Zoned: Waking Up

"Yeah whatever..." Richi mumbled and sighed.

"Why are you guys fucking doing this?" I texted Jake.
"Doing what? Helping you girls? That was all Scribs who mentioned it."
"Umm noooo you said we were in our underwear!"
"He's the one who said you were in thongs!"
"Just tell him to not talk about it please"

He didn't reply, but I heard him whisper to Scribs.

"So how about some groovy tunes, holmes?" I said.

"What?" George chuckled.

"Just turn the radio on." Richi sighed. She was really annoyed.

I leaned in and whispered to her, "What's wrong?"

"Yeah what's up your ass, Rich? Thong too far?" Matt joked.

"Shut up!" she laughed.

"How did you even hear that?" I asked.

"Selective hearing possibly." he replied.
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It took about 10 minutes to get to the party. We arrived around 8:15, and that was when most of the people were arriving. There were about 20-30 people arriving all at once and it was somewhat overwhelming.

"Ah shit..." George said as he parked.

"What? Did you see the boss?" Matt said.

"Yea-hey. She's not the boss of me."

Matt and the other guys laughed.

"Right, right. Keep telling yourself that. It's not bad to be submissive to a female, you know."

"Yeah, you would know Matty." I said and George laughed.

"Hey, I wasn't submissive to Harper. I just wanted her to be happy." Matt quickly defended.

"Keep telling yourself that." George mimicked.

"Shut up. At least she's not here."

"Can we please get out of the car? It's hot in here." Richi snapped. She opened the car door and stepped out.

"Touchy touchy..." Danny mumbled. We all piled out of the car and waited for the others to arrive. George and the guys all smoked by the front of the car. Richi and I leaned against the trunk of the car and people-watched. The crowd was blurry. I saw shapes moving, but didn't make out any of the actual features of most of the people that passed by. I kept tuning in and out of reality. I snapped out of my mini-coma and looked over at Richi, who was to my left. She was staring at a man in a very nice looking suit. On his arm was a lovely lady in a pink dress and tan heels. I felt as if she was a little too dressed up, but then again we could've been under-dressed. She was glamorous and he was absolutely handsome. He looked like he could have been famous or something in that category. Richi continued to stare at them for God knows why. The silence was interrupted by George.

"What in the fuck is taking Dylan and the others so long!? Dylan was on our asses about being late and now he isn't here?" Just as he said that, Dylan pulled into the large parking lot and parked next to us. Everyone exited the vehicle within seconds and the sound of Jordon laughing was soothing. That was until I heard Victoria's laugh follow not far behind. Wonderful, I thought. This bitch is on a role.

"Yeah, yeah can we stop talking about my 50 second jerk session? It's getting creepy." Dylan scoffed at them.

"It's not my fault you couldn't even stand without leaking some sort of bodily fluid!" Victoria laughed with Jordon. We all stood at the tail end of George's car and gathered ourselves. Richi was still staring at the attractive man and woman that were conversing with another group of people. I nudged her and whispered, "What are you doing?" She looked startled and shook her head and smiled.

"Okay let's go, then!" Richi ignored me and said to the group. We all slowly shuffled across the parking lot and up to the entrance. Jordon, Victoria, and Dylan were all walking with each other and laughing as they talked. Richi and I walked behind the entire group and mutually scowled at the new character that walked in front of us.

"It took us 6 years to be this close with them. They met her once and now they're all buddy buddy?" I mumbled to Richi. She didn't say anything and continued to look forward. "Okay fine..." I mumbled.

"I'll meet you guys inside!" Dylan said to everyone as he stopped next to the attractive man and woman.

Richi and I stayed and watched as Dylan and the man hugged and teared up.

"Yo, Wes! I haven't seen you in a while! Congratulations on the promotion, by the way!" Dylan said as he and Wes pulled away. So that's Wes, I thought. That was all we saw happen as we walked into the building. There was immediately a large ballroom with people dancing and talking. The room was ginormous compared to our house. I leaned in to say something to Richi, but she was already walking away from me. Before I could go after her, Jake appeared in front of me.

"Oh, hello." I said awkwardly.

"Hey, so are you two working tonight?"

"That was forward...Yeah, why?" I avoided eye contact. "Well how'd you know, I guess?"

"You two were practicing when we went to your house, remember? We walked in on you guys stripping and dancing."

"Right, right. Why do you need to know?" I felt even more awkward avoiding eye contact and looked at him.

"You guys are here and not at Neverland or whatever. When do you have to go?"

"Our shifts start at 8:30, but we'll probably leave then. We can be a little late, I think. Again, why?"

"Just wondering. They were talking about going to Circles or that dance club place afterwards. I'll make sure they don't go to Circles. Last time I went, no one was there and the strippers were telling everyone about Neverland."

"Well thank you, I suppose. I appreciate that."

"Yeah, well as much as I'd love to see you girls half naked, I'll try to keep myself from going there during my free time." He joked. That got a giggle out of me.

I said, "Shut up," and lightly hit his right arm. We smiled at each other for a brief moment until I saw, over Jake's shoulder, Jordon and Victoria walk out to the dance floor. I froze and choked on spit before Jake asked if I was alright. I nodded and excused myself. I wasn't sure where I as going, but I walked down a hall and found a bathroom. I went inside, and saw Richi staring at herself in the mirror. She looked at me and looked angrier than Dylan was when he found out she slept with Scribs.

"Okay what the hell did I do!? You have been ignoring me and acting rude since the damn car ride!" I finally blurted.

"We were perfectly fine before we started stripping!"

I stood in shock and silence. "What?" I was confused.

"What do you mean 'what'?"

"Is that why you've been acting like a twat?"

"Yes! Tommy and Jake know about it and now they keep hinting at it! This is exactly what I was worried about! Someone finding out and telling the guys about it! It is our secret, A. OUR. SECRET. You fucking saw how mad Dylan got when he found out I accidentally slept with his friend! Can you even imagine how mad he'll be if he finds out we dance, naked on random men who stuff singles in our panties!? That is why I'm acting like a twat."

"Shit, okay, well you are the one who agreed to strip with me! I offered as a somewhat joke, and then you said we should fucking do it!"

"That was me going along with your damn joke, A! I didn't actually want to rub my crotch in people's faces for money! What kind of a person do you think I am!?"

" THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING IT?! If you are so fucking upset about dancing, why do you continue to do it!"

"BECAUSE I HAPPEN TO ENJOY THE TIME WE SPEND TOGETHER! Yes, I admit that it's fun to have power over men by just showing your legs, but I didn't want to get too involved to where it would be a regular thing. Shit, we've been doing it for 3 years now? Don't you think we've had enough?"

"Are you just mad that they keep hinting, or are you actually mad at me?" I changed the subject. I actually had fun dancing in masks with my best friend. We got payed to be sexy and mysterious.

"I think I'm just mad at them....We did pay off the debt we were in with the money we earned, and I have to thank you for that. Also....the thing Victoria said about Dylan not wanting me to move in really bothered m-" someone walked in.

"Oh, hello!"

I silently sighed and said, "Hi, Victoria."