Stripped Bare

I'm Awake...or Am I?

Dante groaned out loud, lying prone on the soft bed, wishing he didn't have to get up. But he couldn't say 'No' to a bevy of ladies who had invited him to a birthday party after his last performance of the evening...

"Get up sleepy head! You're gonna miss class...again!!!" his roommate Tommy was yelling out loud, banging on his door.

Dante could have sworn the guy sounded exactly like his foster-mother. He ran away from his foster family ages ago, living his life on the streets doing odd jobs here and there for food, sometimes pimping himself even just for some shelter for the night. It had been a sad existence of physical abuse at the hands of his foster-father, until he met a kindly, retired, widowed, childless police officer who took him in and officially adopted him eventually.

The cop actually caught the boy stealing a loaf of bread from the local grocery store. Instead of turning the kid in, he looked after the kid and taught him everything he knew. When the cop passed away, he left a small fortune but it wasn't enough to cover all of Dante's expenses for school, so he had to find other ways to make money just to stay in school.

So, Dante found some part-time work at a local gym and started getting interested in pumping iron. While he was there, some dancers from a strip club were working out and put him in touch with the club's manager who seemed impressed with the kid as soon as he met him.

The club manager took him on and before he knew it, he was pulling in the crowds with his smooth moves, sexy looks and a hot body. He was a fast learner, having learnt all the choreography and all the techniques for wooing the ladies and some of the men who would come in, night after night.

But earlier this morning, he had come back to his dorm room so plastered that he didn't even know what time he dragged his ass back in. He remembered celebrating with a bunch of girls, his 'fans' from the club until quite late at another bar. It was somebody's birthday and they all went out for a couple of drinks after his stripping stint, not that he was complaining.

He loved the attention from his admirers; it paid the bills, it was getting him through college, hooking him up with some interesting, creative people. Nobody needed to know that he worked as a male stripper at night, especially not his schoolmates.

Dante swung his legs to the floor and tried standing up...and that's when the room swayed. He quickly shot a hand out to steady himself while grasping onto a chair, and slowly padded across the floor to the bathroom.

That's when it hit.

He felt a wave of nausea attack him so badly that he found himself puking forcibly into the toilet bowl. When it was over, he rinsed his mouth and brushed his teeth.

He'd never experienced it this bad before. He could always control it but not today.

His roommate was not letting up and Dante had had enough and was getting really pissed off with the guy.

He made it across the room carefully and turned the doorknob pulling the door open wide. "Will you just quit it already? I've got a headache!" he groaned.

"Well, well...you look like you had a wild night!!!" a female voice spoke.

Dante stared into these beautiful blue eyes gleaming at him. She grinned widely, eyeballing him from top to bottom. He suddenly realized that he was standing there buck naked in front of this female stranger.

"Shit" he muttered to himself and quickly reached over and hastily grabbed the duvet, wrapping it loosely around his hips but it was too late.

She'd obviously had an eyeful, clearly liking what she saw by her reaction. He could feel the crimson rising in his cheeks as she kept staring at him.

"Oh...Teresa...I see you've met Dante. Dante...Teresa...and so forth and so on. C'mon, we'll be late! Uh...see you at class...if you can make it?" Tommy shot him a wry glance out of the corner of his eye.

Dante slowly nodded, wiping a hand over his unshaven face. He felt absolutely miserable, and to make matters worse he had a term paper that was due today.

He'd actually completed it but he was worried that it wasn't up to scratch and had been meaning to redo it.

He hopped into the shower for 5 minutes, then quickly toweled off and pulled on his clothes. The weather was constantly changing...sunny one day, rainy the next. He quickly grabbed his cardigan from inside the closet with the intention of wearing it in the classroom.

The last thing he wanted was to get sick with a lot of things at stake such as his term paper. He loved school and took like a sponge to everything. He was excited about new discoveries and was specifically interested in various psychological disorders and hoped one day to be a practicing psychologist, so he had to take extra precautions to stay healthy.

He was determined to graduate with flying colors on his exams. He grabbed his satchel bag off the back of a chair and his glasses and wallet off the dresser before stepping out into the cool, crisp morning air.

Luckily for him the students' quarters were not too far a walk from the main campus and there was a nice coffee shop along the way. He stopped in for a grab-n-go.

It was a family-run establishment and they were friendly with their customers.

After waving goodbye to them, he glanced at his watch and made a quick dash for the entrance to the main building.

He took 3 steps at a time to get to the small lecture room on the 2nd floor to the right, slowly turning the door knob so as not to make a noise.

The lecture had already started.

"Mr. Andreas, this is the 5th time this week that you have been late for my lecture...Take your seat...Quickly!" Dante's professor clearly agitated spoke, without even looking up at him.

Dante gulped...he was caught...again. "I'm so sorry sir...I will try harder next time" Dante felt like he could crawl underneath a rock at that very moment, especially when all the other students turned their heads and stared at him.

He gingerly made his way across to where Tommy had saved a seat for him. Tommy chuckled as Dante made his way over amidst the whispers and stares. He couldn't help but wonder why they were staring at him, especially the girls in his class.

It was then that he spotted Teresa and her circle of friends giggling and whispering to each other while looking him over. It occurred to him that the earlier incident when Teresa had caught him in his birthday suit seemed to be the hottest topic of their discussion.

He couldn't help but feel extremely vulnerable which was strange because he never felt like this at the club. As soon as he sat down, he quickly opened his book and buried his head deep inside it to avoid their gaze and remained that way for the rest of the lecture. He couldn't help but be curious about the girl and her background. Tommy had never mentioned her before.

After the lecture was over, as they were making their way back down towards the exits, Teresa sauntered over with her entourage and blocked Dante's path. He froze.

"Hey hot stuff," she said out loud for others within earshot, "I can't understand why a guy like you should be keeping what you got under wraps..."

Dante was feeling the sexual heat rolling off of her.

"I... I don't know what you mean..." he said, pretending not to understand. She leaned in towards him and whispered breathlessly into his ear..."I caught your act last night at the club...very impressive...very hot...you were incredible!" she winked.

Dante was livid. He suddenly felt his stomach churning. He tried to remain calm.

This was the last thing he needed...for others to know what he did...at night...