Freshers Ch. 04

"Oh, it was a rush all right!" Phil chuckled. "Everything rushed right into my cock! I was harder than I'd ever been before! I remember thinking at the time, thank God I had put my best pants on that morning - the spell would've immediately have been broken if those girls had seen me in my tatty old Y-Fronts!

"So anyway, there I was, having got down to just my boxers, standing right in front of the birthday girl. Now, at this point I should point out something that I hadn't been made aware of when I agreed to strip for them. You see, with you girls there is a very strict policy of "look, but don't touch," but male strippers aren't usually afforded that same consideration."

"What? You mean?" I said with a little gasp of shock.

"Yup, as soon as my boxers were off, the birthday girl's hands were all over me!" Phil confirmed. "And I mean all over me! In no time at all she had my dick in one hand and my balls in the other, and she began stroking me. And it felt, well, absolutely electrifying, to tell you the truth!"

"I can't believe they'd do that!" I gasped as I finished dressing myself. "I mean, touching you there like that without asking - how disrespectful!"

However, as soon as I said those words I was hit by a sudden and very vivid recollection of me taking Tommy's speedos down when we were on holiday in France, and doing the exact same thing to him that those girls had done to Phil without asking him if it was okay. I immediately chastised myself for saying that last sentence, realising that I was maintaining a double-standard.

"Well, that's just how it is," Phil shrugged. "I guess it's a bit sexist and all that, I mean, if one of those lads had touched you out there just now, he'd be spending the night in the cells. And that'd be just the beginning - you could have him charged with molesting you and he'd be looking at a stretch at Her Majesty's pleasure! But if you did the exact same thing to me, well, suddenly it's no crime at all."

"A bit sexist?" I said as Phil handed my bag back to me. "I'd say it's very sexist more like!"

"Well, maybe," Phil shrugged once more. "It was just a good job that on that occasion I was actually enjoying having that girl stroking me! Anyway, to cut a long story short, her housemates all enjoyed the show and in no time at all they began to spread the word about me. Elaine and I sort of went into business together - she acted as my agent, and would handle all my bookings, and so began my career as a professional male stripper.

"Oh yes, over the years that followed I'd been caressed and groped by literally hundreds of women. And of course, it wasn't long before one client took things beyond mere touching."

"What? You mean she?"

"Wanked me off?" Phil answered, anticipating the rest of my shocked question. "Her hand was pumping my dick as though she was milking a cow! Of course, I came in no time at all, and pretty soon her face was literally covered in my cum! I should've been mortified by the whole thing, but the cheer those girls cried out as I came sort of ignited some kind of primal masculine sense of pride in me. Far from being embarrassed, I was feeling like the manliest man who ever lived!"

Now that I was fully decent once more, we slipped out of the back door and into the yard outside to the rear of the pub.

"So you see, I've been there myself," Phil went on as we left the premises. "So I know exactly what it's like for you girls. Now that my stripping days are over, these days I escort you girls to make sure you're all safe. The last thing Elaine wants is for any of her girls to come to harm."

"So, the daytime stuff, the promotional stuff we do, is that all just a cover for the stripping business?" I asked as we rounded a corner back onto the street.

"No, it's just another aspect of her little business empire," Phil replied. "The stripping thing came first, but the promotions side of the business came later. Elaine uses the promotional stuff to gauge how open-minded a girl is to doing something more daring - she would never have offered the 'overtime' work to you if she wasn't one hundred percent certain that you had what it takes."

"Well, I guess it's nice to know that she thinks highly of me, considering I've only been here a couple of months," I replied.

I liked Phil - liked him a lot, in fact - but not in that way, I only had eyes for Tommy after all. But Phil was such a kind and gentle guy and it was nice to know I always had someone of his stature looking out for me when I was on a stripping job. Truth be told, I was enjoying the whole rush of it all - it was an entirely different kind of feeling to being naked in a room of my fellow naturists - it was more visceral, more daring, more exciting, and besides, it wasn't that much different to what Tommy was doing, right?

