She wore red lycra shorts and a blue sequined top that ended right
beneath her breast line. She left the white leather boots in the car, and
stepped in the club as tall as the security guard in her vinyl heels. The boots
made a better way out the house, passed her grandpa sitting on his rocking
chair at the wooden porch, but there was no way she would scroll down the
dancing floor with those. Vinyl heels it was.
The red rope opened up for her, as she winked to Big John at the
door.
"It's 11 pm, loose the shades, dude"
"You're trouble, girl, I'd better keep my shades on."
They laughed, a contained laugh that fits the beginning of the
night. She was there early, for she was not on until 1, but it was Friday, she
also deserved some anonymous fun. At the bar, Angelo grabbed vodka to start her
favorite, but she screamed to be heard "Not tonight, babe, I wanna feel
fancy, I'll have a Manhattan. I’ll pay on the 1st”.
Angelo hesitated, knowing that Chaco was not happy to put drinks on
the tab for his dancers, but she convinced him scraping his wrist with the tip
of her acrylic nail, "C'mon, Angelito, it's just a drink, Chaco won't even
notice it.."
She turned her back to the bar balancing her purse and the fancy
Manhattan in a perfect walk, showing enough breast line to have some heads
turned but not enough to spoil her act on stage. She waved to a couple of
regular clients, tossed kisses to one of the big tippers and joined her friends
at a high table.
"Are you having a Martini, loca? You'll be wasted with two of
those! I don't wanna cover for you tonight, bitch, I have to leave at 12, my
babysitter can't make the long hours anymore"
"Martinis have a cherry in a toothpick, you're so tacky,
learn your drinks, hija! When you get as sophisticated as I am, you can afford
to drink a Manhattan with my elegance!"
The other girls laughed, but Sonia just nodded... All of them
though, headed to the floor, for some hours of unpracticed dance, some free
choreography away from the cold floodlight. The beat made her close her eyes,
empty glass on hand, as the shadows of the red and green strobe lights touched
her skin. A good touch, a welcome touch, a touch that embraced her for who she
thought she could be, alone at the dance floor, moving her hips to the sound
only she could hear…
Angelo tapped her shoulder.
“No empty glasses, gorgeous, here, your Sex on the Beach. On me…”
With a slow turn she grabbed him by the neck, brought him close to
her and teased him with a butterfly kiss, feeling his minty breath stir a twirl
in her chest.
It had been a long time since her last real flirt, the kind that
doesn’t end with a couple of bills on her pocket, and the sight of a man in a
hurry to dress up.
“I assume the money for the cab is included, right?”
The beat was loud, the strobe was fast and her drink was over.
Sonia’s face spun in front of her, so she just closed her eyes and kept on
dancing, moving, hips and shoulders in a wave that followed some flames she
once had inside.
“Angelito, Angelito, cariño, no empty glasses…”
She felt a warm breath on her left ear, something about a fixed
price, some date and place she couldn’t remember, yet she agreed, turned her
hair sensually and aimed for the bar.
Someone might have touched her waist, but Sonia grabbed her by the
hand first… Sweet Sonia, always so on top of everything, Sonia would go places,
would see better nights and sunnier days. She felt stuck, addicted to the
rhythm of that sound that made her feel special. Her fingers touched the
sequins on her top, and she looked down, moving her shoulders, admiring her own
curves, tones and flesh. “I’m prettier than Sonia. I dance way better.”
She smiled, before Chaco’s image appeared on the left corner of
the stage.
“Come over”, his head meant in a side nod.
She tried to dance around the bodies, mixed with the red and
green, when the black light started to flash her eyes. White stood out, shirts
started to scream at her, people looked green, smiling bright teeth and looking
at her with weird bright eyes. She stumbled. Chaco. Angelito, papi, another
glass. Her heels couldn’t hold a Manhattan anymore. She was dark in a confused
dance floor, heading backstage and not moving an inch.
“Te dice hija!
Que cosa, porque no me escucha?? Vámonos, te voy a ayudar. Vámonos.”
She was ready on stage, she didn’t know how. All she felt was the
cold steel of the pole between her legs, and the light on her back. She moved.
She moved and tried not to think. She heard the sound, her legs took over. Her
hips shushed her brain, and the drinks told her “you’re good, girl. Do your
thing”
Cold between her thighs, against her hand, paper on her waist,
fingers on her bikini line, some warm breaths, more fingers, more paper.
“Angelito, I’ll pay you on the first, drive me home, papi, will
you?”
The warm pole and the freezing fingers made her head spin. Some
paper fell, her grandpa was still on their porch. Or wasn’t he?
“Chaco, hijo de puta, tone down this fucking floodlight, I can’t
see a fucking thing, carajo…”
Her song was over. Her heels knew the way, had her back.
She was out, lycra shorts on, purse full of papers, the kind of
paper that pays for expensive Manhattans and cabs.
Sonia had long left, cuddling with her baby girl who, por Dios,
will go to College one day, and she was safe and comfy in a cab, headed to her
wooden porch in the North side. White boots stayed in the parking lot.
The lights went by fast, a string of endless amber, mixed with
some yellow souls trying to exist on the sidewalks.
“We’re all bitches, bitch.”
“What was that? Are you ok? You didn’t give me your address yet.”
“The beach, that’s what I said. Just take me to the beach.”
They moved from her bikini line, to her purse, to his hand. As she
stood there, humid sea breeze tangling her hair, she slowly reached for her
heels. At the sidewalk, where they belonged, united with the orange lost souls
she was definitely not…
Sand touched her bare feet, as her now heavy purse fell to the
ground. No more floodlights disguising drooling mouths and lusty eyes, only the
sea breeze. No red and green, no Manhattan, no Sex on the Beach. No sex.
She stopped, closed her eyes and thought of Sonia. She wanted her
hand again, but they were full, taking better care of another innocent girl,
who deserved better. So she took of her lycra shorts and her blue top, and
became only her. Between the sand and the waves, she was only her. Nameless.
Her feet felt the water, but she was not feeling anything, anymore. She just
walked, and walked, until the warm water made her dance again…
Angelito, cariño, drive me home, papi, will you?....
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