Authors: Alice Dee
“Why?”
Hope put her fork down and shot him a look like she wanted to say something but nothing came out.
“I’m just asking, what’s the big deal? Is it personal?”
“Yes, my past is personal.”
“I just want to know you. You can ask me anything.” He shoveled more food in his mouth and raised his brows at her. He motioned with his hand for her to go on.
In a trance for a moment, she blinked out of it and picked up her fork again.
“I got married.”
“Whaaaat?” his eyes shot open.
Hope closed her eyes.
“Shut up, ok? It’s embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing why? Was he like, eighty? Was he eighty and rich? Ha ha, big balla?”
Hope put a hand over her mouth, concealing a smile.
“No! He wasn’t eighty. He was a little older…”
“Like… a hundred?”
“No! Older than me, like thirty-fivish…”
“Ewww,” he frowned. Thirty-five and seventeen?”
“I was eighteen.”
“Still, ewww.”
Hope scooped up food with her fork and slid it in her mouth.
“How long were you married?”
“Too long. I know you’re going to ask what went wrong.”
He shrugged and then nodded.
“I couldn’t stomach him anymore. I hated my life with him so I came here to start over.”
“So you’re not from here?”
“I’m from Arizona. I came here after I left him.”
When?”
She pressed her lips together.
“Two years ago. I worked at Wal Mart my first year here. I had a roommate. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t work there anymore, I couldn’t live where I had been… so I started dancing. Just you know, the casino things, serving drinks and mediocre entertainment amongst the gambling.”
“And now you’re…”
“I’m still a dancer, I’m still me. Work is changing, it’s evolving. But that’s a good thing, right?”
Shane wanly smiled.
“You tell me.”
“I know what I’m doing. If it goes too far I can always stop.” She fiddled with her fork a moment. “Now you tell me something personal.”
Shane squinted, the green and orange light hitting one side of his face.
“I have a kid.”
Hope raised her brows.
“I have a little girl.”
“Really? Where is she?”
“With her mom in Canada.” His eyes were on his plate. He wasn’t smiling anymore, just seriousness.
“How old is she?”
“Five. I see her every few months. Yeah you know, her mom’s cray-zee in the head, know what I’m sayin? I had to get away from her but my daughter…It’s a fucked up situation but she knows I love her, she knows who daddy is.”
Hope smiled. He seemed like he’d be a good dad.
“What’re you doing here? You’re not all the way out here to get away from an ex, right?”
“Nah, I came with friends once. I don’t know what it is but I just like it. The desert, it’s calming to me. I’m not here legally so with this job,” he winked. “I be gettin paid under the table, tax free and what not. I can work anywhere I want; I can’t complain. I might be going to Montana in the fall, do some job.”
Hope stared at his lips. She could reach over the table and kiss him.
“My mum cried,” he laughed. “I don’t know if it’s cause I moved or cause I moved here.” He shook his head. “Man, if she could see the gem I found among all the rocks, she’d love you.”
Hope smiled big.
“Stop it.”
“Stop what, being honest?”
“You going to be in construction much longer?”
“Hell naw… I want to produce music. I mean I do, but can’t quite make a living off it.” He shrugged. “I’m planning on being foreman within the next two years.”
She leaned in and crossed her arms on the able, smiling in his face.
As the evening wore on, they left the restaurant and he took her to some weird carnival they saw on the side of the road. The night sky was black or purple with stars like sea salt. All of the rides were illuminated by red lights and concession stands were lit up in ultraviolet. There were a lot of teenagers there so Shane and Hope felt a little out of place.
“This is like some alien shit,” he said, cautiously looking around the dark blue grounds. A lot of these kids had their faces painted like death. Hope and Shane passed some kids openly smoking weed. One of their faces was painted like a skeleton’s and he had a green curly wig on his head.
“Let’s blaze,” Shane suggested, looking at everyone like they were weird.
“Here?”
“Yeah, everyone else is.”
