As soon as Phillip walked into the dressing room of Unzipped, Rex stopped in mid-sentence and watched Phillip head towards him suspiciously. Lucas on the other hand, grinned upon seeing his brother and slapped him on the back when Phillip reached him.
"It's about time you got back from the land of Jan Spears." Lucas said knowingly, not even noticing the horrified look that crossed Rex's face at his words, "How was it?"
Phillip smiled reminiscently as he recalled the events that had taken place the night before. He and Jan had stayed up the entire night until he knew his way around the garage almost as good as Jan did. Then they had finally went inside to take a quick shower and then sleep later into the afternoon. He had returned to Belle's loft briefly to retrieve a change of clothes he could go to the club in, only to find Belle gone. He hadn't seen Belle since the evening before.
"I'm not going into details with you," Phillip told him, "But I'll say this much, she certainly knows how to keep a guy busy for an extended amount of time. She's also pretty creative."
Patrick mumbled something under his breath and Phillip turned to face him, "Did you say something?"
Patrick looked up at him guiltily and shook his head. Phillip shrugged and turned back to face Rex, who was glaring at him.
"God, you are such a jerk, Phillip! You could have at least told Belle where you were going. Do you have any idea how freaked out she was? I had to cover for you, man! I thought she was going to have a stroke or something. You should be more responsible."
"What, so you and Belle are my parents now? I forgot, okay? But Belle's my roommate, not my guardian. And since Shawn's back in town, I probably won't be her roommate much longer. Jan's already offered to let me stay in her country home with her, so I'll probably move out of Belle's loft soon. I guess that'll make Shawn happier. Where did you tell Belle I was, anyways?" Phillip couldn't resist asking.
"I told her you were spending the night at Lucas' house," Rex answered, shaking his head in disgust, "Belle is going to freak when she finds out you're with Jan."
"I don't see why," Phillip countered, "She only wanted to be friends with me. She made that very clear. I know she doesn't like Jan but I don't see why that's any reason for me not to date Jan. Shawn and Belle will probably end up getting back together and then we'll all be happy."
"So, you and Jan are really together now?" Lucas checked.
Phillip nodded his head slowly, "Yeah, I think so." he was about to continue but a caustic voice interrupted him.
"Like hell you are!" Phillip recognized Shawn's voice immediately and stifled a groan. He couldn't believe what a pain in the ass his ex-best friend had become.
"What is wrong with you now, Shawn?" Phillip asked irritably, "Why are you here again? Don't you want to be with Belle?"
"Oh, so we're back to that again." Shawn's eyes narrowed into mean slits, "You know very well Belle and I are through with each other. And because I want to be with Jan, you decide you want to be with her too. Can't you get a life and stop trying to screw up mine?"
Phillip's eyes widened, "You want Jan? Where did that come from?"
"From places so close to my heart that you'll never know where they are," Shawn said seriously, causing Lucas to snort with amusement. Shawn glared at him indignantly, then returned to speaking to Phillip, "Jan and I have been through a lot together. And maybe I didn't want her at first but she's gotten under my skin and I want her now. And you knew it all along, you asshole! So stop acting like you're innocent."
"Shawn's right," Rex agreed, glowering at Phillip, "Stop taking all his women. You're so rude."
"I'm not rude," Phillip protested hotly, "Jan wants to be with me. It's her choice. She wants me more than she'll ever want you. I bet you've never even been in her garage." Phillip thought he saw all Rex, Shawn, Patrick and Lucas all flinch almost simultaneously but brushed the assumption away, "It's really great. She has an oil wrestling pit in there and everything. I love it."
A muscle in Shawn's cheek was twitching violently and finally he lost it, "You can't prove anything!" Shawn said, practically yelling. Phillip jumped back at the unexpected reaction, then noticed Lucas, Rex and Patrick all glaring at him.
"What did I say?" Phillip asked in confusion.
"Just drop it, Phillip," Rex ordered, "That was totally uncalled for."
"Um... okaaaayy," Phillip frowned, still not sure why the mention Jan's garage had gotten such a negative and odd reaction but he changed the subject, "You still haven't told us what you're doing here, Shawn."
Shawn's shoulders straightened proudly, "Bonnie gave me a job here," Shawn answered.
Lucas looked at Shawn incredulously, "You're kidding." he said blankly, "You're going to strip here? That's insane."
"Why?" Shawn demanded, looking insulted.
"Because you can't wear a g-string," Lucas answered, "What are you supposed to fill it with?"
Shawn's mouth dropped open angrily while Phillip burst out laughing and gave Lucas a high five, "I couldn't have said it better myself. Shawn in a g-string just wouldn't work. It would be like trying to fit a banana peel around something the size of a triple-A battery."
"Excellent comparison," Lucas told his brother and they exchanged another round of high fives while Shawn, Rex and Patrick looked on.
"I don't see what your problem is, Lucas. What did I ever do to you?" Shawn questioned.
"Nothing," Lucas shrugged, "But if Rex is going to take your side, I can't let you and Rex gang up on Phillip. That wouldn't be fair."
