Chapter 75

The travel plans for Tuesday came undone before they were ever finalized. Shelly had an appointment with Dr. Young scheduled for Wednesday. Since it involved starting a new method of birth control, she didn't want to miss it. Dr. Young tried to accommodate an earlier appointment but she couldn't because of the timing with Shelly's cycle.

Shelly told everyone just to go without her but that wasn't really an option. To top things off, Shelly's period started in the middle of Monday afternoon, just shortly after her grandmother's jewelry box arrived and while the group was running around looking at electronics.

Sarah's period had ended only that morning and Adam wondered if was to forever be his curse to have someone with raging hormones around him at all times.

He managed to slip away for a couple of hours to check Mike's house for him. The house was smaller than he had expected. In fact, it was much smaller – a simple two-bedroom ranch with the requisite pool in the back. Nothing was amiss and Adam spent only a few moments looking around at how the rich lived. He was surprised that Mike had good taste in furnishings until he realized Rachelle had probably picked it out.

Adam relocked the door and smiled as he departed. It was on his way home when Shelly called with the news of her remembered appointment – spurred to the front when she found blood in her panties.

"We'll work around it," Adam told her. "We have plenty of time to get to Vegas. We can leave Wednesday and return Saturday if we have to. We're not going to let this cause an issue."

Shelly giggled a little.

"I'm not really even bitchy," she said. "I think it's because I have so little to be crabby about. I just wish I'd have stayed here and got me a little last night. You know, we need to call Trinity and let her know we're going out of town."

Adam remembered he needed to update his AMS card, too.

"I've got to head to the clinic," he told her. "I'll get it done today."

"Why don't we meet there?" Shelly asked. "We're done with what we've got to do. You're fully in the right century now. I think you'll like it. Karlie is stoked with hers. You and she are twins now."

"You don't need to brave downtown," Adam protested.

"We're going to update our cards, too," Shelly replied. "Well, Sarah, Allie and Karlie are going to update them. I'm going to get one. If things go well up there, we might offer to do a scene with them, too. It might be cool."

Adam blinked.

"Are you going to be ready to do that?" he wondered.

"I should be done by Friday," Shelly replied.

"Not that," Adam answered. "I mean ready for something like that."

"I'm ready," Shelly replied. "I made that decision a few days ago. I want to work just like Sarah and Allie do – with you and with select females. It's not something you've convinced me to do and it's not something I feel I have to do to keep up with you guys. It's something I want to do. I think I'll enjoy it. If I don't, I won't do another one. I've been leaning this way for a while. I think I pretty much decided this when we were in the car on the way back from the new place."

"It's your call," Adam replied. "I just don't want you to think you have to do this. I mean, I'm not trying to change your mind or anything. I'm not butting into your business or anything."

"I understand," Shelly interrupted. "And I know you're not trying to make this decision for me. It will be cool, I think. We are sort of thinking of, you know, a six-girl party. Maybe five depending upon what Karlie wants to do."

"Is she coming with us?" Adam wondered. "I mean, we didn't exactly ask her if she wanted to."

"You're her boss," Shelly giggled. "You tell her where she is supposed to go. She doesn't get to pick and choose."

"I disagree," Adam said simply.

"I'm joking," Shelly returned. "Yes, Karlie wants to go. She has never been to Vegas. She wants to come with us and she wants to meet Leslie and Rebecca, too. Will you call them to make arrangements with them? Let them know it's a prior commitment and getting our AMS cards taken care of."

"I wonder how Rita does that?" Adam asked to himself.

"There are AMS offices in Las Vegas, Miami, Reno and probably a dozen other places," Shelly laughed. "At least that's what I've heard. The only one with next-day or same-day service is Downtown, though. All the rest send their stuff out to be analyzed. Downtown does their stuff right there on site. Is that right, Allie?"

There was a mumbled yes from somewhere else in the car. It reminded Adam of something else.

"When do you want to take your driver's test?" he asked Shelly.

"I thought I might do it tomorrow if we're in town," Shelly replied. "Do you think that will work?"

"It works for me," Adam said as he smiled. "Do you want me to come with you or have you pigeonholed someone else for that duty?"

"You," Shelly said meekly. "If you don't mind. You haven't ridden with me yet so I want to make sure you know I'm a good driver."

"I do know that, Shelly," Adam told her. "I know you are careful. I hope you know that my reaction that night was silly. I'm sorry about that."

"I know it wasn't about the car or anything," Shelly answered. "It was about the fact I misled you. I am really sorry about that."

"It's fine, I promise," Adam told her. "Let's not worry about it again."

Five people entering the AMS offices brought a frown from the receptionist. She was used to one or two people entering at a time, not a horde. She couldn't decide if the fivesome consisted of established performers or people looking to break into the industry. She hoped she wasn't going to have to take a full history from five people this late in the day.

