The magnetic puppet?

"Hey Joey." I greet the amazonian woman harassing a coworker.

"Oh hey, Tequila. I was just asking Amina here to stop being a prude and go on stage."

The slender girl in front of her vibrates in rage.

"You were not asking, Joey! You were forcing me to go up there. This is sexual harassment! Do you know how many perverts are in there right now?"

"Oh hey. My name is Joey Brown and I am the co-owner of De'Luna's." Joey deadpans, holding a hand out to Amina.

She slaps it away and crosses her arms as Joey continues.

"Listen here you bitch, you knew what you were getting into when you decided to work here. It says in the contract that we can have you fill in for an absent employee once in a month. Just because you work Fridays doesn't mean you can't work today."

"But Mondays are the busiest days! The richest people in the world come here today!"

Joey rolls her eyes and thrusts a fabric into Amina's generous chest.

"Don't make exaggeration a habit. Rich people come here every day; Mondays are just a tad busier. If you had listened to me before going off a tangent about your father coming here, you would understand that we do not show our faces on Mondays! Wear your mask, change and go strip!"

She tosses a different fabric to me and stomps away.

Only then does Amina acknowledge me.

"Well someone's grumpy."

"Hmmmmph."

"I think my father will be here. Good thing I'm wearing a mask, am I right? And good thing he doesn't know what I look like without clothes on."

"Hmmmmph."

"Hi. You shouldn't be here. Read the door, 'Employees only'." She directs at Aaron.

"Tequila said it was okay." I smirk a bit at his curt tone. He definitely picked up on where I stand with her.

"Well she doesn't know anything. Besides, she shouldn't bring her sex toy here. You guys can have your fun after she works. No sex on the job, plank chest."

And this is the reason I dislike Amina.

"She is a bitch. A really sexy one though. How is she that slim and curvaceous? And how does she make it look so natural, because I know that cannot be real." Aaron says once she struts away.

"You're right, it isn't. She definitely got her money's worth with that body. Now that her boobs are bigger than mine, she calls me plank chest. And to think I was nice to her when everyone else laughed at her skeletal body."

Aaron chuckles. "Padded pushups can deceive but I have seen your babies bare and damn Rapunzel, you are anything but flat chested."

An eyeroll later, I move towards the changing room. "I'll change now. I will be doing a striptease after Amina so you can come watch."

His face lights up like a Himari at a Spa as he nods eagerly.

"I'll be at the pervert's row. Give me a good show."

"Yes Aaron, be with your type of people."

"And that, Gents and Ladies, was our act five. Coming up, wide-eyed and innocent, is our act six. Give it up for Leopard girl!"

I roll my eyes as I wait for Amina at the bottom of the stage.

I did not miss the mischievous timbre in Joey's voice. Leopard girl? Really?

"That bitch!" Amina huffs as she walks past me, mask in hand.

"You're obviously the bitch here." I state matter of factly eyeing her canine mask. Joey got her good.

"Fuck you! Spots don't look good on you. The ones on your face are hideous enough."

"Go back to kindergarten, Amina. Where you belong."

"Oh leopard girl. Not suddenly stage shy, are we?"

Everyone else might have taken her jovial tone for a joke but I heard the warning in it. I can imagine her baring her teeth at the empty stage.

I climb the stage and give her a delicate middle finger.

A Latin beat begins to play until it comes to a sudden stop at a crescendo.

Joey signals the disk jockey and Camila Cabello's Señorita comes on.

Pity, I was enjoying the previous groove.

I lose myself to the music and relish my hold on the audience.

They are all trance like.

Zombies awaiting the moment my bullet flies out my barrel and into their brains.

Respected men and women all shrouded in darkness to conceal their identities.

Adults watching teenage erotica.

Getting aroused by a girl removing articles of clothing.

I finish it off with an arabesque just because I can.

We never end up naked here, level one to five. Only the level six girls do: girls like Joey. We end up in our bra and pant and pretend we are on the beach in our bikinis.

They cheer. Some snubs nod their fat heads and puff their pipes like the pile of pretentious shit they are. Acting like they did not enjoy the show as much as the others.

Alonso picks the money the audience threw at me and walks to the counting room while I exit with a wink at a gaping Aaron.

"Hey. How much did I do?" I ask Alonso after I change.

"Twelve." He replies, watching me with something akin to awe in his eyes.

"Twelve hundred?"

"Twelve thousand."

My eyes widen. "Whoa! The most I've gotten in a day since I started working here is five thousand."

"Mondays are for the top dogs." He shrugs and stares over my shoulder.

"Well that's one beautiful human. Is he a fallen angel?"

I don't turn around before answering. "Aaron was so stupid, God had to cover that lapse with beauty."

He raises an amused brow while Aaron chuckles.

"God doesn't make mistakes. And I enjoyed your use of the past tense."

Grabbing my money from Alonso, I face the pest.