Phillip smirked at Rex, "I told you he liked me better."
"Well, I don't really care if Lucas teams up with you, Phillip Kiriakis," Shawn seethed, "I will get Jan away from you. I'm the one she wants. So, once Jan sees me strip, don't be surprised if you find yourself without a 'girlfriend' or whatever the hell Jan is to you."
"I don't think so, Shawn. You can think what you want but Jan isn't going to leave me for you. Seeing you in a g-string fives sizes too big for you is not going to turn her on."
Shawn's face was darkening with rage, "All right, Phillip, have it your way. This means war!"
"In that case, me and Lucas are going to kick your ass." Phillip shot back.
"We'll see about that," Shawn rolled his eyes, "Rex and I can take you two any day."
Patrick finally spoke up, "So, let me get this straight. You went from fighting over Belle to fighting over Jan in a matter of days? Do you guys enjoy fighting over the same woman or something? Do you even want Jan or Belle, or are you just trying to determine who's the bigger man?"
Shawn gasped, "Of course I want Jan! My feelings for her are genuine, unlike Phillip's. He just sleeps with her."
"Like you would know," Phillip scoffed, "The truth is, we're very compatible."
"In the sack," Shawn responded, his voice tinged with envy, "And I'm going to go get dressed now."
"Good luck trying to keep your g-string from falling off," Lucas called after Shawn, who had already started to walk away.
After Patrick finished up on stage, Bonnie made her way onto the center of the stage, beaming at the audience members proudly, "All right, everyone, tonight, we have a new and extremely sexy, if I do say so myself, stripper joining us. Why don't you all give Shawn a big welcome?"
Jan stared blankly at the stage as Shawn made his entrance, her mind reeling, "What is he doing here?" she mumbled, more to herself than anyone else.
"Isn't is obvious?" Nicole mumbled back so that Sami couldn't hear, "Your little plan to make Shawn jealous worked. Now he's decided to engage in an all out twinkie war with Phillip to win you back. Are you proud of yourself now?"
"Do you really think that's what's going on?" Jan asked, unable to believe her plan was coming together so well. Nicole nodded and looked up at Shawn.
"He hasn't taken his eyes off of you since he started dancing." Nicole remarked.
Jan was about to respond but Sami spoke up first, "God, first my brother and now my cousin. This is sickening."
"Maybe you just need the right distraction," someone whispered in Sami's ear, their lips brushing against her skin. Sami recognized the warm, soft mouth right away and let out an involuntary shiver. She twisted around in her seat to face him and his lips met hers before she even knew what was happening. When Lucas pulled away, she looked up at him in confusion.
"What are you doing out here? Isn't Bonnie going to get mad?" Sami's eyes flickered over to Jan for a moment, who had flung her arms around Phillip, who had obviously came over to where the four women were sitting along with Lucas.
"Nah, Bonnie told us to take a break," Lucas informed Sami, "She got sick of all the fighting backstage, so she kicked me and Phillip out for a while. Meaning I have time for..." he licked along her bottom lip to emphasize his meaning, "Other things in between performances."
Sami's heart tripped as she watched a meaningful smile spread across his lips, "Come dance with me," he said. Sami stood up and let Lucas lead her onto the dance floor. Phillip and Jan had decided to do the same thing and were already on the dance floor, pressed up against each other. Once he and Sami had found a place on the dance floor, Lucas looked up at Shawn and smirked.
"Shawn doesn't seem to be enjoying himself very much, does he?" Lucas observed, "I think he's kind of mad that Phillip's distracting Jan."
"Why would he be?" Sami asked in confusion.
"Phillip and Shawn have both decided they want Jan. They're fighting like crazy. That's why Bonnie wanted to separate them." Lucas explained.
"Oh, well, now that you mention it, Shawn does look pissed that's Jan too busy paying attention to Phillip to notice him dancing. Although, he has no right to complain. He's getting plenty of attention from other women here." Sami noticed one woman in particular, who was waving a bill around frantically and screaming something along the lines, 'Take if off, Shawn!' repeatedly. Sami watched Shawn catch the woman's eye and begin making his way towards her, all the while sneaking quick glances at Jan to see if she noticed.
Once Shawn reached the girl, she took the bill and stuffed it down the front of his g-string. Shawn seemed totally stunned by this move and Sami could hear the woman's friends opening reprimanding her.
"Oh my God, Mal, I can't believe you did that!" one of them squealed as Shawn danced away from the woman, looking like he was trying very hard to get over the shock. Lucas chuckled and pressed his hand into the small of Sami's back and pulled her lower body tightly against his.
"It looks like Shawn has a lot to learn about working here," Lucas stated, still laughing at he watched Shawn dance around the club, picking up money from other women and making sure he kept himself out of their g-string grabbing range at the same time. And Shawn also needs to learn to leave my brother alone. If it isn't enough for Shawn that Phillip gave up Belle, then he needs to learn that you don't try and the steal the Roberts brothers' women.
