dinner,
leaving me alone in the elegant room. It
may have been beautiful, but it was
claustrophobic. I had nowhere to go until
the next afternoon, so I decided to take a
drive past my old school, my old home,
and old friend’s homes.
I was a ghost revisiting history.
Everything looked different, but the
same. Earlier in the morning, I had seen
how progress spread across the Front
Range like a disease. Subdivisions and
shopping centers sprawled as far as the
eye could see. Magazines consistently
ranked it as one of the best places in the
country to live, but I disagreed. I saw
him everywhere I went. Every memory
tainted by the asshole I spent years trying
to forget. I needed a drink, or two or
three. Before I knew it, neon lights
reflected off the frost surrounding the
edges of the windshield. Pulling up the
club’s website on my phone, I confirmed
what I had suspected. Some things never
change.
Chapter 13 – A
Seed is Planted
The engine of the small rental
started to idle a little higher while sitting
in the parking lot. The heat cranked up
full blast as steam coated the inside of
the windows, creating a visible barrier
to the freezing world outside. The
thermostat
read
fifteen
degrees
Fahrenheit; with the wind, it felt much
worse – the kind of cold that sinks into
your bones and only a hot bath can
remedy.
“Some night for a bikini contest,” I
thought to myself.
It was a night not unlike this one
when I first took to that stage. However,
it was humidity causing a fog on the
windshield as the cold blasted from the
air conditioner back then. It all started
with my co-worker, Taylor, from the
diner I worked at, telling me in a
whisper while stacking heavy ceramic
plates full of food on a tray that she
made seven hundred dollars the previous
Saturday. Waiting tables was good
money for an eighteen year old; granted
it was hard work and I smelled horrible
at the end of each shift, but it was better
than a drive thru.
“How did you make that much
money?” I was highly curious, and
jealous.
She remained quiet the rest of the
night until we were starting on our side
work. Heading towards a booth in the
back of the restaurant, we hauled racks
of silverware and packets of napkins to
roll for the next morning. Looking
around to make sure no one was within
earshot, she leaned forward to me and
motioned with her eyes for me to pay
attention.
“I went to the bikini contest at the
Front Street Cabaret and I won, so they
offered me a job. I got to keep all the
bills that were given to me during the
dance and my winnings were five
hundred bucks.”
My eyes turned into saucers with
my mouth gaping open at the same time.
“You’re a stripper now?” I could not
believe what came out of my mouth.
A slightly sour look came over her
face. “It’s not what you think, Vy, and
it’s a really nice place. No poles, there
are security guards, and a killer sound
system.”
I don’t know who she was trying to
convince more about it, me or her. She
went back to placing the forks and
knives horizontally in the napkin before
swiftly rolling it with her palm in one
fell swoop.
“It’s so easy. You just dance, which
we do every weekend at the clubs
anyways. You just get paid a lot for it.”
My nose twisted up as my eyes
squinted in thought. “Yeah, but what
about the greasy dudes? I don’t think I
could do it.”
Shaking my head, I reached over
for another pack of napkins. I wasn’t in a
hurry to finish like most nights, but I
couldn’t believe Taylor and I were
having this conversation. I knew a little
bit about the place, Connor liked to go
there occasionally with his buddies. His
friends dated a few of the girls, who all
happened to be idiots, in my opinion.
“You should do it, Vy. You are
gorgeous, you can move, and I know you
would be good at it. Besides, I really
like working with you.”
A tinge of sadness crossed her
leaving me alone in the elegant room. It
may have been beautiful, but it was
claustrophobic. I had nowhere to go until
the next afternoon, so I decided to take a
drive past my old school, my old home,
and old friend’s homes.
I was a ghost revisiting history.
Everything looked different, but the
same. Earlier in the morning, I had seen
how progress spread across the Front
Range like a disease. Subdivisions and
shopping centers sprawled as far as the
eye could see. Magazines consistently
ranked it as one of the best places in the
country to live, but I disagreed. I saw
him everywhere I went. Every memory
tainted by the asshole I spent years trying
to forget. I needed a drink, or two or
three. Before I knew it, neon lights
reflected off the frost surrounding the
edges of the windshield. Pulling up the
club’s website on my phone, I confirmed
what I had suspected. Some things never
change.
Chapter 13 – A
Seed is Planted
The engine of the small rental
started to idle a little higher while sitting
in the parking lot. The heat cranked up
full blast as steam coated the inside of
the windows, creating a visible barrier
to the freezing world outside. The
thermostat
read
fifteen
degrees
Fahrenheit; with the wind, it felt much
worse – the kind of cold that sinks into
your bones and only a hot bath can
remedy.
“Some night for a bikini contest,” I
thought to myself.
It was a night not unlike this one
when I first took to that stage. However,
it was humidity causing a fog on the
windshield as the cold blasted from the
air conditioner back then. It all started
with my co-worker, Taylor, from the
diner I worked at, telling me in a
whisper while stacking heavy ceramic
plates full of food on a tray that she
made seven hundred dollars the previous
Saturday. Waiting tables was good
money for an eighteen year old; granted
it was hard work and I smelled horrible
at the end of each shift, but it was better
than a drive thru.
“How did you make that much
money?” I was highly curious, and
jealous.
She remained quiet the rest of the
night until we were starting on our side
work. Heading towards a booth in the
back of the restaurant, we hauled racks
of silverware and packets of napkins to
roll for the next morning. Looking
around to make sure no one was within
earshot, she leaned forward to me and
motioned with her eyes for me to pay
attention.
“I went to the bikini contest at the
Front Street Cabaret and I won, so they
offered me a job. I got to keep all the
bills that were given to me during the
dance and my winnings were five
hundred bucks.”
My eyes turned into saucers with
my mouth gaping open at the same time.
“You’re a stripper now?” I could not
believe what came out of my mouth.
A slightly sour look came over her
face. “It’s not what you think, Vy, and
it’s a really nice place. No poles, there
are security guards, and a killer sound
system.”
I don’t know who she was trying to
convince more about it, me or her. She
went back to placing the forks and
knives horizontally in the napkin before
swiftly rolling it with her palm in one
fell swoop.
“It’s so easy. You just dance, which
we do every weekend at the clubs
anyways. You just get paid a lot for it.”
My nose twisted up as my eyes
squinted in thought. “Yeah, but what
about the greasy dudes? I don’t think I
could do it.”
Shaking my head, I reached over
for another pack of napkins. I wasn’t in a
hurry to finish like most nights, but I
couldn’t believe Taylor and I were
having this conversation. I knew a little
bit about the place, Connor liked to go
there occasionally with his buddies. His
friends dated a few of the girls, who all
happened to be idiots, in my opinion.
“You should do it, Vy. You are
gorgeous, you can move, and I know you
would be good at it. Besides, I really
like working with you.”
A tinge of sadness crossed her
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