In This Town

Chapter Six: The Dawning of The Duchess

I awoke Sunday morning to the sound of an empty house. Once again, I'd evaded my parents' demands of attending morning mass, the chance to be seen as pious in the eyes of society. I padded through the house in my pajamas and socks, pouring myself a bowl of cereal, a cup of coffee, and sitting down in front of the TV. Flipping through the channels aimlessly proved not to take my mind off last night's festivities. I felt no hint of shame or sin, nothing like what society would cast me as, the lady of the night. I did not feel as if I had degraded my women-kind by taking on this new profession. It was now an extension of my identity, in a sense, a whole part of me that I could re-create of my own doing, a different person every night, an actress of sorts.

Turning off the TV, I wandered into the kitchen where I deposited the bowl into the sink and, pouring myself a fresh cup of coffee, headed back to my bedroom. Once there, I sat on the bed, pawing through my last night's purse. I counted the wad of cash given to me by Ron, my last night's conquest or, what have you, client. A business transaction at its finest, in truth. The amount came to $1000 and I enjoyed every dollar I earned. Thinking now that I could find my own place at last (and not fast enough), I flipped on the computer to search the Craigslist ads. While the computer warmed up itself up, I looked back over the items of the purse and that's when my eyes fell upon the business card of Max, the hotel lobby receptionist. There was his number which recalled to mine my promise to get coffee with him some time.

I grabbed my cell-phone, plugged it in to recharge, and scanned through my messages. Nothing from Joe, as yet. I dialed the number on the card, listening to the numerous rings before hearing Max's groggy, sleepy voice on the other end.

“Hello? Who's this?”

“Hello, Max, Its Anna”, I began. “From last night?”

It took him a moment, as his mind slowly awoke, and then he remembered.

“Oh yes, Anna, how are you? Thanks for calling.”

“Of course,” I responded to his enthusiasm. “You interested in that coffee?”

“Oh god, am I ever?” came the reply. “Downtown Grounds?”

“Yeah, sure,” I answered.

“Give me twenty minutes,” he came back. I agreed to that and hung up. The computer had sprang to life with the Internet. I searched over to facebook and my email account, but as yet no message from Joe. No comments on last night? Had I done something wrong? Was the whole thing off?

I quickly moved to the bathroom, where I sponge-bathed my skin to freshen up a bit. Then, putting my hair up in a pony tail, I scrubbed my face clean, patting it dry, and applying moisturizer and a light make-up. As my role portrays, I must always look intriguing. I headed down the hall and slipped into a light sun-dress. The weather was still warm for September.

At the coffee shop, I pushed the door open and saw Max sitting at a table, waiting for me. I hurried over to him.

“Have you been waiting for long?” I asked. He held the coffee mug between his hands and shook his head. He was still in that “Give me a few minutes until the caffeine kicks in” moment. I nodded and hurried off for my latte, my now favorite drink.

Returning with the drink, Max was more alert.

“Late night last night,” he joked, winking. “For both of us.”

“Yes,” was all I would say.

“So, how did you...”

“A friend got me into it.”

“Is she part of it...”

“Not she, he...”

“A male one, wow, even in this town!” came his surprise response.

“No, no,” I hurriedly said. “I'm the only one that I know of. He's a correspondent, as it were, you know lines up the clients for me.”

“A 'pimp',” he mouthed the word. I shook my head with a laugh, picturing Joe in full pimp outfit, large hat, flamboyant jacket walking down the street, with cane in hand.

“Just a...friend,” I said. I reached in my purse and felt for my phone, then setting it out on the table before me.

“In case he calls?” Max asked. I just looked down, blushed, then shook my head.

“Not...really...” was all I could say. “So, tell me about you.” All I wanted was a little time off of me.

He told me about how he had come to Portland about 10 years back for University, graduated from Portland State in Creative Writing (a major his father had looked down upon), where he had met the girl he was to marry. She being from this small town they moved here together. When she, a few years later, ran off with her childhood sweetheart, he stayed. He said he found the town interesting, story-fodder he called it. Yeah, I thought. So interesting.

“What about you?” was his response at last. “You from around here?”

I nodded and shrugged. I had escaped three years previous for Portland myself, studying English Lit and Creative Writing at Lewis & Clark. I was the first in my family to graduate from college, a major accomplishment considering my family, was my aside. When I graduated and the money ran out, I came back here to figure things out. Then, I got this job.

“This job!” He laughed. Then, he turned and looked at me, a gleam in his eye. A look I recognized, one of supreme interest in finding out more, discovering just how good I was at this profession, I thought.

“Look I'm not looking for any sort of relationship here,” I said quickly. “I'm sorry, that's just confusing. I just want to be friends.”

He shrugged, smiled, and said that was fine. He leaned back and studied me.

“You've given me quite a bit of 'story-fodder', Anna,” he said.

“Well, thanks, I guess,” I smiled back.

“I will look forward to finding out more, to being your friend,” he smiled warmly. My phone rang. It was Joe, at last, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I've got to take this,” I said, apologetically.

“Is it the “pimp”? He asked, whispering the last word. I nodded, trying not to laugh, and headed out side with latte in hand.

“Hi,” I said into the phone.

“Hello Beautiful,” came Joe's voice over the phone. I smiled, a thrill coursing through my entire body. “You made quite the first impression last night. High praises all around!”

“Aw, shucks, thanks,” was my response.

“I've got another request for you already,” Joe came back. “Tomorrow night at the river house we went to, the owner's back. He's well-known in town.”

“Tomorrow night?” I asked.

“Yes, I'll give you a day to recover,” was Joe's quick answer.

“I'm modeling at 1 tomorrow,” I explained.

