TEA$ERS

Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Ashley assesses the area, directing us to the host at the front of the club. He wore a black suit and navy tie, his dark brown hair slicked back away from his face.

"Hey guys, welcome to Lust City. Could I steal a peak at your I.D.'s if you don't mind?"

"Of course." Ashley says with a sickening sweet smile on her face as she digs her license out of her purse, and hands it to the man.

Lily and Jade follow her actions, Jade with an annoyed eye-roll. I decide that I'm going to like her the best. Not.

"And you?" He asks, his attention turned to me. I reluctantly show him my license. I hate being carded. It's a pain, and I can't help but be jealous of Melanie who is never carded whenever we go out. She just has that older look about her.

"Alright. Let's get the fun started!" Ashley says, clapping her hands together and running to a table as close as she could get to the stage.

The show starts in a few minutes, and judging by the amount of people piling in at the moment, you'd think that we were about to see the president speak.

We all take a seat, except for Lily who announces that she has to run to the bathroom.

A waiter comes over to us and asks for our orders.

"I'd like a glass of the Krug Brut Vintage 1988."

I look down at the menu to find that a bottle of the champagne is $500! "Order whatever you'd like Ry. On me." She says, turning to me. I decided to ignore the fact that she had just called me by my nickname, and instead focused on the fact that tonight, I could get anything I wanted.

For free.

"Could I have the same?" The waiter scribbled my order down. After Jade finished up, and Lily had come running back to the table to give her order, he was gone.

As if on cue, the lights began to dim to announce that the show was about to start.

My phone begins to ring in my purse, and I pull it out to see Melanie's firetruck red hair blaring on the screen. "I better take this." I stand grabbing my purse, but Ashley stops me. "Why take that large thing with you? Just leave it here. We'll keep it safe." She bats her long eyelashes at me, and to make matters worse, my phone was going off non-stop. "Alright, fine." I finally agree.

I head off to the bathroom, and hit the answer button.

"Omigod Rylz why'd you take so long to answer?" Melanie screeches over the phone. "Sorry, I'm kind of in a club." "It's fine. Well anyway, the date went awesome!" She screams, and I pull my phone away from my ear a minute. I'm not planning on becoming deaf any time soon.

"I didn't know that it was a date." "Me neither. But Zayn just was so nice about everything, and when we went to dinner he was such a gentleman, and then we ended up talking for hours, and at the end he kissed me!" She screams again, but this time I don't even bother to move the device from my already punctured eardrum.

"Wait, Zayn is the mystery guy you've been hanging out with?"

I try to picture the Zayn that I met yesterday on a date with Mel.

Can't be.

"Yeah. You know him?"

"Umm, we've met before.."

"Oh. Well that's so cool! Now we don't have to have that awkward having your best-friend hate your boyfriend sitch since you guys are already best buddies." "I wouldn't say that we're 'best buddies', but yeah I guess you're right."

Her laughter fills the room even over the phone.

Her enthusiasm was always the thing that I loved about Mel. It was why she was such a cool friend to have.

"Well, I've got to go. Zayn said that he'll be back from work soon and I want to make sure that my voice is ready for when he calls me. Byeee!" She squeals, and hangs up. I smile, shaking my head, before heading towards my table.

Ashley, Lily, and Jade are completely indulged in the man onstage, champagne in all three of their hands. A few empty glasses sit alone on the table, and I thank god that I'm not the one paying for all of this.

As I sit down, I watch the man's form tower over the audience as he danced. His body moved in ways that I had never seen before, each muscle on his skin shrunk and then popped in such coordination, it was fascinating to watch.

He had a hat in his hand that covered his face, but it didn't bother me. As he used his other hand to take off his suspenders which were covering his bare chest, his pants hung even lower on his waist, revealing his cut sharp wedge. I licked my lips before realizing what I was doing.

As the music came to an end, he brought his hat away from his face. He gazed over the crowd, studying everyone of our faces. As his focus came towards me, my eyes widened.

Zayn!

He dropped his hat when our eyes met, but quickly picked it up and regained his composure. Everyone clapped as he made his way off stage.

"That was weird..." I hear Ashley mumble to Lily and Jade.

Halfway through the next act, Zayn finds me at the table. "Can I buy you a drink?" He asks me, and I nod.

•••

"So, how is it dating Mel?"

I take a sip of my wine. It's much better than the overly-expensive champagne that Ashley bought. This was cool and crisp on my tongue.

"Good. She talks about you a lot. Even when we only spoke online."

"Yeah, she always seems to bring me into conversations.."

He smiles, "I'm not surprised. It's hard not too."

"How did she take you being a male-stripper?" I decide to change the subject. His compliment was starting to make me uncomfortable. "I haven't told her yet. But I'm guessing that since her best friend is a female-stripper, she won't mind." He puts as much emphasis on female as I did him.

"True. It's just weird."

"What is?"

He leans back on his chair, awaiting my answer. "You. Being in this business. I never pictured you-" "Taking off my clothes in front of hundreds of people? Me neither. But it's not my final plan."

I take another sip of wine. "Well, what is your plan?"

"To be a surgeon. I'm still studying so I can get my Masters Degree."

"Where at?"

"David Geffen School of Med." He smiled proudly. "It's an Ivy League."

I nod wistfully. I wish that I had that same aspect in life. To make something better of myself. But I just hated the idea of having to stay in a stuffy school with teachers with a stick up their asses thinking that they were better than you.

"I have to go. But thanks for the wine." I announce, standing up from the small table that we were sitting at.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Thanks for staying to talk with me."

I smile, and walk away. We definitely aren't at a hugging stage right now.

When I return, Ashley, Lily, and Jade are all putting on their coats. "Need a ride?" Ashley offers me. I graciously accept since I have no other way to get back home.

"Don't forget your purse." Ashley kindly reminds me. I thank her, grabbing it and heading out the door as she teases me about Zayn.