Chapter 3: Brother and Sister & The Aspiring Lounge Act Singers
Terri entered the building to find Jack just inside the entryway examining some very abstract artwork displayed on a wall painted a deep shade of red.
"Hey." She called his attention.
"Where's Janet?" He could've sworn she'd be the next in line.
Terri shook her head. "She got her question wrong."
"What? How?"
"That guy asked her a question about the World Series." She explained.
Jack's face fell. "Oh." That made sense.
"Yeah." Terri nodded. "How is anyone supposed to know about that?"
Since it was the holidays, he let the girls' ignorance concerning anything sports related slide.
"Well, how long do you think it'll take for them to get inside?"
"I don't know." Terri replied as she shrugged off her coat. "I guess however long it just took us to get through the line."
There was a shout of laughter from a crowd on the other side of a velvet curtain that was clearly concealing where all of the festivities were taking place, reminding Jack again of what it was that had drawn Larry to this place tonight. The high of correctly answering his trivia question was already a distant memory.
He groaned very audibly.
Oblivious, Terri rolled her eyes. "You're no treat either."
He knew a lecture from the girls was imminent, but he'd been expecting Larry to take on the brunt of the interrogation while he did his best to act innocent to their neighbor's nefarious plans. Besides, coming to a strip show with Terri as his sole company sounded like one of the worst things he could do.
"Maybe we should just leave." He suggested, grabbing the blonde's coat right as she was handing it off to the employee at the desk checking coats
Terri frowned. "We just got here." She didn't take her coat as Jack tried putting it back in her hands.
"Yeah, but who knows if they'll even get in the next go around?"
"Larry seemed pretty adamant about coming here." Terri answered and finally took her coat away from him, only to hand it right back to the woman at the desk. "Plus, Janet told me to stay with you so you wouldn't be stuck in here by yourself."
Jack grabbed Terri's coat out of the employee's grasp. "I don't think this place is all that great if I'm being honest."
"We haven't even seen anything yet!" She snatched the coat from her roommate and apologetically handed it back to the poor employee.
"I know." Jack muttered anxiously under his breath.
Maybe Janet was right. Maybe it was a mistake taking this trip with Jack since he was going to act like this the whole time.
"How about we go in for a little while and if they're not here in 30 minutes we'll go look for them?"
This didn't seem to alleviate whatever was bothering him now.
"The whole time we were waiting in line, you complained about how cold it was! Now you want to go right back out there?"
"Yes!" He answered and he tried leaning over the desk to get Terri's coat, but the employee was quicker this time and whisked it out of his reach.
"Unlike you, I was actually hoping to do something besides waiting in lines and walking around outside."
"But-"
At this point, they were starting to cause a slight backup at the entrance. And rather than continuing on this debate, Terri made an executive decision and pushed Jack into the velvet curtain.
"He's just going to wear his jacket in." She relayed to the employee before trailing after Jack, who had fallen over after getting twisted in the curtain.
They both had to adjust their eyes to the dimly lit purple hazy space.
Jack darted his eyes around, fearing what would certainly happen when Terri, and later, Janet, found out what this place really was.
But his first observation was just how packed with people it was. Secondly, he didn't see any naked women roaming the place. And considering his present company, he was thanking his lucky stars for that.
Terri also noted the crowd. "You think they can even fit any more people in here? There's
hardly any room to walk."
"You're right." Jack quickly agreed. Just because they didn't see any strippers at this exact moment, that didn't mean they couldn't pop out of the framework any second. "Let's just go."
She put a hand up. "Uh, no. I want a drink."
She smoothed out her dress and gave him another crazy look when she noticed how
aggressively he was scanning the room. "...Are you expecting somebody?"
"No!" His head snapped back to the blonde. "Just Janet. Just- just Janet and Larry."
"You do realize they're still outside, right?"
"Well, duh! Let's uh, go get that fast drink." And he immediately took off in a random direction.
Terri stood still a moment before trudging after him. She swore if Janet had told her to keep an eye on him…
.
Larry glanced impatiently at his watch. He'd been to Brian's enough times to know the first of the evening's shows was due to start in a few minutes. After that, there would be an hour-long wait for the next one.
