These Things Take Time/CH 13
A/N: Duh duh duh…..chapter 13, wow, how did we get here so soon? Well, let's see what happens. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Do keep the title in mind, but I CAN guarantee Daniel's eyes will be popping here!
"Betty, come have a seat here, the show starts in ten minutes! I got us the best seats in the house!"
Betty looked around rather nervously, thinking this place reminded her of 'Boylesque' back in New York, only slightly less seedy, perhaps.
"Why are we at a club that has men dancers, Christina? I thought you said this had women...uh…you know, that I could just watch and see how they act...more confident."
"Strippers? It does, Betty. But the men are on first. This club has it all. There are men dancers first, the ladies second, then they close it all out with a drag show. It's got something for everybody, this place.
Oh, and there's a talent show after the ladies show for amateurs to go up and take a turn at it after they get some tips from the pros. I signed us up."
"WHAT? Christina! I'm not...doing that here! Are you insane? Or...drunk?"
She smiled, clearly rather tipsy, "I plead guilty to both, actually. I just thought we'd have a go. Have a bit of fun, you know? It's not set in stone. If you've not loosened up enough by the time we get called up, we can always leave. No worries, Betty."
"Well, I guarantee I'm not going to want to...do that!"
"But you'll want to do it for Daniel at some point, right? That is the idea, Betty. You'll see how it's done, so you won't feel so ...intimidated when it's time to drop your knickers for the man!"
"Drop my...oh, geez...give me one of those!" Betty drank one of the shots Christina had on the table in front of them.
"Waiter! We're going to need two more rounds, please. My friend just drank mine."
"But you already drank yours, Christina! I'm sorry. I thought that was mine."
"It was, but usually you don't drink the ones I pretend to order for you, so I get pissed twice as fast. If you're going to actually drink yours tonight, I'll need to order twice as many!"
Betty looked around, "Wow, there sure are a lot of people here, aren't there? This place is really popular!"
Christina nodded, "Yes, it's fairly newly re-opened. Soho has lots of great places to unwind. This place has a regular bar in the back, as well as the burlesque show. It's also got a little cafe. It's very classy as far as 'strip clubs' go, actually."
As the evening wore on, Betty became much looser and more vocal, as one after another male stripper pranced in front of the two women.
The two ladies were eagerly stuffing money into the dancers g-strings as they came closer to their table, especially since it was in the front of the club.
The day had been a good first step for Daniel in his quest to find a job in London. He had his first successful interview and he felt fairly confident that things had gone well.
He tried to reach Betty all evening to let her know how his interview went and see how her day had been but he just kept getting her voice mail.
When he returned to the hotel, DJ was missing. He wasn't able to reach his nephew on his cell phone, and he was starting to get a little concerned.
He stopped by the concierge desk and asked if they had seen his nephew. "He asked about the age accepted at a place called….Raymond's Review Bar, down in Soho."
Daniel shook his head, "He did? Strip club, huh? Thanks!" He ran off to get a cab, "Shit, I'm gonna kill that kid!"
As he entered the place, Daniel shook his head, trying to adjust his eyes to the dim lighting. He got a call, and stepped out, praying it was either Betty, or perhaps DJ, telling him he was back at the hotel.
"Mr. Meade? This is Brian Ryles, Valerie's father. "Have you spoken to your nephew today?"
"No, I haven't. Well, not since this morning, anyway. I had an interview that took quite a while. Then, when I got back to the hotel this afternoon, he was gone. I've left several messages… why do you ask?"
"My daughter is missing."
"And you think DJ ran off with her? Brian, listen, I know you may not believe this, but my nephew is normally a very level headed kid. I don't see him running off to get married or something if that's what you're worried about."
"No, it's not that. You don't understand. We had a huge fight again and she said she was tired of being treated like a child and she was going to prove she was a grown woman.
DJ called while she and I were arguing and I told her of the call and she said that she didn't want to speak to him, either, because he was just as bad as I was. She said neither of us treated her like a grown woman.
That she was going to show us both she was no child. I'm beside myself. I don't know what to do. I told DJ about what she said and that she didn't want to speak to him, but…"
Daniel's eyes grew wide, "Brian, I know where she is. She's here."
