Emily's Story Pt. 01

'Oh yeah?' said Emily.

'About how you wanted to help your Dad out, help him keep his job?'

'Please tell me you're not going to fire him.' She sounded suddenly hopeful. She sidled along the sofa closer to him. Her bright green eyes were all eagerness. 'Please tell me you'll let me help,' she said.

'Hold on one moment,' said Tom, raising his hand as if stopping traffic. 'I'm not promising anything here, you realise.' He hesitated, wondering to himself whether he should go through with this proposal or not. Emily waited with bated breath. 'However, there just might be something that you can do,' Tom said. 'We might be able to come to an arrangement of some kind.'

Emily's eyes lit up. She held her breath, waiting. But for the moment he wasn't saying anything more. He eyed Emily with a sidelong glance.

'It's just...' Tom searched for the right words, 'I'm not sure if you'd be up for it...'

'Up for what?' Emily questioned. But Tom didn't answer. He sipped his beer and there was a prolonged silence between them as he wondered how best to explain his thoughts to her and she wondered why he was being so evasive.

'What is it you're thinking of?' Emily asked.

Tom went to reply and then stopped himself, apparently deep in thought, or maybe just uncertain of what he was going to suggest.

'Well?'

'It's just something I have in mind for you to do,' Tom said at last, continuing to be enigmatic on the subject.

Emily was in suspense. What was it he was thinking of asking her and why was he taking so long about it? She wished he would just get a move on and tell her. She needed to know if there really was something she could do for her Dad in this situation or not.

She swung herself around on the sofa and knelt up facing Tom with her bottom on her heels.

'Look, I told you, didn't I?' she said. 'I'll do anything you need me to if it means helping Dad.' She was on tenterhooks.

'Yes,' said Tom. 'That is what you said.'

'I meant it,' Emily said.

'Ok,' said Tom.

She was peering at him curiously. There was sweat forming on his brow. Why did he seem to be getting so nervous, she wondered?

Tom shifted his position in the armchair. Something else had occurred to him. How could he ensure secrecy? It would be the end of him if this got out.

'Come on, Tom,' Emily urged, growing impatient.

'Wait a sec,' said Tom, 'I'm thinking.'

His tone sounded yet more indeterminate. Emily became worried this opportunity was going to pass by.

'There could be a problem,' Tom said.

'How come?'

'Well, think about it for a moment,' said Tom. 'It could be kind of awkward for your Dad if he were to find out that the reason he's kept his job is because of you helping me out.'

'I suppose so. I didn't really think about that,' said Emily. Then she added, 'I'm sure he wouldn't mind though.'

'Well, I propose that he shouldn't find out anything about it,' said Tom. 'I don't think it would be a good idea if he knew about our meeting like this at all in fact.'

'Oh, ok,' said Emily, 'if you think so, that is.'

'I do think so,' said Tom. 'In fact, that is my main condition if I am going to share my idea with you.' He looked at Emily carefully now, fixing her eyes as if to emphasise the seriousness of his next point. 'I'm not going to tell you anything more until we're agreed that this has to be absolutely secret between the two of us. Neither of us must tell anyone. Understand?'

'Ok,' said Emily. 'I get it,' she brought a hand up to her face and stroked at her hair. 'I won't tell anyone. I promise.'

'Good,' said Tom.

Emily waited expectantly.

'But you think I might be able to do something to help?' she enquired.

'I don't know,' said Tom. He shrugged, sat back and took another swig of beer. 'Perhaps,' was all he said.

Emily looked at him intently. She was starting to suspect he was keeping her in the dark on purpose. He looked like he was enjoying the feeling of holding sway over her. But if she was going to be able to save her Dad's job then she needed to know what this man wanted her to do.

'So, come on then,' she repeated. 'What is it?'

'Not so fast,' said Tom, raising his hand. 'I will explain as we go along.'

Emily wondered what he meant by this.

Tom sipped his beer and went in to a contemplative state of mind. Now that he had secured a promise of secrecy from Emily, he felt at least able to begin elaborating on the plan that was forming in his head. But how should he go about it? He wasn't going to just say it straight out or Emily would likely be frightened off. No, for the best chance of success he would have to do things very gently indeed. If he was to get her to go along with his proposal then he'd need to introduce the idea slowly and carefully.

'First of all,' said Tom, emerging from his thoughts and springing back to life, 'I need to find out a little bit more about you,' he said.

'Well, ok then,' said Emily. She continued to kneel facing Tom, her hands clasped together in her lap.