"Let's just go, Aaron. I need sleep."

"Bye Tequila. Bye, sexy."

When we step outside Aaron speaks.

"Is he gay? He was definitely into me."

"He has a fiancée and they are soul mates, so I doubt he's into you."

"But he called me sexy!"

"I call you human, doesn't mean I mean it. He is just too honest and lacks a filter."

"Oh. The male version of you, then."

"I want to knee your balls."

"Violence is a turn off." He puts his keys into his motorcycle's ignition and gets on. "Speaking of turn offs, you sure know how to turn on certain parts of a man's body, don't you."

I swing my leg over the bike's seat and sit.

"I've had practice."

When we arrive at my house, he gets down with me.

"Can I come in? I want to see your sister's boyfriend."

"Why?"

He shrugs. "I just want to."

"Okay."

I lead the way up our humble home and we are soon in the parlour.

"Who the fuck is this? You cheating on me, Lolita?" Kingsley roars the moment he sees our silhouettes.

"Lolita is many things but a cheat, you fucker. You need glasses since you don't see the difference between I and Lolita."

He sizes me up once I flip on the switch.

"Of course you would bring a boy home. You're a ho. How old are you anyway?"

Aaron comes to stand in front of me.

"The fuck you just called her?"

Kingsley might be a big man, but anyone who sees Aaron in all his ready-to-bash-your-head-in glory would know not to cross him.

"Sorry man, didn't mean it. You're Aaron Fletcher, aren't you?"

"Hmmmmph."

Kingsley decides to leave while his body is still intact.

When he gets to the door, he turns his head and flashes a nasty smile.

"Do you know that your girlfriend slept with me and told her sister I raped her? Sorry, but I meant what I said. She's a fucking whore and—"

I am as stumped as he is when Aaron's first connects with his face.

There's a sickening crack and a shriek.

I don't realise the shriek is coming from me until Lolita arrives the scene.

"Stop screaming like a banshee you idiot. Kingsley's the one who's hurt yet he's not the one screaming like a baby."

My mouth snaps shut.

I take in the scene and suddenly laugh at the nasty colour of Kingsley's nose.

Lolita helps him up the floor and walks away with him but not before giving Aaron a little squeeze on his hand.

What in the world?

He smiles sadly and turns to me.

"Show me your room. It's been too long."

He says it's been too long but he's already climbing up the stairs like he owns the house.

"Come back here you idiot. You saw Kingsley, now you've got to go. It's two in the morning!"

"I'll crash here!" He shouts from my room and I groan.

God, give me the patience.

I find a topless Aaron lying on my bed so I ignore him and change into my night wear; a tank top and short shorts.

"You know, I was dared today. The guys dared me to fuck you."

"Did you pay up?"

"No."

I glance at him and laugh.

"So you're planning to lie."

"No. I'm planning to fuck you."

"Sorry, but that's an impossibility. I thought it would be clear even to someone as dense as you."

"I did it once, what makes you think I can't do it again."

"For one, I was a foolish girl trying to make the issue of being a virgin go away. Two, I actually liked you as a human then. Three, I was comfortable since you were my best friend."

"And now?"

"Now, I'm not that stupid."

"Well guess what?" He starts, turning and lying on his side. "I have a deal you cannot refuse."

"Really? What is this oh-so great deal that'll make me choose to dance with the devil?"

"I won't tell you now. I'll get detention tomorrow. Get one too."

"Why not just tell me now? Or if you want to be all mysterious and wait until we are in school, why can't we just meet somewhere private there?"

"We will be the only ones there and the walls are soundproof. Besides, I have an appointment to keep with a friend."

"I don't want to get detention." I deadpan.

"You will. You know something I like about our relationship?"

"The dynamics? Puppet and puppeteer?"

He snickers. "No. Although I wouldn't mind being your puppeteer, you would make one dangerous puppet. I'll probably be the one tied to strings in the end."

"So what's that? What do you like about our relationship?"

"We refuse to acknowledge it but we can't help being magnetically attracted to each other."

"You just acknowledged it."

"Somebody had to. Come tomorrow, Tequila."

"Just tell me now, Aaron."

He pushes up and forward and before I can push him away, which I definitely would have done, he licks my lips.

"Wha-" He uses the opportunity to kiss me.

These betraying hands do not push him away but choose to pull him closer.

His tongue probes for entry and I immediately let him in.

His fingers dig into my hips as he pulls away seconds later. He doesn't move far.

"See? Magnetic."

I stare into his vivid blues for two heartbeats and turn off the lamp.

Still above me, he moves.

My breaths bounce off his face and hit me, letting me know the distance between us is decreasing.

I turn my face away just as his lips reach me and they land on my right cheek.

"Goodnight Aaron."

He sighs and kisses my forehead.

"Good night, Tequila."

Letting him spoon me, I think about how I would manage to snag a detention tomorrow.