Duality - Part 2

Part 2

“Vanessa... we need to talk...” Victoria stated, tears welling up in her eyes. Josh looked pretty upset too. From the look of it, Victoria's boyfriend was just as clueless as Vanessa was, so she knew that they were probably mad about her working nights.

It had been 6 months since she had been fired from her job at the gas station and hired at Georgi's Club – Hot and Bothered. Vanessa had never been there before that fateful night, but had always assumed that it was some sort of kinky sex club. She'd been wrong, but even so, the thought of confessing that she worked there to her sister made her dizzy.

Victoria would disapprove and then tell our mom! I'd be... she struggled to figure out what exactly she'd be. Grounded? Ostracized? Forced to quit?

None of them seemed like a good option...

Vanessa pushed her purse to the side nervously, wishing she could hide it. Did she look in my purse and see that I have a shitload of crumpled up money that I keep forgetting to exchange?

Victoria couldn't hold back her tears, they streamed down her face in tiny rivers. “I don't know how to tell you this, but...” She couldn't go on. She also couldn't look at her boyfriend, who was trying to comfort her; now utterly baffled.

Josh took Vanessa by the hand. “I came home yesterday, saw you sleeping and so went to take a shower. A few minutes later, Victoria came into the bathroom. I thought she was you and she thought I was Jacob...”

“We had sex!” Victoria wailed. “I didn't even bother to make sure I had the right twin! I'm so ashamed!”

Jacob looked hurt, but he wasn't saying anything at the moment. Vanessa frowned, tilting her head to the side.

“So let me get this straight. My boyfriend thought he was having sex with me, right?” Vanessa asked.

“Yes!” Josh confirmed, praying that she wouldn't get too mad at him.

“Okay, then what's the problem? We're identical. You're identical. Having sex with her is having sex with me,” Vanessa stated. She hadn't always felt this way. In fact she and Victoria had once made a pact to never sleep with each other's boyfriend's, but that hadn't always worked out. Once or twice, they had even shared a boyfriend...

Jacob snorted as if he had just been hit by mental clarity. “You know... I feel the same way. Do you have any idea how often I have had to sit and stare at the two of you until I could figure out which one was my girlfriend? And hell! Not even our mother can tell us apart! I can't blame you – Victoria – for thinking he was me.”

“But!” Victoria protested. “I should have asked! I should have made absolutely certain that I was with the right twin!”

“Me too,” Josh agreed, his voice thick with self-punishment.

Vanessa laughed. “Fine, if you want punishment, we can do this one of two ways. We can all break up and be miserable for the rest of our lives, or Jacob and I can have sex and then we'll be even.”

“Wait what?!” Josh demanded. “You want to have sex with my brother!”

Vanessa laughed again. “No! I love you, stupid! I want to have sex with you! But if you're going to beat yourself up over this, then I would rather do whatever it takes to prove to you that I understand. You made a mistake and you're sorry. I'm not going to punish you for thinking you were having sex with me!”

Jacob nodded in agreement, holding his girlfriend close and stroking her hair. “I love you so much.”

Victoria continued to cry, but her tone had changed to relief. “I don't deserve you!”

Vanessa kissed her boyfriend and then hugged her sister. “I know you're sorry. If you weren't, you would have simply kept it a secret, done it repeatedly, and prayed that I never found out.”

“But I feel so bad!” Victoria insisted.

Vanessa looked at the clock. Victoria had managed to keep her confession in until after dinner so that they weren't eating on an upset stomach, but now it was getting close to 7. Since this was when they thought Vanessa started work, she always left the apartment with enough time to get to work by then. This had the benefit of giving her plenty of time to get ready before her shift started at 8 pm.

“I gotta go!” Vanessa announced, kissing her sister on the cheek, kissing her boyfriend on the lips, and then hugging Jacob.

“Thanks for saying how I felt so that I didn't have to figure out how to say it myself,” Jacob said almost incomprehensibly. Vanessa smiled, nodded, and rushed out the door.

Josh sighed. “I know that we have plenty of time together between me coming home from school and her going to work, but I hate her working nights! I hate sleeping alone...”

Victoria gave him a sympathetic smile. “It won't be forever. Once she has enough seniority, she'll be able to switch to the day shift. Just be thankful that she has a job and we can afford to live here!”