'Like I said before, I'm not sure that you'll be up to the task.' Tom was being deliberately challenging.

'I'll do my best not to disappoint,' said Emily.

'Good.'

He was taking his time. He swallowed another mouthful of beer before carrying on, keeping his tone friendly and conversational.

'Do you have any brothers or sisters?' he asked.

'No, it's just Mum and Dad and me,' Emily answered. 'I've a brother away at university.'

'And you're eighteen, is that right?'

'Yes, that's right. People are always getting my age wrong,' said Emily. 'I can't understand it. Sometimes I get told I look fourteen or fifteen and other times people think I'm well into my twenties.'

Tom thought he could understand why this might be. He wiped his brow. 'Do you have a boyfriend?' he asked.

'A boyfriend?' Emily repeated.

'Yes.'

'Why do you want to know that?'

'I just do,' said Tom simply. 'It may become important.'

'No,' said Emily. 'Dad didn't let me date until I was sixteen anyway.'

'Oh,' said Tom. It made sense now that he thought about it. He'd forgotten that Dennis was such a religious type.

'So have you been on many dates?'

Emily blushed. She turned her face to the side, hiding her eyes behind a curtain of hair. 'Just two,' she said.

'With the same guy or with different guys?'

'With different guys.' She was playing with her hair, twirling a strand of blonde around her index and middle fingers.

'I see,' said Tom, 'and how'd they go?'

Emily shuffled her position on the sofa. 'Oh, I don't know,' she said ambiguously. Tom waited for her to elaborate. 'They went ok, I guess.'

'What about these guys you met, were they alright?' he asked.

'Yeah, they were nice.'

'So, did you make out with either of them?' Emily seemed taken aback.

'We kissed, if that's what you mean,' she said.

'On the lips?'

'Once,' said Emily. 'With the second guy. He's called Simon.'

'Are you seeing either of them again?' Tom asked.

'I suppose I might.'

'I see,' said Tom. He swallowed several gulps of beer. It wouldn't taste particularly palatable at room temperature after all. 'But what if I told you not to see either of these boys again?' said Tom. 'Would you do so?'

'Um... I guess so,' said Emily. 'But I'm not sure why you'd ask me not to,' she added. 'I mean, you don't know either of them. Simon's actually quite nice.'

'But you don't know yet what I'm going to ask you to do for me,' Tom pointed out.

There was a look of alarm on Emily's face. She sat bolt upright and stared at Tom. Was her mind playing tricks on her?

'Are you going to ask me to be your girlfriend?' She sounded more than a little perturbed.

'Hold on, hold on,' said Tom, raising his hand again. 'Don't go jumping ahead.' He sat back and gathered his thoughts. Emily shuffled her position on the sofa once more. She couldn't get comfortable.

'But are you?' she repeated.

'I told you I would explain as we go along,' said Tom.

'I need to know though.'

'I thought,' said Tom, carefully choosing his words, 'that you said you were ready to do anything to help your Dad keep his job?'

Emily thought about this for a moment. 'Yes, I did say that,' she agreed, 'and I meant it.'

'You meant it?'

'Yes. I certainly meant it when I said it. But...' Emily paused and there was a look of doubt on her face, 'I suppose I hadn't thought about... ' she seemed unsure how to finish the sentence, 'about what that could mean.'

'Hmm...' Tom murmured. 'I told you that I didn't think you'd be up to it,' he said disappointedly.

'Who says I'm not? Besides, you haven't even told me what you want from me yet.'

'But you can guess?'

'Maybe.' She thought about this for a while. 'But aren't you too old for me to be your girlfriend?' she asked.

Emily was no good at judging how old grown-ups were, especially men, but she thought Tom must have been in his thirties. Still, he looked a good bit younger than her Dad, who was forty-three.

Tom returned her question. 'Is that what you think?' he asked. 'You think I'm too old for you?'

'I don't know. I suppose so,' she admitted. But then she remembered her Dad's predicament and how she desperately needed to keep Tom happy if she was going to save him from getting the sack. 'But then again,' she added quickly, 'you do hear about people who are much older or younger than the person they are with.'

Tom smiled. 'You know, many girls enjoy being with an older man,' he said. His eyes glinted.

'Why is that?' Emily asked, even though she knew perfectly well why this was.

'Money, power, maturity, experience,' said Tom, 'there are all sorts of reasons.'

'I guess so.'

