It was Saturday, and I was on the bus heading home from the grocery story, awkwardly straddling three grocery bags. I felt a buzzing in my pocket, so I reached in and pulled out my phone.
"Guess what I'm doing right now?"
It was a text from Angie.
I pecked away at the numeric keyboard β the iPhone was still a few years away.
"No idea."
A moment later, my phone buzzed again.
"I'm nude, smoking a cigarette."
Hmmm.
"Good for both you and the cigarette."
My spinach was trying to escape, so I pushed it down more securely into the bag.
"Funny boy. Vivienne's shooting me."
This was interesting. Vivienne had shot me in the nude a while back (as detailed in "First Time with Female Photographer"). She'd also attended a Christmas party at the Manhattan Gentlemen's Club, where Angie bartended (as detailed in "Christmas at the Strip Club").
More buzzing.
"Stop by the club on the early side. Will give you details."
More interesting.
"Sounds good. See you then."
I put my groceries away and ran a couple more errands. But I couldn't stop thinking about Angie's photo shoot, and what the "details" would be. At 6:00 PM, I headed off to the club.
I said hello to Tony, the head bouncer, and Vicky, the coat check girl, before making my way to the bar. Angie was still setting up, but she was smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
She put down her bar rag and leaned in towards me conspiratorially.
"So," she said, "guess who's thinking about doing a shoot for a porn magazine."
I looked at her incredulously.
She put her thumbs in the air, and pointed them at herself.
"This girl!"
This was news.
Angie was no prude β she worked in a strip club, after all. But β with one very notable exception during that Christmas party β she'd never stripped. She was worried about her parents finding out, which was fair, as they lived in New Jersey. And she had two brothers who lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I could see how stripping in front of your family could be embarrassing.
"I think that's a great idea," I said, "but what made you change your mind?"
"It's Vivienne's idea," she said. "She does some work for a German porn magazine, and she thinks they'll like me. So she took some test shots and is sending them off for their review."
She made a scotch and soda, and placed it in front of me.
"The German mag is distributed all over Europe, but it's not available in America. I think I'm safe. Nobody I know is planning to go to Europe, and four months from now, it won't even matter. There'll be a new issue up on the newsstands. What do you think?"
"Why not?" I said. "I only hope I get to see the pics. What's the pay?"
"Depends," she said. "Probably a grand, more if you're actually having sex."
"So this is a hardcore mag?" I asked.
"Yeah β more Hustler than Playboy," she said.
"And you'd be willing to be shot having sex?"
"I don't know," she said, stocking the refrigerator with beer. "I'm thinking about it."
Nothing happened for the next several weeks. Then I got a call from Angie.
"Vivienne heard back from the Germans, and they want to use me."
"Congratulations! That's great news!"
"There may be a small problem," she continued. "They want anal, which I normally don't have a problem with. But I don't like the idea of agreeing to do it with somebody I don't know."
"Well, if you're not comfortable, don't do it."
"Vivienne had a different idea," she said. "She suggested using you."
"I'm sorry β what?" I stammered.
"How about it?" she said. "I know you want to fuck me, and we're going to end up doing it sometime. Why not get paid?"
I was flushed, and didn't know what to think.
"Um," I said, trying to buy time. "What would it pay?"
"$1500 for me, $750 for you," she said.
"That doesn't seem fair."
"Vivienne says that's how the industry works," she said. "You're just a stunt cock. Look, we're talking about you getting a chance to fuck me up the ass and being paid for it! Will you do it?"
She had a point.
"Sure," I said, "to help you out."
"Geez, what an ego!" she said with a laugh.
The shoot was scheduled for a Saturday morning a couple of weeks away. Vivienne said we had to get HIV/STD tests, as we would not be using condoms, and we needed the time to wait for the results. A week before she shoot, Vivienne sent me an email with my instructions.
The shoot was going to be at a BDSM dungeon called Pandora's Box. I was not to have sex of any kind for 48 hours before the shoot. No alcohol or drugs for 48 hours. Trim nails and pubic hair. She recommended a light breakfast for the day of the shoot. She asked me to bring a suit β I was to play a school principal discipling Angie's errant teacher β and a change of clothes. And to bring towels. Apparently, there are never enough towels.
I'd told Angie that I thought we should rehearse, but she said that we were models, not actors. Which was true. And then she said that she thought it would be hotter if our first time fucking was recorded on film. And I think she was correct about that, too.
So on Saturday morning, I threw a couple of towels into a gym bag, filled up a water bottle, grabbed my suit and headed off towards 26
th
Street. That gave me time to think about what I was about do. I was excited β more than excited β about the prospects of fucking Angie. And I loved the thought of our pictures being published in a porn mag. But I was also straight-out nervous about someone I knew buying a copy. I convinced myself to deal with that if and when it occurred.
I climbed down the steps to the dungeon and rang the buzzer.
A guy answered the door, holding an armful of light stands and extension cords
"Down the hallway, third door to the left," he said.
I did not expect that. I knew there was going to be a makeup a girl and a couple of production assistants, but in my mind, they were all girls. Oh well, I thought. Too late now.
I walked down the hallway to the room. Angie was already there, having her makeup done by a cute little redhead. Angie had on a sexy schoolteacher outfit β tight black skirt, tight silk blouse, string of pearls. Paper toweling protected the collar of her blouse from the makeup.
Vivienne walked in.
"Good, you're here," she said. "That's Martha, our makeup gal. And you've met Rob, one of our PAs. Kimberly is in the other room, setting up the lights."