“I am!” Josh insisted then sighed morosely. “I just want to spend more time with her...”

Jacob looked to the ceiling for inspiration, and then grinned when it worked. “I know, why don't we go have some fun? It's Friday night; there's karaoke at Short Stop.”

“You want to go out to a bar without Vanessa?” Josh asked unhappily.

“She works every weekend!” Jacob pointed out. “I'm sure she wouldn't want you to sit at home doing nothing because she's working. She'd want you to have a little bit of fun from time to time.”

“She would!” Victoria agreed.

Josh nodded with a sigh. “I guess...”

They all got ready to go, and then locked up their apartment as they left.

At Short Stop, they took turns singing, but it didn't feel right without Vanessa. For one, almost everyone else was drunk and they weren't 21 yet. Around 9:30, they gave up.

“Let's just go home...” Victoria muttered. They trudged home, a bit depressed that they didn't have any fun after all.

“Hey...” Jacob tapped Victoria on the arm. “Why don't we try going in there for a bit?”

Victoria looked where he was pointing and gasped. “We can't go in there! It's a sex club!”

“No it's not!” Josh laughed. “Trust me, we went in there once after we turned 18, thinking that we were going to see strippers.”

“No such luck,” Jacob added. “It's just a bar, but there's a bigger floor to dance on and it could be fun.”

“Fine...” Victoria sighed reluctantly, obviously not liking the idea.

They walked to the end of the line of people waiting to get in.

“Let's just go!” Victoria hissed quietly. “This line will take hours!”

The bouncer was standing on a small platform so he could see the line in case something happened. He saw them and pointed as he boomed loudly. “Hey you, get your butt up here!”

Victoria squeaked timidly, jumping in surprise. Jacob and Josh linked their arms through hers and practically dragged her forward.

“What are you doing out here? Get your ass inside!” The bouncer commanded her, holding the door open.

“What?” Victoria asked, baffled.

“Go!” The bouncer shouted. “And bring them with you if you must, just hurry!”

“What?” Victoria repeated as her boyfriend and his brother literally dragged her into the club.

“What the hell Vani? You're supposed to be on the floor tonight?” A scantily clad woman shouted at them as she rushed by.

“Did you decide to switch shifts with someone?” Another half-naked woman asked as she led them to an empty table. “Kudos on the hotties, by the way.”

“What are you talking about?” Victoria asked, finally able to say something.

The friendly hostess simply waved and promised to chat more later. Yet another costumed woman came up to them. She grinned at Josh and Jacob, then glared at Victoria.

“I don't care if you are sitting in my section. If you want something, just get it yourself, Vani! Why aren't you working anyway?” She didn't bother to wait for an answer, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and walked away.

“What is going on here?!” Victoria shouted to no one in particular.

“Hey Vani,” an older woman greeted. She looked confused. “Why aren't you in costume? You're supposed to be on the floor in like 5 seconds.”

Victoria felt like exploding, but before she could, the music changed.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, my girl Vani here just insulted me! She said that she can dance better than me any day of the week, but I think she's full of it. I know I can dance better than she can! So, what do you say? Will you be our judges?”

The crowd roared and a small space cleared on the middle of the dance floor. The woman holding the microphone was wearing a form fitting, shiny black, spandex cat suit complete with ears. Her hair was blonde, and she looked like she was probably a cheerleader back in high school. She bowed to the crowd appreciatively.

Vani grabbed the microphone. “Oh come on! Why do you have to humiliate yourself like this? I am going to win this and send you crying to your mama!”

“Wait, what?!” The woman standing next to Victoria – Georgi – spluttered as she pointed to Vani and then to Victoria several times in a row.

Victoria was too busy gaping at her sister to pay any attention to the incredulous woman.

Vanessa was wearing black leather boots that reached her thighs, a blood red, leather, corset-style teddy, and not much else. The two challengers each tried to out dance each other to the cheers of the crowd before giving up the contest.

“Looks like we both dance pretty well!” They stated, hugging each other. It was far more fun to finish the dance together after that.

“I think Vani wants to sing for us!” Her dance partner announced into the microphone when the song drew to a close.

