Would You Ever?

Daniel laughed. "Maybe if I did, Priya would get off my back and stop throwing her single friends at me," he said as he started scoping out the crowd for prospects. "At the end of the day, I'm probably way too old for her. Anyway, what she's really looking for is a mentor, so I'm guessing there isn't romance in the books there for me," but while he was saying that, he was hoping that she would call him soon, maybe while he was still in Vegas. In the meantime, both he and Ravi were pulled away by the demands of the conference while Kevin was somewhere screwing around, and his time with Julia took a back seat to the purpose at hand.

Over the next few days, Daniel kept a lookout for his beautiful lunch companion, but he didn't see her anywhere. Little did he know that Julia was looking to actively avoid him that week. As his visit drew to a close, he accepted that maybe they were meant to only have that one moment, and like ships in the night, would pass each other by.

* * * * *

Mid-February, 2020 - Los Angeles, A Few Days Later

JULIA'S FLIGHT LANDED at LAX in the early Thursday afternoon. She retrieved her suitcases from the baggage carousel and walked out to the pick-up area and waited for her Uber Black. As she waited for her ride, she had time to reflect on her last few days. She spent the last week in Vegas surrounded by people, but effectively she spent her time there alone, save for a few hours where she felt most at ease for the longest time that she could remember, having lunch with one of the nicest men she'd met.

Her Uber pulled up then and the driver helped her get her luggage into the trunk. The ride back to her condo in Canoga Park was uneventful, even with the traffic that constantly plagued LA. It gave her more time to think back on her last week, which made her melancholy. Thankfully, LA's perpetually sunny weather helped to clear her head as she rolled her luggage to her courtyard-facing ground floor unit and unlocked the door.

As her front door opened, she took a dep breath and the familiar scents of her home calmed her. Hints of cinnamon and baking bread hung on the air. Were those cookies she smelled in the background as well? She was very grateful that she was able to afford a hefty down payment on this unit last year. After all, she almost literally worked her butt off the last two years to do that. And she was able to get it cheaper since the last owner, who was a heavy smoker and drinker, died in the unit. It took a while, but with some hard work, her home was redone and was a pleasant smelling oasis of deep coloured wood, pastels, and hints of the Spanish Colonial that LA was known for.

"STOP!" she heard from a deep and foreboding voice coming from the kitchen as she stepped foot into her foyer. She then saw six feet five inches, two hundred and fifty pounds of almost ebony, bald-headed muscle come barreling toward her, thermometer and smartphone in hand. "Girl, you better stop right there!" a now lighter, effeminate voice coming from the imposing man said. "Open!" he commanded as he thrust the thermometer at her face.

Julie opened her mouth for her roommate, Charles "It's pronounced SHAR-LAY darling!" Scott, as he stuck the thermometer in her mouth. "What's this all about?" she mumbled around the cool piece of glass as she stood in the doorway, her hand carried bag still dangling from her hand.

"Haven't you heard girl? We've got the plague comin'!" Charlie exclaimed as he then started to fuss with her luggage. "You been so isolated you hadn't heard 'bout that virus coming from China lookin' to kill everyone?"

"Heard nothin' from Vegas," Julie mumbled again around the thermometer as she started shuffling into her condo. " You're prob'ly overreacting again," she admonished her roommate. "Tell me about it and maybe it'll calm you down."

Charles came over and pulled the thermometer from her mouth then took a look at his smartphone. "OK then, no fever. And I KNOW you haven't been out of the country in a while... Any sniffles or cough?" he asked her. She shook her head. Charlen consulted the smartphone screen one more time and nodded definitively, mollified that she passed all the requirements.

"Got over the convention flu last week," she declared as she sniffed the air. "Did you bake?" she asked as she headed to the kitchen looking for a snack, the peanuts and beverage on the plane not satisfying her that particular day. Charles following her in, his silk kimono flowing behind him, the flowery garment and feminine gestures in contrast to his masculine frame.

"Cookies are coming out of the oven soon and the bread is cooling over there," he gestured. "I was just so nervous! We've had some scary news about travelers coming over sick and I was worried 'bout you girl!" his hands waving in the air as he spoke. "So I baked, and baked, and baked. Oh, and there's a cheesecake in the fridge," he waved in the general direction. "By the way, the production company called. Your test results're gonna expire soon so you need to get new ones," he said, referring to the adult industry's stringent testing protocols. "I booked you an appointment tomorrow morning at nine, and they told me to remind you that you need to shave your coochie for this one."

Julie crinkled her nose as she thought about having to go in tomorrow to renew her blood tests, but it was a welcome requirement to ensure that she and her fellow performers were safe. "Have any coffee to go with this?" she asked with a smile as she pulled out the cheesecake from the fridge, pushing any thoughts of her happy encounter of a few days ago to the back of her mind.

* * * * *

Mid-February, 2020 - Toronto, That Same Day

DANIEL WALKED UP the sidewalk from the limo late that evening to his townhome in a quiet uptown neighbourhood in the North York suburb of Toronto. He had opted to fly back right after the conference ended along with Ravi, who had wanted to take Friday off to take his two boys to school, and spend time with his wife Priya.

