Debutante

by Madeline Moore

  Emily was jealous, pure and simple. As far as he knew she knew nothing of his one-time arrangement with Marion, which had been fun while it lasted and had ended the day he’d laid eyes on Em. He was darn sure Marion hadn’t talked. She had a big mouth, all right, but not when it came to talking, just sucking. He shook his head to clear his mind before his cock got any harder. Friends with benefits, fuck-buddies, whatever he and Marion had been, they were pals now. Colleagues and pals.

  He glanced around idly. The redhead wasn’t hard to spot. She was roaming what Em called ‘the back forty’, tracking songbirds with her recording equipment. He and Em had argued about that, too, but Em had won out. For now, much as Marion loved sound, she was First Assistant Director. Emily thought Marion’s looks and personality were poorly suited to recording and editing sound. Luke could see her point but … just watching the joy on Marion’s face as she captured the trilling of a little chickadee, or whatever it was, made it clear, at least to him, that if she got what she wanted she’d end up in sound.

  It was time to put her in front of the camera, though. That much he and Emily agreed on. But Emily hadn’t written anything yet and neither had Marion so …

  He tucked the lenses in their protective pouches and placed them gently in the camera case. He had absolutely no idea where they’d get cameras from until school started up again. But that wasn’t his problem.

  He stood. Time to get these cameras back to campus. He gave Emily a wave but she shook her head, motioning him back into his seat. Obediently, he sat. It looked like she was almost ready for another ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane’ lesson but he was hesitant to go there. Besides, everything that wasn’t directly related to NAIL slipped from her mind in days. It wasn’t as if he wanted to dominate her, necessarily. He just didn’t want her pussy-whipping him. There was a big difference between the two.

  Emily hung up. She told Luke, ‘Good news! Vito says it’s all selling like hotcakes. The Young Love trilogy, with Tony and Aileen, has gone viral. All the porn sites that are owned by women, and it seems that there are a lot of them, want it because it’s romantic as well as very sexy. That’s a whole new market. They want NAILs’ inventory on their sites ASAP. Hah!’ She pumped the air in triumph.

  ‘Fantastic!’ Luke said. ‘Did he have any suggestions for more?’

  ‘Plenty! Interracial. Your bed-buddy, Paul? It’s time to take him out from behind the camera and put him in front of it. Vito wants some three-girl action, but again, as romantic as we can make it.’

  ‘Romantic? Three-way love as well as lust?’

  ‘Why not? For it to work, we need three girls who are not only willing to do lesbian stuff, but who are into each other. That might be tricky.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Some older woman/younger guy. Cougars are in fashion, in porno, it seems. Young guys, we got lots of. Any ideas for older women?’

  Luke mused. ‘I can think of some lady profs who are crazy enough to consider it and some who’d look great on camera. Unfortunately, none that has both the looks and the willingness.’

  Emily shrugged. ‘The man wants cougars, cougars he shall have. Find me one, Luke.’

  ‘I have to get these cameras back to campus.’

  ‘What are we going to use if you turn in our equipment?’

  ‘I told you about this, Emily. I turn in the equipment or they start fining me.’

  ‘Fuck.’ She turned her attention to her calculator and started bashing away at it.

  Mind like a sieve … Luke glowered. The girl remembered nothing he taught her but every word Vito Manero uttered was memorised, analysed and jotted down in her journal.

  ‘We’ll have to rent some.’ She looked up. ‘Would it be cheaper to just pay the fines and hang on to the cameras we have?’

  ‘Probably. But it makes me look bad, Em.’

  ‘I can’t imagine anything could make you look bad, gorgeous,’ she said.

  Was she playing him?

  ‘Lukey, don’t turn in the cameras today. Go get a cougar, please?’

  ‘Just like that? Where? How?’

  ‘I don’t care where or how or what it takes, just do it.’

  ‘No matter what?’

  ‘No matter what.’

  Luke said, ‘But, Emily …’

  ‘Just do it, OK?’

  ‘You’re the boss.’ For now, little girl.

  ‘Yes, I am. He also wants some very big dicks so keep your eyes open.’

  ‘So when I’m not prowling cougar bars you want me to hang out in men’s rooms looking for cock?’

  ‘Not cock. Big cock!’ She grinned.