On cue, the music changed and Vani grabbed the microphone. She grinned at a couple of guys surrounding her and then began her song.

“Spank my booty, come on and spank my booty. Spank my booty, spank my booty real good!” She shook her ass and bounced around as she sang.

Vani's partner unwound a whip from her waist and cracked it in her direction several times. She was careful not to hit anyone else.

“When I was a kid, I was a lazy child, always skipping school, I was real wild! My poor old dad, he went insane, because I'm his little bitch, and I'm in love with pain!” Vanessa sang the lyrics to a song she hadn't even known existed before working here.

“Go Candi!” A man from the crowd shouted, prompting Vanessa's partner to get closer. The two of them pressed their bodies together, rocking back and forth while Vanessa sang. Candi spanked Vanessa frequently with her hands, squeezing and pinching Vanessa's leather-clad cheeks.

“So my daddy, he spanked my butt! He turned me into his super spanky slut! I begged him for his mercy with tears in my eyes, he didn't know that he had just showed me paradise!”

Vanessa straddled Candi's legs – which were wide apart and slightly bent at the knee – so that she could bounce up and down suggestively. Candi pulled Vanessa closer and carried her to a relatively empty table where a half-dozen men sat roaring in encouragement.

“Spank my booty, come on and spank my booty. Spank my booty, spank my booty real good!”

Vanessa was now laying on her back on the table with her knees to her chest and Candi supervised as the guys each gave her a light pat on the ass. Candi eventually pushed them all away so that she could spread Vanessa's legs wide. She licked the leather and metal snaps covering Vanessa's womanhood, which made Vanessa arch her back as if in pleasure.

Georgi had forgotten all about the enigma sitting next to her as she watched the show. She loved when her party girls drove the crowd wild! She grinned as she watched her other girls refilling shot glasses and encouraging the customers to buy more.

Suddenly, the music changed, and a man shouted via a microphone, “Hey! You!”

Vanessa sat up and asked into her microphone, “Who me?”

“Yes you, get into my car!” Vani and Candi backed away from the table as two men swaggered onto the dance floor. They were dressed in tiny short shorts and muscle tees – all black. They were party boys and the women all started screaming in glee over the hunky, muscular, half naked men.

Vani and Candi circled the two men cautiously as the music played.

“Who's that lady, coming down the road? Who's that lady? Who's that woman walking through my door, what's the score? I'll be your sun, shining on you. Hey Cinderella, step in your shoe! I'll be your nonstop lover, get it while you can; your nonstop miracle, I'm you man! Get out of my dreams! Get into my car!”

Vani and Candi held the microphone between them, shaking their tits and singing singing, “Get into my car!” The four of them paired up and pressed their bodies together as the music changed once more.

“I was feeling done in, couldn't win. I'd only ever kissed before. I thought there's no use getting, into heavy petting, it only leads to trouble and seat wetting...” Vani sang.

“Now all I want to know is how to go. I've tasted blood and I want more. I'll put up no resistance, I want to stay the distance. I've got an itch to scratch, I need assistance!”

The four of them split apart in time for Vani to brace herself against the two party boys while Candi readied her whip.

“Toucha toucha touch me, I wanna be dirty! Whip me beat me mistreat me, knock me up tonight!” Vani sang, using the callback version of the lyrics. Candi cracked the whip a few times as the two men stroked Vani's body.

By this time, Josh was on his feet staring at Vanessa in open-mouthed shock. He had been for quite some time, but now managed to find his voice. “What the hell?!”

Geordi remembered that she was standing next to an enigma and returned her attention to them. “Sit down before you disturb my customers!”

Josh was too distracted to argue. He sank back into his chair, torn between drooling over his girlfriend and wanting to cry that she was making out with various members of the crowd now that the song was apparently over.

“Mandi!” Georgi snapped, calling the rude waitress over. “Get these customers each a beer!”

“Sure thing!” Mandi stated, disentangling herself from a table of customers to do as told.

Geordi sat down next to Victoria. “You look like you could be Vani's twin, and – judging by his reaction – he must be her boyfriend...”

“I... I'm Victoria,” she finally stated. She was also goggling in shock at her sister's behavior.

Josh grabbed Jacob's hand tightly, muttering. “I think my girlfriend is cheating on me...”

