Chapter Text
There were loud jeers as Dirk's friends pulled him towards the red wooden door with the red neon letters that read PREMIUM BITCHES, glowing out over the door.
"Come on, guys, is this really necessary? I mean, if you want me to get smashed we can go to a normal bar."
"Nah, man, it's your twenty first, we gotta do it up right."
"Guys, we are engineering students, we are supposed to be dignified, we do not need to go to a stripclub!"
"Dirk shut up and come on." Dirk groaned but let himself be pulled into the club.
Just inside the doors was a very tall, very broad shouldered man with shoulder length dark hair wearing sunglasses. He stopped them with one fingerless gloved hand and slid his sunglasses down.
"Do you have a reservation, or are you a walk in?" the bouncer, whose name tag read Equius in neat black letters, asked menacingly.
"We have a reservation, under Strider." Equius checked the list, then nodded and waved the group through.
A scantily clad waitress, probably one of the strippers who wasn't on shift tonight, shimmied over to them with a smile and an airy wave.
"Hello, boys, my name's Porrim and I'll be helping you out tonight. Our show starts in just a few minutes, but can I get you boys some drinks? Is this a special occasion?" one of the guys immediately pulled Dirk's arm up and nodded.
"It's this dude right here, Dirk's, twenty first birthday."
"Oh my my my, how exciting. I'll get your first round of drinks on the house then. And I think you'll all enjoy our show tonight, it's theme night and the girl who's performing first is one of our better dancers, and very, very pretty." With a wink she swished away, and the group of boys settled into one of the red velvet booths towards the front of the club near the stage. There were other men, young and old, and the occasional woman in the audience, all drinking and laughing and looking expectantly towards the stage. Dirk squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. Porrim brought a round of drinks over with a smile, setting them down by bend delicately at the waist, showcasing her rather impressive chest and core of balance. Though Dirk as a rule was not fond of being drunk, he downed his drink quickly, hoping it would ease his discomfort with this situation.
A few moments later the lights in the room flickered and dimmed, save for a spot light on the stage and the silver pole that sat front and center. Porrim spoke softly into a microphone, setting the scene.
"The year was 1922. Prohibition was in full affect, and so the bootleggers and speak easies of the rebels were in full swing. One particular speak easy was well known not just for it's relatively high quality drinks, but for the pretty little blonde flapper who didn't just serve the drinks, but ran the whole establishment."
When she finished speaking, a low jazzy tune began playing, picking up speed as a girl stepped out from backstage, clad in an impossibly short pale pink flapper dress, with a black feather boa, black fishnet thigh highs held up by pale pink garters, and killer black heels. Her blonde hair was perfectly coiffed and curled, topped off with an era appropriate feathered headband. Dirk blinked a few times, something about her seemed vaguely familiar. As she walked the rest of the way to the pole, hips swinging from side to side rhythmically, she winked out at the audience. When she reached the pole at the end of the stage and wrapped one leg around it, swinging elegantly before bending dramatically at the waist backwards, her head towards the audience, Dirk's stomach dropped. She didn't just look familiar. He knew that girl.
'Holy fucking shit." he muttered under his breath. His friend Rufioh raised an eyebrow and elbowed him.
"So that's your type, eh?"
"No, I mean not that there's anything wrong with her, but that's not. Why I said that. I know that girl. We went to school together when we were younger."
"Dude, what? Nice, she's hot."
"Man, that? That's Roxy."
"Holy shit, what?"
Dirk nodded, gulping as he looked back up at the stage and saw Roxy tossing her boa away and shimmying the top of her dress down. he covered his eyes.
"I can't watch this oh my god. I cannot watch my childhood best friend take her clothes off for money, this is so very wrong on so many levels." thoughts raced through his head. What the hell was she doing here? Shouldn't her mom have left enough money in her will for her to never need to work again? Both of their families were loaded, that's why they were at the same private school.
On stage Roxy raised an eyebrow when a member of the audience covered his eyes. With a smirk she decided to mess with the guy, since Porrim had ppinted him out saying it was his birthday, and strode down the stairs to the audience gently, and picking up her discarded boa. The audience hooted and hollered at her as she walked towards him and looped the boa playfully behind his neck. He froze and pulled his hands down, staring up at her like a deer in the headlights. Her mouth fell open as soon as she could see his eyes clearly.
"Holy fuggin shit." she said quietly, immediately removing the boa. Dirk turned bright red and ran, spending the rest of the night hiding in the men's room. Roxy finished her routine, after all, she was a paid professional. When her set was finished though she pulled on her robe and went out in the club, looking for Cal. He was lurking behind the bar.
"Yo Cal!"
"What'd you want."
"You see a dude in here, spiky blonde hair, wearin' black tank top and black jeans, lookin' totally fuckin' terrified?"
"You mean the kid hogging my bathrooms? Yeah. Want me to kick him out?"
"Yeah. I needa talk to 'im." Equius appeared out of seemingly nowhere.
"Did this blonde man touch you inappropriately, Lalonde?"
"Nah, he ran away from me, actually. I know him, didn't expect to see him again, let alone in a strip club."
Cal pounded on the door and yelled at Dirk to get the hell out. After a few minutes he complied, almost running directly into Roxy, who was waiting. She nodded her head at him.
"Sup, Strider."
"Hey, Roxy."