Watching Thea

Her head had been on the brink of falling onto my shoulder for the past 15 minutes. Every time, I thought I'd feel her soft locks brush against my skin, the train would rattle and she roused herself up again. It was torture. I could clearly see she could barely muster the energy to sit up straight again, and I could no longer bear the torture of anticipating the sensations to come and still not feel her on my shoulder. I couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh when the train suddenly screeched to a halt and it was me being thrown towards her. We both flew in a heap sideways across the subway seats. With a loud thud, she crashed onto the seat next to her, and me on top of her.

"Ahhhhhh, what the hell!!" she was clearly not amused.

"Sorry, I couldn't catch myself. You ok? Did you get hurt?"

"Well, I'm definitely awake. Wide awake. Damn, my head!" she replied rubbing her head where it had made impact with the bench. She had barely missed the handrails, which would surely have done some damage, but the hard plastic seat had done its share.

"I'm so sorry."

I had started to stammer, trying to help her up, picking up the various things that had tumbled out of her bag in the crash. A tube of red lipstick, Nice shade, I thought to myself. A tiny hairbrush, clearly hadn't been used today. And... oh wow, a condom. I didn't dare pick that up. Not quite sure how she'd react. "Quit staring at it and give it to me, please! Haven't you ever seen a condom?" she quipped. I had been standing in front of her, my back turned, luckily hiding my red face. I bent down to pick it up, when the train started moving again, and I was thrown backwards, nearly landing on her again.

She laughed, "Twice in one night, I'd almost think you're trying to tell me something." There it was, my chance to say some clever line to get her to laugh, to get her to flirt with me. It had taken me months of sitting on the same train with her night after night to even get up the courage to sit next to her, let alone, try something.

"Maybe I am." and I winked at her. Man, that was lame, I thought to myself.

She looked at my quizzically, "Such as?"

Damn! I didn't actually have a good line for that reply.

"I just thought maybe I'd lie on you for a change." She balked, raised her eyebrows and made to move away.

"Ohh, sorry, sorry, I just meant since you've been nearly falling asleep on my shoulder for the past few days."

Now she really grew visibly uncomfortable, "Sorry, I don't know you. I better get going."

I raked my hand through my hair, damn it, what am I doing, I can't even talk to her, how was this supposed to work!?!

"Maybe this is a little too weird. I'm not some creepy stalker, I promise. It's just that I've seen you take the same late train every night for a couple weeks. You always look so tired. I was trying to work up the courage to introduce myself."

"Right, not a stalker, but have been watching me for weeks."

But the incredulous look on her face didn't last long.

"Alright, Stalkerboy. So you say you weren't stalking me. Just taking the train with me every night. And apparently serving as a pillow for some of them." She laughed, "so tonight was what? Revenge for my having drooled on your shirt when I napped?" I turned beet red, but still couldn't help but laugh at the scene. Here I had been trying to get to know her for weeks, and I topple on top of her.

"Alright, I'm sorry, no more jokes. I'm Thea. What's your name, Stalkerboy?" I looked up at her, somewhat relieved that the tension had gone. Thea, sounded familiar, but still somewhat unusual. A little oddball-ish though. I guess it suited her quite nicely. She looked like one of those artsy types, but still, when I had found her not sleeping, she'd been reading books on politics and current affairs, decidedly non-artsy. I couldn't quite sort her. "Or did you want me to keep referring to you that way?"

I startled, "Oh, sorry, I'm Jake. Nice to finally put a name to the face." She smiled somewhat uncomfortably. She still looked tired, her bright red lipstick was no longer perfectly applied, and her hair was mussed up. She actually looked like she had spent the entire day in bed... with a guy... Damn.

"So what do you do when you're not riding trains late at night, squishing helpless maidens?" The look in her eyes changed from tired to intrigued, she stared right into me. I wanted to make up some fantastic sounding job, but I had a feeling she would know if I was lying to her. Something about her just didn't seem to take too well to being B.S.ed.

"I'm still going to school, working part-time in the cafeteria. And yourself?"

"Same, still working on my degree and working part-time."

"Working part-time, where?"

"Umm, I'd rather not say."

"Come on, can't be worse, than cleaning cafeteria stoves and emptying trash cans."

