Author: Feather (Flightf)
Warnings: Spoilers all the way through Lean Mean Thirteen. (I am sure at some point I will use Tanks name)
Disclaimers: I own nothing…JE owns it all….I will return everything when I am finished. I am basing the strip aerobics on two programs Shelia Kelly's the S Factor and Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease.
Rating (K-M) M Yep it's M for Adult language, adult situations, and maybe some real smut.
A/N: This is the 1st story in my Pole Dancers Diary Series. Sorry this chapter took so long. Thank you to all my friends who held my hand as I mucked my way through this chapter. I can't believe that it is finally finished. RL has been really messy lately...I finally have my daughter settled into kindergarten and my son settled into Tuesday, Thursday School...hopefully this means I will find the time to write and maybe catch up with Plum world.
Chapter 12: And it ends with the moon...
Lula bolted out of the car in seconds. She was standing at the curb holding her bag by the time I set my feet out on the pavement.
"Girl get your skinny white ass in gear. I have some moves to learn for my man. By the time I get done shaking my thing he'll be panting and drooling like a starving dog being tempted with a juicy bone. He'll be begging for a bite."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I found the button to slide the front seat forward. I hesitated as my finger touched the bag. I would swear that I felt a shock of electricity. As I dutifully followed Lula from the car to the side walk I lost myself into my own thoughts. I couldn't figure out what it was about the bag in my hand that disturbed me. I'm one person that would never be accused of being cautious. I'm the girl that runs into everything head first, to hell with what might happen. Why in the world am I scared of a damn piece of leather?
"Steph, are you coming in or what?" Lula brought me back to the present time. I looked up and she was holding the door, waiting for me to catch up. I was startled by the obvious excitement written all over her face and I made the decision right then and there to make the best of it, no matter what. Lula has supported me through a lot of shit and it was time that I supported her. I quickly caught up with her and before I knew it I was inside.
I hadn't really let myself picture what the building might look like, hell I never even let myself get past the bag sitting on my living room floor, but never in a million years would I have guessed that this is where I would be expected to wear the almost shorts. Standing in the foyer of what had once been a great house, I froze and the only thing moving was my eyes darting from one spot to another. My impression from outside was correct, the building still had the feel of a house. Directly off the foyer was a room with a few seating arrangements. The furniture was deep, chocolate brown leather. The walls were painted a mocha color, almost the color of Ranger's skin. I felt my blood starting to rush and immediately pulled the mental emergency brake. I was not ready to think about Ranger.
I made my feet move and walked into the room. I studied the pictures hanging on the walls and was amazed when I realized that they were a series of black and white photos of a woman pole dancing. I couldn't take my eyes off of the pictures, they mesmerized me. I couldn't place what it was about the pictures that drew me in. The woman was dressed all in black and she was barefoot. With a jolt I realized that she was wearing the almost shorts. I guess they aren't as bad as I thought but it's still not something I want my mom to know about. I continued to look at the various shots. I was amazed at how beautiful they were. She looked sensual but in no way could I picture her in the various gentlemen clubs I've visited in the past. I found myself really drawn to one image in particular. In that picture she only had one hand on the pole and her body was about three feet up parallel with the ground. Her torso was slightly arched, one leg bent and the other straight out with her toes pointed. She was looking down at her other hand which was reaching toward the floor. I continued to study the picture and her expression drew me in. The smile that graced her face was one that could only be described as female. It was the one that when you see it, you know that she is proud that she is a woman and embraces all that she is.
"Hey girl she looks like she's flying doesn't she? It's no wonder that you picked that one to stare at, considering you always wanted to fly," Lula said, breaking into my thoughts.
I glanced at Lula and then looked back at the picture and I realized that the woman really did look like she was flying. I had been so intent on her face that I completely missed that aspect of the picture. I felt Lula grab my arm and start pulling me towards the back of the room. "Come on, I want you to meet Heidi."
As we turned toward the back of the room I could see a woman sitting at a desk. She looked up and when she saw us coming, she immediately smiled. She reached over and grabbed a set of crutches and slowly stood up. My immediate gut reaction was to hate her. She was perfect. Her glossy blond hair fell into soft shoulder-length waves. It had the kind of curl that I could only achieve with 10 hours of effort and a curling iron. Her teeth were perfectly spaced and so white that they would blind you if they caught the right light.
"Lula, is this your friend Stephanie? Are you excited that today is finally here?" she called out as she rounded the corner of the desk. As if she wasn't perfect enough she was even graceful on crutches, I thought, trying really hard to hold in the sigh that was trying to escape my lungs.
"Yes, this is my girl Steph and I'm so excited that I could barely sleep last night. I had to be really careful not to wake Tank up. I didn't want him questioning why I wasn't asleep. Typically after a few big O's I sleep like a baby."
As I watched the two women talking, I started to change my opinion of Heidi. Yes she was perfect but she was genuinely nice to Lula. It wasn't the 'I have to be nice to you because you're the customer' kind of nice, it was the 'I'm genuinely interested in what you're saying' kind.
Heidi turned her blue eyes to me. "So Stephanie, are you excited about the class?"
"I'm not sure that I'm ready but I am going to give it a shot" I said forcing myself to put a smile on my face.
She rested her crutch on the side of the couch and reached over and patted my arm. "Don't worry, it's all about having fun and you have the best teacher. Since I can't teach the class Brandi herself is going to do it, so you're in for a treat. Why don't you ladies head back to the dressing room. Lula you do remember how to get down there don't you? I haven't mastered the stairs yet with these cursed crutches and not everybody is here yet."