"Where?"
Daniel gulped, seeing Valerie up on stage, dancing and starting to do a strip tease, with lots of encouragement from the customers, especially the men there who had been drinking.
"Oh shit! She's….I'm at a strip club. And it looks like DJ's trying to stop her from performing. You'd better get down here. It's in Soho. It's called Raymond's Revue...It's on…"
"Yes, yes. I know where it is."
"You do?"
"Yes, I do. And I don't want my baby girl in a place like that! Please stop her! Tell her her daddy's coming! I'm on my way there now! Thank you, Daniel! And thank DJ!"
"Okay. Hurry!" Daniel shook his head, not sure what to do at first. He saw DJ, go up on stage and try to reason with Valerie, who clearly had been drinking and was very obviously upset.
"You stay away from me, DJ! You're just like my father! You think I'm some little child and you refuse to see I'm becoming a woman!
I may not have huge breasts like your precious Betty, but I am still a woman!"
She looked at the younger men that were clearly excited at the idea of her stripping for them, "I am beautiful, too. And I can prove it! Right, guys? Do you not all think I am beautiful, just as I am?" The men cheered her on, "Go for it, honey! Tell your little boyfriend to take a hike! You're a real woman!"
DJ was trying to reason with her, "Valerie, you've been drinking. You don't want to do this. You don't need to prove anything to me. You're young, yes, but I know you're very beautiful. You're just having problems communicating with your father now.
It's not worth sacrificing your dignity like this. You won't prove anything to me or to him by displaying yourself like a...prostitute. You're too good for this. Why don't we go and take a walk, have some coffee and we can hang out for a while?
You don't have to go back home and talk to your father right now if you're too angry with him. I'll tell him you're with me. What do you say?"
Daniel took a deep breath and walked to the other side of the stage, so that Valerie was in between them, "DJ's right, Valerie.
You can come over and hang out with him for a while, talk to us, and your dad can pick you up later. But you don't need to do this. You're better than this."
She stared at Daniel, "You came for me, too? Did my father send you for me? How did he know I was coming here?"
"No." he admitted, "He just called looking for you, but he didn't know where you were. I came looking for DJ, to be honest. Thank God, the hotel told me he was here.
This is no place for a gir...uh young woman like you. You have much more self-respect than to...than to...Betty?"
Valerie had been listening intently to Daniel, and stepped off the stage along with DJ, but she rolled her eyes and huffed angrily, "Betty? Why is everything about Betty? No one will pay any attention to me when she is around….not you, not DJ, not even my father!
I'm so sick of BETTY, BETTY, BETTY! She's...everywhere…"
"No, she's here!" Daniel pointed, as his eyes widened and Betty, who had also clearly been drinking heavily showed up onstage as one of the next 'amateur' acts who had signed up to 'perform'.
She and Christina, along with two other ladies who were all quite drunk and were laughing and dancing along with a recording of "Lady Marmalade, lip-syncing very poorly and off key when they did actually sing out, as they started 'stripping' off their shoes, and throwing them at the equally drunk and rowdy men customers.
Suddenly, with encouragement from the crowd, Betty got 'into' the routine a bit, her confidence increasing, and she turned, with her back to the stage, then, running her hand down her arm seductively, as she danced and lip-sinced along with the song,
Touch of her skin feeling silky smooth, hey
Colour of café au lait (all right)
Made the savage beast inside roar until he cried
More (more) more (more) more (more)
She turned back around and had her hands crossed over her bra, after taking off her blouse, and Daniel quickly ran back up to block her from displaying herself, pulling her off the center of the stage. DJ's eyes widened as he watched from immediately below her.
Daniel was livid, "BETTY! What the hell are you doing here? For God's sake! Christina! Did you put her up to this? Why didn't you stop her? You know Betty can't hold her liquor!"
Christina was busy, dancing along, not paying any attention to Daniel yelling at her. While Daniel and DJ were both concerned about Betty's display, Valerie ran back onstage and started 'singing' and dancing along with Christina and the two other girls in their 'act'.
They were all doing a chorus line, and dancing provocatively to the music, while some of the more daring ones took off various articles of clothing.