"Is it just me or does the line seem to be moving a lot slower now?"
"It hasn't been that long." Janet noted, though she certainly wasn't thrilled to be stuck in
the line again with Larry.
"Trivia questions." Larry muttered as they inched forward. "So stupid… The password was always so much faster."
"Why are you so set on coming to this particular club anyway?"
"Hey, I said I was going to show you all a good time in Vegas. Didn't I?"
"...Yes."
"Then what better way than to bring you to my favorite spot in town?"
She gave Larry a suspicious look. "You mind telling me why you love this place so much?"
"Uh, well…" He said with deliberation. "...It's got a great atmosphere."
"A great atmosphere." She repeated skeptically.
"Yeah, and great music… fantastic staff."
"That generic description could apply to any one of the clubs on this street."
"Whoa. That is not true. There's one a few blocks from here that blows." He pointed
down the street like they'd actually be able to see the place he was referring to. "And I wasn't finished, by the way."
She crossed her arms expectantly.
"The food here is excellent too."
Janet rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it is."
"It is." He replied. "And that ought to make Jack happy, right?"
The look of disgust and distrust, which she held especially for Larry, softened. "Yeah?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Or do we not want to cheer him up?"
"Of course we do." Janet replied. It was nice to hear someone else say it. "The food really is that good?"
"Oh sure. They've got some really hot dishes here."
She frowned at the wording. "Okay…"
But Larry couldn't help himself and let out a mischievous laugh, which Janet didn't like the sound of at all.
"What?"
"Ah, nothing… I just hope he doesn't enjoy himself too much before I get there."
She thought back to Terri's likely accurate prediction from earlier. The skeeviness was practically emanating from the building's brick exterior.
And oh, how she wished she could've been stuck in line with one of her roommates, each of whom were more pleasant than Larry by miles.
.
Thanks to the four guys manning the bar, the wait to get drinks wasn't nearly as long as the one outside. As soon as one bartender took their order, another jumped straight into action to whip up their drinks. Terri bopped her head along to Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out and ignored Jack's continued anxious surveillance of the club.
When the bartender finished prepping their drinks and slid them down the bar to the roommates, Terri had to forcefully press the glass into Jack's hand because he was so distracted.
The blonde had planned to walk around, maybe take a seat at one of the tables, and just generally enjoy the scene while they sipped their drinks. Jack, however, downed the contents of his beverage in a few gulps before they even had a chance to walk away from the bar.
He slammed his empty glass back onto the counter. "You ready to go?"
"What?" He questioned when she responded with an unamused look.
One of the bartenders quickly cleaned up the glass from the counter. "Another?"
"Yes, please." Terri answered for her roommate.
Jack sighed impatiently and watched her take the tiniest, most miniscule sip from her straw.
And when the bartender returned to their spot by the counter with another full glass, Jack chugged that one down as well.
Terri glared at him.
"What?" He asked again innocently.
"Would you stop that?"
"How about you catch up instead?"
"Sit down." She pointed at a pair of stools that had just been abandoned.
"No, no!" Jack said. "We don't need to sit down. We're just having a quick drink!"
"We'll leave when I'm done." Terri declared.
He whined in protest, but there was nothing he could do but take that seat. He scowled when she asked one of the bartenders for a large order of fries.
After taking another agonizingly slow sip from her drink, she turned in her seat. "What exactly was the point of you coming on this trip again? To make it difficult for any of us to have fun?"
Jack swiveled around on his stool to give the room another anxious lookover. "It's… not that, Terri."
"Yeah, right."
"No, no really." He noticed a curtain probably big enough to conceal a stage and his heart started pounding. "It's just this place, it's-"
Still puzzled by this constant searching, Terri mimicked his movement, trying to understand what he was looking for.
"It's actually not that bad." She shrugged and went back to her drink. "Considering it's run by a used car salesman."
"I don't know, Terri. I think there are better places to see. We're only here for a few days after all."
"Well, then everywhere we go after this place will be an improvement." The blonde replied too easily. "We're just setting the bar really low."
Then there was a record scratch loud enough to be heard over the crowd and growing cheers sounded out from the other side of the club, where the big curtain slowly revealed the stage Jack knew would be there. And instinctively, the two turned in the direction of the noise.
