Along Comes Mary...

"You ever dance before?" I asked her, checking her ID.

"No, just in the specialty club," she replied.

"Specialty club?"

"Kind of a fetish scene thing."

"Ah," I said, not really wanting to probe much more.

"Yeah, I like it when I get an audience of men. Women are fun, too, but men watching me really is the best."

I handed her back her license and noticed she had a bit of a smirk and a raised eyebrow like she was hoping I'd take the bait. Even though I hadn't had sex in a good three weeks, I wasn't going to fuck up my job by flirting with the new girl. So instead I just gave her the standard spiel about how we'd put her up for two short songs, how I'd announce her, asked her to choose some music, and sent her on her way to the dressing room to do some makeup and change into an outfit she felt comfortable in. Then, since the owner wasn't in, I went up to Annie the bartender, and let her know we had an audition. Since it was early afternoon, there were probably only about 30-ish people in the bar, mostly the blue-collar guys who worked early shifts, and the unemployed, so it would be low pressure for her.

I'd been the manager at Sassy's for about a year, a position I walked into because my ex-squeeze and good friend Nikki was the lead bartender on the weekends and she recommended me. I'd been working in bars for a few years, but managing a strip bar was a new one for me at first. Luckily I'd had a girlfriend when I first began, and I wasn't a big fan of the places in general. Regardless of how many guys seemed to think it was the best job on earth (and came up to tell me, and tell me, and tell me some more), the reality was it was work, with just as much annoyance as any other job. Luckily here I was in less chance of getting in the middle of a fight with some overly aggressive douchebag jocks from one of the colleges, which was a far too frequent occurrence at my last bar that was right by UW. I could handle myself just fine, but given the choice between ducking blows and bottles or dealing with overly-dramatic insecure women, I'd take the latter.

Plus, truthfully, it wasn't really hard overall. I did the schedule, the till and money, made sure booze and food were ordered, and did three shifts a week as the DJ. Occasionally I could even bring a schoolbook and peruse it behind the booth on slower days. However, I was hyper-careful when it came to the ladies, and of my handful of occasional friends with benefits, only two had ever come from the bar. As my friend Brent (who'd been bouncing in that bar for years) always liked to say, "It only takes two girls to fuck up your life." While there was no rule against sleeping with them--and god knows there were more than enough who were willing to give a good-looking guy a tumble--the boss didn't like drama. It was easier to just say no, unless I knew the woman was able to keep her mouth shut.

After about 15 minutes, she came back, and I went over things with her quickly. She wanted to go by Mary, which was her real name, and I asked her if she was really sure about that. She smirked when she replied she'd never remember a stage name, and she wasn't even remotely worried about dealing with creeps. I shrugged, confirmed her music choice, and put her on the rotation for two girls ahead, then went back to the dressing room and informed the ladies that I'd be sneaking an audition into the rotation.

When I returned to the booth, her back was to me, and I had more of an opportunity to take her in. Her frame was a bit skinny, but she had an adorable little butt along with cute little hips and slender, toned legs. Her skin was milky pale, with a generous but not overly heavy smattering of freckles on her face and body, and her breasts were a small handful, probably a large B, perfect for her frame. Her red hair went down a few inches past her shoulders, with a very tiny wave that women typically tortured their hair with crimping irons to get. However, it was her face that was the real draw, with incredibly bee-stung lips and eyes so large and blue they almost seemed impossible. I noticed that her "makeup" consisted of nothing more than some mascara, the smallest amount of eyeliner pencil, and a very natural lipstick, which was a real contrast to some of these ladies who piled it on. She had this quiet sexiness that made you want to lean in, and I already knew that I was going to hire her unless she was absolutely repulsive and awkward on stage.