"Let's just say, the job isn't going on my resume. It does pay the bills though."

My mind had started racing. What did she do? An escort? A prostitute? Drug Mule? Sell drugs? No, she couldn't. She didn't even look the part. I mean, granted she had nice legs, and from what I could see, didn't look too bad anywhere else, but she just didn't strike me the drug selling, paid escort type.

"Wow, your mind is reeling. What are you imaging? That I jump into bed for money? Sell heroin out of my book bag? Hardly. Nothing illegal. I just let people watch."

Ok, this is too good. "Watch what? I don't get it."

She started laughing, seemingly at my innocence when it came to things more devious than Playboy magazines.

"Well, this is my stop. If you want I can show you. I work around the corner from here."

"Seriously, this late at night, you head to work?"

As the train came to a halt, she answered, "Well, I sleep pretty late, but then I study most of the day and then work at night. It doesn't really do much for my sleep schedule, but unless I find a rich sugar daddy, I gotta keep working."

"Ok, now I'm intrigued."

"Ha-ha, let's hope you'll be more than intrigued in a little while."

Rounding a corner, we walked into the backdoor of an old brownstone. Inside the walls had been painted several coats of rusty red color, there were thick curtains over doorways, behind which I could hear women moaning. I was getting thoroughly weirded out. You could say, I am a bit of traditionalist, and maybe a little boring when it comes to sex, but because I didn't look too bad and the trust fund my parents had set up for me loomed with the promise of money when I turned 25, random women threw themselves at me. Definitely not what I wanted. Thea was refreshing -- she had no clue who I was. Nor did she seem too concerned with who I was. Instead it was me that needed to know more about her. What moves a pretty girl to a place like this. What was this anyway?

"Sit down right here, you can see everything, the guys and me. Just don't make a sound or my boss will have my ass. Ok? You're going to get quite the show. Normally guys drop quite some cash to see this." Her eyes glinted. She sat me down on a stool, crouched in a corner, still hidden behind the heavy red velvet drapes, but still with a view of the small platform behind it as well as another curtain, this one purple.

The platform was covered in pillows, an old teddy bear stuffed into a corner. It was beginning to dawn on me what was about to happen, yet the excitement of the moment and the chance to see more of what was about to precipitate, plus I had no intention of drawing the attention of some bouncer named Pittbull to myself. I just sat and stared at the pillowed stage. Back from the dressing room, Thea harrumphed behind me before she squeezed past me in pink shorts, tank top, and bunny slippers. In the getup, she didn't look much different from my little sister when she was 10 or 11. I guess that was the intent. "What do you feel like listening to? Pop music, R&B, Jazz?"

"Am I correct in assuming that you don't have anything more classical? Say 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik'?"

"You really do want me to fall asleep don't you," she winked. "Ok, I only have a short shift tonight. Just sit here and watch. I'll be done in two hours."

She put on something along the lines of bubblegum pop music. She kneeled on the pillows, hugging that ratty old teddy bear against her chest. She breathed one more sigh, then the curtain rolled up. Behind the glass sat a swarthy man. Perspiration glistening on his bald head. He perpetually mopped his forehead with a dirty tissue, as he watched Thea languidly crawl towards him. When she reached the front of the stage, she squatted down on her heels, spreading her knees apart. Thea used the paw of that bear to slowly stroke from her knees upwards. When she reached the seam of her shorts, she quickly stuck the paw underneath the leg, at which point the curtain rolled down again. The swarthy guy strained to watch her even as the curtain had moved below eye level. Bending down further and further to continue watching Thea, who mockingly waved him goodbye.

"So that's what I mean by watching me," she whispered. "I bet you he's gonna put another twenty dollars down to see more."

"Is this it? You just prance around in shorts and a tank top, playing with a teddy bear."

"Oh, not enough for you is it? Wait for the next $20."

