It was early evening and the sky had already begun to darken when Jan came into Shawn's room in the country home that night. Once Shawn was looking at her, she gave him a little smile and twirled around for him so he could survey her outfit from all angles. After she had done that, she put one hand on her hip and looked at him expectantly.
"How do I look?" she asked him. To humor her, Shawn took in the knee-high, lace-up boots, black mini-skirt and low-cut, dark red tank top. He finally met her eyes again with question glinting in his own eyes.
"You look nice," Shawn decided to be diplomatic, since it probably wouldn't go over well if Shawn told her she looked more like a prostitute than anything else, "Going somewhere?"
"Actually, yes I am," Jan flipped her hair over her shoulder, "I'm going to put on a wig so no one will recognize me and then my friends are going to pick me up and we're all going to go to the opening night of the new male strip club Mimi's mom is running. There's going to be so many hot guys there and it will be very enjoyable. I'm sure they wouldn't be as stubborn as you are about not sleeping with me."
"That's probably why they're strippers." Shawn returned, rolling his eyes, "But you have fun with that. I know I'll enjoy a night of peace and quiet."
"Are you sure?" Jan stepped right up to the cage and ran her fingertips over the metal bars, "Because I do feel a little guilty about leaving you here alone like this. I know a way you could get me to stay." she slowly ran her tongue along her bottom lip and watched Shawn's eyes glaze over a little bit with something that looked a lot like lust before he turned away from her. Jan felt a small surge of triumph as she visualized the expression he had just had in his eyes seconds before. She knew she was slowly to getting to him. It was only natural. She was doing everything she could to make him want her and he was a normal male who had a pulse. He'd eventually get so horny, he'd have to give in and sleep with her. It was only a matter of time.
"No, I'm sure I'll be fine." Shawn muttered, "Go have fun with the naked man-whores."
Jan nodded and let out a dreamy sigh, "This night would only be made better if you were working as a stripper at Unzipped too, Shawn. If you had a job there, I swear, I would never leave the club."
"Well, that's not going to happen." Shawn grimaced and gestured a little with one hand, "Go on, go finish getting ready."
"I'll do that." Jan replied, turning and leaving the room. A few minutes after she had finished putting on her wig, Nicole's car pulled up in front of the country home. Grinning to herself, Jan yelled a quick good-bye to Shawn and hurried out to meet Nicole and Crystal.
Sami sat on the couch in her apartment, draped over one of the pillows and sobbing into a tissue while her eyes remained locked on the television screen. She had started watching Object of my Affection a while ago and was now nearing the end of the movie. Nina had just declared her love for her gay roommate/best friend, who was already sleeping with another man, and Nina was now waiting for him to respond to her.
"I want you to marry me. I want to be with you forever. That's what I want," Nina told him, her eyes filled with tears, "What do you want?"
George was silent for a moment but finally stated, "I want Paul."
I want Paul. That has got to be one of the most depressing lines I have ever heard in a movie, Sami thought. Nina's face crumpled at almost the exact same time Sami's did and another flood of tears spilled down Sami's cheeks, "No, how could you do that to her?" Sami wailed, wiping at her eyes with another tissue, "How could you hurt her like that? Nina, I know exactly what you're going through." Sami realized what she had just said and frowned, "Well, not exactly because Lucas isn't gay but it still hurts so much. Why can't anyone ever end up happy anymore?"
A few minutes later, Sami shook her head, disgusted with herself, "God, Sami, stop getting so worked up over a freaking movie. You are being such an idiot." she grabbed a few more tissues and was wiping away the remains of her tears when someone knocked on her door. Sami looked at the door hopefully, praying that Lucas had decided to come see her. She flicked off the television set and practically flew over to the door. She pulled the door open to see Belle and Mimi standing in front of her and her face fell.
"Um, hey, Belle. Hey, Mimi. What's going on?" she asked.
Belle gave her sister a critical once-over before speaking, "You don't look well, Sami. I guess it's a good thing Mimi and I came over to see you. We were wondering if you wanted to come to the opening night of Unzipped with us."
"The what?" Sami rubbed her eyes tiredly.
"Sami!" Belle cried angrily, "I already told you all about the new club a week ago. Remember when I came over to have lunch with you? I told you about it then."
"It's all coming back to me now." Sami responded slowly. The truth was, she didn't remember Belle saying anything about any club. Belle must have briefly glossed over the topic in between her rants about Shawn and Phillip, which Sami had been drowning out for the most part.
"Great. Well, Mimi and I are going to head over there and we'd love it if you would come with us. Rex and Phillip stood us up because they said the strip club was stupid and that they'd rather die before setting foot in it. Besides, you really need to do something other than watch movies and pine away for Lucas."
"You know, as much fun as a trip to a strip club sounds, I think I'll take a rain check." Sami told the two women, hoping they would leave her alone now. She had already been in a relentless bad mood ever since she and Lucas had separated and Belle's plans for the evening wouldn't do anything to lift her spirits. The last thing she wanted to do was spend the night out with her giggling, cheerful sister and watching random guys that meant nothing to her, get naked in front of tons of screaming females. She would be better off crying over movies for the rest of the night.
"Are you sure?" Belle pressed, "I think you'd really have a good time. It would be good for you to do something different."
