(no subject)

[takecourage]

Alex is mostly running the Club on Paper these days. She spends most of her time in the office, doing paper work, pay-packets, one eye on the monitors showing the security feed. She does the rotas and, when needs be, she does a shift behind the bar. Sometimes, she does a set up on the stage or works the floor for a while. She doesn't need the money these days, but, as ever, she likes the way that it makes her feel.

Like tonight. Tonight, she's left Danny at home and she's working, sometimes behind the bar, sometimes on the floor. She's put weight on in Darrow, and the dress that she's wearing exploits that fact to its full advantage, hugging from tits to mid thigh, leaving the tattoos on her arms on show but hiding the ones on her hips, for now.

When she sees Eddie, she grins, making a beeline for him.

"Having fun?" she asks, leaning over the back of his chair.

Comments

[didntrun]

Eddie could pretend he hadn't come here looking for her, but that would be kind of pointless. She had told him what she did at the club besides mostly running the place and he had asked where the club was.

They both knew at the time he was going to make his way here eventually.

"Hi," he answers, grinning at her. "Hell yeah I'm having fun, this place is great. Someone should tell the manager."

[takecourage]

She likes Eddie - there's something entirely sweet about him, and he's got a good face. She's completely and utterly commited to Daniel Arlington, in a way that still feels disorientating, sometimes, but that doens't mean that she's not allowed to have a little bit of fun flirting with a boy with a face as sweet as his.

"I'll make sure that gets passed along," she says, gesturing to the girl behind the bar to bring a couple of fresh beers over. "You shell out for a dance yet, Munson, or you just taking in the atmosphere?"

[didntrun]

"Oh, I am thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere," Eddie answers. He doesn't have a lot of money, especially since he's paying in installments for the acoustic he'd picked up and trying to save for the electric, but he's made sure to set some money aside for tonight.

"Besides, I was waiting for my new friend," he adds, grinning at Alex.

[takecourage]

"I bet," says Alex, glancing up at the stage which, for the moment, is empty. The beers arrive and she sets one in front of Eddie, taking the seat opposite him for a moment. "You came here especially to see my tits? Eddie. I'm flattered."

[didntrun]

"I'm nineteen," he says with a shrug and another grin. It's what he had said when she first told him she danced and he kind of stands by it. He's a nineteen-year-old dude and she's really hot and she's pretty cool from what he can tell so far. That's basically all the invitation he needs.

"Thanks," he adds as he wraps his hand around the beer she's set down in front of him.

[takecourage]

"You say that a lot," says Alex, grinning as she lifts her beer bottle and takes a swallow. "You're welcome. On the house since, I imagine, you're going to drop some dollars as soon as I tell you my break's over. Don't worry. I'll give you the discounted rate."

[didntrun]

"Being a nineteen-year-old male can explain a lot of behaviour," he answers. "It's when we hit mid-twenties that we have to get our shit together."

At least, that's what Eddie thinks. Until twenty-two, he thinks he can be a little bit of an idiot when it comes to pretty girls. He's had a couple of girlfriends, but nothing serious, and he doesn't even know if that's something he wants right now. Maybe not ever.

"A discount?" he asks, grinning. "You must really like me."

[takecourage]

"Yeah, you're okay," says Alex, smirking against the rim of her bottle for a moment before she sets it down again. "You remind me of someone I would have really liked to know as a teenager." Eddie looks like the kind of person Len might have been if he wasnt also a complete fucking asshole. Eddie looks like the kind of guy girls like Alex are supposed to end up wtih, if they don't end up with Daniel Tabor Arlington the fucking Fifth.

[didntrun]

"You'd have been in the minority," he answers with a laugh. It's a real laugh, indicating that it had never really bothered him much, the way the people of Hawkins decided to look at him. He wasn't going to let their uptight panties in a twist personalities ruin his good time.

[takecourage]

"No accounting for taste, I guess," says Alex, ruffling one hand through her straight hair and taking another swallow of her beer. "You need a run down on the rules, Munsen?" She sets down the bottle and stands up, smoothing her dress over her thighs.

[didntrun]

She's really hot and Eddie's eyes go over Alex before his gaze drops back to his beer, as if he shouldn't look at her like that, since they're kind of friends. But also he's here and she'd asked him to come and he's going to pay her.

Plus, Eddie has learned, stuff like this is looked at as legitimate work now, which is cool.

"Let's hear the rules," he says as he looks up again.

[takecourage]

The look combined with the way he's clearly embarrassed by wanting to look is kind of wildly endearing, and Alex grins.

"Okay. Flat rate for a dance is usually fifty, but for you, it's twenty," she says. "G-string stays on. You can't touch me, but I can touch you, unless you definitely don't want that." She tucks her hair behind one ear. "Tipping is encouraged."

