? You're starting to slip, boss." she laughed at him

"You know the glasses will be a cinch for me, as for the rest of my bottles, we can always work all night to get them out." she joked knowing she could get all the stuff out in about two hours and have time to run home and grab the cooler of whiskey she made as well and put that in her own bottles.

She nods at Mona "Gotcha!" Then smiles at nero as she passes him on the way to the dj booth "You're the boss!" Then leans down into her work. She plugs in all of the brand new Bose stereos she brought in a week ago and runs her hand over them, smiling brightly "You, my dears, will be brought into the world not as mediocre boom boxes...no...but as beautiful surround sound tonight." She whispers to them. She then walks back to her booth after plugging each one in and leans into her mic "Test...test..." Awesome... Everything worked like a dream. She looks around twice and leans into the mic again "...Guys do you know if I came in with my laptop?" She frowns as she searches around her booth "Fuck...okay I'll be back soon." She jumps off of her booth and hurries outside, yanking open her car door and jumping in.

Nero watches the whirlwind that is Eve do exactly as he asks her and run out. "hmmm, seems like I'm not the only one who is stressed out about opening night" he laughs as he unpacks bottles and puts them up. he looks at Mona "you know...I never see you stressed out...and you're the youngest! I've known you for about 3 years now and never once have i seen you out of sorts...i must ask why and tell you that i am impressed with your levelheadedness." he says as he leans back against the bar.

She grabs a couple beer glasses out of the box and turns to set them down, she laughs " You've always known that I act older than I really am. I find if I get stressed out, I never get my stuff done. I'm so 'with the flow' is ridiculous, you know this. I work my best under stressful situations. Remember that one night back in New York we were so packed riot police were called? I was frazzled at all, I just laughed. Helped you laugh about it later too Nero" she smiled. She looked at her business partner and more importantly her closest friend and asked, "I can't believe we made it here, can you?" She smiled while looking at her new bar.

Grabbing two glasses and two beers he smiles and responds "I guess I can...all the hard work..early mornings, meetings....Riot police (stops and chuckles) It all paid off...and now we are here...conquering the west coast (begins to pour beers) I had to be frazzled for the police incident! they were threatening to close us down!" he laughs as he hands Mona a glass "I'm glad you decided to come with...It wouldn't have been the same without you" he says as he raises the glass and takes a swig

Eve hummed to herself as she dug deep into her car then finally found her laptop, thankful that no one had broken into her baby to steal it. She hopped back out of her car and locked the doors then flounces back in, giving a slight nod to her co-workers, then plugs her laptop in, "See you guys on the flip side." She mutters in her friends' direction. She plugs in her headphones, closes her eyes, then starts spinning the new beats she had mixed the previous night. She nods her head to the rough bassline with the brassy guitar. This was her element, right here within the soundwaves. She shifted her weight from side to side as she went along with the beat subcionciously and hummed right along with it. Everything was in order. She finally unplugged her headphones and plugged in the Bose adapter for her laptop and the room filled with the loud industrial sound that rose from her computer. She grinned brightly and slowly began to mix and swivel the instruments together, eyes still closed. That would be her place for the night, right in the zone.

Mona took a drink of her beer, smiling at Nero. "You know very well they wouldn't have shut us down, we bring in people from all over the country." She sighed "Wow, the west coast." She still couldn't believe a small town girl made it big in New York and now making it big here on the west coast. "I am still in awe of all this." she looked down at the beer, "How is it? Do you like it? I added a little bit more hopps than usual in this batch. I made is specifically for tonight."

Finishing the beer, he sets the glass down "that may be true...but when you see cops...as an owner...you expect the worst. As for the beer, wonderful as always...although i am surprised you didn't bring any of your whiskey...its a popular mixer usually. He says "As far as you not believing it, you should...you are bright, funny, cute and a bit of a flirt...and that's perfect for what you do" he says with a wink. He walks over to Eve at the booth, carefully lifting a headphone, he says to her "You never cease to impress me Eve...everything sounds amazing!"

Dazed by one of the rare personal compliments, Mona just stared at Nero's back and muttered "Thanks." She finished her beer and then shouted towards Eve, "Well turn it up so I can hear woman!" she smiled and began to grab the boxes of liquor bottles, she took off her leather jacket before picking up the box and looked over her shoulder at the booth where Nero was standing and shouted, "After I get this unpacked, I'm running back home to grab the two coolers of whiskey I made for tomorrow night!" She laughed as she began unpacking and swaying to the beat Eve had playing.

"Thanks man, milady." In her usual relaxed tones as she nods at Mona when she says milady. She smothes over her tight tube top and blinks her eyes hard "Shit guys i'm really nervous about this tomorrow." she bites her lip ''What if I fuck up and spin the wrong track?! What if it somehow doesn't work?!" She quadruple checked the speakers and her computer every single day for the past couple of weeks. It was the perfect time for it and they all knew it.

