Waving his arm over his head, he flagged us over. “Welcome, Noella!” His half drunken speech bellowed through his lips.
“Merry Christmas, Sir.” Folding my hands in front of my waist, I twisted my toe against the tile nervously.
“Please, call me Brandon. Champagne?” Holding the bottle, he rocked it side to side.
“Sure, thank you.”
“Let me introduce you to the group,” he said.
Before he could say another word, Hegan cut in. “Dad, let me.”
“No, no, no. Hegan, you can do what you do best. Nothing.” Wagging the bottle by the neck, he dipped his head. “Everyone, this is Noella, my son's girlfriend.”
Lightly, I lifted my hand barely higher than the buckle on my dress and waved. “Hello.”
There were about ten people who all said hello at the same time. Their varying tones all blended together in one massive heap. Waiting for Hegan's dad to tell me who each person was, a smug grin sat across my face.
I'd thought the world of the strip club was a weird place. But here in this mansion, even in all its beauty; I could see the fake emotions resting on all their faces.
Don't get me wrong, everyone looked like they were having a good time, but in the recesses of every expression was a false and feeble attempt to pretend. Pretending to like each other, pretending to be a big happy slue of friends.
“Dad, can you please try and be nice tonight. It's a party, you don't need to put me down in front of everyone.” Hegan sent the fiery whisper at his father, trying to not bring any attention to what he was saying.
Brandon's face went taut. His lips pulled back, teeth slowly emerging. “Sure, sure, Son. Anything for you.” Resting his hand over Hegan's shoulder, his nails dug into the muscle. “So would you like to go ahead and tell everyone how you guys met?”
Hegan's neck muscles began bulge, the veins enlarging to their limit. I watched him swallow hard, his mind racing to think of something to say.
Lifting my hand, I said, “We met at coffee shop.” Shooting a glance at Hegan, I gave the unofficial story of how we got together. “It was funny, I was going to leave, he was coming in, and we collided at the door. I lost a whole cup of coffee and...” Rolling my wrist, I joggled my head. “He ended up needing a new shirt.”
The small crowd began to giggle, tossing short eyes at each other. Brandon let out a gut wrenching chuckle. His chest heaved up and down, the laugh turning into a cynical rumble.
Resting his hand on the back of his neck, he said, “Really? Is that so?”
Hegan nodded his head. “Yup, it was a hot mess. Literally.”
“So, Noella, if that's how you two met, then tell me something.” I watched his face turn to stone, the same look he had at the table during lunch. “Who's Gloria then? Because from what I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong.” He turned his attention to the people around us. “You're a stripper. Is that right?”
All the air from my lungs seeped out. My entire body numbing as the room began to grow silent. I stood in disbelief, complete shock turned in my gut.
How? How did he know?
Hegan's mouth hit the floor, his fists balling up by his sides. “Dad! What the hell are you doing?!” He yelled as his body went stiff.
“Well, Hegan, you should know this stuff. I'm sure she's just using you, like most girls would with the money our family has.” He spoke as if I wasn't standing directly next to his son. As if because I didn't have the wealth like they did, I couldn't understand him.
“You're a real asshole, you know that?” Hegan spit out through gritted teeth.
“Hegan, it's fine.” I muttered, lips angled down.
“No, no it's not.” He stepped in closer to his father, standing face to face.
“You should probably get her to her car, Son. She might have clientele she needs to serve.” Brandon lifted a finger, pointing towards the door.
Shifting my eyes around the crowd, they all held smug grins on their faces. One man had a shit eating smile painted on his face, another tried to hide his with a hand over his mouth, resting on his forearm.
And all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole, and bury my head so their eyes would stop burning me at the stake. I was never ashamed of being a stripper, I did what I needed to do. And none of these people had a fucking clue about what was going on in my life.
But in that moment, with every eye just gazing at me; the judgments of their thoughts coated their expressions and made me feel smaller than life itself.
Inhaling a deep breath of air, I started to turn and walk away. I was going to leave, there was no need for me to stay and listen to a barrage of ridicule from those fucking people. But something inside me ignited, the small voice turning into a loud scream.