Diamond in the
Rough
Article by:
Emily Smiltneck
Jason balled up his takeout bag and hurled it across the room into
the trash can. It hit the wall and bounced in, sending the room
into a round of boisterous hooting and cheering. The air was
immediately filled with balls of garbage flying toward the trash
can. Amid the chaos, Jason turned to the man seated next to him.
“So what the hell you guys do around here on weekends,
anyway?”
“Whaddya mean, whadda we do?”
“I mean, what do you do? First weekend since I got here
that I ain’t still movin’ or unpackin’. So now what?”
“Do the same thing everyone does—watch football and get
wasted, man.”
“I’m down with that. When and where?”
“We’re watchin’ the game at Adam’s on Sunday. Noon.
Bring a case a beer ‘n you’re in.”
“I’ll be there. What about the rest of the weekend?
Y’all just sit home on Saturday night?”
“Hell, no. We drink. Or go to Little Larry’s. Or go
to Little Larry’s and watch football and drink. That’s the way to
roll.”
“Little Larry’s, huh? That a bar?”
“Better. Girlie bar. Hittin’ it up tomorrow if ya
wanna show.”
“Might see ya there, then.”
A buzzer warned them that lunch hour was over. Within
seconds, the room was empty.
Jason woke up and looked around him, confused. He still
hadn’t quite gotten used to his new apartment, and it always took
him a few minutes to figure out where he was in the morning.
Especially today, because he had fallen asleep on the couch. He had
fallen asleep watching a crappy movie; now, cartoons played in its
place. He groped for the remote and shut the TV off, then sat up
and stretched. A few more boxes to unpack and he could spend his
first weekend enjoying his new apartment. Which was very, very
quiet.
He’d been staying with his brother’s family for a little
over a year while he looked for a decent job. Kids and toys and
pets everywhere. Now, he’d finally found what he was looking for
and was out on his own again. Left completely to his own devices.
And it felt good.
With the day stretching out before him, he considered
his options. Wouldn’t take him very long to finish things up here,
get the last of his things unpacked. After that, he could go to a
movie, run to the mall, explore the neighborhood. Maybe go find the
guys from work at that place Ken had mentioned.
Jason didn’t usually go for places like that. Not that
he wasn’t interested in dancing girls, of course. He just didn’t
usually find the girls in places like that very attractive. Still,
it was something to do, and he figured it was always a good idea to
get in good with the guys you have to work with. He turned on his
cell phone and dialed Ken’s number for directions.
Jason was dressed and waiting when Ken’s van pulled into
his driveway.
“Hey, thanks for the ride, man.”
“No trouble. Hop on in! Now only one of us hasta be a
good boy and cool it with the brewskis.”
“Sweet deal.” Jason opened the back door and got in.
He seemed to be a bit overdressed. He had thrown on jeans and a
suit coat over a t-shirt—his usual going-out uniform. One of the
other guys was wearing sweatpants and a stained t-shirt. The others
all had on jeans, but they were mostly dressed in holey sweatshirts
and tattered flannel shirts. They were obviously not headed to the
kind of place he had assumed they were going to.”
His suspicions were confirmed when Ken took the highway
away from the city and they were still driving through the woods a
half hour later.
“Where the hell we going?”
“Little Larry’s. It’s out a ways.”
“I see that.” Finally, Ken threw on the turn signal and
they pulled into a parking lot just off the highway. The building
it belonged to was made out of stone, dark wood, and light colored
siding. Not in any particular order. It looked as if the building
had been falling down for 30 years, and every time something fell
off, they replaced it with a completely different kind of material.
Neon beer signs lit up the stained windows and a hand-written sign,
marker on cardboard, was taped to the door announcing “Dansing Girls
Tonite!” Jason, having not been overly enthusiastic about the plan
in the first place, started wondering what he had gotten himself
into.
“Here we are,” called out the guy in the front passenger
seat. “Little Larry’s. Home of good beer, bad music, and nekkid
girls! Woooo!” Jason figured the good beer might help, anyway.