[didntrun]

"Are there guys who don't want touching?" Eddie asks, genuinely curious. The rules are easy, he can be respectful and keep his hands to himself. Alex has to be the one in charge, that makes complete sense, and he's more than okay with that.

"Otherwise, aye aye, captain," he says, saluting her. "I'm a good boy, I can follow the rules."

Well, he can follow these rules.

[takecourage]

"Yeah," says Alex, nodding, reaching for her beer again because there's a song halfway through. "And consent is important, dude." She takes a long swallow of her beer. "Also, there's the option of the VIP room. Pricy but I'll do you a deal if you want to be able to make yourself comfortable."

Honestly, she'll refund him a chunk, if that's what he wants. She mostly just wants to see what he'll say.

[didntrun]

"Hey, I saved up for this," Eddie answers. "Gotta properly compensate a woman for a job well done. Especially if she's a friend?"

They're not best friends, they don't know each other that well, but well enough that Eddie thinks they're friends. He's here not only because she's hot, but because he actually likes hanging around her.

"Is that better?" he asks. "For you?"

[takecourage]

"The VIP room?" She shrugs, picking up her beer again. "Means I can take my time and we can talk easier. Suppose it depends." She's danced for friends before, friends who thought they'd be way more into it but freaked out the moment she went to take her bra off. "Whether it's going to be worth spending the money."

[didntrun]

"Then it seems like an obvious yes," Eddie answers. Maybe it'll be a bit more expensive, but like he said, he'd saved for this. That might seem a little stupid to come, but Eddie, knowing it's sort of shitty, really wants to see her boobs, but also really wants to stay friends.

So if he's going to get to see her tits, he thinks, as a friend, he needs to pay her well for it.

[takecourage]

"Let's do it," says Alex, holding out her hand to him and wiggling her fingers. She's been threatening to get her knuckles tattooed lately, mostly just to see how pissed off she can make Danny. "Do you want the champagne, or would you prefer beer?" She grins. "We cater to all tastes, and I'm the one in charge, so..."

She's practialy married (as married as girls like her get to boys like Daniel Arlington, says that little voice in the back of her head) and Eddie is a friend, she thinks, but, still. It feels kind of good to feel free enough to flirt a little.

[didntrun]

"Oh, man, I will stick with beer," Eddie answers as he picks up his drink in one hand and takes Alex's outstretched and wiggling fingers with the other. She's so hot. So, so hot. He's probably going to die.

"Trailer trash, remember?" he asks, then grins brightly to show the words don't bother him. "I'm not exactly the champagne sort."

[takecourage]

Alex tips the bartender the nod for more beers as she leads Eddie across the floor of the club towards one of the curtained off VIP boothes. "I didn't grow up in a trailer, but it wasn't much better," says Alex (and, in the case of Ground Zero, she's pretty sure it was much, much worse). "You can acquire a taste for that kind of thing." She leads him into the room and nods towards the couch - there's a pair of them, as well as a low platform in the middle of the space. "Make yourself comfortable. It's normally a couple of hundred, but I'll do it for fifty down?"

[didntrun]

A couple hundred is a lot of money, but Eddie had been prepared for that. He knows she's offering him a deal, so he digs his wallet out and then looks at her.

"So I pay right now? I don't... I've never actually done this."

He almost feels embarrassed. Almost, but not quite, because he's going to pay her more than the fifty she's just said and he wants to make sure he does it all right.

[takecourage]

"You pay for the room right now," says Alex, nodding to the side table where another couple of beers has appeared. "And then tips are at your discretion." She sits down on the couch opposite him, crossing her legs and tilting her head, her dark eyes narrowing slightly as she studies him. "How seriously do you want me to do this, Eddie? Like, I can take my clothes off and fuck around and treat you like my friend, or..." She stretches the syllable out a little. "I can take it seriously."

[didntrun]

He's not sure what the real difference would be, but Eddie puts a hundred down on the table, because even though she'd said fifty, he can do better than that at least.

"Seriously," he says. "Yeah, I think so. It'd be good."

[takecourage]

Alex's dark eyes flick to the note that Eddie puts down, and the corner of her mouth flickers into a slight smirk. She leans forward, pushing up to her feet and walking over to slip her phone into the dock, selecting something with a solid beat.

"Seriously," she says, letting her voice slip a little lower, a little huskier. "Right." Her hips pick up the rhythm as she walks back towards him, the fabric of her dress riding up against her thighs. "I can work with that."

[didntrun]

She's definitely a professional, that's all Eddie can think as Alex walks toward him. The music is right, her voice has changed, and his eyes are drawn to where her dress slips up her thighs bit by bit.

Of course she's a professional. He's just never been in this situation before.

"Okay," he says, keeping his hands in his lap. "Good. Great."