Mag Bar Mondays - been going on for years now, and don't look like they're gonna end anytime soon. That being said, every once in a while something out of the ordinary occurs, and it's on those Monday nights that my brain has to rearrange its synapses and try to understand these bold new concepts. Last night was not a normal Monday Night at the bar. First of all, it's Christmas(R) Season, which means a bunch of people are in town who usually aren't. Which means that friends of mine from high school will be sitting up front with a bunch of emo trash, looking all pretty and deep and talking about the latest Decembrists record or something, I dunno.
I spent most of my time floating between the very back of the bar and the very front. In front were the aforementioned emo kids, mixed in with a few folks I've known for a long long time. Too long, methinks, but I'll get to that in a minute. In the very back of the bar, sitting on the steps leading to the back door, were all the usual bastards, drinking and smoking and cursing each others' poor lack of billiards ability. On my many trips back and forth (as well as to the bar and to the toilet) I ran into dozens of people I haven't seen in a while. I ran into Roseanne, who kept yelling my name in my face and making fun of my vinyl habit (I first met her a day or two after I saw her being hit on at Underground Sounds while she was buying one of the Eno/Budd collaborations on LP.) She tried to get her friend to fight me, but instead I think her friend was kind of into me, whatever. Good times being had by all.
Hold on, I'm getting to the real story. Give me some time, I'm a goddamn poet, here.
Nugget got faced and disappeared, and people started drifting out, so Ed got on the horn to James and we all decided to head towards Jimmy's place. Just as the door closed behind us, I heard someone shout my name. I turned around and saw James pedaling down Magnolia. He asked if the Camel Fairies were in there (they weren't - bastards) and went inside to say hi to some people. Meanwhile, I tried to ride his bike and failed, so Ed, the drunkest of the bunch by far, got on and drove back to James's place. I took James home and hung out for a while before I decided I'd go back to the bar and have another drink, since I was bored and coffee-fueled and there were people up there I hadn't seen in a while.
I sat with Roseanne and Jessica, talked with them for a little bit, then went to the toilet. Coming out, there was a long-ass line in front of the women's room, headed by Jessica. I asked her how the roller-girl fundraiser thing went on Friday, she said it went good, and then somehow we got on the topic of muscles. She flexed her biceps, but I asked her "Wouldn't that really build up your legs more?" and she responded with a "Fuck yeah! Feel my calves!" which I did. Because I'm interested in athleticism. And not just because a cute girl wanted me to feel her legs. Fuck you for judging me.
The point is, standing behind her in line was this girl I lit a cigarette for a few weeks ago, who looked like your stereotypical stripper. Big tits, fake hair, fake nails, fake lips, the whole deal. Now, I've got nothing against strippers other than a few bits of neo-communist theory that I'm still working on in my head, but I couldn't help but laugh when she looked at us and said "Ooh! I'm a dancer, I've got great legs too! Feel my calves!" I gave Jessica a distressed look and slowly, methodically, and dare I say scientifically poked the stripper calf. Then she turned to Amelia's co-worker whose name I don't remember so I will just call Colts Fan, and started playing with her hair. She and Amelia looked distressed, and I informed them of what happened when I was exiting the toilet, and we all had a good laugh. I roamed around a bit longer.
I ended up sitting next to Amelia, because all night, when she was surrounded by people I didn't know, I'd run up and throw my arm around her and yell about how good it was to be friends with her. I even wrote a song about it, which I will not go into here. All of her friends were leaving, except her co-worker Colts Fan, and some guy whom she introduced me to whose name I couldn't remember but who was grabbin' all up on her like a centipede in a pumpkin patch. Or some other simile that works. Colts Fan kept talking about how she needed a ride home, she couldn't get anybody to answer their cell-phones, etc. I saw that Amelia wasn't going to get out of there to fuck this emo boy if bitch lady didn't have a ride, so I finally said "Okay, I'll give you a ride." Amelia disappeared almost instantly, leaving only a wisp of smoke, the smell of anticipated sex, and a half-empty Bud Light. I threw on my hat and stood to leave, but Colts Fan still had a bit left in her bottle.
