August
Have you ever wished that your life turned out differently?
Well at this point it's a part of my daily routine. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm doing as I stand in my shower contemplating life.
Now I know this sounds really depressing but hey, this is me.
I snap out of my thoughts when I realize that I have to be at work in 8 minutes. I wash all of the soap out of my hair and off of my body then step out onto the rug, grabbing a towel to wrap around myself. I look in the mirror.
I've become what you'd call a zombie. I have dark circles under my eyes that I have to cover with makeup to fit the beauty standard, I never smile, and when I do it's never fully genuine, and I'm always tired.
Life's so hard.
I walk out of the bathroom and into my room which is connected to the living room. And the kitchen. And the dining room. Basically all in one room. But hey, home is home. But I've never felt like so had a home. I walk over to my dresser and pick out something to wear.
It's currently 6 o'clock and I just got off of my shift at Fine Catering, a catering and cafe shop I work at from 8 am to 3 pm. I pick out the outfit that I want to wear for my shift at Havana, the nightclub I work as an Exotic Dancer and Waitress. I put the outfit in my bag and put on the outfit I have to wear as a waitress which consists of a black low-cut spaghetti strap shirt and a short skirt. Kind of showy but I mean what really would you expect from a nightclub?
Anyways, I throw on a trench coat since 1, I'm dressed very inappropriately for the stuffy rich people's eyes and 2 it gets super cold at night in Norchester.
Once I'm ready I grab my bag and my keys and head to the club. A perk of having the job is that it's only 6 minutes away from my apartment so I can walk.
The thing I hate about the job the most is that whatever the dancers make, we have to give half of the earnings to our boss and let me tell you, the prices to live in this city are super high so it's hard to make enough to cover bills and buy the outfits for the job.
Once I get to the club I walk to the side of the building where the employees come in. I knock on the door and Gibby opens it.
"Hey, cupcake." He greets me with a smile on his face.
"Hi Gibby, is the boss around? I don't want to get lectured for being late again." I ask as he moves over to let me inside the warm room. This is where most of the employees go when it's their break. Either that or they leave. I personally try to sleep in between my breaks.
"Nope, he's in a meeting with some guy. I guess he's trying to expand the business and build more clubs around the country." He explains and I sigh a relief. Gibby is one of the security guards here. most of them are nice but Gibby is the nicest to me especially. I guess it's easy to pity me for my zombie appearance. He looks big and mean but he's very kind if your on his good side."Okay, Thanks gibby." He nods and before I could go to the locker rooms he calls out.
"If anyone bothers you don't stay silent, these guys can be creeps."
"Gibby, you say this every day. I promise I'll be fine." I assure and he nods. I walk out of the room and down the hall to the girls' locker room. I look around and find that Quinn's not here.
She must be on stage or behind the bar. Quinn is another dancer here. Ever since I started working here she's been kind to me. I've never been good at letting people in. I can tell she wants to be my friend but I can't set myself up for potential failure.
I walk over to my locker and begin to undress and put on the outfit that I chose. I wore a silver set and silver heels to match.
As I'm putting my things into my locker I feel someone's hands on my shoulders and I jump."Heyy, how are you, babe?" I turn around and find Quinn looking at me with a huge smile on her face."Hi, I'm fine." I answer awkwardly looking down at my feet.
"You look so fucking good Tori." I look at her and smile at the look on her face, she smacks her gum and shifts her weight to her other foot putting her hands on her hips."Tha...thank you, you look go...good too." And this is why I don't talk to anyone. I HAD ONE FUCKING JOB.
"You're welcome beautiful. There's a big crowd tonight so think happy thoughts while your on stage okay?" She explains and I nod and she goes to her makeup station.
"Astoria." A man opens the door and I look up at the mention of my name."You're on." He says and leaves the room once I get up.
"Break a leg." The girls that have been on my ass since I got here to say that and other bitchy things every day. I just ignore them and walk out hearing them laugh.
