So the photo here is of Mia Kirshner, canadian actress best known for her role on the L Word. That alone is worth a blog entry. But the reason I posted this image is because it reminds me of time in Missoula when my girlfriend and I went to one of the two strip clubs in town.
It's important to note that there were two strip clubs in Missoula at the time. One was on the far edge of town, where the main shopping boulevard with all the chain stores intersects the highway. This was next to a gas station and truck stop. So it was the type of strip joint with long-haul truckers a strippers with tattoos and stretch marks. The other strip club was also a little rough on the edges, because it was in the back of the Ox, a historic saloon in the heart of Missoula's old downtown. But being only a few blocks from the university campus, it was not only a popular hang out for smoke jumpers, bikers, lumberjacks, and locals, but especially students.
Half the students who went there also danced for tips that helped pay tuition and books. They had weekly amateur nights, and my new girlfriend and I happened upon the strip club in the back of the Ox on just such a night.
I should also note that this girlfriend and I were on our second date--that point when we weren't really going out "officially" but knew there was an attraction and that we wanted to keep going. The thing was, we hardly knew anything about the other or how far we would go. It's one of the best parts of a relationship--that giddy, daring moment of bravado and double dares. When someone doesn't know you, you can be anyone. And when you want them to like you, you'll do just about anything to impress.
After a few drinks, she spontaneously decided she'd put her name on the list and be the next amateur dancer. I remember all the other girls who had prepared for the night had carefully picked out sexy lingerie. She had not. But it didn't stop her and only seemed to make the dudes in the audience cheer her on more as she stripped off her shirt and then bra, and danced topless in her skirt and nylons. She then slipped off her skirt and threw it at me. She was wearing only nylons, which wouldn't have been very sexy, except for the fact that she wasn't wearing any panties underneath. This is how she'd dressed for our date, and told me a lot about her.
As she danced in just her nylons, we could all she the patch of dark hair. The other strippers had shaved theirs, and the sight of natural hair seemed even more rare and erotic. The room was going nuts. She had all the guys clapping and cheering as she took her final walk down the stage and pulled down her nylons, flashing her bush. They loved it, and I felt like I'd learned more about her in one two-minute song than if we'd had two dozen dates.
The sex we had that night would be the first of very hot, passionate sex over the next couple years that we were in at the University of Montana.