Page 10 of Very Special Forces

"It'snot stripper sexy."

"I'm nota stripper!"

"Oh,yeah. I thought it was implied. Do you have anything else withyou?"

"No."

"Thismight not work." She waved a hand over my outfit again. I lookeddown, wondering exactly what was wrong with it. "You might falloff. I guess we'll find out." She turned around and pulled the dooropen, skipping towards the workout rooms.

"Wait!What?" I yelled after her. "Fall off what?" Lily didn't turn aroundso I hurried after her, a slightly sick feeling building in mystomach. What exactly had Lily signed me up for? And why the fudgehadn't I checked the small print, or asked if there was smallprint? In all the years Lily and I had been friends, I reallyshould have known better than to blithely go along with hersuggestion of a new gym class but I'd operated under the impressionmarriage and motherhood had chilled her out. Silly me. A nuclearbomb couldn't chill Lily out.

Istepped through the door into the workout room a few seconds afterLily and immediately halted. This was no dance class. At least itwasn't the hip-hop, salsa, Zumba, cardio-toning-hybrid-whateverclass I envisioned. No. The room was fitted out with a dozenfloor-to-ceiling poles, each currently being claimed by women inbooty shorts and tiny bra tops. No, scratch that. There was one manand his thighs were the tautest of all, catching more than a fewenvious glances.

Thefront of the class was wall-to-wall mirror with a sound systemstacked in one corner. The woman currently bent in half and tyingher sneakers stretched, flexed more abs than the average six-pack,and began to fiddle with the portable audio speaker in her fannypack.

A coldfeeling washed through me. I hurried over to Lily who was clutchinga pole in the middle of the class. "Grab that pole," she said,jabbing a finger at the one next to her.

"Isthis..." I gasped, hardly able to bring myself to utter the words."Pole dancing?" I squeaked finally.

"Hell,no," snorted Lily. "This is vertical dancing with core workout. Ithas a fancier name but I forgot what it is."

"Poledancing," I squeaked again.

"No—"Lily wrinkled her nose "—it's definitely vertical dancesomething."

"There'sa pole and no one is wearing more than ten inches of spandex.That's pole dancing."

"No,that involves lingerie and not a lot of it."

"Potato,potahto."

"Nocarbs until after the wedding," said Lily. "We can grab a saladafter or a green smoothie at the gym's smoothie bar. Lots ofnutrients. Your wedding dress, here we come!"

Igulped.

"Lexi?"

Istilled. Someone behind me had not only recognized me but brokenthe sanctity of my gym time and announced it. Even worse, whoeverit was probably thought I'd willingly signed up to learn how topole dance. No, wait, they must have also signed up for it so theycouldn't judge me. I turned, already inwardly cringing. "Jas?" Isqueaked as I saw my client from earlier in the day. Gone were thebusiness chic clothes, replaced with running shorts and a pristinewhite crop top that shone against her brown skin.

"Hi,"she said, smiling in a bemused sort of way. "Have you done thisclass before?"

I shookmy head. "First time. Lily signed me up," I said, pointing anaccusing finger at Lily. Lily beamed.

"Ustoo," said Jas. "This is my friend, Julia." She waved to her friendat the pole next to her. The woman placed her water bottle andtowel at the base of the pole and jogged over. "Julia, this isLexi. She's an old acquaintance of mine."

"That'sright," I agreed readily.

"Hey,"said Julia, smiling and holding her hand up for a finger wave. "I'mnot a member of this gym but Jas persuaded me that it would be funto try some new classes and here I am."

"If youlike this, twerking for beginners is on Sunday morning," calledLily. Unfortunately, she wasn't joking.

"I go tochurch on Sunday," said Julia.

"It'svery early so if you're Catholic you can ask for forgiveness rightafter," said Lily. "It's very popular."

"Itsounds like fun," said Julia, a wistful edge to her voice, "butI'll be spending all weekend trying to find a new venue for myengagement party." She waggled her hand, flashing a very largediamond ring. Lily and I made the appropriate admiring cooingnoises and Julia beamed.

"When'sthe party?" asked Lily.

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