Lunch Special

(Author's Note: My name is Jessica Tang Von Harper and I hope you enjoy my entry into the 2017 Nude Day story contest)

*

Archie walked into Jimmy's Steakhouse just before noon and discovered he was the only lunch customer. All of the tables were empty. Liane stood at the door of the kitchen, and waved to him when she saw him.

"Hey, Arch!" she called out. "How's your day?"

"Good, Liane." He went to his usual booth and sat down. He was a thin man in his late thirties, with just the slightest dusting of gray starting to appear in his dark hair. Liane didn't know exactly what he did for a living, but she knew it had something to do with computers. He was her favorite regular.

She picked up the water pitcher and a clean glass and strolled over to his table. "How's your day going?" he asked.

"Oh... you know." She set the glass in front of him and poured him a glass of water.

"Quiet, eh?" He surveyed the empty restaurant.

"Last day," she said. "Everyone's given us up for closed already."

"It's still early. You'll get more in later."

She laughed. "Maybe. Doesn't really matter at this point, does it?"

"Guess not." Archie patted the wood table. "Last day! What a shame. How long is it going to be closed?"

"A month. Jimmy wants to reopen it as a strip club the first week of May. He thinks he can change it around in a month."

"But today is your last day?"

Liane nodded. "After today, I'm unemployed."

"Sorry about that. Jimmy isn't going to give you a job at the strip club?"

Liane smiled thinly. "He's made an offer. But it's not for me." She shrugged. "There are other restaurants. I'll find someplace else to be a waitress."

"I hope you'll let me know where you end up. I'm going to need a new place to eat lunch."

She nodded. "Sure! I'll let you know."

Archie looked wistfully at the interior of the restaurant. The walls and ceiling were constructed from polished dark wood, as were the tables and booths. The wood seemed to drink in the light, making the restaurant appear dim despite the open windows. The floor was covered by a thin green carpet that had become faded and discolored over the years by spills and stains. "It's hard to imagine this place as a strip club. I think Jimmy's going to have to change it around quite a bit."

"He's got plans made up," Liane said. "I've seen them a few times." She looked around as well, trying to imagine the interior that she'd always thought of as old-fashioned and classy suddenly transformed into the flashing lights and music of a strip club. "Let's see..." She pointed. "The bar will be in the same place, of course. Over there, on that side of the room, that's where the stage will be. That little area to the right, Jimmy's going to put up a wall to close it off, and that's where the private dance rooms will be."

"Private dance rooms?"

"Yeah. You know... for lap dances and stuff." She pointed towards the kitchen. "The storage rooms off the kitchen, Jimmy's making those into the dressing rooms for the girls. They'll have a door that leads right out onto the stage. He'll still need a kitchen, but it'll be a lot smaller." She turned back to Archie, and her eyes fell on a slant of sunlight crossing the table from outside. In a soft voice, almost as if she was talking to herself, she remarked, "The windows will be boarded over."

"No windows?"

"Strip clubs can't have windows." Liane shook her head. It didn't matter to her. She'd be long gone. "Do you need a menu? Or you already know what you want?"

"Maybe I should look at a menu today. It's my last chance to order something and there's so many items on the menu I've never tried. Maybe I should get something new."

"It's up to you," Liane said. "But if you want my advice, I think you should get one of your favorites. Get a Reuben. You know Jimmy can cook one of those."

Archie chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Liane walked over to the hostess station and plucked up a menu. She returned and handed it to Archie. "It's up to you. I'll give you a minute, okay? Anything to drink?"

"Now for that one, I'm definitely going to go with my usual!"

Liane grinned. "One whiskey sour, coming right up." She walked to the door to the kitchen and pushed it open.

Jimmy was sitting in the kitchen, watching the Red Sox play on the small television. He was a generally thin man except for a slight gut that hung over his belt when he sat down. He had short curly hair and the shadow of an emerging beard on his chin and neck. He glanced at Liane as she entered.

"Looks like you're going to actually have to work today, Jimmy," she said. "We have a customer."

"We do?" He sounded surprised. He thought for a moment before guessing, "Archie?"

"Mm-hmm. He ordered his whiskey sour."

"And a Reuben?"

"He hasn't decided what he wants for lunch yet." Liane leaned against the wood counter, watching Archie hunt for the whiskey. The bar had already been packed up, the alcohol stored in boxes. "You know, it'd be easier if you had labelled those boxes with what's in them."