We chatted a bit back and forth, and finally, it came time to get her on stage. I announced her up as an audition, using my best cheesy MC lines about how she had never been onstage before, needed some support, blah blah blah, and watched as the dudes slowly perked up, even old Bill at the end of the bar who seemed to hate everything. As a few people slid into the stage seating and put out some money, I started in the music she wanted, and she began to move. And goddamn, could this girl move. Her body undulated with perfect timing and rhythm, her torso moving in a wave as she grabbed the pole and slowly moved around. While it was obvious she had never done this kind of dance before, she could definitely dance. As she spun around, getting more comfortable, she lifted up a bit off the ground and then came down in a perfect split, rolling her hips a bit and then glancing over her shoulder at a couple of the guys. I saw them entranced and knew she could play the crowd. Then, she glanced my way, not too long, but long enough to give me a look that clearly spoke of lust and more. While I normally went for curvy queens, she was so fucking sexy I seriously felt my cock inflate rapidly just from that look.

I tamped my reaction down and ignored it, knowing that it likely just meant she was into the role (plus the aforementioned reasons for abstaining from pissing in the well from which I drink), and I cued her into the next song, then went over to Annie. She didn't even elaborate much, as she was hustling out a couple of beers, and just said "Yeah, absolutely." I then quickly went back to Evan the cook to see if he could cover for me in the DJ booth for a few minutes while I went through things with her, and I finally went back over to the booth and queued her down and the next woman up. She quickly came over to me, still naked and carrying her clothes plus a wad of money she'd made onstage.

"Well?" she asked, a little flushed and breathing a bit rapidly.

"We're going to go ahead and hire you..." I began, cut off by her leaping to hug me as she planted one on my cheek and whooped near my ear.

"Easy there," I jokingly admonished, as I slowly backed her off me. "Go ahead and get dressed, then come back and we'll get you set up with paperwork and all that."

"Okay!" she beamed and started to walk back to the dressing room.

"Whoa! You need to get dressed before you go back there."

"What?"

"You can't walk across the floor naked like this. It's against the health code laws. You can only be naked on stage or in the private dance area."

"So I have to get dressed so I can get naked and change clothes in the back?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Like I said, it's a health code law."

"Aww, but I don't wanna," she pouted. "My pussy's all wet from being watched and my panties will stick to me."

My cock inflated a bit again at that confession, and I brought my leg up to the stool so I could flex it and not have my work slacks give it away. "Okay, that's understandable, but unfortunately, it doesn't change anything. So please get dressed."

"Okay," she acquiesced and quickly threw on her top and panties. "See you in a bit," she said over her shoulder, smirking at me in her peculiar way.

Against my better judgment, I stole a peek at her backside as she made her way to the back room, and as I looked away, I heard a voice say. "Down boy." I looked up to see Nikki's familiar visage and grinned at her.

"Relax, I was just taking a peek. Means nothing."

"Please, I know that look. You used to give me it."

"What look, and when?"

"That is Mark's horny look, and usually right before you got my pants off."

"Whatever," I dismissed. "You here for your check?"

"You know it."

I signaled to Evan, and he came back towards me. I told him to send the new girl back when she was ready and gave him the run of the booth. Nikki and I walked through the kitchen, and stock areas, and I unlocked the office, plopping down in the chair behind the desk, then leaning over to the top drawer and unlocking it, flipping through until I found hers, handing it to her and also grabbing mine. "Thanks babe," she replied cheerily, then leaned in and gave me a quick peck, although she lingered just the slightest bit. Nikki was always full of mixed signals, and even though we'd been broken up for years, we seemed to end up in bed every few months, which was probably too often. She was short, ridiculously stacked, and with her ass-length blonde hair and easy smile, it was far too easy to fall for her charms time and time again. "Be careful," she said lowly, bringing me back to reality.

"With who?" I joked. looking at her pointedly.

"You know what I mean," she replied with a head twitch.

"I do, but you seem to forget that I've been single for a bit, so maybe don't misinterpret my frustration too much."

"Touche, but I've seen that look before. From both of you. Her, I get, she's new into the scene and you're the nearest good-looking safe guy. But you know as well as I do it's not a good idea to line up for the fresh talent."

"I know, believe me. I wasn't planning on it."

"I figured as much. It's just that when you used to give me that look, it was usually about 3 minutes until you were balls deep in me."

"If only it had that effect on other women," I said with a chuckle.

"It kinda does. You just need to set the stage. Hell, it'd still have that affect on me if I weren't seeing someone."

"I've been meaning to tell you how inconsiderate that is, by the way."

