She had never done anything like this before.
Ever.
She had never even thought about it -- well, that wasn't entirely true.
She had thought about it, and if she was honest, she probably had thought about it a lot. But just as a fantasy, an impossible fantasy that she never dared even whisper to herself.
1.
Her husband had.
She remembered -- he had been looking at his laptop with a crease in his forehead, an earbud relaying some sort of noise. She had asked "What's that, Hon?"
He looked up and spun his computer around. "Can you believe this?"
All she saw was a nude woman bent over a desk, getting ploughed by a doughy man with his features blurred out.
"What is going on there?" she asked, not knowing the context. Roger showed her things he came across that other men, lesser men, would never admit to even accidentally seeing.
"It's a kind of reality porn, I guess. Air quotes around 'reality'. I was thinking about our visit Saturday."
She snorted back a laugh. "Oh, the 'visit' when I was all sheets to the wind? I sure giggle a lot when I'm drunk."
He quickly came back -- "You have a beautiful giggle." He smiled at her and paused for a bit, just appreciating her. "But yes, that conversation." He scowled briefly in thought. "We were talking about things you'd like to try or do, just once maybe, just to see what it was like. I like seeing you be adventurous and try shit out. Vee, you are amazing, and I really enjoy it whenever you recognize that."
She smiled at the compliment. "As long as it's not badminton or cross-country skiing again -- other people have the right coordination, not me." She laughed again. "So explain this to me, what station is going to show this reality show?"
His brow furrowed again briefly as he considered what to say. "It's like this. These are clips that different companies produce which show a 'casting couch' session with a potential new porn actress. They're supposed to be unscripted and natural, and a lot of the time the clips are presented as scams."
"How's that?" his wife asked. She had come to a stop and was listening intently.
"The premise is that these are fake casting agents who set themselves up as real agents who need to run potential actresses 'through the paces', as it were. The audience buy the premise and enjoy the fantasy -- not only do they get to watch a normal dude have sex with a gorgeous woman, but believing that the guy gets to have sex for free in this situation makes it all the more enticing to the supremely average, average viewer."
"So this is all a setup?" Veronica felt herself start getting angry.
"No, no -- that's the irony of 'reality' media. It's all a fiction, presented as reality complete with utterly mundane dialog. People have to sign releases and all that stuff, and everyone gets paid. But it's an accessible entry point into this genre of performance art. And it can totally be either a career-starter or a one-off."
Then the rest of the conversation from that blurry Saturday night started to come back.
They had been talking about "bucket-list" and million-year (as in "not in a") ideas. Now that the kids were all grown and deep in their own lives, Veronica and Roger were finding excitement and joy in a lot of different things. He had suggested sky diving or rappelling (she had responded with a hearty "FUCK NO!"), and she had mentioned having a go at web cam stuff, adult modeling, or something.
Back to the conversation -- as she thought about it, this actually sounded kind of thrilling. Her breath caught and her heart stopped for just a beat as she thought -- could I actually do this?
Trying to keep any quaver from her voice she carefully asked Roger -- "If we were to do something like that, how could we do it?"
"Well, if you're interested --" Roger had actually done some serious research. There were two production companies working just an hour away who were doing exactly this kind of thing. As he told her about the different things to expect and how long a shoot would take, she felt herself getting excited.
She had never, NEVER (well, maybe a tiny little bit) thought she would ever do this kind of thing.
But now, she thought -- hmmm. I bet I could.
She tuned back in to what her husband was saying -- "and I figured, you were the absolute best Lady M in the Scottish play in college, and if you can pull that off so beautifully you could easily do this too. Didn't one of your professors say that acting was tougher than standing naked on stage?"
She remembered the confidence that one observation had given her.
That clinched it.
"Let's do it!"
2.
She snapped back to the present when she realized the producer was waiting for an answer.
"Pardon? Sorry, I did not mean to zone out a bit there." She coughed a short laugh of embarrassment. "This is new to me, and I'm still trying to take it all in."
"No prob" he was cute, and smiled again at her. "What would you like as your name?" This she had actually thought about. Roger's ideas were mostly designed to make her giggle, and she smiled at the memory.
"Nikki Vee."
