Striptease: Chapter 1: As If He Never Existed
Title: Striptease By AngelStardust
Chapter: 1. As If He Never Existed
Genre: New Moon - Angst / Hurt/Comfort
Characters: Bella, Edward, Emmett, Jasper, ALice, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, Tanya, Mike, OC
Details: Canon, AU, OOC
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Strong Language, Dark Themes, Violence, Sexual Content, Sexual Assault, Drug Use, Illegal Activities,
Post Word Count: 2189
Status: Work In Progress
Beta'd By: xrxdanixrx
Summary: "After that fateful 18th birthday of Bella's, Edward decided it was best to leave Bella. She needed to live a "normal" human life. Though, he never imagined where she would be a year later. With every action comes a reaction."
Banner By: xrxdanixrx
A/N: Ahh now the story begins. This chapter was a joy to write, albeit a little complicated. But that's what I enjoy.
Thank you to my amazing friend and Beta xrxdanixrx!!! Love you hun!!
Stephenie Meyer owns all. I can only hope that my fic lives up to the standard!!!
1. As If He Never Existed
"Hey darlin'."
I looked up to see Pete's tall, well built frame leaning up against the door with his shoulder length dark brown hair pulled back into a loose pony-tail. He was dressed in his nice jeans, with a layered green t-shirt that contrasted well with his creamy russet brown skin, and converse. He was looking worried. Probably about me. He always worries about me, ever since I first met him at the Laundromat.
***
I was at the back of the Laundromat putting in my last load of laundry. How Mike had so much laundry I didn't know. Not like I really cared. Not like I could really do anything about it either.
I stood there trying to hold back the tears.
I had been so happy over a year ago, how had my life gone so wrong?
Oh, that's why.
He left me.
I tried not to think too much about that so I pushed it back into the closet of my mind. Not like my life got any better after that, though I'd tried. But now, I'm just trying to survive living in Seattle.
I started the wash and watched it go around for a few minutes trying not to think of anything, but then some of the colors started forming into two dots of topaz.
Ugh.
Wrenching myself away I sat down, wincing as I did so. Lifting up my shirt slightly to look at my right ribcage, I cringed at the deep bruise starting to form there. I shook my head.
That'll be there for a while.
"Scuse me, Miss, but I couldn’t help but notice that bruise…" The voice trailed off as I looked up into the face of a man about fifteen years older than me, hastily pulling my shirt down.
"It's nothing really...I fell into my vanity this morning…" Lying became easy after a while.
He looked at me for a few moments, probably trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. I tried to put a smile on my face, but I think it came out as more of a grimace. He sighed and sat down next to me.
"My name's Pete. Pete Dennison. I own the strip club down the street, Déjà Vu." I must have given him a look of disgust because he hastily followed with, "Now, I know what you must be thinking, that I'm a sleazy douche trying to get into your pants, but I can assure you, I'm not. I'm a happily married man."
He flashed his wedding band. "In fact, she co-owns the club with me." He laughed while I frowned. Was this guy for real? He looked trustworthy, but I remembered what happened the last time I thought that about somebody. I cringed, oh yeah, that happened twice and I was still stuck with one.
I thought that you deserved it.
I do, doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it. I don’t deserve happiness.
He continued, bringing me out of my thoughts. "I just own the club cause my brother gave it to me. Brings in good money." He smiled, and it was warm. I just nodded, not sure what to say. "Where you from?"
"Originally Forks, but I moved here with my boyfriend a couple months ago. I'm looking for a job." Ugh, word vomit with a complete stranger. I shifted in my seat so that I wasn’t putting pressure on the bruises on my back.
"You're not in school?" He looked truly concerned, which was shocking. It'd been a while since anyone had been concerned.
"No, I waited too long to apply, and I didn’t have the money anyway." I shrugged, "I can always go later I guess."
He frowned, thinking for a few moments. I looked down at my hands in my lap and sighed. They were looking thin, being poor was taking its toll.
"It'll be ok," I tried to reassure myself. I looked at the clock, it was twelve-thirty and Mike would be getting home in a few hours from work.
"Look, why don’t you come work at the club. And I know what you're thinking, 'if I take this, I'll be stuck there forever.' But, I want to help you. Take this job and I'll help you get into school." He paused for a second looking me over. "And I wanna help you get away from whatever caused you that," he said, pointing at where the bruise was.
Heh, Mike would love this. I cringed at the thought.
Why not? It was a job. Better than staying at home, the hours were sure to be long.
