Private Dancer
Crinkles inadvertently began to form on the edges of the once smooth white paper. It had been opened and folded too many times for it not to occur. The wear not bothering its owner as much since its presence meant that its contents were all the more real.
Most believed passing the bar is the final step in the journey to become an attorney. Television and movies have told that story time and time again but, they are wrong. After passing the Georgia Bar Exam, one has to take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. Once you've successfully passed that, then comes the Transition into the Law Practice Program. A yearlong mandatory program where mentors guide new bar members through the first steps of a legal career.
Parked in the vacant lot behind her current job, Michonne stared at her enrollment letter. Algebra and a calendar syncing to hypothesis on the obligatory duration of her current occupation. Loans from a bachelor's degree had been paid in full leaving the final balances from the pursuit of her law degree to be reimbursed. Even from behind the building the neon lights flickering to life could be seen. They distracted from the continuous mathematics Michonne attempted. It had become a daily occurrence since the letter arrived, trying to figure out just how long being here was necessary.
Folding her precious letter, slipping it back into its envelope before placing it in the gloved compartment of her vehicle for safe keeping had become routine. Michonne climbed out the driver's seat making her way to the trunk to grab her large duffle bag. She took a deep breath and slammed it closed proceeding to the employee entrance. She was early as per her usual. Such as with anything she did, she liked to be prepared and having extra time allowed her just that.
She was set to tap at the door but it swung open.
"I was wondering how long you'd be out there." the large and tall bouncer smiled as he granted her access.
"Thanks for looking out for me Big Tiny." Michonne genuinely returned this small form of affection for the gentle giant that kept the riff raff at arm's length.
"I got you." he replied while she continued down the dim hall to the dressing room.
It smelled of sweet artificial sprays, lingering perfumes and oils all meant to disguise the true odor of desperation. Though large, it rapidly became chaotic once the other women began to arrive. There was always a tale to be told. Hell, usually they were numerous. Arguments were a plenty when money and status were involved. Jealousy could bread a level of hostility where blows were exchanged.
Michonne mostly stayed out of the fray, they all knew she had a blueprint. And unlike some past and present predecessors she had actually followed through. That alone could build resentment from others discarded dreams. But Michonne wasn't there for the bullshit. A lesson a girl or two found out the hard way when they landed on their asses after stepping to her. Damaging their product wasn't going to help their bitter plights when they all learned Michonne wasn't to be trifled with. Combined with the fact this wasn't a lifestyle for her but a means to sustain her course. An exit on the horizon, assuaged most from pursuing further turmoil with her. Some even admired her for it. So instead, the acrimonious turn to the next girl in line, the one that would be competition to their chance at filling the top spot- once it was vacated.
For a while, Michonne was able to conduct her preparations in relative peace. A chance to maintain her serenity while preparing for the performance she was to provide. But the arrival of her coworkers was always to be known. Eventually, abrupt ruckus of boisterous conversations, playlists blasted from not so personal devices and general dispositions ranging from irritation to elation would encompass the gathering area. The women greeting her and each other in varying degrees while getting themselves ready.
Don't get it wrong, Michonne had grown close to a few of the ladies. It wasn't her intention to make friends but the energy synced and the relationships blossomed. Sasha, Rosita and Juanita always had her back and she did the same for them. They sat around her applying the balms that allowed the barely-there pieces to slip over their skin. Skin to be on view for all to see- for the price of admission.
The house DJ's warmup set rattled into an actual playlist alerting them that the doors were opening. Even from the back, the fanfare could be heard. Spectators were ushered in to fulfill the drink minimum while they awaited the highly coveted show. An experience they'd never forget especially when their bank account was emptier the next morning. People always had preconceived notions on what aspects were trying in this field. One of the largest job requirements- make the customer feel this was an experience. Not something they were duped into. You didn't have repeat business if the consumer feels taken advantage of. No matter what they say they came for the fantasy. Their own escape from the realities of the world.
The clomp clomp of platform clogs announced the arrival of two more coworkers. Everyone in the dressing room rolled their eyes, sighed and took sips from their plastic cups because the sound resonated from the public area of the club. The direction they weren't supposed to enter from.
The waft thin brunette dug around in her locker until she found what she was looking for. "I'm going to use these wipes to get ready."
"Oh, let me borrow one!" the dirty blonde requested.
"We are going to make so much money tonight!"
"I feel it in my bones!"
