The Show Must Go On

This story is about a theatrical play. Four main characters each have a role in the play.

Holly plays Wendy

April plays Crystal

Brian plays Kevin

Garry plays Rob

Holly took a quick shot of tequila to calm her nerves. She listened to April's voice on the theatre's PA system, warning the audience of adult content in the upcoming performance.

Plays such as Hair and Six Degrees of Separation had been delivering nudity to theatregoers for decades. The Vagina Monologues had put explicit sexual discussion on stage. April wanted to take the next step.

Holly had agreed to be a part of the production in order to earn some extra credit in her Theatre class. She had helped with the script, painted sets, and put costumes together.

The spirit of the daring project had infected her and when April had asked her to understudy, Holly had agreed. It had never occurred to her that might have to actually perform.

She'd watched every rehearsal. She'd enjoyed watching. But this was opening night and Carol had appendicitis. Holly was now expected to step up.

The first act started in a college locker room. Holly stood at sidestage as the curtain rose and the lights came up. She watched in wide-eyed appreciation as ten brawny men stripped to the skin before putting on football uniforms.

She was amused to hear the gasps from the audience as the penises came out. The audience had been warned to expect adult contact, but perhaps they hadn't paid attention.

April's play was about two young men who discover an unexpected attraction to each other. Once they were dressed out, Rob and Kevin sat on a bench facing the audience. Four other players stood casually nearby. The guys talked about girls, cars, girls, sports, and girls.

Eventually, the other four broke off and went to other parts of the locker room and the two main characters had a more personal conversation regarding family and futures. When the scene ended, as the coach called the team together for a pregame pep talk, it was clear that Rob and Kevin were close friends.

The actors left the stage, and Elmer Gantree's voice went out over the audience, calling out game action highlights. The stage lights dipped between quarters to convey the passage of time, and several cheerleaders came out to do a half-time routine.

Meanwhile, the actors playing the football team quickly changed from clean uniforms to dirty, grass-stained duplicates. The next scene began when the triumphant players returned to the locker room, whooping and hollering. They stripped down again and half of them sat around in towels while the others headed for the showers.

It had been difficult installing a shower onstage. A hose was carrying water from the women's backstage restroom to the pipes feeding the shower heads. Another hose led from the shower drains to a trapdoor in the stage.

Adding to the difficulty, simply wetting the actors wasn't good enough. April wanted the audience to see a real shower, and the water had to be comfortably warm. Cold has an unfortunate effect on male anatomy, which would defeat the purpose of this scene.

A pane of glass protected the audience from being drenched by the spray, but they could clearly see Kevin's naked body as he soaped and scrubbed. Just offstage, less than two feet away from the shower set, but outside the view of the audience, Holly watched in admiration.

Not only did Brian have a body any straight female would drool over, but he'd been brave enough to be in April's edgy play. The role not only required blatant nudity, but the fiercely heterosexual Brian had to portray bi-curious Kevin.

Beyond Brian's delectable wet body, Garry was playing Kevin's friend Rob, sitting on the locker room bench centerstage, wearing only a towel. And on the far side, hidden from the audience on the other side of the stage, was the writer and director of this play, April Dabney, wearing only a bathrobe.

April opened the robe, displaying her own nude body. The audience couldn't see her, but Brian could. He reacted predictably. April was Playboy gorgeous. Few men on Earth could look on her and not get an erection. Which was exactly the point. Brian was staring at April, growing hard as he ogled her. From the audience's point of view, however, it would appear as if Kevin was popping a boner while looking at Rob.

And now it was Holly's own turn. She couldn't get the knot undone on the robe's belt. She was forced to pull it up and off over her head. Blushing deeply, trying not to hyperventilate, she stood naked among her fellow students, a deliberate object of lust for Garry to look at.

Garry stood up from the bench. His eyes went up and down her body. The towel fell off. He grabbed for it, but not before his own solid erection was revealed. He hesitated before wrapping the towel back around his waist. For a long moment, the audience saw Kevin and Rob staring at each other, both naked and hard. The scene ended.

There was little point in putting the robe back on. The entire cast and crew had already seen everything she had. But Holly could not make herself walk naked to the dressing room. She stood there at the side of the stage, working the knot in the belt.