"Don't sweat it. I know the way. Steph and I will just go put on those rockin' shoes." And with a wink Lula was dragged me back towards the foyer. Once we were back into the hallway she led me to a doorway and down some steps into the basement, well I guess you could call it a basement. I found myself stunned when I came to the bottom of the stairs which lead into an open room that I could only describe as sensual. The whole room was floor to ceiling red velvet drapes with the exception of a few doorways. Along one wall was a huge pile of multi-colored earth tone floor pillows. I was almost afraid to take the last step onto the hardwood floors. They were dark and so glossy that you could see your reflection in them. I watched as Lula barreled through the room to a door located in the back corner. She stopped when she was a few feet from the entry and turned towards me.
"Uhh...nope. No way are you chickening out now. Move those size 7's." She waited until I took the first tentative step and then disappeared from sight.
With nothing but the sound of the heals of my boots clicking on the hardwood floors, I slowly walked and opened the door. I could hear Lula before I even got the door completely opened.
"It's about time you finally got your ass in gear. Check out this room. Can you believe that this is the locker room? No stinky sock smell in here. Look, here are our lockers, our names are engraved on the little plaque. See it says L. Davis and S. Plum is right next door. We're neighbors." Luckily for me Lula was talking over her shoulder and didn't notice my mouth hitting the floor. The room was flat out amazing. It was my dream closet in disguise as a locker room. The lockers were made out of wood with beveled cabinet doors. Above the lockers was a wall of exposed brick. I finally closed my mouth and walked over to stand next to Lula. I sat the bag down on an upholstered bench and turned towards the locker with my name on it. I finally decided that if I could face my life on a daily basis then I could get through today. I raised the lever and peeked inside of the locker. When I saw the inside I tried to figure out how I could get the locker upstairs and out the door.
"Holy Shit, look at the inside of this locker. There's a place for everything. Girl this is better than any closet my clothes have ever hit the floor of. Damn it even has wood hangers. Closets in the movies have wood hangers. Ex-Ho's that live near Stark Street sometimes splurge on the plastic ones. It even has a little safe for your valuables. I have my diaphragm in my purse, that's about as valuable as it gets for me."
A giggle escaped my lips but when I glanced over at Lula she was completely naked and slipping on the white dancer's thong. I quickly closed my eyes trying to push the picture out of my mind. I did a few rounds of picturing a Boston Crème donut and then I turned towards the dreaded bag. I unzipped the zipper, reached inside and started pulling out bags. When I was finished the floor around me was littered with plastic bags and my beginner's kit was piled on the bench. Just as my jeans hit the floor Lula tapped me on the shoulder. As I turned around she shoved a digital camera into my hands.
"Here take my picture. I'm gonna document my transition into an A-class striper."
As I raised the camera up to my eye, I was a little relived that it was hiding the look of shock on my face. Lula dressed in the uniform was a site to see. The silhouette of the woman was stretched and disfigured. The stretch velvet of the almost shorts was pulled so tight that the teeth on the zipper were barely holding it together. When she turned and gave me the bump and grind pose I could see the bulges popping out at every band. Finally I snapped the last picture and returned to getting ready. I quickly took off my sweater, folded it and placed it on the shelf in the locker. I then replaced my bra with the dancers push up. I was relived to see that it looked and felt like any other bra. I slipped the tank top over my head. All I had left to put on was the almost shorts and the killer stripper shoes. I was debating trying to sneak out the door when I remembered my promise to myself that I was going to support my friend. I straightened my back and was reaching down for the dancers thong and the almost shorts when Lula let out a shriek.
"Girl, your panties have the Batman signal on them. I can't believe that you've had them on all day and didn't tell me."
I rolled my eyes at her, "Lula, I didn't realize that my underwear needed to be explained," I said as I sat down on the bench, dropped the bat undies to the floor and slipped on the dancer's thong. As the almost shorts slipped up my legs, I was a little baffled at how soft they were. They slipped onto my hips and I was relived when the zipper easily zipped. I guess these babies had a LOT of stretch. I was a bit afraid to look in the mirror so I moved onto the shoes. Even when I finally had them strapped, I kept my butt glued to the bench. I was more than a little scared to try to stand on 6" heels. I decided that it was time for a pep talk. 'Okay Stephanie, you can do this. It's only two more inches than your tallest pair. You've been walking in heels almost as long as you have been able to walk. You are a Jersey Girl. You have on six coats of mascara. You are Wonder Woman.'
I slowly brought myself to a standing position. My knees were a little wobbly but I was on my feet. I looked down at the pile of clothes at my feet and I realized that I should probably put that locker to use. Damn, now I have to figure out how I'm going to accomplish this. Do I bend at the waist and let my ass cheeks hang out? Do I try to squat at the knees in 6" heels and risk landing on that same ass? I looked over my shoulder at Lula while I planned Operation Pretend Stephanie is not a Slob. A giggle escaped my mouth when I found her in front of the mirror still striking poses. While her attention was focused on herself, I put operation SNS in motion. I sat back down on the bench and bent over to sweep my arms to gather my stuff. On the first try I got everything but the Batman panties, which had somehow ended up under the bench. I spread my feet to each side and tried to bend over that extra 6 inches that I needed. Just as my fingertips touched satin I felt my butt slip off the side of the bench. I tried to move my hand out to catch my fall but still ended up with my wrong end facing up. Just as I opened my mouth to mutter 'Why me?' the door opened and three women walked in to witness my twin moons staring back at them.