'Plenty of girls out there find older men to be more physically attractive too,' said Tom.

Emily knew this to be true better than most. She thought of her English teacher, Mr Harris. All the girls at college went on and on about him - how attractive he was and how desirable - and she pretended to be completely disinterested. She used to tell them all how disgusting they were. After all, Mr Harris must be forty years old at least. But really Emily was just as obsessed as the rest of them. In fact, she was more obsessed.

She recalled what she had been thinking about two nights ago in the bathroom. It was a fantasy she'd revisited several times over the past months - her private lessons with the English teacher. Except that it wasn't English he was teaching her.

Just then, a little voice in Emily's head told her how Mr Harris and Tom actually looked quite alike. She was familiar with this little voice. It often tried to make itself heard but it had nothing to say that wasn't mischievous. She usually managed to suppress its roguish influence over her. Yet, rather inconveniently, this little voice often spoke the truth, as it did this time. Tom was taller and broader in build than Mr Harris and he also looked younger. Emily knew then that she found this man to be remarkably attractive.

Tom seemed to sense the change that came over her.

'So do you want to hear more about my idea?' he asked.

Emily looked at him carefully. Those hard eyes of his were gleaming.

'Yes, I'll hear more about it,' she said at last.

'Good,' said Tom. Things were moving forwards now and what had started out as a tempting little idea in his head was looking increasingly like it might come to fruition. Still, he was cautious. He was worried. If this got out in any way he would be ruined. The girl seemed trustworthy enough. He didn't think she was likely to break their secrecy but how could he be sure? Girls could be funny creatures and he had only known Emily for the briefest of periods. He drank some beer and a new thought occurred to him.

'Before we go on with things I need to think about insurance,' he said. Emily seemed perplexed.

'What do you mean?' she asked.

'I mean some kind of guarantee that you won't go telling anyone about our deal.'

'But I've told you already I won't, haven't I?' said Emily, slightly hurt at Tom's lack of trust. She looked at him questioningly.

'Yes,' Tom said slowly.

'If you want me to promise again then I will,' she said.

'Yes,' said Tom, 'but I need more than that.'

Emily was quite concerned. 'Why? Don't you trust me?'

'I've never met you before,' said Tom, 'and I have no way of knowing if you'll keep your promise.'

'Well, I will,' said Emily, and she crossed her arms defiantly. Tom chuckled. There was something slightly comical about her sense of injustice at not being believed. But he didn't want to upset her. He needed to be patient and careful with her if this was going to happen.

'Alright, alright,' he said. 'But you see, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just a question of insurance.'

Emily went 'hmph'. Tom allowed some time to pass.

'Look, all I'm asking for is something that will make sure you don't go telling anyone about our secret - least of all your parents,' he explained. Emily was avoiding him, diverting her gaze elsewhere. She remained quiet for a long time. But really she knew that she couldn't deny him or there would be no deal and her Dad would lose his job.

'Well, ok I suppose,' she said eventually. Tom seemed to relax a little and he sat back in the armchair. 'So what were you thinking of?' Emily asked.

'Insurance,' said Tom. 'I think the best thing would be a picture.'

'A picture?'

'Yes. A picture you would be embarrassed about.'

'An embarrassing picture?'

'That's right,' said Tom. 'I'll take it with my phone,' he explained. 'No one else will be allowed to see it,' he assured.

'Right.'

'But this way I know for definite that you won't tell anyone about us.' He looked at Emily carefully. 'Do you see?' She nodded. 'And if you tell anyone then I'll share the picture with whoever I feel like,' he continued. 'Now I don't think Dennis would want to see something like that. In fact, I'm pretty sure that would get you in an awful lot of trouble.'

Emily was looking uncomfortable now. 'Right...' she said.

'Don't get me wrong,' said Tom, taking a more gentle tone again. 'I'm sure you're trustworthy, but this way, I have a guarantee.'

Emily touched her face. 'What sort of picture were you thinking of?' she asked.

'Well,' said Tom, 'for it to be worthwhile it would have to be something you would be really embarrassed about.'

'O-k,' said Emily.

'It has to be a picture you wouldn't want anyone else to see, not ever, especially your parents.'

'Right.'

'Can you think of anything?' Tom asked.

'I feel like you already have thought of something,' said Emily. Tom smiled. She was a smart girl.

'Have you ever sent naughty pictures of yourself to anyone?' he asked.

Emily blushed furiously. 'No.'

But Tom saw through her. She might be bright but she wasn't very good at lying. 'You know, one thing I really don't enjoy is being lied to,' he warned.