A large hand gently removed it from her grip. Brian was standing in front of her, still naked himself, still wet, still erect. He unraveled the knot and held the robe open for her. Holly allowed him to help her into it, but could not meet his eyes.

"Thanks," she mumbled quietly. This was a nightmare. How could she possibly get through the rest of this performance. Damn Carol's faulty appendix!

Holly went to the dressing room as the second act started. She put on her own clothes, jeans and a t-shirt, but left her underwear in a cubby. There was more nudity and more than nudity coming up, so it would be a waste of time to put on the bra and panties.

Speakers mounted in the room allowed her to follow the progress of the play. She wouldn't be needed for a little while, but the underwear would be unnecessary for even longer.

Rob and Kevin were behaving oddly. They seemed to be avoiding each other. Their friends thought the two must have had a falling out. Kevin finally made half a confession to Lucy, a girl he knew.

Without admitting his own disturbing reaction to his best friend, Kevin said he was afraid his buddy might be gay. Lucy, not fooled by the 'buddy' story, suggested that Kevin find a willing girl and get his 'friend' laid.

"If he has it in him to put it in her," she said, "Then he's probably not gay."

"What girl will agree to such a test?" Kevin asked.

"Don't look at me. Try a call girl."

That line was Holly's 'get ready' cue. She stood up and headed toward the stage.

April was waiting for her, also dressed casually, but in a denim skirt rather than jeans. Together, they stood in the wings as the stage went dark and the set was quickly rearranged. A door in a wheeled frame was moved into position just in front of where Holly and April stood at the side of the stage.

"Why didn't you cast two gay guys to play the two gay guys?" Holly asked quietly.

"Shh," April whispered back. "Gay guys would be iffy in the next scene."

That was kind of why Holly had wanted to know. The play would be very different, and her own participation would be much tamer if the next scene were not a part of the play.

As the lights came up and the scene began, Rob and Kevin were in a motel room. "What are we doing here?" Rob asked.

"We need to deal with this situation."

"What situation?"

"You know damn well what situation. We've known each other too long to start lying now."

"All right," Rob acknowledged. "Fine. How do you suggest we get past this?"

"I hired two hookers. We fuck them, that should straighten us out, in every sense of the word. They'll be here soon."

"Where'd you find hookers?" Rob asked

"They advertise online these days. It wasn't hard."

"How do you know that?" April asked backstage. She had written the story, but Holly had done a lot of work on the script itself, especially on this scene's dialogue.

"I created the website for an escort last summer," Holly answered. "It was an education."

"I don't believe this," Rob laughed. "You want us to watch each other having sex. You don't think that's pretty gay?"

"Not watching," Kevin argued. "Just having sex. With women."

"At the same time. In the same room. Side by side."

"Well, yes. But separate beds."

"Oh yeah. That makes a difference," Rob scoffed.

"Remember that strip club? We sat right next to each other and got lap dances. This isn't that different."

"You and I weren't naked. That's the difference."

"Think of bachelor parties. Hookers go to bachelor parties, have sex with the guys. Nothing gay about it," Kevin pointed out.

"I've never been to a bachelor party like that," Rob said.

"Neither have I," Kevin admitted. "But, oh man, that's the kind I want."

"Like any chick will ever agree to marry you."

At that cue, Erin Kane, the Sound Manager, turned on a microphone backstage and rapped her knuckles on a wooden box. April and Holly stood behind the door as the boys reacted to the knock on the door.

"Your whores are here," Rob said.

"They probably don't like that word."

Laughing, Rob asked, "You think 'hookers' is the polite term?"

"Maybe not. But they're here now. We should be nice." Erin knocked again.

"I'm guessing whores are hard to offend. But open it up. We can ask them."

The door opened and April walked out onstage. Holly took a deep breath and followed her. Damn Carol, she thought again. Trying to ignore the hundreds of people watching from the dark, Holly forced herself into the character and into the play. She wasn't looking at April, Brian, and Garry. She was on a date. Her friend Crystal had set it up. Kind of weird that these guys wanted to do it together. Maybe they were gay.

"Hey boys," April said. "I'm Crystal. This is Wendy. What are you guys up to tonight?"

"Are those your real names?" Rob asked.

