Ranked #200 in #JESUS! THANK YOU!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎄 Hoping to post another chapter real soon! God bless!
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When Jean signed the papers, she felt like she was signing her life away. She was officially an employee at a strip club. In her mind, she was able to justify the disgust she felt with the fact that she was technically a waitress.

When she got home, she found herself panicking. Brooke had told her that she would help her figure out what to wear. She thought about Jasmine and the night at the bar and the trouble she had just wearing the outfit she had picked out. Who was she kidding? She couldn't do this.

Brooke scheduled Jean the same hours she was working the first night. 10 to 2am. Brooke bought Jean a short black dress and some heels as a gift. Jean felt like she could barely walk, but she was happy that the dress covered her stomach and most of her body, even if it was short. At least she wasn't parading around in lingerie.

"Just smile," Brooke said when they pulled into the lot. "The good thing about this job is that everyone's drunk. Nobody is gonna notice that you're unsure of what you're doing at first. Anything you need, just ask me."

Jean clutched her stomach and couldn't get out of the car. "What if I can't keep up?"

"It's Tuesday, Jean. We're not gonna be that busy."

"Okay, but—"

Brooke grabbed Jean's face in her hands and made her look at her. "Jean, you are absolutely beautiful and you're killing it in that outfit. You are one of my favorite people to spend time with because you're funny and a good listener. You are going to kill it here. You're gonna have more money than you've ever had. You're going to have the time of your life. Just put any preconceived notions of what this place is out of your head. It's time to start living."

Jean didn't know how credible Brooke's advice was, but she decided for her own sanity she would listen to her. This only had to be a negative thing if she made it one.

Jean followed Brooke into the locker room and Jean tried to not look around at the other women. She locked her purse in a locker next to Brooke's. The room smelled like hairspray.

Keeping her eyes down, she followed Brooke back out into the main room behind the bar. Brooke poured a shot and handed it to Jean.

"Take it," Brooke said.

"I'm at work," Jean said, surprised.

"I know, that's why you're not taking three shots."

Jean knew she wasn't going to be able to survive the night without taking the edge off, so she threw it back without giving it another thought.

"Okay, I want to introduce you to some people," Brooke said. "It's good for you to know the main floor security should you need them."

She walked Jean over to a large man in a black shirt. "Jackson, this is Jean," Brooke said. "Our new waitress."

Jackson looked down at Jean and reached out to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Now, guests aren't supposed to touch you. It doesn't mean they won't. And at some point, they will. Some will mistake you for a dancer. If someone is being particularly handsy and won't stop, Jackson is your guy."

"Thanks," Jean said, unsure of what else to say.

Brooke walked Jean back to the bar. "Donovan is the guy over by the door right now, but he kinda creeps me out. Nice, but creepy. However, he can help too."

Brooke explained what to do to Jean and sent Jean on her way.

Just pretend it's the coffee shop, Jean told herself.

There was a guy sitting by himself staring at her, and she mustered the courage to approach him.

"Hi, you doing okay?" Jean asked.

"Are you new here?"

Jean put her hands on her hips and playfully cocked her head to the side. "First day!" Who was she?

The man smiled. "You're cute. I knew I didn't recognize you. Can I get a Coor's?"

"Of course!" Jean said. "I'll be right back."

Jean walked over to the bar and got the man his drink. Brooke leaned over the bar.

"You're doing great," she said in Jean's ear. "You look adorable out there."

Jean gave Brooke a look and she gave the man his beer.

"So you're not a dancer?" the man asked.

"No, I just serve the drinks unfortunately," Jean replied.

The man went into telling Jean about how he knew almost every person that worked here, even the security. Somehow that led into a story about the man's job, and then Jean couldn't follow him anymore. He wasn't making much sense, but he kept talking.

"What's your name?" He finally asked. She could understand that.

"Jean," she said with a smile, reaching out to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Pete," he sakd. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some money. She smiled as she took it and stuffed it in her bra without looking to see how much it was.

"Thank you."

"You got a nice smile," Pete said. "You should consider dancing."

After the interaction, Jean felt much more confident in her waitressing ability. She found herself catching the eye of several men around.

The night went by faster than Jean could ever imagine. Brooke showed her how to collect her tips and find out how much money she made after tipping out different people.

"It wasn't that bad," Jean said.

"No?" Brooke asked. "You did well for your first night on a Tuesday. I'm seriously impressed."

"The people talked more than I was expecting," Jean said. "I had a couple of really long conversations."

"Good," Brooke said. "That's how you'll build your clientele. You'll be making more money in no time."

"Everyone thought I was a dancer."

"Probably because you should be."

"Brooke!"

"You're not full nude ever," Brooke said. "You just have to think of it as tricking stupid people into giving you money. They think they're winning, but you're the one buying a new car."

"I'm just trying to pay my rent."

"Or you could buy a house in cash, like me," Brooke said, winking at Jean.

Jean's head was spinning. Her ears were still ringing from the music from the club. "Brooke, remember how we said two weeks? Let's just take this one day at a time."

