''I'm sorry what?'' Marshall asked the answer what not what he had been expecting.

''That's Jodie Kingsly she works at this Diner I go to most mornings,'' Denaun shrugged like it wasn't much of a big deal.

''Oh great, lemme guess you been trying to get her to go out with you for months,'' Marshall ran his hands down his face in disbelief. He'd actually found someone he might get along with and it was like a dagger to his heart to know he was probably too late for him to act.

''What no. She's just my friend, wouldn't I have told you if I were trying to get a girl,'' Denaun proposed, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

''No,'' Marshall muttered as he spun the laptop back around so he was looking at Jodie once more, ''is she nice though, I mean like is she easy to talk to and shit?'' He then asked, realising that he had a head start on getting to know her because Denaun was already friends with her.

''Yeah, I mean she was shy, to begin with, but after a couple of visits we just clicked you know,'' he responded, leaning back in his chair, Marshall watched him carefully as he spoke, still describing what Jodie appeared to be like, ''she also don't take shit from anyone, there was this guy harassing her,  she then straight up basically ripped his head off. Guy looked like a puppy who'd been told off; you know what you look like when a girl turns you down,'' Denaun finished with a grin, a laugh escaping him at the look that appeared on his friend's face.

''Fuck you man,'' Marshall flipped him off at the same time before then asking another question, ''so she's cool, not some crazy psycho bitch with an even crazier ex?"

''I dunno about the ex-man, she never brought one up. It's not really what we talk about, but she ain't crazy I can tell you that.''

''So she works at this Diner, you go to?'' Marshall moved away from his chair and over to the corner of the room, where a few unopened bottles of water sat on a small table. He picked it up and took a swig from it, although he would have preferred Denaun had let him swallow it completely before he made his next comment.

''And her Dad's strip club.''

''Fuck,'' the water dribbled down his chin as the news hit him like a truck, ''her Dad's,'' he coughed out chocking on the remaining what slightly.

''Chill man she works at the bar she ain't a stripper,'' Denanun chucked as Marshall wiped the water off of his face with his sleeve.

''I didn't care about the stripper part it was the Dad part that got me. I mean if I owned a strip club I sure as hell wouldn't let any of my girl's strip,'' Marshall confessed sitting back down in his chair, the picture of Jodie still facing him, a part of him just couldn't bring himself to look away. If he had a crush on her picture, what was he going to be like when he actually met her.

''Well like I said she ain't a stripper so it ain't weird. Anyway, she keeps complaining about how he wants her to take it over,'' Denaun explained shrugging.

''She doesn't want it?''

''Nah she doesn't. Hey I got an idea, why don't we go over there she works in the VIP section, you could you know get a proper look at her rather than drool over her photo, drool over her in real life instead.''

''I'm this close to fucking beating yo ass right now,'' Marshall held two of his fingers up, a small gap between them, illustrating his point,'' plus a strip club really man?''

''We could take Ryan, his bro and Anthony,'' Denaun pointed out, ''come on say it's for Boogie or some shit, like a break from doing his album,'' he added as Marshall still looked at him unsure.

''I'm not sure, I mean do the guys really wanna go out?'' Marshall posed the question before then realising it was very much a stupid question.

+++

''Name?'' The bouncer that stood at front of the VIP entrance asked in an extremely monotone voice.

''Um Denaun, Ryan, Anthony and Marshall,'' Denaun pointed to each person in turn. Royce's brother could come, he had something else he was supposed to do so it was just the four of them instead.

''Yo just go in and don't piss off Jodie, she already in bad mood for no reason,'' the bouncer mumbled, moving the rope to allow the group to entre.

''Who's Jodie?'' Boogie asked just before he wandered in.

''Nothing to do with you,'' Marshall hissed pushing him gently forward.

''But, how am I supposed to...''

''Don't talk to anybody then if you don't wanna piss them off,'' Royce remarked, after suddenly realising the real reason they were at the club that night. Jodie he was sure was the same girl Marshall had had up on his computer the day before.

+++

Earlier that day

Jodie watched the big hand as it was just on the cusp of hitting the twelve. Yes, the clock was still very much wrong, but Jodie knew that when it hit four, that that was the end of her shift. Finally after what felt way longer than a minute the clock hand flipped over to rest straight on the twelve.

''Jodie you're off,'' the voice of the manger drifted from out of the kitchen.

Jodie grinned, running into the little break room, where the lockers were kept, practically tearing her little apron off on her way. Reaching her own locker she flung it open, grabbing her bag and coat out of it before shoving the apron in the gap left over. Slamming, it shut she sighed resting against it, her key resting in her clenched fist.

