1.Alin
Alin
There’s a knock at my apartment door, and I run excitedly to open it. Cora, my best and only friend, stands there with a mischievous smile. She immediately pushes past me, storming into my small Manhattan studio like a whirlwind.
“Come on, girl, not ready yet?” she tosses a large shopping bag onto my bed. “Hurry, messy”
I glance around my sparse apartment—a bed, a kitchenette, a wardrobe, and a small dresser filled with cosmetics, thanks to Cora. The bathroom mirror is too high for me to see myself unless I stand on my toes. Messy what?
“What are you waiting for?” Cora demands impatiently. “We’re going out tonight, hurry up and get ready,” she adds, and I look at her in confusion.
“Going out where? I thought we were having a pizza and movie night,” I reply irritably, crossing my arms in a failed attempt to express my disappointment.
“Alin, you don’t even have a TV here... How do you live like this?” Cora exclaims, rolling her eyes. “I bought you a present, and you’re using it tonight. After all this time, I finally convinced Mariano to let me go out with you alone.”
Her wavy, chestnut hair cascades down to the middle of her back, her greenish-honey eyes sparkling with excitement. She looks like a Barbie doll, standing at about five foot seven, all dressed up and ready to go.
“Your husband let you out alone? I don’t believe you. Where’s Graham?” I tease, immediately laughing as her proud expression turns to one of half-apology, half-exasperation.
She walks to the window and points down. I peek outside and spot Graham’s familiar black jeep parked below, and my laughter erupts. “Alone, huh?” I tease, my laughter not stopping.
Cora gives me a light, annoyed shove. “This is the best I could get from him, so shut up and get dressed. We’re going to Q.”
I love Q. It’s not my first time there, and I recently discovered that Cora’s husband is one of the club’s owners, so we also get everything for free.
I glance at Cora, still giggling. “Okay, let’s get ready,” I reply in mock defeat and open the bag she handed me.
“Wow! This dress is amazing!” I exclaim as I pull out Cora’s gift from the bag.
“Right?” she responds excitedly, clapping her hands like a little girl. “You have the perfect ass for this dress; you’re going to turn heads tonight, and maybe even have some weapons drawn,” she adds with a wink.
“Cora, you’re such a perv. How did I end up with a friend like you?” I laugh at her comparison of a male body part to a weapon, but my excitement to go out tonight grows as I look at the dress she bought me again. It’s definitely not staying in the closet tonight, that’s for sure.
“You’re really lucky to have me,” Cora says with a grin. I respond with a playful shove and an eye roll.
“Your self-love is starting to spill and dirty my floor; you better clean it up,” I tease, and in response, she pulls me toward the mirror on my wardrobe and pushes the dress she bought into my hands.
“Shut up and try it on already,” she orders, and I do as she says. I put on the dress, and Cora helps me zip it up at the back.
I look at myself in the mirror, admiring my reflection, and Cora claps enthusiastically. It’s become her trademark move when she’s excited.
The cream-colored mini dress is strapless, lifting and revealing my ample chest provocatively. It’s tight all the way down, accentuating my curves and leaving little to the imagination.
“I am indeed full in all the right places,” I say to myself, smiling.
There’s probably a reason we love each other.
The dress is covered in dense, shiny sequins that highlight the cream color and create a play of light.
At the top, the sequins are scattered, revealing the light satin fabric underneath.
“This is stunning! I always know what to pick for you! You’re going to break hearts tonight!
” Cora bounces excitedly and insists I put on some makeup.
“You have sparkling turquoise eyes that I’ve never seen before, and you hide them instead of highlighting them!
Come on, put on some makeup!” she orders again, and as usual, I do as she says while she gets dressed.
I apply mascara to my lashes and a thin line of eyeliner, just as Cora taught me, and add a bit of gloss to my lips. I prefer a subtle look because my lips are already full and round.
I finish with a light dusting of blush on my cheeks and am pleased with the flattering result.
Releasing the clip holding my long, black hair, I let it fall smoothly down my back and think about what Cora said.
She’s right I am lucky to have her-she is the best friend a girl could have and has become my family, but that also makes me miss the family I’ve left behind.
I touch my tongue to the roof of my mouth and look at the symbol of my family forever etched beneath.
