Author Note: This is the first part of what I plan on making a multi-part series. Please enjoy.
*
Mark picked up his phone bleary-eyed on Monday morning to find his screen filled with texts from Brittany. Her enthusiasm, while generally very helpful, can sometimes be more than a little exhausting. From a quick glance, Mark could tell her enthusiasm was already through the roof.
"OMG! We finally got him! I got ahold of Greg Thompson and he has agreed to do an interview with us! BOOOOOOOM!!!!"
This was indeed worthy of enthusiasm. Greg Thompson was an elusive figure that every journalist in the state had been trying to reach for years, ever since he quit his career as a pro football player at the top of his game and dropped out of public life altogether. Brittany had a knack for landing big interviews but this was her biggest catch to date and Mark couldn't even pretend he wasn't impressed.
"Wow, great job Brittany! This is huge!" he texted back.
"There's a pretty weird catch, unfortunately. I'll tell you about it at the office," she replied.
Whatever the catch was, it wasn't going to be enough to stop this interview from happening. Mark knew he could get whatever budget approval he needed to make this interview happen. It was going to be a national story. He messaged the rest of the production crew and assembled them hastily for a meeting. Brittany revealed the big news to the team which was received with great excitement.
"There is a catch though and it's kind of a weird one."
"And that is..." Mark said.
"So it turns out Greg has been living kind of off-the-grid. The reason nobody has seen him for years is because he and his wife decided to become nudists. They're living in a nudist community about 45 minutes from here."
The entire room was taken aback. Some laughed incredulously, others found their faces turning red already. Everyone was shocked. No one was expecting that answer.
"So what does that mean for us?" Mark asked.
"I tried my best to talk him into coming into the studio for the interview but he is committed to the lifestyle," Brittany said. "We have to come to him."
"Well that should make the editing process a lot more difficult," piped up Lindsay, a dark-haired, full-figured video producer.
"Yeah, it's definitely going to need a lot of graphics work because of the censoring we'll have to do. Are you OK with handling that, Lindsay?" Mark said.
"I mean, whatever. It's not like it's anything I haven't seen before," Lindsay said, clearly a little unsettled by this job than she was letting on.
"Guys, there's more to it than that," Brittany said. "This community has some rules about who is allowed in, even for media. Firstly, they only allow mixed-gender couples into the community. No single men or same-sex couples. I would go myself but I can't setup all the equipment by myself..."
"No we're not going to make you go by yourself, obviously," Mark said.
"The other issue is the doozy...it is not a clothing-optional community. Nudity is required by everyone who sets foot on property the entire time."
The room sat totally silent. Nobody knew what to say.
"I'm fine with it," Brittany said confidently. Mark was a little shocked to hear this, as Brittany always struck him as a pretty conservative girl. She kept in great shape and was by far the most athletic member of the production team.
"I mean, it will be weird but it doesn't really bother me much. I am mostly just worried about doing what's appropriate as far as company HR rules."
Mark realized this indeed would be a problem. Both of his male crew members were married and putting them in a position where they would be nude with a fellow nude coworker all day was probably a lawsuit waiting to happen. Mark was married himself but at least it wouldn't cause waves with the company if he went along as the male supervisor and he could just avoid telling his wife that he was on the shoot at all.
"Yeah, unfortunately because of how the rules work, I'm going to have to be the male crew member here."
"Oh my God!" Brittany covered her mouth with her hands. "This is gonna be so weird, Mark. I'm so sorry."
"It's fine, we'll all be professionals and get through it. The problem is, we're going to need another crew member because I'm nowhere close to our best option when it comes to a cameraman."
Mark and Brittany both turned to look at Lindsay, who was the most logical candidate. "You can't be serious!" Lindsay exclaimed.
"You absolutely do not have to go," Mark quickly responded. "I would never require anyone to do a job like this. If you're not comfortable, we can see if anyone else is interested."
"I'm not crazy about the idea but I will take one for the team if I'm needed," said Beth, a usually quiet, buxom brunette. Beth was new to the team and Lindsay had shown some feelings of jealousy and rivalry toward Beth horning in on her territory.
"Absolutely, we can get you a little more training and you should be able to handle it, it's a fairly simple shoot, right Lindsay?" said Mark.
"Now hang on," Lindsay quickly replied, clearly bothered by the idea of being shown up by Beth. "I didn't say I wasn't going to do it. It's a more complicated shoot than you might think. I know this is a big opportunity for us and I don't want us to have to make any sacrifices."
"Listen," Mark said. "Nobody would hold it against you for not wanting to do this. It's a bizarre situation and anybody would be hesitant to be naked in front of their coworkers. I know I am."
Lindsay's face turned red. "I mean, yes, not to mention a bunch of other strangers."
"It'll be OK, Lindsay, I promise!" said Brittany. "I'll be right there with you, you won't be alone!"
