"Dance, Dance"

WILL'S POINT OF VIEW

I woke up, and rolled over. I was drinking last night. Not smart. Damn that Tyler. I got up, showered, brushed my teeth, and made some coffee. My head hurt, and I let it fall on the table. Thud. Ow. The phone rang. "Oh my God!" I exclaimed, muffled by my arms covering my head. But I did the only thing I could to make it stop. I had to answer it. "Hello?" I said pathetically."

"Will!" T'was Deacon.

"Shh...keep it down."

"Hungover?"

"Meh..."

"Alright. Well, this is big news."

"What?"

He sighed. "Where do I start? Well, Alex had an accident?"

"What?"

"She had a miscarriage, man. There's no baby."

"Shit. How are they?"

"Gone. They took off. They left the Mercers a note saying they needed time to get away. Some angsty shit."

"Holy shit. So they just left us hangin'?"

"Well, can we blame them? We don't know what they're going through."

"You're right, I guess. I just can't believe they just ran."

"Me neither. Hey I gotta go. Talk to you later."

"'kay, man, later."

I sighed. Jack and Alex had left? For how long? When are they coming back? So many questions. I figured I'd get details from the Mercers. Plus, I had a hangover. Therefore, go see Kat. She'd have some cure for this. I grabbed my jacket, and headed down to the bar. I sat down on a stool, and Deanna came over, and asked what she could get me. I said, "Kat." She wet over to Kat, and a second later Kat was in front of me.

"What can I getcha, Kid?"

"An explanation of what the hell's going on, and something for my hangover."

"Hmm...What were you drinking last night?"

I shrugged. "A little bit of brain damage. Some liver death."

"Ok. I can work with that." She mixed..something. I really didn't care. She set in down in front of me. "Careful. That's fast-acting shit."

"How fast?"

"Did you ever see the third Back to the Future? In the saloon?"

Might as well get it over with. "Down the hatch." I did a little cheers motion to her, and gulped down the shot. I made a sour wince, I guess. When I opened my eyes, Kat was in front of me with a bottle of water on the table in front of me. I grabbed it, and drank it thirstilly, trying to get the taste of whatever that concoction was out of my mouth. But surprisingly, my pain was almost gone. "Damn, woman!"

She nodded. "Anyway, you know Alex and Jack took off. They left a note for us. Saying how they weren't sure where home was anymore. It wasn't at the apartment, and now wasn't with Bobby and Angel. Something about finding out what they were running from once it was gone."

"But, I hadn't even heard about the baby."

"It happened right before they left. We forgot to call you guys. I'm sorry."

I sighed. "It's fine, I guess. But now any dreams they had of having kids is gone. If they had those dreams, that is. I don't know, they just didn't seem sure of this baby at first. But after they realized this was their baby, they had no problem with it."

"Yeah...what! What dream of...what?"

"They didn't tell you? Alex can't have kids anymore. Something happened. It's rare, but, in her case..."

"God people! Fill me in sometimes."

"Sorry."

It's fine, just..all this happening at once. Anything else? YOU pregnant?"

"Wha? Hell no."

"Sofi? Bobby?"

Kat laughed. "Yes, Bobby is pregnant? We're all very excited. He's glowing and everything."

"Twenty bucks says it's twins."

"Only twenty bucks?"

"What do you want me to wager? Sex?"

"See what you did there? You just slipped sex into the conversation."

I shrugged. "I'm a guy. That's what I do."

"Do you want to sleep with me?"

"What?" My eyes widened. C'mon Will. Play it cool. "Were you just wondering, or was that an offer?"

She looked at me, a slight satisfied look, then laughed. "Damnit. I have no comeback."

I laughed too. "I guess you'll just have to answer the question then." Damn I was doing good.

"Hmm...what was the question again?"

We took the back room. Fuck, I didn't even know the bar had a back room. No idea what is was for. It was like, a closet. There was a pay phone and a phone book in there. So it was practically a phone booth. Wait, no, this was a break room. It was bigger than it looked, I saw once my yes adjusted to the dark. There were some couches, a coffee maker, whatever you would find in your average break room. Why would there be a break room in a bar? Wasn't it practically a break room in itself? But whatever, it was more private than making out in front of a bunch of drunkards. God, she was pretty. I mean, really. And she was cool. An older woman, you could say, but not even thirty, so who cares? I liked this girl, she was confident, and fun. And an amazing kisser. Like, damn. NO, REALLY, LIKE, DAMN! We fell down onto one of the couches, her on top of me, and I pulled out her ponytail, letting her beautiful red hair hang. I smiled at her for a second, before kissing her again. She toyed with my belt. Oh my God, she was just teasing me now! I sat us up, and took off my shirt. We stood up, and I took off her shirt. So me, shirtless, her, tank top. We were continuing, when Deanna came in.

"Whoa. Sorry. Just, Kat, your shift's over. Thanks for the tips." She turned around, leaving.

"Yeah, thanks!" I called. "So, where were we?"

