"I am not a hooker!" I screamed at my roommate Julia.
Julia and I had just begun our junior year of college. We had shared a dorm room since we were freshmen. Julia, a willowy black-haired beauty with incredibly long legs and small but firm breasts made rather unique by huge nipples, often slept in my bed. Or I slept in hers. Neither one of us had found a frat rat yet who could spell cunnilingus, let alone do it very well.
"Sarah, you just showed me four one hundred dollar bills and said you got them for doing some dude," Julia replied snidely.
"It was an accident! The guy thought I was a hooker, and one thing just led to another."
"Maybe it was that 'I LOVE DICK' T-shirt you are wearing. Not only are the words sexually suggestive, but the shirt is too tight and you're not wearing a bra."
It was a Steelers novelty T-shirt, black with gold lettering. Under the "I LOVE DICK" in big black letters was the word "LeBeau" in much smaller letters. Dick Lebeau is the Pittsburgh Steelers Defensive Coordinator.
"Well, the damn shirt shrunk!" I snapped, not able to think of much else to say.
"Just where did this hookup happen?" Julia asked, frowning disapprovingly at me.
"You know that big truck stop on I-79 at the exit where we get off when we are going to the Glenview Mall? The battery on my cell phone went dead, so I stopped to use one of those outside pay phones at the truck stop."
"That truck stop is notorious for being a hooker hangout. I read it in the paper a couple months ago."
"Like I knew."
Now Julia had a strange look on her face. "So tell me exactly what happenedโevery little detailโand don't leave anything out."
I did.
* * *
The man in the silver Mercedes had pulled up to me as I stood at the phone, having just hung up. His window was down. He was quite distinguished-looking in a tweed sports jacket, blue shirt with a button-down collar, and a darker solid blue tie that had some sort of emblem on it. I guessed his age to be mid-thirties.
"Miss, could you help me?" he asked. "I have a problem."
"Hey, I'll try. What do you need?"
He smiled. Perfect teeth. I liked his smile. He removed his sunglasses. Not that he needed them at the moment. It looked like it was about to rain. I liked his eyes, too. I thought he seemed okay, so I smiled back.
"How much?" he inquired.
"How much for what?" I asked, confused. "How much to use the phone?"
He stared at my chest. "No young lady, how much for you to prove to me that you love dick?"
"Huh?"
"Your shirt." He laughed.
"Oh yeah, I get a lot of comments on it." Then I laughed. "I have some other funny ones too. Actually, they are downright raunchy."
"So you must be a Steelers fan. Me too. Do you like to gamble? Would you like to make a little wager?"
"On the first game of the season against the Titans? Sure, I'll take the Steelers, and you can have the points. The Steelers are gonna kick some butt in that one!"
We chatted about the Steelers for several minutes. He seemed very friendly and nice. I didn't really suspect anything unusual, and he didn't make me feel wary at all.
"My name is James," he offered. "What's yours?"
"Sarah."
Suddenly he stretched his arm out the window. The Rolex looked very expensive. In his hand was a crisp new one hundred dollar bill. "Please take it, Sarah, so you have some money to bet with."
I'm sure I looked somewhat perplexed, but my hand did reach out and take the money. "So what's the bet you want to make, James?"
Just then it started to rain quite hard.