"Please!" she snorted. "Our sex is like being drunk. Great during the experience, but the next day is filled with shame and recovery."

"That's fair, I suppose," I remarked as we hugged goodbye. She turned and opened the door to find Mary standing in front of it, her hand poised to knock. She smiled and giggled.

"Great timing! I'm Nikki," she said, shaking her hand.

"Mary, nice to meet you."

"I'll let you have access to the man of the hour," Nikki said as she moved around to admit her into the door. "I'll see you later dear. Open or closed?" she asked, hand on the knob.

"Closed, please. Thanks."

She gave me a disapproving look, and quickly shut the door.

What happened next was nothing all that unusual. I ran her through a basic primer on the rules, gave her some paperwork to fill out along with a couple of handouts to read on laws and club rules, took a copy of her ID, and showed her how to fill out the schedule request, including any time off needs. She was attentive, respectful, and overall nice. After a bit, I asked her if she had any questions, as she looked up from skimming the handouts.

"Just one. Is there any kind of fraternization clause?"

"How so?" I replied.

"Can people who work here hang out otherwise?"

"Oh, of course."

"Okay. By that I mean, not just friends, but also perhaps dating or anything romantic or intimate?"

I took a deep breath. "Officially, there's nothing against it. I can tell you that most likely nobody will bat an eye if it happens here or there. But Phil, the owner, frowns on drama. So just keep that in mind, if you want to date someone or just hookup, you should probably keep it low-key, at the very least."

"Makes sense. You ever hang with any of the women from here?"

"I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I haven't been sworn in to testify."

She laughed, and there was a spark in her eyes when she said "Fair enough."

"My sincere advice would be to take a minute to get to know the people here before you do anything too crazy."

"Oh, I was planning on it. I'm not a total skank. I just kinda think one guy here is cute. I might feel it out for a bit and see if he's interested."

She said it with a certain bit of intensity, but nothing too crazy, so it was difficult to tell if she was flirting with me, or if that was just her way. I was searching for a reply when thankfully, there was a knock on the door. "I should probably go," she said, reaching for her bag, and as I opened the door, Joe the head cook was on the other side, a smile on his face until he saw her and showed surprise and recognition.

"Mary?!" he let out.

"Hi Joe!" she said cheerfully but also with a bit of surprise. "Do you work here now?"

"Yeah, I quit Bonicci's a few months ago. Way too toxic a scene for me."

"Oh, good, I'm glad to hear that, I know how much that place stressed you out. Well, I need to run, but it was good to see you. I guess I'll see you here from time to time."

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied.

"Thank you again," she said back to me, "I'll see you when I come back in to check the schedule."

I waved at her as she turned and walked out the back, and turned back to Joe. "Hey, shut the door," I said lowly. As he did, I reached in the drawer and pulled out his check and handed it to him, then just said "Spill."

"Uh, sure," he began. I knew Joe was fairly private, but he and I respected each other and he knew I'd keep my mouth shut no matter what. "I dated her for about a year."

"I figured. Any drama? I mean, any bad blood between you two, or do you think she'll cause any?'

"Oh, no, definitely not. We parted on good terms."

"Mind if I ask what happened?"

"Well, she wanted to move in together, for one. I wasn't really sure about it yet."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Yeah, uh..." he hesitated, glancing down. "I mean...yeah, I don't know if it'll be a problem here, but, uh...she's...she's a total sex maniac."

"Really?" I said with amusement.

"Yeah. I mean, I liked it and all. And she never, like, cheated on me or anything like that, I'm absolutely sure about that. She's a good person overall. It's just that she did all these dances at this private club and she wanted us to have some 'group fun,' as she put it, with a few of the girls she performed with. Which wasn't my speed, and I let her know it. Plus she would come home and want to fuck all night, and I'd be exhausted and by the early morning she'd still be ready and I was playing pool with a rope, ya know?"

"Fair. So there's no hard feelings or anything?"

"No, absolutely none. We've even been at a couple of the same parties in the meantime because we do have some mutual friends. We get along great, and she wasn't even that awkward when I dumped her. She just said 'I really love you Joe, but I know you and I don't want the same type of relationship, sex, or love, so it's totally fair.' She told me she would contact me again in 2 weeks, and to the day, she showed up, gave me my stuff back, packed up her shit at my place, and hugged me before she went goodbye. It was seriously the most drama-free thing I'd ever dealt with."

