I sit next to Megan and set the shoe box beside me.
“How do you do it, Megan? How do you just go in and drop your guard the way you do?” I ask.
She laughs and lets out a sigh. “I just do. You know me. Sex and living on the edge don’t bother me. I don’t worry until something becomes dangerous, and I never allow that to happen. The first time is always difficult for anything. Once you get past it, you’re good.”
Megan is that friend you meet in college who opens your eyes to the world.
While we have a host of similarities, the differences between us are astounding. She’s the liberal party girl who dates like she breathes air, while I’m the bookworm.
She’s also the girl who’s working at The Dark Odyssey in the same capacity as me—a private waitress/stripper so she can finance the rest of her education and save up to set up her own business when she gets qualified as a therapist.
It was Megan who gave me the idea to work there too when my world turned upside down a few weeks ago.
“I guess I just have to push my worries aside. Things are bad with Mom, so I have to do what I have to do right?”
Her shoulders slump. “Think of it this way: it’s just for a little while. Six months tops, and you’ll have more than enough money for what you need.”
“Yes… six months.”
I had the induction last night and was nervous about what I was going to see. Because I went early in the day, I didn’t see any of what I expected—people having sex out in the open. Tonight I’m sure will be a different story, and I’ll be part of what the owners call their attractions.
“Six months,” she reiterates with emphasis. “That’s not a long time.”
“No.”
I don’t even know why I’m bothering to contemplate. I’m in a bad position that just became dire. The breaking point where a person will do anything to keep a sick parent alive and hang on to their dreams at the same time.
I got a rude awakening three weeks ago when I went to visit my mother and found her lying unconscious on the kitchen floor.
Her heart problems came back with a vengeance. All that treatment she had in between me graduating high school and starting college counted for nothing. Her heart got worse and what she needs now is a triple bypass.
Because her insurance won’t cover the cost of such a procedure I have to. She can’t even contemplate financing such a thing with the meagre earnings she gets from her job at the florist.
What enraged me was Mom knew she was sick again and didn’t tell me.
She didn’t want me to worry.
We’ve been given the estimate of costs and our only option now is to opt for an outpatient treatment program with a view to do surgery in six months. That time frame is to give us the chance to get the money together. Two weeks ago saw me handing over my tuition money so her care could start. I have my student loan and campus allowance to see me through the school year, but that’s it. There’s nothing left for grad school, nothing left for anything.
If I don’t take this job, I’ll end up with nothing, and I’ll lose my mother.
That is my situation.
It’s complete shit, but I’ll take this moment with my friend to calm me.
Megan reaches over and taps my hand. “Think of the money Paige. That’s all that matters. Nothing else. Anything could happen tonight. I want you to go in and just remember your goals. That’s what I do.”
Again I nod. “Yeah. I’m gonna try.”
What I need to do is cut the shit and be grateful I have this chance.
The bottom line is, I need fifty thousand dollars in total to cover Mom’s surgery and aftercare.
I got into The Dark Odyssey on a salary of twelve and a half thousand dollars a month because of my double D’s and my extensive dance experience. That, and my willingness to do more in the Playboy Lounge than serve drinks.
I had to sign a contract, and the damn thing even asked what I was willing to do and what I wouldn’t do. Stripping, going topless, pole dancing, BDSM, anal sex, fisting, group sex, and much, much more. There was options to select but in desperation I only saw the salary and thought I’d skip ahead and sell my soul to the devil by ticking the box that said anything.
Anything to save Mom. That’s what this is all about, and since I don’t know anywhere else that will pay me that much money in a short space of time this job is my ticket.