"Oh, no." Jack said when he saw a set of poles on the stage.
He had to act quickly. He put a hand on Terri's face and physically turned it away from the stage.
She jerked her head away from him. "What the-"
But before she could complete her expletive-filled question, Diana Ross's 'Muscles' began blaring out throughout the club. Strobe lights began to flicker slowly. It even looked like a smoke machine had been turned on.
The crowd, which consisted mostly of women, cheered even harder when a group of shiny, muscular men began sauntering onto the stage.
While this introduction was all taking place, the roommates involved themselves in a struggle, pushing and shoving at each other until Terri won and finally saw what Jack had been so pressed about since getting here.
Her mouth dropped open.
"Oh my god."
Jack was cringing, readying himself for the consequences of Larry's actions. But then he too registered what was happening on stage.
Stunned, they sat motionless.
When the show transitioned into Kool & The Gang's upbeat 'Ladies Night', Terri finally broke the silence, though her eyes were still glued to the dancers. "I can't believe you didn't tell us about this!"
"Yeah." Jack blinked. "I- I can't believe it either…"
He gave the room another look around. This was the biggest group of women he had seen in his life. And he let out a breath of relief. This wouldn't be his last day on Earth after all! And he started laughing. He looked back at Terri, who remained hyper focused on the show. He even waved a hand in front of her face, but it was like she was in a trance.
He relaxed a bit in his seat, and asked for another drink when the bartender delivered their serving of fries.
.
"Strippers!?" Janet's screech could be heard down the block. "Strippers? Really, Larry?"
The jig was up. And all it took was Janet overhearing the group of guys standing in front of them talking about how the place could only be this packed because of how excited everyone was for the strip shows.
Larry swore quietly. They were so close to the front of the line. He'd been this close to getting away with it.
"I can't believe you!" She lectured and the people around looked on in interest.
"Hey, I always stop by Brian's when I come to Vegas!" Larry defended himself. "And I thought it'd cheer Jack up!"
She blinked hard, trying to process this stupid logic. "What about me and Terri?"
He opened his mouth but she interrupted him. "Actually, don't answer that."
She was so angry that she didn't know what to do with herself.
"If you think you're going to have any fun tonight, you've got another thing coming." She threatened.
Truthfully, he thought Janet was very scary, but he had to hold his ground.
"Janet, I think we've got more important things to worry about than the entertainment tonight."
"Your shortened life expectancy should be very concerning to you."
Larry nodded over to the entrance. Her outburst in the line had caught the attention of the Freds. They locked eyes and Big Fred made a point of waving that stupid clipboard of questions in the air at them.
"We're never getting inside." Larry declared. "They've got it out for us."
"I don't blame them." She huffed.
"Hey, in case you haven't realized, Jack and Terri are still in there. Which means we have to get in there too. Unless you want to leave them to their own devices."
She glowered at him.
"They've been in there a while actually." He took a good look at his watch again. "Maybe they are enjoying that atmosphere." He always thought Terri was the more relaxed and cool one of Jack's roommates.
"How about instead of making stupid comments, you focus on thinking about how you're going to answer that trivia question?"
She also made note of the time though. The others had been in there quite a while… but she didn't know what to make of these pieces of information at this point.
"Does anyone here know who won the Nobel Peace prize for chemistry this year?" Larry made a plea to the queue.
Janet shook her head. "I don't think anyone coming to this place would know the answer to that question, Larry."
She looked out at the bustling crowd of people in the street. They should have planned better. How on earth were they supposed to tell Jack and Terri that they couldn't get into the party? Hopefully, they'd have enough sense to think to check on them after a certain amount of time went by.
Then she noticed a couple of guys dressed in kitchen staff attire, an all-too-familiar uniform after living with Jack all these years. They turned the corner where the line of people ended. Since the building next door housed the car dealership, she had to assume those guys were coming in for their late shift at the club.
While Janet was considering something, Larry had succumbed to asking the people around them if this was their second time going through the line and if so, what trivia questions had they gotten. He also took to warning the people that the bouncers did not play fair.
