Would You Ever

Would You Ever?

Hello all! Thank you for reading my first foray into fiction since the third grade. Well, actual fiction, rather than the fiction I write for work. A warning: I enjoy reading longer stories, so I plan on writing them longer too. I would love any feedback and am looking for some help editing, particularly as it pertains to flow, plot, character development and, since I tend to go on, efficiency of prose. I hope you all enjoy!

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"Would you ever marry a porn star?"

The question is a common trope in the anonymous world of pornography forums. Heck, the question is common where groups of guys are gathered. The question in all its forms - "Could you date...," "... a porn star?" "... An escort?" "... A camgirl?" etc. plays on the extremes of societal norms that reward sexual prowess in men but punishes women that have multiple sexual partners. Right or wrong, this is the hypocrisy in which some face this question in reality.

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Early February, 2020 - Las Vegas

JULIE DOUGLAS LOOKED around after walking through the slots area of the casino and shook her head in a fit of self-deprecation. Her dark hair swung side to side in the ponytail she had pulled through the back of her ball cap. As her large, warm brown eyes acclimatized to the brighter daylight coming through the floor to ceiling windows of the long hallway, she realized she had taken a wrong turn. The vast windowless rooms of flashing lights, beeps and klaxons, and free drinks meant to lull gamblers into a sense of timelessness and make it easier for the casino to part them of their money, can also be disorienting when one leaves. That was how Julie found herself in the quieter conference area of the large casino hotel complex.

Julie had been at another conference a week ago and was all conferenced out. She had chosen to take the week after as a bit of a vacation and recuperation time, but she could appreciate the plush carpets and more sedate pace of the conference being held here. The quiet, low tones of conversation, with the occasional chuckle to break the monotony was in stark contrast to the one she had attended last week - as her alter-ego Candi Kaine at the annual Adult Industry Entertainment Convention.

Thinking back to the week prior and the loud drone of voices, the peals of laughter, and the excited squeals in the convention hall coming from the legions of fans and industry denizens, Julie furrowed her brow in consternation as she felt the slight headache and congestion that came with the inevitable "convention flu" that arrived every year after the event. It certainly couldn't be helped. She spent the first few days making kissy faces with the numerous other performers, producers, and directors at industry only events - culminating in awards night where she won for "Best New Starlet", never mind that she had been performing for three years. The next few days after had her gladhanding thousands of fans and pressing herself against them for photos at the public events as a table girl. It would have been surprising for a performer if they didn't catch something.

Taking a deep breath, pushing her glasses up her nose, and shaking herself out, she took another look around and realized that she didn't really stand out that much. While many of the conference-goers were dressed in business attire of varying degrees of formality, many others were dressed like her - ballcaps, hoodies or t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers. Crinkling her nose, she wondered what kind of conference this could be - Las Vegas being one of the premier capitals of conferences in North America.

With a shrug she walked in and started milling about with the rest of the participants, curious about what was going on. With her ballcap, her deep brown hair in a ponytail, glasses, casual clothes, and no make-up, Julie was sure no one would recognize her. Walking around and catching snippets of conversations and reading some literature she deduced that it was some sort of conference matching startups and early-stage businesses with various consultants with management expertise. Julie had started to take some online college courses in business management in the past year so took the opportunity to learn some things by casually eavesdropping on various conversations. She was taking courses partly as a plan-B for the end of her career and as a way to understand the inner working of business to help with her investments.

DANIEL BELL FOUND himself with a quick moment of silence that Monday morning at the Start-Up/Meet-Up conference where he was manning a booth. He took a chance to take a small stretch and crack his neck in the lull. He pulled his six-foot tall frame to its fullest extent, compensating for last night's unfamiliar mattress and the tight quarters on the airplane yesterday.