“Nope!” Geordi assured him. “At least not while she's here. This is all part of the show! It's an act.”

Mandi arrived with the beers. “Um...” She scratched her head in confusion and then looked toward the dance floor.

Geordi laughed. “I understand! Could you go ask Vani to come over here for a while? It's almost time for the next round of entertainment anyway.”

Sure enough, the party boys began singing an upbeat love song to the ladies on the dance floor. Mandi managed to get between Vani and the table of guys that had insisted that she come over and serve them a round of shots. Mandi had to wait for Vani to cave into the chanting cheers and down a shot then chase it with a beer before she could talk to her though.

“Woo!” Vani called out, shaking her head as if the tequila had been hard to swallow.

“Georgi wants you,” Mandi insisted, offering to take Vani's place so that Vani could head over to Mandi's section.

Babs stood between Vani and her destination, literally two feet in front of the table Georgi sat at. “Good job! Here's the tips from your section earlier.”

“Thanks!” Vani praised, stuffing the wad of cash into a fanny pack that rested in the small of her back. Babs vanished and Vanessa looked up to see her sister and boyfriend sitting with her boss. She gaped at them in shock.

“I just have one question,” Georgi announced sternly. “Can you convince your twin to work here too? Just imagine how many customers would nut in their pants if they saw the two of you dancing with each other!”

“Uh...” Vanessa hummed as she thought as quickly as she could. “I think I'm going to need to go home early tonight. Like right now!”

“Yep, I understand,” Georgi permitted. “But you had better be here on time tomorrow!”

“Yes ma'am!” Vanessa drawled flirtily, slipping back into character.

Georgi stood and smacked Vani on the ass. “Great performance! You had me dripping in my panties!”

“Thanks!” Vani accepted the compliment with a grin. She watched Georgi walk away for a moment, then turned to face the execution squad. “Uh... come on, let's go home so that I can explain.”

“You'd better explain!” Josh shouted.

Vanessa gestured for him to keep it down, and then smiled at the customers who had looked over to see what was going on. She turned to walk away, deciding to forget about changing. She'd walk home in her costume if it would get them out of the club even a moment sooner!

As she passed tables, customers would call out orders to her. This was mostly beers, so she simply grabbed an armload of bottles from a convenience cabinet and passed them out. She also made sure that the party girl assigned to each table saw her do this and nod, mentally adding it to the total for the table. A couple of customers handed her a tip in exchange for the bottles, which she pocketed.

Finally, she was out of the club. She sighed in relief and then smacked the bouncer on the ass as she left. “You let my sister in without carding her, didn't you?”

The bouncer frowned at her in confusion for a moment before noticing Victoria standing behind her. “OH! Oops...” He grimaced as he realized that his job could have been forfeit for allowing underage customers in after 9 pm on a Friday! Then he smiled when he realized that they were leaving.

Vanessa giggled. “It's okay, almost no one can tell us apart.”

“I heard that you kicked ass on the floor tonight,” the bouncer stated with a grin.

“Of course I did!” Vanessa replied, laughing. She waved goodbye to the bouncer and then beckoned her family to follow her.

Josh hastily removed his jacket and set it on her shoulders. “At least cover up while we walk home!”

Vanessa was tempted to laugh, but simply nodded instead. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and bit her lips as she wondered how to explain.

“I am so telling mom!” Victoria burst out. “You were acting like a total whore in there!”

“Acting yes!” Vanessa agreed defensively. “But I'm not! That's not what the job is. I'm a waitress and a performer. I mean look at me a bit closer, you can't see anything! I just look half naked...”

Victoria held her tongue since it was true. The two of them had worn less at the beach, except that they hadn't been pretending to have sex in front of an audience then.

Vanessa continued stating her case. “I don't strip and I don't do sexual favors for money. I just flirt with the customers, get touchy feely with my co-workers, and make a lot of money!”

“Have you cheated on me?” Josh demanded.

“No!” Vanessa assured him. “It just looks like we're messing around, but we're really not!” She stopped walking abruptly and put her hands on his face. “I love you.”

Josh sighed in relief. “I love you too, but I don't think I like this job of yours at all.”

“Yeah, whatever happened to the job you had?” Victoria asked.