"Sure, why not?"
***
"Hey Pete, what's up?" I shivered at the light breeze that blew through the back alley. The weather was close to changing into fall, and it had just stopped raining. I pulled my too big sweater around my body.
"Hey, what the hell happened to your eye, Bell? If he laid another hand on you I swe-"
"I'll be fine Pete… don’t worry." I shrugged. "A little make-up will cover it. I'll have Kris help me out." I so didn't need to get into this, today; I just wanted to get in there and get ready for work. Put real life on the back burner. I was good at that. But Pete, being the Guardian Angel he is, wouldn’t let it go. He was like the big brother I never had. He reminded me of… no; don't need to go there.
"No, Bell, why haven't you left that son of a bitch? He's done you more harm than good. In the three months I've known you, you've been in the hospital five times. And don’t tell me you're clumsy! I know you're clumsy, but not that clumsy, Bella. Be serious! And look at you, your clothes barely fit anymore…" His words started running together. I didn’t want to hear them. I knew I was deteriorating, but I couldn’t seem to snap out of it. I felt I deserved this hell. If I wasn’t good enough for them, I wasn’t good enough period.
I started walking into the club when he stopped me. "Are you even listening?" He'd stopped yelling. "Bell, are you using?"
That question stopped me short, and I turned to look into his brown eyes. "Pete, you know I'm not like that…"
Liar.
He doesn’t need to know that. No one needed to know.
He grabbed my arm as I averted my eyes. "Bella, I'm serious. Drugs don’t solve your problems."
They did in my case. No one had delusionslike I did, not to mention the nightmares that had me waking up in a sweat at night.
"I'm fine, Pete." I shrugged him off and walked into the club, letting the scents of perfume and incense wash over me. I was thankful that the club only opened at night, it took my mind off other things I didn’t want to think about.
I walked through the backstage area to the dressing rooms to find Kris, Pete's wife, hanging up the lingerie for the night. Her waist length black hair and bangs contrasting with her pale skin made her look like she practiced the occult, but I knew well that she didn’t. She was a few inches taller than me and thin. I thought she was pretty. Kris, like Pete, is my second guardian angel. I knew that I could go to either of them for anything, should I need it. More often than not they would try to get me to stay in their guest bedroom to get away from home, but why would I need to when I had a perfectly good place to live already?
She looked up at me from the pile of skimpy clothing and smiled. "Hey Bella, you're here early."
"Yeah, I-I just needed to get out is all… I didn’t have anything to do." I looked down and heaved a sigh. I wasn’t hiding anything today. I could tell that much.
"C'mere, sweetie. Everything'll be ok. I promise you that much." She opened her arms and I walked into them, feeling her hold me tightly. I sniffed trying to hold back the tears.
"Sweetheart you need to start eating more, look at you." She pushed me away to examine my frame. I knew what she saw. I barely ate anymore; I just wasn’t hungry most of the time. At least I didn’t look like a skeleton.
Yet.
"I know, Kris, I know… I'll grab a burger or something after work." She didn’t believe me. The truth was every time I ate it would just make me remember lunchtime in high school watching the Cullen's barely touching their food. It made me-
I thought they were just a dream, that they were never real.
You're right, what was I thinking?
I sat my stuff down and pulled out my makeup case from my station while looking at myself in the mirror.
Yeesh.
I looked like a…no. I wasn’t pale enough. Ugh, I needed to reign in my subconscious. If I didn’t, I'd start imagining them again and god knows what else. I waited till Kris left the room to go to the bathroom. I didn’t need Kris finding out too.
After I got my nail file and a five dollar bill out of my purse, I went into one of the stalls and locked the door while pulling a zip lock bag out of my pocket. I poured some of the powder out on the back of the toilet and used my nail file to push it into a line. After I rolled the five up I bent down and snorted it, and started coughing. I could already feel it starting to work; I had to stand a minute to adjust. I took my carmex out of my pocket and squeezed a little on my finger to moisten the inside of my nose.
"Bella? You ok in there?" I heard the door crack open a bit.
Fuck.
I hastily flushed the toilet and stashed my stuff back in my pocket. "Yeah, Kris. I'm fine. I'll be right out; I need your assistance with my make-up tonight. I'm sure you noticed."
Who wouldn’t?
"Yeah, hun, I didn’t want to say anything though. Hurry out." I heard the door close, mentally preparing myself by taking a deep breathbefore walking out into the dressing room.