"You feel everything in your bones cause it's only that and skin." Juanita who used the stage name Princess muttered making her friends giggle at the other woman's expense.
Andrea dryly laughed before pivoting to Rosita. "But you don't have to worry, we saw Eugene out there waiting for you."
Rosita rolled her eyes at the mention of her highest paying and weirdest client's presence. But she kept the focus on the pair's excitement. "What makes you two think you will be make so much money tonight?"
The duo side eyed both women but their sureness made them want to answer. "There's a bachelor's party going on."
"And?" Juanita chortled and her Nuyorican accent came out. "Mira, there's always a bachelor party."
"Justo, so why does that mean you two will make money tonight?" Rosita queried.
Lori, the darker haired one moved to her seat at the makeup mirrors so her reflection projected her further smugness. "It's just that this group may be more… inclined to what we have to offer. That's all."
Her buddy, Andrea nodded as she conducted her bath.
Sasha snickered after a shared look with her friends. "Oh, you mean flat asses."
All the women around burst out laughing and shook their plump asses to further taunt the women then continued their own routines.
"We are in Atlanta and a lot of the clientele comes here for-" Lori began by looking to the other's physiques but closed her mouth when they eyeballed her.
"Why can't we be excited for one night?" Lori fumed, playing victim.
"Mommy, no one is hating on you. Make your money." Juanita smirked.
"We will." Lori continued getting ready turning to Andrea. "Which one was the bachelor?"
"I think the swaggering one with the big ears and nose. Tousled mop of hair." she shrugged indifferently. "He was cute enough. I'll definitely grab his cock- see what happens."
They both laughed before she went on. "But the one with the chestnut curls, bowlegs and those-"
"Blue eyes!" Lori interrupted. "I call dibs!"
"What is this elementary school?" Sasha rubbed her temple.
Andrea the one of the duo that was slightly more tolerated by the women attempted to convince them. "You have to see him. You will be making a play for him too."
"No, you two just haven't learned anything about keeping your eyes on the wall. You don't look at their faces." Sasha instructed.
"Everyone doesn't have to live by some arbitrary rules set by a stripper." Lori rolled her eyes.
Michonne didn't need to respond because her girls had her back. The three of them recited her guidelines. "All the men come in these places and the men are all the same. You don't think of them as human, you don't think of them at all."
Just then the owner and operator of this establishment walked in. Jacqui was a former dancer herself and hung up her sky high stilettos to become one of the first female owners in the adult fantasy game. She had high end clientele flocking in to see the mix of talent only she provided. A mostly upscale production that allowed the women to perform in an environment that kept their safety and individual comfort levels in their own hands. She was savvy, keeping a variety of employees to cater to any taste. But she also encouraged them to go for their dreams because if they succeeded that could be attributed to her tutelage. A legacy that would bring new talent and guests flocking to her open doors.
"Ladies! It's time to perform!"
The women shouted, clapped and did little dances to hype themselves up while celebrating their boss's arrival. Jacqui pointed a few girls out.
"Go get them hot and bothered."
"Yes!" they exclaimed and hustled past to make their way to the floor. Even from down the hall, the DJ's muffled announcement of their arrivals could be heard to create excited barks and roars from enthusiastic spectators.
"Sasha, you will be our opener." the toasted brown complected cutie nodded her understanding.
"Juanita and Rosita, you two will follow then proceed to the mini stages before you work the crowd. Tease them a little."
The pair chuckled in agreement, happy they'd picked costuming tonight that complimented one another.
Jacqui turned to her headliner. "Michonne-"
"What about us?" Andrea cut Jacqui off with her eagerness.
"You two will work the crowd, a little time on the mini stages later, lap dances, back rooms. Your usual." the boss spotted the looks of disappointment. "What did you have in mind?"
"There's a bachelor party here and we think we will have to sweep the floor to get all the money we can pull out of them." Lori confidently proclaimed through her lopsided bangs.
"Is that right?"
They both nodded enthusiastically.
"You have a routine set up together?"
Widened eyes let anyone watching know that they didn't. Their dance skills were not what they were known for.
"How about this? You two take the stage in tandem right now."
"Really?"
"Yes. This is your shot to show me what you've got."
"Thank you." Andrea and Lori grinned with arrogant accomplishment before clomping their way out.
Sasha, Rosita and Juanita sat with muted faces attempting to mask the disbelief. Michonne remained poised until Jacqui finally exhaled. "I'm really trying with those two."