They walked off to a desolate area and smoked from Hope’s small piece. When they were through they walked around and talked, flirted and caught each other’s stares. He convinced her to get half her face painted up like a skull but had to have his entire face painted. They sat at a booth and had their faces done up. As they strolled the carnival grounds under the moonlight, he walked up behind her and wrapped himself around her. She walked up to the rail that surrounded one of the rides. He walked into her and had her thighs pushed up against it. She thought she could feel his heart beating through her back but wasn’t sure if she was just high. When you’re as high as this, everything seems enhanced.
He put his lips on her neck and firmly sucked on her skin, and then backed off of her right as she began to melt.
“I’ma get us some ice cream.” Shane walked off a few feet, came back minutes later with a triangular waffle cone, two fat scoops of ice cream glopped together.
“The top one’s mine, okay?” He went in for a lick but right before his tongue even touched it, the top scoop smacked the dirt at his feet.
Hope laughed and took the cone from him.
“Sucks for you.” She licked her scoop; baby blue bubble gum flavor.
“You suck.”
She moved up close and held it up to him. Through his skull face makeup she could see his familiarity in his eyes. At the same time they tilted their heads and licked opposite sides of the ice cream, Hope giggling, recalling his ice cream falling on the floor.
He played some game and won her a stuffed alien with dark glasses on. She laughed crazy hard and they aimlessly wandered the grounds, lost in their own starry night. At the end of their weird evening, he drove her home and walked her to her door, kissing her on her door step. He said goodnight and saw her inside. Though his face was all darkened with makeup, she could still make out those eyes. Hope closed the door behind her and smiled to herself. She texted him right away and stayed in that spot with her back against her door.
When Shane got to the gate his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and read her text.
“already miss u”
He smiled and went to his car. Once inside, he texted her back.
“When can I see you again?”
She stared at the glow in her hands and smiled at his response.
“Pick me up from work tomorrow. I’m off at 10:00”
“What you wanna do?”
“Show you how much i miss u.”
Shane smiled and put his phone back in his pocket.
48... Morning Glory
Morning Glory was a strip club just outside of Vegas. Tristan quit her job at the dealership and auditioned at a few places. Morning Glory wasn’t her first choice, but it was top 3 at least. The place had an oriental feel; black carpeted with sheer curtains of red and orange, indigo, and purple. To Tristan, it was a real elegant place.
She hit it off with some of the girls right away, making friends and connections. She didn’t tell her family or Dominic what she was doing. If he knew, he might split for good. The battered relationship had been left for dead and this would only snip off its last thread of hope. Ugh, how she hated Hope.
Some night during week two Tristan was making her rounds, looking for a prospect when some man stood up and hit her up for time in the VIP, with her. Tristan scanned him over. He was a big guy, not with blubber stomachs but tall and heavy set, egg shaped with a beard. He wasn’t alone. There were two others, tall like him but thin with baseball hats.
They negotiated, she went to change. She walked through the dark hall and went into a room that was glowing. Every few seconds a new color would bleed into the light. The room darkened to a deep purple so that her too small bikini glowed white like teeth. The men all sat back with drinks and as she climbed into a giant martini glass and popped opened a bottle of champagne. She asked what their names were. The man who approached her was Pablo; his friends were Joe and “Netto”. She motioned for one of the guys to come up with his glass, and poured the champagne over herself, soaking her bikini and turning it transparent. Pablo started talking as if she wasn’t there.
She didn’t care. She was making three bills in thirty minutes. While she concentrated on the music, and got out of the glass and slithered up close to guy number one, all of their words slipping into her ears. They were talking about some “foo” in easily decipherable code talk. They went on to say so and so’s cousin was ruthless for “bombing” on some girl’s face. Tristan stopped moving her body and looked in the guy’s face.
“what up?” he asked.
“This is outta line but I couldn’t help hearing that.”
One of the guys laughed.
“You’re meant to be seen not heard, so are we.”
She ignored him.
“How much would something like that cost?”
Pablo looked at his buddies. Tristan didn’t like his smirk. She turned around so her back was facing him, sliding one string out of its knot. Her bikini top loosened and was barely held up on her nipples.