Betty tried to get away from Daniel, and DJ had started to help him until he saw Valerie go back onstage. Daniel yelled out to him,
"It's okay, DJ. I can handle Betty. Just pick Valerie up and carry her offstage if you have to. Her dad's on his way here. I'll meet you backstage. Let's get them out of here, before the drunker guys get mad at us."
Betty had a silly grin on her face, as she poked Daniel's chest, "You think you're going to 'handle' me, do you, Daniel? Well, you've got another think coming, mister Meade man….you don't think you can handle all of me!
I'm a lot more woman that you're used to touching with your little footsie under the table and your hands over here and over there...I'm not some little twiggy girl…
Are you sure you can handle me, Mister hot guy with all your moves and fancy cologne that smells so hot and makes my knees all jello-y and your insanely blue eyes and your sexy little grin and that totally hot ass of yours?"
He smiled, and shook his head, as he picked her up over his shoulder and carried her backstage, behind the curtain, stopping to pick up her blouse, "Yes, I think I can handle you, Miss Suarez. The problem seems to be, you can't handle too much alcohol, which you've clearly had tonight, young lady.
Come on, the next show you'll be putting on will NOT be with fifty drunk guys watching, okay? Let's get you and Valerie the hell out of here!
"Daniel! Put me down!"
"No! Stop being such a pain in the ass, Miss Marmalade! I can't believe you would come to a place like this in the first place, Betty! What the hell were you thinking, anyway? Why on earth would you come here?"
"Put me DOWN, and I'm gonna tell you, you…you"
"What? What am I, huh?" He spoke to her butt, holding her in place over his shoulder.
"A cave man!"
"Oh, I'm a cave man, am I? Well, apparently, you think it's okay to come to a dive like this and….and show yourself to a bunch of drunken assholes! Fine! Here, go ahead, get down." He put her down and handed her her blouse. "Here!"
"Thank you, Mister...spoil spirt! First of all, if this is such a bad place, what are YOU doing here? Tell me that, Daniel Meadhead! Huh, mister smarty pants?"
"I...came because…"
"Yeah, right. You don't have an answer because you came here to look at...at girls who do this kind of stuff. How am I supposes to compete with all those girls you've been with? Or these kinds of girls?
You dated models, and actresses and...French girls!"
"There were no French girls, Betty. I told you that."
She stared at him, "Uh, I'm sorry, but what about DJ's mom?"
"Alexis? I didn't DATE my sister, Betty….oh, you mean Lucy."
"Exactly! Yes, Lucy...another model! A French one. Just like I'm sure you've been seeing this whole six months after you just left me here! O
I know all those girls, even little Amanda Tannen Sommers Meade-Hartley or whatever she calls herself now that she's engaged to your half-brother was sure as heck willing to do...well, a lot of stuff I've never done.
I tried to seduced Matt before and and I just felt like a big idiot. He ran away! How do you think that made me feel? Not very pretty."
"But you ARE pretty, Betty. Believe me, you don't have to do this just to prove it…"
"I did if for you, you stupid idiot-brained man!"
"Hey! Idiot...you did this for me?"
"Yes, well, not for you, really. I didn't know you were going to BE here, how would I know that? Why are you here again? How did you know I was here? Or were you just here to 'see the show'?"
"NO! I came looking for DJ and he was here to stop Valerie. She got mad at him and her dad and came here to make some kind of statement or something of what a grown up she is…
I sure as hell didn't expect to see YOU here, too! Is there a full moon or something? Why are all you women going crazy?"
"So, you think I'm crazy? I'm sorry I'm not sexy enough for you, Daniel. I knew this was too good to be true.
You say you want me, but...when it comes down to it I'm never going to feel good enough for you. I'm sorry. I love you, but I can't be with a man who I don't feel comfortable with...I need to feel like I deserve you and I just...don't."
He grabbed her arms, "Betty, stop it. You're more than good enough for me! Cut it out, will you? I don't know why you would think you're not. I was just mad and jealous that you would come to a place like this and show off for a bunch of strangers, but you wouldn't...well, you know, you said you weren't ready to be with me."
"BECAUSE I didn't want to disappoint you, Daniel! That's what this was about. Christina caught me...trying to practice being sexy for you and she thought this place would build up my confidence.
