Stephanie was done crying. As a matter of fact, she'd progressed well into the pissed-off,
what was I thinking
stage. There was little better example of that than hanging out with one of her best friends, whom she hadn't spent any significant time with in more than two years. Steph finished her story and absently pushed a few errant strands of long red hair back over her ear.
Jill shook her head and said, "Seriously? After he preached at you for V-neck tops, and jeans that were too tight, and skirts that didn't almost cover your knees?"
Steph nodded, and then answered her blonde friend. "All that shit I put up with and smiled, and then he cheats on me with the biggest fucking whore in town. Fuck, it feels good to curse again."
"You've earned it," Jill said, and then laughed. "I never knew what you saw in him in the first place."
She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "At first he was all sweetness and romance. I mean, he opened doors for me, held hands everywhere we went, always responded to text messages like
instantly
, bought me presents for everything... He kept doing that stuff, so I just kind of accepted the preaching and going to church. Three years I wasted on that piece of shit."
"Too good to be true," Jill said. "So, where are you staying now?"
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "I'm back home. It's terrible."
"Nuh uh. Nobody deserves that torture after what you've went through. Come stay with me."
"Really? I mean, that would be great, but..."
"No buts. I've got a spare room. As long as you can deal with me hooking up every so often when I need some dick."
"God, I could use some of that. Christian was boring in bed. I mean, he had a big dick, but that was about it."
"I'll hook you up, girlfriend. Want to borrow some slutty clothes and hit the club?"
"I've never been," Steph said. She'd been with her ex over her twenty-first birthday, and hadn't drunk a drop since she started dating him.
"You're going to love it. Come on.
He
would hate it."
There wasn't a better excuse.
****
Stephanie felt a profound sense of relief when she stepped across the threshold of Jill's apartment a couple of days later. She carried a bag of clothes she'd managed to salvage from the church marm wardrobe she swore she'd never wear again, and some other necessities. They had partied for two nights straight, never paid for a drink, and hooked up with hot guys that Jill knew both nights. It was the best sex Steph had experienced in years, with no strings attached.
Jill's plans for that evening were more of the same, except for fewer drinks, and an earlier night, since they both had to work the next day. She didn't already have guys picked out for them, as she had the previous two nights, so that was an open question.
"Go put your stuff in your room," Jill said. "Then we'll run to the store and get anything else you need."
Steph walked down the hall, a little curious as to why Jill was following her. When she opened the door to the room that was now hers, her eyes shot wide open. There was a new bed and vanity in the room.
"Surprise!" Jill said. "I wasn't going to let you sleep on the couch."
"But... I..."
Jill waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry about it. It's rent to own, and I'm good. You can pay me back whatever, whenever."
Stephanie put her bag down on the bed and asked, "Can you get me a job where you work? Wow. What are they paying you?"
"I may as well tell you now. You're going to find out anyway," Jill said, and shrugged.
"Huh?"
"I make some money on the side." Before her friend could ask the inevitable question of
how
, Jill said, "I found this website where I can sell nudes and panties. I make three or four hundred bucks a week. Sometimes more."
Steph waited a moment, half expecting her friend to laugh and say she was kidding. When she didn't, Stephanie asked, "You're serious?"
Jill nodded. "Ten bucks for a nude selfie. Twenty if they want me to spread my pussy, finger myself, or something. Fifty for a pair of panties and a picture of me wearing them. More if they want me to buy something specific for them."
Stephanie stood in stunned disbelief, having trouble processing what her friend had just revealed to her. They had both sent nude selfies to boys before — even taken them of each other — but the thought of guys paying for them was just strange.
"Freaked out?" Jill asked when Stephanie didn't respond.
"A little, I guess. Guys really pay for it?"
Jill leaned against the door frame and answered, "It wasn't much at first. I'd have someone ask for a selfie once a week or so. Now I've got a good rep of delivering, so I'm doing really well. Some of the bitches on there hate me because I'm stealing their action."
"What if someone you know sees you on there?"
"Not really worried about it," Jill said. "I block out my face in the selfies I post on the site, so someone would have to pay to know it's me. Half of the panties I've sent out have gone to New York or California. Besides, it's not like there aren't already a bunch of nudes of me floating around. Both of us."
Stephanie blushed, knowing it was true. They had both naively expected the boys they sent selfies to would keep them to themselves at first, then decided they didn't really care anyway when they learned the truth.