Daniel and most of his crew flew down the day before to set up and get ready for the conference. This was not the first time their consulting firm had been down here, even though it was more for scoping out the potential rather than landing the mega-clients. You never knew when you'd be signing up the next killer pizza chain or the next viral video game. What the firm he worked for was known for was having consultants with real work experience. They didn't hire MBAs that had never worked outside of consulting or investment bankers looking for "a less stressful career", like some of the big name "management" consulting firms did. This made their booth the go-to visit for the up-and-coming businesses that wanted tried and tested strategies to help their business grow, and that meant that they were mobbed when the doors opened at 10AM.

This also meant that Daniel, who had been working since 7AM and had only had a large coffee and a granola bar from the hotel coffee shop, was ready for lunch. As he stood there loosening up and contemplating his lunch options, he noticed a slightly exotic-looking young lady near his booth trying to blend in and not look like she was eavesdropping. She was trying to not look out of place, but wasn't succeeding, since he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the crowd. Almost a foot shorter than he was, she had beautiful deep brown eyes, thick lashes that went on and on, a flawlessly smooth face with pale but slightly dusky tinted skin framing a small mouth with lush lips and a cute nose sprinkled lightly with freckles. She was dressed like many of the young tech entrepreneurs, but even in her less-than-sexy casual clothes, he noticed that her seemingly slim body had curves in all the right places. What didn't help her camouflage was the bright fuchsia hoodie that was a few shades too bright for the rest of the muted colours around her, and her distinct lack of a conference lanyard.

Despite his hunger he felt the need to get closer to her, drawn by some inexplicable force. He checked his shirt and suit collars, and made sure his hair wasn't messed, and made his way over casually to where she was standing and stood behind her as she was listening to his colleague Ravi Shah. Ravi was explaining to an older gentleman the intricacies involved in expanding his three printing shops to a neighbouring state and the tax implications. For such a normally boring topic he was amazed to see a half-smile playing on her lips and eyes focused in rapt attention.

"Your life must not have very much excitement in it ma'am," Julie had heard coming from a warm "radio voice" coming from behind and slightly above her. It was close enough that she was surprised she hadn't felt a presence behind her. She turned slightly and lifted her chin to look at the face of the man the voice came from. What she saw was a taller, fairly athletic-looking man in a very nice grey suit and crisp pink shirt looking down at her through his own pair of stylish glasses with a bright smile, kind dark brown eyes and closely cropped dark hair. "My colleague Ravi there can talk anyone's ear off for days about tax codes, articles of incorporation, and the benefits of a limited partnership like it was the most exciting action movie. I'm in his line of work and I can't even get excited about it!" he chuckled.

"If this doesn't excite you, then what about this line of work does excite you?" Julie asked in reply after tilting her head slightly for a second in contemplation. She watched as he looked up thoughtfully. As he was forming his response, she was really hoping that he didn't recognize her. While she wasn't mega-super, mainstream cross-over, porn star famous, she was still a very popular performer with a faithful following around the world. After all, she was yearning to have an intelligent conversation with a handsome man that didn't involve lube, fetishes, if she really orgasmed during filming, or if she'd like to accompany him to his room and have sex with him and his friend. In the few moments she was having those thoughts, he answered her question.

"Well, what excites me most is helping these small and medium-sized businesses set up the right processes and strategies to help them grow their businesses profitably and sustainably. I'm all about building businesses through thoughtful planning based on insights and networks," he answered evenly. As he watched her mind chew on his answer his body betrayed him with a low-pitched growl coming from his midsection. As her eyes widened in amusement and surprise, he felt his face heat up and he was sure he was blushing. Then she laughed quietly, and he thought he had heard angels sing. "I'm so sorry about that, I haven't had a chance to grab a bite all morning and was just heading out for lunch. Would you like to join me? I'm sure what I can talk to you about would be WAY more interesting than what Ravi has to say."

"Alright," she chuckled as she shook her head, "But only if I'm buying. I want to pick your brain on some of those growth strategies you're so excited about," she offered with a quick bounce on her toes.