* * * * * *

Well, I soon had an answer to that question later that evening. Phil escorted me home, being the concerned gentleman that he was, and he stayed parked outside until he saw me safely indoors before making his own way home. As I entered, I could hear the TV in the living room - some late night arts review show was on. I didn't really fancy watching it myself - what I really wanted at that moment was a nice long soak in the bath, but alas, it was not to be.

"Terri? Is that you?" I heard Beth call to me from the living room.

"Yes!" I called back in confirmation.

"Can you come in here for a minute?" my friend asked me.

"Er, well I was just about to run myself a bath - long day and all, y'know," I replied.

"I think that can wait a while," Beth said as she came into the kitchen, her arms crossed against her chest in an authoritative manner. "I think we need to have a talk."

Uh-oh!

"Er, do we?" I replied cautiously. "What about?"

"I think you bloody well know!" Beth responded crossly. "Why did you lie to us, Terri?"

"Lie to you? What am I supposed to have lied to you about?" I said, my heart beating fast in my chest as I clutched on to the hope that Beth wasn't about to confirm what I was dreading she'd discovered.

"You know damned well what this is about! We were there, Tommy and I," she said, looking me directly in the eye. "At the Pig & Whistle this evening."

"Oh," was all I could utter in reply.

"Oh? That's all you've got to say? Just, oh?" Beth said with anger in her voice. "You were stripping, for pity's sake!"

"It's just a job!" I retorted in defence.

"It's objectification!" Beth fired back. "It's debasement! It's... it's... it's disgraceful!"

In all the time I'd known her, I'd never seen Beth as angry as this. I searched my mind for a suitable counter-argument, but at that precise moment, I could think of nothing.

"Well?" Beth said expectantly, awaiting my explanation.

"Beth," I said, reaching out to her placatingly. Immediately however, she recoiled from my touch. "Don't be like this," I implored her. "It's just a job, that's all. And despite what you might think, I actually enjoy it."

"You enjoy having pervy men drooling all over your naked body?" Beth replied. "You enjoy the idea of them going home and wanking themselves off over the mental image of you naked and displaying everything for their enjoyment?"

"It's not like that!" I defended. "Look, I'll be honest with you, Beth, if you'll just hear me out."

"This had better be good!" Beth replied, crossing her arms once more.

"Yes, to begin with I did feel objectified and horrifically embarrassed," I explained. "I was even physically sick with nerves the first few times. But gradually, I've come to actually enjoy it - especially after what Tommy said to me this morning. I mean, really, at the end of the day it's not that much different from what he does at your art college."

"It's nothing like that at all!" Beth retorted. "Tommy posing nude is for art - what you do is for titillation!"

"Well, what's to say that art can't be titillating?" I defended. "I mean look at those paintings by what's-his-face? Botticelli? They're full of nude women, and men, too. His pictures were crammed full of naked nymphs and cherubs - how is that sort of thing not titillating?"

"It... but that's different!" Beth fired back.

"Though it may sound odd coming from me, I think I have to sort of agree with her," Tommy chipped in.

"Oh, et tu, Tommy?" Beth said in exasperation. "You were just as bad as the rest of them! Staring at her while she was cavorting naked for their carnal enjoyment!"

"Oh, God, Sis, you're sounding like a Victorian prude!" Tommy replied.

I had to admit, that remark did make me break into a smile - well, just for a split second.

"I believe there is an art to what I do," I stated, adopting a confident stance. "A successful striptease depends upon a degree of artistry - I mean, just standing there and taking your clothes off is all very well, but beyond the mere revealing of flesh, it's actually pretty boring and mundane. A stripper is an artiste - a performer - and a striptease is as much an act as any role in a Shakespearean drama."

"You're comparing stripping to Shakespeare?" Beth scoffed with a snort of derision.

"Not directly," I clarified. "But just as an actor playing Hamlet, or Macbeth is playing a role, a stripper is playing a role too - she, or he even, is simply performing. It's just an act, and besides, there are nude scenes in plays - the only thing that is different where a striptease is concerned, is the audience."

"Look, Beth," Tommy said, coming to stand behind her and placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'm as bewildered as you are about all this. I mean, I thought all she was doing was just standing around in shopping centres dressed in a skimpy bikini handing out free sunscreen samples - finding out that all this time she's been working in the evenings in pubs and clubs as a stripper, blows my mind as much as it does yours.

