The Dancer

Dakota was stressed out beyond reason. Since she’d gotten back from Long Beach, she’d found out that not only had her sister found someone she could date, but that her mom was even more pissed off at her for staying longer than necessary and not coming back Saturday after she’d finished her “meeting”. Doug yelled at her the first night she’d gotten back to work, she broke a nail, and the biggest catch she’d gotten in weeks had been a bigger guy that was way too grabby and touchy before the pill kicked in. She was lucky she’d gotten the drink in him.

The three weeks after she had the meeting with the other girls, she found herself begging time to hurry so she could leave again. Gemma couldn’t leave because of work and she knew her mom wasn’t going to fly anywhere which left Dakota to have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday to herself. She had to stay Friday if she intended to get paid. Her mother had grumbled but reluctantly agreed, and considering she’d never asked off for work, Doug had willingly agreed. She’d even found another dance instructor to cover her classes with the kids.

It was Monday night and Doug had told them the night before that they had a bunch of high-paying customers coming that night. Dakota sighed as she sat in front of her mirror, putting on her makeup for the night. All the girls were wearing their favorite colors tonight and Dakota was excited to put the bright blue streaks back in her hair.

Her eyes were covered in a dark blue glitter eye shadow and she’d even had Gemma draw a large lightning bolt covering one eye in the same color. Her bra was blue with a silver sequined top over it. There were silver straps coming from the top wrapping around her torso down to the blue and black bottoms she was wearing. Strips of blue and black fabric were tied around her thigh overtop of her black and blue fishnets. She had on six inch heels covered up by black fuzzy leg warmers.

Gemma was wearing yellow and she’d had Dakota draw lines under her eyes with the golden glitter paint she’d bought specifically to go with her outfit. Her outfit was almost identical to Dakota’s except for the fact she was wearing gold thigh-high boots instead of leg warmers and heels.

She stood up and walked to the bathroom to fix her hair. She had half of it pulled up behind her head and pinned it with bobby pins. She added the skeleton hair clip as an afterthought and went to her desk to do what she needed before they left.

Gemma didn’t say much to her on the way to the club and she was thankful for that.

“Hey, Mick,” she said.

“Mornin’, North,” he said, making her chuckle.

The large, bald, black security guard was standing out back for a cigarette. Looking at her phone, she realized they were thirty minutes early and she had plenty of time to stand and smoke with him.

“Where they got you working tonight?” she asked him, lighting the end of her menthol.

“I’m working up in the V.I.P. Boss man says a lot of high rollers are in town tonight so I’m doin my thing. You’ll be up there, right?”

“When I’m not by Marcus, you know I’ll be serving up there.”

“Well, you know I’ve got your back, doll.”

“Thanks, Mickey,” she said before flicking her cigarette away from her.

She pulled open the doors and made her way inside. People were moving around, more so than usual, and she was almost run into twice before she got to the actual floor. She made her way to the bar to help Aubrey finish stocking the bar.

She took the piece of bubblegum Aubrey held out to her, smiled excitedly and popped it in her mouth before grabbing the box of vodka to unpack it.

“You look hot tonight,” Aubrey said, taking a few bottles from her.

“Well, Doug said we’ve got some big people coming tonight.”

“Yeah, we do. There’s a big concert tomorrow night and the band has rented out the V.I.P. tonight.”
Dakota frowned. “I thought more than one group is coming?”

“Yeah, but it’s first-come-first-serve with the V.I.P., you know that.”

“Well, fuck,” Dakota said, frowning.

They were startled by a knocking on the bar. Dakota whirled around to see Doug standing on the other side of the bar, smiling at her.

“It’s a big night, North,” he said, smiling even wider.

“So I’ve heard.”

“They haven’t been here before but the figures they threw out to buy out the V.I.P. section were huge. I want you to be at their beck and call tonight, North.”

“…Are you pulling me from dancing?” Dakota asked with a shocked look on her face.

“No, I’m not. You’ll be dancing in normal shifts like the other girls.”

“Doug, that’s not fair!” Dakota cried.

This was bad. If she wasn’t up there dancing like she normally was, she wouldn’t have enough time to scope out any prospects. Of course, she’d have more time on the floor to mingle with people and get a feel for them, considering most people in the V.I.P. just wanted their drinks delivered and to be left alone.

“It’s done, North. Go get ready to dance,” he said, dismissively.

She closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, Aubrey was holding a shot of brown liquid in front of her face.

“Take it,” Aubrey said.

Dakota took the glass and downed the liquid in one gulp. She didn’t flinch as the Crown Royal burned its way down her throat.

