Angels and Guardians Pt. 04

Joe's parents looked over at him, and he answered the unspoken question, "I have no idea. All I know is that we're going to The Shack for some radio bit." He left them to get ready himself. It didn't take him long to put on some cologne, a dress shirt, and jeans. He found himself waiting back in the den, watching the final quarter of Michigan vs. Notre Dame.

Jill arrived, carrying a gym bag and asked where the other girls were. Joe pointed upstairs, and she headed up. A few runs of a hair drier later, the girls bounced down the stairs. He turned to see them and his mouth went dry. All had their makeup perfect, their hair was in pony tails, hanging through the rear openings of their matching 97.3 ball caps. Each had on a K-ROK t-shirt that was tied just under their breasts, revealing a whole lot of tummy, and matching cheerleader uniform skirts and shoes. "I thought we were going to a club?" he asked.

"We are, silly," Ashley responded and gave him a loving kiss. "Jill thought that since Rob kept asking if we were cheerleaders, we'd show him. Besides, it'll be fun to tease all the boys there."

"That's what Kim meant when she said y'all were bad!" He wrapped his arms around Ashley, pressing his palms into her bare back. "Well, I think y'all will succeed. If I weren't involved with you, I'd wonder which one I could take home. I just hope you remember who you're supposed to go home with."

Ashley had a twinkle in her eye. "Mister, if you behave, we all will 'go home' with you." She gave him another deep kiss.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," Jill broke in. "Now, if you wanna break it up for a minute, let's go!"

In Jill's car, Joe wondered about something and brought it up. "Hey, how did Kim and Jasmine get their skirts?"

Jill replied from the driver's seat, "I stopped by Jasmine's house and got hers from her folks. Kim gave me hers when she left, since I'm captain of the team. I let her borrow it back."

The conversation led back to all that happened at school for the past week, the girls doing most of the talking.

Just over an hour later, they arrived at The Shack. The lot was only sprinkled with cars, as it was early in the evening. The group saw the radio van and the girls went over to say hello to Rob's assistant. She greeted them with a happy smile, and commented on their attire, saying that giving out the promotional stuff to them paid off. The girls giggled and blushed at the compliment, and the assistant told them that Rob was expecting them inside.

The Shack is one of several young people's hot spots located in a boardwalk complex on an island near the coast. The building was constructed to appear as a beachside shanty, both inside and out. Inside the doors was a small counter to collect cover charges, age verification, sell tickets, and sell the club name merchandise that was displayed in cases lining the foyer. The manager of the evening greeted them warmly. "Well, now I have the faces to go along with the personality! And you, you must be Ashley."

Ashley said, "And how would you know that?"

"Your pictures from last week are on the radio station's website. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Jill asked, "What's the event tonight? I didn't get to hear much radio this week with school and all."

"Wow, you don't know? We have a concert tonight...big one, especially for this close to Thanksgiving. Tales Of The Blind is performing. The tickets are a bit pricey, and being Fall, we're having trouble selling them."

The girls looked at each other with grins almost splitting their faces in two. Tales Of The Blind was a quick rising talent that had 5 top 10 singles last spring alone. Jasmine was almost beside herself, "Really? Oh my God, I so wanted to see that concert last January, but the tickets sold out within an hour of release."

"Well ladies," the manager said with pride. "You're in luck. They're here tonight. The stage crew is setting up now. Your job tonight is to bring the crowd in. Being on the beach, we don't have the normal walk-in traffic we do in the summer. As I said, the tickets are pretty steep in order to attract the band to play here. They're $50 each."

Joe started fishing out his wallet from his jeans.

"Whoa, champ!" the manager continued. "Y'all get to see them free! I am, after all, paying for you to be here."

Ashley couldn't believe it. "The radio station is paying us...aren't they?" she asked while looking at Jasmine.

Jasmine answered, "I don't know. He just said we would be paid $150 each."

Joe broke in, "well, neither me nor Kim are getting paid, so here's $100 for out tickets."

The manager pushed Joe's bills away. "Your money is no good here. I'm the one who asked Brett to have y'all come. I told him to relay the payment. I know it was a drive for y'all to get here, so I threw in some enticement." He looked over the group. "Now, dressed as you are, I'm sure Joe here is gonna be y'all's bodyguard, so to speak?"

Ashley said, "I guess that's fair."

