Keep Me Awake!

Author's note; Readers, thank you for voting 'Mitzi at Poolside' the number one submission in the National Nude Day 2003 contest. The following story is another of those did it really happen? kind of stories. I'll leave it to you to decide! –puppop

It was pretty quiet around the house. I'd expected Marie back by seven and so prepared a light dinner in view of the hour, seafood salad for two. Rubbing my chin, I was looking over the wine selection, trying to select something complimentary when the phone rang. It was Marie. She was just leaving Savannah, to begin driving home. Court had gone over, the presiding judge had elected to finish the hearings before recessing for the next week. Marie was elated that it appeared a ruling would come down in her client's favor, but annoyed at the lateness of the hour. She was going to eat at the Cracker Barrel and head in. Hiding my disappointment, I told her to call me in a little while and be careful.

After I hung up, the house seemed more silent than before. I turned on the remnants of the news, covered Marie's salad and put it in the fridge. Made a couple of calls, then grabbed a cheap white wine and ate in the study. I had some billing to catch up on anyway, stuff people like me always put off with any convenient excuse. The cat stretched and yawned from her pillow in the bottom desk drawer as I struggled to remember what my hastily scribbled notes meant days after the fact. The house phone trilled. Mitzi from next door, calling for Marie. I explained what happened and she reminded me to turn on the outside light for the late hour. She rang off with a sultry chuckle.

Mitzi lives next door, now single after a bolt out of the blue divorce. She's a couple of years younger than me, (seems like everyone is anymore) and is the same age as Marie. We've known each other as neighbors for many years, although recently our friendship has taken a new twist. It's something my methodical mind is still sorting through.

Opening the windows, I gazed out at the darkening twilight. The birds were making their settling sounds in the cedars by the porch. A car went by with it's headlights on. The lavender skies overhead hosted emerging swallows, wheeling and dipping, chittering as they soared. The air felt crisp, portending cooler evenings to come. I could smell fresh cut grass. It made me remember Daufuskie Island for some reason. They'd just finished mowing when we landed there via boat, one of those dinner excursions, very black tie. The food was useless fru-fru, half cooked fare a starving waif would have sneered at. Afterwards, we conversed with another couple at our big table over brandies. Marie's glittering necklace caught the candlelight as she leaned close to me, breasts barely covered in her cocktail dress. Her eyes were full of merriment and mischievousness. My co conspirator through all these years, looking so formal while she stroked me under the table, squeezing the tip, making me jerk. We returned to the condo late, and dragged the wicker couch out on our balcony. We made love as the waves boomed sixty feet below us. Her body worked sinuously above me, backlit by a passing freighter on that moonless night.

Returning to my desk, my life, my present, I got out a cigarette from my hiding spot. Lighting, inhaling, sinning. My secret life. I tried to focus on the work spread across the blotter. The cat had carefully arranged herself across most of it. Not wanting to disturb her, I elected to give up working and get my shower.

When Marie was away on business as she had been this past week, the bathroom looked barren. I was accustomed to all the remedies and potions, vital elixirs scattered with seeming abandon across the vanities. Upon emerging from the shower stall, I discovered the cleaning lady had forgotten to set out fresh towels. Muttering under my breath and tracking water to the hall, I'd just gotten a towel from the linen closet when the phone rang.

I took the call in the study, putting it on speaker phone while I towelled down. It was Marie again.

"Hey Handsome, it's me. Guess I shoulda had you overnight me some CDs while I was down here. There isn't shit for radio stations in podunk land!"

I laughed, envisioning the long empty stretches of I-16 en route to Macon. I could hear some music in the background when she spoke on the hands free. "You could check the hog futures I suppose, girl. I hear something playing though. What are you listening to?"

"Oh, that old Java Monkey CD of yours was in the glove box. I just didn't want to listen to it for the next coupla hours. I thought we'd visit for a while, keep me awake. Least 'til I get up to Macon. Is that OK, or were you doing something?"

"No, that's fine. It's kinda lonely around here, plus the cat's laying across the desk. So I can't work." I finished wiping the water out of my ears and began mopping up the floor beneath me.

"How's the car doing?" I asked. Marie had taken my Eldorado down, just to keep the miles off her Jag. I stubbornly refused to upgrade, even though the odometer had passed the century mark two years ago. Last month, the transmission had given up and our dealer rebuilt it. This was it's first road outing since.