“Want another?” Aubrey asked.

Dakota looked at the clock. Fifteen minutes until the club opened. She looked back at Aubrey who had already filled the shotglass with Crown again. She took the glass and downed the liquid before thanking Aubrey and heading up to her spot by Marcus.

As soon as the music started, she forgot everything that had been going on. It was her time to shine and forget about all the shit that had been stressing her out. She would be leaving on Wednesday to do the concert on Thursday in a different state away from all of this.

When Tallie came to relieve her, she sighed in frustration. She passed by Gemma who’d spotted a guy for her. She nodded, disinterested, and sought him out, making introductions and offered him a drink. Allison, another bartender, caught her attention then.

“You might wanna go give Aubrey a hand.”

Dakota looked down the bar to see where she was.

“She’s at the V.I.P. bar. She got moved there about twenty minutes ago when they realized the group was almost here.”

Dakota’s eyes lifted to the upper platform where she saw about ten guys and a few girls walking up the steps. Aubrey was behind the bar, almost frantically pouring beer into glasses.

She winked at the guy she’d been talking to with a promise to see him later and made her way around the bar and through the crowd. She jogged up the steps to the V.I.P. section where Mick winked at her before she made her way to the bar to help Aubrey.

“Jesus Christ, you’re a lifesaver,” Aubrey breathed out as Dakota rounded the bar. “Can you finish pouring about eight more beers while I go get the whiskey?”

“Jesus, how many beers do they need?” Dakota asked, seeing close to ten already on a tray.

Thank God she didn’t have far to walk with the tray because she knew she would drop it if she had to go farther. Looking behind her, she realized Aubrey was in the back of a cabinet on her hands and knees and she rolled her eyes. She lifted the tray up and carried it to the giant table, taking the beers off two-by-two. They were grabbed up immediately. Once she was finished unloading the last one, she glanced up as a hand came out to grab it at the same time. She was met by the most brilliant blue eyes she’d ever seen.

Blinking rapidly, she took in the rest of his features as she realized Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan was in front of her. She smiled before she could stop herself and straightened up, bringing the tray with her. Realization hit her hard and she glanced around at the other members of the band, but she didn’t see Syn. With her heart calming down, she made her way back to the bar to finish the rest of the beers.

She put the rest of the beer glasses on the table and went back for the glasses filled with ice and the bottle of whiskey that Aubrey had finally found. Setting those on the table, she took her tray back to the bar and looked at the clock. It was time to relieve Tallie. She sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to get anymore flirting done with the guy at the bar, and after saying goodbye to Aubrey, she made her way to the stairs.

Marcus was just starting up a remix to “Down With the Sickness” by Disturbed when she reached Mick to tell him she’d see him later. She headed down the stairs, looking back at Mick who’d said something when she bumped into a guy, almost making him fall.

“Oh, shit!” she said, whirling around to catch a hold of his arm. “I’m so sorry!”

“It seems as if the nun has left her sacred book at church,” she heard from a step below her. “Are you following me?”

The head, hidden under a Fedora hat, tilted up and she saw the chocolate brown eyes of Synyster Gates. She mentally cursed, knowing she should’ve never thought he wouldn’t show up.

“Actually, I work here, so it looks like it’s you who’s following me,” she said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Blue looks good on you, sweetheart,” he said with a smirk. “Why don’t you come up and have a drink?”

Dakota was tempted to say yes, but with a glance at the DJ booth and Gemma’s head appearing just behind Marcus, she knew she was late.

“Sorry there, Charming. Cinderella’s late,” she said and shrugged.

She dropped the last few steps and made her way through the crowd, taking the steps behind the DJ booth two at a time. Gemma frowned at her but she high-fived Tallie and immediately moved to her stand.

Brian watched her go before moving back to sit down beside Jimmy. That girl was going to be worth it, he could tell.

Her arms moved back and forth with the time of the music and from her place, she was almost eye-level with the V.I.P. lounge so she could clearly see Brian staring at her. She smiled at the ego-boost and moved around a bit more. She saw the guy she’d been talking to earlier now below her and she blew him a kiss before turning around to shake her ass.

Most of what go-go dancers did didn’t involve just acting like a slut or stripper, but what they did with their arms. Her job was to help promote the party and dancing so all of her dancing was big and exaggerated with a lot of arm motion and very little of her butt.

Suddenly, all of the lights went to a dark blue and red and she heard Marcus fading the song out and she heard the beginnings of “Dragula” by Rob Zombie being remixed in. She hollered as Marcus pointed a finger to her, smiling. She whirled around, dropped down to the floor and swayed her way back up before beginning to dance.

