Author's note
Just a heads-up to readers: this story has elements of prostitution, foot fetishism, and near-future science fiction. If any of these are unappealing to you, I encourage you to find a different story. Otherwise, please enjoy.
***
Gabin awoke. And immediately wished he hadn't.
But the morning sun streaming into his room through the cheap, thin curtains didn't care. He checked his phone. 10:00 a.m. He'd had... five hours of sleep. Unfortunately for Gabin, once he was awake he had a hard time falling back asleep.
With a groan he rose from his bed and shuffled to the kitchen. He filled up a clean(ish) bottle with water from the sink and dropped in a fortifying energy tablet. It fizzed as it dissolved and he shook the bottle violently to speed up the process. Once it had mostly disappeared, he took his first sip.
It had been a long night.
Gabin was a full time college student, majoring in journalism, but he worked for Tasqr on the side--mainly on weekends and school breaks. Tasqr was one of the most popular contracting apps. It had been around since Gabin was in high school--so, probably since the late 2060s. Drones and self-driving taxis had long since taken over most of the delivery and ride-sharing jobs, but there were still some people out there who either needed something from a smaller retailer (too small to be in the drone pipeline), a special delivery, or just preferred a more human touch. Last night had been a Friday night, which was always a busy time for this kind of work. The jobs kept popping up on the app and it was hard to turn down money... Before he knew it, it had been after 4:00 a.m. and he had forced himself to call it a night.
Checking his bank account balance on his phone, he smiled at the fruits of his labors. He would definitely have to pull another long night tonight in order to make rent, but it looked like he had plenty left over to treat himself.
He browsed through his phone as he sipped his breakfast. There were several apps for sex work. RedLite was the oldest, even older than Tasqr, having been established not long after sex work was legalized, back in 2062. The company had gotten into some trouble recently for shady business practices (or something like that) and Gabin figured he should stay away from them, for ethical reasons. Sheeets was good too, but tended to be more expensive and had fewer available workers. SomDub was the smallest of these big three and more specifically catered to fetishes. While Gabin had his... proclivities, the stuff on there was usually too hardcore for him.
Several of his friends scoffed at his use of sex apps. They went on and on about their 4D porn rigs. While he agreed that, in the long run, these VR setups cost a lot less money than contracting with sex workers, it just lacked the human touch.
He spent almost an hour browsing through profiles. Ultimately, he had to resort to RedLite. While it helped things that he lived in a college town (so, there was a higher density of young women offering up gig sex work), it was a Saturday morning and most workers weren't active until the evening.
As he was scrolling, a real cutie popped up.
He smirked at her name. Margaux. There had been a really popular movie franchise, based on a series of books, back in the late 40s. It was a dystopian cyber fantasy, set in France. It was so popular, a ton of the babies born in the early 50s were given previously rare French names by their parents who were obsessed with the movies. This included "Margaux"--there had been 5 Margauxs in his high school's graduating class.
She had a petite build, tight and toned. He liked her beautiful light caramel-colored skin--whether this was from ethnic heritage or time in the sun wasn't clear and, to Gabin, didn't matter. Her dark brown hair was styled in a very short pixie cut, which did a great job of showing more of the flawless skin of her neck and shoulders. She had an alluring smile with full, pink lips and twinkling almond eyes.
It hadn't been immediately apparent, but as Gabin scrolled through more and more pictures of her, she seemed familiar to him. Yes, he actually recognized the exact outfit she was wearing in one of the photos--unless he was mistaken, she was a fellow student in his World History class. It wasn't that uncommon to see other college students on these sex work apps, but it was a big university and finding someone who was actually in one of the same classes as him was unusual indeed.
This seemed like a great find, but he had to look over her other stats before getting too excited. Her overall rating, based on feedback from previous partners, was good. However, she had been with RedLite for just over a year now and only had a few reviews. So, she must not do this often. It was common advice to avoid people with so little of a reputation.
Her rates were pretty standard. Unfortunately, she wasn't into some of his more... specialized things. She was offering a blowjob only. Normally, he would have let this one go and continued his search. But, on the other hand, it would be fun to be able to relive these memories every time he saw the back of her head in history class...
He went for it.
***
Gabin carefully maneuvered his geriatric 2045 electric car into the spot outside a cluster of townhomes. Unofficial off-campus student housing, from the looks of all the parking decals on the other vehicles. It was certainly a nicer part of town than where he lived. He parked, made his way to the address he had been given, and rang the doorbell. Looking up at the security camera pointing down at him from above the door frame, he flashed his best smile.
A moment later, the door opened and a young woman politely ushered him inside. It was definitely Margaux--there was no mistaking that pixie cut. While she wasn't dressed in a super alluring, revealing outfit, she wasn't in a t-shirt and sweatpants either (that had actually happened to Gabin several times before...). She wore a red halter top that was definitely of the style that year--skin-tight and high collared--and tight-fitting black shorts. And, disappointingly for Gabin, black ankle socks.
"Is your name really 'Gabin'?" she asked in an amused tone as she closed the door behind him.
Gabin hesitated. It was the name he used on the RedLite app. There was no harm in using his real name, if it was just the first name, right?
"Yeah..." he replied slowly.
"That's so crazy," she replied. "My name's Margaux."
Gabin stood in the entryway, visibly confused.
"'Gabin and Margaux'," she said, as if that were a valid explanation. "The star-crossed lovers from the 'Wastelands of Dordogne' movies?"
"Ooooh yeah," Gabin replied, slowly remembering this. He had recognized the Margaux name from the movies but her supposed lover Gabin must have been from a entry deeper in the series. "I watched the first one when I was, like, in middle school. I don't get why my moms were so obsessed with those movies."
Margaux shrugged.
"My parents love them too. They're pretty corny, but they're fun enough. Hey, don't get me wrong--I'm not here to hack through the Corrupted Cyberplains to save you from the Seine Leviathan. This is just a blowjob."
Gabin chuckled in reply, although most of this had gone over his head.
"Speaking of which, why don't you get those pants off and have a seat on the couch," she said, gesturing to the big purple couch facing the apartment's MLED-coated wall. One of the cushions had a towel laid across it--clearly the spot meant for him.