Brooke smiled and pressed her lips together, as if she was holding back words.

"What?" Jean groaned.

"Do you know what the difference is between a cocktail waitress and a stripper?"

"What?"

"Two weeks."

***
She hadn't heard from Shawn since the night he showed up at the coffee shop. She had enjoyed herself more that night than she had in a long time, but there was no possible way Shawn Lewis was ever going to be interested in her. The thought of it alone scared her.

She wanted to get his sweatshirt back to him, because she didn't want to have that looming over her. Once she got it back to him, she could try to get past this whole mess. Now that she was working with Brooke, she wanted to stay as far away from Shawn as possible. She couldn't imagine the shame she'd feel if he ever found out.

She planned on leaving it on his doorstep. It was early enough in the day where he would be at work. He did say he worked at the high school.

As she walked up his driveway, she stopped dead in her tracks when the front door swung wide open. It wasn't Shawn, however, but a younger looking guy with blonde hair. He put his hands on his hips.

"Well, well, well," he said, shaking his head with a huge friendly smile on his face. "If it isn't the most famous girl in Bell—"

He didn't finish his sentence as Shawn suddenly appeared in the doorway, grabbing the blonde guy buy his sweatshirt and throwing him out of view. Shawn quickly closed the door behind him and stepped onto the porch.

Jean was frozen. Suddenly the situation became so much worse. She had showed up here without warning, and they were here.

"Why aren't you at school? Didn't you say you're a teacher?" Jean asked, her heart pounding in her ears.

"It's Memorial Day," Shawn said. "We only have one more week of school."

Jean stood with the sweatshirt in her arms and forced herself to smile. "I just...I just was going to leave this."

Shawn crossed his arms and stepped closer to her. "Any reason you're trying to avoid me?"

From the smile on his face, she knew he wasn't being serious, but she got nervous because it was true.

"I just didn't want to bother you any more than I already have."

"Bother me?" Shawn said incredulously. "It's going to take a lot for you to bother me."

She couldn't help the smile that fought at her lips. She averted her eyes to the ground to try to hide her face.

"Here, come inside," Shawn said, causing her to snap her head up. Before she could protest, he had already opened the door and had one foot over the threshold. Jean slowly followed him inside, nervously playing with sweatshirt in her hands.

The guy who had opened the door when she first arrived was sitting on the couch. He jumped up as soon as she walked in.

"Hey, Jean! Nice to see you again!"

Jean laughed nervously, but she couldn't hide the confusion on her face. Why was he acting like he knew her?"

"Ignore him," a girl with wavy auburn hair said as she stepped forward to shake Jean's hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Zeiler."

"Tyler," Tyler said, smiling and reaching forward as well.

"And I'm Scottie," the blonde haired guysaid. "I'm just messing with you."

"Have we met before?" Jean asked.

Jean's question must have made Scottie realize how stupid he was to make that joke as the room seemed to grow tense.

"Like I said, I was just messing with you," he said.

Shawn put his hand on Jean's back to guide her out of the circle. She felt her stomach jump at his touch.

"Let me show you the house," Shawn said. She nodded, knowing Shawn was just trying to diverge the attention. He showed her the kitchen and the other living area. For a house that two guys were living in, it was kept pretty clean.

"My favorite is the backyard," Shawn said, stepping outside. Jean followed him into the warm Spring morning air.

The backyard stretched out to the woods. There was a fire pit with some lawn chairs around it in the corner. Jean looked to Shawn.

"What was going on with Scottie?"

Shawn took a deep breath and smiled at her. "He's an interesting one."

"Why did he say it was nice to meet me again?"

Jean could figure it out in her mind, but she didn't want it to be true. The fact that she had no memory and no control over what happened that night still terrified her. She needed to hear it from Shawn.

"He was here the night I brought you back."

Jean felt her heart sink in her chest and she nodded her head. She wondered what she did; how much he saw? What he must think of her? Just her outfit alone that night...

"Was anyone else here?"

"Zeiler."

Jean felt her face go red. It was such a mistake coming here. These people probably thought she was insane.

"Well, thanks for showing me around, but I need to go get ready for work," Jean said. It was somewhat true, she was scheduled at the coffee shop. In six hours.

"Jean, it's okay."

Her mind was spinning. "Did I mention to you that I'm not usually like that?"

"I know."

"No Shawn," she said, wanting to make it clear. "Like, I never go out. I never even drink, really. I was just upset that night. My friend picked out my outfit and I had already taken some shots. I don't want you to think that that night was a normal occurrence for me, because it's not."

Shawn listened to every word she said. He looked in her in the eyes.

"You don't need to worry about us thinking any less of you because of that night," he said.

Jean smiled weakly and nodded slightly. They probably didn't think much of her anyways.

She went out in the family room, and to Jean's disappointment they were all still there. Zeiler smiled warmly at her.

"Jean, what are you doing Wednesday night?" she asked.