“I got fired,” Vanessa admitted. “They let a bunch of people go, so I wasn't the only one, but it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.”

“How?!” Victoria asked incredulously.

“It worked out perfectly for me to get hired at Hot and Bothered,” Vanessa stated with a huge grin. “I love working there!”

They all digested this bit of information in silence for a few minutes as they finished walking back to their apartment.

“Vanessa... You can't work there!” Victoria insisted softly when they were in the privacy of their home.

“Why not?” Vanessa demanded.

“It's immoral!” Victoria insisted. “You may only be acting like a whore, but you're getting paid to do so, which is almost the same thing!”

“No it's not!” Vanessa cried out in protest.

“Look at you!” Victoria shouted. “Look at what you're wearing! Everything about you right now screams 'Come fuck me!'”

Vanessa growled in frustration, tossed Josh's jacket onto the hook reserved just for it, and then removed her fanny pack. She quickly counted out the tips she'd gotten tonight. Most of the money was dollar bills, but there were a couple of fives and one ten.

Altogether, she'd made $52, and that wasn't even counting what had been stuffed into her bodice as she danced with men and women on the floor. Had she finished her shift – which ended at 2 am, the bar closed at 1 and she had to help clean up a little – she probably would have made 3 or 4 times that! She pulled as much money as she could out of her bodice without taking it off. Another 17 dollars...

Vanessa tossed the money on the kitchen table. “There! I've just paid our phone bill! I only worked, hmm... 2 and a half hours tonight, and I've already paid a bill! That's not even counting what I get paid per hour!”

“It's dirty money!” Victoria protested.

“That dirty money has paid half our rent and bills for months!” Vanessa roared in frustration. “Argh! Whatever, I'm done talking about this! I love my job and I'm keeping it. End of discussion.”

“I'm telling mom!” Victoria screeched. “She'll make you quit it!”

Vanessa glared at her twin for a moment. “If you tell mom, I'll never forgive you... Besides, mom can't tell me what to do anymore!”

Victoria started crying. “Vanessa, it's breaking my heart to see you like this! I need mom to talk some sense into you...”

Vanessa took a deep breath and prepared to be ruthless. “You had sex with my boyfriend and I forgave you; why can't you just forgive me for working somewhere you don't approve and get over it already?”

Everyone shifted uncomfortably at that. Josh and Jacob both felt that Vanessa was being unfair by using this against Victoria after they had cleared the air already. Victoria cried quietly for a moment as she thought this over. Just when the air felt as heavy as it could get, she sighed.

“You're right... I'm sorry...” Victoria murmured, and then took Jacob's hand. “I think I'm going to bed now. See you tomorrow...”

Vanessa nodded. She felt like crying because she had hurt her sister so badly, but it needed to be said. Otherwise, they'd probably continue arguing about it all night.

“Come on...” Josh beckoned softly as he headed to their room. Vanessa followed her boyfriend, wondering just how mad he was at her.

Josh watched her pace their room for a few minutes before sighing. “I am angry that you lied to me – let me believe that you were still working at a gas station because you were too afraid to tell me the truth, but... I think I would rather sleep on this before I try to figure out how I feel...”

Vanessa nodded, grateful that he wasn't bitching her out too. She presented her back to him. With a sensuous gesture, she swept all her hair to one side.

“I need you to help me out of this,” she told him. “I can't untie it myself.”

Josh studied the sturdy cord holding the back of the tight corset together with a frown. “Then how do you get it on?”

“I get help, silly! The girls are always helping each other get dressed up – or changed out of our costumes at the end of the night. There's a shower in the locker room and I usually shower, dry my hair, and get dressed before coming home each night.”

Josh looked at the floor as he realized that this explained why he had never smelled the alcohol on her. It also explained why he couldn't recall her taking any showers in a while. With a sigh, he pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he concentrated on the task of unlacing her leather teddy.

“Oh God! This is so hot!” He gasped as what she was wearing took prominence in his mind again.

Vanessa chuckled wryly. “I know...”

It occurred to Josh that she was going to be in their bed on a Friday night for once. He grinned and swept her off her feet the moment she was naked.

“No more talking for tonight,” he insisted.

She murmured in agreement, kissing him. “No more talking...”