Inside, the place was packed. Jason pushed his way
through the crowd at the bar to order a pitcher of beer while the
others went in search of seating. The girl at the bar was heavily
made up and it appeared that she hadn’t quite been able to wash all
the hairspray of the 80s out of her hair. Her breasts, encased in a
black lacy bra, bulged dangerously out of a tight, white men’s
undershirt that had a deep vee cut into the neck. The few female
patrons of the bar could have been her clones.
Finally, beer pitcher in one hand, stack of plastic cups
in the other, Jason backed away from the bar and craned his neck to
find Ken’s crew. He shoved his way through the crowd and finally
found them seated at a table in the far corner of the bar. There
were no chairs left open, so Jason thumped the beer and cups down on
the table and seated himself next to them.
“Crowded place,” he commented, looking around.
“Yeh. Only place around here with dancin’ girls. Ain’t
legal, but no one’s gonna stop ‘em, way out here.”
“Got that right. Anyone who tries comes in, has a few
beers, and don’t leave ‘til he got a girl on his arm at closing
time.”
Jason searched the crowd again.
“Not too many girls around here.”
“Not them girls. The dancin’ girls. If ya tip good, ya
get picked. They all take some lucky guy with ‘em. There’s an old
hotel out back an’ they each got a room there for a dressin’ room.
And whatever else.”
“So the girls are—prostitutes? Not just dancers?”
“Eh, all these girls are whores. But ya don’t gotta pay
‘em. Jus’ give good tips while they’re on the floor and they take
care o’ the rest.”
Suddenly, music blared from speakers that were
duct-taped onto the beams in the corners of the room. It was
bad music, and loud. Most of the conversations in the room ceased.
And most of the heads in the room turned toward the stage that was
against the far wall. Obviously, the show was about to start.
A woman dressed in showy red lingerie came out first.
She stood in the center of the stage, grasping a microphone firmly
in both hands.
“Thanks for coming out, boys,” she rasped in a sultry
voice. “And ladies.”
The room burst into enthusiastic applause as, one by
one, girls filed onto the stage. The woman in red called out each
of their names. Jason watched without much interest. They all
looked the same to him. Some were dressed in black, some in red,
some in white. There was a nurse and a student, lots of lingerie.
But they were all basically the same girl in different clothes with
different colored hair. And just when he was starting to wish he
hadn’t come—the beer wasn’t really much better than the music, at
least not before you had a few—the last girl to come onto the stage
caught his attention.
“And last, but definitely not least, heeeeeeeeeeere’s
Diamond!”
The girl who was taking her place on the stage was one
of the most beautiful creatures Jason had ever seen. Her white
sequined thong was nestled firmly in the cleft of a large, dimpled
rear. Voluminous breasts spilled out of a matching bra. The two
together perfectly framed a rolling belly that Jason almost couldn’t
take his eyes from. Almost. But white fishnet stockings clung to
bountiful thighs that shook just a little with each step she took,
and her rounded calves gave way to strong, thick ankles just above
white-sequined, spike-heeled shoes. Her tanned skin and long, wavy,
chocolate colored hair made the sparkling whiteness that she wore
seem to almost pop off of her body. Jason took in a sharp breath.
Maybe this night wouldn’t be a total waste after all.
Each of the girls took the stage in turn; Jason watched
each of them with only mild interest, a sense of anticipation
building within him. Each girl danced around the stage, winking at
the men who hooted the loudest, slowing removing items of clothing
one by one until they were totally exposed, then gyrating
enticingly. Just about every man in the place was on the edge of
his seat or weak in the knees. But Jason was waiting for Diamond.
At last, after what seemed like hours and hours, the
last of the string of identical dancing girls glided off the stage.
