James got up from his place at the quaint café down the street from his apartment. Shrugging into his jacket, he waved to the young guy behind the counter and left his half full coffee cup on the table. The air outside the small café was chill but not unpleasant and James sucked in a deep breath that felt sharp entering his lungs.
He hadn't been out without Gloria for a while but he had needed some time to think. She had finally brought up the big M word. James definitely loved Gloria and wanted to get married but with him studying and her only working part time, was now really the time for it?
It had ended in a cold night of excessive politeness and not really talking to each other which had made James feel terrible. The real problem was of course the massive debts he had racked up and hadn't quite found the right time to tell her about. He knew that he should have told her a couple of years ago about his financial situation, but it seemed to be so much easier to go on living off credit cards and pretend that he didn't have a big black mark against his name on every lending establishment within 100 miles.
It wasn't until James had almost walked into the man that he noticed someone standing in front of him.
"I'm sorry" Said the man once James had stopped and looked up at who was blocking his path.
The guy was about 5'5, middle aged and a bit podgy all over. He wore an old fashioned suit and looked well off although a bit fashionably challenged.
He had a strange European accent, like Dutch or German or something.
"I couldn't help but notice you inside the café. You are most thoughtful looking." Said the man in his slightly clipped but musical accent.
"Ah yeah." Said James, not really sure what the guy meant.
"I am once again sorry. The reason that I noticed you, was not in fact for your thoughtful looks, but I am very interested in seeing you." The man said.
James wasn't sure if he was losing something in translation but it didn't sound as though this guy was making any sense.
"I don't really get what you mean." James said, trying his best to hold on to his patience.
"I would like to see you." Said the man, unhelpfully. "I would pay you much, to see you."
"You're seeing me now." Said James. He was definitely getting a bit irritated by this odd guy. But if he was honest the comment about paying you much had caught his attention.
"Ah yes. What I was meaning, was seeing more of you." The man gave him a slightly embarrassed smile.
"What I mean to say is, I think you have a very nice body and I would like to see you without your clothes on."
The man smiled warmly at him as though he had just commented on his sports shoes or something.
"Whoa, hold up buddy." James stepped back and held up his hands.
"I don't know how you got the wrong idea, but I'm not gay or anything." He said defensively.
The man also raised his hand in a placating gesture
"There would not be any need for touching." He said, reassuringly.
"I would just like to look at your body. I would pay you one thousand of your dollars." He finished
James lowered his hands. As creepy as this whole situation was. A thousand bucks for just looking at him naked was nothing to be scoffed at. He would need a lot more information before he could agree to anything like that though.
"So you would want me to take my clothes off here?" James looked around as though someone might be spying on them right now waiting for him to show off some flesh.
The man smiled again, his plump face taking on an eager shine.
"No. No. I have an apartment just a block away. You would come with me, I pay you your money and then you take your clothes off so I may look at you." He smiled again but it was coming across even creepier now.
"How long do you want to look at me for?" Asked James, feeling a bit defensive or insecure already, even with his clothes on in the middle of a public street.
"For just one minute." Said the man, holding up his pudgy index finger."
"You stand, then turn around for me to look and then you can put your clothes on and go with your thousand dollars."
James was wavering. This seemed like a simple thousand dollars, but there was something about this little man that he didn't like. Quite possibly the fact that he was propositioning men in the street to put on a private strip show for him.
"Here" Said the man pulling something out of his jacket pocket. "I give you half now and then the other half when we get to my apartment."
The man opened a leather wallet that was absolutely stuffed with one hundred dollar bills. He pulled five out of the wad and handed them to James.
The look and feel of the bills in his hand made him feel good. He rubbed his fingers over the crisp bank notes. A thousand dollars wouldn't be nearly enough to clear his debts, but it would definitely be a start. All he had to do was strip off, stand for a minute while a creepy pervert checked him out and then he could get out of there a thousand dollars richer.
"Okay." Said James, feeling a bit dirty.
The apartment was only just over a block away, back past the Café. The man led him into the building up two flights of stairs and opened his door. It was an ordinary town apartment, tidy and almost bare. The windows in the living room looked out over a busy street and into a small green reserve.
