LURE ✧ l.s. ✧

9.

The next few days consist of Louis counting his money which ended up being around five hundred, more online shopping, well more like online window shopping because all of that money has to go to his car payment.

He also tells Niall how everything went and might've mentioned how attractive Harry is to which Niall told him he's probably a straight player. Louis told him that's not true but after thinking about it Harry definitely doesn't give off the strongest 'I'm gay' vibes. Never judge a book by its -very visually appealing- cover, though.

Louis looks up more tutorials and makes sure to do lots of stretches so he can move easier. He told Harry he's able to for sure work on Monday nights and Wednesday nights because he has late afternoon classes the next day. He's also able to work on all Fridays and Saturdays. Harry told him it doesn't matter and he can come in whenever.

LURE has independent dancers which means that Louis is responsible for making his own money. He doesn't get a paycheck. It also means that he has to pay 'house pay' which is like a fee for the club letting him dance there and make money. That's okay though because it's only fifty pounds and if Louis makes even half of what he did for his audition he'll be alright.

After realizing how easy it is to make money as a stripper Louis' gotten much more excited about his new job. Harry told him he can start whenever he wants so Louis decided the sooner the better. He has lots of studying he has to do so he's given himself a few days to make sure he's all caught up so that stripping doesn't set him behind in any classes. Tomorrow, which is Friday, is when Louis' going to start.

Today he's debating on if he wants to buy another outfit or just wear the one he wore for his audition. It's not like anyone will notice but he has to buy something else at some point so it might as well be today right? He has a little leftover money so it should be alright.

He only buys an outfit and a cheap pair of shoes. The nice thing, or maybe not so nice depending on how you look at it, is that a lot of clothes these days that are trendy, also work for stripping. This means he's able to find things for pretty decent prices. Forever 21, ASOS, and Fashion Nova -which is overhyped in Louis' opinion- were the stores he had the most luck in finding suitable items.

Louis also watches more and more tutorials on pole dancing so he has a bit more knowledge and ideas on how to really pull off the more complicated tricks. It's not mandatory for the job that he knows how to do anything super special but Louis figures that the better he is at dancing the more money he'll make.

He still has a weird feeling towards everything. He's happy that he has the job but it's still new and it'll probably take a few times before Louis doesn't feel different when he sees himself in the outfits.

Again, he's far, far from being against it or finding it wrong, it's just never been his thing. For it to just be thrown at him, the whole cross-dressing thing that is, threw him off a bit. He never thought he'd ever been shopping for heels and feminine clothes but hey, life's full of surprises.

Niall's been very, well, excited. He won't stop asking Louis questions and trying to get Louis to try on the outfit he wore for his audition. Of course, Louis refused to do so which just led to Niall insisting he watches the tutorial videos on YouTube with Louis.

Louis still hasn't told Liam or Zayn. He said he would tell them when he was sure he'd gotten the job but he's just not ready to be lectured quite yet. As for his mum, she still thinks he's working at Tesco which is exactly how it'll stay. Forever.

He's ready though, he's going to take this seriously and treat it as work, not a game. He's going to make sure he gets the money he needs so he can pay for the things he needs to pay for. He's twenty-two years old, it's time for him to get his shit together.

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Friday Louis goes to his classes and tries his best to focus but his mind is mostly distracted by thoughts of later tonight. It's his first night working and he's both very excited and nervous. He's more excited than nervous, though, because he's done it before so now he knows what to expect.

He hopes that Bebe will be there because talking to her before his audition really calmed him down. He doesn't really want to say Bebe's his friend because they've only met once but he kinda hopes they do become friends.

"Niall," Louis says as he packs his bag to bring to work. "Do you want me to pick you up McDonald's on my way home?"

Niall looks up from his books excitedly. "Um yeah. Since when do you have McDonald's money?"

Louis shrugs and slings his bag on his shoulder. "Since Saturday I guess. Just text me what you want."

"Okay, thanks mate."

"Yep, I'm leaving now, if you're not up when I get home I'm eating your food." Then Louis walks out of the dorm without letting Niall respond.

On his way to work -its odd calling stripping 'work'- Louis listens to music and plans out his dance a little. The dances that strippers do aren't always super on beat they usually just go with the flow. Louis only knows this from the numerous videos he watched.

When Louis gets to the club he walks straight to the locker rooms. When he gets inside he's relieved to see Bebe changing into her clothes. Louis thought they would have separate changing rooms but they don't. They do have stalls with curtains in front of them, though, in case anyone wants privacy. However, many of the strippers don't care, considering they're dancing half-naked in front of a bunch of people all night anyway.

Louis changes into the new outfit he bought and puts on his shoes. They're a little uncomfortable but hopefully after a couple times wearing them he'll break them in.

"Hey, Louis right?" Louis turns around to see Bebe standing there.

"Yep, that's me," Louis says as he stuffs his things in the locker and then locks it with the lock Harry gave him.

"I'm glad you made it through your audition. Montana, one of the dancers here, said you did well for a first-timer."

Louis gives a shy smile. "Oh, well probably not any better than the other dancers did."

"Well, I have B-pit now so I'll see you later," Bebe says. Louis waves goodbye and then finishes getting ready.

He touches up by putting deodorant on and then glittery body spray that he may or may not have stole from Lottie way before he was a stripper.

After getting fully ready Louis waits until 11:00 which is when he's up to dance. There's a rotation, first, you dance on the main stage, then A-pit, and then B-pit. Each dance is for two songs then you wait a little bit until you go to the next stage. They have you wait so that you can get a drink or touch up if you need to.

Finally, it's about time for Louis' dance so he goes and waits by the steps until the dancer currently on the stage, finishes. As soon as the DJ announces Louis' name he's on the stage and the music is playing.

Louis lets himself zone out a little and just go with what his body says to do. It comes naturally to him and the crowd seems to like it because he's already getting money thrown on stage. Thankfully he was smart enough to bring a smaller bag to hold it all in instead of just stuffing it in the duffel bag he brought.

When his songs are over Louis collects his money and starts to walk off stage. Except, before he goes off he spots Harry standing in the back watching him. As soon as their eyes meet Harry turns around and disappears into the pool of people.

He was most likely watching to make sure that Louis did well. He probably just wanted to make sure that hiring him was a good choice, that's all.

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A/N: Do you have a 1D/solo career song that means the most to you?

I think even though I'm mostly a Harry and Louis stan, Fire away or Mirrors by Niall are the two I find the most personally meaningful but I like From The Dining Table the best even if I can't relate to it much