As though on cue, the curtain opened again, again the swarthy guy sat glued to the window. Thea rolled from her knees onto her back and began stroking her arms, then gliding over her shoulders, breasts to her waist. Her fingers started to probe beneath her tank top, inching it up further until it sat just below her breasts. I had stopped watching the guy on the other side of the glass and began watching Thea, as her fingertips gingerly slid over her stomach towards the top of her shorts. Pushing them down past her hips, Thea, hooked a finger underneath the side of her thong and acted to yank them off as she watched the man in the window. He was breathing so hard with every small yank, I wondered if I might need to jump out and give the guy CPR, he sure looked close to a heart attack. Before he could see even just one curl, the curtain rolled down again. Thea blew him a kiss as he disappeared behind the purple velvet. She stayed lying down, only looking up to find me staring at creamy white stomach and the curve of her hips. "Do you now see why they keep paying? Just enough to keep them interested. Not enough to get off."

"But isn't that what they want to see? Naked flesh?"

"I try to get around that. I've never been that terribly comfortable with taking it all off. Sure one or two things, but everything? Birthday suit? No sir, I can't do that in public. Too self-conscious." Her voice had barely been above a whisper, but we both bolted up when we heard the thundering voice coming down the hallway.

"I told you to start taking it off. Teasing and playing around isn't what I pay you for. I pay you to show your tits and your ass. Are we clear?" The voice belonged to a man of indescribable age. He could have been in his mid-thirties or his sixties. Not that it would have made much of a difference, he was gigantic. One swipe of the hand could have knocked Thea clear across the street. And yet she stood up to him.

"I told you Bernie, I am not doing that. If you want a stripper, go hire a stripper." Thea was 5 foot 7, taller than most women, and standing on the small platform, she was even taller, but in comparison to Bernie here, she seemed tiny. She crossed her arms in front of her, the teddy bear still dangling in the crook of her elbow. The mussed up hair, the stained lips, but not a single shred of fear in her eyes. Thea stared Bernie down. He wasn't quite sure what to do with her. He really did want to fire her, you could tell from his face. He was filled with contempt for that little upstart, but guys kept coming back. That Lolita thing worked on guys, all imagining bedding their own sweet sixteen. It really was all quite disgusting. I had tried to squeeze myself into a corner and hide behind the heavy drapes so that Bernie here, wouldn't see me, but when Bernie started to gesticulate widely, I moved too quickly to avoid getting broadsided by one of those puppies, and the curtain moved. Bernie tore away the curtain from where I was hiding, and bellowed, "What's going on here? Who the hell are you? Thought you could get a free show from your girlfriend here, did you? Let me show you what we do with freeloaders." With that, he tried to get a hold of my coat to drag me outside. However, I sidestepped his huge hand, and said, much to my own dismay, "I wouldn't do that, you don't know who you're dealing with." Thea still stood with her arms crossed, her toes curled over the ledge, and an even sterner look on her face. Bernie was, gratefully, as stupid as he was big.

He stood a bit dumfounded, while I explained to him, "I'm Jackson Walters, the Third. If you even so much as touch me, your club will be closed faster than you can," that's where the mental speech I had laid out came to an end. I was never any good at these things. I may come from money, but the sheer arrogance that so often comes with it did not suit me. "Well, extremely fast!" I finally concluded. Bernie, gratefully, still didn't get it, but he began to get an even meaner look in his eye.

Thea jumped off the stage, grabbed her coat and bag, and pulled me towards the door. Before neither Bernie nor I could say another word, Thea and I stood on the street. "Didn't I tell you not to make a sound? You just got me fired." Before I could get my internal smart alleck in check, I blurted out, "Technically, you just quit." My quip was not met with the humor, with which it had been intended. Thea glared back at me.

"Sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I'm sure you can get your job back. You seemed...." I searched for a fitting word "popular!" Even Thea, in all her frustration at having lost her only paying job, couldn't help but laugh at that ridiculous assessment.

"Quite popular actually. Didn't you know, everyone has a fantasy about sleeping with Lolita. Even you were turned on!"

Thea was right of course; she did look enticing on that stage. Bunny slippers, teddy bear and all. Actually, she still looked enticing. She was still wearing the same outfit, in fact, even the slippers were still on. "Maybe you should put your coat on, Thea."

"Well, Mr. Jackson Walters, the Third. Afraid to be seen with a floozy in bunny slippers?"

"Actually, I'm afraid you'll catch your death out here in this cold. Now put that on."

