Chapter 8: Party Time

Tony looked through his closet for what to wear. He had promised Jeannie that he would take her clubbing that evening, and that he would introduce her to his friend and fellow astronaut, Roger Healey.

“What should I wear, Master?” she had asked. “One of the dresses that website said was good for clubbing?”

“Sure.”

“What makes a dress good for clubbing?”

Tony looked up from his laptop computer. “Uh, it’s more an attitude, I guess. When you’re out clubbing, you’re out partying. You’re having fun, not working. It’s expensive, too, so you don’t do it often, and when you do go clubbing you want to dress up for it.”

“So...”

“So, it’s not the clothing you normally wear or are most comfortable in. You’re going to dress up. Nobody’s going to be wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and hiking boots. And nobody really looks at the guys. It’s all about the ladies,” he said.

“As well it should be!” replied Jeannie.

“You’re already turning into a modern woman.”

“What will you be wearing?” she asked him.

Tony shrugged. “Probably some dark pants, dress shoes, a nice shirt, maybe a sports coat. That might depend on the weather.”

“Sounds kind of boring, Master,” she chided.

“Nobody is going to be looking at me with you at my side,” Tony said, figuring that was a good safe answer.

It was. Jeannie squealed in delight and kissed him. “We can stay in if you want.”

“Nobody can do that twenty-four hours a day, Jeannie.”

“So, what should I wear?” she pressed.

“It can depend on the club. Some can be pretty extreme. Still, as a general rule, a dress or a skirt and top, and heels. Probably showing some skin, too. How much, that depends on the club. Hell, wear one of those long pink dresses and your pink high heels. You’ll look good and be able to dance. You’re a dancer, right?”

She grinned. “Yes, I’m a dancer.”

“Just what kind of dances did you dance for Artacyrus? The Dance of the Seven Veils?” he teased.

“I’ve never gotten past the fourth veil before I was thrown to the cushions and ravished!” she said in a bragging fashion.

Tony snorted and headed to his closet. He wondered what sort of monster he had created.

He was right when he said nobody would pay attention to what he was wearing. He settled on a pair of black jeans and a black silk t-shirt, with a black sports coat in case he needed it. Jeannie was dressed a lot faster than Tony. She did the blink-and-nod and was suddenly wearing a pink halter-topped gown with slits up both legs, and a pair of pink ankle-strapped stilettos. The dress was thin enough that Tony could tell that it was all she was wearing. Well, he had said nobody would be looking at him.

Tony collected Jeannie and escorted her to the Corvette. When she climbed in, her legs were exposed almost to the hip. Outstanding legs, he thought to himself, and the boobs were amazing, too! The halter top was cut low and showed just how spectacular they were.

The nightclub was about twenty minutes away and had both a dining room and a large dance club in the back. Tony led Jeannie to the dining room, where they found Roger waiting for them. “Jeannie, this is my friend, Roger Healey. Roger was on the space station with me when I made my sudden return to Earth. Roger, Jeannie.”

Jeannie stuck her hand out, as Tony had told her was an appropriate greeting. Roger didn’t take it right away, though. He was staring at her and trying to not drool. “Wow! Do you have any sisters?”

Jeannie didn’t understand and looked at Tony. He snorted and said, “Ignore him. You wouldn’t want any sisters meeting him.” Jeannie’s face scrunched up at the thought. She had two sisters, but she had been taken from them thousands of years ago and they must have died long past.

“Jeannie what?” asked Roger.

Jeannie looked at her master in confusion. Tony noticed it and said, “Uh ... Jeannie ... Depersian. Jeannie Depersian.”

Jeannie internally shrugged but nodded to Roger, who missed the byplay. They went to the hostess and asked for a table. “Will there be a fourth?” she asked, wondering if Roger had his own date.

Roger shook his head. “I’m only staying through dinner.”

The young hostess nodded and looked over at Tony and Jeannie. “Will you be going to the club later? Would you care for your hand stamps now?”

“Please,” said Tony. The young woman pulled out a stamp and pad and stamped the back of their hands. After that she seated them and called over their waitress.

“What did she put on our hands ... Tony?” She had to remember to call her Master Tony when they were in public.

“A stamp. When we go back to the club, they’ll only let people in who have the stamp,” he explained.

“You mean a mark? But there’s nothing on it.”

“Probably ultraviolet? They’ll show up under a black light,” added Roger.

That really confused the djinni. How could a light be black? She would have to ask later, or maybe she could learn when they went to the club.

Dinner was very nice, though the conversation tended to get sticky when Roger asked about Jeannie’s history. When he asked what she did, Tony mentioned that she was a dancer before Jeannie could answer. “Really? Where did you meet?” he asked her, then he looked over at Tony and asked, “How did you meet a dancer?”

“On the beach! I took a few days off after Bellows grounded me,” Tony responded.

“Where are you dancing, Jeannie? I want to come and see you!”

Jeannie looked over at Tony for help. He had warned her about getting too specific on the answers to questions about her past. Tony answered for her, “You had just come down here to meet a friend, right? You came down from New York and she never showed up? Did you ever hear from her?”

Jeannie nodded. “She couldn’t make it. Something came up. I went to the beach, instead.”

“It was a lucky day for me,” smiled Tony.

Something seemed off to Roger, but before he could say anything, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. He smiled and looked up. “I think I’m going to skip dessert. Something tastier has come up.”

“One of these days your ass is going to be in a sling, buddy,” warned Tony.

“Maybe, but not today.” Roger grinned and said, “Cover me. I’ll do the next meal.”

“Yeah? The last time we played that game, the next meal was at McDonalds!”

“Those were some great McNuggets, weren’t they?”

Tony snorted and said, “Get out of here!”

