Smooth Silk – A Wendig Flash Fiction Challenge

The challenge, Tara realized as she adjusted her pasties, wasn’t in dealing with a room full of erections. Well, that wasn’t the challenge anymore.

When she first started dancing at Club T&A, knowing that the men came in to become aroused had a high ick factor. Especially since she had never been attracted to men. Dancing suggestively while wearing only a G-string made her feel like a complete failure as a lesbian, a feminist, and a person.

But the club had a strict hands-off policy, and the bouncers never hesitated to enforce it. She’d been shocked the first time a regular had been thrown out for smacking her ass. She really hadn’t believed the club would protect her. Having a woman manager made a difference.

Cynthia didn’t tolerate lewd behavior from the patrons. No masturbating, no touching the performers, and no being drunk and disorderly. At times, Tara wondered why the men continued to come in when the rules were so strict.
But come in they did, and they spent a ton of money on drinks, food, and tips to the dancers.

Once Tara knew she wouldn’t be groped constantly, she relaxed and focused on the music. The club’s DJ, Rafael, had a knack for choosing tunes that fit each dancer’s persona and preferred moves.

It was like being in the movies in a way. Like when the feisty heroine struts down the street in a great outfit and every head turns to see her. Rafael’s choices for songs could make Tara feel that cool. And that beautiful.

No, the hard part now wasn’t ignoring obvious signs of the men’s arousal or the ache in her breasts from some of her more energetic dance moves. It also wasn’t the waxing, shaving, and other grooming required to look sexy and fulfill some guy’s fantasy. That wasn’t fun, but it was just a part of the costume.

Now the challenge was that she wasn’t challenged. In other words, she was just bored with her job.

When she first started dancing, she never thought she’d be able to wear a G-string and dance suggestively. So she turned it into a game. A LARP, in a way.

First was the challenge of finding the right costume. And learning how to shave and wax that often. Plus picking a wig, putting on the makeup, using the colored contact lenses, and so forth. All were tools to make her into some man’s fantasy. And armor to protect her true identity from the world.

Once slipping into her costume and persona became rote, she focused on ignoring the crowd and just doing her thing. She tested out new dance moves, looking for steps that made her feel sexy. Then, she realized that the sexier she felt, the better the patrons tipped. So she focused on trying to become one of the highest-tipped dancers at the club.

After beating the other girls for most tips collected became routine, she decided she’d focus on one patron at a time, trying to see who she could affect the most.
She was still a lesbian, but it was fun teasing the men. After all, they came to look. And she was vain enough to enjoy being appreciated. Even if she would never want more than admiring glances from these patrons.

So making eye contact with each patron and inclining her body his way, as if she was only dancing for him, became her new challenge.

But all of that lost its appeal. She had leveled up and maxed out her skills.

Or, rather, her persona Silk had.

One thing Tara had known from the beginning was that she needed an alias to protect her from this life.

Silk was that alias. And Silk did her job well.

But Tara was ready for something…else.

She wasn’t sure what that something else might be.

Plus, she had a hard time walking away from the money Silk earned by dancing five nights a week.

Silk earned a lot of money. Both in salary from the club and tips from the patrons.
When Silk danced, the men bought more drinks. They also spent more on food. And they gave her really big tips.

Maybe it was the blonde wig she wore. Or maybe they could sense that she wasn’t interested.

That was Cynthia’s logic for the strict rules. Make them want what they couldn’t have, and they’d keep coming back for more.

Cynthia had been a professional dominatrix for a time, so Tara assumed she knew what she was talking about.

Anyway, because the money was good, her two younger siblings had food, clothes, and a roof over their heads. Plus, she could still take a couple of classes at the community college. Getting all the gen-ed requirements out of the way at the CC’s cheaper price was smart. Everyone said so. Even Cynthia.

And she wasn’t sure she was ready to enroll at the university. Not until her brother, Tom, started high school. That was only two years away.

But she didn’t think she could stand dancing for two more years.

Trisha, her younger sister, was a freshman this year. She’d be old enough to drive Tom around in a year, and that meant Tara could think about changing jobs.

But she wasn’t sure she could make it another year.

Hell, she wasn’t sure she could stand dancing for another six months.

She was bored. Tired of the same routine.

Maybe she needed a vacation.

She laughed at the idea. No way would Cynthia give her any time off from dancing. Not when she was one of two dancers who caused a spike in revenue each time she stepped on stage.

Even if Cynthia did give her vacation time, Tara couldn’t really afford to splurge on a trip anywhere.

She had Tom and Trisha to care for. Plus, she was trying to build up an emergency fund. Something that could tide them over once she left this job and was working for a lower salary at some office job.

No, she was stuck with Silk. Whether she liked it or not.