  ‘You’re losing your mind,’ said Luke. He slung the camera case over his shoulder.

  ‘Just like a real producer!’ she crowed. ‘All I’m asking is that you keep your eyes open. So far we’ve only got Paul and supposedly Eric. But Eric’s tests aren’t back yet so he’s out. And you, of course but …’

  ‘But I’m the director.’

  ‘Right. So forget about the big cock thing if you want, just please, Mr Director, go do some cougar casting. Ask Tony. He knows all kinds of stuff. Just make sure she’s pretty, hmm? It’d be super if her health records are up to date, too. Otherwise we’ll have to use condoms which is OK but not …’ Her voice trailed off as she turned her attention back to her laptop.

  Luke waited for her to finish her sentence.

  She started tapping at her keyboard.

  Luke growled. ‘Will that be all, Mr Weinstein?’

  Emily looked up, obviously surprised he was still there. A beach ball bounced across the courtyard. She whacked it away from the patio table. ‘Working over here!’ she yelled. ‘See you later?’ she asked.

  ‘I think I’ll go home tonight. Turn in the camera equipment in the morning.’ He started to walk away.

  ‘Luke?’

  He stopped. ‘Yes?’

  She gave him a pretty little baby pout.

  That’s more like it. He waited for her to beg him to come back to the house later, so they could fall asleep in each other’s arms.

  ‘Please don’t turn in the cameras yet. Pretty pretty please?’ She batted her lashes.

  Luke was so surprised he actually laughed – the sound as short and harsh as a big dog’s bark. ‘OK. You know where to find me when you want me,’ he said.

  Emily flexed her fingers. ‘I’m going to write such a scorching hot script for your cougar and Paul you’ll need the Ove Glove just to hold it in your hand. We’ll get big dick plus interracial plus cougar. Vito will be in heaven!’ She turned her attention back to her laptop. ‘Bye, Luke.’

  ‘Yep,’ he said.

  ‘Remember, whatever it takes.’ Em started tapping at her keyboard again. ‘Marion,’ she called, oblivious to the redhead only yards away from her, ‘where are you?’ When she received no answer she upped her volume. ‘Marion! I need you! NOW!’

  ***

  Luke found Tony in the sauna.

  ‘There’s a place downtown – Cheetahs – where the cougars hang out,’ said Tony. He was lying on a towel with another towel draped across his torso.

  Oh well, I already know the size of his cock. Luke closed his eyes. He mopped his brow. Things are getting out of hand …

  ‘There is?’ he said. ‘Great! What do we do, put a notice up in their ladies’ room?’

  Tony shook his head. ‘Emily said whatever it takes, right?’

  ‘Right.’ Luke swiped at his face again.

  ‘What it’ll take is one of us going there and propositioning some of these older ladies.’ Tony stretched his arm so he could grab a ladle and pour cold water over hot, fake rocks. He rolled over onto his belly. As the room filled with even more steam, he made a pillow of the towel that had covered his privates and tucked it under his head. His ass was bare. ‘Ahh. This is heaven.’

  Gross.

  ‘You?’ Luke was seized with a sense of desperation. He had to get out of the sauna and away from this house.
<
br />   ‘Not me. You. You and Richard.’ Tony’s voice was muffled by his makeshift pillow.

  ‘The Tarantino freak? Why him?’

  ‘He’s big on older women. You should see his collection of what he calls “the golden age of porn” tapes. Richard says they were all in it for the fun of it, not the money. He says you can see it in their eyes.’ Tony’s voice slowed. His eyelids drooped. ‘Maybe he can pick out the right kind of cougar for us.’

  ‘I’ll ask him, then.’ Luke, practically gasping for air, swung the door to the sauna open. ‘Print us up another batch of business cards, OK?’

  ‘Now?’ Tony’s eyes opened.

  ‘Yeah now,’ snapped Luke. ‘Christ, man, wake up already! It’s the middle of the fucking day!’

  Tony stood, wrapping a towel around his dripping body. ‘Yes, sir!’

