"She's so cute!"
"Is that my sweater?"
"Who cares? She totally works it."
"She's like a fluffy puppy."
"Yeah, a puppy who can rip your arms off."
"Why are you always so negative?"
"I hope i'm the first who gets to fuck her."
"Yeah right. Did you see the way she was looking at me last night? I'm going to be first."
"I think she stole my shorts."
"Shut up, Alice. It's not like you ever wore them."
"Everyone be quiet, I think she's waking up."
Not feeling a threat, I didn't wake up when the girls came into the club, but now their loud banter has gotten me alert enought to open my eyes slightly. I yawn and stretch cattily, listening to my bones pop satisfyingly. My lower back aches a bit but its nothing that can't be solved with a few morning stretches. Finally aware, I look at all the faces surrounding me, then smile. Most of the girls are with me, staring at me, studying me. I blink up at them.
"Good morning, ladies," I chirp, my voice laced with sleep.
"Oh my god, her sleepy voice is so sexy," Alice says to no one in particular. Then, to me, "Oh and you stole my shorts."
"Sorry," I say, moving to a sitting position. I finger Alice's shorts. "I took a shower earlier but didn't have any clothes. I didn't want to walk around naked, so I found some clothes to wear."
"I wish you would have walked around naked," Cara whispers to Ruby, making Ruby laugh. She doesn't really mean it but she thought it would be funny to say, which it was.
"What time is it? Why are you girls here so early?" I ask. There are no windows for me to see how light or dark it is outside and my internal clock is not to be trusted.
"Early? Its a half hour before opening, Lost," Shar tells me.
My eyes widen. I've been sleeping all day! Literally, all day. Why didn't Marv wake me? If she didn't need me that was fine but I would have thought she'd get curious as to where I was. Since there was no threat between the time I fell asleep and now, my body didn't force me to wake up. I would have remained in a sort of hibernation if it weren't for the girls waking me up by accident. Disgruntled, I get up from the couch and start to leave.
"I'll leave you guys to get ready. I'm going to go look for Marv," I tell them before exiting the dressing room. Curious as to what's been happening since I was asleep, I walk around the first floor and be nosy. I see Will readying the bar with Carlos, who waves at me, and Bill sitting next to the front door. Adam, Jeff, and Carl are sitting next to different stages, watching everything. I wave at all of them, they wave back, then I walk up to the second floor, satsfied that everying down below is well. I walk to Marv's office, knock, and enter when she gives me permission. Marv is sitting behind her desk, showered and dressed.
"You're finally awake," she says without looking at me. Her eyes are on her phone. "I saw you sleeping in the dressing room, but left you there. I haven't needed you yet." She is clicking away on her phone, clearly engrossed with whatever is on the screen. "I'm texting Joe. He's supervising all the going-ons at the warehouse."
I nod, but she doesn't notice.
"He should be bringing some product over to me a little later so we can sell it here." Marv finally looks up from her phone, then smiles at me, her eyebrows high. "Well look at you. You look so cute in your sweater and shorts. You look like a goddamned high schooler. How old are you anyway?" she asks, looking me up and down. Her brows furrow as she tries to guess.
"I like to consider myself twenty-three," I say. It seems an appropriate age. Legal, adult-enough, and I could pass for it.
"Consider? Oh right, you're hundreds and hundreds of years old." Marv laughs. "No matter. With that look you're sporting, a lot of old pervs will love you." She looks back down to her phone, typing something. Her face goes serious. "Go make sure everything is ready to open. Joe will be here soon but don't worry about looking out for him. I'm going to let him through the back exit." She jerks her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the exit behind her desk. With a wave of a hand she dismisses me, so I leave quietly as not to disturb her.
I walk out of her office, closing the door behind me, then sigh. My eyes are still a bit sleepy and I want something to eat. The urge to brush my teeth surfaces, but how am I going to do that? I have absolutely nothing.
Wondering what im going to do I step down the stairs, seeing that everyone is ready. All the guys are at the ready, the bar is nice and clean, and the stages look ready for a dancer. I don't see any of the girls yet, so I make my way into the dressing room without announcing myself. When I walk in, I immediately cover my eyes with my right hand and turn my head away. From the glimpse I got, most of the girls are only half dressed, some of them buck naked.
"Sorry!" I exclaim, getting laughter as a response. I keep my eyes covered and feel my ears go red when the girls start talking, poking fun at me.
"Oh, she's such a gentleman!"
"It's OK, sug, you can look."
"Don't tempt her."
"Oh, I'll tempt her."
"Look how red she's getting!"
"I bet her eyes are glowing!"
"Oh, Lost, you want to look?"
I continue holding my hand over my eyes, ignoring the jeers from the women. I can feel my blush all the way to my neck. As much as I do want to look, I'm in control and don't want to invade the girls privacy. Our relationship would be compromised if they thought they couldn't trust me. I needed their trust to protect them, and Marv would certainly be upset if I couldn't do my job.
"I just came to see if you guys were ready," I say, sheepishly. "You're clearly not, so I'll just leave." I quickly turn around, still blind, and run out of the dressing room. Laughter follows me the whole way out. I release the breathe I didn't realize I was holding and shake my head.
These girls are going to be the death of me.
