Alpha’s Virgin Stripper

"Hey guys, I'll like you to meet my best friend, who's also my older sister and my mom all in one. Her name is Mel." Jojo pulled Mel to the front, and it was only a matter of time until the girls warmed up to Mel's wits, charm, and humor. Before you know it, they were all around the table, laughing and chattering their voices and heads away. Two of the champagne bottles had been emptied, only one half empty one remained on the table. Jojo had a can of orange juice in front of her, since the doctor had warned her about consuming alcohol while pregnant.

Deep down, she wished she could drown herself in glasses of champagne, she needed all of it to calm the voices in her head. All the screams that jabbed at her, the invisible fingers that poked her eyes, telling her she would not be able to cope, reminding her of all the times life had turned out to be hell for her. Jojo observed all her friends - including Mel - with slight envy. She wished she could get as wasted as them, throw her head back, and say whatever words slipped out of her tongue.

Hadley continued to say more stupid things and Zelda never failed to call her out on it and make a silly joke out of everything she said. Brandy was the only one who stayed fairly quiet. She only spoke when she felt something was really funny, she also had a lot on her mind, a lot she knew it was impossible to share.

Ashley's eyes were laden with tears from all her hearty laughter. Both her cheeks stung and it was hard to breathe. She banged the table as she choked on her laughter, trying hard to steady her breathing. Zelda caressed and tapped her back gently in order to aid her. When Ashley raised her head up, a loud hiccup escaped her throat and the girls made snorting noises. Only Jojo was silent, she had been quiet for most of the night. Ashley knew that alcohol could make people eerily quiet sometimes, but Jojo had not taken even a sip of anything alcoholic.

"Is something wrong, Jo? You've been..." Another hiccup cut her sentence into two.

"... awfully quiet. Is something bothering you? I mean, I know that with losing your job and having to take care of your home and your mom, there's a lot going on. But, if there's anything else, you know you could share with us, right?" Ashley managed to arrange her words in her head. Even though it felt as though she were floating, swimming in the air, it was important for her to bring her body back to Earth and look out for her friends.

Jojo managed a weak smile as she shook her head as a sign for no.

"I am okay, I'm fine. Just really tired, work today was crazy." Jojo lied, but Ashley's head was too high in the clouds to see through her lies this time.

Mel stole a glance at Jojo. She was the one who could see that there was so much more than meets the eye. She kept her eyes on Jojo, even as she took the last sip on champagne in her flute.

"You know, Mel. You are very lucky to have a best friend like Jojo. She's the strongest woman I know! So young, yet ready to take the world by storm. I mean, I've needed a new start for a very long time, but I have never gotten the courage to leave and start anew. But, I think Jojo might have just given me that courage." Ashley stopped and leaned into her table. She picked up the half empty bottle with shaky hands and poured recklessly into her flute. She raised the glass up and struggled to stand. When she could not, Zelda pulled her down to her chair. They all roared in laughter.

"You can pull me down all you want, but I am still going to..." Another hiccup escaped her lips.

"... still going to give my toast. Toast to me and my new life. I am quitting Rush Empire and starting life here, with Jojo!" She laughed out loud, but the girls did not join in her laughter.

Mel dismissed it as drunken joke, Zelda blinked twice, Brandy stared at her in silence while Hadley shook her head. Jojo was the only one who found seriousness in what Ashley had said. "Say what now?" Hadley replied.

"You wouldn't dare, even if you could. We've been sisters for only the goddess knows how long." Zelda added.

Brandy seized Ashley's glass from her hand and passed it to Hadley.

"Hadley can be the only crazy one for tonight, we do not need two mad women at the table for any reason," Brandy spoke, in her usual calm tone.

"Oh! You've got that right!" Zelda added, and Hadley gulped the content of Ashley's glass.

Ashley feigned a frown.

"Do not let me come for you, Hadley."

"Bitch, do your worst!"

The banter continued as usual. Jojo and Mel joined in fully. Jojo did not need to be asked any other questions and Mel was genuinely enjoying the company of Jojo's former co-workers.

No one bothered to hear Brandy's excuse when she rose from her seat, picked up her purse and walked out of the table, slipping into the darkness of the night.

She turned back to look at the restaurant one more time. Something about the sight of joy and happiness caused her heart to shrink in her chest. Her gaze narrowed on Jojo's laughing face, she frowned and looked away. She picked up her pace and disappeared into the darkness, unaware of the keen brown eyes that had watched her leave the restaurant.

Lake:

I got the call from Neil at exactly fifteen minutes to nine pm. Just as I had earlier suspected, work might cause me to spend the night at the casino.

I pressed my phone speaker to my right ear as I typed away on my laptop.

"Yes, Neil."

"They are still at the diner; they have been here for over two hours. Just laughing and drinking their minds away." Neil reported.

My eyes traveled to the digital clock at the far end of my work table. It was already late, this was the time diners began to close. Why wasn't Jojo's ready to close yet?

"What restaurant are they in?" I asked. I clicked the send icon on my Gmail and rose from my chair to fetch a cup of water from my dispenser. I had been sitting for over five hours, I needed to stretch my legs. "Uhmm. It says here, Smith's diner."

I stopped halfway. That name sounded too familiar for my liking. I had not intended to hear that name, not ever again.

I did not know when a bitter chuckle escaped my lips. What sort of twisted fate was this?! To think that of all the places in Rush pack, the two women I did not want to see but still had the constant yearning and urge to see, had to work in the same place?!

Why were they even still in this pack? Did I have to banish them to drive shame into both their heads?

"Isn't it too late for the girls to be outside?" I found myself asking. Neil seemed to hesitate, before he replied me.

"It might just be, sir. It might just be."

I heaved a long sigh, even as my jaw hardened and my grip on my phone tightened in reflex.

"Go home, Neil. Retire for the night."

I was going to go there myself. More because I knew I would not be able to sleep if I didn't, than anything else.