  Chapter Fifteen

  That night, after carefully preparing for their assignment at their house, Luke and Richard showed up at Cheetahs. It was just after ten p.m. Despite their business cards, fresh-faced and crew-cut Richard had to show ID. The bouncer grinned. ‘These she-cats’ll eat you up, sonny, looking like that.’ The chubby-cheeked boy was dressed preppy: loafers, chinos, pale-pink shirt and an Argyle pullover sweater with pink in the pattern, contrasting with Luke’s Doc Marten’s, black jeans and tight black T-shirt. Between them, they figured, they had the market covered.

  They bought two beers for ten dollars each. The barkeep told them, ‘Don’t worry. Most of your drinks will be bought for you, if you play your cards right.’

  They found a booth and scanned the room. The patrons weren’t all older women and younger men.

  Luke nodded towards a table with two people, a couple who were likely in their mid-forties, maybe married. ‘What do think they’re doing here, Rich?’

  ‘Looking for a young stud for her, with him watching them do it, or else for a threesome.’

  ‘I don’t know how I’d feel about going home with a man and a woman. It seems kinda creepy to me.’

  ‘Different strokes, Luke. Still, I agree. If they were all friends, before, I think that’d be OK, but being picked up by a couple of complete strangers sounds kinda risky, to me, ’specially if it’s a big guy.’

  Among the throng, there were a few older men and younger women, but the clientele was predominantly women in their forties and men in their twenties.

  ‘Makes sense,’ Luke said. ‘Both sexes at the ages when they’re in their sexual primes.’

  ‘Now you’re getting it,’ Richard said. ‘Just remember, if you get one in the sack, let her teach you. Act dumb.’

  ‘Be my pleasure.’

  ‘This is OK with Emily?’

  ‘She said do whatever it takes to get a cougar. If this is what it takes, it’s not my fault, is it?’

  ‘I’m on your side, bro.’ Richard tapped the table with his empty bottle. ‘No kind ladies are lining up to buy us drinks, Luke. Will the expense account run to another round?’

  ‘This is my pocket, Richard, but I guess we can’t sit here dry.’

  At the bar, Luke ordered two more. When he picked the beaded bottles up, a husky contralto said, ‘That’s on my tab, Bert.’

  Luke turned. His benefactress looked a well-preserved forty, with wide-spaced ice-blue eyes under long lashes and tinted eyelids. Her lips were a little thin and painted bright red. His eyes moved down. Her gold lamé top plunged to the belt buckle of black velvet Capris with gold trim. Her gilt sandals had four-inch heels.

  She took a sip from what Luke assumed was an Appletini, by its colour. ‘Have you

  seen enough, young man?’ she asked.

  Luke cleared his throat. ‘Not yet.’

  ‘Bad boy?’ she asked.

  ‘Working on it.’

  ‘Need help?’

  ‘I wouldn’t say no.’

  ‘To what?’

  ‘Just about anything.’

  The blonde laughed, a full-blown, head-back laugh. ‘I like you already, “Bad Boy”. Have you a name?’

  ‘Luke.’

  She extended a hand. ‘Gloria.’

  ‘Glorious Gloria from across the pond.’

  ‘Guilty!’ Gloria laughed again. ‘Fancy a bit of Brit, mate?’

  Luke nodded. For the life of him he couldn’t come up with a witty response.

  Gloria looked at the pair of bottles in his fist. ‘Hard drinker?’

  ‘No. One’s for my friend.’

  She frowned. ‘You’re with someone? Boy or girl?’

  ‘Boy. Richard.’

  ‘You going to introduce me, then?’

  Luke led her to the booth where Richard was waiting and made introductions. ‘Well?’ he asked his friend.

  ‘I’d say so.’

  Gloria said, ‘It’s not nice to have secret conversations. What was that all about?’

  Luke answered, ‘Richard thinks he can tell how … er … fiery a woman is by her eyes.’

  She turned a smouldering look on Richard. ‘And?’

  ‘Scorching. Love your accent, too.’

  Gloria grinned. ‘So, what’s happening, boys? You two gay and looking to experiment or what?’

  They both assured her, and assured her, and assured her, that they weren’t in the least bit gay.

  ‘So what’s the deal? One to hold the other’s hand? We don’t have a virgin here somewhere, do we?’ She posed the question with relish.

  ‘No, no virgins, sorry. Is that your thing?’

  ‘My “thing” is my business, for now. So tell me all about yourselves.’

  Luke produced his NAIL business card.