Janet knew this had the potential to be a terrible idea, but what else could they do? Wait until they got back to the front of the line only to get the Nobel Peace question again? She worried about Jack and Terri being stuck in there without her. Jack had been in such an awful mood today and Terri didn't have nearly enough patience for him. And now throwing strippers into the mix? She had to get in there.
"Larry." She nudged his arm as she leaned over the rope that kept the line of people from spilling out into the street.
"Look, I'm just trying to use the resources we have around us. That doesn't count as cheating."
"No." She hissed. "I think I've got a better way to guarantee we get into this club."
This caught his attention and he finally took the time to look at whatever she was doing.
"Is the back entrance around the corner there?"
He quickly caught on to what she was implying. "Yeah, it sure is."
The brunette craned her neck to check the front of the line again. The Freds had gone back to questioning patrons. Since the coast was clear, she slipped under the rope, freeing herself from the line, and Larry followed suit.
.
"You know what?" Terri confessed. She plopped back down into the empty stool next to Jack and took a swig from her drink. "This place is great!" Her face was flushed from all the excitement and cheering for the dancers.
Jack dipped a fry into a pile of ketchup. "Glad you're having fun."
"Me too!" She said brightly. "You don't have any ones do you?"
"No." He lied.
"Damn." She snapped her fingers. "You guys should've told us we'd need lots of dollar bills!"
"Terri, I'm pretty sure it's been 30 minutes. Can we leave?" Yes, the anxiety over the strippers was gone, but now he was just bored to death.
The blonde gaped at him. "No way!"
"But what about Janet and Larry?"
"Ugh." Honestly, she had forgotten about their dilemma.
He made an annoyed sound right back at her. "Were you planning on leaving them outside all night?"
"No." She thought about how to prolong their stay. "How do we even know they haven't made it inside?"
"Well-" Jack started but he looked around them. He could see her point. It was so packed full of people and so hard to see, Janet and Larry could very well already be inside looking for them.
Terri took a smug little sip from her straw.
"In that case, instead of sitting on our asses and watching those guys tear their clothes off again, we should actually look for them."
She squinted at him. Now he wanted to be the responsible one. "Fine."
"Meet back here in 10 minutes?" Jack suggested.
"I guess so."
Jack stalked away from the bar, glad to be on a mission. And Terri signaled to a bartender for a refill before she also went on her way.
"Trouble in paradise?" A woman sitting near Terri at the bar asked.
"Huh?"
"You and your boyfriend." Terri had to follow the stranger's eyes to see she was actually just referring to Jack. "I can't believe you brought him here."
The blonde looked offended. "Oh, he is not my boyfriend."
"Really?" The woman shifted in her seat and looked at Jack with a bit more interest.
"Really. More like an annoying brother I never asked for." And she thanked the bartender before going on her own search for the rest of their group.
.
Turning the corner into the little alley brought them a brief moment of quiet that was impossible with the crowd out in the street. As they stepped further into the dully lit space, a door opened, letting a beam of light and muffled upbeat music escape into the alley. And out popped a man with a trash bag in hand and cigarette in mouth.
"Excuse me!" Janet, ever courageous, hurried forward.
The cigarette man used his foot to keep the back door propped open while he swung the trash bag into a dumpster a few feet away. He looked over his shoulder. "Guests go through the other door."
"Oh, no. We're uh-" She lied quickly. "We're the new hires."
"The new hires?"
"Yeah!" Janet nodded. "Isn't that right, Larry?" She elbowed his stomach a little too hard.
He nodded and added a strained, "Yup."
The guy raised an eyebrow and kept his foot in front of the door. "Hired for what?"
"Well-"
"Entertainment." Larry jumped in with a grin. He always appreciated a good lie.
The employee looked them up and down. "...entertainment?"
She might actually kill Larry. Did he really think he could get away with the suggestion that they were a pair of strippers… "Actually-"
"Yeah, we're the new lounge act." Larry explained.
"Oh, so you sing?"
"Do we?" Larry replied enthusiastically, while Janet looked on with daggers in her eyes. If he would just let her do the lying.
The guy smirked. "Okay. Let's hear it then."
Janet's stomach dropped. "H-hear it?"
"Yeah!" The guy ducked his head into the kitchen. "Hey, Tommy! Come here!"