Holly was thrilled to feel genuine amusement at the question. She'd gone over the dialogue in this scene many times as she'd written and rewritten the words. But somewhere inside her, these characters lived and Wendy was amused.

Holly opened her mouth and let Wendy speak. "I don't think it's our names you guys are interested in."

"It's not all we're interested in," Kevin admitted. "But we are curious."

"Can I ask a question?" Rob looked back and forth between the girls. "We haven't ever done anything like this before and don't know the lingo. What do you call yourselves?"

"Crystal and Wendy," Crystal reminded him with a smile.

"I mean, say you were filling out a hypothetical resume. What term would you use for this occupation?"

"Tricky territory," Wendy said. "Would either of your own resumes have 'vice cop' on them anywhere?"

"No," Kevin said. "I swear it. We're college students."

"Why don't you tell us why you made this appointment. What would you like us to do for you? Then we can get back to the Q & A."

"We'd like to have sex with you," Kevin said.

"I don't blame you," Wendy told him. "You have good taste."

"It sounds like fun," Crystal said. "But we're not sluts. We're respectable girls. We don't fuck just anybody."

"You'll have to convince us," Wendy added.

"We'll pay you," Rob offered.

Crystal nodded. "There you go. Now we can get friendly."

"You just committed a crime," Wendy explained. "No, don't panic. That's a good thing, at least from our point of view. It proves you're not cops. If you plan to make a habit of this, that's the best way to break the ice. And the answer to your question is 'escort.'"

"Or courtesan," Crystal added.

"Oh," Rob said, looking disappointed.

Crystal laughed. "What answer were you hoping for?"

"I like the word 'whore'," he confessed.

"So do I," Wendy told him. "You can call me a whore if you want to."

Crystal put her hands up in a stopping motion. "Not so fast. You guys want to pay for sex. We're willing to have sex for money. Sounds great. But what do you want and how much are you willing to pay?"

"What's usual?" Kevin asked.

"One-fifty for a blowjob," Wendy offered.

"Two-fifty bareback."

"Bareback?" Rob didn't know the term.

"No condom," Crystal clarified.

Continuing, Wendy said, "Three hundred if you want to come in my mouth. Three fifty and I swallow."

"Four hundred for sex," Crystal took over.

"Five hundred for sex and a blowjob. Six hundred for sex and a bareback blowjob, swallow included."

"Is bareback sex an option?" Rob asked.

The girls glanced at each other. "It's expensive," Crystal informed him.

"Eight hundred to wet your dick," Wendy said. "You can slip it in bareback for just a moment. Then you reverse course and put on the condom before finishing. No blowjob."

Crystal slowly lifted the hem of her t-shirt. The guys stared, hypnotized, as her breasts were revealed for the first time. After this tease, advertising her wares, she covered herself and gave them another option. "Fifteen hundred, bareback all the way. Cum in my mouth or pussy. Your choice."

"That's 'or'," Wendy specified. "Mouth or pussy. Not 'and.' You come just the once. And that's for one guy with one girl. If you both want to play, you both have to pay."

Crystal made her final pitch. "Best value. Five thousand dollars for the amnesia package. We take off our clothes and forget to put them back on until neither of you can get it up again. We forget about one girl per guy. Both of you can fuck both of us."

"Come as often as you want," Wendy added. "Anywhere you want. We'll even throw in a lesbian sex show just to get you worked up a little more."

"And with amnesia," Crystal finished, "we forget we ever heard of condoms."

Holly suddenly lost the character as the extreme nature of this play intruded on her thoughts, distracting her from the performance. She had written the lesbian sex offer after studying several call girl websites and finding such things available. Now she had to live with the result.

After penning the dialogue, she'd taken the script to April for evaluation. The original story had only said that Rob and Kevin had hired two call girls. April had told Holly to make the dialogue explicit and erotic, but Holly had been afraid that she'd gone too far.

April, on the other hand, had loved it. Two guys, uncomfortable with male homosexuality, were turned on by female homosexuality. The contradiction between their desires and fears was a fascinating study.

Once casting had started, the actors had all been made fully aware of what these roles would demand of them. Carol had accepted, knowing this scene was in there and what it would entail. But now Carol was in the hospital.

