Chapter 3
After Charlotte finalizes her plan, she sends the invitations with the time and place to the list of names Gabi has given her. Everybody’s in on where they will be going, except for the brides-to-be.
Christmas comes and goes, and Charlotte doesn’t think much about the party or the wedding. Riley occasionally sends her pictures of wedding decorations that she finds online or in real life; Charlotte responds to all of them with a thumbs-up emoji.
'I’m interpreting that as ‘yes, buy it’, just so you know,' Riley texts her after the fourth or fifth time.
'You’ll be the one making space for it in your suitcase then,' she texts back.
Riley sends her the thumbs-up emoji.
As January rolls around, Charlotte soon finds herself in an elevator with Gabi, Lou, and a person who indeed gets paid to push the floor button for them.
'ETA: 30 secs,' she texts Riley, signaling the people upstairs to get ready.
The giggling couple beside her is holding hands, exchanging nervous glances. They look absolutely stunning. Charlotte had given them the instruction to ‘dress like you’ll catch on fire if you enter a church’. They had clearly understood and taken it to heart.
Lou is wearing a tight leather jumpsuit, with lots of metal details in all the right places. Gabi wears a pink two-piece: a top that’s really nothing more than a band around her chest, and a matching skirt.
Charlotte herself is wearing a sleek black cocktail dress that would’ve been called modest, if not for the criminally low cut in the front, ending just an inch above her belly button. As she grins at herself in the mirror, she straightens her shoulders. Oh, she looks fine.
The elevator dings and the doors slide open; elevator person motions for them to go ahead. They take a few steps before they catch sight of the group of—mostly Gabi’s—friends, excitedly waiting for them, jumping and cheering.
“Hi guys!” Lou squeals, as Gabi starts greeting her friends, wrapping them in tight hugs, one by one.
Some of them, Charlotte has met before, like Tilly and Barb.
Others she’s only ever spoken to via text.
Apparently that’s not an issue when Gabi’s friends start hugging her too, exchanging names and complimenting her outfit.
Charlotte continues down the group of giddy women, forcing herself to make small talk like her life depends on it, and opens up her arms to hug the next one in line when she realizes she’s face to face with Riley. Right.
“Oh, we’re hugging?” Riley says, sounding pleasantly surprised. “Hi, darling.”
Before Charlotte can retract, Riley pulls her in by wrapping one arm around her shoulders. She feels a set of cool lips on her cheek, and the strong scent of a warm, earthly perfume enters her nose. When she blinks, it’s already over. Riley takes a step back to admire Charlotte’s outfit.
She’s taller than Charlotte remembers; she must be wearing even higher heels than last time.
Charlotte drops her gaze to confirm, and is surprised to see a pair of high laced boots.
Letting her eyes drift up further, she takes in the tight leather pants—too tight—hugging Riley’s hips so well she can almost see the details of her skin through the fabric.
The showstopper of it all is the blazer; simple black cotton, except for the collar and the sleeves, which are made out of leather too.
It’s held together by a single metal chain in the center instead of a button, pulling on both sides of the blazer.
And underneath it: nothing. She’s wearing nothing underneath.
Her eyes flick up to meet Riley’s gaze, but Riley seems to have completely lost track somewhere around Charlotte’s sternum.
It gives her the opportunity to take in her face too: she’s wearing a natural make-up look, but her eyes are framed by smokey eyeshadow.
Her hair is pulled back in a sleek bun, which looks surprisingly feminine on her, complementing the bold outfit.
Charlotte bites the inside of her cheek when she realizes how many details about the other woman stand out to her—which actually completely makes sense, since they’re both here as party planners.
It’s perfectly normal to check her out like this, to assess whether they look like they’re on the same page; whether they team up well. Right?
“Hey, hello,” Charlotte says, snapping her fingers in front of Riley’s face. She's well aware of being one step ahead of the other woman for as long as she is still distracted by her chest. “Eyes up here, please.”
The spell Riley is under shatters, and she cocks an eyebrow. “You’re one to talk!” she says defensively, before Charlotte’s eyes flicker to the swell of Riley’s breasts and back up again.
“Yeah…” she drawls, pointing a finger at the other woman.