The jokes are on you, you all sound like the hyena from Lion King.
I walk onto the stage and over to the pole in a sensual manner making sure not to slip on these heels. I've been a dancer here for about 2 weeks and I still can't walk properly in these things.
I begin to walk around the pole at the end of the stage on the beat of the music that's playing in the club speakers. I dance around the pole with as much grace as I can while still being sexy. I wrap my legs around the pole, making my way up and using the skills I learned to dance in the air.
When I make it back down to the floor I lock eyes with someone who seems to be having a conversation at the bar but has his full attention on me. I spin slowly around the pole and he licks his lips and looks back to the person he was talking to.
Once the song ends I walk back to the locker room with the stranger still on my mind. He seemed like he was worth more than my whole life. He looked expensive. He was wearing a suit that looked like it cost 10 times more than my apartment. I walk over to my locker barely even comprehending what I was doing. What if he liked me? No. No. Nope. I can't open up my heart to any type of relationship. Especially not a romantic type. I've had too many people leave me after I welcomed them into my life. Plus there's no way he would like me. Or anyone for that matter.
I snap out of it and change into my waitressing outfit. After im changed I walk out and over to the bar.
"Hey, you okay Tori? Did something happen?" Quinn asks me with a worried expression once I get behind the bar."What? Yea, I'm fine."
"You sure?" She asks and I nod my head in confirmation.
She lets it go and points over to the other side of the bar."They asked for you."I look over and see it's the man from earlier."Why?" I scrunch my eyebrows and look back at her.
She shrugs her shoulders and leans on the counter in front of her."I went over to take their order and one of them requested you."
She notices someone sit down and she goes to take their orders. I grab my hair tie off of my wrist and put my hair into a messy ponytail. I walk over to the pair of men and stop in front of them."Hi, what can I get you?" I put on a smile and tie my apron to my waist. Both men look at me but in two different ways.
One of them looks at me with a friendly smile and the other looks at me with hooded lust-filled eyes."Hey...Astoria. I'll just have a Margarita Blue." He reads my name tag and I nod at his order.
I look over to the other guy and he's still looking at me. I break eye contact by moving some things on the counter so I don't have to look at him.
"And you?"
"What do you recommend?" OMG. His voice is so fucking hot what the hell. "It would honestly just depend on the type of drink you want." I am too socially awkward for this shit."What would you recommend? What's YOUR favorite?" He repeats and I look up at him to see he's completely serious. His friend is holding in his laugh so I'm confused about what's happening.
"Um, out of the w-whole menu I t-think um Pineapple Express is the best drink." I stutter over my words and goddamn it, why me?
"I'll have that." He says and I blush going to make their drinks. I feel his eyes on me the whole time as I mix up the concoctions. Once im finished, I hand them the alcoholic drinks and they thank me. I walk back over to the middle of the bar and wash my hands in the sink. Quinn comes over to me."Okay, they're hot." She says fundamentally drooling and I look over to them seeing that the man is still looking at me while drinking his drink slowly.
"I think he has the hots for you babe." She smirks and I turn back to her and shake my head."People do this all the time to everyone here. Im not special." I deny. Everyone here gets attention from the customers, but that doesn't mean anything.
"Okay well, I'd beg to differ, and I'm sure he would too." She bumps my hips with hers and I try to look for a distraction and find the perfect out. "I have to go take their order." I point to a group of people and practically run over to them.
I begin taking their orders and glance over to where the men were to find they had left. After I make the orders I walk over to where they were to clean up the area and I find a 100-dollar bill there. I grab it and look around but don't see them anywhere.
My shift doesn't end until 2 am so I still have a few hours left. I wonder who they were. They gave off powerful energy.
I wonder if I'll see them again.
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Hey babes, how did I do for the first chapter? I feel like the dancing scene was shit but oh well. Also, I'm gonna try to update every day but we'll see ig.
Anyways...
Word Of The Day:
Laconic - expressing much in a few words.
Love ya...