As usual, it was not even halfway through the month, and I was broke again, needing some cash. Not to sound like a total scrub, I am in graduate school working on an applied mathematics degree, so at least I have some excuse. I live in a seedy neighborhood, rather than the more expensive graduate student dorms, and I ride an old Honda 125 Wombat Motorcycle, instead of driving a car. It uses less fuel, but more importantly as a reasonably smart cookie; I can fix it on my own. That's how I met Jack. I was out in the parking lot of our apartment complex, while I was working on my bike, and I couldn't get the engine cap off myself. What can I say, I'm a math student and we're not exactly known for our superhuman strength.
Most days I spend inside maximizing likelihood functions, not pumping iron at the gym, and when I get home, you know, I need to unwind - usually that means some alcohol and cigarettes, and not much to eat. My lifestyle leaves me a lot on the skinny side. Cute mind you, a little pretty even, but thin as a board, so when Jack came over and got my engine cap open a few weeks back that was enough for me to call him friend.
Turns out we have enough in common to be friends at this point in my life. We're both single, we both sleep until noon, stay up until four, neither of us have what I would call steady employment, though I have no idea what he does for money. Even though he always has a bunch, and we both hate the private college on the hill (I go to State of course).
Anyway - enough already, here's the story - As I said, I was broke, and as usual, Jack was hanging out. I had spent the day working on like page ten million of my dissertation research. As we were both pretty drunk, I told Jack how poor I was, and he said he'd lend me $500 if I would go with him to be in an amateur porn film a friend of his was shooting the next night.
I know what you're thinking, totally wacko segue, but we were both drinking and Jack is definitely an off beat guy, and the way I remember him saying it, it was something like them needing an extra dick, and I probably wouldn't even get on camera. The whole thing sounded like a goof, and I woke up the next morning hung over, and with $500 on the coffee table and a note from Jack telling me that he'd pick me up down at the university around 10:00 pm, when I usually finish working.
I took two aspirin, took a fast shower, threw on my dirty jeans, a grey T-shirt and my jacket and headed down to school. You know, one thing leads to another. At school, Professor Galloway, who owns my apartment unit, hit me up for the rent, so I shelled out $400, just like that - I got lunch around 6:00 pm, and that was another $5. Then I ran into my waitress buddy Lindsey who deals a little coke, and a little speed. I bought a gram off her for $50, then made out a little with her in the stairwell. Before I knew it, it was 10:00 pm. After smooching a little, Lindsey hit me up for $20 that she needed to get this hair straitening stuff she likes to use when she iron's her hair - saying she'd pay me back Monday.
The next thing I know, its 9:45 pm, I'm halfway into a Joreskog derivation, and I only have, $24 bucks and some change in my pocket, and Jack is in front of the Math Department honking the horn of his 1985 Oldsmobile. "Oh Fuck." I remember, but its too late, the money's gone.
Jack and I drive about a quarter way out of town, over the railroad tracks, past our apartment complex, and down the Haig Artery - you know, kind of near the airport. He stops the car in front of a nondescript warehouse, industrial-cinderblock building. There's some graffiti on the side that reads "REVOK", and another that reads "HENSE". Nobody knows what the hell this graffiti means, just if you see it, you can be pretty sure you're in a hipster bohemian neighborhood, and not an outright slum.
"Hey Alex, you know Real artists don't know they're artists," says Jack, snickering and pointing to the tags, but I'm hip to him -
"Who's O.C? Ask COST and REVS - now give me a fucking drink or something before I pass out." (And yeah I know, like one person on the planet actually understood that reference.
We go inside and of course its gross and its nasty. In fact there's just one of those park picnic tables in the middle of the room, with an old mattress thrown on top of it. A bunch of filming lights on tripods, and bunch of pretty buff guys, most with goatees and shaved heads, standing around smoking and passing a bottle back and forth.
"Hey, where's the girl?" I ask jack.
"What do you mean?" he says.
"I mean, where's the girl, you said this is gonna be some kind of gang bang thing?"
Jack smiled, "What do you mean man, this is gay underground porn, we talked all about this last."
"Fuck you, we didn't. THAT, I would remember. Don't try this shit on me Jack. I remember the whole deal. We were sitting on the couch, and I was complaining abut not having any money, and you mentioned something about how you could give me $500 buck for basically just showing up and showing my dick on camera, and maybe poking it in some girls mouth. That was it, that was all we discussed. And to be honest, I wasn't even too down with that, I just needed the money."
"So what are you saying to me?" Jack said, all of a sudden serious and not smiling.
"I'm saying, I'm fucking out of here, I'll get you your money back next week or something."
"What, you mean you don't even have the money? Well how much do you have, you know this money isn't mine Alex, Ben over there fronted it."
I blushed, "Well I mean I ran into some people today, and I kind of paid some of it out . . ."
"Alex, cut the bullshit these are serious people, how much do you have?" Jack said.
"$24."
"$24! What the fuck!"
"And some change . . ," I offered, holding a few quarters out.
"Motherfucker . . ," Jack said. "Just wait here, I gotta go talk to Ben about this."
While Jack was talking to Ben I looked around, long story short, there were five guys in there including Jack, and there didn't seem to be any obvious way out other than back through the heavy metal door we came in through.
Ben and Jack walked over to me, and Ben looked me up and down. "Gosh, he's a cutie Jack, you weren't kidding, this is going to be perfect. Actually it's no big deal. The film works better when they don't want to do it." Looking at me "You'll get used to it once it starts." Jack came over and grabbed me. I struggled of course, but what was the use, I already told you just Jack alone could snap me like a twig, and there were four other guys even bigger than Jack. Not that I didn't put up a fight, but soon enough I felt a wet cloth on my face and then . . . .
AWAKE all of sudden. . . I was gasping, exhaling my breath, and the chemically, slightly gasoline taste, but I still couldn't see. I was totally disoriented, and everything was dark. I was aware of a black headband over my eyes, and that my cold skin was a bit damp, and of course that I was tied down. I was lying on my back, with my hands tied behind me, and my legs spread open, at my ass, and bent at my knees. There was some kind of collar around my neck holding my head. My face felt uncomfortable, like it was painted, and something was pulling my hair.
Jack pulled my blindfold off and I saw another room same room. Jack put a mirror to my face. My hair was bleached blonde and pulled back into two pigtails with those little pink butterfly clap barrettes. My face was painted with a layer of base and I had a pink, frosty lipstick on. I looked down at my chest as much as I can with my neck in the collar and saw that my body had been shaved hairless, and is covered with goosebumps and my nipples had been painted with rougey gloss.
