The curling waves broke the silence around them gently. Steve and his best friend Alex sat in canvas chairs on the waters edge, fishing rods in holders in front of them, a bottle of whisky between them and a bucket off to the side on the off chance they actually caught anything. Their boys trip camping and fishing on Lord Morrison Island was just a good chance for them to have a catch up and unwind, whether they actually caught any fish was a bonus.
The sun was setting behind them as they watched the sky change colour and sipped at their glasses. Alex sighed. "Reckon the girls are at the hotel yet?"
"I doubt it, Laurie had to drop Angus at her mum's and she wouldn't have done that until he had had his afternoon nap. They're probably on the way there now" replied Steve. For him with a six month old baby at home, this was time he could unwind without worrying about feeding schedules or dirty nappies, and he was glad Alex's girlfriend Danny had managed to convince Laurie to use her mother's
'always welcome to have him'
babysitting services, and have a long weekend herself in the city getting pampered and having fun. Both of them enjoyed parenthood enormously, but from time to time Steve worried Laurie might forget that she was allowed to be the woman she was before becoming a mother.
"Sure. Danny is excited, she reckons she's taking Laurie to a club she used to work at. They've got some cover band in tonight that she's excited about for some reason" said Alex.
Steve laughed. "I can tell you why, Laurie showed me the Facebook event: It's 'BoyToy BoyBand'."
Alex blinked. "What the
fuck
is
'BoyToy BoyBand'
?"
"Well, supposedly they are a group of mates that sing boyband hits from the 90's. They do the whole thing where one of them is the 'cool one', the 'broody one', the 'fun one'" explained Steve. "But as well as that, the lot of them work as male models in between singing gigs. Apparently two of them are strippers for bachelorette parties too if you believe it."
"Well they reckon it's important to be multi-skilled these days," laughed Alex. "Guess the girls will get their money's worth then."
Steve agreed.
"Even after all that dude flesh though, I think Danny might have plans to pull Laurie into a strip club before they go back to the room."
"Well...alright then, I guess," said Steve, refilling his drink. "I'd think a boyband stripper would be enough but I guess it's not exactly personal service."
"No no," grinned Alex, "I think she meant a female strip club."
Steve tilted the bottle away from his glass quickly. "I'm sorry?"
"You heard me. Danny said she wanted to see some tits while she's out in the city," said Alex. "Probably a private dance so she can get to feel some too."
"Why though?" asked Steve.
"Well, to be honest I think she sort of swings both ways. At least, she likes dick too much to commit to the home team, but she still likes to go around the bases with them? Something like that."
"And you're alright with that?" Steve asked curiously.
Alex shrugged. "You make allowances for the people you love. I know she loves me too and won't leave me for a stripper, so I don't think it's something I need to get jealous over."
Steve thought back to a situation between Laurie and a neighbour of theirs some months before, and had to concede Alex may have a point. "Yeah, I guess you do" he said. "Still, I don't know how successful she's going to be. I hope if it doesn't work out that Danny isn't too disappointed if the only tits she sees all night are Laurie's."
...
Laurie sped through the narrow city streets in her car, overtaking every slower car and accelerating through yellow lights, with Danny in the passenger's seat shuffling through songs on the playlist she made for the car ride in to pump them up for their night reliving their childhoods. With cocktails.
Laurie glanced nervously at Danny. "Sorry again about it taking so long at mum's" she said.
Danny shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I've got one too. I know how much they had suddenly have to tell you right as you're trying to get out the door."
Laurie smiled and nodded, but didn't quite meet Danny's eye. While she had told Danny that her mother suddenly felt it necessary to discuss in depth about her aunt's breast augmentation surgery holiday to Thailand, in actuality it had been that at the very moment she was saying goodbye was the same time Angus decided he was hungry. Laurie on one hand was relieved, as she was feeling pretty full and hadn't been looking forward to driving an hour into the city already engorged, but Danny had sat in the car for twenty minutes as she nursed Angus and expressed more of her milk into the sink, assuming Laurie was just going in and out. And now they were going to be late to check in at the hotel and dinner reservations if they didn't hurry. At the very least, Danny didn't seem bothered, which Laurie was grateful for.
"So are you excited?" asked Danny.
"Yeah, really excited! A night out without the baby, drinking and listening to hot guys sing songs I was into when I was eight? Honestly I'm really pumped for it" exclaimed Laurie.