AN: This is based on the movie "Six Ways to Sunday." It is a strange, but fascinating movie. This kind of continues my current trend of Norman Reedus movies. He plays the main character in this: Harry Oldum. Harry is very introverted, and has a very overly attentive mother. Disturbing? Yes, a bit. Still, it is very interesting. I'm taking a few liberties with the stories such as omitting Iris. Hope y'all like it. AN

"He's out there again?"

"Yep," Mellie laughed, as she touched up her eyeliner in the intense light just above the vanity mirror. Reese hated that light. Its bright light shone starkly against any face unlucky enough to need it's illumination. Any hint of a blemish or the slightest disfigurement was magnified a hundred fold, forcing her to coat her face in layers and layers of makeup until it took on the characteristics of a porcelain doll. It hardly even mattered given the dim "mood" lighting on stage. The only time any bright light hit any of the girls was in the milliseconds of each flash of the strobe light.

Shimmying into her neon red shorts, Reese glanced down at her phone to check her time. The screen blinked to life showing a tentative 5:45 pm. She still had a good 40 minutes before she had to make her way to the stage.

"Do you think he'll come in this time?" Mellie asked. Reese looked back at the woman, sitting before the mirror, and neck-deep in the primping process. Her bleach blonde hair was piled high on her head, held up by sparkling rainbow butterfly clips. Her petit body sported odd proportions with skinny limbs and an awkwardly large bust and posterior.

"Dunno," she answered, pulling up a pair of red and white striped knee-high socks. "It's kinda cute."

Mellie paused to raise an eyebrow at her in the mirror. "Once is cute. Twice is funny. This is what the fifth or sixth time? That's a little creepy."

"Meh," Reese squinted at her. ""He's so adorable, being too nervous to come in. It's really sweet. You almost want to hold his hand and bring him in."

"Coax him to sin?" Mellie winked at her. "That's too high maintenance for me. I don't want to take care of a guy. He needs to take care of me." She twisted open her lip-gloss, giving it a few pumps to evenly coat the applicator. Reese cringed at the wet squishing sound, her insides twisting violently at the noise. Her gag reflex quivered, threatening to allow a reappearance of her lunch. Snatching her long winter coat from the back of her chair and swinging it on, she snuck out of the back door, leaving Mellie to her preparation.

Stepping out into the alley behind the club, she sucked down the brisk winter air in slow deep breaths. Her mind flew backwards into terribly unfortunate experiences in her past, pulling her kicking and screaming by the ankles into a life she had run from as fast as she could. She watched as long streams of steam pooled from her mouth, taking comfort in the swirling white clouds just before they disappear in front of her face. Given a random pattern to follow, the memories slipped back into their dark corners. After a few smokey moments, her gag reflex released its death grip on her lunch.

Reese leaned back against the building's wall, shivering as a hint of the icy air seeped through the layers of her coat to lick up her spine. A soft shuffling slipped around the corner. She cocked her head to the side at the sound. Wrapping the coat more snuggly around her body, she trotted toward the end of the alley. As she got closer to the end of the alley, a soft muttering joined the shuffling. She paused at the end of the wall, and leaned forward to peek around the corner at the source of the sounds.

The young man that she and Mellie had been talking about was pacing back and forth in front of the club, talking to himself.

"Come on," he muttered softly. "Just go inside."

Reese smiled at the man, enjoying the uniquely timid response to the club. Buried under a thick winter jacket she could make out the form of a reasonably fit young man. His sandy blonde hair poked out from under a dark green beanie. She craned her neck to see his face, but as he paced, he kept his head tucked down. A peculiar feeling of familiarity scratched at the back of her mind, while she watched the poor kid try to give himself a pep talk. Squinting at him, she managed to make out a somewhat thin face, the sweetness of youth lingering on his cute features.

As though he sensed her staring, he looked up, the nail of his thumb clamped between his teeth. A soft squeak slipped past her lips, and she yanked her head back around the corner. Her cheeks flushing slightly at her new-found voyeuristic hobby, Reese walked as quickly as she could towards the door. She coughed softly at the warm thick air, reeking of cigars and stale body odor that swept out through the doorway. She leaned back against the heavy door, and took in several deep breaths. It was always better to take in all the rank odors and get used to them faster than to fight it and be disgusted all night.