“But you’re just indecent.” Knowing perfectly well the same could be said for her own outfit, she finds one-upping Riley exhilarating.
Her finger keeps moving forward until it eventually lands square in Riley’s chest, a couple of inches above the metal chain.
Riley's breath hitches under her touch, and she smirks.
Not giving her any chance to reply, she swiftly turns to Gabi. “So, Ms. Bride, any idea where we are?”
Gabi takes in the area with an impressed curve of her mouth, and her eyes land on the big round stage in the middle of the space.
Its floor is covered in mirrors, the center is marked by a large, metal pole, and some other unknown equipment hangs from the ceiling.
The rest of the bar area is covered in soft velvet furniture, two seats per table, all facing the stage.
The whole place is intimately lit by small homey looking lamps on top of the side tables.
Light jazz music plays over the speakers, just drowning out the soft murmur of the guests who are already seated.
Gabi lets out a breathless laugh when one of the servers, in nothing more than a stylish bikini, approaches her.
“Damn, Charlotte,” she says as she lets the server take her hand. “This place is fucking classy as shit!”
The women around her chuckle at Gabi’s exclamation. “How did you even find this place?” she asks, not really waiting for an answer. She grabs Lou by the wrist and the server guides the couple toward one of the tables.
Charlotte turns her head and is met with Riley’s somewhat cocky gaze.
She silently mouths ‘thank you’, and Riley's face softens. She nods her head, once, almost invisibly so. A mutual understanding. But Charlotte isn’t anything if not observant, and she doesn’t miss the proud smile Riley is desperately trying to hide.
It shouldn’t really surprise her that, once everybody is seated, Charlotte gets paired up to share a table with Riley.
She catches Gabi’s enthralled smile; she and Lou sit across from them on the other side of the stage. Gabi waves, and excitedly cups her own face in her hands.
Charlotte finds herself in a surprisingly good mood, satisfied with the way everything is going so far. She even surprises Riley by not snapping at her like a rabid dog when she moves closer to show her the drinks menu.
“The signature margaritas sound amazing, what do you think?” Riley says, gliding her index finger down the page.
“Absolutely not,” is Charlotte’s immediate response. “Tequila makes me take my clothes off. I’d rather—”
Riley snaps the menu shut. “Two margaritas please,” she tells their scantily clad server, who nods and walks away.
Charlotte sighs, because apparently she’s left her spine in the elevator. “You think you’ll win the game like this, dear, but ultimately you’re only making things harder for yourself.”
“Please,” Riley scoffs, looking straight ahead, a faint smirk on her face. “I’m not doing it for me. I was hoping by the end of the night you’d find yourself on stage, making some extra money.”
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Charlotte narrows her eyes at her, but Riley refuses to make eye contact. Instead, her smirk widens, and her tongue pushes against the back of her front teeth.
“You bet.”
Charlotte feels a knot in her stomach and she wonders what it means. She settles on a really strong desire to punch the other woman in the jaw. Anything that’ll wipe that smirk off her face.
As soon as their drinks arrive, a door in the back of the room opens and the first dancer walks toward the stage.
Even Charlotte can’t deny she looks gorgeous; she wears a silver bodysuit that puts her full thighs on display beautifully.
Her face radiates as she climbs on stage and looks around, trying to eye up every single guest individually.
She looks incredibly graceful as she climbs the pole, getting into her starting position.
A deep, female voice makes an announcement over the speakers: “Please give it up for… Zaza!” and the guests start to whistle and cheer.
A spotlight turns on and Take me to church starts playing.
Charlotte, who had been prepared to make some witty remarks about the women on stage tonight, is completely blown away by Zaza’s talent.
She shows off her flexibility and acrobatic skills in and around the pole, sinking into multiple, full splits.
It doesn’t take long before people walk up to the edge of the stage, waving cash in their hands.
Charlotte watches slack-jawed as Zaza approaches each person and points to where in her bodysuit she wants them to slide the money.
“She’s so… athletic,” Charlotte whispers in awe. Riley nods, her eyes glued to the stage. “Right?” she agrees. “These women aren’t just strippers… they’re athletes. Artists.”