Perfect Ten (3 page)

Stan walked out and left me standing there in a funk. I was getting concerned with his behavior. What the hell was going to walk through that door?

I didn’t have long to wait. Stan came back about a minute later with an extraordinarily curvy, cute blonde on his arm. She looked a little frumpy in her plain gray skirt and matching high-collared blouse; her curly hair was a bit out of control, but aside from that, she was adorable. To tell you the truth, at my first glimpse of her, I could swear my heart beat double time. It was weird. Something went through me that I can’t explain. It was a shiver. Well, not a shiver exactly—more like a shock wave. All I knew for sure was that I wanted her. I felt like wrapping my arms around her and taking her home with me. Pretty intense, huh? Yeah, tell me about it.

When she opened her mouth, any hope of that happening died. She took one look at me with her beautiful blue eyes opened wide, shook her head, and said, “Oh no. Absolutely not.”

I
have
great
friends but a not so great family. I love my family, but they tend to be condescending toward me, even when they don’t mean to be. At least I like to fool myself into believing they don’t mean to be.

Let me start off by telling you about my physical appearance, because that seems to be where my family’s animosity rests, and, incidentally, where my insecurities lie.

I’m five-foot-six, have slightly wavy strawberry-blonde hair that I keep long so I can hide behind it—you know, for that extra layer of security—blue eyes, and I’m a size sixteen. I’ve fought my weight my entire life. Sometimes, when I write everything down and count my calories, I can lose ten pounds or so, but honestly, I’m almost afraid to try anymore, because when the pounds come back—and they always do—they bring friends.

At twenty-eight years old, I’ve only had two serious boyfriends. Neither one of them was long-term, but at least I’m not a virgin, I guess. Sex has never been very pleasant for me, but I’m hoping that’s because neither one of my boyfriends knew what he was doing. I’ve casually dated off and on, but none of my dates were anything to write home about.

My first experience with sex was a total disaster, which was a real shame, because even though I don’t have a healthy body image, I have a very healthy and imaginative mind. My fantasies sometimes consume me, even in the middle of the day.

So, here it is. His name was Mitch, and he was a senior in high school. I was a junior, and I thought it was so cool that an older guy was interested in me. Of course, I found out later, he just wanted to get in my pants.

We had been on two dates. The first was to one of the only drive-in movie theaters left in our area. I have no idea what movie was playing since we spent the hours making out in his car. That should have been clue number one for me, but I really didn’t have any sexual experience then. Kissing him was like—God, I don’t even know. It was wet and messy. Kind of gross. Don’t get me wrong, I love some tongue action, but not all over my face!

The second date wasn’t even a date. He talked me into hanging out under the bleachers with some of his friends. Even though he wasn’t on the football team, a bunch of his buddies were. So that made him cool enough for me to brag about, but not so cool that he couldn’t date a junior. The hierarchy of high school students is an important part of the teenage years.

“Look at you two getting all cozy together. You done the deed yet?” Johnny, the quarterback, was an ass. I’d always known it, but because he was the most popular kid in school, I laughed, just as he expected me to do.

Mitch lowered the arm he had around my back to encircle my ribs, brushing his fingers just under my breasts. “Maybe after you guys get out of here, I’ll have a better answer to that.”

I didn’t feel any tingles or excitement, just dread. I knew what was coming, and honestly, I just wanted to get it out of the way, so I’d already made up my mind to do it.

When the guys left, it was already getting dark. Mitch took his jacket off and laid it on the ground for me. Then he went straight to his pants and unzipped them, pulling out a semi-hard cock. “Are you ready for this?”

He didn’t wait for my answer. He just lowered me to the ground, licking at my lips again. As soon he had my panties off and a condom on, he shoved himself into me, not even giving me a warning.

Holy shit! That so didn’t feel good. When he broke through my virginity, I swear I saw stars. And then he was grunting and slamming himself into me.

“Aw, fuck. It’s so good.”

I did not agree, but I think I let out a moan just so that he would be done quicker.

“Yes. I’m gonna come, Kristy!”

