Two young girls, perhaps only eighteen years old, are taking a private stroll through downtown Los Angeles, smiling and pointing at attractive young gentlemen as they pass on the street. It is nighttime, and the two are noticeably excited, charged with the edginess and bravado that darkness brings out in children of the Decadent Age. The first is delicate, with fair, blushing skin and vibrant orange hair that falls down her back. She is wearing jeans and a clean white t-shirt over her thin frame. Several plastic bangles, blue and black, the type that had become popular during the first few years of the 21st century, hang about her wrists. The second is about three inches taller than her friend, with brown, shoulder length hair; she wears a black tank top, a bright pink skirt over bare legs, and large, flamboyant earrings of a 'mod' style. The earrings are composed of a green hoop and a pink ball, and they fall almost to her shoulders. The girls smile at one another as a young man passes them, turning his head slightly to look at them again when they have passed out of his line of vision. As they are passing a small alleyway that branches off from the main street, or The Strip, they turn their heads. Raucous laughter fills the air, both male and female. As they peek around the corner to see what is going on, they are surprised to see five familiar faces. "Jane!" a small girl with brown hair and an outfit that could best be described as 'skanky' exclaimed, running up to give the other brunette a hug. Then she turns to the red-head, and hugs her. "Kelli!" "Hey Annie," Kelli says, a little confused. "What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going out to eat." "We were," another girl interjects. She is blonde and blue-eyed, an Aryan poster-child, and a sarcastic smirk tilts her face. "Obviously, we're not anymore." While she was speaking, Jane wandered over to where two other girls were leaning against the alley wall, referring to a sweet-looking blonde with brown eyes and a bright green "Trojans" t-shirt as 'Melanie' and a shorter, preppy looking girl with a darker shade of blonde as 'Sara'. "Shut up, Kailey." A brunette with thick, wavy hair (wearing a t-shirt that reads 'Viva la France!') says laughingly. "Kelli, we decided just to stop at Pizza Hut, and we ate really quick. Then we went out looking for you, and found these guys instead." For the first time, Jane and Kelli notice a group of five males standing to the back of the alley. They had been silent for the entire conversation, standing in the shadows, and now stepped forward to say hello. Kelli leans over Jane's shoulder to whisper, "Aw...not enough men for us." When Jane laughed, she continued. "Hey Lisa, why don't you introduce us?" Lisa, the little French girl, pointed out each of the boys. "Roger, Nick, Christian, Dan, and Ricky." Roger, a tall, attractively tanned boy, walks up and shakes each of the girls' hands, saying, "Hey, yeah, I'm Roger. Me and the guys work down at Pirate's Booty." "Heh," Jane laughs. "Like 'Jolly Roger? That's clever..." she stands, laughing at my own private joke and cleverness while everybody looks at her the way one would look at a stoner. Then she raises her eyebrow. "Wait...Pirate's Booty...isn't that a strip club?" Roger nods 'yes' and asks. "Hey, care to come down? Our shift starts in about ten minutes." Jane smiles brightly. "Yeah, sure!" she exclaims, then, to cover up her excitement and obvious understanding of strip clubs. "Uh, I mean, because...you know, I've never been to one before... and, uh... it would be a new experience... for me, 'cause I've never been to one..." Nobody was buying it. "Oh fine!" Jane yelled, exasperated. "Let's just go!" The seven girls and five boys, who, with the exception of Roger, who spoke frequently, had spoken off and on during their walk to the strip club, arrived at 'Pirate's Booty' within a few minutes. It was a very nice place, with a modest wooden sign in the front to announce it's name, and built like a real theatre on the inside; fifty seats, tables and booths situated around a three sectioned circular stage, an impressive bar toward the back, and several doors that performers and staff were continuously disappearing into. The girls were smiling and looking around, their eyes drawn to the middle stage because of its convenience, when suddenly a familiar looking man steps out into the center. At first, Jane cannot place him. He is clean shaven and young, with soft waves of brown hair partially tied back in a pony-tail. In fitting with the club, he was wearing a costume of brown pants tucked into brown leather boots, a ruffled white shirt, and vest. He is very slowly removing each article of clothing from his lean, long body in tune with some adventurous music; it sounds like some kind of theme, but again, Jane cannot place it. She turned to her left when Kelli gasped softly, eyes growing to the size of dinner plates. "Oh my god!" she whispers to Jane. "It's Orlando! I know it is!" Everything clicks into place. The buccaneer premise, the costumes, the gentleman on stage... even the music suddenly makes sense; it is all from a movie she had seen when she was in the 10th grade, "Pirates of the Caribbean". The man on stage was none other Orlando Bloom, a few years older than when he had been in the movie, but young and handsome nonetheless. Kelli and the rest of the girls seemed to have realized it immediately, and Kelli began to look around nervously. "Should I go up to him?" Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Kelli, he's taking off his clothes in a strip club." She said, as if that should explain what Kelli should do. Kelli shook her head, confused, and Lisa sighed. "Throw some money at him and he'll probably ask you to come on stage with him." Kelli nodded and grabbed Jane's hand, "Come with me." Jane grins. "Okay!" The pair of them run up to the platform, Kailey's voice yelling after them; "But don't throw quarters! They don't like it when you throw quarters!" They get to the stage and stare upward. Orlando has taken off all his clothes, down to his tight white little boxers, and Kelli's mouth hung open. Then, with a little flourish, he swoops all the money he has collected on stage into his underwear, jumping off the stage. Show over, the girls (and some guys) move on to another stage, where Roger is beginning his own strip tease (the boys had left the seven girls immediately upon entering the club, citing jobs that they would have to do. Roger's involved stripping, but some of the other boys worked in the bar). Lisa and Annie were laughing together, while Kailey looked fairly bored. She had a boyfriend back home, after all. Kelli was in awe as Orlando walked by, then suddenly blurted, softly, "I love you." Orlando stopped, and turned to look at her.
"Excuse me?"
Kelli turned bright red. "I... uh... I didn't say anything..." "Yes you did." He accused with a little smile. 'You just said you loved me. That's sweet. I must be a good dancer." "Oh, you definitely are." Kelli nods. Just for the sake of fun, Jane asked spontaneously. "What's your name?" "Will Turner." He replied pleasantly. "Oh really..." Jane said with a smile. "You wouldn't happen to have any friends for me, would you?" Suddenly the lights began to dim. Will shrugged. "Yeah, my friend-," Loud music with a thundering bass began to boom out of the speakers located at every corner of the room, and a strobe begins to flash. Jane turned slowly, as if in a dream, to look at the empty center stage. A door was thrown open, and a spotlight flashed. She screamed. "OH MY GOD! KELLI! LOOK!" Kelli grabbed her arm. "Oh my GOD! Is that...?!" 'Will' nodded a little dejectedly. "Yeah, that's Jack." Jack began to dance. Jane felt a little lightheaded, like she might pass out from the sheer sexuality of it all. Jack Sparrow, dancing on a lighted stage, gyrating and taking off his pirate clothes, scarf and shirt and sash and... Oh my god... Jane rushed to the stage, and managed to keep herself on the ground (rather than climbing on to the stage and ripping off the scant remainder of Jack's clothes). Kelli turned to Orlando, noticing his crestfallen eyes. Immediately moved with sympathy, she asked. "What's the matter?" Orlando... well, supposedly it would be Will... shrugged sadly. "Jack gets all the attention, is all. Girls hardly pay attention to me after they see him." "Are you serious?" Sara asked. She'd recognized Orlando Bloom the moment he'd stepped out onto that stage. She didn't like him so much, but she knew at least ten girls that did. She knew only one who liked that other actor- guy... what was his name again? "Hey," she asked. "What's that guys name?" "Jack," Will said automatically. Kailey leaned over to whisper in her ear. "That's Johnny Depp. It's a little creepy in here, isn't it? Everybody going by their Pirates of the Caribbean name?" Sara nodded, and they both turned to watch as 'Jack' removed his shirt, revealing a tan, thick cord of muscle along his abdomen. "Then again," Kailey said. "It's not so bad." "No kidding." Off to the side, Kelli looked up at Will from under her red eyelashes. "I'm sure Jack's great, but... I like you much better." Will looked down at her, his eyes lighting, and took her arm in his. "Love, would you care to join me in the back room?" Back at the stage, Jane is restraining another scream as Jack Sparrow removes the belt around his pants. He has taken off the majority of his 'effects'; sash, boots, shirt and quite a few pieces of jewelry (which are all in Jane's possession because he threw them into the crowd, and she wrestled them away from several other girls (as well as one gay man who called her 'honey' and gave her a good long scratch on her forearm, but she beat him)), all but a few gold necklaces still lay on his bare chest. A thin line of hair trailed from his belly button to his unmentionable pants region, and he reached down to undo the ties. Jane fainted. More likely, the gay man got angry again and hit her over the head with a shoe so that he could steal some of the booty she got off of Jack Sparrow's (hot sexy) body when she blacked out. Either way, she became unconscious.