A couple girls had arrived and I quickly said hi, and then sat down at my station. I took out my makeup just as Kris walked up with my outfit. "Blue tonight, huh?" Just what I needed, something to remind me of him. Today just wasn’t working out well. Maybe I was starting to become numb to the drugs, which was a bad sign.
You're over-thinking. Just chill out!
You're right.
"It looks good on you. Now, hand me your concealer and cover-up. I'm gonna make that go away." It took a good ten minutes and then I was able to get into my costume and finish my make-up and hair.
Wow, not half bad, Swan. Maybe enough to get some compliments tonight.
I smirked in-to the mirror at my reflection, gaining what little confidence I had, and walked out just as Kris said, "Bella gets the center pole tonight girls; Pete's orders."
I heard groans, but not like they could do anything about it. I knew I was starting to climb up the ladder to becoming a featured dancer, but I had no idea how far up I'd gotten.
I snorted. If only Charlie could see me now. He'd kill me. Though, it wasn’t like we were buddies anymore, as we'd had a falling out after I realized I'd been dreaming for almost six months. He thought I was insane. Though, I didn’t blame him. I guess I'd made the Cullen's up to make Forks more interesting to me. It was either that, or be bored out of my mind living there. Of course it ended up biting me in the ass anyway.
Right and you're also a descendant of Cleopatra.
Whose side are you on?
Your subconscious doesn’t pick sides.
I shook my head; I'd fall off the pole if I wasn’t focused. The music was already pumping as I walked over to the middle pole in the center of the room. The room was like a large rectangle. It had a stage with poles along it on the long side: four poles on platforms, 2 on each side, and the center pole for the nights featured dancer. The room itself was painted black with bright pink and purple curtains hung every couple feet along to hide the private rooms. Chandeliers dangled from the ceiling and neon strips of multicolored lights lined the seams of the walls and along the platforms and stage.
I walked up to my pole with a little more confidence than usual to start warming up before the customers started coming in. Pete caught my eye. He winked and mouthed, "Do me proud."
I smiled back. I would do my best.
This night had better be good.
« Previous Chapter Master Chapter List Striptease On Twilighted.net | Striptease On Fanfiction.net
A/N: Alright, what do you think? Poor Bella!!! Please review!!! I love hearing from you, it really keeps me writing!!!!
Chapter: 1. As If He Never Existed
Genre: New Moon - Angst / Hurt/Comfort
Characters: Bella, Edward, Emmett, Jasper, ALice, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, Tanya, Mike, OC
Details: Canon, AU, OOC
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Strong Language, Dark Themes, Violence, Sexual Content, Sexual Assault, Drug Use, Illegal Activities,
Post Word Count: 2189
Status: Work In Progress
Beta'd By: xrxdanixrx
Summary: "After that fateful 18th birthday of Bella's, Edward decided it was best to leave Bella. She needed to live a "normal" human life. Though, he never imagined where she would be a year later. With every action comes a reaction."
Banner By: xrxdanixrx
A/N: Ahh now the story begins. This chapter was a joy to write, albeit a little complicated. But that's what I enjoy.
Thank you to my amazing friend and Beta xrxdanixrx!!! Love you hun!!
Stephenie Meyer owns all. I can only hope that my fic lives up to the standard!!!
1. As If He Never Existed
"Hey darlin'."
I looked up to see Pete's tall, well built frame leaning up against the door with his shoulder length dark brown hair pulled back into a loose pony-tail. He was dressed in his nice jeans, with a layered green t-shirt that contrasted well with his creamy russet brown skin, and converse. He was looking worried. Probably about me. He always worries about me, ever since I first met him at the Laundromat.
***
I was at the back of the Laundromat putting in my last load of laundry. How Mike had so much laundry I didn't know. Not like I really cared. Not like I could really do anything about it either.
I stood there trying to hold back the tears.
I had been so happy over a year ago, how had my life gone so wrong?
Oh, that's why.
He left me.
I tried not to think too much about that so I pushed it back into the closet of my mind. Not like my life got any better after that, though I'd tried. But now, I'm just trying to survive living in Seattle.
I started the wash and watched it go around for a few minutes trying not to think of anything, but then some of the colors started forming into two dots of topaz.
Ugh.
Wrenching myself away I sat down, wincing as I did so. Lifting up my shirt slightly to look at my right ribcage, I cringed at the deep bruise starting to form there. I shook my head.
That'll be there for a while.