"I know. I haven't got around to it yet." He found the bottle he wanted and pulled it out. He grinned at Liane, showing the bottle to her

Liane looked suitably impressed. "The pricy stuff?"

"Archie's been a good customer. I'm going to mix him the best whiskey sour he's ever had." Archie shrugged. "Maybe he'll still be one of my regulars when it reopens."

"Maybe. Who knows. He'll still need to get lunch somewhere, and I don't think your strip club is going to have much of a menu."

"We'll have a weekday lunch buffet," Jimmy said. "Pizza poppers, taquitos, mini quesadillas. That kind of stuff."

Liane smiled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Like I said, not much of a menu."

Jimmy glanced down at the unlabelled boxes. "You want to come in tomorrow? Help me organize things? Another day of pay?"

She shook her head. "Nah, Jimmy. I want to rest this weekend so I can start the job search on Monday."

"You're looking for another waitress gig?"

"Yeah. I need to go place to place getting applications, trying to find out who's hiring. I know next week is going to be lots of driving and lots of walking so I just want to kick back this weekend, maybe binge watch something on Netflix."

"Well, you know... you could always take me up on my offer." Jimmy peeked at her out of the corner of his eye.

Liane sighed. "Come on, Jimmy. Can you really see me as a stripper?"

"Why not? You're good with customers and you've got a dynamite body. And I told you, I'd only ask you to strip until we hired enough girls. Then you're management. One of the bosses. I need your help to run the place, and I know you'd be good at it."

"Strippers gotta know how to dance. I've never taken a dance class in my life."

"You don't gotta know how to dance! Just move from side to side, wiggle your ass, that's all." Jimmy demonstrated with an awkward shimmy which made Liane laugh. "The guys watching, they don't care if you can dance or not! It's not the fucking ballet! They're just there to have a good time, see some pretty girls."

"Yeah, right," Liane said. "Pretty girls. That's where I'm out. I look like a waitress."

"You're kidding me, right? You're freaking gorgeous, Liane! You'd be my top draw. Guys would come in just to see you. Hell, they do now."

Liane laughed. "I don't think so. But thanks."

Jimmy finished mixing the drink and pushed it across the counter towards her. "Who's out there? Just Archie?"

"I think so. Unless someone else has come in since I've been back here."

Jimmy nodded. "Let's try an experiment." He reached for the collar of her shirt. Liane looked down, confused, and saw that his fingers were deftly undoing her buttons.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously as he worked his way down the front of her shirt. "What experiment?"

Having finished with her buttons, Jimmy pulled her shirt open. Liane wore a black bra underneath. She liked how the dark color would sometimes show through the thin fabric of her white shirt. She had her shirt tucked into her skirt, and Jimmy carefully pulled it free. "I want you to give it a try," he said. "See what it feels like."

"Give what a try?"

"Turn around," Jimmy ordered, and Liane turned so that her back was towards him. Jimmy pulled her shirt off her shoulders and down her arms. "When you bring Archie his drink," Jimmy said. "I want you to try doing it without any clothes on."

"Without any clothes on?" Liane was shocked. "What in the world are you talking about, Jimmy? You can't mean that you want me to go out there naked?"

"Sure, why not? You said it's just Archie out there, right? He's the only one in the room. And isn't he your buddy?"

"He's going to think I've lost my mind if he sees me coming out there without any clothes on!"

"No, he won't." Jimmy's voice was calm and reassuring. "He'll think that his dreams are coming true, is what he'll think. That man's been carrying a torch for you for months."

"Oh, that's not true!"

"It's not true? He's been coming here every day for lunch for close to a year. Trust me, I'm not THAT good a cook." Jimmy shook his head while he undid the clasp at the back of Liane's bra. "He always sits in your section, and if you're not there, he asks about you. Has he asked where you're going to work after this?"

"I told him I don't know where I'll be working..."

"Aha!" Jimmy nodded triumphantly. "So he did ask!"

"That doesn't mean anything!" Liane realized that her bra was now gone, swiped by Jimmy, and now he was in the process of unzipping her skirt. He already had her half naked, and now he was working on the other half. Liane held her arm over her breasts. "It doesn't matter anyway! So what if he does come here to see me? That doesn't mean I want him to see me naked!"

