Chapter 72

My alarm had just gone off and I was trying to talk myself into getting up when the phone rang. It was Alice, sounding better than anyone should at this time of the morning.

“Hey, Lazybones, are you awake?!”

“Just barely. What are you doing up so early?”

“New York time. We’ve been up for hours, we just got back from our morning run.”

“When did you get in?”

“Around five o’clock yesterday afternoon. We have an appointment today, but we should be through by the time you get out of school. Can we meet later?”

It was strange knowing that the appointment probably was with Mom, but I asked, “Is the appointment something Important?”

“It could be. We’ve been trying to get on with a new agent for quite some time, and their office called all of a sudden, and they want to meet with us.”

“It sounds great, what time will you be finished?”

“I think that we’ll be through about four. We’re looking for a beauty parlor so that we can be presentable right now. The one in the hotel is booked up, so Molly is trying to get an appointment at a place Kristen told us about, but she’s not having much luck trying to contact them.”

“What kind of place is it?”

“Oh, you probably never heard of it. It’s called ‘Wretched Excess’.”

I nearly laughed out loud at the set of circumstances surrounding what was going on. The girls were trying to make themselves presentable, so they could convince someone to work for them, when I knew that the ‘someone’ was actually Amy, and that she was more anxious than they were to take them on as clients. Secondly, they didn’t know it but they were meeting with my mother today, and she was going to tell them that the ‘owner’ was at a meeting, when she was actually attending the high school they used to go to, and that she was younger than either one of them.

Alice interrupted my thoughts with, “Are you there, Pete?”

“Yes, I was just thinking, would you like me put to in a word for you at WE?”

“Sure, Bigshot. Pull a few strings for us.”

I knew that she was kidding, but it sounded like it might be fun to see if I could do something about it, so I looked over at the nightstand where I had written her cell phone number, and I said, “Call you right back,” before she had a chance to say anything, and I hung up. I called Tammy at the number of her apartment over WE, and her voice was businesslike when she answered, “Tammy Coombs.”

“Hi, it’s Pete. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Heck no, I’ve been up since six. What’s up?”

“How are you and Marla getting along?”

“Marla is great. She and I have become good friends. We talked yesterday, and she told me what a great time you and she had. I think that I’m jealous.”

There was a smile in her voice when she said it, so I teased her with, “Well, you had your chance, but you settled for an older guy with money, so I guess that I’ll just have to sit around and mourn for you.”

She laughed out loud, then she said, “Ha! That’ll be the day when you mourn for a girl, but that’s not the reason you called, right?”

“Right. Some friends of mine are in town and they want to get prettied up for an interview. They said that they called this morning and aren’t having any luck contacting your place.”

“Of course, they aren’t, we don’t answer the phones till nine o’clock. Who are they?”

“They’re some girls I used to go to school with. They moved to New York to start careers, and they’re in town on business. One is a model and the other is an actress. Kristen actually told them to call you.”

“But you want to take credit for getting them into WE, right?”

“Yup!”

“You, Sir, are a cad, and I suspect that you have an ulterior motive.”

Feigning shock, I replied, “Why, how can you say such a thing, Miss Coombs?”

We both had a laugh, then she told me to have them call her direct, and she would get them in. I wanted to talk more, but it was time to get ready for school, so I called Alice back and gave her Tammy’s number. She said that they wanted to take me to dinner tonight after the initial shock, and that she would call me at home around six.

Mom and Amy were sitting with Dad, talking, when I went in for breakfast. He looked at his watch, then he got up and said that he had a flight. He called for Erin to come in, and he kissed us all when she did, and said that he’d be back on Friday. It was interesting watching him kiss Amy. He didn’t spend any more or less time on the kiss with her then with any of us. It was as though she was a natural part of the family. She IS a regular part of us now, and it made me feel good.

Erin left for Kelly’s, and Mom and Amy sat down and started talking. I got some cereal and I mentioned that I had just spoken to Alice when I joined them. They both smiled and said that was what they were discussing, so I told them what happened with WE, and they both cracked up laughing.