Jason slid off the table he was sitting on and pushed through the
crowd until he was just a few feet back from the stage. The blue
clouds of cigarette smoke in the air gave everything an aura of
dreaminess. When Diamond strutted into the stage, the cloudy air
seemed to part around her and she glowed like an angel. With each
step, her fleshy body shimmied just enough to make the white sequins
she wore dance seductively.
She swept along the front edge of the stage, reaching
out to touch the hands of several men who were reaching toward her,
then turned and sauntered to the pole in the center of the stage.
She grasped it firmly with one hand, wrapped a leg around it, and
began to dance and move in a way that left Jason struggling for
breath.
He found himself straining toward the stage as if he
could will himself into her arms. Diamond wrapped a large leg
tightly around the pole and leaned back away from the audience and
one could just see her breasts bobbing enticingly over the softness
of her belly as her arms stretched behind her back. When she
reached for the pole and pulled herself into a standing position,
her breasts spilled majestically from her bra as it slid down her
arms and was discarded. Jason could feel his pants getting tighter
as he watched her. And that was just the beginning.
Diamond dropped to her knees and crawled to the edge of
the stage. Her breasts swung pendulously as she crawled, shaking
her hair at the crowd. She spread her legs and undulated her hips,
leaving no idea as to what she would be doing if she were straddling
a man instead of a stage. Slowly, she turned and shook her ass.
The men surrounding Jason faded from his reality; in his own private
reality, he and Diamond were the only people in the room and every
move she made was aimed at seducing him. And it was working.
She stretched her legs and stood, back toward Jason. He
could almost feel the softness of her ass, smell her skin, hear the
beating of her heart. He ached in anticipation as she slowly hooked
her thumbs under the side of her thong and inched it over her
mountainous rear, stopping every few seconds to glance backward over
her shoulder. Right at Jason. If the room hadn’t been so chaotic,
Jason would have worried that his state of arousal was noticeable.
The anonymity that the crowd gave him, though, let him give all of
his attention to Diamond. He held his breath as she finally pulled
her thong down, wholly exposing the creamy, dimpled skin of her
rear. Jason found his fingers unintentionally stretching as if they
were grasping her ass flesh. He swallowed hard.
When Diamond’s thong had joined her bra in the corner of
the stage, she continued her beguiling dance. Jason wished, more
than anything, that he could be next to her, touching her, becoming
a part of her. It was all he could do to keep from joining her on
stage. His heart stopped as she faced him and ran her hands from
her knees up over her entire body as she swayed rhythmically. He
groped frantically for his wallet and stepped forward to the edge of
the stage to stuff a handful of bills into her tip jar. As he
backed away, she caught his eye. She winked. Jason found himself
unable to walk, breathe, move. He merely stared at her beautiful
face. She touched the most womanly part of herself, shook her long
hair out around her, turned, and was gone.
The room broke into applause as she peeked out from
behind a curtain, blew a kiss to the crowd, and disappeared. The
sound brought Jason crashing back into reality. He hurried back to
Ken and the other guys and slid into a chair. The conversation
revolved around Diamond.
“Man, did you see the tits and ass on that chick?” one
of the guys was saying.
“Yeah, kinda scary,” someone else replied.
“No way, man. Hot. I’d do her,” Ken joined in.
Jason wanted to stand up and ask them how they dared
talk about her that way, as if she wasn’t even human or something.
He knew he couldn’t, though. She was, after all, a stripper. The
angelic perception he had of her was nothing more than fantasy. He
kept his mouth closed. He definitely agreed with Ken. He wished
more than anything he had wished for in a very long time that he
would see Diamond come out into the crowd, search for him, place a
hand on his shoulder. Not likely to happen, but he wished it
would. Reluctantly, he forced himself to join the conversation
around him.
A half hour later, they were all finishing their beer
and shrugging their way, some drunkenly, into their jackets and
flannels. Jason had pushed the thought of Diamond from his mind and
was ready to go home and fantasize about her. Next best thing to
being with her.
And then a hand landed firmly on his shoulder. And a
low, sexy voice caressed his ear.
“Hey, there. I was hoping you’d still be here.”