"Hi, I'm Adam Walters," the man said with a smile. He was handsome, she decided, in a normal sort of way. He was built well and he didn't have the sneer that most of the males wore when they came in. To most of the men, an AMS exam was confirmation that they were getting laid soon. "I'm here to renew my card. Is it too late to do that today?"

"You're all renewals?" the woman asked. He was polite to her so she was polite back. Most people who showed up acted as if she should stay for as long as it took past her quitting time to accommodate them.

"I'm not," Shelly said. "But I can come back if you think it will take too long. Adam said it might be too late in the day. We don't want to keep you."

"If it's only you and four renewals, we'll have plenty of time," the woman answered with a wide smile. "I'll need a brief medical and sexual history. Then we'll draw some blood. Do you mind if we don't do a same-day return?"

"Not at all," Shelly said. "I can come back tomorrow to pick it up – or even the next day if you're busy."

"No problem with tomorrow," the receptionist said. "The rest of you guys know the routine. Just give a saliva or vaginal secretion and we'll run it. I'll take care of them before I get to you, honey. Yours will take a little longer."

The girls took the swabs and waited their turn to go into the two privacy rooms. Adam simply ran the swab through his mouth and handed it back to the receptionist, who had put on latex gloves. She put the swab in a vial and took it to the back office.

"It will be about 20 minutes," she said.

"No hurry," Adam said. "I can come back tomorrow too. We all can. We'll be around."

"It's no trouble," the receptionist said. "If there are no issues, we'll have cards for you four in just a while. The tech is waiting until he gets the rest before he starts. You're a good-looking group. I haven't seen you folks here before, have I?"

"I'm not sure," Adam said. "The redhead has been in for a while. The rest of us not so long. This is the third time I've been here."

"I've been here five times," Sarah added when she came out. Allie was still swabbing her vagina. Adam had no idea why he could give a simple saliva sample while the girls had to do something more invasive. He didn't ask but Shelly did.

"I'm menstruating," she informed the receptionist when she handed the form back along with her ID. "Will that be a problem?"

"It will make things easier actually," the woman replied. "We can do a blood workup easier than we can with anything else. But some of these places want a test for every shoot. Some girls work so much they would have to give blood 20 times a month. Even a pin prick slide would create problems. Besides, some of them are a little leery about giving blood. They seem to think we'll test for other things but communicable diseases. This is a fully accredited medical facility, Miss. Anything we find is strictly confidential. However, if you test positive for HIV, we have to inform the State Board of Health. I want you to know that we will contact you first, though."

Shelly nodded gravely.

"Is there a lot of that?" she asked. The woman tilted her head slightly.

"Some," she admitted. "Not so bad as a few years back. It is mostly still cropping up in the gay industry but you've got a lot of guys who are doing both. It creates problems. You also have some girls, particularly the European girls who come over, who are willing to work with bisexual males. I guess it's a part of the industry over there. Two guys and a girl but not the way we see it over here. That adds to the risk."

She perused the form Shelly had submitted and glanced up.

"You've had only two male sexual partners?" she asked. "Are you certain this is what you want to do?"

"I'm sure," Shelly said sweetly. "I will only work with this guy. He is my boyfriend."

The receptionist gave Adam a dark look.

"It's not his idea," Shelly added quickly. "It's mine. I'm going to do mostly girl-girl stuff with the rest of the group you see. We're pretty much a package deal, you know."

The receptionist's eyes softened.

"You see a lot of that, too," she said. "Guys who talk their girlfriends into going into the business. They don't last usually. The guy wants the girl to work only with him but he wants to work with everything with boobs."

"He almost has to," Allie said as she handed over her swab. "I mean, if he wants to eat. We work only with Adam but he can't restrict himself that way. Do you know about the pay scale for guys?"

The receptionist shook her head.

"It's much lower than it is for us," Sarah added. "He gets less than half of what we do. He is selective about who he works with. But it isn't possible for him to work solely with us – even as many of us as there are."

"Although, if we bring in one or two more girls to the fold, it might be possible," she laughed, punching Adam on the arm. The receptionist smiled and headed back while Shelly went in to do her thing. Allie asked if she needed help but Shelly only smiled and shook her head. In only a few seconds she was back and handed over her swab.

Adam saw that Karlie had not spoken but she had done the swab like the rest of them.

"Are you sure of this, Karlie?" Adam asked. Karlie shrugged.

"I want to have the paperwork if I decide to do it," she said simply. "I'm considering it. I'll see how things are playing out. If it works out, it works out. If not, I'll stick to being your assistant."

Adam nodded his agreement, happy that no one was feeling pressure to participate or peer pressure to join in.

"Well, let's go get a cup of coffee or something," Adam suggested. "Can we bring you something?"