Darkness in the Neon Lights (H2OVanoss)

Chapter 2

"Yeah, that's for my roommate and myself."

"Wh-what?"

"We're kind of... well... We're strippers, and we use that to practice for work."

I give him a confused look. "I thought only girls could be strippers!"

He laughs and shakes his head. "No; anyone can be a stripper. Look, it's not that hard, and it's actually really fun."

He takes off his jacket and I watch him as he confidently walks up to the pole and starts to walk around it, taking it in one of his hands and leaning away from it as he moves. He then turn and jumps onto the pole, wrapping his legs and other hand around it, spinning around as he leans back, eyes shut and a smirk on his lips. When he opens his eyes, he pulls himself up the pole a little, putting his hands up towards the top, and he lets his legs relax. My jaw drops as I then watch him start to walk on air as he continues to spin around the pole.

"Oh my god, that's awesome! How are you doing that?!"

"Practice," he tells me before he pulls his legs up and twists his body around the pole. He wraps his legs around it and lets go of it, running his hands through his somewhat long hair. Slowly, he pulls his body up the pole, wrapping one hand around it and letting one of his legs move away, having the pole resting on the back of his knee. His body slowly spun around the pole, now losing the speed he had when he started, so he decides to end it. He places his hand back on the pole and pulls himself up a little, just enough so that he can straighten his legs out a little. Then, he drops down, hitting the floor and doing a perfect split.

My jaw is on the floor. "I never knew a guy could do that! That's really cool!"

He laughs and pulls his legs back, pushing himself onto his knees. "Anyone can do this. It just takes a lot of practice. When my boss gave me a chance to work for him when I was seventeen, I had to work my ass off to get to where I am now. I may not be the best, but I'm good enough to get to stand out."

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Just as he's about to say something, I hear the door open behind me. When I look, I see a blond hair man with bright blue eyes walk in. When he sees me, he just stops and stares at me before his eyes slowly travel to Ryan. "What's going on here?"

"This is the kid I told you about, Evan. Evan, this is my roommate, Bryce."

"Hello," he quickly says to me before he puts his hands on his hips and glares at Ryan. "Ohm, can I talk to you outside for a second."

Ryan rolls his eyes before he pulls himself up. "Wait right here, Evan. This should only be a minute."

I watch as the two walk outside, shutting the door behind them, and almost instantly, I hear them yelling at each other. Thanks to the rain, it's muffled more than it would have been, but worry instantly start to over take me. Images of myself curling up on my bed, crying, comes to my head as they're shouts twist and morph into my parents voices. I can hear my mom yelling, begging my dad to stop and seek help. To think of her and myself. To think of what it's putting my family through. It then would end with the front door slamming shut, and my dad disappearing for several days.

I shake my head, trying to clean out the memories that have been clouding my mind and I look around. Part of me wants to watch TV, but it would be rude to just do that without their permission. Then, my eyes go back to the pole in the middle of the room. The tricks that Ryan showed me were pretty cool. I never really looked into tricks strippers could do.