His pulse quickened to the point of taking his breath
away. His blood suddenly seemed to be boiling in his veins. He
hardly dared look up. But when he did, it really was Diamond
standing behind him, dressed in tight black pants and a sparkling
white sweater. The place where her hand rested on his shoulder
seemed to be the focal point of his whole being.
“I—I’m here.”
“Good. Wanna get outta here and talk or somethin’?”
She slid her hand across the back of his neck and to the other
shoulder, making all the hairs on his body stand on end.
“Uh, sure. Yeah. Just a minute, gotta work somethin’
out.” Jason stood up and jabbed a thumb into Ken’s side. “Hey,
dude. It’s Diamond.” He jerked his head toward the woman standing
a few feet away.
“Hell’s bells, it is! What she want?”
“Me—er, she wants to hang out.”
“Well, hell, man, go for it! Whatcha waitin’ for?”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere, and we’re all here
together.”
“Ain’t no problem. Hold up a sec.” Ken disappeared for
a few seconds, then returned, tossing a set of keys at Jason. “Blue
Intrepid, parked against the building. We picked up an extra
passenger.” He grinned and Jason grinned back.
“Thanks, man. See ya tomorrow.”
Jason dropped the keys in his pocket and returned to
Diamond’s side. He placed a shaking hand on her back, leaned in
close so she could hear him.
“All right, I’m good to go.”
“Follow me.”
The contrast between the cool night air and the blood
that boiled through Jason like hot lava only served to heighten his
senses as he followed Diamond around the building and waited for her
to unlock the door to her room. Inside, the clothing rack was full
of beautiful, sparkling lingerie. The room was freshly painted but
plain. On the wall was a photo of Diamond with the other dancers,
all dressed in street clothes and smiling broadly, arms over each
other’s shoulders. The only other thing decorating the room was a
figurine of an angel sitting on the dresser, sparkling under the
room’s only lamp. Jason liked the idea of Diamond as a sweet,
wholesome woman. Of course, the fact that she was a stripper didn’t
exactly turn him off. Actually, the juxtaposition between the two
sides of her turned him on that much more.
“So tell me a little about yourself,” Diamond said,
sitting down on one side of the bed. She gestured for Jason to sit
on the other side.
“Well, I’m Jason. New to town—well, to the area. I
live in town.”
“Yeah. Not exactly a town out here.” Diamond laughed
and the sound jolted Jason’s very being. He wanted her, more than
he had ever wanted any woman, and yet, he couldn’t deny that he was
enjoying their banter, and the chance to just take in her beauty.
“Work over at Naemon’s, in the sales department. What
about you, what do you do? Other than this.”
“I’m going to school. Business degree. I just come out
here and work on weekends. Pay’s not much, but the tips keep me
going through the week.”
“You’re paying for school just working weekends? Wow.”
“No. I have scholarships for that.”
“Impressive. You know, I have to say—this is the most
stimulating conversation I’ve had since I moved to town.”
“You just gotta come to the right places, I guess.”
Diamond leaned across the bed, took Jason’s head in her hands, and
kissed him deeply. When she pulled back, the only sound in the room
was rattling breath, his and hers. “Do you want this?” she asked.
“Is this what you want, or do you just want the stimulating
conversation?”
“I like stimulation. Of all kinds. And I like you.”
Jason reached out and pulled Diamond to him again. This time, he
held her and kissed her deeply. She slid his suit
coat back over his shoulders and pushed it to the floor, then placed
her palms on his chest. He let the force of her hands on his chest
push him back onto the bed but pulled her with him. Their kissing
grew more frantic. Diamond’s weight on Jason was driving him
crazy. When he couldn’t wait any longer to feel the softness of her
skin on his, he pushed her sweater up and over her head, leaving her
in a satiny black bra. He touched her breasts, luxuriating in the
cool, slippery smoothness of the fabric stretched tight over her
bosom. Diamond moaned softly, then rolled away from Jason.