"Seems fine, Honey. I've got the cruise on, legs stretched out, and my dress is up to my waist. Keeping that thing cool, you know." A pause, then her sultry voice. "Betcha'd like to see me, wouldn't ya, Big Boy. I KNOW I could stand to see you!"

"You're incorrigible, girl." I laughed, sitting down at my desk. "Such a one track mind. What put Madame Serious in such a playful mood?"

"I don't know. I think this CD reminded me of our Saturday night two weeks ago. Do you remember? You had it on the night you dropped your cigarette between the seat and the door and you pulled off the road at THAT PLACE. One thought leads to another. Just thinking about our little adventure."

"Oh, so that's how it is, huh? You sure you want to talk like this on a cell phone?" I was hoping that she did. We hadn't really discussed our wild evening two weeks ago because of an avalanche of work.

"Ted the Dinosaur" came her sing-song reply. "Hello, cell phones are digital now. Lots more private." She giggled. "I only have one hand on the steering wheel. Tell me about that night, in your own words, please."

"Listen, Pilgrim, I'm only gonna tell you this one time!" My best John Wayne.

"No, come ON, be serious Tedward. Your OWN words, K?" Than, conspiratorially whispering low."I couldn't help myself the other night in the hotel room. I kept remembering what we did and finally had to DO SOMETHING. I'm naughty, aren't I?"

"Yeah Baby, very naughty. OK, you win. Here it is in my own words. You promise to behave now, hear?"

Marie's voice, breathless, contrite. "Oh yes, I'll be good. I'd rather be bad, but maybe later..."

I leaned back in the chair, gazing out the window as I collected my thoughts. It was dark now, and quiet except for the crickets chirping. The tree frogs hadn't begun their chorus yet. The security light was starting to come on out by the street, it's halide glow flickering through the gently swaying branches of the poplars. I thought I heard the creak of Mitzi's privacy gate next door and a car went by, trunk buzzing from the thunderous bass of hip hop. I could hear Marie's breathing through her headset, coming through the speaker, patiently waiting...

***

Ben Jerrolds, the senior partner at Marie's firm, had thrown a little bash to celebrate landing a big client heavily involved in acquisitions. Marie and I had attended, driving down from the mountains to his lavish estate off Tuxedo Road. It was a catered event, with a rented eight piece band to play all the favorites. We had a good time. I'd dealt with a few of the attorneys up in corporate over the years, and we stood around talking shop and gawking at the trophy wives and girlfriends.

During the band's break later in the evening, a chubby girl in billing got Marie and I to accompany her as she sang a couple of old Carole King favorites. Marie on piano, myself on a borrowed guitar, playing to a rapt and slightly inebriated audience. Later, as the party was breaking up and people were taking their leave, we were shaking hands with old Ben. "I don't know why I rented a band" he said chuckling. "Hell, I've got plenty of talent in house!" Kissing Marie on the cheek. "Ya'll be careful goin' home now. Anyone that wants to stay over, why, there's plenty of room."

We declined, thanking him for a great evening as the valet brought up my aging Eldo. The bright porch lights disappeared in the rear view as we glided out to Roswell Road and headed north. Marie popped open the glove box and pulled out my 'secret' pack of smokes. Lighting one, she handed it to me. I glanced at her, trying to see which way the wind blew.

"Oh, I know about them. Face it Teddo, you're not the world's most secretive man. If this is the worst you can do, then I'm a lucky girl." She smiled, then got serious. "I DO want you to put them down. I want you with me forever and a day. K?"

I was smiling back at her when a possum ran out from the curb. I swerved and missed it, but dropped my smoke on the floor under the seat. Quickly, I pulled into a small parking lot and stopped, throwing the door open, smelling burning carpet. Shit, shit, shit. Finally retrieving it from against the seatbelt retractor, I heard Marie guffaw, "Ted, look where we are. You gotta see this!"

I emerged, brushing lint from my tie. We'd parked in front of a business sporting a small neon sign. In stylish pink script it read, 'Discreet Lingerie Modeling'. A small reader board on the wooden door showed it's hours of operation and the fact that it was open. I glanced at my watch, realizing it was a quarter past midnight.

As I climbed back in, Marie said "I saw you check the time. Gonna get a quickie while we're here?" She giggled. When merlot is present at a party, Marie samples liberally. I explained this was a jack shack, not a brothel, and how business was conducted.

