For a second I thought about leaving. I thought about turning around and walking out of the bar. I would pick up Tori and let Vinnie fend for himself. But I couldn’t do that. Regardless of the shitfest that was our friendship in the last two days, he still was my friend. And a damn good one at that, usually. We have been through way too much to desert each other now. Eventually the dust will settle and we will come out stronger. I guess I had just always assumed stronger meant together and in love.
I took a deep breath so that my jealousy wouldn’t betray me and counted to ten. When I finally felt as if I was calm I went to approach the couple. I walked up to them and I placed my hand gently on Vinnie’s shoulder. It took him a few seconds but eventually he pulled away from the brunette and looked towards me. It must have taken him a few seconds to get me into focus. But the brunette responded right away. “Can I help you?” She said not too kindly.
Even though I can play the bitch quite well, I figured the quickest distance from point a to point b in this situation was to play nice. And all I wanted was to get Vinnie and Tori and go home. “Hi I’m Lennie. I’m Vinnie’s little sister. I am here to take him home.” I’ve found myself lying a lot for Vinnie lately.
There is only a few ways to successful take a guy from a girl without her fighting. Telling them you are a family member seems to be the most reliable one. A girl is less likely to get in a physical altercation with a guy’s sister. Hopefully the chick is smart enough to figure a guy isn’t going to stick up for a girl he hardly knows against his sister. And if a guy is willing to go against his sister for a chick he hardly knows, they aren’t a guy worth fighting for.
Vinnie just stood there silent, looking at me. The brunette continued to run her mouth. “Well Laney it’s early yet and Vinnie isn’t ready to go home.” She started kissing his neck. “Tell her Vinnie.” She asked him huskily.
I didn’t even let him respond. “Come on Vin. Tori is at home waiting for you.” I could tell that he understood what I was saying because as soon as I said Tori’s name his face lit up with recognition.
“Who the hell is Tori?” The brunette screeched. She really was getting on my last nerve.
I didn’t even bother answering. I wasn’t here to make friends. I was here to get Vinnie home and at this point he was finally paying attention to what I had to say. “Let’s go Vinnie. Let’s go home.” I got him to shake his head in agreement and he untangled himself from the now pissed off brunette. He took a step towards me and could barely stand. “Come on can you walk?” He shook his head yes. He put his arm over my shoulder and together we made it through the door. Outside the bar I hailed a taxi and when one stopped, I put Vinnie in first. I gave the cabbie Mackenzie’s address and I rubbed Vinnie’s back while he put his head between his knees.
As soon as the cab pulled up to the side walk I leaned forward to the cab driver. “I’ll give you an extra ten bucks if you sit here with him. I promise it’ll just take a few minutes.”
The cabbie looked uneasily over at Vinnie. “He ain’t gonna puke is he?”
“Nah, he’s good.” I smiled my flirty smile. You can’t be a successful stripper if you aren’t good at flirting. I honestly had no idea if Vinnie was going to puke, but I figured we would cross that bridge if it came. I walked up the two floors to Mackenzie’s apartment. I knocked twice.
YOU ARE READING
The Stripper Equation
General FictionLennie is not your typical stripper. She graduated from Harvard Law. She hates to party and she prefers t-shirts and flip flops to g-strings and stilettos. Nothing with her quite adds up and that's the way she likes it. Lennie's been on her own...
