This story is loosely based on a true story provided me by a Lit reader. He told me to do with the information what I wanted and to write a story about it. It's a romance and I will provide it in five parts.
Main Cast
Dennis, 25 years old, 5' 11", 175 lbs, brown hair, blue eyes.
Jill, 30 years old, 5' 7", 120 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes.
Gina, 30 years old, 5'6", 140 pounds, auburn hair, green eyes, Jill's best friend.
Denise, 25 years old, 5'1", 105 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, Dennis' friend and works with Dennis.
Mike, 27 years old, 5'10", 190 pounds, black hair, brown eyes, Denise's boyfriend.
Jeff, 33 years old, 6', 190 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes, Dennis' brother.
Previously:
I had learned that there was some deep, dark secret that Jill had not told me about her past and that my brother knew about. I was worried about this because yesterday I had heard her say that she loved me and I knew that I was falling for her. My mind ran rampant. I went through all the options that I could think of. Had she been a prostitute? A stripper? Been convicted of a felony for drugs or violence? What the hell? I was thinking the worst things, but maybe I was wrong. Now I couldn't wait for her to get home and tell me what it was.
Chapter 6. Finally, the Past Revealed.
December 23rd, 2011
Finally, about 6pm, the ladies rolled back in. Even with the Christmas rush and the disaster it was out there at all the malls they had managed to find plenty of things to buy and came in with several bags. I watched closely and Jill looked at me as she came in and met my eyes for only a second. She looked away and I could tell that she was worried. I stood up and when she next looked at me I gave her a quick motion with my head to meet me upstairs. She just nodded slightly and finished hanging her coat up and putting all the bags in the dining room with my mother.
I waited impatiently in my room. When she came in she looked worried. She was pacing and wringing her hands.
"Did Jeff tell you?" She almost whispered it.
I stared at her. "Tell me what?" I moved closer to her and lowered my voice. I realized that I had been a little too loud with that question. "Look, I know something is going on, but I don't know what the hell it is, so just come out with it and get it over with."
She moved away from me. "Please sit down on the bed and let me get this out, okay?"
I sat and watched her pace. She was like a caged animal warily looking at her owner. "Okay, when I was 16 and I moved in with Gina, I really did work at Wendy's. I worked there until I turned 18 and finished high school. Then Gina and I found that we needed more money. We wanted to live on our own. We tried to make it work by working multiple jobs, but it wasn't enough. Finally, we found the perfect job for us. We could make enough money to live by ourselves, buy what we needed, and we'd be able to save some, too." She stopped and stared at me.
I think I knew where she was headed. "Stripper?"
She nodded and took a deep breath before continuing. "Yes. Gina and I found a strip joint that was halfway decent and we could make great money. I worked there for almost two years. Once I had enough saved, I started going to junior college there in Kansas City and eventually came to Illinois to complete my four year degree."
I grimaced. "Okay." I didn't know what else to say. All kinds of things were running through my mind. I was always a little conservative and had only been to one strip joint in my life. My mother had always talked about the objectification of women, the degradation of the individual and sex, etc. I guess I had absorbed most of that. And now I was in love with an ex-stripper.
"Remember, you promised."
I was trying to remember what she was talking about while taking in that the woman I was in love with had been a stripper. What kind? Fully nude? Table dances? Lap dances? Shit! Private dances!? Private parties?!
I looked up at her. "What?"
"Remember, the first time you spent the night I made you promise to listen and try to understand about my past."
"Oh. And yet you didn't tell me about it until now, after my brother forced you to." I tried to see the woman I was in love with, but now I could only see her stripping, guys leering at her, shoving money at her and feeling her up. I could see her dancing and rubbing her tits in the face of hundreds of other guys. I was jealous as hell. I finally caught sight of her eyes and her looking at me and it brought me back to the present. "I know I promised. I just wasn't ready for this."
She nodded. "Right. Got it." Her face closed up, her emotions disappeared and she suddenly seemed calm. How did she do that? She stared at me and then left the room. I started to go after her, but instead I lay back on the bed and tried to understand her. First, I never understood how people could strip and display their bodies when the opposite sex would sit there and stare at you, try to feel you up, and just plain act like a bunch of idiots. It wasn't exhibitionism, it was something worse in my mind and I couldn't wrap my arms around it. I just never got it. Also, here was this outwardly strong, tough woman who had on occasion shown that behind that faΓ§ade that there was something hidden, something she held back, and something awful. Well, at least I knew what it was now. I still didn't really understand how someone could do that. I lay there, trying to unravel my thoughts when my mother came into my room.
"What the hell is going on between you and Jill?"
What did she say? I sat up. "What do you mean?"
My mother put her hands on her hips. That was never a good sign and usually meant a lecture. I was four years out of college and still flinched when she did that, waiting for the bad news. "I mean what the hell happened up here between you and Jill?"
What the hell was I going to say to that? "We had a little disagreement." That's all I could think of to say.
"A little disagreement? Well, if that's what you think, you still have a lot to learn about relationships and being in one with a woman. Jill just left."
I jumped out of bed and started toward the bedroom door. "She left? What the hell are you talking about? We came in my car."
My mother grabbed my arm. "Dennis, she came down and asked your father to drive her home. She said she could just come back or get her stuff from you, but she couldn't be here right now. She was very adamant. What the hell just happened?"
I stared at my mother. Did I dare tell her? What would she think? How could I ever bring Jill back again? Hell, did I even want to? I wasn't sure I could live with it myself, much less how my mother would handle it. I pulled my arm free and headed downstairs. My brother was still there watching TV. "How long ago did she leave?"