I take a deep breath, thinking of those I left behind, and turn around to look at Cora.
She’s dressed to impress wearing a tight black mini dress with a deep V-shaped opened back. She definitely looks like a walking Barbie doll.
We both put on heels, hers lower, mine higher. Even with my high heels, I can’t reach Cora’s height. I’m five foot one with a model’s body that should be six feet tall, or at least that’s what Cora always says.
“Good things definitely come in small packages,” she quips, slipping her arm through mine as we leave the apartment and get into Graham’s car.
We chat and laugh all the way, and I’m glad she convinced me to go out. I need to shake off some of the dust that had settled on me. But when Graham hands Cora a small water bottle, I tense up, remembering why I didn’t want to go out in the first place. I had barely escaped the last incident.
Even Cora doesn’t know my secret, and it has to stay that way. I need to fit in. In my childhood, my close friends ran away screaming when they saw the real me. I am not letting that happen again. Here, I am Alin Gray, and that’s how it’s going to stay.
Graham parks in front of the club and announces that we’ve arrived. I immediately recognize the entrance and excitedly pull Cora outside.
“I thought you didn’t want to go out tonight,” Cora teases and laughs.
She signals for Graham to leave, and for a few moments, they engage in a silent battle of stares that I don’t understand, but honestly, I don’t even try to.
I feel like there’s a lot I don’t know about her private life, but I understand the need to keep secrets. I trust her, and I know that if she wanted to share, she would.
Cora walks back to the car window and whispers something to Graham. He responds by dialing someone, nods at Cora in agreement, and drives away. I don’t understand what just happened, but Cora walks toward me proudly.
“What happened? Is Graham not joining us?” I ask curiously.
“I sent him back to Mariano. Tonight is just for us,” she says, her smile returning, but I see a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes. I decide to let it go and pull her toward the VIP entrance, where we always enter without any problems.
The security guard at the entrance opens the black iron door, and immediately I hear a small squeal in my ear, “Oh, I forgot my phone in the car,” Cora says anxiously.
“It’s okay, you could get it later. Here, use mine,” I say, handing her my phone.
“No, no, I need my phone,” her anxiety increases. She signals to the guard that we’ll be right back, pulls me back to the street, and leads me for a few minutes until we reach the back of the club through a small alley. I notice a large brown iron door with two guards standing next to it.
They recognize Cora immediately and let us in.
“What is this place?” I ask Cora as we are surrounded by darkness and slow, sensual music fills my ears.
She pushes aside a thick black curtain, revealing another club. In the center there’s a huge circular bar with five long runways extending from it, each dimly lit along its length, with tall poles installed at the end of each. My eyes explore the place in detail.
We walk in, and my gaze is fixed on the runways. On each runway, there’s a dancer, some completely naked, others in such minimal clothing that it looks like part of their skin.
When I turn my gaze to the guests, I see more women dancing sensually over men.
It’s all so overt, but I can’t take my eyes off them.
I’m not even shocked by what I am seeing; I just want to get closer and explore.
Men sitting along the runways, drinking and enjoying the show and the women around them.
Some even stick bills onto their bodies.
The action seems cheap, yet so sensual at the same time that I feel a desire to try it too.
“What is this place?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the dancers. Cora immediately wrinkles her nose in disgust. “A strip club, this is the other side of Club Q. Mariano owns this too.” She doesn’t seem happy about it and doesn’t enjoy being here.
It’s my first time setting foot in a strip club, and to my surprise, my curiosity and desire to know more, to try to feel as feminine as they do, outweigh the disgust I used to feel when Cora told me about places like this. Cora continues to lead me up the nearby stairs and takes me upstairs.
Inside, we enter a spacious room with a massive glass wall on one side, overlooking the club below.
I try to recall noticing it downstairs, but it must have been hidden.
The room’s floor is carpeted in deep wine-red, the walls are black, and garish red satin curtains hang from the ceiling.
In the center stands an oval black glass table, flanked by two tall dance poles reaching toward the ceiling.
I’m tempted to touch one when I notice two men seated on a leather couch against the wall and two security guards by the entrance. Immediately, I recognize one as Mariano, Cora’s husband. But it’s the stranger beside him who captures my curiosity.