She didn't resists as I helped her into her coat. It did barely anything to cover her bare legs, which were still exposed to the winds whipping through New York. "Alright, maybe one won't do." and I wrapped my coat around here. "So where's home. Don't worry, I'm not going to stalk you there, I know you still think I'm your stalker. I just want to make sure you and teddy get home safe." Thea started laughing, first almost an embarrassed giggle, then a full-on, can't-breathe laughter. "Yes, must get Teddy home safe. You know you're actually very sweet, Stalkerboy." I still flinched at the sound of that unpleasant nickname, but it was far less of a nuisance than when she called my by full name. I never did get used to that name, it's like a title of nobility. Dreadful.

"Well, I don't really have a home. I live in my VW Bus. It hasn't been running in ages, but it blocks the air out and has enough room for me to sleep."

"You live in a car? In this neighborhood? By yourself?"

She waved teddy in front of my face indicating that she was far from alone, but I wouldn't bite. "I'm serious Thea. This can't be safe. Let me get you to a hotel? Come on, I just lost you your job, it's the least I can do." I had tried hard to make that sound less condescending than it did. I did not succeed. Her reaction was explosive.

"I'm not a damsel in distress. This is not Pretty Woman. I don't need your money, I don't need you putting me up in a hotel. I may take my clothes off for a living, or at least pretend to, but I am certainly not for sale. Goodbye, Mr. Walters. And quit taking the same train as me."

She stormed off towards her car, her bunny slippers leading the way. If it hadn't been so freezing and dead serious, the whole scene would have been extremely comical.

I stormed after her.

"Geez, I really have a talent with women. Either they want to jump into my bed as soon as they know who I am or they can't get away from me as fast as possible at the mere mention that I might do something nice for them." I huffed after her. I really was beginning to freeze terribly.

"Come on, I just want to help. Come on!!"

Another half block and I was done for, "At least give me my coat back! Ugh, you stubborn ..., freeze out here, why don't you." She turned on her heel, and marched back. Looking me squarely in the eye, I had the feeling she would either sock me one or let go of a tirade. Well, instead, she swung that teddy bear at my head. It may not have hurt, but certainly confused me for a moment. Only a moment, after which we both broke into laughter. "So come on, let me take you somewhere warm. Promise, no sleazy hotel."

"No can do, I can't leave Dolly alone. She'd probably get broken into and vandalized."

Geez, Dolly? Teddy? I was beginning to wonder if she wasn't really only sixteen giving names like that to her possessions.

"Umm... you've been living on this block for how many months now?"

"Five, why?"

"If she hasn't been broken into yet, she is not going to get broken into if you spend a night away from her."

"Still, I have all my stuff here." she really did sound quite concerned. What an oddball, but I did want to get her out of the cold.

"Make you a deal, I'll see what can be done with ... Dolly... and if we can get her to move again, you'll take the car back downtown."

She already moved to say something in return, but I cut her off, "No buts! I'm not going to have my armor tarnished by a stubborn str..."

"I AM NOT A STRIPPER! Well, not really anyways. Strippers have goodies to show off, I don't." Oh, she was definitely wrong on that last point but I wasn't going to argue with her much longer.

Arriving at her car, I walked around to the back, opened the trunk, really just undoing a few hundred twist ties that served as a latch, and looked inside. It was dirty, definitely needed a thorough cleaning out, which also went for the rest of the car. She had it stuffed to the brim with books and clothes. Thea may have lived in her car, but apparently crammed her entire apartment into it first. I checked a few things, tightened some other ones. "You sure you have gas in the tank?"

"Ok, for how stupid do you take me? Of course the tank is full. That was the first thing I thought of," I had purposely kept my head buried in the engine, but I could feel her eyes glaring into me. If looks could kill, the one she was bound to give me would have had me dead on the spot.

"Sit up front and start, might take a few tries but she should run. Just start her and see if you can get her moving. Your battery needs to get going again."

Dolly just wheezed, nothing. I fumbled with a few more things as she tried to start. Tah dah, she sprang into life. Literally. Thea had taken my advice of getting the battery going again quietly literally, and started slowly driving down the block. I had a quick debate over whether to run after her, I decided that honestly would be too much even if I liked her.

I hugged my arms around me and started off towards the subway station. This was a thoroughly ruined evening. I squished a girl, watched her seduce men with her body, got her promptly fired, fixed her car, and still had to go home by myself.

"Are you going to be walking down the street in the cold much longer or are you gonna climb in?"