On Monday, after classes, I spotted Greer sitting on a bench by herself. She was reading a book about Artificial Intelligence. I walked over to her.
"Hi!"
She squinted up at me. She wore a tight T-shirt and jeans. I could see the outline of a bra against her shirt. "Do I know you?"
"Yes, I'm -"
"The new girl," she finished. "I remember. Sometimes I kinda tune out."
"Vivienne. You're not possessed now, right?"
"No. Today is Monday. Cindy's day. My day is Thursday." She scooted over. "Have a seat. How'd your first day go?"
I sat down gratefully. "It was really, really weird. She bought me new clothes, paraded me around the mall, and then I ended up escorting some guy."
"Grayson."
"Yeah, him."
"She had me set up that date. Did he, you know, um, fuck you?"
I blushed. It had been my first time. I was still getting used to the idea that I wasn't a virgin anymore, although technically, I hadn't been in control of my own body, so maybe
I
was, still? "Yes," I said.
"Aw, you're blushing, that's cute."
"Yes," I said. "Well," I said.
"Was it good?"
I blushed again.
"He can be a bit selfish sometimes," Greer said. "But then, he's paying for the privilege, so I guess that's fair. I knew because I was possessed when our mutual friend set you up with him. Anyway, sometimes it's a fun time."
"It was a fun time," I admitted.
"You've got questions," Greer said, putting her book in her backpack. "Right? You must have."
"Yeah." I had big questions, but I start out small. "It's weird. Like, getting paid to have sex. She turned me into a whore."
Greer smiled. "That's not a question. But yeah, it's weird. The whole thing is weird. It doesn't ever get less weird. But you... on your time, the other six days, you don't have to do anything you don't want. You can spend all day, every day, in church if you feel so called. It's up to you, no matter what you do on... Saturday, that's your day?"
"Her day, yeah."
"
Her
day?"
"I call her Vivi. Since I usually go by Vivienne."
Greer smiled. "You think she's a her?"
I blinked. "Well, I assumed."
Greer shrugged. "You might be right. I've always assumed the opposite. The clothes she wants to wear. The things she has us do. They all seem to fulfill a male fantasy - I'm not saying they aren't fun, and I'm not saying women don't have some of the same fantasies. Maybe our friend doesn't have any gender at all, when they aren't inside us. Maybe they don't even exist, when they aren't inside us. I don't know. If I ask questions, all they do is dodge. And I've been asking questions for a very long time."
"How long?"
"I was born in London, in 1842. I made the deal with her when I was eighteen and trying to avoid a rather unpleasant betrothal."
"And did you?" I supposed it wasn't the most important thing for me to know, but she couldn't just toss that out there without me having to know.
"I did. They, um, had me sleep with his best friend one Thursday, which brought the whole thing crashing to a halt. Of course, that was the end to any respectability I had, but I made my way. In 1880 I left for the United States, and for a while after that I sailed back and forth every twenty years or so, leaving as a well-preserved middle-aged woman, and arriving as a barely adult girl. Things were looser, back then. Now, IDs, pictures, fingerprints - it's all complicated. But our friend will set you up, when it's time. Money talks."
"In a single day, she can really completely fuck with our life, can't she?"
"Yep. A good row would have accomplished the same purpose. Reputation meant a lot back then, and I could have been 'spirited' - which wouldn't have been a positive for most folks, but would have still been somewhat respectable, instead of 'licentious.' But I don't think our friend has any interest in us being respectable. In fact, I think they have a bit of a sadistic streak in that regard." Greer shrugged.
"Do you regret the deal?"
Greer cocked an eyebrow. "If I did, it would be a bit late to tell you, wouldn't it?"
"Ugh."
"But no, I don't regret the deal. I'd be dead, now, after being married to a dolt and probably bearing him five children. I don't think I'd have died poor, exactly. He was a solicitor, and he'd have managed to keep us afloat with a small country practice. That's all my guess, based on what he did do, with the woman he did marry." She quirked a smile. "I attended his funeral, in 1883. His wife was there - an old, beaten down woman. No one quite knew who I was, or what business a young girl like me had attending a funeral alone given that I didn't seem to know a soul."
A thought occurred to me then. "If she's been possessing people for, well, two hundred years or so, if not more, and the deal is once a week, how is that she had a day open for me? I mean, if indeed we're immortal."
Greer shrugged. "Well, since they are immortal, my guess is that they are in no particular hurry to fill the slots. Or maybe they can't do the thing more than once in a long while. As far as I know, there's just the three of us, although sometimes I wonder if, well, if there are just three of us women, and maybe they have some days when they are a man. And who knows, maybe when they run out of slots, they'd be willing to let us out of the deal. Sometimes I'd like to get out. Other times I simply love life too much for that."
"Well, well. If it isn't my two favorite people!"
I looked up to see the speaker. She was sheathed in a super-tight lime minidress which she filled out with voluptuous curves. She clearly wasn't wearing a bra and probably no panties, because I didn't see any lines on her hips. She had a mane of luxurious red hair, and the deepest green eyes.
Greer nodded. "We were just talking about you," she said. "Vivienne, meet Cindy. Or at least Cindy's body, since it's Monday."
"And a smoking hot body it is," Cindy said.
"You wouldn't offer a deal to anyone who didn't have one, now would you?" Greer said.
"You're acting like I'm shallow," Cindy said. "But no. I wouldn't. Nor anyone too dull, since I have to deal with them chattering at me all day. Vivienne, I've been looking for you. Are you doing okay?"
I nodded, slowly. "I think I am. Saturday was a lot, but..."
"But it was fun, right?"
"Yes," I admitted. "It was fun."
Cindy grinned. "You'll do things you never thought you'd do. It'll be, what do they call it these days? A growth experience."