Aria Giovanni sat on the balcony of the hotel room, the afternoon sun warm on her skin. She sipped a glass of white wine as she waited for her friend to arrive, admiring the view of Los Angeles stretched out below her from behind a big pair of dark glasses.
Booking the room had been only one part of her organising a shoot for her website. It was going to be amateur-style, which sometimes meant they took place in either her home or her photographer's, but more often than not a hotel room was hired for the day and they did the session there -- it was a good way to turn a night away into a tax write-off, and it meant that the sets didn't get repetitive.
Amateur shoots were Aria's favourite. They meant she didn't have to spend hours getting all dolled up to sweat under high-power lights in front of a whole crew of people. Instead, she could be her own boss, wear her own clothes, do her own make-up and work alongside one of her best friends -- Wes.
She'd met Wes onset a few years ago now, when he was the camera assistant on a shoot out in the Mexican dessert. They had gotten along well enough during the session, but it was only after the day was finished and everyone was relaxing in the bar did he really open up and they'd had a proper chance to get to know one another.
Wes's real name wasn't 'Wes', just as Aria's wasn't 'Aria'. While she worked alongside plenty of people who called her by her stage name, he was the only one out of her friends who thought it was fun to tease her by calling her by her pseudonym.
One day, when he'd gone off on a geeky tangent about Wesley Crusher from
Star Trek
, she knew exactly how to pay him back -- the nickname 'Wes' had stuck, even after all these years.
It was this kind of teasing that made her shoots with Wes so much fun. Some photographers would make her feel uncomfortable, like a piece of meat, or talk down to her. She could joke around with Wes, even flirt a little, and he always knew how to respond.
It was as she was taking the last sip of her wine that she heard a knock at the door. She strolled inside, pushing her sunglasses back on top of her head.
"Wes?" She called out.
"Yeah." He replied from the other side of the door. When she opened it she saw him standing there with his camera bag and a heartbroken look on his face.
"What's the matter?" She said, immediately knowing that something was up.
"Maureen broke up with me," he said as he shuffled past her and into the room. "Nice suite."
"Maureen broke up with you?!" Aria repeated in shock, ignoring his assessment of the hotel room.
"Yeah," he said, putting his bag down. "Do you have anything to drink?"
She offered him a glass of wine, which he gratefully accepted, and they sat on the couch to talk.
Maureen had always been a jealous girl, and that was what seemed to be at the heart of the matter. Aria knew better than to say something like that outright, so instead she simply offered Wes a sympathetic ear and some gentle encouragement, underlining everything with how great a guy he was.
"Seriously, Maureen doesn't know what she's letting slip through her fingers, but I guarantee you there's a girl out there who'll know how lucky she is when she gets the chance to be with you. Trust me."
"Thanks, Aria."
"Hey, it's nothing you didn't do for me, and twice over." She said, remembering how incredibly supportive Wes had been when her own marriage had suddenly fallen apart. She knew she wouldn't have gotten through it all without him.
He finished his wine, realising suddenly that he'd already been there an hour and they hadn't taken a single shot yet.
"Come on, let's get started," he said, putting his empty glass down. "We can keep talking while we shoot."
Aria checked her make-up in the mirror while Wes unzipped his camera bag and took out his digital SLR. It was all the equipment he needed for a shoot like this.
They started the session on the couch, Aria looking coyly at the camera, her cleavage poking enticingly out of her low-cut top.
"Very nice." Wes said with a smile. They shot a few dozen of the tamer pics, Aria delivering the perfect come-hither smile.
"Should we start with the pants?" She asked, and Wes agreed. She unbuttoned her jeans, Wes took a few shots, and then she threw them to the side, kneeling in her white cotton panties.
"Maybe a little boob action?" Wes said, and Aria pushed her breasts up with her hands -- their communication had evolved into simple codewords this far into their working relationship.
"All guys love a little boob action." Aria said with a grin, which Wes managed to capture with a quick snap.
"I don't know if I'd call your boob action 'little'." Wes said, and Aria laughed. Another moment caught on camera.
"Bunny tail?" Wes suggested, and once again Aria knew exactly what he meant. She turned around on the couch to show off her firm, round ass, wiggling it as she looked over her shoulder with a wicked twinkle in her eye.
Snap!
They took numerous shots every step of the way, including the moment Aria pulled her top up over her head, exposing her bra. She held the shirt, throwing a few more poses, before tossing it with a laugh at Wes, covering his lens.
"I'll have you know this is expensive equipment! You break it you bought it!" He said with mock outrage.
"Ah, I buy and sell guys like you for breakfast." She said with a grin and a wave of her hand.
"So it's true then. You have sold out." He said as he re-focused the camera, Aria running her hands over her covered boobs. She stuck her tongue out at him and the flash snapped like lightning.
"Celebrities. No time for their fans." Wes said with a shake of his head, centering her in his viewfinder as she began the tease of undoing her bra.
"That's so not true!" She said, playing with her strap. "My fans are
sweethearts
!"
"Really?" Wes said in a deadpan tone as he focused on rattling off shot after shot.
"Well, most of them are. 99%." Aria said, presenting her back as her hands made for the clasp.
"And the other 1%?" Wes said.
"Freaks." Aria said, and Wes laughed.
"No seriously -- I'll be at a signing or an event and some of they'll come up to me and say the weirdest things." The clasp had now been undone, Aria teasing with the reveal by keeping her back to the camera.
"Like what?" Wes asked, catching the teasing hint of the side of Aria's left breast.
"Well, this one is more on the tame side, but this one guy told me, like, 'Oh my God, you have the most perfect tits!'" She said, whirling around to do the big reveal, her breasts swaying in the mid-afternoon light. "And then he followed it up with 'Can I fuck them?'"
"Seriously?" Wes asked. He didn't bat an eyelid as Aria kneeled topless in front of him. Instead, he put his eye to the viewfinder and snapped away.
"Seriously. He's not the only one, though. Some of them have even offered money." Aria ran her hands over her breasts, before cupping the underside of them and squeezing.
"Jesus! That's forward!"