And, no, my name was never Kristy. I put my hands on his chest to stop him. That was it! He didn’t even know my name? “Hey! My name’s Faith.”

“Uh-huh.” He was panting then, and in two more hard thrusts, he groaned loudly in my ear and fell on top of me.

“Sorry about that, Faith. Kristy was my old girlfriend. I guess I forgot for a second. You were great, though.”

“Whatever. Get up. I need to get home.”

The following day, he acted as if he didn’t even know me. And that was how I lost my virginity.

Now, I’ll get back to my family. Last week, while I was chatting with my girlfriends at our book club, I told them about Sassy’s wedding. Sassy’s my twenty-four-year-old sister who’s pregnant with her forty-year-old boss’s child. She’s his secretary. Can you say cliché?

“Well, it’s official. I’m the last unmarried Graham girl. Sassy’s getting married.”

My friend Gracie choked on her margarita. “What? Are you serious?”

Chloe pounded on her back while making her own exclamation. “Sassy? How on earth did that airhead rope someone into marrying her? No offense. Who’s she marrying anyway?”

My sister is an airhead, but she’s mostly harmless. Chloe has never liked her. “Don’t be mean. She’s marrying Matt Silver. You know—the owner of Silver Industries?” At their incredulous stares, I informed them of my sister’s condition. “Yeah, well, she’s pregnant. It’s the old ‘boss slept with the secretary’ story. At least he’s not married, right? And, of course, they’re madly in love.”

“Wow,” Gracie said. “That’s a shocker. When’s the wedding?”

I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. Leave it to my family to stir things up and leave a whirlwind in their wake. “Next weekend. They’ve already booked the Beverly Hills Hotel. Do you believe it? Throw enough money around, and you can buy the impossible.”

“Yeah, but even with the money, how did they get into the Hills without two-years’ notice? It’s not possible!”

“Easy. One of their ballrooms has been undergoing renovation and won’t be ready until next month. But when Matt gave them an obscene amount of money to get it ready in two weeks, they concurred.” I personally think it’s disgusting the way the rich throw their money around. My family has money, and they do it too. I guess I’m the odd one out.

Susie, who I’d known since we met in home-economics class at Beverly Hills High, piped up with perhaps the most important question of the night. “Who are you taking? I know how much you hate to be around your sisters. You need a fan-fucking-tastic date on your arm to parade around.”

This was an age-old argument that I didn’t feel like having but saw no way around it. “I’m not taking anyone.” I held up my hand to stop them from speaking. “Look, I know you guys love me, and I love you all to death, but let’s face it—I’m just not date material right now.”

As usual, my remark made Gracie mad. She’d been my staunchest supporter ever since she’d stood up for me in middle school when the mean girls called me fat. She even shared half her lunch with me after seeing the celery sticks and wheat crackers that my mom packed for me every day. “That’s bullshit, Faith!” She slammed her book down as she let out a big gust of air. “I really don’t get you. You’re gorgeous! Jesus, look in the mirror sometime, won’t you?”

I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips. I got more love and support from these three girls than I would ever get from my blood relatives. “Thanks, Gracie, but just the same, I’m not taking a date.”

“You know…”

It scared me when Gracie did that. She got this look in her eyes like she’d just found the cure for cancer. “What?”

“My sister had this big banquet she had to go to for her firm the other night. The senior partner didn’t want her going alone. He wanted to show her as a normal, everyday woman instead of a powerhouse attorney. Keith was out of the country doing God knows what in Iraq, so she hired an escort.”

I was absolutely not going to do that. “She cheated on Keith? Oh my God, Gracie. That’s horrible! I don’t believe it.” I was shocked. An escort? Aren’t they just one step away from male prostitutes? Who did that?

“She did
not
cheat on her husband! She just hired an escort to take her to the dinner. And that’s what you’re going to do.”

“Oh, no way. I’m not hiring some pretty boy to take me to my sister’s wedding. They’ll see through that right away. Those escort guys are hot. No hot guy is going to want this.” I indicated my disgusting body, waving my arms around. “Who would believe that? And besides, he’ll probably think I’m hard up for sex and want him to be my stud for the night!”

