Strip Teaser (Naked Night's) (12 page)

Sally

I put the phone down and check the calendar.  Have I missed the fact today is Friday 13
th
by any chance? Nope, it’s not.  Yet after that second phone call I’d be forgiven for thinking it is.

Fred called. He didn’t want me to have to wait for the news until I got back to the office. He’s very sorry, but once this tour is over, my role at the paper has been made redundant.

He’d come out with the usual platitudes, he’d enjoyed working with me, he’s sorry, he’s sure I’ll land on my feet.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry right now.  Can anything else go wrong?  I really hope not.  I check the time on the phone and realize it’s time to head down to reception. I’ve agreed to meet Alex and Tiny for lunch.

As I’m making sure my hotel room door is locked I hear the click as another door further down the hallway opens.  It’s Alex’s door. I’m about to say hello when I see a scantily clad female leaving his room.  I can’t hear the conversation between them, but she’s touching Alex’s arm possessively.  He reaches over and gives her a kiss on the cheek before she turns and struts her way back to the elevators. 

What. The. Fuck. It can’t be. Alex isn’t like the rest of the guys. For fuck’s sake he’s gay.  So why did I just see him kissing some skank goodbye.

When I said today couldn’t get any worse.  I was wrong.

Sally

I can’t go downstairs. I can’t face anyone right now. I slot the card in the door and wait for the green light that shows I can open the door.  It doesn’t work.  I try again but I can’t get the card to work.  I’m starting to shake from the tears I’m holding in. 

I’m trying the card again when I feel a hand reach from behind and take the card from me.

“You’ve got it the wrong way round.” He takes the card, inserts it the other way and the light goes green.

I can’t face him right now. The tears are too close to the surface, burning the back of my eyes.

“Aren’t you supposed to be coming downstairs for lunch?” he questions.

“Not feeling well.” I mumble, rushing into my room.  Shit. He’s followed me in.

“Anything I can do?” He offers.  

“Just leave me alone please. I’ve had a shitty day, some bad news and I just need to be alone.” I crawl onto the bed, hugging the pillow to my chest, trying to hide behind it.

He won’t let it go though.  I feel the bed sag as he takes a seat at the side of me.  He draws me into his arms, and it’s almost my undoing.

“Let it out babe, I’m here for you.” He offers.  If only he was.  If only he knew. 

I can’t stop myself though. I let the tears free.  Alex holds me close, which only makes me cry harder.

I cry for my friend. I cry for my job. But, most of all, I cry for Alex.

Sally

This is the second time I’ve found myself tucked into Alex’s arms crying my heart out.  This isn’t me. I’m normally so strong. I don’t let things get to me.

I try to tell myself it’s just the shock of everything happening all at once, on top of each other.

My sobs slow down but I don’t try and move away. Just for a moment I want to stay here, safe in his embrace. To pretend that this is something more.  It’s childish. It’s selfish.  Right now I don’t care. I need it.

“What happened?” his voice is quiet, gentle.

“Too much. Everything.”

“Come on, share it. It will make you feel better, honest.” He offers.

So I do. I tell him about the phone call with Ashley, about losing my job. But, I don’t tell him how my heart is breaking over him.

Alex looks really concerned when he hears about Gary.  I try to tell him it’s nothing but he doesn’t believe me.

“Promise me you won’t go anywhere on your own?” he asks, anxiety in his voice.

“Don’t be silly Alex. Gary’s not a threat. He’s bloody miles away for a start.” 

Alex puts his hand on my face, forcing me to look at him.

“I’m not messing around Sally. Promise me you won’t go anywhere without one of us with you.”

“Okay. Okay, if it makes you happy.” I mutter. He needn’t think I’ll be going anywhere with him, that’s for sure. It’s taking every bit of strength I have just to sit on this bed with him right now.

“We’ll work something out about your job.  There’s got to be loads of papers or magazines that would love to have you on their staff.” He sounds so positive when he says it.  I’m not so sure. Everywhere is cutting back in this economy. There are reporters out there with a lot more experience than I have that are still out of work.

“Look, come down to lunch. The guys will cheer you up. And we’ll work out something. You’re one of us now, we always take care of our own.”  He passes me a tissue. I blow my nose. There’s nothing feminine or lady like about it. It sounds more like a bloody elephant. 

I look up at the mirror, seeing the mess left behind by my ugly crying session. Ugh. That’s going to take some fixing.

Alex doesn’t want to leave me alone to even fix my face. He’s adamant I’m not even allowed to walk down one flight of stairs on my own.  This is bloody ridiculous and I tell him so.

He just gives me that stubborn look of his and ushers me in the direction of the bathroom to sort myself out.

I give in this time, but only because I look as bad as I do. He needn’t think I’m listening to him once we’re out of this room. He’s lost any chance of that after having that girl in his room, that’s for sure.

Sally

Lunch is a pretty heated affair. Alex tells the guys I’ve lost my job when I get home.  Eric offers to pull the advertising but
as I point out, that would just mean I’d end up going home earlier.

