𝒟ℯ𝓁𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓉ℯ － ℬ𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓎 ℬ𝒶𝓇𝓃ℯ𝓈 𝒳 𝒪𝒞

𝒪𝓃ℯ

A/N: I couldn't wait more than a day to release this! Please enjoy, and don't hate me for the cliffhanger. Also, I'm not a Burlesque dancer but did do dance growing up and throughout my teen years, so I kinda put together a choreography for these girls to follow to the song using all my prior knowledge. Vote and comment! It means a lot <3

CW: Suggestive dancing (this is the only time I'll warn this. This story is literally based around exotic dancing, so if you don't like it, don't read it!), mentions of cheating, and teen pregnancy.

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All of it.

The thrill she got from dancing on that stage, the music blasting that her mother insisted had to be from the 20th century.

In Rarity, Zaya's mother's Burlesque club, everything about the performance was perfectly sculpted and refined. Not a hair out of place, lash, or necklace.

The club was based in downtown Manhattan of New York City, meant for all of the wealthy residents and tourists to see and appreciate. It was easy to spot, by the ample light-up sign and the dancers outside having their smoke breaks, who were still in their outfits from the sets.

About nine years ago, Zaya's mother, Evelyn, was doing Zaya's makeup on her bathroom counter for her daughter's lyrical dance recital. Evelyn was incredible at it, and had a beautiful eye for art.

Zaya was talking to her mother about her love for dancing and how she never bought a club or a Broadway show for people to enjoy, and at that moment, she gave her mother an idea. Ev had always been into Burlesque dancing and old music no one else in her generation appreciated as much. It was all about the 90s music and hip-hop that her generation was listening to. Not the music from the 1920s or the 1940s.

Zaya grew up dancing and watching the movie Burlesque and saw her mother in the way that Tess ran her business, with love toward the girls that worked for her. That was the way Evelyn always treated Zaya's friends. Like family.

They lived in Brooklyn at the time, not having much money, but Evelyn's best friend Charlotte was exceptionally well off. So what did she do? After pitching the idea, she helped her and assisted Evelyn in achieving that dream. She was smart with money, and Charlotte knew that. She also knew that her club could skyrocket in sales because of all she wanted to do and Evelyn's authenticity and knowledge behind the history.

And it did.

But on the other end of it, Evelyn needed dancers. Of course, when she opened her club, she couldn't hire her fifteen-year-old daughter. So she put out fliers, and many former strippers in the area volunteered to do the work. Evelyn looked like a square in appearance, but she was a very kind and enthusiastic person. She loved each of those girls as if they were her own and taught them everything she knew about dancing on her stage.

When any of them were skeptical about the job or were scared to take such a big step in a new business, Evelyn told them her story. She had only had Zaya when she was seventeen. Her high school boyfriend left and wasn't seen again after discovering Evelyn was pregnant with his child. She didn't have money but made due for herself and her daughter with the help of her best friend. She wanted her workers to see how determined she was, how driven and passionate she was about making something of yourself, even if you don't think you can succeed.

Since that idea popped into Zaya's head nine years ago, the club has been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The theater they had rented out Evelyn now owned, and the bar inside the club was one of the most visited attractions in the city.

Zaya convinced her mother to let her dance at the club when she turned 21 with her two best friends, the daughters of Charlotte. Maxine and Mackenzie. Twins. But her mother was extremely firm about no nudity on Zaya's behalf. She told Max and Kenzie that they could do what they wanted, but Evelyn couldn't bear to see men fawning over her figure too much, no matter how safe or professional it was.