The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

"I am not going, and that's that!" Jeremie stubbornly said.

"C'mon Jer, it's not going to kill you," Ulrich said, "Odd says he's been there many times, and it's nice."

"And Odd's recommendation makes it okay how?" the genius retorted, "it's still a strip club."

"Einstein, I knew you were prudish, but I never realized how much," Odd said, "all we're gonna do is go in, have a few drinks and watch the show. Besides, Angel is on tonight, and you don't want to miss her show, it's great!"

Jeremie looked at his friend. He knew Odd has a wild streak in him, but never thought he would frequent these kinds of places. Well, not any more. I thought he was in a more stable relationship with Sissi, he thought to himself.

"Odd, would you take Sissi there?" he asked, hoping to set Odd straight.

"Sure, we've been there dozens of times," Odd replied, "as a matter of fact, the manager loves it when we both show up, because by the end of the night, Sissi's up there dancing herself! He's offered her a job like six times already; the only reason she never took him up on it was because we only do it for our own fun, and because we have more important things we have to take care of."

Great. Jeremie turned to his other friend, hoping for a last minute save. "Ulrich, would you take Yumi to a place like that?"

"No, but that's because the opportunity never came up. Jer, Yumi has been known to walk on the wild side a few times. She's done some things that surprise even me. A strip club might not be too big a stretch for her."

"C'mon, Jeremie, you're not wiggling out of this," Odd said, "you need to pull your head out of whatever book you've been reading lately and see what's out there in the world, especially since you're probably not going to get another chance to see it!"

With that, Odd dragged Jeremie and Ulrich into a small place called Bumps and Grinds.

The place was a small, smoke filled bar, with a stage a one end. When they entered, a performer had just finished her routine, one that reduced her down to nothing but an elastic belt around her waist, stuffed with bills. She smiled and waived at Odd as she walked off.

"Hi, Rita! Good night, tonight!" he called to her.

"Real good, Roger!" she gaily replied, "buy me a drink later and I'll tell you 'bout it!"

"Can't, bachelor party coordinator," Odd replied.

They found themselves a booth in the back of the room. Odd ordered a mixed drink while Ulrich and Jeremie settled for beers.

A waitress soon came with their order, and squealed in delight when she saw Odd.

"Roger, what a surprise!" the girl said, "Where's Jessica?"

"At home, pining away for me," Odd replied, then laughed, "no, Angel, we're stag tonight. My friend here is getting married Saturday."

"Well, congratulations," the waitress Angel replied, "tell you what, in honor of the occasion, how 'bout I give you a private performance?"

"No, ma'am, you don't have to go to any trouble," Jeremie stuttered.

Odd piped up, "yeah, that'll be great! Don't worry about it Jer, it's my treat!"

"Odd..."

"Jeremie, I want you to trust me on this," Odd said, suddenly serious, "Angel is a good friend of mine and Sissi's. She's not going to do anything to you that you'll regret Aelita finding out about, I promise."

"Besides, it's already paid for," Ulrich said. Jeremie looked in shock at him. "We all pitched in, Yumi and Sissi too, because we think you would really enjoy it."

"C'mon, blushing groom," Angel said, "the sooner we get started, the sooner you can finish being embarrassed."

The woman took Jeremie by the hand and led him to a hallway near where they were sitting. Some of the customers whooped and whistled as they went by.

The room she showed Jeremie into was a small room, about five by ten. Against one wall was a line of seats, on the other a dance floor. Angel led Jeremie to the seats and had him sit down. She then went back and shut and locked the door.

Then next thing she did surprised Jeremie. She walked over to the seats, sat down and looked at him.

"I've heard you have a little problem," she said without preamble.

"What!"

"Your friends told me that you have a little problem when it comes to women," Angel said.

"I don't have a problem with women," Jeremie replied, starting to get very nervous.

Angel smiled. "Well, maybe not women, but one woman in particular, your fiancé."

"I don't understand..."

"Let's cut the crap, Jeremie. Odd told me about your problems with Aelita, how you won't have sex with her. I've also talked to Ulrich, who was a lot more evasive about the subject, so I suspect you confided in him at some point. Odd didn't tell you this, but I'm more than just a stripper, I'm a psychologist. I work with couples who have problems with their sexuality."

"I don't have a problem with my sexuality, because I haven't had sex," Jeremie said.

"In today's society, that could be construed as a problem," Angel said, "I understand you and Aelita broke for a while a few years back. Why?"