“Great,” Joe began. “Tomorrow at 8 pm at the riverfront house. This man's requests are very specific.”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever done bondage?” he asked.

“A bit,” I began and then laughed. “And I read Fifty Shades of Grey. Am I the submissive or the dominant?”

“The dominant, of course,” Joe was laughing. “So study up, but I think you'll manage just fine.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, wanting more but not sure how to ask. “So, what have you got planned today?”

“Just stuff around the house,” was all he would give. So, I left it at that.

“I'll see you then,” I responded. We said our good-byes and I hung up. Max came out to me.

“I've got to head back to my place, want to take a walk?”

“Sure,” I said. And we walked side by side the few blocks to his two story apartment building. His was on the second floor. It was a two bedroom, fairly well kept for a bachelor. He showed me around and then we sat, finishing our coffees in the living room. Without much thought, I blurted out:

“So, you in need of a room-mate?”

He looked at me surprised and came back,

“Actually I am.”

“It could work, you and I,” I began encouragingly. “We keep similar hours, you know. And, I really have to get out of my parents' house, I mean, how long can I keep up the cover with them before they get really suspicious? Not to mention, I am not a super fan of living with them.”

“Well, rent is 625, split half and half, plus utilities, and I'll need a security deposit,” he began. “Can you afford that?”

Then, he broke out laughing and I followed suit. What a silly thing to ask the only high class call girl in the town?

The next day, I stood nude in front of a classroom of budding student artists, the infamous Ken Payne before them, pointing out different parts of my body worth of note while he sketched away. They followed suit and I meditated silently as classical music played in the background. I would say that I indeed enjoy myself but standing and sitting in the same position for twenty minutes is harder than it looks. I found myself anxiously praying for the class to be over, eager for the nightly explorations to come, and was relieved when Ken announced the end of class.

While the students were packing up, Ken moved over to me and smiled.

“Good to see you again, Anna,” he whispered, smiled. I smiled back and he continued, “Maybe we can arrange another meeting.”

I smiled, intriguingly, wondering if he could really afford me on his teacher's salary.

“Talk to Joe,” I whispered back, alluringly.

“I will,” he leaned in closer. “Seeing you today, you're so beautiful, enchanting, almost regal. Like royalty!”

“Royalty, huh?” I smiled.

“Like a woman of nobility, a duchess, perhaps.”

“A duchess, The Duchess,” I smiled again.

As I was heading out of the classroom, I heard a male voice behind me. Turning I saw one of the students' coming towards me, complete with grey smudges from the charcoal all over his face and clothes.

“Hi there,” he said, extending his smudgy grey hand. “I'm Riley.”

I took it carefully and he laughed, apologetically.

“I'm Anna,” I said, courteously.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, blushing. I studied him. He was a taller than me, with wavy brown hair, piercing blue eyes, a jutting chin, and a rather thin build. His whole demeanor screamed out geek. But, never one to judge, I found something simpatico in this manly creature before me. “I just wanted to say hi, and thank you for being our model today.”

“Thanks, well, I'll see you next week,” I returned.

“Great,” He said. “Bye.”

I headed out to the parking lot towards my car. As I was pulling out into the street, I noticed Riley lugging his huge art bag down the street. I rolled down the window and called out to him,

“Hey there, you need some help?”

Riley called back, “Just heading off to work.”

“Is it close? You need a lift?”

Riley smiled a warm response and said, “That's be so nice, thanks.” He raced over to my passenger side, fen angled his art bag and backpack into my small back seat, and pulled himself down into the seat beside me.

“Its just up the street, Craze Comics, you know, across from Downtown Grounds,” he explained.

“Yeah, I know where it is,” I said. “Been there a few times, not in awhile.”

“Yeah,” he said. “You should come visit. What are you into?”

“I used to really love anime back in the day,” I said. “But I'm afraid I've gotten so far away from it that I have no idea what's popular anymore.”

“Well, come in some-time and I'll show you around,” he smiled at me and looked at me, studying. I felt his gaze upon me and surprisingly found myself blushing. He noticed and said, “Sorry,” and looked away, towards the street in front of us.

“So you from around here?” He asked at last.

“Yeah, grew up here,” I answered. “Just got back in town awhile ago from college.”

“Nice.”

“You?” I asked.

“No, just moved here for college and to get away from the family,” he explained. He hesitated a moment and then got up the courage to ask, “So you doing anything tonight?”

“Um,” I hesitated. “Yeah, I got plans.”

“A hot date?” he laughed. Then mumbled something like “Sorry, none of my business.”

“Something like that,” was all I would say.

“Oh, you have a boyfriend,” he sounded disappointed.

“No, I...not really,” was all I could say.

“Oh,” he sounded somewhat hopeful. “So, you do anything else for work, I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh?” he wondered.

“Well, I travel, sort of. Get jobs all over the place,” was all I could come up with.

“Like an actress or something?” he wanted to know.

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Done anything I would know?”

I didn't know what to say so said, “Not yet.”

I pulled alongside the sidewalk by the comic store and he moved to get out, grabbing his bags and fumbling them out.

“I'll see you next week,” I said.

“Looking forward to it,” he smiled back and I felt my stomach flutter. What was happening to me?

I watched him walk away, pondering the difference between his casual flirty interest in me, the innocence of it compared to the discreet duchess of the night I was becoming. Looking at him, I wondered what it would be like to have the regular 9-5 type job and to date a guy like him. Could I stand the “normal existence” of every day life? Could I become the house-wife with two kids and another on the way, the white picket fence, the mortgage, the two car garage? Would I even like it?

I pulled the car into the traffic slowly and made my way home, to prepare for the evening ahead of me.

Love Story