"Well then," he said, "Lead the way. I'm not too fussy." Then looking over her head at his colleague, he indicated that he would be taking a break. Ravi nodded slightly and went back to speaking with the printer. What none of them noticed was the narrow-eyed look that a slickly handsome young man working Daniel's booth shot her as she and Daniel walked away. The young man, Kevin Blake, was sure that she was someone he recognized, but couldn't place in his foggy, hangover-addled brain. He had just spent the last week at a porno convention here, flying in a week before the rest of the team to ogle the hot sluts and run out to the legal brothels and have himself an alcohol, drug, and erectile dysfunction medication-fueled start to the new year. He shook his head to clear his mind and went back to pretending he was working the booth. Not that he was usually able to hold a deep thought in his head, let alone a shallow one. Sometimes it was good to be the boss' son and looking like a blonde male underwear model sure helped.

AFTER A SHORT walk through the hotel, Daniel and Julie reached a retro 50's diner. All along the way, they were engaged in a lively conversation about the conference and Vegas in general. Once there, they were seated in a booth with replete with chrome, formica, and vinyl seating. It even had its own jukebox console. A waitress named Flo dressed in an authentic-looking teal 50's waitress dress, apron, cat's eye glasses on a chain with a paper hat, dropped off the menus. Looking at Flo's nametag, Daniel realized with surprise that they didn't even know each other's names. "By the way, I'm Daniel, Daniel Bell. It's very nice to meet you. I figured since we're sharing a meal, we should know what to call each other," he grinned sheepishly.

Julie gasped slightly, then giggled and stuck her hand out to Daniel replying "Nice to meet you Daniel Daniel Bell. I'm Julie Douglas, no unfortunate middle name." Her face lit up with a brilliant smile that could have knocked Daniel's socks off. Seeing her smile and hearing her laugh, he decided he'd try and get her to do that as much as he could during their meal.

"That old chestnut, eh?" Daniel chuckled as he shook her soft and delicate hand, not that it stopped her from giving a firm and professional handshake. She caught the quick "eh" which had her thinking that he was probably Canadian. After they ordered, he a tuna melt and a chocolate malted shake, she a burger and a cola float, they resumed their chat. "So what are you down here in Vegas for? Definitely NOT for our conference," he said, indicating her missing lanyard. "Vegas must really bore you if you had to suffer through Ravi's pitch for some fun!"

She smiled again and nodded her head a bit and answered "I'm just here for some R&R. Just came through a busy few weeks here and took the chance to extend my stay and recuperate. How about you? What is it you do to bring you here to the conference?" she asked, turning the question around on him.

"Well, we're down here plying our services as well as looking for the next unicorn startup to help build into a great business," he said as their food arrived. "I'm the sales and business strategy guy, Ravi's the financial wiz, and Kevin... well, Kevin's just... Kevin..." He trailed off with a bit of a frustrated look and a bobble of his head. "It's small potatoes for some of the blue-chip firms, but we try and handle a few startups a year and help them grow bigger in the hopes that they sign us on for some of the larger work when they scale up. If we treat them well now, then we hope for the same loyalty when they hit the big time. How about you? What keeps you busy?" he asked as he took another bite of his sandwich.

Julie hesitated slightly, but passed it off like she didn't want to talk with her mouth full. She chewed thoughtfully, not wanting to reveal who she was since she was having such a great time with a man for once. One who wasn't there for her porn persona or as a piece of ass he hoped to fuck. She swallowed and looked at him. He had a pleasantly curious look on his face while he waited for her answer. "I, uh, I work in the entertainment industry in LA... peripherally. But I'm also taking college classes online in business management, which was what drew me to the conference." While she was replying, she studied his face, looking for some glimmer of recognition, but all she could see was interest in what she was saying and a slight bit of surprise.

"Wow, you're working in a pretty challenging industry AND attending school! That's a lot to take on for someone so young!" he said. She was pleasantly surpised that he still hadn't recognized her.

"Hey, I'm not that young -- I'm 21, and I've been working for the last three and a half years! Honestly, I just started going to school because the industry is so fickle and I'm looking at my next chapter. I'm hoping to end up starting up on my own someday," she retorted with only a tinge of annoyance and a bit more of amusement. "Actually, it was pretty lucky for me to run into someone like you... someone who could be a mentor... if you're open to something like that," she shyly suggested as she bowed her head and looked at him with a little girl pout and a batting of her lashes.

