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Whyhad Taylor brought Averyto this show tonight? She was already intensely sexually frustrated from this fucking bet with Erica, so why did she come up with the brilliant idea to (a) tell Avery to wear something risqué, (b) come to a place where she knew many hot women would be hanging out, and (c) also where a number of said hot women would be some of her exes with whom she’d had very excellent sex in the past? Any one of those things could have easily set her off; all that combined made her want to explode.

She couldn’t exactly regret this, though. Because hanging out here with Avery was just…fun. The car ride, the people watching, the conversation. To be true to their mission, Taylor probably should have encouraged Avery to go up to the bar to order a drink from Roxy, or beckoned her ex Gillian and her crowd over so Avery could try to flirt with them. But even though that was what she’d planned to do tonight, she didn’t want to push Avery. She wanted this to be fun for Avery, too, after all.

The lights went down, and a big cheer went up throughout the bar. Taylor let out a huge “Wooooo­ooooo­,” and Avery giggled. Taylor pursed her lips at her.

“I’m a very enthusiastic audience member, okay? No performer is ever going to say they had a bad audience on a night I was there.”

Avery nodded, a smile on her face.

“I can see that,” she said.

A dancer ran out onto the makeshift stage, and the cheers got louder. She was in a skintight sparkly red catsuit, with matching sparkly red lipstick, and a very large hot pink wig. The audience laughed and cheered through her opening number, and then three more dancers ran onstage to join her. Taylor paid enough attention to know when to cheer, but she mostly watched Avery’s reactions. At first, her smile looked tentative, obligatory, one that would fool most people that it was real, but not Taylor, at least not anymore. She could tell Avery was still nervous about whether her front-row seat would force her to be a part of the show. But when one of the performers made an extremely off-color joke, a half-horrified and half-delighted laugh burbled out of Avery, and Taylor laughed along with her.

It wasn’t until the fourth number that it happened. One of the performers, known only as the Goddess, who had on a bunch of expertly draped feather boas, stepped off the “stage” and greeted the four people sitting at the closest table.

“Hellooo, don’t you look sexy tonight!” She took a step back and looked each of them up and down. “Oh yeah, at least two of you are dressed to hook up later. The other two…hey, maybe you’ll get lucky.” The crowd laughed, and the people at the table joined in—though Taylor noticed that they all looked around at one another, clearly wondering which of them she’d been talking about. The performer patted one woman on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, baby, you know you’ve got this in the bag.” She moved on, while the woman at the table blushed but also preened a little.

“Now, who is going home with who tonight?” the Goddess asked a table of three. “Or, maybe all three of you are going home together, and if so, more power to you!”

She wandered around the audience doing her patter with the crowd, and Taylor felt Avery tense up next to her. She felt guilty for a moment that she hadn’t moved them to another table under the guise of introducing her to some of her friends so Avery wouldn’t have to do this, but she reminded herself that this had been Avery’s choice.

“Oohhhhhh,” the Goddess said, an arch tone in her voice. Taylor looked up, but she had her eyes on Avery. “I think I’ve found the person I’ve been looking for all night.”

Avery cleared her throat.

“Me?” she asked. Taylor felt unreasonably proud of her. There was no nervousness in her voice, her posture was as upright and ramrod straight as usual, and she’d even managed to have some of that same archness in her voice that the Goddess had in hers.

“Yes, you, oh yes indeed,” the Goddess said. She looked Avery up and down in the same way she’d done to the other table, except the look on her face was even more lascivious, if that were possible. “I think you’re just who I need to help me. You see, you look very competent, like you always know what you’re doing, like you’ll be honest with me, no matter what, and that’s just the kind of person I need right now. Can you help me?”

Taylor touched Avery’s elbow, trying to communicate to her that Avery could always say no and that she didn’t have to do this if she didn’t want to. Avery patted her hand without looking at her, and then smiled up at the Goddess.

“I’d love to,” she said.

Taylor tried to hide her smile. This was going to be entertaining.

“It’s my costume,” the Goddess said. “It’s a new one, and I’m not quite sure about it.”

Avery looked her up and down, almost as boldly as the Goddess had done. This time Taylor couldn’t keep the grin off her face.

“What aren’t you sure about?” Avery asked. “I love a boa.” She turned to the crowd. “Don’t you all love a boa?” The crowd cheered, and Avery grinned. She was getting the crowd on her side, amazing. Taylor knew she was beaming at Avery like she was a proud dance mom whose kid had won a pageant, but she didn’t even care.

The Goddess grinned back at Avery.

“I also love a boa; as a matter of fact, as you can see, I love boas, plural. But are you sure this isn’t…too many boas?”

Avery shook her head.

“Impossible. You can never have too many boas.”

Taylor laughed out loud. Avery met her eyes for just a second and gave her a tiny smirk before she looked back at the Goddess. Incredible. Avery was actually enjoying this, despite her anxiety earlier.

People in the crowd shouted, “Yes, girl,” “She’s right,” and “Love the boas.” But then someone in the back yelled, “Take it off!” which turned into a full-blown chant.

“Take it off, take it off, take it off!”

The Goddess looked at the crowd, then back at Avery.

“You hear what the people say. I think I need to take at least one off, or they’ll be so disappointed. So I need your help to decide which color to take off.”