She hung on my words intently. Staring out the passenger window at the neon sign, she asked "So when was the last time you stopped in here, Big Boy? Not EVERYONE knows about this kind of thing."

I laughed. "Oh, it shows up in the papers whenever there's an election. Channel Two had a special report last go-round. That pony tail lawyer on Peachtree represents them, charges get dropped, biz as usual."

"Huh. So you've never been in one, Scout's Honor?"

"No, Sweetie, never."

"Can girls go in there?"

I was taken aback. "I don't know. I think it's a guy thing. That's why they call 'em jack shacks."

"I want to go in. No, I'm serious. I want to SEE!"

I was shaking my head. Alcohol does impair judgment. I was witnessing the proof. Or in her case, the twelve and a half proof. I shut the car door and reached for the seat belt.

"Ted, really, find out if I can come." Suddenly sultry, "I'd like to cum, wouldn't you?" She leaned towards me, cleavage separated by her seatbelt, stroking me lightly.

I put the car in gear. Her hand encased mine, "Here, pull into that spot under that tree for a minute." She pointed towards the edge of the lot. I sighed and complied. Life with my headstrong Princess. It's why she's so good in court, my little terrier. Sometimes, my little terror.

***

The sign said the hours were eleven AM until four AM. As I reached for the door handle, I could hear the neon buzzing of the sign and see millars flitting around the tubes. The glass in the curtained window was half fogged with condensation from the humidity. I took a deep breath and entered.

A TV was on. It was up on the wall, held by one of those mounts like they use in hospitals. A comic was going through his routine in front of an easily amused audience. Two beige sofas occupied the sitting area, along with two beautiful royal palms in huge clay pots. A fish tank was under the window, filled with tetras and zebra fish. The bubbling oxygenator leant a calmness to the room, the lame comic notwithstanding. There was a counter near a hallway. It held a phone, credit card machine and a bellhop's bell. A sign on the wall apologized for not accepting American Express, but that Visa/ Mastercard was accepted. The billing would read 'Garanco Enterprises' on one's statement. Underneath this was a Fulton County business license.

I dinged the bell in this deserted waychamber, turning back to watch the fish.

"Good evening sir. May I help you?" It was a young voice. I turned and espied a girl as she tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at me. She stood behind the counter wearing a well filled red blouse, which was all I could see. Well that and her eyebrow ring. To this day I couldn't tell you anything else about her face. Just because it was somebody's tribal custom to wear rings in your face doesn't mean it can play here with impunity. I don't care if it's Goth, it's goofy.

A heavy bald guy wearing a black shirt suddenly appeared and retrieved some reciepts from under the counter as I explained my purpose. The Red Blouse whispered something to Black Shirt, who nodded and muttered something about 'Karla'. He disappeared down the hall. Red Blouse smiled. "If you can wait about fifteen minutes, we can take you in. We have a girl that likes to entertain couples. You'll get to meet her and ya'll can go from there. Her name is Karla and she's real sweet. You'll like her. Where's your wife?"

I told her we were parked out front, Marie was in the car.

Red Blouse pursed her mouth. "Hmm. Well, for privacy, if you don't want someone to recognize your car, you might want to pull around to the back. There are signs showing you which spots are ours."

I nodded, taking my leave of the eyebrow ring and the comic. Climbing into the Eldo, I encountered a withering barrage of questions. Starting the car, I held my hand up, negotiating a crumbling alleyway to the rear of the building. I told Marie what I'd found out, along with my misgivings.

Marie rummaged in her purse as I docked in the appropriate spot. Her Bic flared briefly and I could smell hempen aroma. Passing it to me, she smiled. "You need to loosen up a little. Here, hit this."

I did, gazing out the windshield at a forlorn pin oak that was drastically cut back on one side to clear the power line. We talked back and forth, winnowing away the minutes. Moths gyroed around the security light. The music played softly. It was sounding better and better as the ganja took effect. Marie was all excited about OUR BIG ADVENTURE. Now I was starting to get interested myself.