Amy and I left for school at the same time, and she mentioned that Jake had called her last night as we walked out the door. I asked, “Are you going to go out with him?”

“I guess so. Why?”

“I don’t know. I just uhh...”

She was laughing and shaking her head as she got into her car. I wondered why.

I thought about Alice and Molly all day, and hurried home after school. I parked the car and went to the front house instead of going to my room. Mom was on the phone talking to Kate, so I grabbed a pencil and wrote ‘I won’t be home for dinner’ on a scrap of paper and I slid it next to her, then I went to my room and showered. I was waiting by the phone when Mom came in. She sat down and looked at me for a minute, then she said, “We signed both Alice and her sister today.”

“That’s great! Were you the one who did it?”

“Yes, Amy filled me in with what I needed to know, and it went smoothly. Those are interesting girls. They’re both beautiful, especially Monique.”

“Monique?”

“Yes. I think you call her Molly, but she now goes by ‘Monique’.”

“Oh yeah, now I remember. Alice told me that she started using it a while ago.”

“I talked with that friend of Tomaso’s after they left, and he’s very serious about getting Alice to read for the part in his movie. He’s flying out to talk with her tomorrow. This could be a very big thing for both her and the agency.”

Mom stopped talking for a minute, and stared at me, so I asked, “What’s wrong, Mom. This all sounds like a good thing?”

“Yes, it could be, but I did a background check, and some odd things showed up. How well do you know these girls?”

“I only knew them for a short time. They were at school for part of a semester, but they left quite a while ago. Why do you ask?”

“We did a background check on them, and something called ‘Delight’ came up. I checked on it and their license reads adult entertainment. Do you know anything about them?”

I don’t lie to mom, and my stomach suddenly tightened. But I guess it had to come up sooner or later, so I said, “Yes I do, Mom.”

“Are you involved with that place?”

“Not any more.”

She quietly sat for a long time before she said, “I hate asking you about it, but I think I must. Did these girls talk you into anything?”

I said, “No, Mom, they are good girls. They got caught in a situation and I helped them out.”

Mom gave me a look that indicated there was a lot more that needed to be said, and I didn’t want her to think badly about the girls, so I decided to try to explain some of what happened. I began by telling her about standing in for the guy with Molly at the no-touch filming. I noticed that she was getting upset as I finished relating the story, and I blurted out, “Don’t be angry, Mom, it was all for the camera. Nothing actually happened between Molly and me. Both of the girls were virgins, as a matter of fact.”

Her eyes got big, “Virgins! At their age? Humph! How do you know? Is that where you got the three thousand dollars?”

“Uhh no, that was from something that happened later.”

She waited a minute, then she said, “Well, are you going to tell me about it?”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes. Three thousand dollars is a lot of money. I’d like to know what you did to get it.”

“Molly and I were, uhh, sort of in a movie.”

“What kind of movie?”

I was obvious that I was already in pretty deep, so I told her the whole story. She sat back shaking her head when I finished, then she asked, “And Alice filmed the whole thing?”

“Uh-huh.”

“How do you know that Molly was a virgin?”

“I know, Mom, really I do.”

“You actually saw inside her vagina?”

“No, but I was there when Alice photographed it, and I felt it tear when we made love.”

“And she filmed you while you were doing all this?”

“Yes, Mom, but you wouldn’t have recognized me. You saw the suntan they gave me, plus I had brown hair and even had brown eyes.”

Mom was staring at me. Her eyebrows were arched and she was slowly shaking her head. She finally said, “Unbelievable.”

I asked, “Is this going to affect their careers?”

“No, I don’t think so. I talked to Amy about it, and we both talked with Tomaso. He told us not to worry about it. He said that we would be surprised at some of the things the stars did when they were starting out.”

“Good. Are you, umm, disappointed in me?”

She sighed, then she came to me and put her arms around me. She stood back after a minute, and commented, “No, I’m not disappointed, just concerned is all. So when did you discover that Alice was also a virgin?”

