Page 107 of Up In Smoke
That’s when Trixie and the One-Thirteen got involved, and how we ended up here tonight.
Which makes sense, because there really is no other logical explanation.
“Are y’all having a good time?” Trixie cries into the microphone, and the packed audience at the Tavern goes wild, whooping, cheering and clapping. Trixie blows a raspberry. “Now I know y’all can do better than that. I said ARE YOU HAVING A GOOD TIME?”
Somehow, the noise gets even louder.
“I don’t know how you do this every night,” I say to Jesse in the holding area just off the stage.
“Aww,” he coos, kissing my cheek. “Has my baby got butterflies in his tummy?”
“More like a stampede of angry elephants,” I mutter, making him laugh harder.
“You’ll be fine,” he promises. “Everyone out there is having an amazing time and they’re here to support a great cause. They want you to have fun, and if you mess up a bit, they’ll only cheer louder. Trust me. So what’s the worst that could happen?”
“I think asking a bunch of firefighters that is a risky notion,” Drayton Hendrix says from my side before flashing a grin at us both. I can’t quite believe he’s here, but I love it. “However, in this case, I’m with Jesse. All we have to do is go out there and look hot. Luckily, we’re all baddies, so that’ll be too easy.”
“You’re all fired,” Captain Valentine grumbles from behind me. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”
“Aww, it’ll be fun,” says Gene, whoIgenuinely can’t believe we talked into this. But somehow, he’s ended up at the front of the choreography Sawyer put together for us.
In fact I think he pushed his way there.
“Are you ready for the One-Thirteen?” Trixie asks the rabid crowd, making my stomach drop as another roar tears through the heaving bar.
Several of the regular dancers from the Tavern have already graced their home stage, but now we’re kicking off the special guest star section of this charity event. A dozen or more actually talented people from Sawyer’s LGBT dance group have traveled up from San Diego to delight us with dance, song, lip syncs, and stand-up comedy. But what I’m really looking forward to is seeing Katerina herself get up on stage with Trixie to perform a ballet duet.
But before all that, it seems we’re up.
“Good luck!” Jesse tells me. “I’ll be in the front row!” And with that, he disappears, leaving me with my nerves.
“Let’s do this!” Sawyer yells, slapping at many butts as he can reach. Then we’re jogging onto a stage that’s barely big enough to hold us all, waving and blowing kisses to everyone who’s come out tonight to support us.
Suddenly, I don’t know what I was so worried about. Jesse was right. The town has shown up because some of us have fallen on hard times. They haven’t paid for a Broadway show. They’re donating to a good cause and all I have to do in return is have a bit of fun.
And get a little naked. Only a little, though.
The music starts and I basically spend the whole time copying the moves from Sawyer who’s at the front with Gene. Trixie made us a mix with songs that all have something to do with turning up the heat, which would make sense, as she’s got us dressed up in a version of our turnouts, complete with helmets.
That’s not how it’s going to stay, though.
We didn’t bother with the coats, but we are wearing suspender belts over our regulation T-shirts. When we start pulling the first one off our right shoulders, the crowd becomes frenzied. I catch Mrs. Bloom in the front row with Miss Margot Fontayn in her lap, waving hundred-dollar bills around gleefully. Next to her is Jesse on one side and Yara on the other, who’s jaw has dropped as she watches all her colleagues start to strip.
And I do meanallas Lili wasn’t going to let the boys have all the fun. As we get rid of the second suspender belt and place our helmets down in front of us, the next thing to go is our T-shirts. Amid the sea of male bodies, Lili Kwon blesses the crowd with her own pretty impressive six pack. She’s taped her chest up to look like pecs and seems to be having the absolute time of her life as both men and women start showering her with money from every angle.
I catch more than a couple of ladies who are clearly questioning their sexuality in that moment. Captain Padilla is one of them. I try not to laugh too hard in delight. We’re supposed to be acting sexy right now, after all.
From the dollar bills piling up in all our helmets, I’d say us guys aren’t doing a bad job either.
Gene’s is already overflowing, mostly from his wife and her friends, assisted no doubt by the several bottles of white wine they’ve got on their table.
I see Beast’s boyfriend, Dario, sitting with Del’s husband, Colt, and Teddy’s boyfriend, former NFL quarterback Cassius Garda. I know he’s already donated a substantial amount of money to the cause. In fact, I have it on good authority that Teddy has to be quite firm with him not to give more of his money away all the time to everyone.
But he’s definitely the one passing out hundreds to everyone around him to throw at us.
The number finally ends to raucous applause. We kept our pants on, but being naked from the waist up feels like enough to me. So much so that I scoop up my T-shirt and slip it back on before the cheering dies down.
Because I’m not quite done on stage yet.