"Time to cash out our first set," Jewell told Mary, leading the way from the VIP booths toward the backstage area.
"What's 'cashing out'?"
"We give our tips to Belinda. She keeps a running count of how much each of us makes every day. Then she enters it all into some computer program thingy, and it calculates how much we get paid at the end of the week."
"Oh. OK." The phrase 'wages as percentages of tips' flashed through Mary's mind and reminded her of the contract she had signed earlier that morning. "Hey, Jewell?"
"Yeah?"
"I have a confession to make."
"What's that?"
"When I signed my contract to work here, I didn't really read it first. Well, I mean, I tried to read it, but I just couldn't follow it. Is that bad?"
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. I'm pretty sure the Foxxy Laydee has a standard new employee contract, and every girl I know who's signed it and stayed here for any length of time has ended up making good money."
Mary exhaled with relief, but she still had a mild case of butterflies from wondering what her paycheck would really look like at the end of the week – especially since it would be a short week.
***
The girls found Belinda backstage, and Jewell handed the woman her take.
"Private dance already?" Belinda beamed at Jewell.
"Yup," Jewell bounced and clapped.
"Excellent. Go fix your hair, you'll be back onstage for the next set."
Then Mary approached Belinda with her fifty dollars.
"What's this?" Belinda frowned.
"It's my take," Mary answered.
"But you haven't even danced yet."
"Oh yes she has!" Jewell stepped in. "She shared the private dance with me."
Belinda glared at Mary for a moment, then reluctantly took the fifty and penciled in some numbers on her clipboard.
"What's her problem?" Mary asked Jewell when they were outside of Belinda's earshot.
"Don't mind her, she's just old school. She's got the older dancers' backs, but she usually cops an attitude toward the new ones. So she probably thought you were cutting in on my take when you shared the dance with me, and that kind of thing pisses her off. She won't act like such a bitch once she's gotten to know and trust you, though."
Mary gulped, but Jewell didn't notice as she had begun walking back to the mirrors to inspect herself. Mary followed and sat down beside her. As Jewell pulled a brush through her hair, Mary's mind wandered back to the moment earlier that morning when Belinda had announced, "You'll be on in fifteen."
"Jewell, when will I have to start dancing on stage?"
She set her brush down and turned to face Mary. "Whenever you're ready, honey. No one's trying to rush you."
"But if I don't dance, then I won't make any tips. And if I don't make any tips, then I won't get paid, right?"
Jewell comfortingly placed a hand on Mary's. "Well, yeah, that's kind of how it works, sweetie. But don't worry. When you're ready to go on, you'll know. In the meantime, just watch and learn from the other girls and me. I'll be on for the next set of songs if you want to hang side-stage again."
Mary looked down at Jewell's hand atop her own and figured now would be as good a time as any to talk about the other thing that was bothering her. "Listen, Jewell, about what happened back there in the VIP booth." She paused as words and courage began to fail her.
"What about it?" Jewell prompted her.
"It's just that, well, I'm not a lesbian."
"What?" Jewell laughed and resumed brushing her hair. "When did I ever say you were?"
"You didn't. But, um, when you kissed me and slapped my butt, I thought it was kind of…I don't know. A bit much?"
"Did I overstep my bounds?"
Mary scrunched up her face and nodded. "Just a little."
Jewell sighed. "I guess I should have warned you; when a guy asks me for a VIP dance I go all out. I figure he's paying a lot of money for it, so I might as well give him the fantasy he deserves. You know what I mean? Like, when that guy goes home this afternoon and jerks off, he's going to be having all kinds of crazy visions of you and me, when all I really did was kiss you and spank you a little bit. I say what's the harm in that? But if you weren't ready for it then that was my bad. I should have prepped you better."
Mary searched for the right words for a moment. "I guess I'm not really mad at you. I just don't want it to happen again is all."
Jewell put the brush down again and looked at her. "So what are you saying? You don't want to do any more private dances with me?"
"No, not that. Just, no more kissing and spanking. OK?"