Reese nearly jumped out of her skin, when a pulsing vibration buzzed her side. Silently scolding herself, she pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket to turn off her alarm. Slipping off her jacket, she plopped down in front of her little section of the mirror. She pulled off her baggy over-shirt and sports bra, and tossed them into her duffel bag under the counter. Frilly girly music blasted through the burgundy curtain behind her. The perky music suited Mellie. Not her attitude, but her appearance. Over the years Mellie had decide that it was far easier to go with the stereotype of blonde bimbo/material girl, than to prove otherwise. It seemed to work for her now, but Reese often wondered how tiresome it must be, being a closet romantic.

Suppressing the onset of philosophical inquiries and subsequent depression, Reese focused on moving as quickly as possible. Her slot was up after Mellie, and the song was halfway through. Make-up already plastered on her face, Reese pulled on her sparkling green front clasp bra. Throwing a hand into her bag, she fished out her tight white shirt. She carefully pulled it over her head, making sure she didn't smear her makeup, and snapped her black suspenders in place. She tucked her shoulder length auburn hair into two soft hanging pigtails near the base of her hair-line, and stood to take in her entire reflection.

Shifting about in her shiny black pumps, she smoothed out a few stray wrinkles in her shorts. Reese turned sideways, passing her hands over her flat abdomen to her hips, giving her butt a slight wiggle. She laughed at the slight jiggle of her butt.

"Yes you have a fat ass." Reese rolled her eyes at the insult. The mirror filled with the reflection of the wicked witch of the west herself. Dani stood, hands on her hips, watching Reese with her trademark sneer.

"At least I have an ass," she retorted "And tits."

"At least I don't have to worry about breaking the stage. Or the pole."

A loud droning sound cut their bickering short. She pushed past the mouthy woman to loiter by the curtain. Mellie bounded out, an armful of bills held tightly against her chest.

"My regular's out there," she said cheerfully. "He's always so sweet." Reese smiled at the bright enthusiastic flush that had spread across her cheeks. The petit woman disappeared through the door that led out to the floor. She grabbed the curtain, taking a breath to ready herself to go on stage.

"Oh, Reese," Mellie hissed, her head peaking back through the doorway. "He's out there." She disappeared in a blonde blur, before Reese could question her further. The loud droning of her announcement drew her attention back to the curtain. As the first beat of her song echoed from the speakers, She pushed through the curtains and stepped out into the sparkling pink and green spotlight. Her eyes adjusting to the darker lighting, she quickly surveyed the people sitting near the stage.

A few regulars she saw every day scooted closer to the stage, folded bills fully prepared. Only a handful more were scattered near the main stage. It was still early in the evening. The larger crowds wouldn't be expected until around sundown. She would definitely have to push for a better time slot. Swaying to her music she made her way towards the pole, smiling brightly at the men lingering close to the pole. Hooking her thumbs into her suspenders she shimmied them off her shoulders, letting them hang from her hips. Sinking to her knees in front of those nearest her, she pulled the white shirt over her head letting it fall to her side.

Sliding back until the top of her head tapped the pole, she reached over her head and pulled herself to her feet. Hooking a leg around the cold metal, she swung her weight around the pole. As she spun she caught sight of a huddled mass sitting awkwardly near the stage.

Oh crap, it's that shy kid.

She smiled, happy that the guy had managed to work up the nerve to come in. Reese slid down the pole as she swung, letting her hair slide across the stage floor. Getting up on all fours, she crawled towards mass of winter coat. She wasn't sure if he actually was watching, but it didn't really matter. He was too adorable, and she figured she'd break him in easily.

"Hey there," she cooed at the mass, trying to coax him out of his hiding place. "How are you?"

The hood of the coat shifted slightly.

"Reese?" An incredibly soft male voice drifted out from inside the coat. Reese paused at the sound of her name. Forgetting her routine, she reached out a hand and pushed back the hood to see who this kid was.

"Harry?"