Cutting It

There was a dancer named Tara. She was bird-nosed and small in stature with these beady little eyes that seemed to dart about the room at al times. She was the first person to say hello to me on my first day. She has also become the last person I want to say hello to since. She'd been dancing for 12 years, so she is what another one of my favorite dancers called "an old hoe." Lo, who has since coined this phrase was the person who helped me get my first lap dance. As I'd never done one before, not even for a boyfriend or even in the dance clubs for fun, I was apprehensive about doing one. But Lo introduced me to one of her customers who had a distinct affinity for women of color. Had I known my skin color was going to be such a commodity later in life I would have gone through less soul searching and angst as a teenager.

Lo decided to take me under her wing and to help me get through my first dance. Chaz, was on the overweight side of town so he didn't mind having two pretty black girls on him, one for each side of his body you see. And honestly there was really nothing to it. They'd know each other for years and were quite at ease with each other. All I really had to do was jiggle my tits a little and whine a little on his knee and she took the rest of the show from there. I noted her running her fingers through his hair, placing her cheek next to his cheek, and light conversation topics throughout the dance. I'd need to remember these moves for later. we danced for about four songs and I made $80. That was even a bigger pay out than the stage time. I was liking the way this was looking. After our dance Chaz invited us to sit down again and I chatted him up some more, had a drink and had a grand old time. Since then, Chaz has become a good acquaintance and I learned how to give him dances solo as well as with other girls.

Back to Tara. Now this girl was a definite pro. When I'd explained to her that I wasn't necessarily unhappy with the money I was making, but I wasn't exactly happy considering I saw how much everyone else made, she explained to me that her goal was to try and get at least one dance in between her stage times otherwise she'd never make any money. But we can't all be Tara. She has this way of looking at men and drawing them in with a stare and a flex of her pectoral muscles and weird looking boobs. She wasn't at all attractive to me but men digged it and I tried to emulate. Unfortunately what is sexy for one is not universal so I gave up the game quite early on when men just looked at me like I was insane. I then noticed a very strange thing happening. Every time I moved on from a guy, there was Tara right behind to pick up where I'd left and then took the guy for a dance. Now I'd been talking to one guy for almost an hour and on my stage time, I got up and although he was meant to wait for me, ended up going with Tara for a lap dance. I thought "How fucking dare she?" That was how she got the nickname "piranha" amongst the girls. She was a man eater and she didn't care who's customer she took, she just did.

So I learned how to do a stupid dance, so what? It means nothing if you have no one to pay you for doing it. I wondered if I'd be able to cut it in this business, especially with people like the piranha lurking about in the shadows of your success. I was gonna have to learn to be a little more cut throat.