Try as she might she couldn't make the phone stop ringing by force of will. It was the third time in the last 15 minutes that it had droned on insistently so she assumed it was probably her mother and that the only way she could get it to stop would be to answer it. She picked up the beastly instrument.
"What now, Mother?"
"However did you know it was me?"
"Because you're the only one I know who wouldn't be satisfied until she robbed me of any shot at a decent night's sleep."
"Be fair, Darling, I
did
wait until
after
breakfast!"
"Yes you did Mother but being as how you're in London and you're six hours ahead of me that doesn't help much. It's only four AM in dear old Connecticut."
"Oh, I forgot, but it's just that I wanted you to know that it's not
my
fault! Your father just won't budge and
besides
since it is business I suppose we'll just
have
to forgive him."
Lisa rolled over and rubbed some of the sleep from her eyes. In the middle of a yawn she said, "I'm really pleased that at least one of us knows what you're talking about."
"Your father's scheduled some meetings with Jack Maroni, something to do with his family's holdings in Italy. Anyway we'll be staying at his family's place in Bellagio for the entire month of July."
Lisa sat up like a shot. "Mother I hereby retract every bad thing I've said about you for the last three weeks. When I had to give up on going to Cozumel with all my friends just so I could do the family thing to celebrate my 18th birthday at the cabin I really wanted to trade you in for another mother but to summer in the most beautiful city on Lake Como? Trust me, all is forgiven!"
"Sweetheart that's the
problem
! The invitation extended to your father and me only, so you'll have to stay in the states this year. I'll make it up to you and we'll do Aspen for the Christmas holidays, all right? You've always loved it there, haven't you?"
Lisa couldn't have been more disappointed. She found she had no desire to scream at her mother so rather than continue the conversation toward that inevitable outcome, she just gently hung up and unplugged the phone. It took her about a half hour to get back to sleep... she really was starting to believe that you can't fall asleep if your tears are still wet.
Four hours later she was in that half awake state laying on her back weighing the pros and cons of sleeping away the entire summer when her roommate Sally rolled in after spending the night in her boyfriend's dorm. She took one look at Lisa and said, "Wow, you look shittier than I feel and
I'm
the one who's hung over!"
Lisa looked at her roommate, "That's because my summer's fucked! It's too late to book Cozumel, no Bellagio, not even the family cabin in the Finger Lakes fishing with my brother and Dad! About a half hour ago I decided I might as well sign up for a few summer session classes and pick up a few credits."
"No, no, no, no, girl, if ever I knew a girl who needs an injection of
serious
partying besides myself, you're her." Sally sat on Lisa's bed, pushed the sheet down to her waist and started massaging the girl's bare back and neck. After about three minutes she said, "Remember about when we were planning for Cozumel? I got the impression that you'd pretty much decided that you were going to lose your cherry down there, right?"
"I guess so. Actually that was to have been one of the highlights of my trip. I'm not sure who was going to get it yet, but
someone
was going to be offered the first chance to fuck me!"
"Okay, then I know what you should do! Talk to Marjorie Mantzer!"
Lisa barely knew the girl Sally had referred to. They shared one class, Organic Chemistry, so Lisa would probably never would have spoken to her except that they were paired up for one lab assignment. Lisa recalled her impressions of the girl; very bright, 4.0 grade point, blonde, 5'7" tall,
serious
rack of 34D's, pretty face, slim figure, pretty much any campus hound's wet dream except she
always
politely blew of every attempt to hit on her, whether coming from male
or
female. The class had always referred to her by a nickname... "You mean Brainiac?"
"The very same! You should try to hook up with her for the summer. I think it'd be good for you."
Lisa tilted her head and looked at her roommate.
"A, I didn't know you even knew the girl.
B, although I could see getting together with her if I was studying, since she's almost as smart as I am, but she always seemed kind of stand-offish to me.
But C, why would I want to be around a girl who shoots down every guy who approaches her if my goal is to get laid?
Where's she going for the summer, anyway?"
"I have no idea and neither does she and by the way she might even be
smarter
than you."
Lisa smiled at that. Sally continued, "Okay this is 'roommate secret' stuff. Marj is kind of a private person, all right?
We got to know each other last year in ground school when I was studying for my Private Pilot's exam. Since then we try to stay in touch on at least a weekly basis, sort of a Starbuck's relationship. Her family has zero money but she's on a full academic scholarship and because she doesn't want work to interfere with her studies she earns all her year's pocket money at her summer job."
Lisa rolled over and sat up straight, her large breasts temporarily distracting Sally. Lisa said, "You want me to
work
this summer?
Hello!
In case it escaped your notice I don't really need the money and..."
"Shut up and let me talk, okay?" Sally reached out and tweaked one of Lisa's nipples. "Where was I? Oh yeah, she works a ten week contract for an entertainment service every summer. Last year she didn't have any idea where they'd send her but she wound up spending time in Costa Rica, Hydra, off the coast of Greece, three weeks on a yacht in the Seychelles, and some other places I've forgotten."
Lisa was suspicious but still curious. "What
kind
of entertainment service?"
"Don't be dense, Lisa. She spends her summer partying. She's a professional party girl. The only difference between what you were going to do in Cozumel and what she'll be doing all over the world is that the service picks out which parties she attends and she
never
says no!"
Lisa's mind was in overdrive trying to process all the information she'd just been given. She looked at Sally for more than a minute before saying, "Are you sure they're still hiring?"
"That's what Marj said yesterday."
Lisa giggled. "Sally I think I want to do this! I can't believe I'm saying it but I think it might be cool to be a whore for the summer, especially since no one I know will know about it! Call her and set it up!"
The next few weeks disappeared in a flash. Lisa had met with Marjorie twice, once that same evening that Sally had told her about Marj's summer job and once when Marj accompanied her into The City to interview and get some promotional shots taken for the agency. She'd received a call telling her when she and Margie were expected in New York right after their last classes were over but other than being told that they'd be flying to Miami as their first stop, she still had no idea where she was going after that.
Marjorie had finished her last class that morning and Lisa was sure that her one o'clock comparative lit. class was going to be dismissed as soon as she turned in her final paper.
A car service had picked them up and drove the two girls to LaGuardia for the first leg of their journey. Marjorie reached over and squeezed Lisa's hand. "Nervous?"
"Big time! I'm glad I didn't eat much this morning 'cause I'm afraid I might've barfed it up on the plane!"