As the weekend approached, I got more and more nervous about seeing Bette outside of school and outside of her sexy car.  I was going to hang out with Bette and her friends at an undisclosed place.

After friending her on Facebook, we exchanged numbers.   She texted me immediately.  It was harder for me to talk to her face to face, so using texts was so much easier.  Especially now that I knew she thought I was cute.

Friday night, Bette texted me to tell me she would be outside my house soon.  She blew the horn and I jetted out of my room.

“Mom, I’m gone!”  I called out.

“Tina!  Come back!”  I followed her voice to the kitchen, “Who exactly are you going out with?”

“Some girls from school—Bette, Shane, Alice, and Dana.”

“And where are you going?”

I shrugged because, honestly, I didn’t know where we were going, “I’m not sure.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know!  I’ll check in around 2.  Okay?”

“Okay.” I kissed my mother on the cheek.

“I know you’re worried but, you don’t have to be.  I’m in good hands.”

And I wondered if those hands of hers were really good.  I got into Bette’s car.  Top was up in her car now.  It was a chilly night.  I felt comfortable in Bette’s car—I just felt comfortable with her, I guess.  The scent of her had become familiar to me that if I were to smell something similar, my mind would go directly to her.

“Hey, are you all set to go?” Bette asked.

“Yeah.  Where are we headed?”

“I have to pick up the rest of the girls and then Shane said she would get us into Sugar’s.”

“What’s Sugar’s?” I smile, “It sounds kind of sleazy.”  I watched Bette laugh, becoming quickly intoxicated by her guffaw.

“Well, your perceptions seems to be amazing because Sugar’s is a strip club.  I hope you’re okay with that?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine.” I said, swallowing the fear I had about sitting inside a strip club.

“Uh oh.”

“What?”

“You’re scared.”

“I am not…”