Kat smiled. That was a great day. Yes, Will got some. Kat got a good deal too. So when I went home, I had a smile on my face, a spring in my step, and a smile on my face. Did I say that already? Oh well, screw it. I got laid. Don't twist it, I like Kat. That's why we did this. I'm not a womanizer. I just like a girl, who likes me back. And after some awesome flirting, sex. Sex is good. Very good. She was good. It's all good. I'm not a sleazebag, but how can you have great sex and not tell a friend? Time to see Tyler.

JACK'S POINT OF VIEW

Alex and I got out of the Buick, and started walking toward the building. I stopped. "This is a stripclub. You brought your boyfriend, to a stripclub."

"Yeah well.."

"Why?"

"Because. I got an old friend here. A couple of 'em actually."

"How is it that so many of your friend work at a stripclub?" Then I got it. I gasped, my eyes wide. "No."

"Yep. I was a stripper. Actually no, I was a dancer. I left wearing the exact same clothes I had when first I came on stage."

"You didn't tell me."

"I didn't want to. Have I not shared enough of my past? Can't I just let it go? For once?"

"Yeah. That's fine. I know."

"I'm sorry. I just had a little moment. Just, weird being back here. Fuck, I need a cigarrette before I go in."

I handed her one, and she lit it, inhaling and exhaling deeply. "To hell with this, I'm goin' in." She started in, and I took the cig, took a puff myself, squashed it in the ashtray of the garbage can next to me, and followed her.

Dear sweet Jesus. By the first impression I got when I walked in, I was pretty sure I was going to hell. But it was nice, clean, had the right atmosphere, as far as stripclubs go. And I'm a Mercer. I would know stripclubs.

"Alex?" Said a voice to our left. It was a bartender. Black dude, in his late 20's, I'd guess. Dark hair, blonde soul patch. He came out from behind the bar, and came over to us.

"Greg. Hey, man. Long time no see." She hugged him. "Uh, Greg, this is my boyfriend, this is Jack. Jack, this is Greg, an old friend."

I shook Greg's hand. "So," he said, rubbing his hands together, "What could possibly make you bring your boyfriend to a stripclub? Especially one where you worked."

"We're on a little road trip. Taking time to see some sights, some friends, just do, whatever we feel we need to."

"Cool, cool. So what have you been up to?"

"Not much. Actually a lot. Met up with an old friend. Fell in love with his youngest brother. Some people tried to kill me, my boyfriend was shot. A another person tried to kill me. She ended up being a good friend. Found out she was a crackwhore. Some people tried to kill my boyfriend. Turns out they messed up, they really wanted me dead. Thought my boyfriend was dead for two months. He came back at our band's concert. I got pregnant. Had a miscarriage. Can't have any more kids. Ran way with my boyfriend, for no apparent reason. That's all."

Greg's eyebrows were raised to the point almost as if he was attempting to make them flee from his head. He finally spoke. "You have a band?"

We couldn't but laugh. "Where's Rey?"

"She's about to go on. Hey, we'd love to see you work the pole one more time."

"Ohhhh no. I'm way past that now. I do that again, Jack may have to knock some heads together."

"Jack gon' have to do wha?" I said.

"Then again, that might be worth seeing."

"Fine by me. Do it. Go on." I really didn't want her to. But by rules of the game, keep going til the other gives in. She knew the game too. Then again, it might be fun to watch.

"Well, I'll think I'll go see the other girls, maybe I'll make up my mind." She smirked. "Jackie, stay here and enjoy the show. And good to know it wouldn't make you feel bad if I did dance."

Alex walked into the back room, past some bouncers she talked to briefly. I sat down at the bar. Greg came up to me. "Idiot."

"Excuse me?" This guy hardly knew me. Now he was insulting me?

"No offense, man. But you're letting her go on? You were trying that one compromise thing, weren't you? Seeing if she'd give in."

"Yeah. But I'm not giving in either."

"So you're gonna let her dance?"

"If she does, she does. I'll know I could have stopped her, but didn't."

"I can see why she likes you. You're getting a drink, on the house."

"Thanks, man. So who is Rey?"

"An old friend of Alex's. She's comin' on stage as we speak." He set my drink in front of me. I turned in my barstool. Might as well enjoy the show, right?

Rey. Whoa. If I was single, damn. But I'm not, and let me say, I wouldn't have it any other way. That last part was true, but also a little bit in case Alex is secretly telepathic. I'm too young and too pretty to die. She left stage, and I turned back to the bar. Greg was standing right there. I nearly fell off my damn stool. "So," I said, "How good IS Alex?"

"Out of our whole 'alumni'," He used airquotes. I shit you not. Airquotes. "She's like, valedictorian." That time my stool ran out from under me, I swear it did. Cuz somehow my ass hit tacky stripclub floor carpeting. I pulled myself back on the stool. Greg pointed to over my shoulder and grinned. I swiveled in the stool, and 'bout had a heart attack. At least she looked sexy.