Fleur sat in her apartment and rummaged around, trying to find something to read or find something to do. She wasn't successful in those attempts and she was on the verge of becoming bored out of her mind. Fleur wasn't the type of girl who handled boredom well because it was a rarity in her life. The entirety of her life up until now had been a series of challenges and she had risen to them all. Fleur liked excitement, it was one of the defining factors of her personality.
Rarely did Fleur have anything to complain about. After a few months of working at Club Paradisio, all was going well. She had regular customers who stopped in frequently to see her. When she was working, she drew a crowd and men often brought her flowers and gifts. Fleur made it clear from the outset she couldn't be bought - or rented - and those that didn't understand were swiftly turfed. Luckily for her, Anton ran an establishment that rarely attracted men like that. Most of her admirers were gentlemen and not all of them were men.
"Don't neglect your female fan base, Fleur," Mary had told her last weekend. They had just finished an exhaustive four hour sexual marathon. "Women can be very loyal and in the 21st century, they've got almost as much money to spend. Play it up, look how well our girl-girl shows are doing."
That was a sure thing, they were the biggest draw at the club. Mary worked there a few weeks a month and whenever she and Fleur appeared together, both women made out like bandits. They were doing so well together that Anton had raised Fleur's rate for the sessions where she worked with Mary. They were now on an equal footing and the extra pay no longer had to come out of Mary's pocket. There was a magic when Fleur and Mary worked together, a slow heat that rose to a volcanic fury. Fleur now did girl-girl sets with other dancers, but they were never quite as hot as her shower shows with Mary. She knew that there was something between them, something unspoken yet all-too real.
Fleur was living a much happier existence than she would ever have believed possible. She had a nice apartment, a semi-regular boyfriend who didn't want to tie her down and she was earning nice money. She had wisely paid most of her bills in advance and was ahead on her rent. She had put some money in the bank and sent some money to her sister back home. She also had joined a gym and bought herself nice clothes and lingerie, knowing well that her look was what earned her money.
Yes, most days Fleur DeLisle was a very happy young lady.
THIS was not most days.
Anton had kept a careful eye on his contract girl and he decided to have a talk with her. "Fleur, no one is happier than I am that you're devoted to your career. There's no denying you're a big earner, both for yourself and for us. But when was the last time you took a day off?
"I take every Sunday off," Fleur answered.
"That's not enough Fleur and I think you know that," Anton told her. "You probably spend that day shopping and running errands. You don't get out of here until 1 AM. You need to take some time off every so often. You won't be able to become a big star if you're collapsing on stage. I'm insisting you take the next few days off, you can come back for your Saturday shows."
Fleur sighed, but decided to make the best of it. She didn't need to work this week and maybe a bit of time off would be a good thing. She was all prepared to return to work Saturday, but fate had other plans. Steve called her late on Friday night and told her that the club's air conditioning had gone on the fritz. Anton had called someone in to fix it, but they wouldn't be there until early Monday morning. As it was a hot and muggy week, Anton and Dyan had made decision to close and send the girls home with their pay.
Fleur was getting bored sitting around and now she would have 2 more days of it? She was going stir crazy when life gave her a kick. Late Saturday night, her own air conditioner broke down. She opened every window and then she called Shelby. Her landlady assured her that she would get it fixed, but that it would take a few hours. Fleur thought about going somewhere to get out of the heat in her apartment. She might have gone to a movie, but she had seen the few she was interested in and didn't want to walk there in the stifling heat. She thought about calling Steve and then remembered he was going away later with some friends. Fleur thought maybe she would go out and get some ice cream when there was a knock on the door.
"My God, it's like an oven in here," Shelby said as she entered Fleur's apartment. "I forgot just how hot these apartments can be if the air conditioning doesn't work. That's why I went for a top of the line machine, they're more reliable."
"You rented me this apartment with the air conditioner already installed," Fleur said drily.
"So I did, so I did," Shelby chuckled. She grabbed Fleur's hand and yanked her out of the apartment, locking the door behind her with the master key. "Come on kid, your salvation is at hand. I've got some lovely fresh fruit, a nice bottle of wine and my apartment is so cool, you'd swear that you'd be seeing penguins," she said as she took Fleur upstairs to her luxurious apartment. Fleur was always happy to visit her landlady's place because it was a testimony to Shelby's own hard work and ingenuity. Someday, Fleur wanted a place very much like this.
"You're right, this is positively frigid and it feels wonderful," Fleur breathed as they entered the apartment. Her nipples stiffened under her little tank top. She had only been wearing the lightest layer of clothes to ward off the heat, a top and shorts with nothing else. As always, Shelby looked like a million bucks in a pretty blouse, knee-length skirt and heels. She motioned for Fleur to sit down on the couch while she went to get them some wine.
"I came to see you dance the other day," Shelby said as she poured the wine.
"You came to a strip club?" Fleur said in astonishment, accepting the glass of wine as it was handed to her.
"Don't be so surprised, I've been in strip clubs before," Shelby told her. "When I worked in Las Vegas as a showgirl, a few of the girls had been strippers before they moved on to more legitimate work. Sometimes they'd suggest we go and watch other dancers, see how they moved. It was fun. Anyway, I came to one of your shows last week and I was impressed," she said Fleur.
