Page 53 of Limits
‘First things first,’ Tara said. ‘You all need to chuck a pair of these babies on. Nobody can work a pole without some friction, and leggings are not going to cut it.’ Millie caught the black scrap of material that was chucked at her chest and held it up to inspect it. It was a pair of gold satin hot pants with Main Attraction written across the back in sequins.
‘It’s the waitress uniform,’ Claire explained. You’ve got to be able to grip the pole with your legs.’ Millie looked at the girls and then at the hot pants in her hands. Kira was already pulling off ripped jeans to reveal a pair of red pants, then pulling on the shorts over them. She pinged the waistband and jumped once on the spot.
‘Ready!’
Millie looked from the shorts to Eleanor, who shook her head and smiled.
‘Come on, hun, we’ll find the changing room.’
Chapter 24
The stupidity of the Y chromosome
‘I told you it would be fun,’ Kira said as Libby turned down the music.
Millie pushed back the hair from her face and smiled. Really smiled. For the first time since she could remember, her face actually ached from laughter. They’d been ‘dancing’ for the last hour and every minute had been absolutely hilarious. When Millie had eventually been dragged out of the changing room by a tenacious Eleanor, she hadn’t thought she could go through with it. Yes, it was a Saturday afternoon and yes, the bar was shut so the only people watching would be the girls – but still: she was in hot pants,withsequins on her arse. She looked ridiculous. But they’d set all this up for her; she didn’t want to disappoint them. So she’d taken a deep breath and stepped out onto the stage.
Claire and Tara had taken the lead, seeing as Libby’s speciality was the ‘floor work’ (all the flips and balance acts) and the others were into working the pole. The three of them showed some simple spins and then Eleanor, Millie and Kira were up. All Millie had to do at first was hop up, grasp the pole between her legs, and spin. Once they’d all managed that, things became more complicated and a little more embarrassing: strutting round the pole, ‘throwing attitude’ at the crowd, higher spins, faster spins, ‘slut drops’ – Millie had been too self-conscious at first to really try any of it; but when the music was cranked up, and with Kira going nuts on her pole (following a bizarre routine that could have only been made up in her crazy mind), Millie surprised herself and actually started dancing. By the end she could get higher up the pole than either El or Kira. After her last spin she realised the others were all watching her with big smiles; they started clapping when she reached the floor.
‘Jesus Christ.’ Millie heard a low male voice from below the stage and her head whipped round to see Pav standing beside one of the tables looking up at her with his mouth open. She felt the blood rush to her face and scrambled to stand up.
‘Oi, pervert!’ shouted Kira. ‘No blokes allowed. Millie, tell him to bugger off. Wait a minute, how did you even know we were here?’
Pav didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at Kira; his eyes were glued to Millie and she started to feel self conscious in her tiny hot pants. ‘Hello? Looky Lookerson? Have you had a stroke or something?’ Kira had jumped down from the stage and was waving a hand in front of Pav’s face.
‘Ugh!’ Pav finally acknowledged Kira’s presence and batted her hand away. ‘You’resoannoying: like a little mosquito. How do you manage it?’
‘Practice and persistence, my perverted friend,’ Kira told him, poking him in the chest and earning herself a fierce scowl before he went back to watching Millie. ‘Now, let’s start again as you seem a little slow. Why. Are. You. Here?’
‘Well …’ Pav shrugged and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. ‘Jamiemighthave let slip where you guys were going and I …’
‘You thought you’d come and get yourself an eyeful,’ chipped in Tara, her hands going to her hips.
‘No, no,’ Pav protested, raising his hands in surrender. ‘Honestly, I just wanted to check that … I mean, I wasn’t sure Millie would be happy with …’
‘You thought we’d upset her, didn’t you?’ Libby asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at Pav. ‘Jamie told on us because he was worried and now you’ve come to swoop in and save Millie from the evil oversexed bitches pushing her out of her comfort zone.’
‘Er … well …’
‘Give us some credit, Willy Fiddler,’ Kira told him, giving him another poke, then leaping back up onto the stage to stand next to Millie. ‘She’s had a blast, haven’t you, X.?’ Kira slung an arm over Millie’s shoulder and shook her from side to side. ‘Sorry, hun, I’m sweatinglike a blind lesbian in a Grimsby fish market.’
‘Kira,’ Claire said, her voice weary. ‘Can you lay off the lesbian jokes; try not to make it so that I have to punch you in face.’
‘Don’t be so sensitive,’ Kira said lightly. ‘You know I only do it cause I’m jealous. If only I were a Lettuce Lover and didn’t have to deal with the stupidity of the Y chromosome.’ She turned to Pav. ‘No offence, loser.’
Pav sighed and ignored Kira. ‘Er … are you guys done then or … ?’
‘We’ll be done when we’re done,’ Kira told him. ‘You can wait outside. Go on, shoo!’
‘Millie,’ Pav said, turning to her and his face softening, ‘you okay with … all this, love?’
He wanted to know if the girls were pushing her too far. He wanted to know she was comfortable with what was happening, that she wasn’t being bullied into anything. A feeling of warmth spread from her chest out to her fingertips. She was starting to believe that he cared about her. Really cared.
‘I’m okay,’ she said and managed a small smile, which smoothed his frown of concern. ‘It was … it was fun.’ Kira turned her around and gave her a full hug. Millie couldn’t even move her arms to return the gesture as they were pinned to her sides with the force of it.
‘Five minutes, Big Man,’ Kira told Pav when she was done and Millie could breathe again. ‘Wait out in the lobby.’
*****