“How much would that cost again?” She pressed her shoulder to his chest and turned her head so their faces were up close.
“Depends,” he muttered.
Tristan moved her body to the music, smiling at one of the others as she slowly peeled off her top.
“I’m listening,” she said.
“For you, not much.”
“Yeah,” said one of his buddies. “I’ll take a real happy ending.”
They were coated with deep green color. Tristan rolled her eyes, still smiling.
“Come on, I’m serious.” She looked at all their faces, trying to figure who was in the lead. She saw it quick in Pablo. She stood on her feet and slid down her bottom. They all stared at the same spot for a few seconds and then their eyes were everywhere.
“What you got, like a jealous ex or something?”
Tristan straddled him.
“Oh you know, just some ho messing with my man.” Tristan shrugged it off.
“Wait up what? Nah, get outta here with that.”
Tristan took his hands and softly ran them down her breasts. She was smiling, staring in his eyes.
“No females…”
“But you said that kid-“
“Nah, that’s not even right. A female?”
“Just go beat her ass,” another suggested.
“I could,” Tristan shrugged. “But I want it to be worse than anything I can do.”
“What’s worse?” he asked, Tristan’s ass in his face.
The room turned deep orange and then bled red.
“Just slap her around. Rough her up. It has to be by a man. I don’t want her dead or nothing.” She winked at Netto across the room and blew him a kiss. “You’re next baby.”
“Oh yeah?” he said. “You plan on convincing me?”
Tristan bit her lip and ran her hands up and down her body. Convince them, she would.
49... Looks like finally
Shane parked the car and went into The Lucky star, passed through the casino and went up to Club F01. Something was going on tonight, like a stand up show or something, so the dancers served drinks on their short work night shift. The music was loud. Shane glanced at his watch and scanned the half lit areas of the club. Near a man-made water fall Hope was dancing with some guy, really getting into the rhythm. She was wearing some skimpy getup, a torso bearing blouse that pushed up her breasts, and a skirt so snug it looked like it was painted on her.
Shane slid into a bar stool and watched Hope. The guy she was with was a young, douche lookin’ type. He had his hand on her lower back and started rubbing it in a circular motion. They weren’t dancing anymore so what the hell? Shane figured it was just part of her job but if the dude pushed it too far…
Hope gave the guy a peck on the cheek and politely excused herself. She knew he would try to stop her. He grabbed her hand.
“Wait, wait, wait, where you going?”
“My shift is over.”
“Aww,” he pleaded, “come on…”
Hope was super put off by his shininess. His face shone, his hair, the golden chain around his neck. His shirt was unbuttoned at the chest. It was as if he was going for the half-guido, half-prep, mama’s boy look. He wasn’t cute, he was bland and his presence was creepy and annoying. She felt warm arms slip around her waist and quickly turned her head. When she saw that it was Shane, she was warmed up all over and whispered to him “closer”.
“Is it okay if I do this?” he asked, running his hand to the front of her stomach.
Probably not but she didn’t care. Her shift was over.
“Mmm,” she said, biting her bottom lip.
“Oookay,” the douche bag said, sipping his drink and rolling his eyes. He turned and walked away all ego bruised.
She tilted back her head as Shane rested his prickly chin on her shoulder. He smelled her skin and then ran his nose delicately up to her ear.
“You look hot as fuck,” he whispered.
She hung onto his arm that he had heavily draped around her neck. She closed her eyes and started moving to the music playing all over the club. He liked how she gently pressed herself against him. They danced for a bit till he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said, putting his hands on her hips to stop her from moving.
She headed for the dressing room, sipping a cocktail on her way. She stayed in her slutty getup, gathered her belongings from her locker and jogged downstairs, stopping a few feet away from Shane. His jeans were baggy, his shirts were oversized, he was standing by the bar texting on his phone. She was going crazy inside, wondering why she hadn’t slept with him a long time ago. She walked to him and put her mouth on his, surprising him. He was all into it, sliding his phone into his pocket without completing his text.