The next day should have been awful. Luggage was heavier than ever, guests were rude and demanding. The heat was sweltering, his boss a total asshole. But Carson went about the day with a smile on his face, his footsteps light as a feather, elevated by one thought that kept reverberating through his mind: I sucked Mr. Armisen's dick.
He had to keep telling himself it really happened, but it felt like a dream. Still, the soreness of his cheeks and his difficulty swallowing was a keen reminder that it was very, very real indeed.
"What are you so happy about?" Clarissa asked him, scowling.
"Nothing," said Carson, smiling to himself.
"Bitch, you're lying," she said, sliding away from the computer. "What the hell is going on? You haven't bitched to me all day. Is something wrong?"
He turned to her and laughed. "You promise you won't tell anybody?"
She cocked her head to one side. "Depends on what I'm promising."
"Fine," Carson shrugged. "I won't tell you."
He looked around the lobby. All these men in business suits he used to fantasize about looked so ordinary to him now, the memory of Mr. Armisen's impossibly perfect body still lingering in his mind.
"It's Mr. Armisen, isn't it?"
He spun around to look at her. "What?"
"You were thinking about him!" she said, delighted by her discovery. "I can always tell--your eyes glaze over and you get kind of slack jawed."
"I do not," he protested, but she mocked him anyway, dead eyes and open mouth. Well, maybe that was kind of accurate. But who wouldn't make that face at the thought of him?
"What happened?" she said, scooting closer. "You overhear him again? Or did you walk in on him this time?"
"I told you, I can't tell you," he said.
"Oh, come on," she whined. "It's not like you'll ever see the guy again anyway."
"What?"
"He just checked out this morning," she said, gesturing to the computer.
Carson's heart fell with a heavy thud. And suddenly the weight of this terrible day came crashing onto his shoulders.
"Are you serious?" he said, his voice almost breaking.
"Yeah," she said carefully, noticing his disappointment. "Why do you care so much?"
Carson looked at his feet, dangling off the edge of the counter.
"'Cause we--"
Her eyes went wide. "Oh my God. Did you guys fuck?"
"No--we didn't--fuck."
"Then what?"
He turned to her. "I... may have walked in while he was showering and... Sucked his dick."
She stared deep into his eyes. And suddenly, unexpectedly, she broke out laughing. "You lying bitch!"
Carson glared. "I'm not lying."
"Yeah, you sucked Mr. Armisen's dick and I ate his ass," she chuckled, returning to her keyboard.
"It happened," Carson insisted.
"Come on. I saw the girls he brought back to the hotel this week. All the same--big hips and big tits. Neither of us would have a chance with him. But don't worry," she winked at him. "Your secret's safe with me."
"You're just jealous," Carson shrugged, looking away from her.
"Uh-huh," she said. "Oh, by the way Beej Boy, he left you a tip."
Carson turned. "He did?"
She slid him an envelope. Sure enough, it had his name on it. Carson opened it up and flipped through. A flipbook of Benjamins.
"He's definitely stacked, though," she said. "How much did he tip you?"
He showed her the stack. Her jaw dropped.
"Enough for a blowjob," said Carson victoriously.
Carson flipped through the bills, counting up his earnings, when he found a tiny hand-written note at the bottom of the envelope: (917) 555-2840.
"Holy shit," said Carson.
"What?"
"He--he left me his number."
"What the fuck..."
Now she was definitely jealous.
"What did you do to this man?"
Carson shook his head, massaging his jaw. "Guess he just wanted to return the favor."
* * *
Carson couldn't sleep that night. He sat on the living room couch, his roommate's snores rumbling through the small apartment. Well, maybe not his roommate--his college friend Eli whose couch he had been crashing on the for the past four months and who had started to bother him about paying rent.
Carson stared down at the coffee table where he had laid out Mr. Armisen's note. The ten digits stared back at him.
"Fuck," he said, taking a sip of a beer.
Clarissa had nearly begged him to call ("I can't believe it! You have a real Sugar Daddy!"). And it was tempting, and flattering. And though the thousand dollar tip was generous, it also left Carson feeling conflicted. On the one hand, he felt used and dirty, like a whore. On the other hand, he liked it--being Mr. Armisen's dirty little whore.
But the idea of seeing him outside the hotel was a whole other ordeal.