"So, I'm willing to give you $50 for keeping an eye on the girls. That way, my bouncers have one less thing to worry about."

It was Joe's turn to push the offer away. "Your money is no good here." The manager laughed, then Joe continued. "I enjoy watching and being with them anyway."

It dawned on the manager who Joe really was. "Thank you for being polite and not lording your money over me." Joe looked confused. "You're Joe Smith, right? Son of the Carter Electronics Smiths?"

"Yes?"

"That explains your readiness to pay $50 for each of you, then." He looked at Kim. "Who are you?"

Kim answered with her name, then, "I'm visiting these friends for Fall Break."

"Well, you're as lovely as these other three. And, a sexy voice. You going to be on the radio, too?"

"I hadn't planned on it, but I will if I'm asked to."

The manager smiled. "I have a feeling about you, so I hope you will. Tell you what, if you get on and do a good job, I'll give you $150, also."

Kim couldn't help but smile. "Thank you!" she gushed sweetly.

"Anytime. Now, Rob's inside, picking out a spot to set up. Why don't you join him?"

The main room had all the amenities the girls were used to seeing in dance clubs, only this one was much larger than the ones in town. The main area was cavernous. The dance floor and walls were wooden, keeping the boardwalk theme intact. In fact, each area along the walls had decorations above and beside them to make them look like individual shacks along a bayou boardwalk. Directly ahead was the main stage that took up the width of the building. Cocktail bars lined both sides of the dance area, two large bars on the left, three on the right. Above and at the back was a press box style sound booth, with windows tinted green to give a bit of swamp theme.

Rob saw them gawking around at the décor and came up, saying hello. He gave Jill a hug, which she returned warmly as she did in greeting other friends at school. She introduced him to Kim. He said, "I guess you weren't lying about being cheerleaders, then. I love the t-shirts!"

"All for the spirit of our favorite station!" quipped Jasmine.

Rob grinned. "Fantastic! Y'all ready to get started?" They answered that they were. "Okay then! I think I'll set up the table there in that corner. Joe, would you help Kelly start bringing in some stuff?"

Joe said sure thing, and headed outside. While he was gone, Rob went over the details of the spots with the girls. Joe returned shortly, pushing a cart full of equipment. The group busily worked over an hour to set everything up. When they finished, the final product had five chairs behind the table. On the table was a headset at each seat, all plugged into an elaborate device, which was plugged into Rob's laptop. The two large speakers were paired wirelessly to the feed from the van, as was the laptop. Boxes of bumper stickers and t-shirts were placed under the table within easy reach of those who sat at the table. The station's banners hung both behind on the wall, and draped in front of the table. The club's manager came over, carrying to-go boxes from the sandwich shop next door. "Thought you'd might like dinner," he said. The six all said their thank yous and dug in.

The manager returned with a garbage bag after they were done and collected the empty Styrofoam containers. "The bar staff has been informed that drinks are on the house for you all. However, we cannot serve alcohol to you. I don't want to have police shut us down in the middle of the concert," he said as he stamped each teenager's hand.

Ashley looked at her hand, puzzled. "I don't see anything."

The manager replied, "The bars have blacklights above them. It'll show up there." Then, he wished them luck and hurried off to finish preparations for the night. Joe and the girls went to the nearest bar on the left. The tender greeted them, and asked to see their hands. When they presented them over the bar, the stamp showed up brightly. It was an eerie pale blue with the words "Under 21" written in a way that resembled slime from a swamp.

"What'll you have?" he asked. The girls asked for sodas, while Joe asked for a mixed drink. The tender said to him, "it'll be a virgin, you know?" Joe nodded. What he really wanted was a show, as he had heard of The Shack's famous Battle of The Bartenders. This tender didn't disappoint, tossing flavoring bottles around his back and over his shoulder before pouring them into the soda water. Joe thanked him for the small show by handing him a $20 tip. The tender nodded at Joe saying, "anytime!"

When they returned to the table, Rob told them it was showtime, and invited Kim to also put on a headset. He had positioned the laptop screen so that the girls could see a bit of "behind the scenes." Most of the screen was a confusing array of sliders and signal gauges. In an upper corner was a timer counting down. When it reached zero, the commercial playing through the headsets ended and Rob struck the spacebar and started speaking.

