Walking with a slight spring in her step she saw Leon at the entrance to the club smoking. She rolled her eyes as she approached him.
“They’re bad for you you know?” She smirked. She was clearly joking, teasing him like she always did.
Leaning against a wall beside him, noticing his expression she sighed
“Whats wrong? Has something happened?” Now she was being genuine, showing concern, after all he was one of her best friends, even if she did want more than that.
She gently pushed her red hair from her face as she tilted her head. She knew something was bothering him, yet if he wouldn’t tell her, he wouldn’t tell anybody.
“This is going to probably sound like some kind of pick up line, but….what are you doing in a place like this?”
Leeta, who’d been starting to take another bit of her drink, nearly choked on the amber liquid and had to set the glass down as she started to cough and sputter. Someone pounded her on the back, helping her clear her airway and it was a few moments before she could catch her breath to speak. She looked at Clarissa, trying to determine if the woman was either delusional or completely serious. There was a bit of a smirk on her face but her eyes were filled with nothing but honest curiosity. How does she not know? Oh Clarissa was in the shock of her young life.
Seeing Ashley had finished her set, she made a vague signal to the guy manning the DJ booth and the music changed to something sultry and sexy. Returning Clarissa’s smirk, Leeta slid from her seat like liquid silk, keeping eye contact with Clarissa as she did so. She had been wearing a short leather jacket over her clothing and as the music changed its beat and tempo, Leeta slowly began to remove her jacket. She now had the attention of the men close by, as others who’d been near the stage began looking around to see who the next act was. Hearing that there was a dancer near the bar soon had those closest to the stage standing on tables and chairs to see over their companions for a better look. The catcalls and whistles rent the air.
The leather material slid down one arm as she caressed the soft skin of her shoulder with her chin. Her hair was covering one eye and she looked up to wink at a young cadet, who gulped hard as she approached him. His friends egged him on as she placed her foot between his open thighs on his chair, toes coming dangerously close to an interest part of his anatomy. She extended her arm, directing the young man to “assist” her removal of her jacket. Gulping, he nodded, grabbing the material in one hand as she executed a quick turn to release her other arm from the confines of her leather prison. Clad in a figure-hugging corseted top and a leather mini skirt, she dipped low, flinging her hair forward before standing back up. No one had seen her unzip the corset, but she was now swinging it over her head and moving her hips in a circle, almost like it was some kind of porn-rated Hula dance. The corset was flung away as she moved around the room in just a barely-there bra and her skirt.
She paused on her way up to the stage to give one of her regular customers a quick tease of a lap dance, shaking her ass in his face while his hands roamed around to rub her stomach and thighs. She took one of his hands and placed it at the zipper at the back of her skirt. He obliged and as the skirt slid down her thighs, she too slid down in the man’s lap until she was kneeling on the floor in front of him. She ran her hands up his thighs and across his shoulders as her body dipped and flowed around him. She kicked the skirt away into the crowd when she was upright and made her way to the stage, dressed in a bra and thong. The catcalls and whistling increased in frequency as she dipped and slid around the pole on the stage. The music reached a crescendo as she went into the final steps of her act, clinging to the top of the pole with strong thighs as she hung upside down, hands running along her body like a lover. She slid downward until she was laying on her back in the middle of the stage and the music ended. The applause was thunderous as she got to her feet. She blew a kiss and a wink at Clarissa before sauntering off the stage.
If that didn’t answer her question… Leeta smirked as she headed to her dressing room to change, …then I don’t know what will.
*He bounced the cigarette on his finger, causing some of the ash to fall from the tip and make it’s way to the floor, gliding across it as the wind grabbed hold. The embers danced about until the red flare they held went out and they dispersed even further. Leon’s eyes caught every part of this like it were as clear as day. After a few moments of silence, and a puff of the cigarette in his hand, he spoke.*
“Rissa’s in there with some guy…hard to believe…but I’ve never seen a woman accept a second drink without expecting to stay.”
*He put the cigarette out on the wall behind him and tossed it aside. He looked to Raven, and smiled softly, attempting to reassure her that he was fine. He took her up in one arm, wrapping it around her neck and kissed her forehead gently. He heard the music in the club change, and recognized it to match that of Leeta’s set, and he chuckled. He let go of Raven, and began walking away towards the recreational area. Perhaps shooting some hoops or a run on the track could clear his mind. He looked over his shoulder, realizing he left without a word to Raven. He shrugged, and continued. He knew she’d understand, of all people.*
((Thread Change: Recreational Area))
-Ever have that feeling where you just shoved your size seven food in your mouth, for asking possibly the dumbest question on earth? Well, no sooner had Clarissa asked Leeta, what the dark skinned beauty was doing in a place like the Club Echo, Clarissa was about to find out just why. It was the manner in which Leeta slinked off her bar stool, that had her go wide eyed, realizing that she had in fact offered a free drink to one of the Club’s best dancers.
“Oh god..” Clarissa said her thoughts out loud, as Leeta moved through the crowd, with the grace and skill of a jungle cat. One cadet was the first target of her attention, with her foot placed strategically between his legs, and just shy of his…yes well. Clarissa suddenly found reason to be thirsty, to clear her throat, and she spun around and picked up her JD and coke, skulling it back, all the while Leeta had whipped off her corset and now was doing an X rated hula dance with it. Now the girl was barely wearing a stitch of clothing, and prancing about, much to the delight of all the horny officers and civilians. Clarissa’s cheeks flushed red, and she knew she had seen enough. This wasn’t the place for her, already feeling the fool for entering with Johnson, and seeing Leon leering at Ashley.
“I’ve had enough I think.” Snatching up her bag, she got off the bar stool, and headed for the exit, while up on the stage, Leeta was blowing kisses and winking at her, as she walked off the stage. Her performance had wowed the crowd, whose applause was heard outside the Club doors.
Clarissa was in a hurry to cross the street to her jeep, only reaching it and struggling to find her keys. She glanced back, only to see Leon, now having a cigarette with a red haired woman, she couldn’t quite recognize in the dimly lit street. Another woman? What was this? Clarissa slammed her fist into the jeep door out of anger, and her keys fell from her purse with a clatter on the ground. She knelt down to pick them up hastily, then jumped into her jeep, and gunned the engine, before tearing off into the night, heading back to base, and the sanctity of her bunk.
She didn’t want to have to remember this night, if could help it. The only place where life made sense, was back in Echo base.
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(Thread Change)