Jean was taken aback by the question. It was her night off. "Nothing, why?" She immediately wanted to hit herself for being honest, now she would have no excuse.

"We're seeing a movie. Scottie's friend is a manager and he works that night and lets us in for free."

Now they were inviting her to do things? She couldn't imagine why they'd want to spend time with her after the show she put on that night.

She couldn't use the excuse that money was tight. She had already told them she wasn't doing anything. She didn't know how to say Sorry, I don't know you people and I'm socially awkward, so no.

"Okay," she said, not believing what she just agreed to.

"Awesome! We'll see you then! Shawn can text you more details."

Jean looked into her green eyes, which looked genuine. Why was she being so nice to her? Was this another Ametta situation at the coffee shop? Were they going to make fun of her behind her back? Try to make another video of her? She couldn't help but feel skeptical; they didn't know her except for the fact that she came home blackout drunk.

She hoped they never found out about her new job.

***

After Shawn walked Jean out to her car, he returned to the house where everyone was still hanging out in the family room. He shut the door behind him loudly and everyone turned to look at him. He dragged his hands down his face.

"Scottie, what were you thinking?" he groaned. The poor girl could not have been more uncomfortable.

"He obviously wasn't," Zeiler said, crossing her arms and looking to him.

"Come on," Scottie said, defending himself. "She was going to figure it out eventually. Might as well laugh about it now."

Shawn closed his eyes. Although he barely knew her, he knew this girl was struggling. God had discerned to him that she needed hope of some kind in her life. He hoped that she didn't assume his friends would judge her.

"I mean, she did say she would hang out with hang out with us Wednesday," Tyler said. "So evidently Scottie doesn't totally repulse her, otherwise she wouldn't have agreed so quickly."

"Yeah!" Scottie said, throwing his fist in the air and sitting back down on the couch.

"Family meeting," Zeiler said, looking Shawn in the eyes.

"Heard that," Shawn said, walking towards the front door.

"NO!" Scottie yelled. Saying family meeting was typically what Zeiler said when she needed to talk to Shawn about something alone. They got a lot of hate for it over the years. Scottie especially.

Shawn shut the door and had a seat on the bench next to Zeiler. She took a deep breath.

"What's the story behind this Jean?"

"Well," Shawn started. "There's this video that went viral and we were both in it."

Zeiler looked at him, not impressed with his sarcasm.

"You know what I meant. Are you interested in her?"

Interested? Shawn barely knew the girl. He didn't know if he could say that he was interested in her, but he definitely found her interesting. He couldn't figure her out. He saw pieces of an excited, free-spirited girl from the times he saw her at the coffee shop. She was down to earth, and funny, but there was something dark looming over her. He could feel it when he was around her.

"Have you ever met someone and know instantly they're going to be an important part of your life?" Shawn asked.

Zeiler looked puzzled. "Like my doctor?"

"No," Shawn said, laughing through his frustration. "No, like it's almost as if God shows you a person and discerns to you that He wants them in your life."

Zeiler still looked confused. Shawn explained to her how he had seen Jean three times before the time the video happened. He talked about the inexplicable feeling he had; how he believes it's from God and how he's meant to try to help her.

"Just be careful," Zeiler said. "I just know that sometimes we can get caught up in our feelings and confuse what God is saying with what he want to hear."

Shawn's eyebrows narrowed together. "So you think I wanted to carry a drunk girl I didn't know out of a bar? That was my own desire, not God?" Honestly, he got punched in the face over that.

"I don't know," Zeiler said. "I'm just saying she's a cute girl, and you broke up with Megan seven months ago because she wasn't a Christian. I don't think this girl is either. I guess I just don't want you to get caught up in your feelings and get hurt."

Shawn stared at his cousin. "Can you name 1 time in my adult life that I got caught up in my feelings?"

Zeiler sighed. "No, you're very emotionally stable."

"Exactly."

Shawn understood her concern for him. He had been raised a Christian, as Zeiler had, but he never invested in it. He started dating Megan in college. He never cared that she wasn't a believer because he never focused too much on his beliefs anyways. It wasn't until two years ago that Zeiler invited Shawn to a new church she had started going to. The first message he heard messed him up in the best way. He started listening, and God was speaking. Over the next few months, he couldn't explain how, but his heart changed, his mind changed.
He looked at life with a new set of eyes and was happier. Things he struggled with before didn't seem so challenging anymore, and he could look the future with confidence and hope.

"Zeiler, even if I had never become a Christian, Megan and I wouldn't have lasted. We were too different. I'm not rebounding. I've been praying a lot about this whole Jean thing, and I'd love it if you prayed for her too."

"Of course. She seems like a sweet girl. I hope it's okay that I invited her to the movies. The poor thing just looked so uncomfortable and that just popped in my head."

"Sounds like the Holy Spirit to me."

Zeiler made a skeptical face at him. "Whatever's going on, I think it will be good for her to hang around us. Especially if we know her past influences included Bret Halliard."

"That's kinda the point I'm trying to make."