"Scuse me, Miss, but I couldn’t help but notice that bruise…" The voice trailed off as I looked up into the face of a man about fifteen years older than me, hastily pulling my shirt down.
"It's nothing really...I fell into my vanity this morning…" Lying became easy after a while.
He looked at me for a few moments, probably trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. I tried to put a smile on my face, but I think it came out as more of a grimace. He sighed and sat down next to me.
"My name's Pete. Pete Dennison. I own the strip club down the street, Déjà Vu." I must have given him a look of disgust because he hastily followed with, "Now, I know what you must be thinking, that I'm a sleazy douche trying to get into your pants, but I can assure you, I'm not. I'm a happily married man."
He flashed his wedding band. "In fact, she co-owns the club with me." He laughed while I frowned. Was this guy for real? He looked trustworthy, but I remembered what happened the last time I thought that about somebody. I cringed, oh yeah, that happened twice and I was still stuck with one.
I thought that you deserved it.
I do, doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it. I don’t deserve happiness.
He continued, bringing me out of my thoughts. "I just own the club cause my brother gave it to me. Brings in good money." He smiled, and it was warm. I just nodded, not sure what to say. "Where you from?"
"Originally Forks, but I moved here with my boyfriend a couple months ago. I'm looking for a job." Ugh, word vomit with a complete stranger. I shifted in my seat so that I wasn’t putting pressure on the bruises on my back.
"You're not in school?" He looked truly concerned, which was shocking. It'd been a while since anyone had been concerned.
"No, I waited too long to apply, and I didn’t have the money anyway." I shrugged, "I can always go later I guess."
He frowned, thinking for a few moments. I looked down at my hands in my lap and sighed. They were looking thin, being poor was taking its toll.
"It'll be ok," I tried to reassure myself. I looked at the clock, it was twelve-thirty and Mike would be getting home in a few hours from work.
"Look, why don’t you come work at the club. And I know what you're thinking, 'if I take this, I'll be stuck there forever.' But, I want to help you. Take this job and I'll help you get into school." He paused for a second looking me over. "And I wanna help you get away from whatever caused you that," he said, pointing at where the bruise was.
Heh, Mike would love this. I cringed at the thought.
Why not? It was a job. Better than staying at home, the hours were sure to be long.
"Sure, why not?"
***
"Hey Pete, what's up?" I shivered at the light breeze that blew through the back alley. The weather was close to changing into fall, and it had just stopped raining. I pulled my too big sweater around my body.
"Hey, what the hell happened to your eye, Bell? If he laid another hand on you I swe-"
"I'll be fine Pete… don’t worry." I shrugged. "A little make-up will cover it. I'll have Kris help me out." I so didn't need to get into this, today; I just wanted to get in there and get ready for work. Put real life on the back burner. I was good at that. But Pete, being the Guardian Angel he is, wouldn’t let it go. He was like the big brother I never had. He reminded me of… no; don't need to go there.
"No, Bell, why haven't you left that son of a bitch? He's done you more harm than good. In the three months I've known you, you've been in the hospital five times. And don’t tell me you're clumsy! I know you're clumsy, but not that clumsy, Bella. Be serious! And look at you, your clothes barely fit anymore…" His words started running together. I didn’t want to hear them. I knew I was deteriorating, but I couldn’t seem to snap out of it. I felt I deserved this hell. If I wasn’t good enough for them, I wasn’t good enough period.
I started walking into the club when he stopped me. "Are you even listening?" He'd stopped yelling. "Bell, are you using?"
That question stopped me short, and I turned to look into his brown eyes. "Pete, you know I'm not like that…"
Liar.
He doesn’t need to know that. No one needed to know.
He grabbed my arm as I averted my eyes. "Bella, I'm serious. Drugs don’t solve your problems."
They did in my case. No one had delusionslike I did, not to mention the nightmares that had me waking up in a sweat at night.
"I'm fine, Pete." I shrugged him off and walked into the club, letting the scents of perfume and incense wash over me. I was thankful that the club only opened at night, it took my mind off other things I didn’t want to think about.
I walked through the backstage area to the dressing rooms to find Kris, Pete's wife, hanging up the lingerie for the night. Her waist length black hair and bangs contrasting with her pale skin made her look like she practiced the occult, but I knew well that she didn’t. She was a few inches taller than me and thin. I thought she was pretty. Kris, like Pete, is my second guardian angel. I knew that I could go to either of them for anything, should I need it. More often than not they would try to get me to stay in their guest bedroom to get away from home, but why would I need to when I had a perfectly good place to live already?
