Katie's hands were shaking, and, to her embarrassment, she was beginning to sweat despite the chilly room. She had missed rent for the first time last month, and now she was sitting on a cold leather couch about to interview for nude modeling.
He said it was tasteful,
she thought, although she wasn't naïve enough to be convinced that it was. Ricky, the photographer, was grossly overweight, with thick, knobby hands and a hair line that had finished receding years ago. The way his eyes lingered on Katie's breasts made her want to cross her arms.
"Are you ready to begin?" he said, smiling like a shark.
"Y-yes," she whispered.
"Excuse me?" Ricky leaned forward, tilting his head toward her. "Speak up, please."
Katie took a deep breath,
You only have to work for him a few times
. At a thousand dollars a day, her debts would be paid off in no more than three shoots. "Yes, I'm ready," she said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.
"Okay, okay, good. Just follow my directions." Ricky took a camera out of his desk. "Stand, please."
She stood up, her cheeks burning. She wanted to run back to her apartment and hide, but she didn't have that option.
"Good, good. Now turn. You're in very good shape, very lovely skin. What's your ethnicity?"
"I'm Mexican," she replied."
Ricky grunted in confirmation, still taking pictures. The
click-click-click
of the camera's shutter made her nervous.
"When did you turn eighteen?" he asked.
"A few m-months ago," she said, still too nervous to get rid of the embarrassing stutter.
"Okay, take off your top."
Katie's heart hammered.
Oh my God. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not ready.