'Ok, ok,' she conceded. 'It's just I know I'm not supposed to send dirty pictures to anyone. If my parents ever found out they would be so angry with me. You won't tell them, will you?'

'Tell me about these pictures,' said Tom, avoiding her question. 'Who have you sent them to?'

Emily played with her hair. 'Um... well, you see I'm quite nervous of sending pictures of myself to anyone because I know they can be easily shared with other people or posted online some place,' she explained.

'But you have done so...'

'Yes. Only, not with anyone I know,' said Emily.

'Who then?'

'Just a couple of guys I've met online in chatrooms or whatever.'

Tom pressed her on the issue. 'Tell me about them,' he said.

'Really? Why do you want to know?' Emily asked.

'I'm interested, that's all.'

Emily looked around the room, avoiding eye contact. Her cheeks were tinged scarlet.

'Well, one guy was this American boy I got chatting to online,' she recalled. 'We got on really well and then things just sort of progressed.' Her voice sounded dreamy as she brought back the memories. 'He sent me a picture of himself naked and asked me if I would send one back to him. Normally, I wouldn't do anything like that but I really liked this guy and I suppose I thought it was quite exciting.'

'So you did,' Tom finished.

'Only down to my underwear mind,' she clarified.

'Have you ever gone further than that?' Tom asked.

'Not really,' said Emily but her blushing betrayed her.

Tom didn't say anything. He didn't need to. There was a look of warning about the way he frowned at her.

'Ok, so there was this other guy I met online as well,' she explained. 'He was a bit older -- well into his twenties -- he seemed really interested in me. Things got quite hot between us and we started exchanging pictures. He was really good looking.'

'And?'

'Well, I did send him a naked picture,' said Emily. Her voice had gone quiet as if speaking softly would make it less obvious what she was talking about. 'But in the picture I was covering myself over with my hands,' she explained, 'like this, see,' and she demonstrated how she meant by wrapping her arms around herself in such a way that she covered all her most intimate areas. 'So, it wasn't all that explicit,' she finished. 'But that's it. Nothing else.'

'I see,' said Tom.

There was an elongated gap in their conversation before Emily eventually spoke.

'So that's what you're going to ask for, is it?' she assumed. 'You want a naughty picture of me to make sure I don't go telling anyone?' Tom didn't say anything. Emily looked away, hiding her face with her hair. 'I thought so,' she said, reading his silence.

'It's just a picture,' said Tom. 'No one will see it apart from us. But this is the best way of making sure I can trust you not to tell anyone about our deal.'

'Can't you think of something else?' said Emily. But he didn't reply. 'I mean, it's wrong to show yourself like that to a man.'

Tom thought this was quite a ridiculous thing to say. 'Is that what you think, is it?' he asked.

'I know what you're thinking,' said Emily.

'What's that?'

'You're thinking that if I've done it before then it shouldn't matter doing it again. But it's different,' she said. 'Those other times I knew that what I was doing was wrong and afterwards I felt really guilty about it. I'm a good girl, you see. I'm a Catholic. I don't normally do things like that.' Tom frowned at her. 'In any case, those pictures I sent were to complete strangers,' she argued. 'I knew I would never have to meet them in real life if I didn't want to.'

Tom was feeling frustrated with all of this. But he kept telling himself to stay patient. He had anticipated that it might not be easy to persuade Emily to comply. She was young, innocent and virginal. There would be barriers to gently chip away at. Still, he was sure it would be worth it if this all worked out. He let her go on.

'I didn't even give my name correctly on the chatroom so they had no idea who I really was,' she said. 'This is different because you're actually here and you know me and I know you now.'

'We were strangers just an hour or so ago,' Tom reminded her.

'I know, but now we're not,' said Emily.

'But what difference does that actually make?' Tom asked. 'What's changed?

'I don't know.'

'So long as we don't tell anyone about this it will be just the same as if we were complete strangers from different countries,' Tom reasoned.

'It's just different,' said Emily, rather unconvincingly. She fingered her curls in that habitual manner of hers and looked up at the ceiling. 'I think it's the thought of being actually in front of someone that's making me nervous,' she explained, 'I mean it's different to just taking a picture and sending it on your phone or on a computer.'

But again, the little voice made itself heard in Emily's head. She had always wondered what a man would think of her body, it said. She had always wanted to know if a man would find her attractive, beautiful even. Perhaps this was her chance to find out.