Janet ran a hand through her hair nervously while Larry beamed.
Another guy, who had to be Tommy, appeared in the doorway.
"What's up?"
"You wanna hear the new entertainment?"
Tommy frowned. "Aren't they fully booked tonight?"
"That's what I thought." The nameless cook shrugged and took a drag on his cigarette. "They say they're lounge singers."
"Oh, a husband and wife act?"
"No." Janet blurted out.
"Thankfully." Larry added. "We're just neighbors."
"Ah." Tommy replied and smiled at Janet.
"A just neighbors act." The cigarette man said. "That's new."
"I'll say." Janet mumbled.
"Let's hear it then." He repeated. "We don't have all night."
"Sure." Larry cleared his throat. "Got any requests?"
"Why, your signature act of course."
"Of course." Larry obliged in stride.
Janet thought these two had to be complete idiots if they really believed this lounge act duo story.
"Follow my lead, Wood." He instructed Janet. "One, two, three…" And then there was a lengthy pause as he tried to think of a duet on the fly.
"Uh, ahhh la- lo- love… lift us up where we belooooong."
Everyone else stared at him.
"Where the eeeeagles cry on a mouuuuuntain high." Pitchy at best.
Janet closed her eyes and sighed before attempting to harmonize.
"...Love lift us up where we belong… far from the world we know, where the clear wind blows." She cringed throughout the ordeal, knowing a fake sense of confidence couldn't magically give her a good singing voice.
Tommy and the cigarette man let them sing for a few more moments before putting Janet out of her misery.
"...So, you were hired to perform here?" Tommy asked, stifling a laugh. "Based on your
singing abilities?"
Janet put a hand up in front of Larry's face before he could speak and embarrass them even more.
"You know what?" She chuckled. "We're just putting you on."
"Nooo." The cigarette man fake gasped.
"We're actually here to interview with Brian." She admitted. "To fill the uh… seasonal bartender positions."
Larry frowned. That was so boring.
"Oh, so you're bartenders?"
Janet nodded. "Uh huh."
"Bartenders and aspiring lounge act singers trying to break onto the scene." Larry added with flair.
"Sure, sure." Tommy said. "So where'd you work before?"
"Uh, Jack's Bistro!" She grinned. "Ever heard of it?"
The guys looked at each other and thought.
"Can't say we have." Tommy said.
"Figures." She replied. "It's an LA exclusive."
"Must be." The nameless man tossed his cigarette butt onto the ground.
And then Tommy did something miraculous. He stood aside and waved them in.
They were stunned but shuffled their way on into the little kitchen.
"Would you like us to find Brian for you?" Tommy offered.
Larry took this opportunity to tell a piece of truthful information for once. "No need. Brian and I go way back. We'll find him."
"Okay. You know where to find us if you need anything."
"We sure do. Thank you." Janet smiled graciously at their stroke of luck. And she followed after Larry, hurrying out of the kitchen and towards the noisy club music.
"Don't tell me you believed any of that." The smoking man asked once their guests were out of earshot.
"Of course not." Tommy closed the back door. "Nobody does interviews at 11:45 at night."
"Then why'd you let them in?"
"She's cute." Tommy shrugged. "Can't sing for shit, but she's cute."
.
Ten minutes of searching for any sign of Janet and/or Larry went fast. Jack returned to the bar like he and Terri agreed. When another ten minutes passed by, he realized he'd probably just lost Terri to the crowd as well. And was really starting to feel the two drinks he chugged in a matter of seconds plus the third he had during the strip show. He was smart enough to decide to stay in one place and wait, and stupid enough to order another drink and plate of fries.
A woman with long dark hair slid onto the stool next to his.
He smiled politely.
"Hi." She said seductively.
"Hi." He mimicked her whispery tone.
"I was wondering if you were ever coming back to the bar."
He munched on a french fry. "You were?" Was he supposed to know who this woman was?
"I talked to your sister." The woman answered his unspoken question
Yeah, he must be drunk. And this woman must be drunk too. "My sister…?"
"The blonde in the blue dress." She clarified. "She's dancing with one of the strippers over there."