I almost choke on my coffee when Alex tells me he has a spare room I can have if I end up unable to pay my rent. He’s telling me that he’s on the road a lot so it would be pretty much just me on my own most of the time. 

That doesn’t help.  Being in Alex’s house, constant reminders of him, sitting there when he brings one of his boyfriends home. I don’t think so. I offer a polite rejection.

“You can rent Alison’s flat from her when she moves in with me.” Tiny offers.  That option I actually give more credence to.  “I won’t charge you rent till you can afford to pay it.” He’s such a big brother figure.  I don’t want to lose touch with him when this tour is over. 

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I reply.  Actually, I’m not sure I will be, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let Alex know that.

Then the big goof opens his mouth again.  If I were sat any closer I’d kick him under the table.

“There’s something else.” All eyes turn to him, his voice more serious now than before.

“Sally might be in danger from her friend’s ex. He thinks she caused the marriage to break up.  We need to make sure one of us is with her at all times. Keep her safe.” There’s a quick chorus of agreement, followed by a lot of questions.

I end up having to tell them about the whole dating site article. Alex gets a funny expression on his face when I mention the site name, I’m sure he did that when I was talking to Tiny about it before, but I let it pass.

The guys decide for me that I’m not going to be left alone, even to the extent that they’ll escort me to and from my room for meals and so on.

“For god’s sake guys, give it a bloody rest.” I lose my temper.  “I don’t need babying. I’m a grown woman who’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself. I managed it before I met you lot and I’ll manage it when this tour is over. Just back off.” I stand quickly, knocking my chair back to the floor as I do. 

A couple of the other diners look over in concern. I ignore them. Instead I stalk out of the dining room and head back to the elevator.

I can hear Alex try to follow me, and then Tiny’s murmur telling him to leave me be.  Thank fuck for that.

When I get into my room I lose it. My temper that is. I pick up anything that’s not breakable and throw it.   Surprisingly that really does make me feel better.

The room looks like a hurricane blew through it when I hear a tapping at the door.

“Fuck off!” I shout.  I don’t want to see any of them right now.  They can take their he-man behavior and piss off as far as I am concerned.

“Sally, come on, let me in.” I hear Tiny’s voice on the other side of the door.  He sounds disappointed.  Reluctantly I open the door to him, I leave it ajar and return to the room, my back to him.

I cringe when I see the state of the room. 

“What’s going on Sally? This isn’t like you?” Tiny asks. “I get that you’re upset over your job, but you seem to be taking it harder than I would have thought. Are you scared of this Gary bloke?”

He hasn’t a clue thank god.  He still thinks this temper tantrum is about a job or a stupid bully, not a broken heart.  How the hell can I have a broken heart when I wasn’t even in a relationship with Alex?

“I just can’t stand this macho bullshit Tiny. You know me well enough by now to know I can’t stand being treated like a bloody child.”

I sit down on the end of the bed, the energy rush from trashing the room now gone.

“It was just one thing too much today, that’s all. Everything got on top of me. I’m sorry.”

The bed dips as Tiny sits down next to me, almost tipping me to the floor, as I have to shift over to accommodate him.  He puts his arm around me and draws me into a hug.  Tiny gives brilliant hugs.  In his arms I feel safe and protected.

“Come on girl, let’s get you out of here. I’ll help you clear this mess up later.” He offers.  That sounds like a good idea right now.

We head off outside to explore yet another town that I’ve forgotten the name of, that looks like every other town we’ve been to with it’s chain of coffee stores and mobile phone shops.  Right now this anonymity is just what I need. It means I don’t have to think. I can just cruise along.

And that’s what I do for the rest of the afternoon. I cruise along, refusing to think about what the future contains, or rather what it doesn’t.  I decide I’ll worry about that another day.

Sally

I feel a little better after my walk with Tiny.  I’ve calmed down some. I feel a little bit more like myself now.

I declined joining the guys for dinner. I just can’t face it before the show tonight.  Instead I order a meal from the bar and take it back to my room.

There’s a notification on my phone when I check it from the guy I’ve been c
hatting with on the dating site –
JamesT89.
That bloody site is responsible for half my problems right now. I almost don’t log on, but sod it. I enjoy chatting with him.

Hey. How was your day?

How do I answer that? Honest?

My day sucked. Let’s not talk about it. Tell me again why I still can’t see your photo?

I know I’m pushing my luck, but I just need to know I’m not talking to some fat, balding businessman.  That would be the last straw today.

I told you, I don’t want people from work to recognize me. It could cause problems.  Tell me what I can do to cheer you up?

Argh. I hate that he can see what I look like, but I don’t know about him.  Still it does mean I didn’t make a snap judgment based on an image. I’m guilty of doing that with some of the people the site has suggested for matches.

Just talk to me about your day, take my mind off mine. It’s nothing I want to share right now.

I need to escape for a little while. I check the clock to make sure I’m still okay for time.

Nothing interesting. Had a sports massage this morning. Had lunch with the guys I work with.