''Hey Jodie.''

''Fuck,'' she muttered under her breath. Jodie now wished she'd been quicker because the person the voice belonged to was the last person she wanted to talk to ever. She'd rather have a conversation with the creepy guy who always started at her from his front porch, than the man who's just called out her name.

''You look like you're in a hurry to leave,'' she wanted to reply with because of you, but she was too nice to be snarky.

''I just wanna go home Robert, it's been one of those days,'' Robert made no inkling that he was going to move from the doorway to allow her to leave.

''How about you go with me to the movies tonight, maybe catch one of the horror movies that are on at the moment,'' Jodie wrinkled her nose, it was the same every Friday and she gave the same response each time, well slightly altered depending on what he was asking.

''I'm not much into horror movies Robert and I'm working. Remember like I do every Friday night,'' she pointed out. She felt a little sorry for him as his face dropped, apart from asking her out every week he was a relatively nice guy. He just wasn't really her type, unfortunately.

''Right yeah. I forgot again, I'm sorry,'' he bowed his head and wandered over to his own locker to get his things.

''I'll see you Monday though,'' he perked up a little as she gave him a warm smile before making her escape. Jodie didn't work weekends, it wasn't part of her contract, plus she was at the club anyway.

It took her even longer to get out of the carpark. She spent a good ten minutes trying to find a radio station that was playing something she might like. In the end, she just stuck with silence, realising that she really needed to figure out how she could get her music from her phone to play out of the car.

After manoeuvring her way around the traffic that littered the roads, Jodie finally made her way home. Pulling up, she rolled her eyes and huffed out in exasperation as she peeked out her back window to see her neighbour across the road. He was sat like always on the wooden bench, a book sat unopened next to him. She had come to the conclusion a long time ago that he didn't actually read it and just had it by him to make him seem as if he wasn't some creep.

Taking a deep breath she located her house keys from inside her back and jumped out of the car, slamming the door behind her and rushing to her front door. The moment she opened she wish she'd stayed in the silence of her car.

'This is the part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more'

''Oh for fuck sake, Taylor turn that shit off or down,'' however, it appears the music was too loud because Ariana Grande could still be heard throughout the entire house.

'This is the part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before'

Taking matters into her own hands, Jodie went into the back of the garage and cut the power. She took a deep breath in and out, the silence welcoming to her ears. Well for a few seconds.

''I was listening to that,'' Taylor, met Jodie back in the hallway, at the bottom of the stairs. Taylor was much taller and in Jodie's opinion a lot more beautiful than she was, which made sense because Taylor was, in fact, one of the strippers at her dad's club. She stood at 5'9 while Jodie was the height of an average goblin that worked at Gringotts bank in Harry Potter.

''I wasn't,'' Jodie remarked turning her back on the woman.

''Well, it's not my fault all the people you listen to either don't make music anymore or dead,'' Talyor spat back, ''turn the power back on.''

''Where's Blink?'' Jodie asked, ignoring Taylor's rude demand. Instead, she turned her attention to finding her fluffy black furball of a cat.

''I dunno, outside maybe.''

''He's a housecat you dumbass. You know what figure out how to get the power back on yourself,'' Jodie shot back, moving past Taylor to look for her cat.

''How are you gonna make dinner if there's no power?'' Taylor pointed out not budging from her spot at the bottom of the stairs, her arms folded across her chest.

''By using and phone and ordering Pizza,'' Jodie stated matter of factly, bending down behind one of the plant pots scattered around the house, her hand coming into contact with a mass of fur. Sighing she let Blink curl up in her arms, ''you played the music too loud and scared him,'' she snapped at Taylor while cradling Blink in her arms.

''Well never mind all that. There's gonna be some big celebrities at the club tonight,'' Taylor exclaimed, ''I don't know who they are, but I can't wait to meet them.''

''I'll tell you who it won't be,'' Jodie blurted out causing Taylor to give her a hard stare, ''someone you know that's for sure.''

''What do you mean?''

''The biggest celebrity in Detroit and who actually goes out is Eminem. I highly doubt it will be him, strip clubs don't really feel like his sense,'' Jodie explained as she wandered over to where she'd left her bag, placing blink net to it, ''now do you want Pizza before I change my mind and get a Mcdonald's drive-thru for myself on the way to the club.''

''I'll have a Hawaiian please,'' Jodie nodded before dialling the
number.

They will meet in the next Chapter I promise ☺️
Thanks for reading too💕