Jack's eyes followed her pointed finger and saw the blonde in question, Terri, was having the time of her life dancing with a shiny, baby oil covered guy.
"Oh, that sister." He didn't know why they were using that cover, but he didn't care enough to fight it.
The stranger chuckled. "So what's a good looking guy like you doing sitting here all by yourself?"
A slow smile formed on his face. "Good looking?" He leaned in a little closer.
"Yeah!" She also leaned in. "So, what gives?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, are you gay?"
The question was so bluntly put, he pulled back. "Wha- what makes you ask that?"
"I don't know, it might be all the women and gay guys who are here to see the male strippers."
"Oh. Right." He giggled.
He popped another french fry into his mouth and nodded along to the beat of the music.
But the mystery woman kept staring at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." And he held up the plate of fries, offering to share.
She laughed. "Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Gay?"
"Oh! No." He answered. "I didn't even know we were coming here tonight. And when I did know, I didn't know the strippers were going to be guys."
She laughed again. "You're funny."
And she held out her hand. "Bonnie."
He shook it. "Jack!"
"Jack, would you like to dance?"
He gave the club a quick once over. The only face he recognized was Terri's, and she was still dancing with the stripper. No trace of Janet or Larry.
"Okay, Bonnie!" And he finished up the rest of his drink, grabbed a handful of fries, and led the way to the dancefloor.
.
Though it was exciting to bypass the bouncers and scheme their way into the club, Janet had to refocus and remember that she was supposed to be mad right now. They were going to find Jack and Terri and then walk right back out of the building.
But, she and Larry received shocks to their systems when they headed into an overwhelmingly female crowd. This didn't make much sense, but Janet was on a rescue mission.
"How are we going to find them? There are so many people here!" She had to shout over the Pointer Sisters' 'I'm So Excited', which was playing so loudly, you could feel it in your chest.
But Larry was too busy ogling at the women located quite literally everywhere you looked.
"Larry!" She grabbed his shoulder and shook him a little violently. "Larry."
"Huh?" He seemed to have forgotten she was still there. "Uh, why don't you go have some fun. We'll all meet up later."
"Uh, no."
"Well, fine. If you want to tag along, by all means. But you have to be cool."
"Be cool- we have to find Jack and Terri!"
He was still very distracted. "What?"
"Jack and Terri?" She shouted. "Our friends? The people we came here with?"
He held out his arm. "Check my pulse?"
"What?"
"I think I've died and gone to heaven." And with that he made himself disappear into the sea of women.
She threw her arms into the air. She had to do everything herself!
.
This was one of those times when she cursed her short stature. It was hard to make out most people's faces as she searched for her friends.
And she was so busy side stepping drunk dancing people that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going and walked straight into the back of someone.
Apologies were already leaving her lips when she realized she recognized the blonde head of hair.
"Terri!" Finally, another sane person.
The blonde whipped around. "Janet!" She shrieked. "You made it!"
Janet's eyes drifted from Terri to the, not one, but two shiny men who were keeping her company.
Terri noticed her face. " Oh, silly me. Janet, this is Brady." She put a hand on the arm of the man closest to her. "And that's Hank." She said brightly.
Then she leaned over to talk in Janet's ear. "They're strippers."
"Wait." Suddenly all the pieces were falling into place.
Terri grinned again, reading her mind despite being a little tipsy at this point. "It's ladies night!"
All of that anger that built up while she was with Larry quickly dissipated and she laughed at this turn of events.
"I'll bet this makes the wait worth it, huh?"
Janet's eyes moved back to Brady and Hank. "Oh, you have no idea."
"Well, hey, these two can stay for a couple more songs before their next show." Terri filled her in. "You wanna dance?"
Janet came this close to accepting that invitation, but someone else's presence was lacking...
"Wait. Where's Jack?"
Terri raised her eyebrows. "Uh… that's a great question."
"Terri!"
The blonde sighed.
"You had one job!" Janet exclaimed. "Watch Jack."
"I know, but-"
"But?"
Terri gestured helplessly to the strippers, still standing, now a little awkwardly, in their presence.
Janet cocked her head, judgment and disappointment written all over her face. This night probably would've gone a lot better if Terri had been the one stuck outside with Larry.
