I
Stacey threw open the door and shouted.
"Motherfucker."
Jill sat up suddenly, pausing her movie, and looked up.
"What's wrong?"
"I just got fired. Tony said the staff was too big, and since I was the last one on, I'd be the first one off. Something about experience and customer complaints."
"Customer complaints?"
"You spill one Merlot, one goddamn Merlot, and you'll hear about it for the rest of your life."
Stacey continued percolating to a boil, exploded, then calmed down for another cycle of percolation, boil, explosion.
Jill shrugged.
She'd gotten used to that from her new roommate.
It wasn't usually a problem.
They got along well. Sometimes went clubbing together. Sometimes they stayed in, chilled, watched movies, gossiped while painting their nails.
They also spent long times without really seeing one another, Stacey worked odd hours. Mostly at night, till late in the night.
Used to work.
Jill sighed, recognizing the threat to rent.
Cheer up, girl. You could have worse roommates.
II
Stacey didn't know what to think when Jill started burning incense throughout their apartment. Part of her wanted to protest, to demand an end to it, but the odor really didn't stink that bad. It actually helped calm her, something about the aroma soothed her, and she needed that.
Job hunting sucked.
A week went by, then another week went by and still no bites on her applications. She networked with her college friends, but nobody seemed to be able to give her a good lead.
So she spent the time hanging out, going to class, hoping for something to break through.
Of course, she hit up her folks, and they finally broke down.
"Money doesn't grow on trees, dear," her mother chastised. "And we can't afford to pay for all your rent and tuition. You said you'd help out with a part-time job at least."
"I know, Mom. But I can't find anything."
That evening Jill sat propped against a big pillow on their leather couch, staring at her laptop. A stick of incense burned in the long brass holder, half-consumed. A long row of ash lined the middle of the holder's plate, and a dense but pleasant fume filled the room.
Stacey, coming home early from a round of drinks at the local pub, braced herself for recriminations from her roommate, but, smelling the incense, she relaxed, and Jill looked up and smiled at her.
"You remember Mandy?" she asked.
Amanda Gibson. Of course Stacey remembered her. A bit of a snob, really.
"Yeah, why?"
Jill patted the cushion next to her.
"Come. Sit by me. I want to show you something. Take a look at this."
Stacey sat down next to Jill and looked at the screen of the laptop. Her mouth opened in a wordless exclamation, then she squeaked.
"Oh my god. Is that? Oh my god, is she really? She's having sex with a cucumber. Oh my god, she's really having sex with a cucumber. How'd you find this?"
Jill shrugged.
"A friend of mine emailed me the link. I guess he's the kind of guy that pays to watch webcam girls."
Stacey stared at the screen. Mandy lay on a bed, bedcovers scattered with frilly fluffy pillows tossed behind her, with her legs spread wide. She wore what remained of pink lingerie, her bra hung unclasped, her large breasts flopped to the side as she thrust her pussy, glistening with lubricant and cunt juices, around a thick cucumber, and she smiled and groaned into her camera, her face garishly made up in glittery eyeshadow, pink mascara, bright pink lipstick, her naturally dirty blond hair dyed to a bright platinum and styled in a swirling, wavy mass around her face.
"Thank you. Thank you Hotcock69. Oh my god, you make me so wet."
"But we're just watching," Stacey stammered. She'd seen webcam girls perform, of course, she'd visited a few websites years ago as a teen, but it didn't do anything for her except gross her out.
"I mean, we're not paying. Why would anyone pay?"
Jill shrugged again.
"You pay to tip, and when you tip, she calls out your name. I guess guys like that. I guess it makes them feel wanted."
Stacey frowned. That seemed so sad.
"I can't believe she's doing this. She's showing everything. I'd never be able to live that down."
Jill turned the laptop so that Stacey could see it better.
"It's a way to make money, I guess. Besides, I bet nobody really knows. It's not like everybody goes to these chatrooms. I bet none of her friends have any idea she's doing this."
"But your friend out about it. The one who emailed you the link."
"A fluke. He just hinted he knew something about her, and I wouldn't let go of it until he said he'd email me. I don't think he's going to tell anybody else, and I'm definitely not going to say anything. I like Mandy."
"I like her too," Stacey replied. It wasn't exactly true, but she didn't know what else to say.
Jill lifted her computer and set it on Stacey's lap.
The aroma of the incense filled the room, and Stacey breathed in the fragrance, feeling so relaxed and peaceful.
"You should keep watching her show, watch how she performs. Check out some other rooms, the other girls. It's not bad money, you know."
And a little, oh my god. Aroused.
She tried out dozens of cam models, reading the tipper comments, listening to the performers talk, watching as the impaled themselves on well-lubricated rubber dicks, fingering themselves with one hand or both hands, holding arm below an upraised legs to finger herself from below while the other hand rubbed her clit.
Some girls rode sex machines, dangerous looking tools that rammed a flexible cock into them as they knelt on hands and knees or fucked them -- there really wasn't any other word for it -- as they lay on their backs spreading their thighs for the fucking machine.
Most of the girls had some kind of pink vibrator embedded deep in their vaginas or buttholes, and many girls jammed vibrators against their wet clits, large black objects resembling microphones.
All this was very new to Stacey.
But she was aroused. Somehow she felt herself getting hot.
She'd been aroused ever since sitting down by Jill, and watching the cam models perform caused her to get warm, almost hot. Her eyes dilated, and she fixated on performers spreading their legs and playing with their tits.
At that moment, Jill came into the living room, saw Stacey still sitting there looking at the chatrooms, and she winked.
"If you need to play with yourself, Stacey, you can go ahead and do it on the sofa. I won't mind. I'm leaving anyway."
Stacey jumped up, quickly putting the laptop down beside her.
"Oh my god, no, Jill. That's okay, I'm not going to. I mean, I wasn't going to. That doesn't."
Jill let Stacey's muttering protests dwindle to wordless noises before dissipating altogether.
"It's no big deal, really. But do you think you could do it?"
Stacey shook her head.
"No way can I do that."
Jill sat down again beside Stacey and turned towards her. Their knees touched, and Jill Stacey's face in her hands.