I'd made a friend in my history class, Jeff, and been hanging out with him and his fraternity brothers about one night a week. He was cool, we both liked baseball and we liked to laugh. He'd come over to the house to party before, but I didn't tell him what we did there. I didn't want to come off as strange, so I just left that part out.
One day Jeff and I were stopping to have lunch in the college cafeteria, and Maria and Lauren stopped by to join us. We were talking and eating some nasty burritos when one of Jeff's frat brothers came up to the table with a tray.
"Hey, Jeff, what's going on?" he said. Jeff told him to join us and introduced us all.
"You know, Dan, you look kinda familiar," Jeff said. I'd never seen this person before in my life.
"Well, we might have run into each other on campus somewhere. Did you take that 9:30 seminar with Dr. Lawrence last semester?" I asked.
"No. I just transferred here this semester. I'm lucky I joined a frat at my last school because Jeff's been real cool about showing me around and stuff. I just thought I recognized you from somewhere, I dunno."
I probably don't have to tell you what happened next. Well, the details are still interesting. When I had lunch with those guys the next week, I knew it already when I sat down, just from the look on their faces. Trey, Jeff's friend, knew who I was. Even though we hadn't fully launched the site yet, the video that Lauren and I made together was still red hot on the streaming porn sites. We'd posted it almost two months ago, but its popularity had gained a life of its own; it was among the most popular videos on several of the free sites. At a huge university full of horny guys, somebody had to see it.
As I sat down to lunch with Trey and Jeff, they had a look like they were nervously awaiting a big business meeting. We said hi and started eating silently, nervously.
"So," Jeff began, "I hear you're a professor." He and Trey exploded in laughter, and it got to me, and I did as well. They'd obviously both seen the video of Lauren and me as teacher and student in our popular suck-and-fuck on the internet. I'd been apprehensive, but at least they'd lightened the mood.
"Dude," said Jeff, "Why didn't you tell me you're a porn star? This is shit that I should know about."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said.
"Come on, man, we want to hear about it," said Trey.
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"I don't know what to ask," said Jeff, "but Trey showed me some video of you and that chick you were here with the other day, and I have to ask about it. She's fucking hot. So what is that doing on the internet? We didn't tell anyone. We wanted to find out if that's something you shot or if you guys work for some porn business."
"I don't mind telling you guys about it, but first let me say this: I'm not ashamed of it, but all the same I'd rather not have the whole college find out about it. I don't think I could handle it. Put yourself in my shoes, would you like to go to class every day wearing a big sandwich board that says, "Hey everybody! I do porn on the internet, just see the following link!"
"So it's true!" said Jeff. "You're trying to become a porn star! Don't worry, man, we're not going to tell anybody. Right, Trey?"
"My lips are sealed," said Trey.
Jeff continued: "But you've got to understand we're curious. I mean, how do you get into that? Did you just go to some shady producer and whip it out for him. Congratulations on that thing, by the way."
"Oh, you know, the camera adds ten pounds," I remarked. "No, me and a couple of friends are starting a business together. We came up with this idea and just decided to run with it. We haven't actually put our site up yet, that video you saw was just kind about testing the waters, seeing if this thing had a shot at success. Look, I've got to run to class. I know that's a really short account of the whole thing, what are you guys doing later? Maybe we could get a beer tonight and I can tell you the full story."
They agreed and we met up around ten at a bar down the street from my place. I told them the story about Lauren and how she got us into the whole thing by making her "video resume," about the auditions and our search for financial backers.
"You lucky son-of-a-bitch," Jeff said when I finished. He turned and gestured at me in disbelief as he said to Trey, "Can you believe this guy?"
"I certainly don't deny the luck factor," I said. "This is definitely not what I imagined I'd be doing even a few months ago."
"Can we come see these girls?" asked Jeff, unable to contain his enthusiasm.