She looked up at me from the pile of skimpy clothing and smiled. "Hey Bella, you're here early."
"Yeah, I-I just needed to get out is all… I didn’t have anything to do." I looked down and heaved a sigh. I wasn’t hiding anything today. I could tell that much.
"C'mere, sweetie. Everything'll be ok. I promise you that much." She opened her arms and I walked into them, feeling her hold me tightly. I sniffed trying to hold back the tears.
"Sweetheart you need to start eating more, look at you." She pushed me away to examine my frame. I knew what she saw. I barely ate anymore; I just wasn’t hungry most of the time. At least I didn’t look like a skeleton.
Yet.
"I know, Kris, I know… I'll grab a burger or something after work." She didn’t believe me. The truth was every time I ate it would just make me remember lunchtime in high school watching the Cullen's barely touching their food. It made me-
I thought they were just a dream, that they were never real.
You're right, what was I thinking?
I sat my stuff down and pulled out my makeup case from my station while looking at myself in the mirror.
Yeesh.
I looked like a…no. I wasn’t pale enough. Ugh, I needed to reign in my subconscious. If I didn’t, I'd start imagining them again and god knows what else. I waited till Kris left the room to go to the bathroom. I didn’t need Kris finding out too.
After I got my nail file and a five dollar bill out of my purse, I went into one of the stalls and locked the door while pulling a zip lock bag out of my pocket. I poured some of the powder out on the back of the toilet and used my nail file to push it into a line. After I rolled the five up I bent down and snorted it, and started coughing. I could already feel it starting to work; I had to stand a minute to adjust. I took my carmex out of my pocket and squeezed a little on my finger to moisten the inside of my nose.
"Bella? You ok in there?" I heard the door crack open a bit.
Fuck.
I hastily flushed the toilet and stashed my stuff back in my pocket. "Yeah, Kris. I'm fine. I'll be right out; I need your assistance with my make-up tonight. I'm sure you noticed."
Who wouldn’t?
"Yeah, hun, I didn’t want to say anything though. Hurry out." I heard the door close, mentally preparing myself by taking a deep breathbefore walking out into the dressing room.
A couple girls had arrived and I quickly said hi, and then sat down at my station. I took out my makeup just as Kris walked up with my outfit. "Blue tonight, huh?" Just what I needed, something to remind me of him. Today just wasn’t working out well. Maybe I was starting to become numb to the drugs, which was a bad sign.
You're over-thinking. Just chill out!
You're right.
"It looks good on you. Now, hand me your concealer and cover-up. I'm gonna make that go away." It took a good ten minutes and then I was able to get into my costume and finish my make-up and hair.
Wow, not half bad, Swan. Maybe enough to get some compliments tonight.
I smirked in-to the mirror at my reflection, gaining what little confidence I had, and walked out just as Kris said, "Bella gets the center pole tonight girls; Pete's orders."
I heard groans, but not like they could do anything about it. I knew I was starting to climb up the ladder to becoming a featured dancer, but I had no idea how far up I'd gotten.
I snorted. If only Charlie could see me now. He'd kill me. Though, it wasn’t like we were buddies anymore, as we'd had a falling out after I realized I'd been dreaming for almost six months. He thought I was insane. Though, I didn’t blame him. I guess I'd made the Cullen's up to make Forks more interesting to me. It was either that, or be bored out of my mind living there. Of course it ended up biting me in the ass anyway.
Right and you're also a descendant of Cleopatra.
Whose side are you on?
Your subconscious doesn’t pick sides.
I shook my head; I'd fall off the pole if I wasn’t focused. The music was already pumping as I walked over to the middle pole in the center of the room. The room was like a large rectangle. It had a stage with poles along it on the long side: four poles on platforms, 2 on each side, and the center pole for the nights featured dancer. The room itself was painted black with bright pink and purple curtains hung every couple feet along to hide the private rooms. Chandeliers dangled from the ceiling and neon strips of multicolored lights lined the seams of the walls and along the platforms and stage.
I walked up to my pole with a little more confidence than usual to start warming up before the customers started coming in. Pete caught my eye. He winked and mouthed, "Do me proud."
I smiled back. I would do my best.
This night had better be good.
« Previous Chapter Master Chapter List Striptease On Twilighted.net | Striptease On Fanfiction.net
A/N: Alright, what do you think? Poor Bella!!! Please review!!! I love hearing from you, it really keeps me writing!!!!