We talk about nothing and everything for the next half hour before we both have to sign off for work. I love that he even seems to have the same odd work pattern as me some days.

The talking about nothing, things that were totally outside of what I’m going through right now was good for me.

I bristle as I hear the knock at the door. One of the guys has arrived to ‘escort’ me to the venue.  It’s
Tiny.  Now there’s a surprise. I do love him but this unofficial bodyguard crap is wearing thin already.

I grab my jacket and notebook and follow him reluctantly to the elevator. I feel like a naughty child being escorted everywhere.

***

This is the part of the show I dislike the most. The one where they choose four audience members to come up on stage and get lap dances from four of the dancers.

Eric goes out on stage to ask for volunteers.  There’s a girl on crutches that he was a bit reluctant to accept, but she was so eager he gave in.  She’s hobbling her way to the stage as he looks around the audience. I don’t see it but from the reaction one girl has flashed her breasts at him. She gets picked.

I hear Eric’s voice over the sound system as he politely thanks another girl who obviously decided to flash her arse to get picked. He advises her that she was a little over eager.

He picks a girl from the other side of the audience then turns to me and winks before announcing that he gets to pick the final candidate.

I’m curious. I can see him scanning the audience and wonder what skanky candidate will be next. I’m startled when the spotlight that’s following his hand stops on a man who seems over eager to come up to the stage.

One of the guys is not going to be pleased that’s for sure!

Eric goes down the row of chairs, asking each audience member to introduce themselves and who they’d like to dance for them.

The girl on crutches is called Helen and she’d love to have Guido dirty dance on her. The next girl, the boob flasher is Kelly.  When asked who she want’s she bluntly replies “I don’t care who as long as he puts his cock in my mouth.” Behind me I hear the guys groaning. This isn’t what they want to hear.  It normally leads to stalking after the show.

Eric turns to the next woman, she’s high pitched and screechy when she tells us she’s another Kelly and she’ll take some of what she’s having please.

This leaves the guy at the end of the row.  I’d expect that a guy pulled from the audience would be reluctant to be on stage, but no, this guy’s the total opposite.

“I’ll take the cock in my mouth and add a cock up my arse as well mate.” My mouth drops open in shock.

“Shit. I’m not doing him.” I hear Guido muttering.  “Alex should be in this fucking routine not me.” He continues. That’s a bit harsh.  He can tell I’m not impressed from the glare that I give him.

“I’m getting too old for this shit.” Rick complains.  The rest murmur their agreement.  I have to laugh. I don’t think one of them is over 25.

The music to
Dirty by Christina Aguilera
comes on.
  The guys walk out onto the stage as the talk intro comes on and move in front of their allocated audience member.

They make a show of pulling shiny silver handcuffs from the back of their police trousers and fasten their fan’s hands behind the back of the chairs.

At least this way they know they won’t get groped.

They dance around the chairs erotically, occasionally coming close and dry humping closer to the chairs.

Every time the song has the word dirty they pretend to wipe the sweat from their faces.

At the rap section they stand with their backs to the chairs, unfastening and fastening their black police shirts. They’ve gone with the US style uniform as it fits much more closely to the skin than the English counterpart.  By the time the chorus is back the shirts are discarded and the guys are strutting up and down around the stage.

The guys do a series of
kicks; hump the stage, and hip swivels before walking backwards and rubbing their arses in the seated faces.  This does nothing for me but the girls and the guy out on that stage love it.

This isn’t a full strip routine; they just strip down to boxer briefs.  It’s a popular end to the first half of the show.

I’ve never seen the guys look so relieved as they do when they come off stage. 

“I feel dirty.” Rick complains, rushing for the dressing room.  I’m not surprised. The girl he was dancing for took every opportunity she could to reach over and put her mouth on him whenever he came close enough.

I hear the blast of the shower from the dressing room.  I don’t go in. I learned my lesson the other week when I walked in just as Alex was dropping his trousers. Holy hotness.

There’s a bellow from the dressing room and we all rush in. There’s a very naked Rick standing there, covering his modesty with his hands. He’s dripping wet. In front of him is the girl from the audience he was dancing for.

Eric shouts outside the door for security as Tiny grabs her arm to take her outside.

“Can’t I even have a fucking shower in peace without these crazy fans following me in there.” Rick pleads.  “I’m sick of them offering to service me.” He moans.

This should be funny, a male stripper standing there naked and dripping wet, complaining about over eager fans but for some reason it isn’t.

I don’t know about the rest of them but previously I’d always felt safe in the backstage area of the theaters.  Out front is different. We expect this to happen out there. But back here is our space, where we’re supposed to be free from the chaos.

Security arrives and leads the girl away.  Eric complaining to them all the while that this shouldn’t have been allowed to happen.

Rick shrugs it off and heads back to his shower. They don’t have a lot of spare time in the interval after all.  The guys start changing, seemingly oblivious to my presence in the room.  I hurry out before I see anything else I don’t need to see.