Stripper Chat
Who: Ally and Deanna Where: The Body Shop, then out for coffee When: Dec. 23
Deanna sat on a stool in the back room of The Body Shop, peeling off her fishnet stockings, and flinging them into her bag. Oh well... if she had to face her destiny of being white trash forever, at least she was being paid nicely for it now. While she hated the feeling being a stripper gave her, at least she made decent cash, and admittedly had fun doing it. Pulling on a pair of shorts and a baggy Suicide Messiah tee, she took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall, relaxing for a moment. Tis the season...
While it wasn't her real name, everyone at the Body Shop knew her as Amethyst. She was on the late shift tonight, which she loved, and she loved working during the holidays. Plenty of rich men got lonely this time of year, and Amethyst was only too happy to help relieve them off their excess cash to help ease their pain. She spotted Deanna as she walked into the back, and shot her a grin. While technically, all the girls here were competition, she still tried to at least keep a civil relationship with them all. "Nice shirt," she said as she went over to her locker to grab one of her costumes out of it. "Is that a new band in the area?"
Deanna was known to her co-workers and customers as 'Heather', which was a nice generic name she could easily remember. She turned to the blonde and smiled tiredly. "Yeah. My best friend is the guitarist. They're really good. You know, you're the first girl here who's actually acknowledged I exist. Most of them just pretend the new girl is some disease."
"Most of the girls fear competition," Amethyst told her. "Frankly, I just think that it makes you work harder, but oh well for them." She pulled off her tank top and started to get undressed so that she could change clothes. Amethyst actually just saw it as bad strategy to alienate other dancers (some customers like to have to or three girls dance for them at once, you know), but she never said that to the other girls. "What kind of music does your friend play?"
"Metal. If you go to Avarice, they're gonna be playing there soon. Plus, the owner's way hot." Deanna laughed, and extended a hand to the other girl. "By the way, I'm Deanna. Nice to meet you."
She reached out her and and shook Deanna's. "Alison, actually." At least Deanna had an interesting name. She had picked 'Amethyst' because her own name made her think of that silly book with the girl named Alice in it. "I might have to check them out." More for the hot owner than the music, but oh well.
"You look great. No wonder I did so bad tonight, all the guys were saving their ones for you." She said with a playful laugh. "You ever socialize with your co-workers? I have one good friend in this city so far, and she's at a party tonight that I don't feel like going to."
"They always tip better as the night goes on. Probably from being all liquored up." Amethyst laughed. "I at least try to be friendly. Most of the other girls do lock up if you say something else other than a dis to them, though. I don't think they know what to do when you're nice."
"I don't wanna sound like one of those jaded girls who bitches about what they do, but don't you find it just a tad bit depressing that it's the night before Christmas Eve... and we're in a seedy strip club?" Deanna reached over for her bottle of water, taking a long sip.
Amethyst just shrugged. "I suppose I'm just used to it, but I always think of holidays as the times where good money rolls in." She'd been at this for five years, though, and it was pretty much just a career for her. She actually liked it, though.
"Come on." Deanna felt a little dumpy in her baggy shirt and bicycle shorts, but she'd spent all evening looking like sex with a pulse, so, for now? Who cared. "Let's go get a coffee and talk or something."
Amethyst had changed into her mini dress, but a cup of coffee sounded like a good idea. "Coffee sounds grand, actually," she said, smiling.
"Great. I'm buying." She scrunched up her face and shrugged. "Ok, technically, my breasts are buying, but still."
"If I paid, that's what would be buying too, so don't feel bad," Amethyst said with a grin.
Soon, the two were sitting at a Starbucks only a few minutes from the club, where finally, Deanna laughed and pointed at the other woman. "Ok, do I really gotta call you Amethyst? I feel like I'm in a He-Man cartoon or something."
"Nah," she said with a shake of her head. "Ally will do just fine. I've even told one or two girls my real name, but they still insist on Amethyst. I suppose it keeps the professional distance up or something."
"So, you should come to Avarice with mt and Meredith some night. She's awesome, and the three of us would have a ton of fun." Only Deanna would actually try to hang out with one of her fellow strippers.
"Well, I have to admit, metal isn't exactly my thing, but it could be a lot of fun." Ally had the mindset of pure work most of the time. She actually usually picked up extra shifts around the holidays, mainly because most of the other girls had either families or parties they wanted to attend. "I would love to go out to Avarice one night with you, though."
"Just... don't mind Mere if she comes off strong. She pretty much tries to have sex with anything with a pulse." Ok, now maybe the pulse is optional, she mused to herself.
"I'll keep that in mind," Ally said with a grin. She was straight, but she never minded being around a flirt. "What does she play in the band?"
"Rhythm guitar. She's honestly good enough to play lead, except for the fact that the girl that plays lead was like... born with the talent of eight people." She laughed, not really minding Lexi but being occasionally jealous of her closeness to Mere.
