akirali

Three months straight. For three months straight, Sean buried himself in his work. Not a difficult task for an IT specialist for a major corporation. All he really needed to do was to make himself available for the copious amounts of overtime that was always offered. Ordinarily he couldnt be bothered, but now work was his accomplice. It helped him forget about the fact that he was alone again. Steph was gone, and she wasnt coming back. She tried to ease the blow by saying that it was for the best, and they had just grown apart, but it didnt matter. Nothing she said could make his heart or apartment feel any less empty

From 8:00 am till 7:30 pm every weeknight since the break-up, Sean kept his head buried in his work. Troubleshooting wireless connections, maintaining network servers, and helping people who forgot their passwords for eleven and a half hours a day kept him occupied. It was boring, but kept his mind clear in a Zen-like way. The worst times were when he got back to his empty apartment at night. He could swear that her perfume was still lingering in the air. And if the wind blew just right, a curtain would flutter and float into his periphery, fooling his mind into thinking that Steph was still there. His back would ache when he lay down to sleep; the phantom pain of the body missing from his bed.

Sean was never one to rock the boat to begin with, but the fact that he was deeply depressed wore down his defenses even further. That can be the only explanation for why he accompanied the rest of the IT department out to Club Ragnarock one Friday night. Sean was never a fan of the concept of a strip club, or at least what he thought the concept was, since he had never been to one before. He made the mistake of sitting at the bar and thinking he could just buy a lager or two and sink into his thoughts for a little while. Unfortunately, the bar was where all the action was. The patrons crowded the area to get a look at the girls dancing on the stage, and the girls who werent dancing worked the men sitting at the bar for tips and offers of lap dances.

As the performers flashed breasts of all sizes to coax tips out of the men in the bar, Sean simply handed them singles and ignored them. The longer he sat at the bar, the more immune he became to the charms of the women that passed. None of the women were ugly by any stretch of the imagination, and there all seemed genuinely friendly. But Sean felt as though he always had a more unique taste in women, and none of the dancers that tried to talk to him were his type. Nonetheless, he knew that the club was first and foremost a business enterprise and he tipped them anyway. His co-workers good-naturedly brought dancers over to him to help him loosen up. He always played the game well. He would make a big show of being embarrassed and telling his co-workers that he was having a good time but just wanted to have a few drinks. Eventually they got the message.

After his third lager, Sean felt a slight tingling going up his back. At first, he thought that it was another psychosomatic symptom of missing Steph. He sighed as the tingling continued up his back, but as the sensation continued upwards and reached his neck, he knew he wasnt imagining it. The thin fingers caressing the back of his neck were very real. Startled, Sean quickly turned to see who it was. He locked eyes with a honey-blonde woman with the innocent face of an angel. She offered a bright, effortless smile and continued to caress Seans neck with one hand while holding his hand with the other.

Hi sweetheart, you want some company? Her voice was as beautiful, light and innocent as her face.

Sean didnt remember answering, but he must have, because she moved in closer to him.