She paced around the small lab room and checked her watch. She checked her phone, and then sighed. Another participant no show. The fifth this week, and with her research deadline looming, she was fast approaching her wit's end at what to do. She sat down at the desk and unlocked her laptop in an indignant huff. Looking at the experiment she had loaded up, her mind filled with a miserable combination of anxiety and despair. She was proud of the experiment. Proud too, to have come up with a research proposal so unexpected yet compelling. Well, compelling for her and the cabal of stuffy academics that made up her supervisors. Not so compelling for anyone on the street who she'd need to actually do the study. In fairness, she had been warned about participant reluctance, and one of her supervisors did stress the need for 'extra incentives' to get volunteers into the lab. Still, the university's collection of fast expiring gift cards hardly seemed an incentive for frankly anyone, let alone the narrow range of twenty year olds she needed for her study.
She spun on the swivel chair and looked up at the fluorescent lighting of the small, windowless room. She reached into her hoodie and brought her phone out. No text or email from her missing participant, though her social media had a topping up of the endless notifications ready for her to ignore. She pulled her contacts up, and scrolled through to see if she had any friends left that she had yet to convince, cajole, or otherwise bully into the lab. There weren't any, and the despair grew in her.
It was here, vacantly staring at her phone, when another notification popped up. A Tinder message from a match she'd been happily chatting to the past few days. He was cute enough, and seemed able to actually hold a conversation like a human being, rather than the walking male genitalia she usually had to deal with. She was about to open the message and respond, but stopped herself upon realising something.
'Participant incentives.' She thought to herself, upon figuring out a rather filthy solution to her recruitment problem.
Ignoring her sweetheart's message, she went into her bio. The charming description of her likes and dislikes, along with a desire to meet people with cute pets was out, replaced only with 'Will suck off anyone that agrees to do my study...' along with directions to the campus. Her new bio published and age range set, she began swiping right on anyone who didn't outright repulse her, hoping to high heaven that the sweet guy she'd been messaging won't check her profile and see the changed bio.
It didn't take long for the responses to start coming in. Normally, she tended to be repelled by men who open with an image of their penis, but she somewhat welcomed it this time, knowing exactly what she would be in for.
"Is this for real? Prove you're not a bot." One asked.
"No bots, no bullshit. I need participants. Do my study, and I'll suck you off." She replied.
"You don't sound too enthusiastic about this." He replied.
"No choice mate, now are you coming or not. How soon can you be here."
"Twenty minutes."
"Good. Come to the Behavioural Science lab, room C-305." She typed back, with a mix of resignation, relief at finally getting volunteers, and a much denied sense of arousal.
That particular back and forth repeated quite a few times during the twenty minutes it took for her first participant to arrive. In between the messages, and reassurances that yes, this was a genuine offer; she busied herself with preparations for her experiment. She also went off to refill her bottle of water and put her hair up in a ponytail.
After sitting and waiting a few minutes, tapping her lengthening nails on the desk, their polish chipped; she heard a knock at the door. Her stomach turned in strange ways as she began to fully process how her afternoon was going to play out. She got up and opened the door. Here was participant number 1. She looked him up and down, and was relieved to see he did in fact look like his picture. In truth he didn't look too bad. He wasn't a student like her, but he still looked quite youthful and altogether a bit shy. Inspecting his rather conservative attire and glasses, she thought he didn't look the type to engage in such lewd encounters as this. He on the other hand, was greeted by a petite, rather desperate looking student in a hoodie.
"Nice to meet you, I'm-"
"No names, please. It makes this all a bit easier." She interrupted. "If you could just take a seat by the computer there, we can get started. Started, and um, finished." She continued, awkwardly.
He complied and sat himself down at the desk. He spied a piece of paper and pen next to the open laptop that marked the participant information sheet and consent form. He chuckled, as if expecting it to mention the post experiment blowjob. He then paused and realised maybe that particular part of the agreement was actually what the study was about. How many men can someone get to do something with the promise of sexual favours. He thought to ask, but that might spoil the magic and decided not to press the subject. Besides, she looked far too nervous for him to think it was all a ruse.