“Alexis, you okay?” she heard Shamel ask.
She didn't answer. She took another look at the girl.
She looks just like her, I'm going to have to get closer to the stage and see if my eyes are fooling me.
Alexis started to take a step away from Shamel. He stopped her by taking hold of her arm. “What's up? I'm trying to order you a drink and you're not paying me any mind. Again, are you okay?”
“I don't know.”
“What do you mean you don't know?”
“I just see someone that's looks familiar.”
“Really? Where?” Shamel glanced around the club to see who she could possibly know.
“The girl on stage.” In her heart of hearts Alexis knew it was Shay but wanted to be in denial. She took in with her eyes what Shay was wearing and that's barely anything. All she had on was a white sheer G-string and a stringy looking bra that barely covered her nipples. She also had on tons of makeup to obviously make herself look older. Alexis watched as she moved her hips in a circular motion that suggested and hinted at a good time, maybe even the best time of a man's life.
“Who? Diamond?”
Alexis looked at him, “Is that what she calls herself?”
“Yeah, why? She's one of our best dancers,” he told her.
“I also think she's one of my students.”
Shamel put down the drink he was holding and told the bartender, “Pour it out, I'll be back.”
He took Alexis' hand. “Let's go in the back.”
Alexis looked at the stage once again before following Shamel into the back where his office was located.
Once inside he closed the door. “Have a seat.”
Alexis looked around and saw that he had four midsized screens on the wall. Showing on the screens was the stage; the front door and what looked like two rooms inside the club. “You always know what's going on, huh?”
“Sweetie, you have to in this line of business. You never know when someone is going to try to get out of hand. I don't want any trouble and I don't take any bullshit.” He pulled open his desk drawer and pressed a button, the screen with the view of the stage got closer.
“Is that your girl?” Shamel asked.
Alexis looked at the screen and saw that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, it was Shay. “Yes, yes, it is.”
Shamel shook his head. “Damn.” He picked up his phone and told someone to have Diamond come into his office when she left the stage. “I didn't know she was underage,” he told Alexis.
Alexis looked at the screen again and seeing Shay up there naked and gyrating, she could see why Shamel would have no idea she was underage. The way these teenagers looked today was a damn shame. Sometimes there was no way to tell their age unless you asked for identification.
“Have a seat,” Shamel told her as he sat behind his desk.
Alexis sat in the chair across from him. She felt like she was being interviewed with the way he was looking at her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you are a beautiful woman.”
Just like any other female, Alexis appreciated the comment. “Thank you.”
Relaxing back in his seat, Shamel asked her, “So, tell me, how come a lady like you doesn't have a man?”
What was she supposed to say? Should she tell him the last one she had ended up being married, a pimp, and dishonest. “I just recently got out of a relationship.”
“What happened?”
Before Alexis could respond there was a knock on the door.
Alexis could feel her heart racing; she figured it was going to be Shay.
“Come in,” Shamel said as he looked toward the door.
Alexis didn't turn around and face the door. As much as she wanted to, she figured her face shouldn't be the first one Shay saw.
The door opened and in walked Shay wearing a robe. “You wanted to see me?” Shay glanced at the back of the woman's head that was facing Shamel.
“Yes, as a matter of fact I did.”
Shay was standing between the door and Alexis. “Yes?”
Not one to beat around the bush, Shamel asked her, “How old are you?”
“Huh?” That was the last thing Shay expected to be asked.
“I asked how old are you?”
“I'm twenty,” Shay replied with a straight face.
On that note Alexis turned around.
The look on Shay's face when she saw who was sitting in the chair could only be described as shocked, embarrassed, and busted. “Ms. . . . Ms. . . .” Shay couldn't even get it out.
Alexis stood up and with disappointment in her voice. “Shay, what are you doing?” Shay tried to get her emotions together. Alexis asked again, “What are you doing?”
Shamel wasn't saying a word. He was just sitting back letting the scene play out.
Shay looked from Shamel to Alexis. What was there to say, she knew she was busted. She knew she could not lie about her age with her school counselor sitting right there, but what she felt she could do was act indignant.
“It's none of your business what I'm doing here. What I do outside of school is my personal business. You don't run my life. I do what I have to do.”
Alexis knew Shay was acting ignorant because there was nothing else she could do, so she let her have her moment. Shamel was just the opposite, he wasn't hearing it.
“Well, it is my business,” he told Shay/Diamond, “and you've jeopardized it by being here. What I think you need to do is leave, bounce, get your shit, and go.”
“Please Shamel. You know I need this job.” If Alexis wasn't sitting there, Shay would have been willing to give him her body for exchange. Yes, she could go be a stripper somewhere else, but she would not be treated the same. Here at Dreams the girls were treated with respect by the clientele, if not, they were thrown out.
“You know damn well, I don't play that underage shit in my club. As a matter of fact, if any of the other girls are underage, you need to let them know, I will find out over the next couple of days. I am not trying to have the cops run all up in my shit.”
Shay looked at Alexis with so much hatred that it threw Alexis off. She couldn't understand where that look was coming from. All she'd done in the past was try to help her, to be there for her, to offer advice from time to time. When she did, it appeared that it was appreciated. Alexis wondered again what was going on in Shay's life, if there was something in the family that was disrupting everything. Even though the look made her pause, what the look didn't do was stop her from standing up and walking toward Shay.
“What's going on Shay? Why do you need this job so bad?”