His head nodding along with the song, Brian couldn’t take his eyes off of Dakota. Obviously she danced, but he never thought it would be at a club like this. He wasn’t sure what he pictured her doing, but dancing next to a DJ was not one of them.

He watched as she moved around, throwing her arms from left to right in time with the song. The DJ obviously knew her because she kept throwing him smiles every once in a while. She was a girl who liked her rock music as well as her rap music. He could dig it.

The DJ faded Rob Zombie into another song that he didn’t know the name of but Dakota was ecstatic about it as it started to play. She threw her hips into the dancing and threw her head around, making her hair fly.

Brian watched her all night, from the dancing to her walking through the crowds. She’d stop and talk to a few people at the bar before coming up the steps to help out the bartender in the V.I.P. section. He’d tried to talk to her several times but she’d say something witty and keep moving. He was getting frustrated. He knew she was attracted to him; he could see it in her eyes. He just wasn’t sure how to act on that attraction.

She was talking to the bouncer standing at the top of the steps when he noticed the two little dimples underneath each tattooed wing on her back. He squinted to see what they were, and when she presented her full back to him, he was able to see she had two little dermal piercings there, causing her skin to dimple in. He closed his eyes at the instant arousal he felt. When he opened his eyes, she was staring at him.

When Dakota caught Brian looking at her, she immediately turned her head and said goodbye to Mick before she went down the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder back to the V.I.P. section where Brian was standing at the top of the stairs, watching her. Frowning, she made her way back to the platform to finish her last shift of the night.

Donald, the guy she’d been chatting up when she could, was waiting for her when she came down. People were leaving the club but he was standing by the bar, watching her expectantly. She hip-bumped Gemma and watched her sister leave before turning to Donald. He was a short little guy, but he’d had an open tab the entire night. He told her his room and she winked at him with the promise to see him in a little while.

The instant he was out of sight, the smile fell from her face. She was tired of the entire thing. She didn’t want to fake sleep with anyone anymore. She wanted a real relationship and for her family to support her in that. She leaned into the bar and slipped her heels off of her feet and pushed her toes into the floor, popping them.

“He seems like a winner.”

Dakota’s spine stiffened and her eyes closed. When she opened them, she turned to her right to see Brian standing beside her, finishing off a glass of beer. She didn’t say anything. He set his glass on the bar and looked at her.

At her silence, Brian rocked back and forth on his heels.

“I was gonna ask if you wanted to go grab some coffee or something but I guess you’re busy.”

“You’re right; I am busy.”

Brian held up his hands in a defensive manner.

“You wanna go have a cigarette?”

Dakota looked at him. She didn’t know what he was playing at but she knew it was going to be a good couple of hours before she could have another one.

“Sure, come this way,” she said, tilting her head.

She led him through the back doors, through the workers’ area where she stopped to grab her jacket and cigarettes and to the door she uses to come in. They stood outside; Dakota leaned against the wall and Brian standing in front of her.

“How long have you been a dancer?”

She blew out a stream of smoke and looked up at the sky. She couldn’t see the stars, but a spotlight was reflecting off of a few clouds.

“I would say since I could walk.”

“How long have you been working here?” he asked, tilting his head.

“I started when I was eighteen, and became a dancer and bartender or whatever when I turned twenty-one.”

“Do you make your own outfits?”

She looked down to her unzipped jacket and her barely-there outfit. She smiled.

“Yeah, I make all of mine with my sister.”

He seemed confused.

“The blonde that was on the platform dancing with me is my sister.”

“You’re joking.”

“Absolutely not,” she said, smiling.

“You two look nothing alike.”

“Thanks,” she said, laughing.

She took one last hit of her cigarette and flicked it away from him. She waited patiently while Brian finished his and she led him back inside.

“So are you busy tomorrow? I was thinking about lunch,” Brian said, turning to her.

She leaned against the bar and put her head on her hand.

“I’m busy.”

He nodded, accepting her answer. “I guess you’ll be out with your boyfriend?”

Dakota’s eyebrows furrowed until she remembered Donald was upstairs waiting for her.

“I gotta go.”

“Too bad about lunch tomorrow,” Brian said and shrugged.

She watched him walk away before slipping her shoes back on.

“You know he was into you, right?”

Dakota glanced to see Allison leaning over the bar towards her.

“He was into getting into my pants,” Dakota said and walked off.

Allison just shook her head and watched the dark-haired girl walk away.