Devil's Drop

Lap Dances and the Guy in the Gold Vest

Anna folded her paperback novel in her lap as she looked over at the wall clock. Any minute Mike's boyfriend would be arriving to pick him up. Any minute, she'd get to meet Chester Bennington for the first time. After hearing about how wonderful this guy was for the last month, she was somewhere between excited and terribly nervous to see him in person. She shoved a strand of hair behind her ear as she leaned back a little more in the recliner. She'd seen countless pictures of Chester over the last several weeks. Everytime Mike would come home from a date or even a casual day of hanging out with Chester, he was ready with stories and at least one picture. In all the time she'd known Mike, this was the first time she'd ever seen him giddy over someone. The first time she'd ever seen him fall in love with someone.

Not that he's ready to admit that just yet. But he's close. He's so close. She smiled at the thought of her sweet friend finally finding the one just as someone knocked on the door. It brought Anna out of her brief daydream state, and she hurriedly got to her feet. She straightened out her blouse, and messed with her hair one last time before she opened the door, a smile plastered on her face.

"Hi," Chester said, his thin lips lifting to a partial smile. "You must be Anna. I'm, I'm Chester - Mike's boyfriend." He could feel his heart beating a little faster as he looked Mike's roommate up and down. Unlike himself, Mike liked to share. He could go on for hours about his work and his homelife; the only subject he tended to shy away from was his parents. But Anna, Anna he'd heard a lot about over the last several weeks, and she matched every picture Mike had ever shared with him. But shorter than I figured.

"Of course you are," Anna said, finally finding her words as she stepped back. "Please, come on in." She watched as Chester stepped inside. Despite her mental knowledge of what he physically looked like, she was still finding herself staring as she started with his boots, up his skin tight black leather pants and the gray short sleeved, v-neck shirt he was wearing. His slender build pulled the outfit off and she had no doubt that this guy was ready for the club Mike had said was their destination for the night. He's even got on eyeliner. . .and his nails are painted black. "Mike's still getting ready," she said, pointing toward the hallway where the bedrooms were.

Chester nodded. He'd already been in this apartment once before and it hadn't changed much since he'd been here over a month ago. There were still books everywhere, cheap flooring and not a lot of room to move around. The whole place smelled like hair care products, which is when he remembered that Mike had said Anna was in beauty school.

"Mike says you two are going to a club," Anna said, catching Chester's attention before he could wander any closer to the hallway. She knew Mike wasn't a big fan of his cramped bedroom, and he probably wasn't keen on the idea of his boyfriend getting an eye full of it.

Chester turned around, meeting her eyes. "Yeah," he said, his black and green lip ring pressing to his bottom lip. "Good music, good people. I told Mike I was going to make him dance."

Anna covered her mouth for a moment as she laughed. "Mike dance? Oh, you must really think you're something special if you can make that happen."

"He'll be fine," Chester assured her. "He just needs to remember to have fun, and he'll be ready to let loose with everyone else." He swung his hips, turning himself around in a small circle with a comic swing of his arms and snap of his fingers, making Anna laugh even harder.

"You're cute," she finally said. "Mike hasn't been wrong about that. He adores you, you know."

Chester stopped, his clownish behavior halting like the wind had suddenly been knocked out of him. "Real. . .really?" he asked, his hands suddenly feeling antsy as he rubbed the sides of his leather pants.