"Of course! And wow, 21 is still much younger than I am. I'm a good 13 years older than you are, so I'm getting up there, and feeling it every day!" he remarked as he thought quickly of the grey hairs that were already starting up at his temples, his short haircut deftly hiding it. "Actually, I thought you were 17 or 18 years old. You must have great genes. I've always looked older than my age myself."

A small frown quickly flashed across Julie's face as she thought of her relatively youthful looks, which had allowed her to participate in the ever-popular schoolgirl and stepdaughter genres of the adult industry. She quickly recovered and composed herself before Daniel could notice, remembering that he, more than likely, didn't recognize her since they'd been talking for a while without him indicating that he had any clue. She reached over and covered his hand with her own and reassured him. "Of course not. You don't look old, just distinguished, and you would make any woman proud to be on your arm."

As she touched him, Daniel felt a jolt of awareness and yearning in his chest. All of a sudden, Julie went from being just another attractive girl in Vegas to a desirable young woman with whom he'd like to spend more time. Julie also felt a similar pull to Daniel. That surprised her, since she hadn't felt something like that since her first few schoolgirl crushes, and certainly not something this strong! She quickly pulled her hand away and purposefully refocused on her lunch. The awkwardness lasted for a moment, but they both got back into the easy rhythm of their conversation -- her asking insightful questions, and him answering her while trying to get her to smile and laugh more. Her bubbly personality and obvious interest captured Daniel's interest, while his calm, collected, yet friendly demeanour endeared him to Julie.

All good things must come to an end, as they say, so while they finished up a shared slice of apple pie, a la mode of course, Daniel fished out his card and handed it to her. "Listen, if you're still serious about the mentorship, let me know. Send me an email and we can set some time up to chat. And by the way, I'm paying for lunch. Never thought I'd have such an engaging conversation this week. Lunch is a small price to pay to not have to eat alone," he offered, signaling for the bill.

Julie offered some mild protest, but understood his need to fulfill a societal norm from a bygone time. Throughout the meal, she noticed the gentle maturity he displayed, and manners that spoke to a long past era. She recognized in him a personal deepness underneath his kind, courtly manner. He was a very good man, she determined. Which is why she decided then and there not to contact him. She could see herself completely enamoured by him, but the things she kept from him just loomed larger as the minutes went on, and she thought that the moment had passed to tell him without breaking the spell of their wonderful time together. She couldn't stand to see the look of disgust or leer of lust that she usually received when she told some of the other civilians she had dated.

As they walked out and stopped to part ways, he pointed to her. "Don't forget to call me," he directed her as he tapped his finger on the bill of her cap and backed away from her. She smiled at him and waved his card in the air at him as he walked away. She watched him go until he turned down a hallway. She walked the opposite direction with a bit of sadness in her heart, knowing that she wouldn't call.

"WOW, SO WHO was that you had lunch with earlier?" Ravi asked Daniel as he came back to the booth.

"Yeah! Are you going to hit that bro?" Kevin interjected.

"Guys, she's just someone who wanted to learn more about what we do. And BRO," Daniel directed at Kevin "let's watch what we say here. We're still in a professional environment so let's keep it, you know, pro-fes-sion-al, OK? But anyway, she's just a business student that came across our booth and wanted to know more."

"Dude, chill! I'm just surprised to see you with a woman, and really, I'm surprised she didn't choose me," Kevin said with a smirk. "Anyways, I'm the only one here with an MBA, so don't know why she didn't ask me," he muttered loudly enough for his colleagues to hear as he ambled away.

"Geez, I didn't know that an MBA that daddy paid for counted," Ravi said to Daniel under his breath. "Anyway... So really, who was this girl you were talking to and are you gonna see her again?" he asked one more time. "You know Priya would love it if you brought a girl over to meet her. She says maybe it'll settle you down like she did with me," Ravi said recounting the words of his long-suffering wife.