"You know, there aren't many redheads on there. I bet you could make fat stacks."
Steph's mouth dropped open and she gasped at the suggestion. "I couldn't!"
"Come on. You're hot, and you know it. It's time to cut loose. You've been living like a church lady for years now. Think about it," Jill said, and then held out a hand to rub her fingers and thumb together.
Though she was blushing, and still stunned, she
was
thinking about it. What she made would never let her get a place of her own, so she'd have to depend on roommates. If she could make what Jill did on top of her paycheck, she'd be good on her own, if it came to it.
Despite the years apart, Jill could see the wheels turning in her friend's head. "Come on. Let me show you the website."
Though her blonde friend moved quickly down the hall, Stephanie dragged her feet to some extent. She was deep within her thoughts, weighing the possible implications, benefits, and whether she had anything resembling the wild streak she once did still within her. By the time she reached the front room, Jill had already sat down on the couch, grabbed her Ipad, and loaded up the site.
Steph sat down next to her and accepted the Ipad when Jill held it out.
While she looked, Jill explained, "That's my profile page. I've got a request for a nude on there now, and I already sent two this morning for requests that came in last night. That's thirty bucks already today, and I was already over three hundred for the week."
However Jill blurred her face, it was very effective. Even knowing it was her, Stephanie couldn't make out any of her features in the bra and panty preview shots on the page. There were pages of customer/profile comments, and all of them that were visible on the first page were full of praise and exclamation points.
"So, do you wanna?" Jill asked in a playful, singsong manner.
Stephanie bit her lower lip as she contemplated. The temptation was incredible, but so was her hesitation. It had taken quite a few drinks to loosen her up the previous two evenings. She was still stuck in the habits she'd built up with her ex.
It was that very thought that made her blood boil. She asked, "What do I have to do?"
Jill broke out into an enormous grin. "I can set you up a basic profile in like a minute. Then you need at least one profile pic, and you're good to go. If I link to you, I bet you could be making money tonight while we're out."
Not trusting her voice, Stephanie nodded and handed back the Ipad.
"Go pick out something sexy to wear and change. If you don't have anything hot, I've got piles of new panties you can have. They should fit you too," Jill said with her voice full of excitement.
Stephanie was fighting a bout of surging nerves, but fight it she did. Fortunately, her lingerie had somewhat survived the purge of her wardrobe, because Jill was a C-cup to her B-cup, and borrowing a bra was out of the question. She had a lacy, neon green set that looked incredible on her, and decided on that. She was shaking when she removed them from her bag, but took a deep breath and pulled her top over her head anyway.
"Ready whenever you are," Jill called from the front room before Stephanie could even unbutton her jeans.
Determined, Stephanie stripped down and put on the lingerie. She took a look in the mirror, and she was happy with what she saw — other than the deep blush in her cheeks and the skittish look in her eyes. She felt as if she was moving in slow motion as she walked toward the door, and into the hall.
"Rawr! Perfect!" Jill said when Stephanie stepped into the front room. "Want to lean against the doorframe of my room? I got a lot of compliments on that shot when I posted it."
Stephanie found her throat was too tight with fear to answer.
Jill quickly suggested, "Let me take the picture, then I'll blur your face, and you can look at it before you decide. Cool? Think about how much that asshole would
hate
this."
Her blonde friend had learned well how that reminder cut through her inhibitions. Stephanie walked over to the doorframe.
"Lean back against it, then reach up and grab the doorframe with your far hand," Jill suggested. When Stephanie did so, Jill continued, "Now, turn your head toward me, and put your other hand on your hip. Yes, just like that. That's hot. Got it."
Stephanie walked over to her friend, feeling exposed and vulnerable. At a loss of what to do, she sat down on the other end of the couch and not-so-subtly put a pillow in her lap.
Jill turned the Ipad to show her the picture only a minute later. "Look a how hot you are, girl."
With her face blurred, hiding the anxiety that would have surely shone in her eyes and expression, Stephanie had to agree. The color of the lingerie and her hair perfectly complemented each other, and the pose emphasized her every asset to good effect. She looked absolutely delicious.
"I still don't know. What if someone starts harassing to call me, or something like that?" Stephanie asked, voicing one of the many excuses popping into her head to back away from the idea.
"Here, look," Jill said, and brought up the profile she'd made for her friend. "I made your listing the same as mine, and everything for phone calls, texts, and actual meetings is set to