Trip To Self

"You happy?" Her dad had to be in a tree stand, why else would there be a bird chirping super loud in his ear?

"I don't know. I am, but the whole thing with Martin is in the back of my mind."

"What, that he does not want you out there?"

"He mentioned his ex girlfriend the other day."

"Fuck him. If he loves you, he'll wait. If you love him, you'll come back to him."

"That's the thing, I'm not sure if I do or not."

"Honey, I don't know what to tell you. I've lived my life by two rules, you know that. I make your mother happy, and I laugh with my kids. If it does not support those two goals, it ain't happening."

She sighed. She knew that. Which was why she had five siblings. Her parents were truly free spirits. Being four out of six was not necessarily an enviable position, being neither in the upper half, older, nor being the baby. Damn it!

"Dad, I need help here."

"Honey! Hangout! Have some fun. Shit, dance on a pole! Once you are married, things are different. Look before you leap, look before you leap."

"Thanks." She hung up, shaking her head.

There was stirring in the other bed, and she watched as he rolled out of the rack, and into the bathroom. He was naked under the sheets, and she admired his form from behind. He did not close the door, the fan in the bathroom was broke, so she got to watch him brush his teeth, and climb into the shower.

Walking over to her backpack, she pulled out her brush, and sat back down on the bed. She had already showered before calling home, trying to decide what she would do next. Go home? Keep going out here? Confused was not the word for it.

Movement caught her eye, and she looked back into the bathroom. Steam was slowly obscuring her vision, but even through the opaque shower curtain, it was clear what was going on in there. Fascinated, she watched him pump himself, his hand clasped around the large shaft. Her breath caught as his body seemed to push forward, and he ejaculated into the drain. He shook a couple of times, then she watched as he washed himself, and stepped out, toweling off. His cock hung semi-rigid between his legs, large balls swaying back and forth.

Tearing her eyes away, she packed her bag, before lying back down on the bed.

"Sorry about last night." His voice was back to its deep self, not the strained pitch it acquired when he was upset or pissed.

"I shouldn't have asked. I got your food in the fridge."

"Thanks." She heard the door open, close, and then the Styrofoam, before dug in. "It is not that I don't want you. But I like what we have going. I enjoy the company. And I don't want it to end."

"How long have you been wandering America?"

"Two months."

"Alone?"

"Until you came along."

They returned to their silence, interrupted by the noises of him moving food around and eating. He was a noisy eater, she had noticed. Rolling over, she looked at him, still dressed in his towel, hair wet, face enjoying a few moments of hairlessness.

"I'm engaged to be married."

"I figured as much."

"I'm not sure if it was the right thing."

"That why you are out here?"

"Well, partially. I graduated college in December. Took three months off, worked some jobs, trying to decide what to do next. Martin and I are from the same town, dated all through college. He is ready to settle down. So he asked. I said yes. Why not? He's a nice guy, I guess I love him, so whatever. But I've always wanted to just wander through the southwest, just go out and see things. So I told him that I had to go first. Told him to do the same thing. He looked at me like I was crazy."

She laughed, remembering the conversation. "Well, I'm out here, and he said he would wait. But I think his patience is wearing thin."

"You still want to get married?"

"I don't know."

"I was married. Didn't like it." He dumped the container in the trash, stretched, and then got dressed. "New Orleans next?"

"You read my mind."

It was raining when they got to the big easy, slowing down their trip some. Unlike most other places, he had called ahead, and pulled into the garage of the Omni knowing fully well that they had a room. She dashed into the bathroom to dry off, and he was waiting for her when she came out.

They ascended upwards in the elevator in silence, and he opened the door for her, letting her in first.

"Thank you, young man."

"I'm older then I look."

"How old are you?"

"What's with all the questions lately?" But there was no malice in his words, as he dropped his bag on the bed, and stepped into the bathroom. She heard him washing his hands, and then he came back out.

"I've actually been here before, I know a great place to eat down the road."

"Trying to drag me back into the rain?"

"Yeah, put on a white t-shirt."