“That same day. Molly was tired after the filming, so she went home. I was helping Alice put things away, and, umm, one thing led to another.” Mom turned away from me, and her shoulders started to shake.

I thought that she was crying for a minute, so I grabbed her and turned her around. She was laughing and shaking her head.

She finally put her arms back around me and hugged me, then she said, “I love you, Son.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

It was just after five when Alice called. We agreed to meet at a restaurant not far from my house at six o’clock. I had just hung up when my phone rang, and Tammy said, “Hi, have you talked to either Marla or Monique tonight?”

No, I’m on the way to have dinner with those girls I sent you, and I was going to call Marla later. Why, what’s going on?”

“I need a favor, Pete. Would you try to find out what Monique’s schedule is like.”

“I, uhh, don’t understand. What schedule are you talking about?”

“Her work schedule. Why they are in town, and what does she have planned?”

“They’re in town to sign with an agent. Didn’t she tell you?”

“No, they rushed out of here before we had a chance to talk, but Tony stopped by as they were leaving and he was blown away by Monique. He wants to put an advertising program together, using her as the spokesperson for WE. Would you have her contact us when you see her tonight?”

It took me a second to realize what she said, then I immediately thought of what might happen. Molly would be staying in town if they hired her, and the thought of her suddenly filled my head. Beautiful, exciting Molly (or Monique, as she’s called now) would actually be here in town. A vision of her lying naked on the bed in the hotel that day flooded through my head, and I had to catch my breath. Then something else occurred to me, and I said, “Are you at the store, Tammy?”

“Yes, why?”

“Will you be there for a while?”

“Yes, I’ll be here all evening. What’s going on?”

“I’ll call you back in a few minutes. Stay by the phone.”

I hung up and went to the front house. Mom and Amy were fixing dinner, and I started telling them about the conversation with Tammy. Mom looked at Amy, and they both grinned and shook their heads when I finished, then Mom said to Amy, “Well, what do you want to do, Dear?”

Amy replied, “It’s Tammy. She’s family. Business or not, we tell her the truth. Let’s call her now.”

They went to Amy’s room to call, and Amy turned to me as they stepped in, “Please don’t talk to the girls about anything. We’re going to have to let them know what’s going on, but let Mom and I handle it, okay?”

“No problem. This is kind of weird. Tammy is going to be blown away when she finds out who their new ‘agent’ is, and the girls will be surprised to find out that we’re all connected if it all comes together.”

“Amy replied, “You’re right,” and she turned to leave, then she stopped, turned to me, handed me her cell phone, and said,
Hang on to this, we may try to contact you later.”

I was excited as I drove to meet the girls. I thought about the last time I saw them, and I remembered how disappointed I was when I knocked on their door and found out that they were gone. Alice was the first really smart girl my age whom I had ever met, and it was amazing to be around her. I tried to compare her with Amy, and I wondered what they would be like if they put their heads together on the same project. I then thought about Molly. Thinking about her made me think of the other girls my age who I had been with.

Della was the first really beautiful girl I ever spent time with. She was lithe and strong, and she was wonderful to be with once she warmed to you, but I was always a little in awe of her, and a set of circumstances kept us apart. Part of those circumstances was Sam, extremely pretty in a down-to-earth way. She was fresh and eager about things, and I always felt that she would be the one to count on if things went wrong. I regretted the way I had treated her whenever I thought of her. I wonder what her life is like now.

Kristen was like a shooting star. Her dark skin, silky black hair, and those dark, piercing eyes made a package that was spectacular, but being with her was a roller coaster. She was someone who I thought I would like to be with forever when she was at my house helping dry the dishes. It was like she was a whole different person when she was on stage or hanging with her famous friends, and she scared and confused me. I never felt adequate around her. She made me feel like a kid in some ways, and I never understood how someone like her would want to be with me.

Karen was wonderful. She isn’t as spectacular as these others, but she was everything a guy could want in a girl. She was actually too good. I was almost glad when she left, because I could see myself settling down with her, and I don’t think that I want to do that yet.