"Excellent! By the way, you are looking terrific for the MILF set. If you don't mind me saying so, you really take care of yourself, er, Nikki." The producer seemed genuine.
"Thank you! Since the kids got a little older, I really got into Zoomba and other stuff. I've been an instructor for about two years now."
"Wow. You are in great shape." It was obvious he appreciated her physique. She had the feeling that most of the time the production staff on these sorts of sets viewed the bodies as tools for the actors, and comments about muscle tone and breast size were more akin to observations about paint colors and window tinting at a car show -- not meant to be judgmental or personal.
His eyes dropped to the floor and slowly traced her legs and body all the way to her hair. She had been told to wear comfortable clothes like workout gear, and she had dressed in her instructor outfit. He saw yoga pants tightly stretched across incredible legs -- well-muscled and beautifully toned. Her hips flared out slightly above gorgeous thighs which rippled subtly as she shifted her weight. Vee had worn a crop top over her sports bra, and after three kids there was no way in hell she would tell anyone how much work went into getting back her six pack -- but she was sure as hell going to show it off.
The top ended right below the bottom hem of her sports bra, and the girls were in rare form today. She was gifted in that her breasts had not sagged appreciably or lost their shape, due in great part to her careful diet and regular workouts, and she was shocked that her nipples had hardened due to her subconscious excitement. The collar had been cut out to show off the muscles and tone of her neck (one of Roger's second favorite features, she mused), and the sleeves had been sheared off high enough to frame her shoulders. She earned those shoulders, and enjoyed showing the Zoomba folks what they had to look forward to.
She was not a pro fitness model, with zero body fat and sunken cheeks. But she was firm and muscled in all the right places for a fitness instructor ten years her junior, with a thin layer of comfort over everything so she wasn't intimidating to anyone, and very pleasing to watch. Her full lips smiled under the producer's gaze, and her almond eyes twinkled. She had pulled her hair back in a loose pony tail, and looked like a healthy soccer mom getting ready for a mall walk.
"Thank you, thank you very much" She smiled again, hugely, and discovered she really enjoyed having her hard work admired and appreciated.
He smiled broadly.
"Okay, Nikki, we've blocked everything out and you're ready to go." He shifted to business mode. "In order to keep the 'reality' feel, we've only gone over the blocking and general lines of the piece, and it's important it flows naturally. Well, as naturally as possible. Some things to remember. We will be filming for about two hours or so and edit it to about 15 minutes -- we're actually going to edit it to several different pieces we can use, but that's roughly what it comes down to.
"Each act you agree to perform will earn you an extra $200 to $500 dollars; it's important you understand this is not sex, but performance. A simple blowjob is $200, if you swallow it will mean an extra $150, etc. You are not being paid to have sex on film, but you are being paid to simulate sex acts in a convincing manner. Is that clear?"
"Yes, I think so. How much do you think I will be able to make today?"
The producer looked down at his clipboard briefly, then back up to 'Nikki'. "Your base is $850 if we are able to use the material, but if you pull out all the stops you could walk away with about $2500. Not at all bad for a whim and a half-day of work." He shifted from his business face back to a broad and appreciative smile. "Everybody has been checked by the doctors, everyone is clean, all the paper is signed, and you're ready to go. And, from what I've been told" he winked so fast she almost missed it, "our man in there has been drinking nothing but pineapple juice since last night."
"What does that mean -- Oh." She stopped herself from going further as she remembered -- pineapple juice made semen taste sweet. With a sudden flushed feeling, Veronica -- now Nikki Vee -- determined to push her limits and do everything.
Everything.
A set hand came up. "Miss Vee? Here's your purse and sunglasses. Try not to twirl the glasses or keys too much at the beginning, it's distracting."
The producer waved a thank you at the help. "Nikki? You ready? It's right through this door when you see me point. Try to act natural, try to be real, and most of all -- have fun!"
She stepped in front of the door, bounced a bit on her toes and shook her arms out, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then turned to the producer and smiled.
Her heart started pounding -- banging in her chest until she was sure everyone else could hear it.
The producer held up his hand, all five fingers out. One by one they started curling into his hand. No more fingers left. He pointed to the door.
She stepped forward and reached for the doorknob.
3.