She laughed, but then she did it. Her bra was the matching white color, and he looked at her, slowly nodding.

"I'm not going to do it."

"Why not?"

"You are going to marry somebody else. It would be wrong."

She nodded slowly. "I saw you masturbate in the shower earlier."

"I told you I did."

"What do you think when you do it?"

"You know what I'm thinking. You look innocent, but I bet you were a party girl in college."

She laughed, wondering how he had read her mind. He had seen her two tattoos, the one a small heart right above her butt, the other her sorority letters on her right hip, and asked about them when they had first started traveling together. No surprising him there.

"A girl can try."

"Yes, you can. And maybe we should work out a signal, in case one of us meets somebody, and needs the room to themselves."

"I won't bring anybody else home."

"Well, then we don't need a signal."

She changed, insisting in dressing up if he was taking her to something better then their usual fast food or highway grease fare, and so they ended up walking through the rain under his jacket, him holding her body close, trying to shield her from the falling water. They passed several clubs, turned the corner, and he pushed her inside.

The light was dim, and it took her a second to adjust her eyes, as he pushed past her to the greeter. Speaking in a low voice, he nodded for her to follow, walking through the main dining room, up a set of stairs, and to an unmarked door. Pushing it open, he stepped into a smaller, much more intimate, and much nicer looking room.

Pulling out her chair, he indicated for her to sit, and she did. "You always act like this in places you've been before?"

"Sometimes." A waiter was with them shortly, and he ordered for both of them, another new experience.

"You are in full on date mode, aren't you?"

"I know what's good here."

"Tell yourself what you must."

Dinner was served, and they both relaxed, the bottles of beer lining up on the table probably helping. They were on desert when a large man with a full beard approached the table. Chris rose, and the two embraced, the other man pulling up a chair to sit down.

"I see you are traveling in style these days."

"Another rainy night, this one in Phoenix." Chris introduced Alexis and the man named Robert. "We were in the Army together."

"Barely." They both laughed at that, even though she did not get it.

"What did you guys do in the army?"

"Not a whole lot." They both laughed again, and she let it go.

The two of them talked of people she did not know, who had married, who had babies, who was still in, speaking of units and places she had never heard of. Military people might as well speak another language; to her it was all Greek, with the acronyms, the abbreviations, and the nicknames for everything.

Finally Robert had to go check on the rest of the restaurant, and Chris rose to leave, pulling her with him. "What we doing tonight?"

"I saw something on the way out here."

"What's that?"

"I'll show ya."

They walked back out, and headed a bit further up the street. The rain had stopped, and the French Quarter had returned to its normal self, New Orleans natural mugginess in full effect, the recent rain only adding to the humidity as throngs of people pushed this and that way.

They came to one of a million flashing neon signs, and she pointed to it. He raised a single eyebrow, but she smiled, and pulled him inside. Two massive bouncers sat inside the small anteroom, and one of them pointed to the sign on the wall indicating the cover charges. Chris wanted to protest the prices, but she was way ahead of him.

"I'm here for the amateur contest."

Non-pointer pulled out a clipboard, and handed her what looked like a release form. She pulled back behind Chris, reading the document to herself. Finally he heard pen scratch paper, and she handed it over.

"Ok. You guys can go in. They will call for all the contestants in about thirty minutes. Two drink minimum for those going in with contestants."

"No problem. You guys want anything?" Apparently his sense of humor was not appreciated, so he shrugged, and followed her in.

He had been inside a wide variety of strip clubs, all over the United States and the world. This one was probably the smallest, at least on ground level. Looking up, he counted at least three stories he could see. It was damn dark, hard to tell. Going for a very New Orleans, very Ann Rice kind of theme, he thought. Unlike other such skin joints, the light used on the stage was not pure white, but a soft kind of blue, with some flashes of red and green. He could see stages up above him, along with girls in four cages suspended from the ceiling. That was a new one. A large stage, and two smaller ones, along with a bar and a sitting area in the center of it all took up this floor. He could see stairs to his right leading to a door marked VIP, and then steps leading up to the other floors and their bars and stages.

