Andie smoothed the folded piece of paper out on the table in front of her. This was it. This was the moment she would make the final decision. She had thought that she would decide after she met Jordan. She would see him and decide afterwards how she felt about him and about everything. Now she knew that she had been wrong all along. This was the moment. Here, alone in this hotel room, hundreds of miles away from anyone she knew. this was the moment.
She opened her laptop and typed in her password. The computer buzzed with familiarity and she left the volume on. She wasn't used to being alone and this quiet had become almost too much for her. Jordan was already online.
"I thought you'd show." Jordan said with his usual cockiness. He'd been that way from the beginning. But in his line of work, she guessed that was probably somewhat normal.
"I can meet you tomorrow." she typed, "to decide."
"Sure, but you've already decided." She hated how he got in her head. Even the ad he had placed in her local paper had been assuredly vague. "Job opportunity for beautiful young women. Contact Jordan at Jordan@starH42.com. She had known that this was no ordinary job. She wasn't naive. Still, she had been intrigued. She'd lived a pretty sheltered life. Her parents had been surprisingly old when she was born. With her mother at 47 and her father at 52 they had seen her as a miracle sent from heaven. They had given her more attention and love than any other kid she had known but she had never truly felt smothered. But, Now, 19 and still living at home she needed to do something of her own, something crazy and wild. Something bad.
"don't be too certain." she typed back, relaxing in the hard backed dining room chair.
"You came all the way here from Oklahoma. Don't tell me you're gonna take one look at me and run back to the farm with the other chickens. lol." He was taunting her.
"I don't live on a farm and I'm not a chicken."
"Of course not. You've got fire. I've seen the photo." It had just been a simple snapshot. How could he tell anything about her? She looked up, he was still typing. "I'll meet you at shipley's on fourth. Can you find it, country girl?"
"What time?"
"Noon. Can't start too early when you're gonna be up all night."
"Right. I'll be there." She pulled the phone cord out of the back of her computer. There, that should leave him guessing a little. She turned out the light and climbed into bed. It was still early but she would be lucky if she got any sleep at all.
She was nursing a cup of coffee at nine forty-five the next morning when a woman's voice startled her out of her musings. "You're early sweetheart." She looked up to see a tall beautiful brunette standing over her. "I was right, such character." She reached out and tilted Andie's face towards hers. "You have great skin too. Lovely, really." She ran her thumb over Andie's cheek. "Nice, soft skin."
"Who are you?" Andie asked, beginning to realize that she had been misled somehow.
"Jordan, of course. Wait a minute. You thought..." She laughed. Of course she had thought that Jordan would be a man. Jordan was a predominately male name. Sure, Andy was too, but she had made it quite clear that she was no man. "Didn't mean to confuse you." Jordan smiled confidently and sat down across from andie, straightening her short red skirt. She caught Andie's eyes. "Isn't it the cutest thing?" She said, "I got it on sale at the Rave. You know, it would probably fit you. By the way, you're welcome to borrow anything of mine that catches your eye."
"That's okay. Can you tell me about this job?"
"Well, almost half of it's under the table. No taxes, cool, huh?"
"And this is legal?"
"No."
"As long as we're clear."
Jordan laughed. "You're pretty funny, country girl."
"I try."
"That's good. They like that."
"Who is they?"
"Your bosses. They like enthusiasm."
"So, what do I have to do?"
"Everything. You can't say no. Not to me, to Ryan, not to anyone."
"Who's Ryan?"
"He runs the place."
"What place?"
"You ask a lot of questions, girl. I'm supposed to be the one giving the interview."
"Sorry."
"OK, are you a virgin? Just answer the question."
"yeah."
"That wont last long. Do you have a boyfriend?"
"no."
"Good. Nothing causes problems like good old fashioned jealousy. And you are eighteen, right?"
"Nineteen."
"Perfect. Where are your things?"
"The Hilton."
"Classy. Lets go get them."
"Didn't you want to get something to eat?' Andie was feeling dizzy from Jordan's onslaught of questions.
"No. Donuts make you fat." She giggled. "Actually, donuts are my weakness. Terrible, huh?" Andie didn't know how to respond. ,She felt suddenly as if she were seeing a side of Jordan she might never see again. She shook the thought away. Strange.
"Yeah. Mine's chocolate. By the way, why did you want to meet here?" She threw her empty coffee cup in the trash.
"Because it's busy. People come in and out constantly. I could just slip right in and see you and know." They headed for the door.
"Know what?"
"The car's over here. It's the black one."
"Know what?" Andie repeated.
"Whether or not I was going to talk to you." Jordan climbed into the car and unlocked the door for Andie.
"You would have stood me up?"
"It's a business, sweetheart."
Andie shrugged, sliding into the soft plush seat of Jordan's car. She paused a moment, admiring the car. It was a sleek black mustang and it looked old. "What year is this?" She asked Jordan. "A 61."
"And it's yours?"
"Yeah. It's a perk." Andie was even more curious than before. What kind of job had a 61 Mustang as a perk?
"So..." Jordan eased the car into gear and backed out of the parking lot, "Where do your parents think you are?" She didn't bother asking what Jordan meant. She knew.
"Teaching summer camp." Jordan laughed.
"I guess you could call this a summer camp. But I'm pretty sure you're not going to be teaching." Andie laughed nervously.
"Don't worry, country girl, you'll be fine." She wished Jordan would quit calling her thant. She hoped she wasn't going to introduce her to the boss as that.
"Some things you need to know," Jordan started, "If you tell someone no, you're gone. That's it, no more money, no more perks, no nothing. You go home. There are hundreds of girls who would kill for your job."
"What is my job?"
"I've told you. You do everything." She saw the corner's of Andie's mouth turn down slightly. "It's not so bad, Jordan touched her shoulder lightly. "The hardest thing is going to be missing ma and pa."
Andie fumed silently. No matter what happened, she decided, she was not going to let Jordan get to her. Not now, not ever.
"We're here!" Jordan announced gaily, startling Andie who had fallen asleep. She blinked quickly, embarrassed.
"Ready?" Andie braced herself for another country girl joke but none came.
"Ready," she said. A boy about 18 came running up to the car. "Sorry, Miss. I was tending the gardens." Jordan laughed.