Beca stopped her car in the parking lot. She looked at the strip club. It used to be a Mexican restaurant before the original owners were forced to sell it. The original design could still be seen under the gaudy neon lights, advertising burgers, beer, and girls. She sat in her car for a bit, tapping her finger against the steering wheel. Stacie, who was sitting in shotgun, looked at her. "So are we going in or what?"

"Yeah," said Beca. "Just gathering my thoughts. Thinking about what to say."

"How about this?" said Amy from the backseat. "Chloe, you're a stripper. Maybe you should rethink your life."

Stacie gave Amy a weird look. "And what's wrong with being a stripper?"

"Nothing," said Beca. "There's nothing wrong with being a stripper."

Amy laughed. "Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with my Uncle Jimmy shooting up heroin in his eyeballs."

"Chloe's not shooting up heroin in her eyeballs," said Beca. "At least I don't think she is. Jesus, what if she is?"

"She probably isn't into heroin," said Amy.

"You don't?" said Beca.

"No," said Amy. "She's probably hooked on coke. They give it to you so you can work those late shifts. After a while, you get so addicted that you have to work just so you can buy more coke."

"Oh god," said Beca. "That's even worse."

Stacie opened the car door. "Here, I'm tired of waiting. Let's just go inside and get this over with."

She walked over to the strip club, with Beca and Amy following her. At the front of club was a muscular man with the Marine Corp insignia tattooed on his right arm. He looked up at Stacie. "I see you're new here."

"Excuse me?" said Stacie.

"Yeah, dancers are supposed to enter around back." The Bouncer pointed to where he wanted Stacie to go.

"Uh, I'm not a dancer," said Stacie.

"You're not?" said The Bouncer. "I am so sorry."

"Don't worry," said Amy. "Happens all the time."

Stacie gave Amy a dirty look. "Oh really?"

"Yeah," said Amy. "The other day I was at a party and some guy came up to me and asked how much it would cost to motorboat me."

The three went inside the club. Beca scanned for any sign of Chloe. There were two strippers working the pole right now, but neither one was Chloe. "I don't see her yet. Let's get some food and wait for her."

There was a lunch counter in the corner of the club, that was being manned by a pimply faced teen. He didn't seem all that engaged with his job, focusing more on the girls dancing, and Beca had to bang her hand on the counter just to get his attention. "Uh there's a bell."

"Uh I rang it," said Beca. "Like four times."

The teenager rolled his eyes. "Uh what do you want?"

"Uh some burgers," said Amy. "With some uh fries."

"I'm uh on it." The teenager went back to throw some patties on the grill. He wasn't paying attention at all and Beca was not surprised when she found that her burger was burned. She noticed that Amy was practically lathering her burger in barbeque sauce.

"Amy," said Stacie. "Do you want some meat with that sauce?"

"Yeah," said Beca. "That's a lot of sauce."

"Relax, it's not that much." Amy took a bite of her burger and sauce squirted out, covering the front of her shirt.

As Beca was getting napkins for Amy, a voice came on over the intercom. "Now let's give a warm welcome to Big Red!"

Beca looked up on stage to see Chloe standing there, wearing a red bikini. The panties were covered with sequins and the bra was practically see-through. Beca turned to Amy and Stacie. "That's her."

Amy got up. "Okay, let's get her."

Beca got in front of her and the stage. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?"

"Isn't this what we planned?" said Amy. "Once she got on stage we were going to tackle her and drag her back home?"

"No," said Beca. "That's literally the farthest thing from what we planned."

Amy groaned and sat down. "You guys always keep me out of the loop."

As Chloe danced, music played.

Bed, stay in bed
The feeling of your skin locked in my head
Smoke, smoke me broke
I don't care I'm down for what you want

Day drunk into the night
Wanna keep you here
Cause you dry my tears
Yeah, summer lovin' and fights
How it is for us
And it's all because

Stacie began dancing to the music, getting on a table. A man came up to her and handed her a twenty dollar bill. "Aw, thank you. That's so sweet."

Beca pulled her off the table. "Come on. Let's focus."

Now if we're talking body
You got a perfect one
So put it on me
Swear it won't take you long
If you love me right
We fuck for life
On and on and on

The three watched Chloe danced. Stacie seemed impressed. "You know, she's always been a good dancer."

"Yeah, but she's wasting her talents," said Beca. "I mean she's not doing anything that's that impress..."

Chloe then did a crotch grab on the pole, did a spin around upside down, and then did a reverse backflip back on stage. Stacie smirked. "Still not impressed?"

Now if we're talking body
You got a perfect one
So put it on me
Swear it won't take you long
If you love me right
We fuck for life
On and on and on

Beca went up to the stage, trying to get Chloe's attention. "Chloe! Chloe! Hey Chloe, it's me Beca."

Chloe turned to Beca. "Love, give me love. Anything you want I'll give it up."

"Excuse me?" said Beca.

"Sorry," said Chloe. "I like to sing the song in my head. Helps me hit my marks."

"Okay," said Beca.

Chloe slowed down her dance, still bouncing her ass up and down. "So Beca, I didn't expect to see you in my neck of the woods. I guess I always suspected you played for the other team."

"I don't," said Beca. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I got you." Chloe tapped her nose. "What did you want to 'talk to me' about?"