"But it's her choice, and we have to respect that. I'm sure she's well aware that she can quit at any time she wants, and that both you and I don't think that she's sponging off us or outstaying her welcome by not making a contribution. Terri has every right to earn money in whatever way she wants. I mean, I don't understand why she would want to be a stripper, and I won't even try to understand, either - all I can do is accept that that's what she wants to do. And it's up to you to accept it, too."

"Is that true, Terri?" Beth asked, looking me right in the eye. "Is it really what you want to do?"

I had to think hard for a moment, before replying.

"Yes," I replied truthfully. "Yes it is. But not for the reason you think. I mean, never before have I felt such power in my life."

"Power?" Beth scoffed.

"Yes, power," I answered. "My body has the power to get a group of rowdy rugby players to focus their undivided attention on one thing. I tease them with a flash of leg here, a glimpse of a nipple there, gradually revealing more and more of me to them until they are putty in my hands. It only really made sense to me after what Tommy said this morning."

"Oh yeah?" Beth turned to her brother. "And what is it you said to her?"

"Well," Tommy began a little bashfully. "All I said was that far from being mortally embarrassed and ashamed at being the only naked male in a room full of clothed people, most of whom are female, posing nude actually makes me feel empowered. I mean, I know this may sound like an odd concept, but when I'm up there on that little stage, as naked as the day I was born, I feel like I'm much more of a man than I would if I were fully clothed."

"Yeah, and that really rang true with me," I added. "What you said made me feel so much better about it all."

"Okay, I can see you two are ganging up on me here," Beth sighed, holding her hands out in surrender. "I give in, I submit! I shall graciously admit defeat - if doing this stripping job is what you want to do, then so be it. I can't say that I approve of it, because that'd be a downright lie, but, like Tommy said, I shall have to accept that it's what you want to do. But remember this - if at any time, and I mean any time you want to quit, do not worry about not making a contribution or feel that by not having a job that you're sponging off us, right, Tommy?"

"Er, yes, what she said," Tommy agreed. "As long as you're safe and happy, that's what's most important to us."

"But no more lying to us, okay?" Beth added. "If you're working in the evening, just let us know where you'll be - what you do to earn money is your business, but you being safe is our business, okay?"

"Okay, I promise," I pledged in response. "No more lying."

"Good, well that's settled then," Beth said. "But I'm curious, how the hell did you come to be stripping in the first place?"

"Well, it's a long story," I began as I sat down at the kitchen table. "To begin with, my job was just doing the promotional stuff, y'know, handing out leaflets and free samples and stuff. I had to wear some silly outfits, like a big fluffy bear mascot costume, and a bikini which is even more daring than the one you made me buy on holiday, but nothing more than that. I guess it was a bit embarrassing, but I soon got used to it. The other girls I work with are nice, but almost every day at least one of them would have to leave early in order to get ready for some 'overtime'.

"So, keen to make a larger contribution to the household expenses, and also to have a bit more spending money of my own, I asked Elaine, the woman that runs the company, if I could do some overtime too. Of course, I was a bit taken aback to discover that what the overtime entailed was working for her other company - Saxondale Strip-o-grams. She told me it was easy money for just an hour or so in the evening, if I was open-minded and outgoing enough. Well, I told her I was already something of a naturist, so the being naked part wouldn't bother me. Well, it was easy for me to say that at the time!

"She said "okay then, well, why don't you show me what you've got?" to which I replied by asking her what she meant. Of course, what she wanted was for me to do a bit of an audition for her. She put on some music and just instructed me to strip for her. Well, I was a bit jittery to begin with, but I gradually got into it, and by the time I was down to my bra and knickers I was beginning to feel a sort of surge of adrenaline.

"Once I was naked, she stopped the music and then got up from her desk up and came and stood in front of me. She asked me to turn around so that she could take a closer look at me. She said she liked what she saw, and that I certainly had a nice body, but she did tell me to lose my glasses, use a bit more makeup, work a little on my dancing, and to keep my pubic hair shaved off. She actually offered me a booking for that very night in a pub in Pontefract. She said that it would be a 'sexy policewoman' routine, and that her brother, Phil, would accompany me as a chaperone.