"Just explain to him what you're doing," Jimmy said. "Tell him you're trying to decide if you want to accept my offer to work at the strip club. Archie will have no problem with it, I promise you." Jimmy pushed her skirt over her hips until it slid down her legs to the floor.

Liane turned, still holding her arm over her breasts. She had a white apron tied around her waist, which helped to hide the fact that she had nothing else on below the waist except for her lacy black panties and a pair of black kitten heels. "I'm telling you, Jimmy!" She met his eyes, trying to convey how serious she was. "I'm really not the type to take a job as a stripper for your new club! I'm really not!"

Jimmy just shook his head. "I'm not going to believe you until you've at least given this a try." He held out his hand. "Panties."

"Jimmy..."

"Panties."

Liane bit her lip. She reached down and reluctantly pushed her panties down her legs. She scooped them off the floor and placed them in Jimmy's waiting hand.

"Great," he said. "Now I think you have a customer waiting for his drink?" Jimmy pointed to the door.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this," Liane said. She dropped her arm away from her breasts and picked up Archie's whiskey sour. When she looked at Jimmy, he was gazing at her chest and nodding in appreciation.

"This is what I'm talking about!" he said. "Women pay thousands of dollars trying to get tits like those. And they still can't get 'em. Perky as the sunshine and soft as a daydream."

"You're gonna make me blush," Liane said, and she wondered if she wasn't already blushing.

"It's the truth," he said. "You're a natural ten, Liane."

"Oh, please." Liane stood for a moment in front of the door, gathering her nerve. She felt like she was about to dive into a cold swimming pool. What would Archie think when he saw her? Liane could feel herself shaking. How could she possibly be a stripper when she felt such anxiety at the thought of being naked in front of someone?

On three, she told herself. One. Two. Three. She pushed open the door and stepped through.

A quick survey of the room showed that, thankfully, Archie was still the only one there. She watched him with trepidation; he was looking out the window, and it took a second before he glanced her way. His eyes instantly opened wide and his head went back on his neck as if he'd just received a jolt. He gaped at her.

That was the hardest moment. Liane felt like fleeing back into the kitchen. She felt so exposed, so vulnerable. She shifted her hips side to side, fighting the urge to press her arms over her breasts. Instead she forced herself to smile and took a step towards him. Step by step, she approached his table, the ice in his whiskey sour tinkling against the glass.

"Wow," Archie said.

She could see his eyes pointed at her breasts. The only thing she could think to do was to pretend like nothing was amiss. Silly under the circumstances, but she walked up and set the glass in front of him. "One whiskey sour!" she said. "Have you decided what else you want, or do you need more time?"

"I might need more time..." he croaked. "My god, Liane... what are you doing?"

Now she knew she was blushing. She could feel the heat on her cheeks. Waving at her naked top half, she said, "Jimmy asked if I would ever want a job stripping at his new club. I've never been a stripper... and I wasn't sure how I would feel being naked in front of a customer, you know? So I'm giving it a try." Timidly, she asked, "Is it okay, if you're the customer I try this out on?"

"Uh... yeah," Archie whispered. "Yeah, it's okay. I mean... it's fine." Archie looked down at her white apron, which tied around her waist and came down to her knees. It had a pocket where her notepad usually went and another pocket for straws. "So you don't have anything on under that apron?"

Liane giggled nervously. "Nope." Feeling she had to prove it to him, she quickly flipped the front of the apron to the side, letting him have a glimpse of the top of her long legs and her small strip of pubic hair. After giving him a second to confirm that, indeed, she wore nothing under the apron, she dropped the white fabric back into place.

"Wow..." Archie stared at the apron, as if hoping she would pull it away again, or maybe just thinking about what he had just seen.

"So... do you know what you want?" Liane asked.

Archie chuckled. "You know... I've heard you ask that a hundred times, but it has a little different tone when you're standing there with no clothes on."

"Oh gosh!" Liane looked to the side, embarrassed. "You're so right. I didn't think of that."

"I mean... I know what you meant, it's just..."

She waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She giggled. Striking a pose with her hip jutting to the side and adopting an overly serious expression, she gestured towards her breasts. "Are you interested in learning more about our specials?" she asked archly.