Following her to the bar, he ordered two long island ice tea's, handed her one, then plopped himself onto the high barstool, pulling her between his legs.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I have always wanted to."

"You've always wanted to dance in a strip club?"

"Yes."

"You probably read Jenna's Jameson's biography, and thought it was a great story."

"I don't know about great, but interesting. My dad would go to a strip club once a week when I was growing up, him and all his buddies. He took me a couple of times. I am probably one of a few girls growing up back home whose father said being a stripper is a respectable profession. Whenever I was low on money in college, he would tell me to swing from a pole. But I never did."

He shook his head, taking a sip from his drink. "Ok. You know how to dance?"

"Come on, we've danced before."

"I'm talking about the pole."

"Why, you got pointers."

"I've dated a stripper in my time. And I climbed one at my bachelor party." Happier times, he reminded himself.

"Ok. What can you tell me?"

"Motion. See the girl on stage over there?" He pointed to the main stage. "She's focusing on one guy, trying to make money. That'll work for her, but you are trying to please everybody in the joint to win the pool. Use the entire stage, like a triangle."

"A triangle?"

"Yeah. One point is the pole. We'll get to that in a minute. The other two are forward on the stage. Move one, to two, to three, back to one."

"Ok."

He pulled her closer, turning her between his legs, and pointed up to another stage. "Like that one. See how she's moving around?" He waited for her to move, feeling her moving with the music. She had rhythm, which would help.

"Ok, next. The pole. I've seen you do pull ups, you got pretty strong arms, that gives you an advantage. Like the one over there, you need to get as high as possible. That gives you more pole to work with."

She smiled to herself. She might have an ace there. Nodding again, she listened to his other hints, pointers, and tips, then placed her drink in his hand when they called for all the competitors to come to the back of the bar. "I'll be back."

"I'll be watching."

"I hope so."

Chris placed both drinks on the bar, and leaned back in his seat to watch. The lights got a bit brighter for a second, as the DJ announced the amateur night contest, explaining how judging would take place after every round of three girls by volume of applause. He smiled to himself. He might have something there.

Apparently they had twelve girls competing, and they named each of them. Some competed under their own names, others had hastily adopted stripper names. Alexis stayed true to her name, and she was in round number three.

He watched the eight girls before her, judging how things might go for her. Each girl only got one song, roughly three minutes of performance time. The first set had two real contenders, and it was a hard choice which one to go for. In the end, the one that had the bigger tits won out. Or maybe it was the fact that she had taken her shirt off.

The next round was not as stacked with talent, and one girl barely took her clothes off. She was a good dancer thought, but it was a stripping contest. So she was out, leaving a weak stripper to advance. But this girl had no compulsion about taking it off and shaking what her mother gave her.

Finally it was her turn, and he watched as she mounted the stage. She walked straight to the pole as the music started, swaying her body and hips in the exaggerated motions he had told her about, then pulled herself to the top.

There was a lot they did not know about each other. One of the things he did not know about her was that she had ridden horses all her life, and that her legs had the strength to hold herself upright on the back of one for hours. So suddenly she flipped around, legs squeezing the pole, her shirt dropping to the ground below to rousing applause. Slowly one leg extended out, flipping her skirt over and displaying her white thong. His breath caught as she slowly slipped down, planting her hands on the floor, and flipping herself over. That was a practiced move.

Her body rolled to the music as she moved in the triangle he had told her about, toying with the entire stage. She did not climb back up the pole, but used it to lean against, her bra falling away as she did so, her breasts standing up to rousing applause.

She passed into the next round with ease, where she was paired against the girl from the last set, providing a bit more challenge then the two she had gone against earlier. But she passed again, displaying her ability to take of her clothes while sitting on the floor in a full split to a roaring crowd. Only her and the girl with big tits remained.

There was a short break, and she came out to see him, sliding between his legs again. He embraced her, not really sure why, and handed her a glass of water he had ordered, watching her gulp it down.

"I didn't know you could do all that."

"A lot you don't know." She left the double meaning out there, but he didn't bite.

