After Mary finished signing the papers, Clive led her back out into the red hallway. They walked through the first door on the right beyond his office, which led into the dressing room backstage. There, Clive paired Mary up with a pretty brown-haired dancer to begin her mentoring period. Even in her street clothes, Mary recognized her as the captivating red-white-and-blue clad cowgirl from the day before.
"Nice to meet you, Mary. My name is Jewell, and I've been dancing here at the Foxxy Laydee for almost a year now. So, it wasn't that long ago that I was going through my first day here, just like you." Mary felt calmer as soon as Jewell started speaking. She seemed friendly, and it sounded like she could relate to what Mary was going through. "Are you nervous?" Jewell asked her.
"Yeah, a little bit," Mary nodded. "I'm kind of excited too, though."
"I know what you mean," Jewell nodded. "It's definitely a rush the first time you get naked on stage. I wouldn't be too nervous about it if I were you, though. You're a pretty enough girl that when you take your top off, guys will go nuts. They'll love you."
"Thanks," Mary blushed and shyly turned her head away in embarrassment at the compliment. In the process of averting her eyes, she happened to glance at a clock on the dressing room wall and mentioned, "So, I guess it's almost ten o'clock, opening time. Do guys really come here this early in the morning?"
"Honey, you would be amazed. I have not worked a single minute in this place when there weren't at least three guys out there in the audience dropping green for a peek. Usually there are way more than that."
"Wow." Mary scratched her head and wondered aloud, "Why would people come to a place like this in the middle of such a beautiful morning? It seems like a major waste."
Jewell shrugged as if she didn't really care. "Some people work night shifts and have to come get their jollies during the day."
"Yeah but shouldn't they, like, do their grocery shopping or take a walk in the park or something? I mean, that's the kind of thing I do when I'm not working."
"Look, Mary," Jewell said helpfully, "let me offer you some advice, OK? No matter how exciting or handsome or wealthy they might seem to be, it's a waste of your time to think or fantasize about the guys who come in here. Just be nice to them, take their money, and give them what they pay for. This is a place of business; they're customers, and we're salespeople. There's nothing more to it than that." Almost as an aside, she added, "Trust me. I learned that the hard way."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Mary, secretly wishing for a slightly less cynical answer to her question.
"Well, let's get into wardrobe," said Jewell, perkily changing the subject.
"OK."
"Now, the hard part about the first week is that all your new outfits will come out of your first paycheck. Still, you'll probably make more than enough to cover it."
"Wait a minute. You mean I have to pay for my clothes with my own money?" Mary said in shock, wondering if there would be enough left over to pay for rent, electricity, and water.
"Yeah, but you get to take them home with you if you want."
"Oh great. What am I going to do with a half-dozen stripper outfits in my closet?" Mary asked as she rolled her eyes.
Jewell brushed her off with a giggle. "Come on. Let's take you over to the wardrobe closet." She led Mary to a white door where a tall, muscular woman sat on a stool. "Mary, this is Belinda. She's a former dancer who runs the show backstage now. She schedules the dancers, keeps track of tips, and she also keeps inventory backstage." Belinda nodded expressionlessly at Mary, and Mary smiled back politely. "She'll keep track of the items we take out of the closet today and deduct them from our paychecks." Belinda said nothing as she unlocked the door and let the two women enter the large clothing closet.
"This room has, like, tons of new outfits, never worn before," Jewell gushed. "You can pretty much pick one for whatever mood you're in. Like this morning, I feel sort of playful like a kitten. So I'm going to wear these." She reached up to a rack full of hats and headgear to pull down a pair of cat ears that looked like part of a cheesy Halloween costume. Then she found a black skirt and leopard-print bra, which suited her mood. Mary modestly tried not to watch as Jewell stripped down, pulled the items off their clothes hangers, and dressed in them. Finally, Jewell added a belt with a long feline tail as the finishing touch.
"Your turn. Let's see, since you're a virgin, so to speak, I think we ought to dress you all pretty in white this morning," Jewell decided for Mary. She pulled a silky, shiny white bikini off a hanger.
