April Showers (an introduction from the archives)

Silence mocked April Showers as she stuffed the few crumpled singles that constituted her tips in her jar at the end of the bar before moving back across the room, just as the next song exploded from the speakers at near eardrum-shattering levels. For a Tuesday evening, The Black Dahlia in Siren, Wisconsin was near deserted, leaving three dancers, the bartender, and the deejay alone in a room filled with noise. Smoke swirled through the flashing lights, and a cold glass of pineapple juice was in her hand as she crossed the room in her hot pink clear stilettos.

Tits and ass were usually being peddled to the highest bidder between these walls, even though the sign outside called this dive a 'gentleman's club'. The gentlemen that came through those doors could be counted on one hand, especially when the college kids came rolling in around midnight with their catcalls and predatory stares.

Her lips pursed around the straw as she sipped at the sweet fruit juice, feeling the insides of her cheeks pucker. Cold and catatonic, she was already half zoned out as she slipped out onto the platform, wrapping her hands around the pole and grinding against it.

She had shooting stars tattooed curving across her body from her shoulder around to the opposite hip, the full piece on display now beneath the barely there string of her black thong. It was a sad reminder of an innocence that was lost a long time ago, even though she was only nineteen. The stars that shone above this place were always cold, the sky nothing but a dark void tonight as the music pumped through her veins. Hers were bright, primary colors that made her eyes sparkle with a private joy every time she caught sight of them in the mirrored walls.

She finished her dance on autopilot, not bothering to even see the few faces that were locked on her performance. It wasn't until Cherry Daiquiri grabbed her arm, and dug in those cheap acrylic nails that she noticed the man at the bar. Him. That same enigma who'd been coming here for ages, and was always so nice. Although she'd never spoken to him, she knew he was harmless. He never stared or tried to touch the girls like some of the creeps around here did.

She felt a smile on her face that only grew brighter as Cherry told her that the man had just paid for an hour of her time. "VIP room, he got the full package. Maybe he noticed you watchin' him every time he's in here." Cherry told her with a devilish smile, making her blush a thousand shades of red as her secret was revealed.

"Hey!" She whispered back, shaking her head, "I'm just looking. Not like that's a crime, is it?" When she looked back up, the man was already gone. Headed to the VIP room, no doubt. "Do I look ok?" She seemed suddenly worried as she ran her hands through her sweat-dampened blonde hair, trying to smooth it out.

Without bothering to wait for Cherry's reply, she made her way through the smoky room with confidence, already wearing that 'come-hither' smile that all the boys went nuts for as she slipped between the beaded curtains.

The dimly lit room barely illuminated the man as he sat in a chair, usual spot for the patrons wanting some private time. His short brown hair hung neatly around his face, almost framing it as he wore a white dress shirt untucked and hanging over his faded jeans. A week's worth of stubble dotted his face, and eyes the color of the ocean stared at her as she entered. "You were beautiful out there. I've watched so many dances of yours; I can tell when you are into it and just going through the motions. Tonight was the motions, right?"

His voice sounded like she'd imagined: soft and kind, with a hint of an accent. "Yeah," she looked away, sheepishly, twisting a lock of hair around her fingers as she moved closer to him. "Can't help it— sometimes, it's like this place is sucking away my soul." She managed a little laugh at that, but he could still read the truth behind her words. "I'm just not feelin' it tonight." She shrugged, her breath catching slightly as she looked into those too blue eyes of his. "Maybe things are about to change for the better, now that you're here."

The right words, the kind of things she was paid to say to make them feel comfortable, but with him she didn't have to slip into her character. It was easy to talk to him. She was right in front of him now, still wearing that sultry half-smile as she looked down at him.

His eyes moved from her feet up her body to her face, his hand reaching up and taking hers as he stared up to her. "Listen, I'm not here to see you dance, kitten. I just wanted to talk with you. I want to see what's in here." With his free hand, he stroked her cheek and touched her forehead. "I know what's going on everywhere else." A flashing smile as he patted his lap, inviting her to sit. "Can't a guy pay to listen to a woman talk? I know most hear it for free." He was obviously trying to make her smile.