Damn that appendix! The role was Holly's now. And she had no excuses for chickening out. She of all people knew these lines. But unlike Carol, she did not know the choreography. She had watched the rehearsals, and enjoyed them with an alarm that mirrored the fears of Rob and Kevin. In some ways, she and April were just as close and Holly's own physical response to seeing this scene acted out had made her question her own sexuality.

Brian and Garry walked to the edge of the stage, turned toward each other, but including the audience in their discussion. Holly mentally shook herself and shoved herself back into character. It wasn't Brian and Garry. Kevin and Rob had gone to the corner of the motel room to talk privately.

"Let's go for the whole thing," Kevin urged. "Amnesia."

"Can we afford it?" Rob questioned.

"I have two thousand. What do you have?"

"Fifteen hundred. We can each get a bareback."

"But I have access to my dad's bank account. I can borrow the rest and we can each fuck both girls."

"First, "Rob asked," Won't your dad notice? And second, isn't sharing a girl awfully close to what we're trying to cure ourselves of?"

"My dad won't notice if we pay it back. That car place offered to pay us to drive around in a couple of their cars. Coach won't approve, but the college doesn't forbid endorsement deals. And we won't be sharing the girls. We'll be taking turns. That's totally different."

"This only works if the girls take plastic. We'll never get that much cash this late. But if they will, then I guess I'm in."

Kevin turned to the girls. "Do you take plastic?"

"Of course," Crystal assured them. "But we have to charge an extra 10%. Disguising the money's origin is a hassle."

"Done, then," Kevin said.

"Did you decide what you want?"

"Amnesia," Rob sighed. "Give us amnesia."

Holly had been holding her breath, stupidly hoping they would choose anything else. She'd written every word, but for a moment, she'd actually forgotten she was in a play. But it had been nervous, shy Holly standing in the motel room. She had to find Wendy again. Especially since Wendy was much more knowledgeable about these things than Holly was herself.

Crystal and the guys quickly took care of business, using their phones. It was an awkward moment, but necessary. It delayed the play, but added to the realism. Not sure what to do, Holly went to the room's mirror and fluffed her hair.

There was no actual mirror on the set, but as she faced the dark room of watching people, she hoped enough of them could understand that Wendy was looking at her reflection as she primped a little.

Wendy decided she looked good.

And Crystal finalized the transaction.

"Now, boys, we belong to you for a while. Do you want the show first or shall we get straight to the action?"

"The show," Kevin said. Rob nodded.

"Do you want to get comfortable?"

"Comfortable?"

Crystal peeled off her t-shirt and tossed it to the side. The skirt and heels followed. Holly tried to get a little amnesia herself, desperately wanting to forget that hundreds of her fellow students were watching, as well as many of her professors. But the show must go on.

Holly crossed her arms, took hold of her shirt, and Wendy pulled it off. She slid her jeans off and kicked the pile of clothes out of the way. Both girls standing naked before the boys, Crystal spread her arms. "Comfortable!"

Rob and Kevin had been naked together many times in the locker room. But this was different. They weren't ready yet. Reading their shyness, Wendy pointed out there were two beds and suggested that each guy take one. "Just sit on the edge and watch us. Feel free to join in at any time."

This staging meant the audience would see the two men sitting, tense and nervous, on the beds, like bookends, framing the two women between them.

April hoped the audience would feel the natural, sexy appeal of body against body conflicting with the fear and discomfort surrounding it. A secondary, more subtle message, was about the beauty and purity of sex contrasting against the sleaziness of civilization treating it as a commodity.

As the two girls came together, standing between the beds, Holly wished briefly once more that she'd paid attention to the choreography. Every move Crystal and Wendy made had been carefully worked out. Carol, damn her, knew exactly how Wendy was supposed to make love to Crystal. Holly did not. She would have to wing it.

A hug seemed the logical first step. Holly moved in close, pulling April into a tight embrace. Then she kissed her. The kiss was kind of relaxing. Holly could kiss a girl, no problem. She let it go on and on, knowing that a kiss between two naked women was erotic and provocative all by itself, delaying any need for more explicit moves.

But this was April's play. She was determined to shock and titillate as well as tell a story. She pulled back from the embrace, then leaned forward to kiss Holly's nipple. Murmurs of surprise came from the audience as April sucked the nipple into her mouth.