"Nice," said Mary, subtly trying to hide behind the door as she began to strip off the jeans and t-shirt she had painstakingly selected only a few short hours ago. "Oh, um, just out of curiosity, where will I put my street clothes?"
"We'll get you a locker in a minute," Jewell answered as she handed Mary her brand new outfit. "By the way, how much did you pay for those?"
"For what?" Mary asked naively as she slipped on her bikini bottom.
"Your tits. They're incredible. I mean, they almost look natural."
"Um," Mary stammered as her face began to flush, "They are natural."
"Oh my God, shut up. I hate you so much," Jewell teased. "These bad boys cost me almost three grand apiece. You can see the scars on the bottom if you look really close," she said as she lifted her bra and breasts to show off her surgery trophies. "Totally worth it though. I make double what I used to in tips."
Mary wondered why men would be compelled to tip twice as much to see fake breasts than the real thing. She thought about asking Jewell for an opinion, but then thought better of it. She assumed that, much like before, Jewell would probably just brush her off by telling her not to care.
While Mary finished dressing, Jewell found a pair of white high heels in Mary's size to match the bikini. As she slipped the shoes on, Mary caught a glimpse of herself in a wall-height mirror. She couldn't help but be impressed with what she saw. In the outfit, she believed she looked more like a professional model than an exotic dancer.
Jewell led her back out of the closet, and Belinda wordlessly took note of the girls' wardrobe selections on a deduction sheet. Belinda then handed Mary a brand new combination lock for a locker, and made another note of it. Then Jewell led Mary to the opposite side of the dressing room, to a small area that reminded Mary of a high-school locker room. She found Mary an empty locker large enough to fit several outfits. Of course, Mary only had street clothes to put into hers, but she noted that Jewell's locker held several other stripper outfits, each of a varying degree of tackiness, in addition to her street clothes.
After the girls had locked up their belongings, Jewell led Mary to the makeup and hair mirrors. "Nighttimes and weekends, we have professional hair and makeup people here," she told Mary. "But during the off-hours – like right now – it's DIY."
"DIY?" Mary asked cluelessly.
"Do-it-yourself."
"Oh."
Jewell brushed some sparkly glitter makeup over the majority of her body, while Mary studied herself in the mirror again. She thought she looked just fine, and didn't bother to change her hair or makeup at all. In addition, she could still faintly smell the body spray she had put on earlier.
"Well, it's about time for the first dance of the day," the glittery Jewell said. "Belinda will line up the first dancers to go onstage. I'll probably be one of them. She usually likes to put me in the first group to warm up the crowd. You can just watch from the sidelines if you want."
"OK," Mary said with some relief. As good as she looked, she wasn't convinced she felt ready to dance yet.
"Just check out how I do it first, and then you can give it a go," Jewell said encouragingly.
"Me? Give it a go?" Mary gulped as Jewell trotted out of earshot.
Mary followed her to the side of the stage, where several other girls had gathered. Belinda walked up to the crew with another clipboard and began barking directions: "Jewell, you take left main, Sandee, you're center main, and Debra, you're right main. The rest of you, look alive. You'll be on in fifteen." Mary gulped again. Was Belinda including her when she said "the rest of you"?
As Belinda and the extras walked away, Jewell, Sandee, and Debra moved toward the stage, leaving Mary quite alone behind them. The DJ cued the first track of the day, and then Mary heard his voice over a loudspeaker saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Foxxy Laydee is proud to present this morning's first dancers, Sandee, Debra, and Jewell!"
"Shit, he got the order wrong. Do you want to switch or just do it Belinda's way?" a big-eyed brunette asked Jewell and the other dancer.
"Belinda's in a pissy mood this morning. We'd better just go out there and dance on the spots like she told us. Let her take it up with the DJ," the other dancer, a flame-haired beauty, offered.
Mary watched as the three girls confidently took their places onstage, nervous that in only fifteen minutes, her turn might come.