She looked puzzled but wasn't about to decline his invitation just in case her boss was watching. She knew he liked to wank to the VIP room action, despite the fact that he vehemently denied it. Nodding, she straddled his lap, resting her hands on his shoulders as she stared into his eyes. "You paid for my time. Means I'm yours, so do whatever you want." She threw the ball back into his court, the tone of her voice almost bordering on flirtatious. "Y'know why they call me April Showers, don't you?"

He shook his head, "I'm sure I couldn't guess even if I tried."

"I can make it rain." She said it softly, a twinkle in her eyes as she let out a coquettish little laugh.

He nodded. "I have no doubt that's true but I don't want that from you tonight. The thing is, I came to talk to you. I've been thinking about you lately...and this place." He glanced around the room for a moment, back to her and once more taking her hand in his. "I doubt you read many comic books as a little girl, did you? Probably not. That's all I grew up on actually. And my favorite when I was a kid...was Wonder Woman."

His smile grew wider, as a blush came over his cheeks for a moment. "She was strong, beautiful, looked good in a one-piece, and was able to overcome a lot of things in her life to make her who she was. And it didn't dawn on me till the other day that you have a lot in common with her. Just bear with me on this, I know it sounds strange. But Wonder Woman grew up on an island with plenty of beautiful women, all whom wanted to impress and overshadow who she was with their own abilities." He held his hands up, pointing around them.

"Kinda like this place. There are a lot of beautiful women who work here and are trying to outshine each other. But just like Wonder Woman, only one of the goddesses on her island could ever be the star, the centerpiece. Only one of them stood out, just like here. Only one of the girls stands out, in my mind. Two guesses as to who it is. And I'll even give you a hint." He lifted her hand back up, placing a kiss on her knuckle.

She blinked, saying nothing for a few moments before saying one thing really softly back. "I've been thinking about you, too." Her cheeks flushed crimson as she looked down at his chest, watching it rise and fall with each breath he took.

"Well if you compare me to Batman, I'm going to get offended." He gave a little impish grin before giving her fingers a little squeeze. "What have you been thinking, if I can ask?" He reached his hand up, rubbing just under her eye gently for a moment. "Sorry, looked like some glitter was coming loose."

She didn't answer him right away, and not because she was playing coy with him. It was more that she didn't really even know how to put the thinking she'd been doing about him into words. It was like he'd been occupying a space in the back of her mind. When she felt down and out, she thought about him and that easy smile of his as she glimpsed it across the room. They had so many shared moments like that, and she held them all dear to her heart. Somehow it made her feel like everything could be alright.

"Nothing so poetic like what you said," she finally broke the silence, her eyes fastening on his lips. The curve of them was so soft when she could see it this close, in this mood lighting, with the low throb of music all around them. "And Batman had some serious issues." She broke away from the reverie before she did something stupid like breaking the rules and kissing him full on the mouth. "I just think about you sometimes, is all." She mumbled the rest, feeling childishly stupid.

"I'm honored." He looked back to her hands, cupping them both in his now before he went on. "I'll tell you something else. The more I sat out there and the more I watched you do what you do and the more I saw your body and was captivated by it, the more I didn't want everyone else to see it. Now before you think I'm all 'possessive creepy guy', let me explain. You ever gone to the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Not many people do. A lot of people, they go through it and they look at the pictures and they just say 'oh, that's nice'. They don't appreciate the beauty in what they are looking at. And your body, it's a work of art. And I don't think anyone deserves to see it just because they have a little money to blow. I mean..." he seemed to be looking for the right words. "Just like art, you are either astounded by its beauty or you don't see it. The ones who don't see it don't deserve to look at it. Those guys out there...they don't deserve to see you. If you want to know the truth, I'm not sure I do. But every time I look at you, you make me question whether there is a God."

He took a deep breath, looking back up into her eyes. "Because works of art don't happen by mistake. And I've seen every part of you, there's nothing less than perfect that I have seen. You weren't made by mistake, because only a higher power could make something so beautiful by design."

