Extra

13- Are You Serious?

The next night, I arrive at the party venue right on time wearing an outfit that consists of light pink and lacy black lingerie, a silk and wool jacket with puff sleeves, a pretty scalloped pink skirt, and black stilettoes. I make the click clack sounds as I walk down the hallway to get to the little break room area that was pointed out to me the day before.

The party technically starts in half an hour so the room is buzzing with the other employees of the party. There's a few people wearing fancy black button up shirts that are the bartenders and then another set of people wearing either a red button up shirt or a red dress and those are the servers. The entertainers are wearing a rainbow of colors and the "exotic dancers" are all wearing different forms of outfits or lingerie.

I don't have anything to do for preparation so really, I'm just waiting around for somebody to tell me that it's time to get to my platform. I don't know who that'll be or when that'll be so I just spend my time making sure that my makeup is perfect and I grab a bottle of water from a fridge that's along the wall of the room to keep myself hydrated. This will be a very long night.

"Hey, Iris," Hudson finds me in the small break room area and when I look up at him through my thick, fake eyelashes, I see him bounding toward me with a small grin on his face. I want to disappear.

"Hey," I respond back coolly. At least, I hope that I sound cool despite the fact that I hate this. I knew that I'd see him here but I hate this.

"You look..." He glances down at my outfit, stopping a little bit at the glimpse of black lace that can be seen of my bra between the flaps of my jacket. "A lot more conservative than I was imagining."

"You were imagining?" I raise one penciled eyebrow at him. I squeeze the water bottle a little more in my manicured hand but not to where it starts crinkling.

"Oh, yes," He admits without even an ounce of shame. I remember when we first met, he'd blush at everything and now, look at him. He just does not care. "This just isn't what I was expecting."

"Disappointed?" I ask him, letting a little red smirk play on my lips.

There it is. He blushes. Just a little bit but with the great lighting in this room, I can see his ears and cheeks start to redden. I don't know why, but that makes me smile a little bit. "A little," He says with a grin that is very beautiful but also looks a little bit embarrassed.

"Well, don't worry, sugar," I say in a twang-ish accent and then I tug on my jacket for emphasis. "Most of this comes off eventually."

"I guess I'm not one to be talking," He says, looking away from me and then back at me, straight into my eyes. "I have more clothes on than you do right now and I'm not even going to be taking any of mine off so you must be painfully disappointed."

"You think?" I wonder with a small laugh.

"Oh yeah," He grins and then nods, tugging on the bottom of his t-shirt. My heart stops. "I bet you're just dying to see what I have under here."

I pause and then hold one finger up to him, telling him to hold on a second as I lift up my phone and open the internet browser. It takes a few moments to load but eventually, I'm able to Google "Hudson Gray shirtless" and then I'm bombarded with a screen full of the boy in front of me without a shirt on. I might have to save a few of these. I hold the phone up to show Hudson and then I say, "Myth busted."

"That's cheating."

"That's using my resources," I defend. I put my phone back down without exiting out of the browser because maybe I might look at those pictures later because I have no shame. Okay, I have shame but nobody has to know about it. "I can play the mysterious card but when you have your own full-length Wiki page, I think you're done pulling that kind of stuff."