"Oh, come on." Terri called guiltily when Janet turned on her heels. "Where are you going?"
"To find Jack!"
.
And find Jack she did.
When she caught him in full view, his torso was above everyone else's in the crowd due to
his dancing atop a chair, and he was very obviously putting on a performance for a small group of women surrounding him.
Now, she had to pause and remind herself that it was perfectly within his rights to talk to (and dance for) whomever he wanted. And she had absolutely no logical reason to be upset with him for doing so.
Still… This image before her perfectly summarized what it was like with Jack. It didn't matter how close she thought they were, there would always be countless women waiting in the wings.
She had to shake away that sinking feeling because it always led to an achy sense of sadness that was harder to shake when it came about.
And she stepped closer to the little gathering.
"Jack!" She called.
"GET BACK! HANDS OFF! GO FOR IT!" He sing-shouted along with George Michael. He was dancing so hard that he nearly danced right off the chair. God, he looked so drunk. But his eyes flew open when he caught himself from falling, and in doing so, he managed to spot her outside the periphery of women encircling him.
"Janet!" He stopped dancing immediately and remained standing on his chair. "You're here!"
The little group of women turned to see who could possibly be so important that their little show needed to be interrupted.
"Who is this?" Bonnie asked.
"She's my Janet! My roommate!"
"You live with her?"
"Well, yeah. That's what roommate means."
Even in his drunken state he noted the looks the women exchanged, like they'd all been played and this man was in fact not single and available.
Janet sighed. "It's not what you think." They'd had to go into this spiel about their living arrangement so many times over the years, the response was reflexive at this point.
"Yeah!" Jack insisted. "That blonde lady lives with us too." He pointed in the distance to where Terri was, still chatting with the two strippers. Miraculous that he had managed to keep an eye on Terri in his current state.
"Oh, so she's your other sister?" Bonnie asked, referring to Janet. The rest of the women looked relieved at the possibility.
"Janet? Nooo. Oh no. She's Janet." He looked down at her with that stupid goofy grin of his and she couldn't help but smile back.
There was a brief pause amongst the group before the women came to an unspoken agreement and started deserting Jack at his post.
Bonnie was the last to make her exit behind the others, but she turned around to address Jack one last time.
"Coming to the strip club with your sister is weird, you freak."
And with that, the only person who remained in his audience was Janet.
Jack frowned. "Well, that was rude."
Janet chuckled. "Your sister?" She held out a hand to help him safely step down from the chair.
His shrug was very exaggerated in his drunken state. He took hold of her arm and unintentionally stomped down a little hard on the ground and stumbled into her.
She helped prop him back up in a standing position. "There's a time and place for the sibling lie. And this," She nodded to the goings on around them, "isn't either of those things."
Truthfully, Jack didn't care either way what those random women thought about coming to see male strippers with his nonexistent sister. He was more glad to see a familiar face he could count on. "What took you so long?"
"It turns out the line doesn't go faster when you stand in it the second time."
"Well, thank god you're here." He declared and lightly poked her on the nose.
She smiled. "You didn't have any fun this whole time?" She asked skeptically. After all, she did just walk in on him performing for his life.
"Not really." He answered, still leaning onto her for support. "Terri just wanted to watch the naked men dance. So all I got to do was sit at the bar."
"And put on a show of your own." She added.
He shrugged again. What else was he supposed to do? Not dance?
"Terri didn't even want to go look for you and Larry." He said very seriously.
"Oh?"
He put a hand to his chest. "But I did. Honest."
"Well, I appreciate that." She reached up and wiped ketchup from the corner of his mouth.
They remained still, arm in arm, while the strangers around them danced their hearts out to Olivia Newton-John urging the listener to make a move.
Jack always thought Janet's eyes were sparkly, but for some reason they seemed even sparklier in this purple light. He could look into them forever.
Janet tilted her head to the side and returned the dopey smile he was giving her. He was a hot mess, face covered in sweat from dancing so hard, and it looked like there was even more ketchup that had dried onto the front of his shirt, but she didn't care. While Terri and Larry were keen to have their fun in the crowd where all the excitement was, she'd choose for things to be just like this any day.