"I'm not sure that's any of your business," Jeremie said flatly.

"Okay, I won't push," the woman replied. After a moment, she said, "Odd means well, but I think he screwed up this time."

"He damn sure did," Jeremie replied, getting up to leave.

"Jeremie, wait," Angel said, "I know he went too far, but it's because he cares for the both of you. If you would, let me say this: sooner or later you're going to have to confront whatever demon it is that's keeping you from being intimate with Aelita. If you don't, your marriage won't last the year, or if it does, you'll both be miserable. Now you look like a good kid, and I don't seeing good kids get hurt by life. The sooner you face whatever it is you've been avoiding, the better off you will be. And if it's something big..."

"What?"

"Then maybe you had better not marry her. It's your choice."

Jeremie walked back out into the bar, to applause, shouts and congratulations. Jeremie walked back over to the table Odd and Ulrich was sitting at. He didn't say a word, he just punched Odd in the face, turned and left.

Odd shook his head, clearing it, then started out after his friend. He caught up with Jeremie just outside of the door.

"Jeremie, Wait! What happened?" he called out.

"Odd, don't talk to me right now," Jeremie said levelly, clearly controlling his anger, "right now, I want to beat the crap out of you worse than anything in the world. I do not need your help with my problems, nor do I need professional help. I'll definitly regret what I did in the morning and apologize, but right now, I'm mad."

"But, Jeremie, I only wanted to help," Odd said weakly.

"I know, and that's why I not kicking the crap out of you right now," Jeremie replied, "but you dragged a stranger into my business, and I don't appreciate it."

"Jer, the only reason I did it was because she helped me," Odd said, "look, Sissi and I have always been a little wild when it comes to sex, and some of the things were heading into scared the both of us. We both remember what happened to Ulrich's mom, and we don't want that to happen to us. Anyway, one night, we were having a good time here. We were both more drunk than we would admit, and were doing some stupid stuff, stuff with other people. Well, we met Angel, and talked her into coming home with us. She did, and almost literally scared the crap out of us. We both passed out not knowing if we would ever wake up."

"The next morning, we woke up to Angel looking at us. When we woke, she said, 'it that what the two of you really want to do with your lives? Was the risk worth the fun?'"

"She spent the rest of the morning talking with us, about where we were going with our actions. She chewed us out for running headlong into things that had rules we didn't know about, rules that keep a person from getting really hurt. Since then, we've ratcheted it back, a lot. When we get a mischievous streak in us, we come here. You don't know this, but Angel owns The Bumps and Grinds. She runs it so people who are a little adventurous can come and play and be safe. Her coming home with us was her way of pulling us out of a bad situation."

"Odd, I never knew," Jeremie said.

"Of course not, we've never been ones to air our dirty laundry," Odd said, "and despite what you may think, we keep our sexcapdes private, for the most part. We don't party with couples and we don't sleep around. Beyond that, pretty much anything goes."

"What about in there? People talked like they knew you."

"Like I said, we go there a lot. We've even been known to get up on stage and dance, and not just on amateur nights or when we've had too much to drink. Roger and Jessica are our stage names."

"Odd, just when I think you can't surprise me more, you do," Jeremie said, "look, I'm sorry I punched you in there, but you really shouldn't have done that. I know I have to confront my demons, and I will when the time comes. I didn't need a shrink to tell me that."

"Well, it was either this or what Sissi had in mind," Odd said, "she was all for me dragging you over to Aelita's where she and Yumi were going to hold you down while Aelita broke you in. Even I thought that was too much. Hey, are we still getting together to practice tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, I'm still not ready for Saturday. Odd, I'm really sorry about punching you earlier."

"Don't worry about it! I've had worse done to me by better than you."

Jeremie decided he would find his own way home that night. Odd went back in to Ulrich, and the two spent the evening watching the show. Finally it was late, the bar was closing down early, and the two men had to go and pick up their wives.

They arrived at the Hermitage and went to the front door. Inside, they could hear the laughter of the ladies as they were enjoying themselves. Odd knocked, and was let in by Aelita, who was just a little bit unsteady on her feet. As they walked in, Aelita had a hopeful look on her face, hoping Jeremie had come with them. She got a crestfallen look when she saw he wasn't there.

The two men rounded up their wives, who were more drunk than they cared to admit, and took them home. As they left, Ulrich turned around to see Aelita sigh sadly as she shut the door.