“I’m gone!” He leaned over and kissed Jeannie on the cheek. “Next time I see you I want to hear about your dancing. Bye!” He stood up and sauntered out of the restaurant.

“One of these days his dick is going to get him into trouble!” commented Tony to Jeannie. She simply smiled.

Roger drove to the motel and went into the office. He’d been there before. The place was basic, about one step above a dump that rented by the hour. Then again, it was all he and Amanda Bellows needed. The room was clean, it had a king-size bed, and there was a bathroom. It wasn’t like they were planning to stay. Once he got the key card, he texted the room number to her. Then he drove around the back to the room and let himself in.

Amanda Bellows had been in the parking lot of a convenience store across the street waiting for his text. Once she received it, she started her car and drove across the street. She knew where room 127 was and headed to the back of the motel. She parked next to a Dodge Challenger Hellcat with a KSC sticker in the window; she knew it had to belong to Roger. She smiled and grabbed her purse, then got out and knocked on the door.

Roger opened it and smiled. “You must have been nearby,” he said as he let her in. He noticed that she was wearing a knee-length flower print dress and high-heeled sandals.

“Across the street, actually.” Amanda stepped inside and Roger closed the door. She looked around and saw that he had a bottle of whiskey on the nightstand. “Be a dear and go get some mixers. I thought I saw some machines down in the stairwell at the end.”

Roger nodded. “Sprite or something.”

“That’s fine.”

He grabbed his wallet and what passed for an ice bucket and left the room. A couple of minutes later he was back, carrying some Sprite cans in the bucket. “Sorry, the ice machine is busted.” He looked around the room. Amanda had brought a couple of plastic-wrapped cups out of the bathroom and was in the process of turning down the covers on the bed.

“That’s alright.” She came back around the bed and unwrapped the cups.

Roger opened the bottle of whiskey and poured a healthy slug into each cup, followed by Sprite. He handed one to the good-looking blonde and said, “Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

They both drank their cups empty, and Roger refilled them. “I was talking to Tony today. He said I was a dead man if your husband learned about us.” Roger laughed as he said it.

“You told Tony about me?” she asked sharply.

“Only that I was seeing a married woman tonight.” Roger told the lie easily and smiled.

Amanda returned the smile and shrugged. “That’s fine, then. We don’t need the complications if Alfred learns. It might upset our arrangement.”

“Your arrangement?”

“Shortly after we left Idaho for Vandenburg, I went to see him at the base and found his assistant was missing, so I let myself into his office. I found the two of them on a couch in his office. I snapped a few shots with my phone and then let them know I was there. Alfred asked me to join in. Afterwards, we agreed to allow each other our little indiscretions as long as we didn’t cause a public issue.”

Roger smiled at that. “Is that what I am? A little indiscretion?”

She smiled and reached down, groping him through his pants. “Maybe not so little.” She sipped her drink and set it down, turning away. “Be a darling and unzip me.”

Roger set down his own drink and unzipped her dress. She slipped it off and turned back to face him. Under the dress she was wearing a well packed lacy white brassiere and a matching white lace thong. “Very nice.”

“Thank you. Take off your shirt. I’ll take care of the rest,” she said. Amanda kicked off her sandals and waited for Roger to remove his shirt. Then she grabbed him by the belt and pulled him over to the bed. “Leave the light on. I like to see what I’m eating.”

Roger smiled. “Me, too!”

Jeannie was amazed when the strange purple light showed a large mark on the back of her hand. Then she pulled her hand back and it disappeared! She pushed her hand back under and removed it another two times before Tony pulled her away and into the night club. They were shown to a balcony table overlooking the dance floor and then ordered drinks.

Jeannie stared at everything, both in amazement and in distress. She simply didn’t understand what was going on, and it was so loud she could barely talk to her master. Tony moved his chair next to hers and leaned over, speaking in her ear. “What do you think?” he asked.

Jeannie leaned towards him and replied, “It’s very loud! Where are the musicians?”

He smiled and shook his head. “No musicians. See that guy over there on the platform on the side? He plays recordings of music. He’s a disc jockey.” She still looked confused at him. What were discs and why did they need to be ridden like horses. He grinned and said, “I’ll explain it later.”

Their drinks were brought, and they sipped them. She looked down at the dance floor and asked, “Where are the dancers?” All she could see were a mass of bouncing people of both sexes under flickering, colored lights.

Tony gave her a strange look and pointed out at the floor. “Right there! Don’t you see them dancing?”

Jeannie gave a horrified look at him. “Master! That is dancing? That is what you brought me here to see?” Even though Tony had warned her to call him by his name, Jeannie was so shocked she had reverted to calling him Master.

Tony decided not to say anything about being called ‘Master’ in public; nobody could hear them anyway. “Yes. What’s the problem?” He didn’t understand what the djinni was upset about.

“Master, why are there men out there?”

“They are dancing with the women. Didn’t men dance in Assyria?”

“Never!” The mere thought was mindboggling to her. “Of course not! Women dance! We dance for men!” she protested.

He laughed at that. “Nowadays, men and women dance together.”

She just shook her head at that. It just went totally against her beliefs. It was like the time that Tony had tried to explain the silly notion of women’s liberation. Why did men want to liberate their women, and why did women want to be liberated? It just didn’t make any sense!

“That’s not dancing, Master! That’s just jumping around like they have scorpions in their clothing!”

Tony just laughed at that and then ordered another round of drinks. Somehow, he didn’t think he was going to be taking Jeannie to any other dance clubs.

They chatted as best they could over the loud music, and Tony kept ordering drinks. It seemed as if alcohol worked as well on djinnis as it did on regular mortals. Jeannie began to get a bit drunk. “It’s too bad I can’t dance for you here, Master!”

“What kind of dance would you be dancing?” he asked.

“Here? The Dance of the Captured Slave Girl. That would be good!”