Jewell looked away. "Mary, I'm not sure if I can promise that. Like I said, I act pretty wild in the booths. Either you'll have to accept that about me or we won't be able to dance together."
Mary chewed on her bottom lip and thought about the quick fifty she had just made with Jewell's help. Then she thought for a minute about how uncomfortable the kiss and the butt-slapping had made her. Somewhere between the two extremes, her brain found a compromise. She brightened as she said, "Ooh, OK then, how about this? We can still do booth dances together. But if you start to get wild with me, we'll split the take 60/40 in my favor instead of 50/50."
Jewell shook her head no. "Belinda would never go for that, and neither would I. Look, it's no skin off my back if you don't want to dance with me anymore, Mary."
The corners of Mary's mouth turned down as she nodded. "Fine."
Jewell faced her again, and Mary could have sworn she detected disappointment in the dancer's eyes. "Mary, listen, I hate to sound negative, but maybe this just isn't the business for you after all."
"What?"
"Don't get me wrong. From what I saw in the booth, I think you have a lot of promise as a dancer. But to make money in this business, you have to be willing to go all out. Really sell the fantasy to make the extra dollar. If you're not willing to do that, then you'll get stuck making lousy tips on day shift for the rest of your career. And it'll probably end up being a short career at that."
Dumbstruck, Mary simply responded, "Oh." As the words slowly sank in, a question formed in Mary's mind. "Jewell?"
"Yeah?"
"If you're so good at 'selling the fantasy', and if day shift is so bad for tips, then how come you've been working day shift lately?" Oops. She hadn't really meant for it to sound that nasty, but it was too late to take it back.
"I've been subbing for my friend, Corinne. She's really sick, OK?" Jewell sounded defensive. Trying to change the subject, she sharply added, "Besides, normally I only work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I've been working that schedule for about nine months now, because I made enough money in my first three months on day shift to set me for the whole year."
Mary felt eviscerated by Jewell's tone. She lowered her voice and humbly said, "Oh. So you really know what you're talking about, then?"
Jewell nodded. "Trust me, Mary. You're hot enough and you've got the moves. If you lose all your inhibitions, you'll have a good shot to make a killing too."
Mary sighed and reluctantly said, "Fine. I'll try to loosen up some. So, from here on out, feel free to slap my ass and call me Susan."
Jewell laughed. "Excellent! Hey, that reminds me, you need a stage name. Mary's fine if you want to stick with it, but Susan would make for a nice little in-joke. How about Susie Screwdriver?"
Mary grimaced. "How about not. I'll think about it while you're dancing."
"Cool."
***
Mary watched Jewell do several more sets, helping her fix her hair, reapply body glitter, and change her costume in between. She tried to observe her as astutely as possible, both during and between sets: off-stage, what did she focus on? Hair, costume, make-up, and perfume; that much was simple. The more complex issue was her on-stage behavior. How did she move? What were the subtle things she did to look sexier, more appealing…more worthy of cash…than the other girls? Mary watched intently, trying to answer these questions, really putting forth an effort to learn unlike she had done with any of her previous jobs.
Initially, one thing that stood out to Mary was Jewell's smile. Some of the other girls looked very serious about their dancing, but Jewell always seemed to wear a smile as if she were really enjoying herself. And, other than the dark-skinned girl with the giant bazoombas, Jewell appeared to be earning more tips than all the daytime dancers. Maybe there was some appeal to smiling that the other girls just didn't know about.
Then again, some of the other girls smiled too. So perhaps there was more to Jewell's allure and earning power than just her smile. Upon further inspection, Mary noticed that she also seemed to have a level of playfulness that the other dancers didn't quite match. There was an extra bounce in every step, a brighter twinkle in each eye than the other dancers put forth: energy and attitude, uninhibited.
So, having carefully observed Jewell all morning, Mary concluded that that was what she would focus on when she danced: energy and attitude, uninhibited. And, having reached this conclusion, Mary decided she was finally ready to dance on-stage, with the brand new stage-name she had come up with.