  After a glance, Gloria dropped it on the table. ‘Save that to impress little girls, Luke. This town is full of movie producers and directors who’ve never made movies.’

  ‘I’m serious,’ he assured her. ‘We’ve only made a couple of shorts, so far, but this is how we’re putting ourselves through movie school.’

  Gloria picked his card up and took a closer look. ‘“Naked And In Love”? You kids are making porn movies?’

  ‘Artistic ones,’ Richard said.

  ‘Hm.’ She looked thoughtful.

  Richard opened his mouth but Luke nudged him into silence.

  ‘You have a full crew, cameramen, lights, sound, the whole shebang?’

  ‘Everything,’ Luke told her. ‘As I said, we’ve already made a few movies, and sold them.’

  ‘So they’re being seen by people?’

  ‘One trilogy has gone viral on line.’

  ‘I’m impressed. You know, when you get a little older you start wondering if there’s anything new to explore. I think while I’ve still got the body for it, I might enjoy a good shag captured on film.’

  ‘It’s all digital now –’ began Richard but Luke cut him off.

  ‘Our buyer has asked us for something with a younger man and a … mature … woman,’ he said.

  ‘Mature like me?’

  ‘Exactly,’ Luke told her. ‘A true cougar.’

  She mused. ‘Kinky, at your age. What is the world coming to?’

  ‘Well, would you?’ Luke asked.

  ‘Depends. This cougar is pedigree. Understand?’

  Luke frowned. ‘You mean …’

  ‘I mean I come with papers. Health papers. Do you?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Luke assured her. ‘So, are you in?’

  ‘Don’t I have to audition first? Don’t you want to see what you get?’

  ‘Audition?’

  She opened her purse and took out a key card. ‘Midnight, the Tiara on Park Lane, suite one nine one one.’

  Richard squeaked, ‘Both of us?’

  Her look passed from Luke to Richard like a flame-thrower. ‘I have a big appetite.’

  ‘We’ll do our best to satisfy it,’ Luke assured her.

  ‘I’m counting on it.’ She sashayed away, leaving the boys looking at each other.

  An hour later, Luke paused to admire the famous back-lit four-storey cascade
in the lobby of the Tiara.

  Richard touched his elbow. ‘It’s seven minutes to twelve. We should keep moving.’

  Luke shook his head. ‘I don’t know about this, Richard.’

  ‘Emily?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘She told you, whatever it takes.’

  ‘Even so.’

  ‘How about we play by President’s rules?’

  ‘Which are?’

  ‘BJs don’t count as sex. If Mr Penis doesn’t meet Miss Vagina, in an intimate sort of way, no one has two-timed anyone. That’s President Clinton’s rule, which almost makes it a law.’

  ‘And anything else goes?’

  ‘You already shook her hand.’

  ‘No I didn’t.’

  ‘Well, if you had, would that be sex? Would that be cheating on Emily?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘A peck on the cheek?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘If you touched her –’

  Luke interrupted with, ‘I get the point. You have to draw the line somewhere and we are deciding to draw it at actual penetration.’

  ‘We’re not deciding. Clinton decided. We’re just following his lead,’ Richard reminded him. ‘And the line is drawn at vaginal penetration.’

  ‘What’s the –’

  But Richard was already heading for the elevators, leaving Luke to think about why the word ‘penetration’ needed modifying.

  It took three swipes of the card for Richard to get the door to 1911 open, but he wasn’t used to key cards and his hand wasn’t that steady. The suite was spacious, with no bed visible, so it had to have more than one room. There was a four-seater green leather couch against the wall opposite the entrance. Gloria was displayed on it.

  She’d changed. Her narrow feet were tucked into pom-pom kitten-heeled red satin mules. She wore black nylons that were as sheer as shadows. The hose were held up by the suspenders of a frilly garter belt that nipped her narrow waist. Her breasts were nestled in a quarter-cup crimson satin bra. Over all, she wore a flame-tinted peignoir so fine that it did little more than glisten over her flesh. She had another Appletini in her hand.

  Richard gasped. ‘I think I’ve died and gone to heaven! That, Luke, is what a porn star is supposed to look like.’

  ‘You’re too kind,’ Gloria purred. She turned her gaze to Luke and lifted an elegant eyebrow.