Shirley’s fourth idea was to start a different kind of exercise club. An exercise club that would have no locker rooms or showers. It would be just one large room with a dance floor. People could come in off the street during the day or at night and dance in street clothes to industrial music. The lighting would be dark, there would be flashing lights, a fog machine, in other words it would look like dance club but it would be a health club of sorts. The customers would work up a sweat while they danced for an hour or so and then leave. Shirley envisioned herself dressed in leather as she danced on a high platform above the others.
She would call the place Paris Blue because “Paris” sounded classy and “Blue” because she thought it sounded good with the word Paris. When Shirley would think of this idea, usually in the middle of the night when she was drunk, she became anxious about putting the idea into action. Dammit Shirley, she thought, of all the great ideas you have this is the best. You better do something about it before someone else does.
One night she shared this idea with a temp who worked in her office, a young man who worked on the side as an actor. She was impressed with his energy and his bohemian lifestyle, so she invited him to go out with her for a drink. He was attracted to Shirley, he couldn’t help eyeing her legs that were accentuated by her high-heel shoes and her shapely ass that was wrapped in a tight skirt. He was confident he could lay her. He thought she was an older woman looking for a younger man, an easy score for himself.
As they sat in a bar, Shirley told him her idea about Paris Blue. He wasn’t at all impressed and told her he had reservations that such a concept could ever work. But in her drunken state, Shirley thought he was being dismissive as a ruse to steal her idea. She pleaded with him not to steal it. She was almost in tears.
After a couple of more drinks, he was finally able to convince her that he had no interest in stealing her idea and she felt better. While walking her home, he told her how he was attracted to her and how she was such a sexy woman. He told her he wanted to lay her so bad. He had no idea about her asexuality. When they got in front of her place, she gave him a peck on the cheek and left him standing on the sidewalk. He stood there for a couple minutes and couldn’t believe she didn’t want to go to bed with him.