"No, I don't think so." Sami responded, irritated with Belle's persistence, "But you two have fun, okay?" She slowly pushed on the door until it slid shut with a soft click. Behind the door, she could hear Mimi huff loudly.
"See, Belle, I told you she wouldn't come with us." Mimi was saying, her voice becoming more incoherent with each passing second. Sami walked away from the door and settled back down on the couch, preparing to spend the rest of the night watching movies.
Lucas stood backstage with Patrick, Rex, Phillip and two other strippers working that night, his throat dry and his chest tight. All of the other strippers had already gotten into costume but Lucas still stood dressed in his street clothes, frowning at Rex, Phillip and Patrick's costumes. All three of them were wearing tight black pants and little red bow-ties around their necks. Bonnie had instructed everyone to dress exactly the same for opening night. As of right now, Bonnie was outside, drooling over one of the other strippers, Lucas was pretty sure his name was Tanner. There was also a blond stripper named Ryan and a brown haired man named Tyler who were standing off to the side together. Lucas had only spent about twenty minutes with the two of him and he already had his suspicions about the two men. They were way too touchy-feely with each other to be straight.
"Aren't you going to get into costume, Lucas?" Patrick asked, holding up the pants and bow-tie Bonnie had set out for him. Lucas just stared at the costume for a moment, then shook his head.
"Nope," he answered, turning his head away from the offending outfit.
Phillip scrunched up his nose at his brother, "What's wrong, Lucas? You're not backing out, are you? You wouldn't dare! Not after we've been put through so much to get here."
"I just don't want to go out there tonight." Lucas insisted, "I changed my mind."
"Aw, does little Lucas have stage fright?" Rex mocked him, "Or are you just afraid that Sami's going to be out there and will flee for the club exit one she sees you half naked?"
"She wouldn't run from me!" Lucas yelped indignantly, "And it's not that at all. I just don't think I'm ready for this yet."
"All of us have been practicing for tonight's opening since we got the jobs." Patrick reminded Lucas.
"Yeah," Rex sneered at Lucas, "You're just wimping out on us, man. Don't you have any self-respect? If you did, you wouldn't go back on our agreement."
"Hey, hey, now," Tyler chided the men as he made his way over to them, "What's all this about? Where's the love? You don't need to get angry, we can talk things out like nice people."
"Fine, then why don't you convince this guy here to put on his costume and get ready to go out there." Rex shot back.
"I can do that," Tyler nodded and clapped his hand down on Lucas' shoulder, "There's nothing to be afraid of. Those women out there... they're really deprived. They aren't going to be picky and even if they were picky, you'd meet up to anyone standards." he squeezed Lucas' shoulder and then began squeezing Lucas' arm, "See, this is amazing. All this muscle and everything... they definitely hired you for a reason. Wow."
Fantastic. If I didn't know he was gay before, I know now. And he is feeling me up. That's a little creepy, "Okay, you've, uh, convinced me. I'm going to go get changed now." Lucas took the pants and bow-tie from Patrick and turned to go find a place to get changed. But before he could go anywhere, Bonnie and Tanner resurfaced backstage.
"Well, Tanner just did a fantastic job out there and Ryan, it's your turn next." Bonnie piped up cheerfully. Ryan gave Bonnie and a quick smile and began to exit backstage. Tyler quickly caught up to him and twirled Ryan back around.
"Wait a sec, hun," Tyler's fingers flew to the other man's neck, "You're bow-tie is crooked. Let me fix it." After a minute, Tyler finished and stepped back about an inch.
"Thanks, sweetheart." Ryan replied and Lucas almost cringed at having to hear two grown men use such saccharine pet names on each other. Then he couldn't resist cringing when the two of them brought their lips for a few seconds and he immediately averted his eyes. Rex, Phillip, Patrick and Tanner had all looked away as well but Bonnie on the other hand, didn't seem at all fazed by the displays of affection thrown between Ryan and Tyler.
"Okay, then," Bonnie brought her hands together and made a little clapping noise, "Rex, Phillip and Lucas, I have a special request for the three of you." she told them.
"What is it?" Phillip asked.
"I was wondering if all three of you could go on together after Ryan finishes." Bonnie responded, a little smile twitching at the corners of her mouth, "Since all three of you are brothers, I just figured it might be fun to try on the first night. I know all the ladies in the crowd will love it." Except your mother, Bonnie added silently, Honestly, I thought I liked that woman but all she's talked about tonight is how happy she is that Lucas and Sami are apart. She's totally wicked not to want her son to be happy with the woman he loves, so I am going to give her the shock of her life.
"That sounds like a good plan, actually." Rex broke in, glancing at his oldest brother, "Maybe then Lucas won't be self-conscious. He's been a nervous wreck this entire time."
"I have not." Lucas lied.
Bonnie gave Lucas a sympathetic pat on the back, "There's nothing to be nervous about, babe. You are going to knock 'em dead out there, you hear me? They're gonna love you. Now, you go get changed because you're going to get up there soon." Bonnie rubbed her hands together, "Oh, and I so looking forward to seeing you all get out there and shaking it."
Too bad I can't say the same, Lucas thought as he took his clothes into one of the stalls to change.