"Go get 'em." He smiled at her, and she smiled back, then mounted the stage again.

She started by swinging around the pole this time, flashing everybody in the place, before she climbed back up. This time she stayed right side up, grabbing the pole and spreading her legs. It looked as if she was fucking the massive chrome shaft, sliding down it slowly in rhythmic motions. At the bottom she rolled backwards, and came up without her skirt, leading to wild cheering. He was not sure how she had pulled that off past her high-heeled boots.

Slowly she moved through the triangle, dropping first her shirt then her bra. Grabbing the pole again, she walked her hands down backwards, ending in a bridge, then pushed up into a handstand, and walked out, her naked spread legs sliding along the chrome again as she crawled across the floor towards the front row. He could see her eyes, could see how her mouth was hanging half open, inviting, her fingers motioning the men sitting close forward.

The song ended, and she pulled back, breaking the spell. The crowed erupted as she waved, picking up her clothes and the money that had been thrown on stage, smiling at everybody, disappearing behind the privacy barrier. She was back at his side two minutes later, as the DJ announced that all the competitors should come back to the main stage. He gave her thumbs up, letting her grab a sip of her drink before she strode back to her position.

They started with number three, and then had all the girls do a little walk around the stage before announcing the winner. He already knew it would be her, and when she started screaming and jumping up and down, he only smiled. Apparently the winner was paid in cash, and so she was back by his chair with a wad of bills.

"What did you think?"

"You are pretty good at that whole thing."

"Career opportunities." They both laughed, and she stuffed the money in the bra she was wearing again. "The guy that runs the place offered me a job when I got done with my last routine. Says strippers can make like a grand a night."

"I knew a couple making more then that."

"Really?"

"Depends on where you are doing it. You could do well in it out here."

She smiled, and then wrapped her arms around him, kissing him full on the lips. He pulled back slightly, but she moved with him, kissing him again.

"Thank you." Slowly she pulled back, the smile on her face full of happiness.

"For what?"

"Letting me do that."

"I didn't let you do it, you decided to do it."

Alexis smiled, and waved for another drink. "You are the first man I've ever been with that has not tried to control my life."

"You are not with me." He felt emotional talk coming on, and his stomach was tightening up.

"Yes, I am. Not in the way that we are both used to it, but we are running around together. This is a team effort." She smiled, and ordered him another drink. "I did it for you."

"I was afraid you would say that."

"And you encouraged it."

"I did not mean to, by no action or word of mine." He was not sure where she got the idea that he had been for this, and he needed to squash it. Fast.

"Chris…you are a strange, strange man. Very different from what you find back home. Maybe that is why you are so interesting."

"Don't get overtly attracted to what is different. In the long run you want shared interest and attitudes, not friction and opposition."

"You read that in a book?"

"Online." He finished his first drink, and picked up the second one she had ordered, sipping from it. "I'm not going to do it." He knew she was trying to trap him, trying to strip for him, entice him with her wonderful lips, with that incredible kiss, with her perfect body, with the alcohol. His defenses were crumbling, and his cock was rising. He did not know how long he could hold out.

"Why not?" Frustration played large in her voice now

"I told you why."

"I want it."

"You are old enough for you wants not to hurt you." He stopped as a man approached, leaning down and whispering in her ear. The smile on her face was smug and self satisfied, and he shook his head. Standing, he watched the guy back up a bit, the closeness to another man making him uncomfortable.

With his head Chris indicated the door, and after a second of hesitation, she got up and took his hand into hers. They walked back out into the slight sprinkle, and walked back to the hotel in silence. It was not until they were back in the room that she finally managed to look him in the eye.

"Why did you take me out of there?"

"You were about to do something stupid."

"How do you know?" And again she wondered how he read her mind.

"Good judge of people." He pulled open the hotel bar, and poured both of them a drink. "Alexis…you are such a beautiful, beautiful young woman. Why are you wandering around out here with me?"

"I guess I'm afraid."

"Afraid of going home and being stuck with a guy that does not excite you?"