"Well, I was in two minds as to whether or not to accept, but some rebellious little voice inside my head told me to just throw caution to the wind and say yes - so I did."

"What, just like that?" Beth said, clearly not quite believing my account of events. "You just danced about a bit, got your kit off for that woman, and she offers you the gig right then and there?"

"That's about the gist of it, yes," I confirmed. "So anyway, I was booked to perform as a strip-o-gram that very night. Maybe I wasn't thinking very straight at the time, but I'd sort of committed myself by then, so it was too late for me to back down. But I knew you wouldn't understand about me wanting to do it, so I sort of... fibbed a bit about where, and what I was doing that night. So I just made up some excuse about us having to work a longer than normal day and that I'd be late home. I felt awful for lying to you, but it was all a bit of a whirlwind, you see.

"Anyway, as the appointed hour for my debut performance as a sexy policewoman strip-o-gram came, I began to feel more and more nervous. I was stood in an alleyway next to the pub, dressed up in my policewoman costume with Phil standing next to me, and all of a sudden my nerves got the better of me. I was sick - I puked up right there in the alleyway. But Phil, bless him, he was wonderful about it and told me it was quite okay to be nervous. He cleaned me up and then assured me that he wouldn't let anyone touch me or show me any disrespect. "If any of those lads touch a hair on your body, they'll have me to answer to!" he told me. "You're a beautiful girl, Terri, and those lads in there are privileged to get to see you in all your glory, so go get 'em, and put on a bloody good show for 'em!"

"Well, after his little pep-talk I knew I was as ready as I'd ever be, so he followed me in, I made my little "my name is WPC Honeylips" speech, and just... got on with it.

"For the first few minutes I was more self-conscious then I have ever been in my life before. I mean, I know out of the three of us I was the first to take my clothes off when we went to Ille Solharvre, but that was a totally different scenario - everyone else was naked too, so it was much easier. But the look of utterly enraptured fascination on those guy's faces as I took more and more of my clothes off, set off some kind of warm feeling inside me.

"I couldn't explain it at the time, but now, thanks to Tommy, I know what it is. I was feeling empowered, and it gave me a surge of confidence that I never knew I had. So, as I slowly took off my bra, the guys all let out a great cheer as I bared my breasts, and I continued to just dance around for a few minutes in only my knickers. Phil told me that if I wasn't confident enough to go all the way, he would totally understand and offer them a partial refund, but I wasn't about to back out now that I was on a roll. So I just took a deep breath, and took my knickers off.

"I couldn't believe it - I was naked in a room full of men, and I'd never felt more alive! I twirled my knickers around for a little while before I handed them to the birthday boy, or groom-to-be, or whatever he was. I just danced around some more for them, as naked as a newborn baby until the music eventually died away. I blew him a kiss, gave him a cheeky wink and then Phil just escorted me away into some back room or other so that I could get dressed. So, that was it - my first ever striptease, and I knew right then that it wouldn't be my last. The very next day I asked Elaine if she could give me some more bookings.

"I still felt almost mortally nervous and embarrassed the next few times, it was a bit like standing in the queue for a really scary roller coaster, but once I got started all those nerves went away to be replaced by pure adrenaline."

"Quite a story," Tommy said once I had finished my explanation.

"Yes, quite," Beth added, clearly deeply in thought.

"Look, I know neither of you, especially you, Beth, will ever really understand, but you have to believe me about this," I added. "I know my mother would disown me once and for all if she ever found out about my being a stripper, but it's my life! And it's my body, too. Nobody's forced me into it, and yes, I know I can quit at any time, but the truth is that now, I simply don't want to. I enjoy it - no, I love it!"

"Look, girls, it's getting late, let's just agree to park this discussion for now, okay?" Tommy addressed us, ever the voice of reason that he was. "But just let me ask one last question, Terri. Does this Phil guy accompany you on all of your engagements?"

"For now, yes," I replied. "He said that once I'm more experienced I can choose to go unaccompanied if I want to. And if they get another new girl he'll have to make chaperoning her more of a priority."