I discreetly followed Gianna out to her Jeep after the game. I didn’t want her to see me, but I wanted to make sure she made it there alright and hassle-free. There were too many potential perverts on the school grounds.
As she passed by my car, she kicked the bumper, hopping around on one foot in obvious pain. She’d done more damage to her foot than my car. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
Maybe she was hurting as much as me, despite the indifferent face she put on for the world.
After driving past her house and seeing her bedroom light on a half hour later, I drove to my dad’s condo twenty minutes away.
Our bachelor pad.
Sparsely furnished, the place was depressing. I sat around moping over Gianna while he sat around moping over Julie. He’d said he didn’t understand how you could spend three years with a person and not even know her.
My dad received divorce papers from Julie the other day and his expression when he told me was crestfallen. There might have been tears in his eyes before he went up to his room to be alone. Julie was exorcising my dad out of their lives the same way she had with me.
*****
Saturday night, I called Hailey.
She answered with, “So, did the prom queen dump you?”
“It wasn’t like that, Hailey, and is that any way to greet an old friend?”
“I’ll take that as a yes. Told you she would realize she was too good for you and kick you to the curb.”
“If all you’re going to do is make me feel worse than I already do, then I’m hanging up. I thought as an old friend you’d want to console me while we get wasted, but I guess maybe I was wrong.”
“Hold up!” She hastily replied. I smiled, knowing Hailey could never resist anything involving alcohol. Sometimes I worried about the girl’s future.
“I’ll pick you up in an hour,” I informed her.
“Okay and, um, sorry about the breakup and whatever.”
“That’s more like it.” I hung up and took a quick shower. Thirty minutes later, I was saying goodbye to my dad then pulling my car out of the driveway.
Approximately thirty more minutes later I was parking in front of Hailey’s place, texting her to come down. “Where we going?” she asked as she closed the passenger door.
“I don’t know. I’ve been out of it for awhile. Where do you think?”
She got a sly look on her face. “Well, there’s this new club I went to last weekend that was pretty cool.”
Therefore, fifteen more minutes later found us entering the new club Hailey had recommended. After dancing to one song, we were at the bar working on the getting wasted part of the night.
I’d drunk three beers before Hailey nudged me and shouted over the music, “I have something to show you.”
The thought flashed through my head that she was trying to hook up with me again. Instead of grabbing my crotch or something like that, she swiveled around on the barstool she was seated on and pointed out to where one of the club’s dancers was up on a low platform.
It was my Gianna.
She was about to be spanked, not in a fun way but in a way that really hurt. I’d barely noticed the clubs three dancers when we’d entered. Had she been there before?
I looked over at Hailey in time to catch her victorious smile. She’d known. She already knew Gianna worked here, that I’d be shocked to see her tonight. What a great friend. Guess Hailey was still a little peeved about my rejection and wanted to hurt me back. This was why I mostly had guy friends. They rarely acted like bitches.
So, what did I do now? This reminded me of the first time I found Gianna at a club. That time had been innocent enough, just dancing with her crew. I’d had no claim on her back then, and blackmail was the only way to get her into my life as more than just a stepsister. I hadn’t even known what I was subconsciously doing at the time. The whole list had been an excuse to spend more time with her, get to know her better.
Did I have a claim now? Did I have the right to be pissed off at my ex-girlfriend for dancing at a club?
It wasn’t like she was stripping, but she wasn’t fully clothed in my opinion, wearing skin-tight black shorts, black furry boots up to her knees and a tight tank top with the club’s name printed on it. She was like a dancing promotion and wet dream wrapped into one. The style of dancing wasn’t exactly slutty, but then it didn’t take much for Gianna to look sexy.
I ordered another beer from the bartender.
I tried ignoring Hailey’s taunts. She was really enjoying this.
Although it was another night I could sit and watch Gianna, I didn’t appreciate the opportunity. Once again, a bunch of random males got to watch her too. Just great.