"Well hello! Glad you joined us on this beautiful Saturday evening. Tonight, we're live at The Shack on Bingo Island, where it is about to get cranking! With me tonight are some voices you might recognize from last Sunday's broadcast." He pointed to them and Ashley, Jill, and Jasmine gave a Wayne's World-esque "Hi Rob!" "Hello ladies! Are you ready for a night of fun?"

"You betcha!" exclaimed Jasmine.

"Fantastic," he continued. "In case you missed it last week, with me are Ashley..."

"Hello!"

"Jasmine..."

"Hey y'all!"

"And Jill."

"Hi!"

"Now I know most of you out there checked out the pictures on our website, because the hit counter was smoking by the end of the week. If you thought they looked good then, you should see them tonight! Also with me is one of their friends, Kim."

"Hello!"

"Now, Kim is a brunette who'll make the Ice Palace melt into a river, I tell you what! Kim, how do you know these girls?"

"Well, I used to cheer with them."

"Not any more?"

"No, I moved away. I'm just in town for Fall Break."

"Alright! Glad you could join us."

"Thank you!"

"Speaking of cheering. Fellas, you need to get yourselves down here to see what they have on. One of you ladies want to clue in our listeners?"

Jill took the challenge, speaking in her best phone sex voice, "Well, Rob. We're wearing matching 97.3 hats..."

"Uh huh..."

"Matching K-ROK t-shirts..."

"Mmm, yeah, and how are you wearing them?"

"They're tied in a knot up high, so you can let your eyes fall on our tight stomachs..."

"Oh, tell me more, sweetheart!"

"We are all wearing our cheerleader skirts, showing off nothing but leg."

Rob's mouth watered at the description and he knew many of the guys listening were too. "So, you say you're cheerleaders, and you dress as cheerleaders, but do you pay attention to the guys on the field?"

Jasmine stepped in, "sure we do, Rob! Those tight pants are treats for my eyes every Friday."

"So, Jasmine, how did Ashley's boyfriend, Joe do last night?"

"He was awesome! Joe completed 36 of 42 passes for 412 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed for 113 yards, and scored the game-changing touchdown in the third quarter on a 63 yard interception return."

"Damn, you do pay attention! Was there anything he did wrong last night?"

"Actually," said Ashley, "he was sacked once. It was the result of a bad snap."

"He kept the ball, though, right? I wouldn't say he did anything wrong..."

Ashley spoke up again. "True, but I want him to be perfect," she pouted with her voice.

Rob started to shift gears to the concert. "I'm sure he did his best. In fact, you ladies out there need to come by and meet Joe. He'll be out helping Intern Kelly hand out souvenirs. Do other girls consider him attractive, Ashley?"

Ashley didn't get to respond, as the other three chimed, "YES!"

"Alright, sorry Ashley. They buzzed in first." They all laughed. "What makes Joe attractive to you?"

Kim took this one. "I'm his ex, and girls, all's I can say is, there's a reason he can put up those kind of game numbers. He's got muscles you just want to nibble all night!"

This prompted an "Mmm hmm" from Jill and Jasmine.

Ashley played along, even though she knew the others weren't stretching any truth about them liking the looks of her new boyfriend. "Well, you can look at the rest of him all you want, but now, only I get to nibble the real muscle that counts."

Rob broke back in, "Okay, now that you've made every girl within a hundred miles crazy to get their eyes on Joe, do you know who's playing here tonight?"

"Tales Of The Blind!" the girls cheered in unison.

"Oh yeah! Kim, do you know much about them?"

"Only that they had three number one songs last spring, and two more in the top 8. And, they're hot as hell!"

"That's right, and they'll be playing those and others right here tonight. Who's opening for them?"

Jill took her turn. "Local band Glowing Newts will take the stage in about an hour."

"Yes ma'am! Ashley, what information can you give about this concert?"

"Doors open in 20 minutes at 7. Bar shows are every 15 minutes, starting at 7:15. Curtains are up at 8 for Glowing Newts, 9 for Tales Of The Blind."

"How much are tickets?"

"Tickets are $50 at the door. But what's $50? Guys, the next World of Warcraft expansion isn't until next spring. You owe it to your girlfriend to bring her here tonight! Believe me, after you've ignored her for so long, running raids, farming gold, rep and such, she'll appreciate the attention tonight. Most likely, she'll even let you get lucky." She paused as the girls were giggling. "What?"

"World of Warcraft? Seriously?" commented Kim.

