FicWad

Dave ungracefully sat down on the border of the big fountain in the centre of the park and let the gentle breeze cool his face and body. He had gone shopping for clothes –to a thrift store, be it clear, he wasn’t going to blow his hard earned money on brand new rags. He would have gladly done without, but he needed new clothes for the summer, lighter stuff that didn’t make him melt under the late-May sun. Right now he was wearing a plain, white tank top and a pair of jeans shorts that Faith had courteously lent him.
Dave had even given in to shaving his legs, bikini line and armpits; he hadn’t wanted to do it at first, but hell, he had never liked hairy women, so he decided that, since he wanted to bare his legs, he would just have to go with it. Halfway through the process, he had cursed himself and whoever had decided that women needed to be hairless; he learned the hard way that shaving half of your body is much more of a pain in the ass than shaving your face only.

Dave threw back his head and stared at the clear sky in contemplation; it had come the time to take stock of his life. He was past the ‘struggle to stay alive’ stage, thankfully, but he still wasn’t fully back on his feet. He knew he didn’t want to spend his life working as a cleaning lady and sleeping on other people’s couch. But he had no papers, he couldn’t buy a car or rent an apartment, unless he did everything illegally. What would happen if he ever needed to go to the hospital, or if he were confronted by the police? What kind of live was he doomed to live? Dave sighed. Things were still messed up.

A frisbee landed on his lap, and before he had the time to react, a big dog jumped on him and made him lose his balance, pushing him into the fountain.
Dave drank some water, coughed and gasped for air, tried to get on his feet and fell back on his ass, splashing water all around, threw insults at dogs and their owners and finally emerged from the fountain. Every single person in the proximity was staring at him wide-eyed, and a group of boys even started whistling and shouting.
“The hell are you looking at?” Dave snarled at his audience, wringing out his wet hair.
A man approached Dave with a dishcloth and offered it to him. “Are you all right, girl? Do you need anything?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Muttered Dave. “Are you the dog owner?”
“No, no, I’m Gene, I own that hot dog stand down there.” The man said, pointing at a big, nice kiosk. “What’s your name? Can I offer you something to eat?”
“Ok… I guess. I’m Vivien.” Answered Dave, collecting his bags. He could use something to eat.
Dave sat at a table and dried himself as well as he could, still cursing the stupid mutt, oblivious that Gene was talking to him as he was preparing a hot dog. “So, what do you think?” The man asked, handing Dave a kielbasa.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was wondering If you wanted to work for me.”
“Work for you?”
“Yes, I could use some help with the stand, now that my son is gone for the summer. I can pay you five dollars per hour; the working shifts are pretty long, but there are some idle hours. Also, you’ll get two free meals a day.”
“Hell yeah!” Dave exclaimed. “But wait, I only work cash in hand.”
“All the better.” Gene smiled. “Eat now, before it gets cold.”
“Mmm, god, this is good.” Dave moaned, taking a bite of his hot dog.
“So, say… would you be ok wearing an uniform?”

Dave sat down on the bus seat, feeling happy for how the day had gone; he had scored a better payed job where he wouldn’t need to scrub dirty toilets, and all by chance. He didn’t even notice the lustful glances men were throwing at him, nor the reproaching glares of the women, until an old lady spoke up to scold him.
“Cover up yourself, you hussy!”
Dave was taken by surprise, and was about to answer back, but before the phrase “what the fuck is your problem, old bag?” could come out of his lips, the old lady pointed at his chest and added, “There are children and respectable people on this bus!”
Dave looked down and realized that his damp t-shirt was clinging at his boobs in an obscene manner and that everybody could see his nipples through the fabric. He immediately looked in the bag for a jeans jacket he had bought and put it on.
That was why the boys at the park were whistling at him; not in mockery, but because they could see his breasts. A doubt assailed him. Was that also the reason he was offered a job? Because he was a braless young woman with perky tits? Under Faith’s pressure, he had tried wearing bras, but they all felt uncomfortable; even sport bras bothered him. Maybe it was time to suck it up and get used to them.

When Dave tried on his new uniform, he realized his fears were well funded; the baby blue t-shirt was low-cut and tight, looking like it was about to explode under the pressure of his breasts, making his D cups look even bigger. The black pencil mini skirt that completed the outfit only reinforced his aversion to wearing that garment.
For a moment, Dave was tempted to send everything to hell and run away. Was it worth it, being sold as eye-candy in exchange of five dollars an hour and a couple of hot dogs? Back when he had been a boy, he had exploited his good looks to gain favours from girls, but now it was different, he was supposed to turn on men, a perspective he didn’t like one bit.
He grimaced. He used to call girls like that sluts, maybe a bit hypocritically, and now, apparently, he was about to become one of them.
“Are you ready in there?” Gene called. “We need to open the stand.”
Dave shrugged. He could do it. It wasn’t like he was going to flirt with the customers, he would just do his job professionally and handle himself with dignity.

In the following month, Dave did all he could to keep under control the feeling of shame and disgust for being ogled and teased by the men of every age who flocked to the stand. He beat into submission his caustic nature and refined the art of dry wit to keep saucy costumers in their place without offending them, even when all he wanted was serving them a knuckle sandwich.
The good thing was that, even though Dave wasn’t the friendliest server ever, nobody complained to the boss; on the contrary, he was often offered generous tips. The power of a pretty face and a good pair of knockers was undeniable.

Meanwhile, life at home was getting complicated; Faith had graduated from high school and had started working, but one beautiful day, her mother discovered that ‘waitress’ was actually her daughter’s code word for ‘stripper’.
How many mothers want their offspring to take off their clothes for a living? Yeah, exactly.
Rachel had even gone to Faith’s strip club and made such a scene the bumpers had to drag her out kicking and screaming, which, of course, didn’t sit well with her teenage daughter.
“Cherry Pop, that’s her stripper name, for heaven’s sake!” Exclaimed the shocked mother.
Well, still better than Red Hot Riding Wood. Thought Dave, but had the common sense not to say it out loud.

Rachel tried reasoning, cajoling, threatening, imploring, but nothing worked; no screams, no tears, no pleads could convince Faith to jack in her job. In fact, after her mother’s big scene, the girl decided to move to another place; since there was no way to make her change her mind, Rachel begged Dave to go with her barely legal daughter and keep an eye on her.
“Please, go with her, take care of her, she’s my baby.” She said crying, “And please, try to make her see reason.”
Not particularly thrilled by the idea, but not wanting to turn his back to a woman who had welcomed him in her house when he was on his knees, Dave accepted to move in with Faith.
The girl was in fact happy to live alone with ‘Vivien’, even though their new apartment was even smaller than the one they had left. They had one tiny bedroom, a small living room with a kitchenette and a non-existent bathroom.

“We’re going to have so much fun together!” Faith squealed. “Aren’t you excited?”
“Yeah… listen, about this whole thing…”
“Oh, no, you’re not going to lecture me too!”
“I’m not going to lecture you, I just want to understand why you decided to become a stripper. I mean, isn’t it… sleazy?” Was he really trying to convince a hot girl to keep her clothes on? Damn, he couldn’t even believe it himself. For a brief moment, Dave thought about his own situation, but quickly resolved that it was a very different thing. Faith had decided to become a sex worker, he was a normal server used by his boss for titillating the customers.
“What should I do? Break my back for a miserable pay like my mother does? She can only dream of the money I make in one night.”
“There are many things you could do. Enrol in college, maybe, or…”
“Who says I won’t do it, one day?” Faith bit back. “Stop talking nonsense, now, and let’s go out and have fun.”