“Oh, hell no! I’m not kissing either of you,” I whisper, scared my parents will hear.
“Aww … come on, Kristine. Be a sport. It’s just one kiss. What better way to find out if you bat for the other team.”
“I’m not lesbian. I don’t need to kiss a girl to make sure. I like kissing boys and-” Riza jumps me, pushing me to the ground, while Kelly goes for my arms. I start to giggle and try to flip Riza off me. I’m no match for the two of them. Also, I’m the smallest of us three, so they can easily overpower me without even putting much effort into it.
Riza’s face comes closer to mine and a fresh fit of giggles erupts from me. “Nooo! Get off!” I stick out my tongue as she moves closer until I can feel her breath on my face.
“You want me, babe,” Riza laughs and then her lips are on mine. I keep laughing into her mouth until she gives up and gets off me.
I sit up and turn to Kelly. She’s the tomboy of us three, more Goth than anything else, with her pierced brow and lip. Her hair is midnight black. “Your turn!” I launch my whole body at her and press my lips to hers, still laughing. When I feel her tongue brush against my lips I yank back.
“I think I might be lesbian, let’s have a threesome to make sure,” Kelly blurts out.
I blink at her, not sure she really means it.
“Yeah right, like you’ll give up on men to become a carpet muncher,” Riza teases.
“I’m serious,” Kelly’s smile vanishes and she swallows hard. “I might be … damn, I’m not sure. I’m so confused.” She frowns, looking sad. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
The secrets we tell each other this night brings us only closer … closer than sisters.
~*~
Present day…
“Wear the white one,” Kelly says, without looking up from her phone. “You know ... the one that pushes up your boobs.” She’s been glued to that phone ever since she met this guy on Facebook. I don’t even want to know what they’re texting each other. It’s eight years later and she still hasn’t made up her mind if she’s straight or not.
“Ugh … really? You don’t think I should go with the pink one, or maybe the Guns N' Roses one I had on?” I hold up the pink shirt, but Kelly’s eyes are still glued to her phone.
“Nope, the white one. You actually have some cleavage then,” she insists.
“You’re not even looking at the one I’m holding up,” I throw a mini tantrum, stomping my feet for effect.
“Don’t need to,” she sings, “I know what looks good on you and boobs look good on you.”
“You’re just obsessed with boobs,” I mutter. I throw the shirts on the bed and stare at them, trying to decide which one will look best.
“Yeah, and that’s why you need to move your ass. I want to go drool over all the hot bodies.” Finally, she glances up at me. She quirks a pierced eyebrow. “Will you just get dressed already? We’re gonna be late for the show.”
Riza’s decided that we’re going to the Red Lounge. It’s an upmarket club where they do some kind of erotic shows and dancing. You know, the kind where there’s stripping and more. People acting out scenes others only dream of doing. What makes this club different is that there are both women and men dancers. I don’t know where she came across the club.
I’m a bit nervous, having never gone to a club like that, but the three of us have a list of things we’ve put together to do this year. We’re taking a sabbatical year before we all start working. One year of total freedom and letting our hair down. We deserve it! We all worked our butts off to graduate from college.
Second thing we’re crossing off on our to-do-list is going to a strip club. The first thing was the road trip we started a week ago. We’re currently in Vegas, it’s Riza’s choice of dream destination. It’s the perfect place to find a strip club, too.
It’s our last night in Vegas and we’re going to make the most of it before we make our way to New Orleans, which is one of the places Kelly wants to go to. The stop after that is Vancouver. Yeah baby, I want to see the city where most of Fifty Shades of Grey was filmed. It’s my favorite book and movie. Gosh, to walk where Christian and Ana walked.
The girls don’t know my reason for choosing Vancouver, they’ll rip me apart with their never-ending teasing.
Riza comes out of the bathroom, wearing a teensy tiny blue dress that clings to her perfect body like a second skin. She looks great but then she always does. She’s just dyed her hair ginger, the color of the month. It suits her blue eyes.
“You gonna wear that shirt?” Riza asks while frowning at the white shirt I’m busy working my arms through. She slips on her high heels, and I have to admit they make her legs looks awesome.
“Yeah. Kelly told me to.” I can feel a headache coming on!
“It’s a club, nothing like the parties we used to go to in college.”
Screw this! I grab the Guns N' Roses shirt I was wearing originally and drag it over my head. I tie the shirt in a knot behind my back so it pulls up just above my belly button, stretched tightly over my breasts. That should please Kelly. It looks great with the denim skirt I have on. I find my one sandal by the cupboard and look for the other one under the bed. I find it and quickly put them on. “There, I’m done. Let’s go,” I say and I walk towards the door.
“Yeah baby, swing that ass,” Kelly slaps me on my butt as she darts by me.
“We look so good they might just offer us jobs,” Riza jokes.
I don’t think it’s funny. I don’t want to look like a stripper. I move to untie the knot but Riza’s hand on my arm stops me. “Oh no, you don’t! Leave it like that. You look all kinds of smexy.”
“Smart I can believe, but sexy? No way, girl. You and Kelly have the sexy factor. I’m cool with being the brains of this operation,” I laugh. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not the insecure kind. Like everyone, I have positives and negatives. I’m cute and have amazing blonde hair, which girls would kill to have. I have huge grey eyes that have gotten me out of all kinds of trouble. I just wish I could be a little taller, like Riza and Kelly. Kelly’s the tallest, and no one fills a pair of jeans like she does. She’s always wearing jeans, even tonight, with her favorite pair of biker boots.
We all squeeze into the back of a cab. A few minutes later, Riza squeals next to me, “Oh.My.Gosh! It looks so hot from outside, just imagine the inside.”
I follow her gaze and the first thing I spot is the massive neon light that’s in the shape of a man bending a woman over and smacking her on the ass. As the lights flicker it looks like his hand is moving, spanking her with every other flickering of the red and yellow lights.
When the cab stops, my eyes are still glued to the flickering lights. There’s a nervous twist in my stomach.
“Here’s to sex, drugs and alcohol,” Kelly says as we all pile out of the cab.
“You’re on your own with the drugs. Just let one of us know if you decide to do some so we can watch you make an ass of yourself,” Riza says from over her shoulder, her eyes drinking in the entrance of the club.
There’s a fountain to the left and a burgundy carpet reaches all the way to the rope from inside the club. A beefy-looking bouncer is letting people in after checking their invites.
Riza filled in an application for us online and the club approved it, sending us our private invites. Riza’s been on cloud nine ever since. The club apparently doesn’t just let anyone through their doors, you have to be screened and sign a contract that whatever happens in the club, stays in the club.
Riza hands over our black, gold and burgundy invites. After the bouncer scans the info, he looks up. “To the right is a booth where you hand in your belongings. No cameras allowed.” He looks absolutely bored as he says this. He must’ve repeated it a thousand times already.
We walk down a shadowy hallway, the burgundy carpet plush under our feet. A muffled beat grows louder as we move further in. We stop at the booth and as unhappy as I am about handing my purse over, I don’t have much of a choice if I want to go in.