Alexis noticed that Shay was tearing up. This was a sure sign that something was definitely not right in Shay's life. Shay wasn't one of those students that showed emotion. If anything she was one of the girls that walked around with attitude all on her face, one of the girls who appeared to be frowning even when they weren't.
“I ain't telling you my business,” Shay told her but didn't move. After all, she felt that Alexis should know what's up. They'd had enough counseling sessions in the past.
Shamel was looking at both of them. He decided he should leave them alone but not before giving Shay a look that Alexis caught.
What was that look about?
He stood up. “You know what? I'll be right back.”
They watched him leave the room. Once he closed the door behind him. Alexis turned toward Shay and asked her, “So, do you want to tell me what's going on? Why you need to work in a place like this?”
“Again, it's not any of your business.” Shay turned her back toward Alexis but again didn't leave the room.
“Obviously you need someone to talk to or you would have left the room by now.”
Shay said nothing.
“Listen,” Alexis stepped in front of her so that they were face to face. “We can talk now or we can talk later.”
Shay brushed past her and walked out.
Alexis turned and sat back down. She looked at one of the screens and noticed Shamel talking to Shay who appeared to be pleading.
Why would she plead to be a stripper?
Alexis wondered. She knew she wasn't going to be able to let this go and that was because she knew that Shay had potential. If a student stayed in school nowadays it was because they wanted to at least try, even if it was halfheartedly. At least that's what Alexis wanted to believe.
When Shamel returned, Alexis asked him, “What did she say?”
“It's not important. What's important is that she's leaving the premises.”
“But I'm worried about her.”
Shamel stood in front of Alexis and pulled her up and into him. She didn't fight it. “This is our night. Let's focus on getting to know one another and then tomorrow when we aren't together you can focus on Diamond, Shay or whatever her name is.”
Feeling the closeness and the heat that was flowing from Shamel, Alexis could only agree. After all, she was out to have a good time and this was her first night in a strip club and she wanted to make the most of it.
“Do you want to get something to eat?”
The last thing that was on Alexis' mind was eating. What she wanted to do was go out and explore the club. “Not really, I want a tour of the club. I want to see what's behind those closed doors I saw when we came to your office.”
What was behind those doors were private parties and private lap dances. “I can show you on the screen, but you have to keep it between you and me,” Shamel told her.
“Of course but let's go out on the floor first. I want to check out the dancers up close.”
“Come on,” he told her and she followed him out the door.
“Where do you want to sit, at a table, the bar or a booth?”
Alexis looked around. Most of the tables and seats surrounding the bar were full, so she chose a booth. They not only looked comfortable, but they also were located on the side of the stage where she could see mostly everything.
Shamel waited for Alexis to sit down and he slid in next to her. “I might leave you here a time or two. There are a couple of things I have to take care of. Is that okay? Would you mind?”
“Not at all,” she told him.
“The dancer that's coming up next, her name is Blue. At least I know she's old enough to work here.”
“After Shay, how can you be so sure?”
“Because she's one of my boys' wife.”
“Get the hell out of here. He doesn't have a problem with his wife being a stripper?”
“When they met she was a stripper. Of course he tried to change her mind but she wasn't hearing it. She loves what she does.”
Alexis looked at the stage and the second Blue walked on the stage, Alexis felt herself get moist.
Oh, hell no, this is not happening.
Alexis could feel her heart racing. This shit had never happened to her before. The little incidents Champagne reminded her of; not that she'd ever forgotten, she just chose to push them so deep and so far away from her mind that it didn't mean anythingâdidn't count. Why the hell was her pussy getting wet over a female? Was it because of what Champagne had told her? Was it because she told herself that she was now a new woman ready to make changes? Well, hell that change didn't include being attracted to women.
Okay, okay, just because she was sitting here getting wet, didn't mean she was ready to sex down a female. It just meant her libido was up. At least that's what she wanted it to mean. Because now she was thinking about something she hadn't thought about in years. As a matter of fact, decades. She tried to put it out of her mind the times she and Champagne used to play around with each other. After all they were in their preteens and early teens. She didn't think it really counted. She did wonder what would have happened had they been caught playing. By that she meant touching each other, lying on top of each other hunching, and fingering each other. It was their secret then and it was their secret now and a secret it would stay.
Alexis watched Blue as she bent over while wearing a thong and noticed that on each of her ass cheeks were butterfly wings. She was entranced as Blue made them clap and made it appear as if the butterflies were flying. She watched as Blue stood up, faced their direction and placed her hands on her breasts. Alexis found herself wanting to reach out and touch. Hell, she wanted to experience a lap dance. However, wanting something and getting it were two different things. She wasn't ready for that.
Alexis turned to face Shamel only to find him watching her intently.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You like Blue?”
“What?”
“You were so intense when you were watching her.”
Damn, Alexis didn't think she was going to be that easy to read. “I think she's sexy.” Those words were not supposed to come out of her mouth.
“Want me to call her over here?”
She wanted to say yes but was afraid to. What would happen if he did call her over? Would everyone look their way?
“You can always go into one of the rooms.”
She really wanted to experience this moment to the fullest, but she just couldn't bring herself to admit it out loud. At least not here while she was supposed to be on a date.
“No, you don't have to do that. As a matter of fact, I'm ready for the tour of the club.”
Shamel stood and helped her up. “Come on, I'll show you around.”
Before they got far, Alexis heard someone say her name. She and Shamel turned around. It was Finn.
“Finn, hi.” Alexis gave him a hug.