It was made easier by the fact that we didn’t have any kids or pets to worry about. I moved out of the house, found a small apartment I could easily afford, and my ex’s sister moved in with her. We were surprisingly civil with each other, probably since most of our communication was done through our lawyers, but honestly I didn’t feel any ill will towards her. I’d heard horror stories from friends of mine who had gone through some rather ugly divorces, but this was surprisingly smooth. It was kind of funny that we got along better when we were separated than we ever did when we were together. But after two and a half years of marriage I was single again.
By sheer coincidence the divorce was finalized the day before my 30th birthday. I had taken some time off from work to deal with the divorce, so I was wondering what to do with myself now that it was all over and I had the day to myself when my phone rang. It was my sister, Cindy.
She was two years younger than me, and like most brothers and sisters we had our ups and downs, but for the most part my sister and I got along. I was her overprotective big brother who always threatened to beat up anyone who mistreated her, but it never came to that.
“Hey Pip,” I said, after accepting the call.
Pip was short for Pipsqueak, a nickname my father had given her when she was little, because she had the cutest squeaky little laugh. The name stuck and I’ve called her Pip ever since then. She hated it at first, but got used to it over the years, and now she just accepted that I was always going to call her that.
“Hey bro,” she said, “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.”
“How you doing?” she asked.
“Pretty good, all things considered.” I said. “It’s weird, I still can’t believe it’s over, but at the same time I’m relieved.”
“Well anytime you need to talk, I’m here for you. After all, you’ve always been there for me.” she said.
“I know sis,” I said, “I appreciate it, but I’m okay.”
“I gotta head out and run some errands,” she said, “But I just wanted to call and wish you a happy birthday. I’ll talk to you later. Love you, bro,”
“Love you too, Pip.”
We weren’t big on celebrations in my family, at least not since my sister and I grew up. We hadn’t had birthday parties for either of us since our early teens, so I wasn’t expecting anything more than a phone call and maybe a card from my parents. My parents did call me a little later to wish me a happy birthday and ask if I got the card they sent me.
Later that day a couple of my friends, Fred and Phil, stopped by. They wanted to “celebrate” my divorce and my birthday by taking me to a strip club.
“C’mon guys,” I said, “A strip club? If I wanna see naked women, I’ve got the internet.”
“True,” Fred said, “You could sit at home and jerk off to internet porn, but sometimes you need to see the real thing in the flesh. Look, it’ll be on us. We’ll pay your cover charge, buy you a couple of drinks and even buy you a lap dance or two.”
“Yeah, come on Eddie,” Phil said, “You’re a free man, it’s your birthday, and we insist. In fact we’re not leaving until you say yes.”
“Okay fine,” I said, laughing “I’ll go.”
They took me to a club called the Joker’s Wild. I hope no one who worked for DC comics ever saw this place. Inside the front door behind the counter where you paid the cover fee was a huge mural of the Joker from the Batman comics holding playing cards featuring Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman, all three of them naked. Inside it was your typical strip club, dark with lots of neon and bass heavy music that made your teeth rattle, seats along the edge of the stage, a few tables and chairs interspersed around the floor, overpriced watered down drinks, VIP rooms off to one side, a DJ introducing the dancers and of course plenty of gorgeous girls strutting their stuff. It wasn’t a bad place, none of the other customers were whooping or carrying on or yelling lewd comments towards the girls. True to their words, my friends paid my way in, bought my drinks and a couple of lap dances. Despite my earlier reservations, I ended up having a pretty good time.
A month later I was bored and didn’t want to spend another night at home. I wasn’t ready to hop back into the dating pool just yet, and I certainly didn’t feel like hitting the bars for a casual hook up. On a whim I decided to head back to the strip club. I knew there was zero chance of picking up any of the dancers, and that they were just being nice to the customers in order to empty their wallets, but I didn’t care, plus like my friends had said, sometimes it was nice to see the real thing in person instead of on a computer screen.
It was surprisingly not as packed as I figured it might be for a Friday night, but it did fill up a little more as the night went on. I ordered a beer, sat down and enjoyed the sight of the strippers shaking their tits for the entertainment of me and the other guys in the club.
“Alright guys,” the DJ said, “Let’s hear it for Tanya, now welcome to the stage, she’s sweet, she’s sexy, she’s Candy!”
I was about to take another sip of my beer, and my bottle stopped halfway to my mouth as my sister stepped out onto the stage.
“The fuck…?” I muttered under my breath.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes. Yep, that’s my little sister. My sister’s a stripper. At the same strip club my friends brought me to on my birthday. I’m surprised I didn’t see her then, I guess she wasn’t working that night. She gyrated around on the stage like all the other girls had, and then she whipped her head up and looked right at me. Her eyes went as wide as mine did, she quickly regained her composure and kept dancing. She barely glanced back at me as if she was in the same state of disbelief as me.
I always knew my sister was beautiful, but sexy? I never thought of her that way, mainly because she was my sister. Then she took her top off. Holy shit, my sister had some nice tits. She turned her back to me, whipped her head around to look at me (as if she still wasn’t sure it was me) and continued her routine. Seeing my sister in nothing but a g-string and a pair of heels, under the neon lights of a strip club my opinion of her was changing. With her back to me I could see my sister also had a nice ass. Hell, her whole body was perfect. Who knew?