"Hell's yeah! Venture Co. FTW! For The Horde! Alliance are epic fail!"

Kim giggled, "okay..."

"What? So, you got me...I'm a nerd," Ashley pouted.

"I guess at least you're a pretty one!"

"And you're not?"

"I'm pretty. I'm not a nerd," Kim defended.

"Whatever, you'd so play a huntard if you could."

Kim laughed. "I don't even know what a huntard is! That's it folks, forget about the awesome atmosphere or the fabulous bands! Come out to meet the world's first pretty dork! It'll be worth the $50 for the freak show alone!"

Ashley grinned, and said in good humor, "You're a noob, Kim!"

Rob broke into the banter, "that's right folks. It doesn't matter why you come out, you just need to. We'll be back with the opening of The Swamp at 7." He hit the spacebar again and took off his headset. He was all smiles when he looked at the quartet at his table. "That was perfect, ladies! When did you rehearse the WOW bit?"

Kim looked confused. "We didn't," she said.

"Well, I loved it. Y'all teasing each other like that...it's perfect."

"Thank you," the girls responded. They got up to look around a bit, and Joe went outside to help Kelly set up the giveaways. Members of both bands were checking out their setups on stage, and the girls made their way over to chat with them. The Glowing Newts recognized Ashley right away and introductions were made between the girls and both bands. Jill struck up a conversation with the Newts, asking them if they would help with a bit she was thinking of to help promote the concert. They listened to her idea and soon agreed. Both bands were interested in Ashley's repertoire of lyric and song knowledge. She answered their inquiries, giving them ideas for the evening without knowing it.

The doors opened a bit early, and the girls took their places at the table. Two more chairs had been added at Rob's end, along with two more headsets. The lead singers from both bands joined the table. About 50 people had already filed in and more were arriving when Rob turned on the inside speakers and hit his key to begin the broadcast.

He began in his usual peppy pitch for the club and the concert. He introduced and interviewed both lead singers, and the girls took turns asking each of them questions. Rob took mental notes of the questions, as he learned a lot about items females wanted to know about their idols. The conversation had turned to Ashley when Rob asked Peter, the lead for the Newts about the recording of Ashley's Song. He related how they honored the dance crowd's chanting request for Ashley's cameo. She did well singing with them, then the crowd started chanting for that song. Their sound engineer, in a heads up move, recognized her and the song from the news. So, when Joe started playing, he started the recording. When Jill asked what they really thought of Ashley's talent, Jon, the lead for Tales, stated simply that they might see her on stage tonight.

With Jon, Peter, and Rob being male, the conversation naturally wound down on the topic of the girls' attire. Jon made a jab that how could they be sure they were cheerleaders for real. For all he knew, they bought just the skirts today. With that, Peter pointed toward the stage as a signal. His band started playing a burlesque tune, and he said that the girls could prove who they were by taking their tops off. The girls laughed, but agreed, drawing a loud applause and cat calls from the crowd that was there. They stood up and started moving to the rhythm. In synchronized slow, teasing motion, they did a bit of a stripper routine and took off their caps, undid the knot in their shirts and slowly drew them upward. Rob narrated what was going on for the listeners. When the shirts reached a near-forbidden point, the girls snatched them off as one, revealing their school's cheer uniform tops. There were some groans of disappointment from the males, but the crowd overwhelmingly expressed their approval in applause.

Rob did a short bit recapping what was going on at the club tonight and ended the segment with, "where the only things missing are the pompoms." He took off his headset and thanked the two leads for coming on air. The room was filling up nicely and Rob had to raise his voice a little, so the girls could hear him over the hum of conversations and the music coming from his station's speakers. "Aren't y'all just full of surprises!" he exclaimed. They thanked him for the compliment and chatted with him about general details about their lives as they handed out bumper stickers and t-shirts from their table. Joe appeared, telling them that they had run out of giveaways outside. He said that a long line had formed at the door for the concert. They marveled at that fact for a few minutes until 7:30 rolled around, and the girls and Rob chatted happily on air again.

Kim started ribbing Ashley again for being a WOW nerd, when Jim, the call screener at the station, broke in over the air. "Ashley, we're getting calls saying listeners don't believe you actually play World Of Warcraft."

Ashley laughed. "Jim, I play whenever I can. I haven't much since the wreck about a month back."

"Month and a half," Jasmine corrected.