"So, is all of the band made up of girls?" Ally asked. She had always pictured metal as...well, kind of a boy's club. Good to know that girls got around in that area, too.
"Yeah. I think it's meant to be a statement or something. You know, girl power, all that." Deanna looked around, sighing with a cute little grumble. "I can't help now but look at all the cute guys here and wonder what's wrong with each of them."
Ally recognized that tone. "Man trouble recently?" she asked.
"More than a Lifetime Movie would find realistic, if that tells you anything." Deanna rolled her eyes, shrugging. "I had a hot, rich boyfriend... who ended up being a total monster."
"Sounds perfect until you get to the monster part," Ally told her. "What happened, does he like to eat babies or something?" Monster seemed like a strong word, but who knew what this girl had gone through.
"No, but let's put it this way: he's a lawyer, and he made other lawyers seem sweet and trustworthy by comparison." Aaaaand she was about done talking about this.
"Wow...OK. Pure evil then. I got you." She could tell that she didn't want to talk about it more than that. Ally had become a good people reader through her work. "Who knows, you might meet a better one next time, though."
"Not tonight, that's for sure. I'm dressed like crap, and with you here, I'd have to do nude cartwheels while holding a sigh saying 'LOOK AT ME!' to get attention." She laughed again, just being playful.
"Probably not quite that much," Ally said. "I just dress like I'm always on the job." She kind of was, since she took private parties, too.
Well. How to agree without saying 'yes, you look like a whore'? "Well... as long as you're comfortable!" Deanna said with a liiiiittle too bright of a smile.
"Well, I'm honestly not quite comfortable in a lot of clothes," Ally said with a laugh. "I'd run around in a bikini all the time if the weather permitted." She laughed again. "Does that sound stripper-like? I hate wearing clothes, so I take them off for a living?" At least she knew when she sounded odd. "You must think I'm nuts."
"You know, to be honest? It's kind of refreshing, to hear someone who LIKES what we do." Deanna knew she was guilty of complaining too much herself. "Too many of us turn this into a pity party."
"Well, I've never been one to have a pity party," Ally told her. "I chose this career. If men are stupid enough to throw hundreds of dollars at me because I'll dance for them topless for an hour, then it's their idiocy, not mine."
"I know you hear this every day, but I really wanted to be an actress. I... just really ain't very good at it." Deanna laughed, shaking her head. "So for now? Sticking with what I'm good at, and staying with my friend while I save some money."
"Well, I've certainly heard the first part a lot," Ally admitted. "So, what are you planning on doing after saving some money? Make stripping a career, or do something like go to dental school?" Ally considered it herself once.
"Well, I don't wanna do this forever... maybe put enough aside to be able to get a mundane job but make a living out of it." Deanna couldn't see herself still doing this is 5 or 10 years.
"What kind of 'mundane' job are you looking for, or is that something you'll figure out along the way of making the money?" Ally was really more curious than anything. Most girls said that they didn't want to be doing this forever, but some never got out of the job.
"No clue... I just know that once the boobs start saggin'? I'll be a register jockey at Wal-Mart before I'll be swinging these things anymore." Deanna burst out laughing there, shaking her head. "Noooo way am I gonna do that."
"You could always try out marrying someone rich. Plenty of long term customers have married dancers before." She laughed. "Don't worry about sagging. Get some surgery. At least three 'girls' in there lie about their age enough with plastic surgery to pretend that they are still in their twenties."
"Surgery? No way... they get all hard, and these are my boobs, not weapons of mass destruction." Deanna smirked and tried not to burst out laughing as she suddenly had the visual of this girl and Meredith trading life philosophies. Dear Jesus.
"Surgery gets such a bad rap. You just need to go to the right doctor. I mean, these certainly cost a lot," she said, pulling the straps of her dress to help display her rack, "but they've more than paid for themselves. You just got to be willing to put the good money down for realistic boobs."
"I can't wait to tell Meredith that while she partied with her best friends and was all cozy, I spent Christmas Eve talking about fake boobs and stripping. I'm gonna kick her, I think." She nodded, and stood. "Thanks, though, for the company. I needed it."
"Nothing wrong with talking about fake boobs and stripping," Ally told her playfully. "I'm more than happy to provide the company, though."
Deanna reached over and hugged the girl lightly. "I should get home though... I gotta wrap Mere's gift. Good to have made a new friend though... you got anyone waiting at home for you?"
Ally hugged her back. "Well, you go on and get home and wrap your friend's gift." She smiled at her. "My parents live in Naples, Florida, but I'm flying out in a few days for a late Christmas visit. I always work the holidays. It's good money."
"Well, this won't do." Deanna shook her head determinedly. "No friend of mine is spending Christmas Eve alone... come on, you can come hang with us. Mere won't mind, she loves having hot women around."
Ally laughed, but nodded. "I think that sounds like a lot of fun, honestly. Your friend Mere sounds very interesting." She was done with her night, so why not?