Susie was shaking her head at me. I knew she had more to say on the subject too, bless her.

“Oh, he would not. He might want a crack at
you
,
though. Faith, I really wish you could see what we do, but if you can’t, they have all kinds of guys at those escort services. You can get an average Joe to take you if that’s what you really want. But the best part is that they’re professionals. They know how to act at all kinds of functions. I think it’s a great idea.”

“I don’t know.” I guessed it could work, but the idea scared me to death! I don’t do well with guys who I do know, let alone a guy I’ve never met before. On the other hand, did I really want to go to my sister’s wedding alone? “I’ll think about it.”

* * *

T
he next day
, as I was sitting at my desk running expense reports, my cell phone rang. It was a call from Perfect Ten escort service informing me that my date had a family emergency and Joe Starling would be taking his place. I wasn’t exactly sure what they were talking about, but I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“I think you have the wrong number. I didn’t call for an escort.”

I could hear some paper shuffling going on before the man on the other end of the line spoke again.

“You are Faith Graham? I have the paperwork in front of me. It says black-tie wedding. He’s to pick you up at four o’clock on Saturday the fourth in Santa Monica.”

“Well, I do have a wedding then, but I didn’t …”

“Oh, I see the problem here, miss. It looks like a Grace Davis was the one who made the appointment, and I called the wrong number. She gave us your number also, in case Joe should need to get hold of you the day of the event. Should I call her and coordinate?”

“What? I’ll kill her! No. I’m the one who has the wedding to go to, and I told her I didn’t want to take a date, and certainly not from an escort service.”

“Well, miss. You may want to reconsider. Joe Starling is our number one escort. You’re very lucky he’s available to fill in for Brian. Sometimes he has a two-month waiting period, he’s so busy. We’ll only charge you Brian’s rate, of course.”

Oh my God. This was ridiculous. I could not believe Gracie had set this up without my approval. Although…

I asked him to hold while I thought it through.
Really
thought it through. It might be nice not to have to endure the sneers from my sisters, not to mention my mother, that I would surely receive if I showed up without a date. Maybe I should. I mean, what did I really have to lose?

The heck with it—nothing ventured, nothing gained. I quickly picked the call back up before I lost my nerve. “Is it possible for me to meet him before Saturday?”

“Sure. We can set up a meet and greet here at the office. Let me check his schedule. Hold on, please.” He put me on hold, and I was glad for the reprieve. It gave me a second to accept my risky—for me—decision. I was still going to kill Gracie, but who knows? I might thank her later.

“Miss Graham? Could you come in tonight? Joe’s due to pick up his schedule around seven o’clock. Would that work for you?”

“Sure. I can do that. Where are you located?” He gave me an address in one of the taller high-rises in Los Angeles. The address alone told me Perfect Ten was no run-of-the-mill escort service. That was some expensive real estate.

I went back to crunching numbers and thinking about all the things that could go wrong with hiring an escort. I think part of the reason I chose a career in accounting was because there aren’t too many gray areas. Numbers don’t lie. You don’t have to guess what they’re going to do. They’re either right or they’re wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the most exciting job in the world, but it was a comfortable, minimally risky job.

I finally gave up at six and went home, calling Gracie on the way.

“Hey, Faith. What’s up?”

“I got a phone call today informing me that Brian had to cancel so my new escort is Joe Starling. Does that sound like something you might know anything about?” Silence met me over the phone. “Gracie?”

“Don’t be mad. We just thought that if he showed up at the house to pick you up, you might go with it. Are you mad? You’re mad, aren’t you?”

I was weighing my options in my head as I let her suffer my silence. I could make her feel bad and drag it out, or I could let her off the hook. Sighing loudly, I gave in and let her off the hook. “No, I guess not. I’m actually going to go meet him tonight and make my decision then. What do I owe you?”

“Oh no. The girls and I went in together on him. Consider him a gift.”

“Well, the guy on the phone assured me I wouldn’t have to pay Joe’s going rate, since the other guy couldn’t go. How much is it, anyway?”

Gracie didn’t want to answer me. She tried changing the subject, and when that didn’t work, she said she had to get off.