And it did. At first. The more I drank the more comfortable and confident I felt. But then...now I just feel stupid."
He nodded, "I'm sorry, Betty. I just didn't want you to embarrass yourself. I know you would normally NEVER do anything like that. And I should have known Christina talked you into coming here in the first place and got you drunk!
Isn't she the one who dragged you to that male strip club back in New York?"
"Yes. But it's not her fault. I'm the who was upset because I wanted to be sexy enough for you."
He held her shoulders, then picked up her chin with his finger, "Betty, you ARE sexy! You have no idea, honey. I had a little fantasy about you...well, actually doing a little strip tease last night."
"You did?" She smiled.
He nodded, "Yeah, but...just for me! Not for a bunch of other guys…"
She bit her lower lip, blushing slightly, as she wobbled, trying to keep her balance and he reached out to steady her, by putting his hands on her waist, "I see. So the stripping you're for. It's just you prefer I have a private audience."
He nodded and grinned at her, "Exactly An audience of one. Me. Nobody else sees these...uh girls, but me, agreed?"
She nodded and smiled, buttoning up her shirt. "Agreed."
He grinned, "Do you want me to...whistle?"
She blushed, "That's okay. I got enough whistles tonight."
"I guess so, Miss Marmalad! Jeez, Betty! I think poor DJ almost had a heart attack. So did I! You should have to register those as deadly weapons!"
She giggled, "Thanks. I guess."
"Oh, that was definitely a compliment! So, can I escort you home, if you're done with your performance?" He offered her his arm.
She nodded, putting her arm through his, "Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm quite done, actually. I could use some coffee. I have a headache and I'm really dizzy!"
He raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, so am I, trying to keep my eyes in my head. Let's see how DJ's doing with the junior miss Gypsy Rose Lee."
They walked towards the exit and saw DJ, still yelling at Valerie, while he held her down on the ground, kicking and trying to get away from him, "Let me go, DJ! You don't want me; you want some older woman who's more experienced and prettier and...more grown up! You told me so yourself! I'm not woman enough for you!" She started to cry.
DJ took her face in his hands, "You are more than enough for me. You're exasperating, woman! You drive me insane, Valerie!
I tried to walk away, because you have too much drama all the time, but I think you're very beautiful, okay? I...I...well, I love you, I suppose. I wish I didn't, frankly, because you are a crazy person sometimes, but I do. So, could you please stop giving me such a hard time?"
She stopped struggling and smiled, "You love me?"
"Yes, God help me, I do, you idiotic woman!"
Her smile spread, "You really love me? And you called me a woman!"
He gave her a dirty look, seeing her blouse was still partially undone from her earlier 'performance', "Well, yes, I think you made that very clear to everyone here, my little dancing girl. Now, if you're done proving to the world that you are a woman, perhaps you could just...show me privately?"
"I don't think so, young man! I appreciate you stopping my daughter from exposing herself, but I think she's had quite enough excitement for one night! Underage drinking and coming to some strip club...Valerie Ryles, you're grounded till you really ARE a woman!
How dare you defy me like that! DJ, I am grateful that you and your uncle were here to stop her, but...I think Valerie needs to come home right now. You're welcome to come see her tomorrow...with the door open! And she can go with you to your mother's wedding. But until then, she's staying here with me and we're going to have a very long talk about her behavior!
I think you're a lot more mature than she is. And while I'm not...well, particularly comfortable with you two...socializing, at least I know you really are a mature, sensible young man, like your uncle and Betty both told me. Valerie, come on, get up. Let's go!"
Valerie did as she was told, leaving with her father, but ran back and hugged DJ, kissing him briefly and whispered, "I love you, too,DJ! I'll see you next week back in Paris!"
Brian shook Daniel's hand, looking briefly and Betty's state, but simply thanked Daniel, "I'm so glad you two were here! Thank you!"
After he and Valerie left, Daniel looked at his nephew and smiled, punching him on the arm, "So you DO love her, huh? I thought you said you were going to look for an older woman?"
DJ shrugged, "I was. But all the good ones are taken, apparently!" He kissed Betty's hand, winking at her.