Archie laughed. "Wow! That's pretty good! I'm sold. I don't need to hear them, just give me one of each."

Liane giggled. She adopted another pose, this time standing with her legs together and her hands behind her back. "Hello, sir," she chirped innocently. "Would you like coffee, tea... or me?"

"Definitely you!" Archie grinned. "Damn, Liane. Maybe you should take that strip club job after all. You're a natural. You seem very comfortable like that."

"No..." Liane dropped her eyes demurely. "I'm just playing around."

Archie nodded towards her apron. "Will you do a little spin?"

"Why?"

"I want to see what you look like from behind."

Liane did as he asked, slowly spinning in place. When her back was to him, she peeked down over her shoulder, trying to see herself. "The apron doesn't cover me back there, does it?"

"No," he said. "You're pretty much bare-assed. You need a bigger apron."

She turned back around to face him. "I'll just walk backwards so you can't see."

"No, don't do that," he said. "You have a great ass. I don't mind getting a glimpse of it when you're walking away."

"Oh, please." Liane giggled but she felt flattered. "So have you figured out what you want?" When Archie started laughing again, Liane rolled her eyes and slapped him on the shoulder. "Oh, quiet! You know what I mean! What am I supposed to say? Anything I say is going to sound dirty!"

"No, no," Archie said. "I'm sorry. Go ahead, ask your question. I won't laugh."

"Okay," Liane said. "Tell me what you want."

Archie grinned slyly. "I want you to lift that apron again."

"Oh gosh!" She slapped him on the shoulder again. "I mean, what's your fricking lunch order?" But then she smiled at him playfully and reached down to slowly pull the apron up past her waist. This time, she held the apron in place, patiently letting him take a long look at her exposed pussy.

The gaze he aimed between her legs was definitely interested, and it occurred to her that she was teasing him more than a little. Besides that, she couldn't deny that her body was responding to her act of salacious exposure, and a sensation of tingling excitement grew inside her. The thought snuck into her mind that he might casually reach down and run his finger across the outside of her pussy, and the excitement within her abruptly surged like a campfire doused in kerosene. She quickly let the apron drop, hoping that he wouldn't notice the increase in her agitation.

"So, have you decided?" she asked quickly. "I mean, for lunch?" Her thighs rubbed together under the apron, and she could feel wetness between them. Time to retreat back into the kitchen and get her clothes back on. She wished she had her note pad, just so she could have a prop that would keep her hands occupied.

"Yeah," Archie said. "I'll go with a Reuben after all."

Liane smiled weakly. "There you go. I'll go get Jimmy cooking."

"Are you still going to be doing your stripper try-out when you come back?" Archie tried to keep his voice neutral, as if he was good either way, but Liane had no doubt which answer he hoped for. It reminded her that he was going to be staring at her naked ass when she walked away.

"We'll see," she replied, although she really had no intention of returning without her clothes on. She had obliged Jimmy and experimented with being naked in front of a customer, and now she could tell Jimmy an emphatic NO, she would NOT be accepting his job to work at the strip club. Clearly, she didn't have the mindset of a stripper; she felt way too self-conscious.

She lingered a moment longer. "You haven't tried your drink?"

Archie chuckled. "Too distracted. I forgot I even had a drink."

"You should try it," she said. "Jimmy made it special for you. He used our most expensive bottle."

"Really?" Archie picked up his drink and took a sip. He nodded in appreciation. "Wow. That's really good."

"Our way of saying thanks for being such a good customer," Liane said cheerfully.

Archie chuckled again. "It's been my pleasure. This place has been great."

Liane considered how little she was wearing, and reflected that her nudity was another way they were thanking Archie for being one of their best customers. She didn't think she would have consented to being nude in front of any other customer but him. He had always been nice to her; always available for a chat, or to listen to her sympathetically if she was having a bad day.

On impulse, she started to untie her apron strings. "What are you up to now?" Archie asked, but she didn't bother answering. She pulled the strings from where they looped around her waist and tugged the apron free from her body, removing the last thing covering her. Now he had an unobstructed view of her pussy, and she let him have a long look while she took her time folding the apron. She set the apron on the table behind her.

Standing completely naked in front of him, with her arms behind her back, Liane grinned. "Like I said. Thanks for being such a good customer." She gave him a couple more seconds to admire her body, then she turned and darted back towards the kitchen door.