"You know I thought you were going to bring A cappella to underprivileged children," said Beca. "What happened to that?"

"Yeah, I tried doing that," said Chloe. "Turns out underprivileged children don't pay that much."

"So you became a stripper?" said Beca.

"I prefer the term exotic dancer," said Chloe.

"You're still dancing naked for strangers," said Beca.

"Um I'm wearing a bikini," said Chloe.

"That doesn't cover up much," said Beca. "And I can still see your...your...ahem..."

"Nipples?" said Chloe. "You can still see my nipples."

"Yeah," said Beca. "I can still see your...junk."

"Look Beca, I've got work to do, so unless you want a lap dance, I've got to go." Chloe walked over to another patron.

Beca sighed. "How much for a lap dance?"

Chloe froze. Stacie and Amy's jaws dropped. "What did you say?"

Beca spoke up louder. "How much for a lap dance?"

Chloe took Beca to a backroom. Amy and Stacie followed them. Beca protested at first, but she decided that she probably needed them. Chloe sat Beca down on a chair and began dancing behind her. Chloe got behind Beca and snaked her arms around her shoulders. "So I really like working here. The pay is good and the girls here are really nice."

"That's good," said Stacie.

"Yeah, there's this girl called Evelyn," said Chloe. "She strips to pay tuition. She taking Intro to Forensic Science. I failed that class freshmen year so sometimes I help her out a bit."

"That's...generous of you," said Beca.

Chloe got on Beca's lap and started grinding on her. "There's also Vivian. She's really smart."

"Oh really?" said Amy.

"Yeah," said Chloe. "She paid for her boob job using scholarship money."

"Very enterprising," said Beca.

"Yeah, things are going great." Chloe turned around and started shaking her breasts in Beca's face. Beca said something that was muffled by Chloe's breasts. "What was that?"

Chloe pulled away to let Beca breathe. "I was just wondering if, I don't know, you wanted something more?"

Chloe got off of Beca. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you know how I'm a producer now?" said Beca. "I've got a few hits under my belt. If you want, I could set something up with you so that maybe...how do I put this?"

"Don't have to dance around half-naked just to pay rent," said Amy. "Something like that."

"Okay, I see what you're doing," said Chloe.

"Do you mean, trying to help you out a bit," said Beca. "'Cause that's what we're trying to do."

"No," said Chloe. "I don't want this."

"You don't want help?" said Beca.

"This isn't help," said Chloe. "This isn't even charity. This is just patronizing. Look, I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

"Amen to that sister," said Stacie. "Be your own woman."

Beca turned to her. "Can you shut up?"

"No," said Stacie. "You guys always act like I'm an idiot, but you know what, I think she has a good point. No one likes being talked down to."

"Yes, I think she has a good point too," said Amy. "Let's leave Chloe here with all those struggling students and single mothers. This seems like a stable career for her."

"See, Amy agrees with me," said Stacie.

Beca turned to Amy. "Okay, you know what, maybe you were right. Let's knock her out and drag her back to my apartment."

"Thank you." Amy went to hit Chloe over the head. Stacie went to defend Chloe, tackling Amy to the ground. The two began wrestling. "Stop kicking!"

"Stop pulling my hair bitch!" Stacie rammed her foot against Amy's knee.

"Enough!" Chloe shouted. Everyone in the room froze. "Okay yes, this job is far from ideal and I'm going to have to find something else. And yes, thanks for the offer. I would be lying if I said I didn't want that. But you know what, so is your job."

"What do you mean?" said Beca.

"Oh come on," said Chloe. "You're a producer. Yeah, you make lots of money, but only if you keep cranking out hits. You got lucky with that holiday album. If someone else came up with a better idea, you'd be in the same place I'm in."

Beca looked at her feet. "Well I probably wouldn't be a stripper...I mean exotic dancer, but I get your point."

Chloe smiled. "Look, this was my choice to do this and right now I'm making the best of it. Can you respect that?"

Beca sighed. "Okay, I can get behind you."

"Well you literally just did," said Amy.

"You know, I get off in a few minutes," said Chloe. "Do you want to get together and do something.

"Sure, why not?" said Beca.

Stacie and Amy nodded in agreement, and they went to leave the backroom. Stacie turned around to Beca, who was still sitting in the chair. "Are you coming with us?"

"Yeah," said Beca. "It's just...can I borrow your sweater?"

"No," said Stacie.

"Why not?" said Beca.

"Do you want me to walk around in my underwear?" said Stacie.

Beca stared in disbelief. "You don't wear an undershirt?"

"Why would I?" said Stacie.

Beca turned to Amy. "Can I borrow your sweater?"

Amy took off her sweater and handed it to Beca. "Sure, but it's covered in barbeque sauce."

"That's fine." Beca took the sweater and wrapped it around her waist.

"Why did you need my sweater anyways?" said Amy.

Beca stammered. "Well you see...uh it's because...well..."

"There's a wet spot on her pants," said Chloe. "It's like twice the size of a silver dollar."

"Chloe!" said Beca.

Chloe shrugged. "I could feel it on my butt."

Amy gave Beca a horrified look. "Is this true?"

Beca looked at her feet again. "Well you see she was rubbing up against me and I kind of...well, got excited. Are you still cool with me borrowing your sweater?"

"Yeah," said Amy. "Just remember not to return it."