to love or lust [mike schmidt AU]

v.

v.

[club]

TWO WEEKS LATER.

[ HALLOWEEN DAY ]

i got a secret place
we can go cause i
really wanna be alone

heartbreaker — justin bieber

|"Bitch, your neighbor's outside looking for you!"|

SOL.

In the dressing room, there's a buzz of excitement among the girls—it's Halloween night, one of the busiest nights of the year. It's all about making as much money as we can. It's the kind of money that pours in in excess, the kind of money that exceeds someone's annual salary in just one night. And the girls, myself included, are eager to start the night.

It means that men and women will flock to our club, The Vixen—the most expensive strip club in California—to watch us, the exotic dancers, perform in our most expensive costumes, heels, and accessories. We'll have a variety of people coming in, from business men to frat boys, and the occasional crowd of women, who wish to spend the night with us, to dance and shower us with cash, and pay top dollar to have private, personal lap dances. The sky's the limit on Halloween night, because tonight isn't just a regular Saturday night at the club; our owner, Matthew Lillard, says we will be doing things different this year—especially for the holidays. Normally, we treat holidays like every other night, but Matthew sees an opportunity to rake in mounds of cash, by having his beloved dancers dress in Halloween costumes of their choice.

Our boss thinks it's cheap for his high-maintenance, expensive strip club to lean into the sleazy, typical vibes of the average, hole-in-the-wall strip club that are riddled with sex, drugs, and alcohol; thus he considers celebrating holidays cheap and unprofessional—an dishonorable cash grab. And Halloween nights are especially the breeding grounds for a sleazy club to amplify their sordidness, and win easy money.

Matthew, on the other hand, prides himself in his professional, expensive image. It's child's play to him to have to pander to the holidays, like Halloween. He thinks it's sexier, more marketable and profitable to have his club stand on its own crutches than have the help of themes. And it's imperative for him to have a broader audience of club-goers, prefer classy, respectable women as his dancers, who are clean and sober, and refuse any pathetic sexual advances from customers—this is why we're number one in the state.

Although we've won the number one title, we have serious competition with a club, in a neighboring city, called Divine Temptations. Their club strives to be half of what we are at The Vixen. But, upon comparing our numbers with theirs, Divine Temptation's earned a few more millions than the year prior during the holidays.

Matthew loves to compete, and he hates for the competition to come even half of a fraction closer to taking our title, so he decides to have his club and his dancers dress up in costumes, create new dances and material for tonight.

For one night, and one night only, The Vixen will hold a Halloween-themed night.

And, for the first time in a long while, I am excited for what's to come. The girls and I, all twenty of us, apply on our makeup and dress in our costumes, buzzing with feminine energy in the dressing room. We squeal and laugh in excitement, bouncing off the walls to show our performances, to display the careful thought we put into making our costumes. There's a Halloween playlist shuffling through various songs, and it's like there's a new vivacity coursing through us; girls sit in front of their vanity chairs and mirrors, singing and vibing, others are changing into costume, and the rest take pictures and model for every camera in sight.