But even in this hazy lighting, she could see his face lose some of its color as his smile faded.
He swallowed at the air. "Janet."
The yucky churning feeling in his stomach hit him out of nowhere.
"What is it, Jack?"
"Janet, I don't feel so good." Only now did all of those fries, all of those drinks, and all of that dancing seem like a bad idea in combination.
She frowned, concerned. "What kind of 'don't feel good'?"
"The 'need a bathroom to throw up in' kind." He took another deep breath.
"Oh, god." She looked all around them. "Okay. Uh…" There was no bathroom nearby from what she could see.
Thinking fast, she thought it was best to just get him out of the way of people, which was hard to do because you couldn't go anywhere without nearly stepping on someone's foot.
Jack groaned at being forced to move so quickly.
"Don't worry. We're nearly there." She lied.
After some serious weaving in and out through a drunken dancing crowd, they finally reached a wall. Maybe if they just scaled the fringe of the club, they'd eventually find a door to a bathroom.
"Janet! Jack!" Just a few feet away from them was Terri calling them over. Her two new friends were still by her side.
Janet led Jack slowly to the trio.
She immediately noticed the queasy look on Jack's face. "What's wrong?"
"Uh, Jack feels like he's gonna be sick." Janet explained. She turned to the strippers. "Would you guys be able to point us in the direction of the bathroom?"
Brady or Hank, she forgot who was who, pointed towards the corner behind them. And sure enough, there was a neon sign highlighting the bathroom's entrance.
"Thanks." She winced.
"Do you want me to help?" Terri asked.
"Um,"
Jack closed his eyes. "Janet…"
Taking this warning very seriously, Janet started moving him along. She looked over her shoulder at Terri. "I've got this! Just go get Larry!"
Terri nodded and immediately started explaining to Brady and Hank what Larry looked like so they could assist her.
It was a close call, but Janet walked Jack straight into the men's room just in time to listen to him vomit and groan into one of the stall's toilets.
"Jack, honey?" She called out after a few moments. "Do you feel any better?"
He moaned a little before answering. "Kind of… Not really."
"I'm sorry."
"Janet?"
"Yeah?"
"It smells so bad in here."
She managed a laugh. "I know, Jack."
"And Janet?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for finding me a bathroom." She really was the best.
She smiled. "Well, I couldn't have you throwing up out there on the dancefloor."
"I can always count on you. I don't know what I'd do without ya."
A quick knock came at the door announcing Terri and Larry's arrival.
"How is he?" Terri murmured.
"Well, he threw up twice." Janet said. "And he still feels nauseous."
The blonde shook her head. "You should've seen how fast he was putting down those drinks."
Larry put his hands in his pockets. "So, what did you need me for?"
"We have to leave." Janet said.
Both Larry and Terri's faces fell.
"What?"
"Why?"
Janet blinked at them. "...What do you think!?"
"But it's ladies night! The strippers are guys!" Larry exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Terri added.
"And you lucked out there." Janet raised her eyebrows at Larry. "Jack can't stay here like this."
He let out a pitiful groan from his stall.
Larry crossed his arms. "So one guy can't handle a few drinks and now all of us have to leave?"
"We're not going to just send Jack off in a cab by himself!"
"Okay, then you can take him back to the hotel." He proposed. "And we'll stay here."
"I don't know if you forgot, but we only have one key to that room between the four of us." Janet took the key from an inner pocket in her coat and held it in front of her face. "It's already late. I'm not staying up all night just to let you back in."
Terri sighed, she knew they had no chance of winning this one. "Come on, Larry. Let's go call a cab."
"But-" He sputtered. "I spent half the night outside."
"I know. And we're about to miss the next show from the guys." She added, throwing a reproachful look Janet's way.
Janet was ready to give them both a lecture about having some sympathy for their friend, but Larry's interjection wouldn't let her.
"Oh, who cares about that." He stated sourly, his thoughts were on the ratio of women to men out there. "Anyone can do what they do. I could do what they do."
Even though she and Larry were both Team Stay, Terri couldn't help herself from cackling at him.
"I'd like to see that."
"I bet you would."
Jack hurled again.
And Janet ordered the two to cut it out and just call a cab already.