I looked at the pole to the right of the main stage. Then my eyes wandered to the young girl looking at me as if I walked on water. And I wondered again, why the heck Thomas had asked me to teach the newcomer how to pole dance. He knew that I could barely make it through my own pole routine much less try to teach a “newbie” a routine of her own.
With a mental shake I focused on the task at hand. I was, if nothing else, determined to help the young girl. I had extensively prepared for my teaching session with Sophie. Albeit, not by actually using the pole for any of my research – I simply Googled pole dancing. And voilà I was Vanilla the pole dance expert. I walked over to my computer while gesturing for Sophie to take her place by the pole.
Looking over at the bar I saw Diane shaking her head with a huge grin. I gave her the evil eye. She and Kieran were enjoying watching me fumble through this whole pole ordeal way too much! If they weren’t careful I might make Thomas have them both up on this stage pole dancing. The thought of that retribution made me chuckle. Of course, I’d never do that, but the thought of those two swinging from a pole was quite humorous.
I pressed “play” on the YouTube video. Walking up the stairs of the stage I took my position beside Sophie telling her to grab the pole with one hand. I figured if she was going to have to gyrate around like crazy I should at least suffer with her, right?
The poor girl had no rhythm whatsoever…I mean none! I told her to watch how I moved my hips in circles and then did full body rolls. Her body just wouldn’t cooperate. I could see that the tears were threatening to fall so I decided to try a different approach. I yelled for some slow dancing music. I told Sophie to take a seat at one of the tables. She looked very young as she stared at me with her brown doe eyes. Too young…
The lights dimmed. I closed my eyes slowly breathing in through my nose. The music seeped into the pores of my body filling me from the inside out. I let my body move of its own volition curving to the notes. The song caressed me, embracing me, as I allowed it to gracefully move me across the stage.
I knew the moment he started to watch me. In days gone by his gaze used to excite me. His love had enthralled me back then. Now, having those blue eyes of his on me made my skin crawl. I wondered what happened to the boy I had fallen in love with when we were fifteen. I stopped dancing. Thomas’s eyes met mine as my eyelashes fluttered open. The wall of his coldness dropped back in place as he glared at me.
I turned to smile at Sophie. She looked somewhat star-struck as if she’d never seen anyone dance that way. It was then that I realized that she was more than just naïve. A sick feeling kicked me in my gut. I cast a worried look over at Diane. She caught my glance and raised an eyebrow in question.
I motioned Sophie to join me. I took a hard look at her pretty face. Underneath the caked on makeup was an extremely young face that revealed childish innocence. I inhaled deeply, fear stirring in my heart.
“Sweetie, how old are you?”
“I’m…umm…I’m 18.”
Diane’s eyes were riveted to our conversation. My worried gaze caught Diane’s gaze again. I hurried over to Thomas interrupting his phone call.
“Thomas, we have a problem.” He just looked at me. “There is no way in hell that Sophie is 18!” I spit out through clenched teeth.
He stared at me then walked away saying over his shoulder, “I’ll take care of it…”
Who is Sophie? Who is Diane? Who is Kieran?