They all blurt out laughing in total agreement.
"Sasha, this just means you have to absolutely bring it when you open. Because chile, those two will be a mess. At least whatever fiasco they create will allow me to keep them working the floor and the back rooms for a few months until they gather courage to ask again."
They all shook their heads and giggled. After some small talk, Michonne remained seated and her friends made their way out to prepare for the lineup leaving her with Jacqui. They remained in silence for a moment before Jacqui took the seat vacated by Sasha.
"Planning your escape for the hundredth time, huh?"
Michonne giggled. "That obvious?"
"Same face I saw in the mirror for years. And I don't say that to mean you will remain as I did. We can't know when our true turning point is arriving. Make plans, but be ready for a pivot at any moment. Whether early or late."
"My life has been so regimented something off course may just send me into a tailspin."
"Could be exactly what you want."
Michonne snorted unconvinced that that could be anyone's desired endgame.
"You told me you made plans to be an attorney long ago. You've stuck to that, not letting anything or anyone get in your way… Not even yourself."
"What does that mean?"
"Besides the esteemed career, when you look into your heart, what do you really want?"
Michonne opened her mouth expecting words to genuinely flow but she was stumped.
Jacqui looked fondly at the now emptied space around them before reaching over and rubbing her hand, affectionately smiling. "Be honest with yourself. Think about it. Something to dwell on when you come to terms that your days here are really numbered."
Michonne watched her boss stand and slowly exit the room. What did she want besides the job that would allow her to help so many people that looked like her? So they also would have a chance at succeeding in a world designed to keep them down. There needed to be some place soft, caring and loving for her to land after the stressful days. A place of peace to foster the healing needed to charge forward. Someone to provide the intimacy she'd been denying herself for so long.
All of these thoughts tumbled unrequested into her mind but she quickly blocked them. Tonight, she had work to do. She needed to focus on her original plan. Not these flights of fancy her employer had sprung on her. She'd created something just for these occasions when a desire was stoked. The mantra she'd taught the girls kept her eyes on the goalpost. Michonne ran through her guidelines silently as the bass of the club boomed seemingly pounding it in with each thump.
After a few minutes of realignment, Michonne departed the dressing room. Inching down the hall to notify the MC that she was ready for her set. She took her place behind the curtain and listened as the hype man did just that regarding her arrival. The crowd's excitement was palpable generating vibrations that reverberated through her body. She made sure the tiny bits of the custom glittery, silver string bikini were in place before deeply exhaling. Then whispered to herself.
"You keep your mind on the money."
The songs she danced to occasionally differed from what others in the industry used. Popular trap song with lots of beats were the norm to get the crowd hyped. But tonight Michonne choose an old school jam to set herself apart.
When Candy by Cameo began she didn't wait for the curtain to open, she grabbed it edges flinging them apart. Popping out to bask in the hoots and shouts of all who had come to marvel at her feet. Her stance confident while she waited for the initial riff at the beginning of the song to signal her quick saunter down center stage past the pole.
'It's like candy… I can feel it when you walk'
At the precise moment of the cymbal, Michonne had flipped herself forward to land in a middle split. Her legs open wide to the audience that immediately began the rain of money down on her for her show of flexibility. She promptly rolled backwards keeping her legs outstretched until she arrived at the pole.
Michonne was thick in the right places but also physically fit and she used her strong arms and shoulders to hoist up into a straddle pike handstand. With the beat, she closed and fully opened her legs clicking her stacked, clear glass heels together a few times.
After, her body melted to the stage slowly as she turned from the crowd and ascended the pole. Higher and higher she climbed, she could hear the onlooker's elation at her acrobatics. She contorted her body into various positions around the shiny silver rod that looked as though she scarcely held it. A trick to use the friction of the instrument against one's skin was the key. Muscles and body knowledge were also a must. Practice made perfect.
A few more poses, midair splits and booty claps had her upside down. She used the opportunity to abruptly drop, twice on her descent she paused to shock her viewers with the wonder of whether she would somehow fail and hit the ground. But this was all too routine for Michonne who was ready for the next part of the performance.
Singling out someone to make the object of her affection- It not only grew her demand with that particular man but the others who wished they could've been that lucky bastard. They'd tip well even for public lap dances after it. It helped not just her but all the dancers in the club.