***

We locked up the car and walked up the alley to the front. Marie tottered along on her spikes, holding my arm as she dealt with the potholes and gravel. We entered and sat down together. I was relieved that the sound on the TV was muted. Marie looked around, murmuring approvingly, watching the fish. On a side table was an 'Adult Entertainer' magazine neatly stacked with 'Cosmopolitan' and 'Georgia RFD', the rural electrical power magazine. I was tempted to peruse it's article on dogwood hybrids when a girl silently appeared, taking a seat on the opposite couch. I say girl, but she was definitely fully grown. She wore a satin robe over something lacy and frilly. I could see the outlines clearly as well as the outline of her nipples, stiffened under the cold breeze of the AC.

"Hi, I'm Karla" she said. "Is this your first visit with us?"

I nodded. Marie introduced us, never at a loss for words. They chatted, opening the spaces, finding common girl grounds. I suspected a couple's presence was not the usual occurrence here. Karla and Marie laughed together, me joining in, ignorant of the cause. Karla had perfect white teeth. As we stood, I got a whiff of Obsession. I became aware of her medium frame, rounded hips and proud jutting breasts. Her belly wasn't flat, but curved sensuously in a pout down to slightly chubby thighs. Her blonde hair was pulled back with barrettes and a spray of freckles crossed the bridge of her nose.

She did a brief pirouette before us. "Will I do?" she asked. For just a moment, there was a vulnerability in her hazel eyes. Just that flash, a nanosecond in time and I liked her from that moment on. We went over to the counter and arranged for an hour, not using American Express. Then we went down the hallway, Marie barefoot, carrying her pumps.

We entered a room, obviously on a corner, with heavily curtained windows on two walls. A large low futon dominated the room. It appeared to have removable terrycloth slip covers on the cushions. The only other furniture was a straight back chair and some stereo equipment on a battered credenza. The floors were tongue and groove oak and there was a plush fake fur rug in front of the futon. Some posters on the walls reminded me of fashion shots you'd see at the hairdresser's, other than the fact the models were nude. Marie asked for the restroom while Karla lit some aromatic candles. As Marie took her leave, Karla smiled up at me and asked if I had any musical or costume preferences. She had a batch of MP3s with handwritten labels on them for jazz, rock and so on. I picked the jazz but was at a loss on costumes. She unbelted her robe, hanging it under a rack holding a half dozen towels.

I was thunderstruck. Only the thin strip of her thong separated the lovely halves of her heart shaped ass, the paleness contrasting the bronzeness of her soft thighs. As she stretched to hang her robe, I could see downy blonde hair in the small of her back, between the well defined dimples above those beautiful cheeks. My arousal was sudden, uncomfortable. Karla turned to face me, smiling at my discomfiture. With both hands, she cupped her breasts through the sheer lace, holding them up to me. Her nipples crinkled and stood proud as she thumbed them lightly. She looked deep into my eyes, holding the spell for an instant eternity before releasing her captives.

She took a seat on the futon, motioning me to join her. "Ted, right?"

I nodded.

"Is this ya'll's first time at a place like this?"

I nodded.

"OK. Either one of you a police officer?"

I shook my head.

"No, now you've got to verbally answer me on that, OK? See, this is entertainment and never mind how things look, it's a business, I just want you to understand that."

What she said when written down probably sounds pretty harsh, but it wasn't. The words were spoken softly with a 'you understand' sort of tone to them. I was spellbound by her creamy skin, the inviting slopes of her breasts, the way a wisp of hair caught in the corner of her mouth. Finally, I found my voice.

"Karla, no we're not cops. We also don't know what we're doing. I'm sitting here because of a possum. But looking at you now, it doesn't seem like a bad idea after all."

She laughed as I gave her a quick fill of events, shaking her head in wonder. Then mirth subsiding, she asked why Marie wanted to do this.

I leaned back on the futon, told Karla about my girl's confided fantasies of another girl, to kiss her, to touch.

Karla nodded, but said "Touching is allowed anywhere but the genitals, OK? I can't touch yours, you can't touch mine. Law and health thing, gotta abide."

While she was talking, I'd pulled out my money clip and laid a large note next to her. She was looking at that and not me as she finished the 'no touch' discourse.

Tucking the clip away, I said "I don't expect anything but entertainment and what you freely give. But I'll match your generosity in giving us a great time. Just make it special."

Karla was looking me dead in the eyes as I finished, nodding, smiling. Understanding.

Marie returned, sniffing the sandlewood scent of the candles. She came and sat beside me on the futon, looking around.

Karla went and fiddled with the stereo, then padded over to us. I could tell Marie was finally speechless. She gazed hungrily at Karla, blushing at her own arousal.