Here's where things start to get odd. Colts Fan and I start chatting about whatever, blah blah, and she starts talking about the "dancer." I'll refer to the "dancer" as Stripper, because fuck mincing words. Anyway, she kept joking about getting her to come sit with us. "She can braid your hair!" I joked. Now Colts Fan was trying to get me to go up to her and invite her over. I kept politely refusing, because, really, I don't give a shit. I had better things to do than sit and talk to some stripper. I could be playing video games! She kept insisting, and while we were politely arguing over who was going to go get her, she picked up my hand and held it in hers and squeezed it for emphasis.
Oh yeah? Oh yeah she did.
Then she got up. Uh oh. What is going on here? Did some girl I just met, who I agreed to give a ride home, just squeeze my hand and then get up to go grab some stripper to come sit with us? Sure enough, she brought back Stripper, and plopped her down in the seat next to me. Then Colts Fan asks the Stripper what she wants to drink. Ah, dammit. By now, I was just wanting to hurry up and get out of there so I could go home myself. Morbid curiosity getting the better of me, I decided to stick it out. So to speak.
While Colts Fan went up to the bar to get some beer for our Tit-Juggler, Stripper just stared at me. Literally. She looked at me, and I said "Hi," gave her a nod, you know, because I don't know this girl and, to be frank, she doesn't appeal to me. I like my women to be at least 90% organic. At least. So, while we're waiting for Clots Fan to get back, she literally stared into my eyes. I stared back for a second, then took a swig of Amelia's leftover Bud Light and started watching Sportscenter. Eventually Colts Fan got back, and they started talking a little bit. I wasn't paying attention, until they started whispering in each others' ears and giggling like little schoolgirls on heroin.
Things were getting odder. It didn't end there. The bar was thinning out, and Colts Fan and Stripper decided to get a seat up at the bar. I was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on when Stripper grabbed my arm and told me to come with them. Whatever, I thought, I can still see the TV from there. Well, that's about the time Stripper started being a bitch. She started by asking me why I said she was a dancer.
"Well," I said, "you told me up by the bathrooms you were a dancer. When you made me poke your calf, remember?"
She just looked at me suspiciously and turned back around to Colts Fan. I lit another cigarette and pondered my next move. I could always just leave, but I told Colts Fan I'd give her a ride home. I figured I was doing her a favor since she lived out in bumfuck Indiana and I actually knew where it was. After another whisper-fest between the two, Stripper asks me what I do for a living.
"Oh, I don't have a job. I've been looking for one, but I'm in school too, plus I'm lazy."
Well, well! Stripper didn't find that humorous at all! What was going on here? My brains were working overtime, assimilating evidence like some super-computered Dexter machine, analyzing potential blood-spatters and whatever else. Seemed like Stripper here got pissed at me for mocking her job as a Stripper. Which I didn't do. I mocked her skanky appearance. But not to her face. So, wait, was Colts Fan in cahoots with her now? No time to think, here came another question:
"Do you still live with your mom and dad?"
Oh - burn. Right, I now knew for sure where this was going, or at least what route it would take to get somewhere, and I definitely didn't need some bitch who gets paid for doing something as easy as HAVING A VAGINA to start getting on my case while I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life. I mean, if I wanted to, I could exercise and get in shape and start whipping my dick out for the ladies, but I don't think someone should get paid for that, in principle. I lump models, most actors/actresses, strippers and prostitutes all in the same category of doing the easiest thing in the world - "looking good." Fuck that shit. At least at most of the jobs I've had, I've had some sort of skill that I could put to use. Not that dancing isn't a skill, mind you. But let's face it, there's a difference between classical ballet, modern jazz, and pole-grinding. I gave another half-assed answer about how my father died when I was eighteen, I live with my mom and step-dad, because I'm lazy and a student, blah blah.
Stripper kept asking small little bitchy questions, but by this time I wasn't paying attention. She turned back to giggle with Colts Fan, and as I lit yet another cigarette, I saw Jessica beside me.
"Jessica, I'm in a moral quandary." She leaned in so she could hear me better. "What do you do when you find out that the girl you promised to give a ride home is a total cunt?"
Her head pulled back, and she gave me a look that said Jody, you're fucking retarded.
"You just fucking leave."
I thanked Jessica, took a drag of my cigarette, and just fucking left. Word to your moms.