"Okay, cool," I replied. "I just didn't want to put you in a weird position at all."

"Nah, it's totally fine, I promise," he said, rising up out of his chair. "I think you know I'd be honest with you if it was weird at all."

"Fair enough," I said, and as he grabbed the doorknob, he gave me a fist bump.

"She's a great girl. I think she'll actually fit in quite well here," he added as he walked out of the office.

I shut the door behind me, and went out to the floor to relieve Evan.

**Several Months Later**

True to Joe's prediction, Mary was absolutely zero drama. She showed up, was friendly to everyone, had a couple friends at the club, but never got into the drama of the ladies who had been there far too long and identified too much with the gig as a career to the point of getting territorial on an outfit or a particular song being "theirs." I'd hung out with her outside of work one time only, when a buddy had a get together on a football playoff Sunday. We spent a bit of time talking and were mildly flirty with each other, but I couldn't figure out if she was actually into me, or she just was always like that. I played it safe, giving her a hug goodbye but not putting anything out there. In fact, other than her expressing an interest in going to a climbing wall with me at some point, she didn't exactly put it out there either.

In April, our boss decided to hold a picnic at a little lakeside park a few minutes outside of the city to celebrate the coming of spring one Sunday, since we never opened the bar until 6pm that day anyway. I had decided to make an appearance for a couple hours and then jet, just because I knew that some people would be on good behavior, but a few snotty sorts would doubtless get trashed with the excuse of free booze, and I hated that point where people wanted to either fuck or fight you.

When I got there, I was quickly greeted by Nikki and her bestie Rachel, who generally played the role of house mom to the ladies in addition to head of the cocktail staff. We all nursed a beer and sat around bullshitting, trying to ignore Ricardo the bouncer, who was trying to figure out if he could tie a wakeboard rope to the boss's jet ski and seemed to already be slightly drunk. More and more people filtered in, including boyfriends and girlfriends of staff members, I was content to hang with the two of them and a handful of others I was friends with, eat a bit of food, and chill. I had no idea how much my day was about to change.

A bunch of the girls had arrived in their finest and skimpiest bikinis, with their makeup and hair perfectly done, and they decided to set up a volleyball net. I was mildly amused at the prissy display of "don't break my nails" being shown off, when I saw Mary out of the corner of my eye. Compared to the rest of the crew, she looked like she had just rolled out of bed--comfy sleep pants, a tank top, and minimal makeup as per usual. When she came up and gave me a hug, she lingered just a tiny bit, and I was a bit overwhelmed--she smelled great, and as usual, I tried to play it cool as my cock lurched a bit in my shorts. I discretely adjusted myself as I sat back down in my camp chair, and caught Nikki smirking at me out of the corner of my eye. I gave her a pointed look to convey I didn't want to hear it from her, and she just smiled wider.

After a bit of chit chat, this girl Alexis came up to us and offered to take us into the trees to get high. I hadn't smoked in a while, for no other reason than being particularly wrapped up in school, but agreed, and pretty soon, the group was on its way, getting bigger as we went along. Finally, we ended up in a circle, with Nikki on one side of me and Mary on another. Feeling like fucking with me, Nikki leaned over and whispered in my ear "you're not getting that sandwich you want." I quickly hissed at her to shut up, to which Mary inquired what was going on.

"Nothing," we replied in unison.

Somebody had loaded a pipe, and the weed started passing around the circle. It was a big circle, so by the time it made it to me, it was already weakening, and with a good 15 or so people, I only got about three hits of what I estimated to be medium-quality ganj at best. Right about then, Rachel started yelling "We got food!" at the top of her lungs, and we made our way back.

I ate some chicken and picnic sides, generally enjoying it as I bantered with a few people. As I was finishing up, Mary came over to me and sat down right across from me, starting in with "I keep meaning to ask you when you're going to be going to a climbing wall again."

"I usually do it at least two or three times a month," I replied. "There's one right by my house connected to the gym, and I have a pass that'll let you come with me anytime."