vibes, I don’t have to worry about the sex thing. Which means I won’t have to think about being a hooker. I smiled, happy with the idea that I could be making a hundred bucks an hour to go to a fancy, catered party with my best friend.
“That’s the spirit,” said Jessica, grinning over at me. “An actual smile. And imagine … your face didn’t even crack!”
“Shut up, hooker,” I said, laughing when Jessica screeched her outrage. “Just don’t let me get trapped with someone, okay? If someone tries to, like, I don’t know … smother me, you promise you’ll come get me, right?”
“Yes. Absolutely. That’s why they always send us in groups to big parties like this. Safety in numbers. I’ll watch your back, you watch mine.”
A flicker of fear entered my mind, making me feel a little queasy. “Safety? As in, there’s danger?”
Jessica pulled up to a huge mansion-like house that had a valet guy in front. She put the car in park and turned to face me. “No, there’s no danger. Look at this house, would you?” she said, gesturing towards the huge columns that stood outside my window. “What could possibly be dangerous about a party in a palace like this?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, looking out the window up at the massive walls that rose two very tall stories into the night sky, “probably nothing.” The fountain on our left, that I could clearly hear now that Jessica’s door was open, gave the place a presidential feel almost.
I let my misgivings slide into the background as I took the offered hand of the valet. He helped me out of the car, and I stood waiting for my friend to join me. She was gamely flirting with the guy who’d gone to retrieve her keys and park the car for us. She flashed him some cleavage, leaning over to show him they were still in the ignition, earning her a big grin.
“Come on, Jess. Time to party,” I said wryly. I worried momentarily that she was going to use up all her flirting powers before we even got in the front door, but then quickly dismissed that thought out of hand. Who am I kidding? Jessica’s powers are limitless. She sucks the energy out of lesser women and uses it to enthrall every man from fifty feet around .
Watching her confident, almost model-runway stride coming in my direction, I was struck by our unlikely friendship. She was elegance, grace, and rowdy confidence. I was quieter, shy, preferring to watch rather than participate. But we’d been inseparable since freshman year when the dormitory people had somehow screwed up and put us in the same room.
Jessica took me by the arm and forced me along the red carpet leading up to the front door, where a man in a tux was waiting to open it for us. “Now just relax and enjoy yourself. Tonight is going to be easy peasy squeazy my beezies.”
I pasted a nervous smile on my face. “Isn’t that what you said right before you accidentally lit our dorm room on fire in sophomore year trying to do that little chemistry lab experiment using our hot plate?”
She squeezed my arm and smiled at the man opening the door for us. “Shut up. Quit worrying. Stand up straight. Tits out.” She shoved her ample chest out in front of her and lit the room up with her teeth.
I shook my head and swallowed the giggle that rose up in my throat, trying to copy my friend’s graceful moves and knowing, sexual air. She made it look so easy; and yet, giving it everything I had, I felt more like Lucille Ball than Sharon Stone. Oh well. Not everyone is cut out to be an escort.
I let myself be dragged into the main party room, a huge study with a bar set up at the end. Within a minute I had a drink of bubbly water in my hand and Jessica had abandoned me to dance with a guy twice her age wearing a pinkie ring that had a diamond bigger than my thumbnail in it.
My eyes scanned the room as
“That’s the spirit,” said Jessica, grinning over at me. “An actual smile. And imagine … your face didn’t even crack!”
“Shut up, hooker,” I said, laughing when Jessica screeched her outrage. “Just don’t let me get trapped with someone, okay? If someone tries to, like, I don’t know … smother me, you promise you’ll come get me, right?”
“Yes. Absolutely. That’s why they always send us in groups to big parties like this. Safety in numbers. I’ll watch your back, you watch mine.”
A flicker of fear entered my mind, making me feel a little queasy. “Safety? As in, there’s danger?”
Jessica pulled up to a huge mansion-like house that had a valet guy in front. She put the car in park and turned to face me. “No, there’s no danger. Look at this house, would you?” she said, gesturing towards the huge columns that stood outside my window. “What could possibly be dangerous about a party in a palace like this?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, looking out the window up at the massive walls that rose two very tall stories into the night sky, “probably nothing.” The fountain on our left, that I could clearly hear now that Jessica’s door was open, gave the place a presidential feel almost.
I let my misgivings slide into the background as I took the offered hand of the valet. He helped me out of the car, and I stood waiting for my friend to join me. She was gamely flirting with the guy who’d gone to retrieve her keys and park the car for us. She flashed him some cleavage, leaning over to show him they were still in the ignition, earning her a big grin.
“Come on, Jess. Time to party,” I said wryly. I worried momentarily that she was going to use up all her flirting powers before we even got in the front door, but then quickly dismissed that thought out of hand. Who am I kidding? Jessica’s powers are limitless. She sucks the energy out of lesser women and uses it to enthrall every man from fifty feet around .
Watching her confident, almost model-runway stride coming in my direction, I was struck by our unlikely friendship. She was elegance, grace, and rowdy confidence. I was quieter, shy, preferring to watch rather than participate. But we’d been inseparable since freshman year when the dormitory people had somehow screwed up and put us in the same room.
Jessica took me by the arm and forced me along the red carpet leading up to the front door, where a man in a tux was waiting to open it for us. “Now just relax and enjoy yourself. Tonight is going to be easy peasy squeazy my beezies.”
I pasted a nervous smile on my face. “Isn’t that what you said right before you accidentally lit our dorm room on fire in sophomore year trying to do that little chemistry lab experiment using our hot plate?”
She squeezed my arm and smiled at the man opening the door for us. “Shut up. Quit worrying. Stand up straight. Tits out.” She shoved her ample chest out in front of her and lit the room up with her teeth.
I shook my head and swallowed the giggle that rose up in my throat, trying to copy my friend’s graceful moves and knowing, sexual air. She made it look so easy; and yet, giving it everything I had, I felt more like Lucille Ball than Sharon Stone. Oh well. Not everyone is cut out to be an escort.
I let myself be dragged into the main party room, a huge study with a bar set up at the end. Within a minute I had a drink of bubbly water in my hand and Jessica had abandoned me to dance with a guy twice her age wearing a pinkie ring that had a diamond bigger than my thumbnail in it.
My eyes scanned the room as
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