"Yeah, you guys can come over some time. I mean, not to watch us filming, if that's what you mean. Not that I have anything against you guys. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with that. But you see our whole thing is we're getting hot girls to shoot with us because we're young and non-threatening. If they come over to shoot and the house is full of dudes eye-fucking them the moment they walk through the door, they're not going to want to stick around. But still, you're welcome to come over. We've got a pool that we typically sit around all day on Saturday. You guys should join us."
"That sounds great," said Jeff, "I don't think I've been in a pool all summer."
We sort of left it there for the night. It's hard to deescalate the conversation from the "I'm in porn" confession to more typical bar talk. It has to sink in a little bit and have a chance to get normal. But they were good-natured in their reaction to it and I thought by Saturday the tension would sort of go back down.
II
When I told Maria about my new friends, she reacted with equanimity and I saw the gears in her head turning. She said, "Well, even if they let your secret slip it wouldn't be the end of the world. Any publicity is good publicity, right?" She had a way of seeing the big picture, that's why she was the brains.
"Yeah, I guess," I said. "I haven't really thought about it all that much. Still, that's not why I'm in school, and I'd like to keep these parts of my life separate."
Saturday came. I was out by the pool with Lauren, filming her giving me a blowjob when Maria came through the gate with groceries. It was the first time she'd walked in on us making a movie together, and even though it had been her idea, I didn't know how she would react. But all she said was, "Glad you two are getting some work done on a weekend," and strolled into the kitchen. The rush of excitement made me come instantly, and I made Lauren blow little bubbles for the camera before shutting it off.
Mid-afternoon Trey and Jeff showed up to the door with tons of cheap beer. Soon after, Milana showed up as well, and the six of us spent the day by the pool. Jeff and Trey were stunned by Milana, tall and tan and perfect in her black bikini. I think they were just as stunned that she was one of our actresses. She looked like one of those girls who simply isn't gettable, at least not unless you're rich and handsome. Trey remarked in an aside to me that he was looking forward to seeing her video.
As night fell we gravitated towards the hot tub, filling it amply, laughing and getting drunk. By now it didn't feel like there was any secret to dance around and we talked openly about the business and our aspirations. Jeff and Trey were interested and talkative, and showed enough tact as not to offend. When the girls got up in unison to take a trip inside, as they do, Trey had a new question for me:
"Why don't you guys come make a video at our fraternity house? We've got like, sixty members who would pay to see that. There's your financial problems solved right there."
Theirs was the wealthiest frat. I thought about it for a moment and said, "I don't know. These girls aren't hookers. Maybe you guys know that, but what about all the other guys?"
Trey replied, "Everybody in our house is a pretty good guy. And I'm not talking about participating; I really doubt anybody there has ever even paid for sex. Well, maybe the guys who went to Amsterdam last year, but that's different. I'm just saying I think we could help you guys with the financial situation. You bring over your equipment, a couple of girls, get crazy for a couple hours in the middle of a party."
"I'll think about it," I said. "But it's not up to me, we make decisions as a group. I'll talk it over with the girls and get back to you about it."
The girls came back with a bottle and we stayed up late drinking. Eventually Maria dragged me off to bed for rough, sloppy drunk sex. I remember hearing some cheers in the living room whenever she reached a loud orgasm, but not much else. I must have passed out the moment I came.
In the morning the guys were passed out on the couches in the living room with the TV still on. Maria and I had coffee out back and I told her about the frat house movie idea. She said it would only make sense if we could get the right number. I saw the boys off and told Trey I'd call him soon about the movie thing. That evening we talked on the phone and agreed tentatively on about $80 a head. Maria and I figured out that would net us nearly five grand, enough to cover our website while we got it off the ground.
I called Trey back with our terms: "First, you have to find out who's in and who's out in terms of tickets. You take a week, come back to me with a number, and if it meets our minimum we'll have a deal. Once that's out of the way, you can come up with a date. I'll bring over our crew and two girls."
"Which girls?" he interrupted me.
"That's up to us. They'll be hot, I assure you."
"Milana?" he asked.