Nero reassuringly pats Eve on the back "you are a wizard when i comes to this...everything is gonna go fine" he says in her ear again. He walks back and takes the bottles from Mona. "Go get the stuff, I'll deal with this and get the cooks to start prepping for the when we open later" he says as the excitement grows in him.

"Evie, darling, babydoll. You are amazing at what you do. You slay 'em in New York, so you're definitely gonna murder them here." she smiles reassuringly at her best girl friend. "I think we're all a bit nervous about tomorrow night. Come over here and I'll mix up the Eve Elixir for you." She had already grabbed the glass and the bottle of X-Rated before Eve could even answer.

"I'll go right after I make this for her." With her usual grace and skill, she flipped and turned bottles in a showy way just for fun while making Eve's own drink for her. She slid the glass toward the end of the bar for Eve to pick up. She grabbed her leather jacket and keys to her car, "I'll be back in 15, thanks" and gave Nero a quick tight hug then headed for the door waving. "Don't break anything behind that bar Nero or it's your ass when I get back!" she laughed as the door shut behind her

Eve took a big swig of her drink and swayed her head to the side "Woah...thank...you...Mona...See you in a few." She turned to Nero and smiled "Okay, bossman, what else do you need done?" She was on a rush part alcohol rushing through her system, part adrenaline, and she needed to release it A.S.A.P. She loved how reassuring her friends were, and how they made her calm down during a mini-eve freak out. She didn't know what she would do without them.

Nero shakes his head and laughs at his friends disregard to his authority. He turns to Eve "just take it easy and save some energy for opening!" he shouts as he begins to put the glasses and bottles away, finishing pretty quickly, and gets the kitchen set. Having a rare moment off free time...he sits in a booth and just takes in the whole ambiance of the club. it already felt like home to him...but he knew it would feel even more so once it was filled with people.

Mona was gone only ten minutes when she pulled her car up next to Eve's car. She grabbed the one cooler and walked into the club. She saw Nero in a booth relaxing and Eve lost in her music with her headphone's on. She was struggling with the one cooler when she looked to Nero, "Hey, can you grab the other one from my car? I'll be out there to grab the box of empty bottles to put this in after I get this by the bar." She noticed the empty glass of Eve's drink and looked at her, smiling. She watched Eve dance and envied her, she was glad Eve had taught her to dance years and years ago back in middle school. Mona couldn't wait for tomorrow night, she had so much in store for tomorrow and was buzzing with excitement.

Eve pressed her headphones against her ears and stood up, slowly moving her hips to the rough dubstep beat that blared into her ears. All kinds of music were her life and addiction. She gyrated her hips in an easy lethargic motion that always hypnotized the guys at different clubs. She grinned brightly, eagerly awaiting the chance to try it out on the patrons. Hot dancing girls equals buying them drinks, which equals money. She giggled. She knew perfectly well what she'd do and how she would do it.

Rick poked his head the club feeling nervous. This was the second time rick had entered the club and had only meet Nero and Mona. The Dj with the sparkling purple and silver head phones blasting her beats was unfamiliar to him. He examined the interior and the VIP area and pondered whether boss would have him conroling the VIP area or the door like his last job. "hey boss, hey Mona. am i too late to help?"

Mona set the cooler down on the bar and turned to look at Rick, "Hey! Just in time big guy, can you grab the other whiskey cooler out of my car? Nero feels the need to just sit on his bum" she teased her boss. "I'll be right behind you to grab the box."

She pulled out four shot glasses, her own made glasses that she did as soon as she found out they were expanding. She poured four shots of the honey whiskey she distilled the other night. She knew that her honey whiskey blew Seagramm's Dark Honey whiskey out of the water. In fact Seagramm's actually wanted to by the recipe but she said no. She wanted exclusively for her and her friends only. It was Nero's favorite and also hers, next to beer she smiled to herself. She stepped out from behind the bar to go to her car, "There's some shots of my honey whiskey on the counter for you guys, go ahead and take 'em. I know you'll love them!" she smiled and headed to hold the door open for Rick to grab the cooler.

"ah Rick!" Nero says as he reaches for a shot glass "Just in time, you and I will be watching over the two floors, also helping out serve food when the orders go out to help the other staff....speaking of which, I haven't seen them...and i would hate for them to be late...." the last part with a clear sharp edge to it as he downs the shot and smiles at the sweet burn of good whiskey.

Lyssa walked in the club. She saw everyone doing their part to get everything ready for tomorrow night. She was wearing capri's and a v-neck pick tee with sandals. Compared to Mona she was the girliest of them all. She noticed the DJ wearing a skirt but noticed how she made it work for her rather than make it work as "girly." Sheepishly, she smiled, "Hey, I hope I'm not late to help set up for tomorrow. I still need the run down as to what I'm assigned to for the big night." She smiled at Mona, her interviewer, and saw that she just smiled and shook her head and whispered in Nero's ear as he finished his shot.