His confession had stolen away any words she might have said in response to that. "I don't know what to say." Her eyes were bright as they lifted, looking into his, but she didn't seem to be on the verge of tears. Instead she seemed to be on the verge of doing something impulsive. Her hands came up and cupped his cheeks, the stubble biting into her palms as she leaned in close, kissing him softly on the chin, still adhering to the rules before whispering her words so that they were lost in the sound of the music. "Sometimes I think about you and wonder what it would be like to be loved by someone like you." She didn't think about the words, and as soon as they came out she regretted it, punctuating them with a small sigh.

"Sometimes I wonder the same thing." The short response was drowned in farther reaching feelings and possible consequences. "What would you say if...what would you say if I told you I have two plane tickets in my pocket and they could take us anywhere in the world we wanted to go? They were magic, they would transport us not only to wherever we wanted to be, and they'd change both our lives forever." He shifted his hip up a bit, digging into his pocket and removing two folded and crumpled pieces of paper, clearly airline tickets. "Sorry, they are a little dog-eared. Even magic tickets can't fight an overcrowded pocket, I guess."

"Two tickets to paradise," she whispered, her eyes widening, thinking of how much she loved that song, and how much she hated working in this place. "I'd say..." she stared at them a moment longer, and then shook her head. "I'd say what kinda price tag is attached to a gift like that?" She'd grown up hard and fast the last few years since striking out on her own. She knew that nothing good ever came free, just like Publisher's Clearing House never really shows up on your lawn with that giant check.

If one could give expression to the air being let out of a sail, his face would mirror it. He didn't even find the words to respond just yet, his brow furrowing a little as he looked down to the tickets. "I...I..." It was like she had spoken in a foreign language. "I don't want anything from you, April. I didn't....expect anything." He was still trying to grasp it. "I want you to take that ticket and go anywhere in the world you want, do whatever you want to do. I want you to do what would make you happy." He grabbed the second ticket, placing it into his shirt pocket. "I...I don't expect anything from you. I...uh...I'm not like that."

Having grown up in two different environments, he wasn't taking into account her lifestyle, a bit naive admittedly. He stared down to the other ticket, placing her gently onto the seat he was occupying before standing up. He looked down to his timepiece. "You still...got like a half hour paid for, think about where you want to go. And just don't go back out there tonight...or ever." His hands rubbed at his face, still in some kind of pain. "You got a new life waiting somewhere; don't keep it waiting any longer."

Her heart broke as she watched him struggle to understand where she was coming from, and it made her realize that he was serious. This wasn't a joke, or some sick pervert asking her to marry him after ten too many Tequila shots. This was a bonafide chance of a lifetime, and it had just fallen into her lap. "Adam," she said his name as he turned away from her, stopping him in his tracks as she moved to her feet, suddenly feeling very naked and ashamed. "I..." her voice faltered slightly, "I'm sorry. It's not every day that this happens... and..." she reached out and touched his back, her hand trembling as it made contact with the smooth texture of his dress shirt. "I guess I wasn't expecting to find out that I've got a guardian angel that's as handsome as you." She tried to force some humor into the situation, and failed as the joke fell flat. "Who are you, really?"

"No one all that important in the grand scheme of things. I sat out there and watched you several nights a week for a long time, and I just thought how beautiful you are. I didn't ever talk to you. For a little while, I wasn't any better than them because I saw you as some kind of sex object and I realized that and became ashamed of myself. When you danced, I stopped looking at your body and instead wanted to look into your eyes. I don't know, but I think I found your soul looking in them every night. And I saw it dying...here." He glanced around the room and back to her. "I can't stand to watch that anymore."

"And the second ticket?" Her voice sounded hopeful now, and she realized in the back of her mind that he'd already won her over with the first syllable he ever spoke to her. "Are you coming with me?"

"That depends. If you think I'm only doing this to get something from you, then no. Because that's the last thing I want to do. I didn't come here tonight to get something from you; I came here to give you everything I could...and hope I was lucky enough to watch closely as you got it. I want you to be happy. Whether that's with me or not is irrelevant. As long as you're happy."

She took his hand, and stepped up close to him, wrapping her arms around him. "I think I can be happy with you." She said as she looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with tears of joy, "my name's Mia... not April," she whispered.

"Then let's see where the magic takes us, Mia." He smiled down to her, tilting her chin up and deciding he'd break the rules for her, pressing a kiss to her lips as though they had been separated for years.