Michonne pretended to make eye contact with random people in the crowd, stirring up their exhilaration. Blue neon lights trimmed sections of the walls and ceiling but the spotlight was at times bright and blinding. It provided a diversion when performing even though she didn't give it away with her appearance. She sexily sauntered down the steps into the group of men that sat front and center.
She immediately recognized that these were the men Andrea and Lori spoke of. Andrea was literally sitting in the groom-to-be's lap even though he observed Michonne's every move. But she strolled on through them, slightly applying her manicured nails to their shoulders as she pretended to be looking for the one. Honestly, any of them would do she just had to make a show of it. Upon her circle back to the front, she noticed Lori draped over the back of one guy. She smirked knowing he must be the one she called dibs on. Michonne's frisky side had come out tonight and she wanted a glimpse of this man for herself.
She came to stop before him but her eyes continued to travel the crowd that rained money on her continuously. Her hands sensually caressed her exposed dark brown skin while she closed her eyes. She lowered herself into a squat and continued her exploration. Her plot to lay eyes on this man and make him her pet for the remainder of the five minute and forty-second-long song.
Her freshly twisted locs rolling across her back before she suddenly popped open her eyes. Her target was seemingly anticipating this, his eyes locked in wait. The contact forged something instant and Michonne's heart stammered with the jolt she sustained. This man's eyes bore into hers. He sat up responsively answering some call to rid himself of the stripper behind him. Lori literally lost her hold. His attention purely focused on who was before him- Michonne and Michonne alone.
But his vision was not on her body, her sparkling brown eyes entrancing him. While his blue ones delved into a part that unnerved her. He was captivating and simultaneously captive. They didn't blink though their lips parted and they dragged in breaths of the hot, sweaty and smoky air.
The songs saxophone bridge jarred Michonne back to life and she remembered what she should be doing. She was stuck in this desire for more but wanted to regress to cowardice and flee from this unlocked chamber of dare she admit- enthrall. It was too late to pick someone else plus, the show must go on. She stood and went to her choice turning so her fat ass was in his face. Her cheeks clapped unencumbered thanks to the stringed thong, no doubt mesmerizing him all the more.
When she lowered to sit on his lap, her waist circled then she sought his hands. Reaching down to grasp them provided another unexpected jolt at their skin to skin contact. She allowed him to rub his strong hands over the inner parts of her thighs so goose bumps arose. Across her taut stomach to finally hold on her hips as her wined her waist in his lap. His ragged breaths loud even in the chaos surrounding them. Although it wasn't unusual to feel a man hardening from her gyrations this unexpectedly provided a thumping in her now awakened core. A piece of her wanting to answer his sexual call.
Against her better judgement, Michonne briskly changed positions. Now straddling him face to face, she got a chance to study his features closely. His forehead and nose a bit larger than convention yet perfect for him. Besides his electric eyes that peered into her soul, his chiseled jaw was coated in a bit more than a five o'clock shadow. It still couldn't contain the surprisingly full pink lips that made her nibble at her own. Thick curls of hair covered his head and she ran her fingers through to the nape locking him in place. His head arched to her demanding attention ignoring the exhibition they put on for all to see. Yes, he was way more than orthodoxly attractive he was fucking hot.
In conjunction, his hands gripped her lower back instead of attempting to squeeze her round, bouncing ass. Michonne appreciated the respect he gave her even though her body craved the opposite. His eyes traced the patterns of her face all the while. He looked to be in ecstasy while holding on for the unanticipated ride.
"Is this real?" he muttered to her in the sweetest southern accent she'd ever heard.
Michonne leaned in so her lips grazed his ear, her teeth requesting a nip that she barely refrained from. "Does it feel real?"
She sat back and their eyes connected once more. Both their chests rose and fell as though they'd run a marathon. In an immediate sync with one another, confounding them both.
"Give it up for Mahogany!" the MC announced her stage name and only then did Michonne realize the song had ended. Something completely different blared through the sound system.
She gently released the patch of hair she still held and slowly rose. She smiled at him quickly adjusting himself before she began her reluctant departure. His boys swarming him to congratulate on being selected. Yet his eyes still watched Michonne as she slinked into the trove of people gesturing for her attention.
She had work to do while the team swept the floor to collect her earnings in large black garbage bags. It was a lot but more was needed to cover her accumulated education costs. She needed to focus on the task at hand and not some momentary attraction. But the recipient stood so he'd have a few more moments to take her in before the crowd swallowed her. Their eyes lingering for a few moments more until the crowd caused it to cease.