Call

...Once again it's another typical night in Las Vegas. The sky is covered with the lights from the hotels and casinos and again our "protagonist" finds himself walking into his favorite establishment off the strip. He seems to always love the look and smile he gets from the cabbies when he tells them where he is headed. Yeah, that's right it's another night in Vegas and another stop at his favorite strip club. He has no hang ups about it. It is what it is. Some folks spend all of their money gambling. Others spend it on food and make no mistake there is great food to be had here. But our friend enjoys spending his money on...well on women who are all too eager to take their clothes off for him and even talk his ear off. Now it's the latter that sometimes perplexes him. In recent times the ladies at this particular establishment enjoy spending time with our hero. In fact they enjoy it so much they seem to tell him everything! They relate stories about their love lives, marriages, divorces, their hopes and dreams. They inevitably tell him their real names ("Sparkle eh? Sounds like a birth name to me!") "At times I feel more like a therapist than a customer. I have always been told I am nice and I am a good listener. Does that mean I have to be those things in here also?" He knows for a fact that he is indeed a nice guy and that to be anything else would be a lie so he gladly engages in conversation with the ladies of the evening on a whole host of issues. In the span of a few hours he has given one woman advice on what type of school to send her children to. For another it is a custody case and visitation rights to her child that has her occupied while she sits in his lap in her g-string ("Thank God my buddy Tim is a lawyer...I would hate to give faulty legal advice".) In between advice giving and ear bending a dance does ensue but for much of the evening our participant sips his beer, lends his lap as a surrogate chair and listens and exchanges witty banter with the employees. By midnight he agrees it is time to get a bit more aggressive. He had never been to the VIP room at the strip club. He had heard stories of what transpires behind these closed doors and decided tonight was the night he was going back there come hell or high water. At exactly 12:45 he had met with and talked with the woman he wanted to be with in the privacy of the VIP Room.

After some talk about vacations to Hawaii, her kids, her belief in God and the differences in dancing for men of various ethnicities plans were made to meet in the VIP room. "Ok this is where the talking stops and the lust begins", our character thought. "Now it's fantasy time!" As they made their way back to the VIP room he could feel the sweat on his hand and on his brow. "Wow, you are really sweating and that is so cute" Amanda coyly said. "Why am I suddenly nervous" he thought. "This is what we have been waiting for. There is no need to be nervous". Truth be told, he was indeed anxious and it showed as he fumbled to find his wallet in order to pay for the experience he was about to embark upon. He quickly sized up the older woman he met at the door as the "den mother" of the private back room. She is the woman who makes sure the girls are ok and when they have a problem they go to her. "Damn, I should get about half of what you make when I am here!! I am taking some of your workload when I get here and I deserve some compensation". Thankfully he had not been drinking too much and kept those thoughts in his head where they belonged. He paid the "den mother" the going rate for getting a chance to hang out with his "date" in the special lounge. He could not help but notice how much quieter the lounge was and how much cozier it was. "This is actually a nice place" he said to his new found lover. They sat and had their overly priced drinks. "You get three songs with me...anything special you want to do?" He thought for a minute still sweating and then without warning he let out a simple phrase/request. "So, can I kiss you? Can we make out?" She simply smiled. She smiled the type of smile that usually precedes the phrase "that's so cute". He smiled thinking to himself that might be the most ridiculous thing to be said in this part of the club. "Yes" she said, "You can kiss me." She said they had three songs but there was no music playing. She told our nervous fan of the striptease there was a jukebox in the lounge that was free and you could pick out the songs. In his nervousness he went to the jukebox and picked possibly the silliest music he could come up with. In his mind for whatever reason, the music of Hall and Oates would be the chosen music for this contrived, paid for date. "Damn it, these guys were underrated, they were a decent R&B duo!"

As the schmaltzy sounds of the 80's duo filled the room (not to worry he stuck to the ballads) the date began with a kiss. As the "couple" embraced he started to notice that Amanda seemed to be a bit sad. He of course blamed himself. "Sorry about the music, it was the only thing I could think of." She wiped a tear from her eye and told him this had nothing to do with the music. She proceeded to explain that she had just fully realized what she was doing, that being paid to let men look at her and touch her had just become something she did not want to do anymore. She talked about her children, her failed marriage. She talked of wanting to do more with her life. At this point our friend knew his date was technically over. He did indeed have one voice in his head telling him he wished she would just be quiet about her life. "If she didn't like it, why the hell would she do it?" "Why the hell are you here??!!" That voice was drowned out by the other voice in his head. It was the voice that told him to listen. It was the voice that told him she just wants someone to listen to her. It was the voice that said for better or for worse you are a nice guy. Just live with it. As she talked of her wanting a different lifestyle he could tell she was part drunk, part sad, embarrassed and dejected. When she finally calmed down he just simply asked her, "If you just want to sit here that's fine. I really like the lounge and you seem to be a bit preoccupied." She looked up at him, clearly a mix of alcohol and tears and kissed him. It was a real kiss. It was a kiss that said thank you for actually giving a damn or at the very least for pretending to give a damn. After the kiss she asked if she could just be held and she even said if he wanted some of his money back she would understand. He shook is his head no and for the last two songs he just held her. As the tune "One on One" played in the background he held her and suddenly realized this is what he was searching for. He was looking for a moment inspired by feelings. He wanted a moment inspired by real emotion. "Hey I am no fool and I am not looking for love in a strip joint" he thought to himself. But what he did realize is that this faux moment of sincerity was the type of moment he longed for, not with someone who he needed to pay, but with someone he had a living breathing connection with. This is what was missing and this facsimile showed him what he needed. That night he learned he had a lot in common with his stripper friend. He learned they were both searchers and possibly doing their searching in the wrong place.

As the last song played it became evident that his "date" was ready for a rest. They said their goodbyes and our protagonist made it to the door. As he was about to walk out Amanda apologized. She said she was sorry but he told her there was no need. As he made his way to the door he looked at his watch and could not believe it was 3:00am!! "Jesus, time flies when you are in the VIP lounge!" Before opening the door the "den mother" had a parting word with him. "You are such a nice young man...such a lovely face...don't ever change." "Hmm...the nice thing again...even in the "lounge, I get the nice tag...I guess it could be worse". As he walked through the door to the main floor he made it outside of the club and decided to walk back to his hotel. As he moved down the sidewalk he tried to make sense of everything that happened. He tried to figure out what if anything had been accomplished on this interesting night. Upon making his way a few blocks from his hotel he finally looked up and said out loud, "Man, Hall and Oates aren't so bad!!!" He turned and noticed a pan handler next to him by the street light. The man looked puzzled and then exclaimed, "I agree, they were two cool dudes back in the day." He turned and smiled and as he crossed the street he realized there was a phone call he had to make. He scrolled down the contact list of his cell phone and rehearsed the words he wanted to say...