Daniel planned to go into the office on Friday to take care of all the inevitable expense paperwork that came from his trip, and then picking up his cairn terrier Bruno from the pet hotel later in the afternoon. Kevin chose to stay one more weekend in Vegas for what could only be unmentionable reasons. "Come over on Sunday. Priya wants you over for lunch," Ravi had offered as they parted ways at the airport. Daniel agreed, as long as Priya wouldn't foist another one of her single friends or co-workers on him. "Agreed buddy, I'll let her know," Ravi assured him as he got into his limo.

Weekend plans out of his mind, Daniel unlocked the door to his house and shut of the alarm as he came in. After locking up, he went to his thermostat and turned the heater up to a comfortable temperature, listening for the rush of warm air to come through to chase the late winter cold from his home. Crossing into the kitchen, he checked his mail, happy to see that his housekeeping service had stocked his fridge. He pulled out a shower beer from the fridge and headed up through his clean, almost sterile, home to wash off the day's travels.

As he he took a long pull of the rapidly warming lager under the hot jets of water from his shower, he thought back to the young woman he had met that week. Throughout the remaining three days there, thoughts of her kept creeping into his mind. He had found her socially engaging, but also very attractive. Like most men, his thoughts also ran to the prurient, waking him almost nightly in arousal. He could have hired someone to do something about it in Vegas, but instead he had taken care of it himself in the shower, as he was slowly doing now, absentmindedly taking himself in hand and pensively stroking to images of her face, and the brief scent he had captured of her in his memory. Her scent was like a blend of jasmine flowers and talcum powder.

Towelling of after his shower, Daniel pulled on a pair of boxers and went around the house, making sure things were either locked or turned off, and then eased himself to bed. Pulling out his iPad, he started doing a search on the internet and social media for a Julie Douglas in Los Angeles. After sifting through tens of records, and noting so many more, he gave up for the evening, regretting not getting more of her information. He drifted off to sleep, hoping that she would end up contacting him.

* * * * *

Late-February, 2020 - Los Angeles

"HEY CANDI! HOW are you doing?" Julie heard one of the production assistants call out to her on the set that Monday morning in the large seaside Malibu home they were renting for the shoot. She smiled and waved, always friendly and professional with the crew, knowing that a good attitude goes a long way. She had gotten to the point in her career where she was used to being two people at the same time, many in the industry knowing her as "Candi Kaine" while a select few knew her as just Julie.

"Thank goodness you're here early!" exclaimed one of the assistant producers, clipboard in hand as she ushered Julie to one of the bedrooms they were using for makeup and wardrobe. "We were hoping to catch you with the afternoon light, but the other girl hasn't shown up yet, so we were hoping to shoot your scene earlier!" she explained with an exasperated expression on her face. "Johnny already put a call out to Ricardo to see if he could come in early," referring to the director and producer, Johnny Galaxy, and Ricardo Riot, her co-performer for her scene that day. "By the way, do you have a paper copy of your test results?" she asked, as Julie fished around her bag. "I know the clinic emailed them, but Johnny likes to have paper, you know. He's such a caveman!" she said as she took the copy from Julie and rushed out.

"Hey girl! Come sit here and we'll get you all set up!" Julie glanced over and saw that Charles was beckoning her over. Charles was the head makeup artist for the production and was a makeup mainstay in the industry when he wasn't catching the occasional prom or wedding gig. He and Julie had met on her first shoot ever and became fast friends, so when Julie needed a roommate to help with the mortgage, she called Charlie first. "I heard you have Ricky today. Too bad he's just gay-for-pay or I'd just jump his bones," Charles said as he started in on Julie's foundation, referring to how some straight male talent in porn would earn some extra cash performing in gay porn. "By the way, I hope you remembered to shave yo'self again this morning. You know how Johnny likes to use hi-def cameras and stubble don't look good on film," Charles reminded her as he started to apply foundation to her face.

Ricardo arrived twenty minutes later, miraculously getting around the rush hour traffic. He smiled at Julie, the corners of his eyes crinkling on his tanned face, and patted her hand from the chair next to her. "Sweetie, let's get through this with as few takes as possible before Rebecca sobers up and decides to show," he referred to their other co-star, who was playing Julie's mother. Ricardo was playing Julie's stepfather in the movie. Julie smiled, remembering the first thing her agent said to her when she signed on to his agency almost four years ago.

"Always show up on time, always show up sober, always show up ready, and always show up clean," her agent Greg Gluck had advised her before her first shoot. "If you make it a habit to do otherwise or get yourself in any other trouble with drugs or crime and such, I'll drop you, you understand?" he said gruffly. She never did get in trouble or go against his advice. Greg was the best agent, and financial adviser, in the industry. The almost grandfatherly way he treated all his charges, and his almost manic focus on ensuring his clients managed their money wisely, was the reason why she was early that morning, ready to go.

"Alright everybody! Let's get this show started, eh?" she heard Johnny call out from the large living room as she was shimmying into her nearly too small school uniform and crested blazer while Ricardo put on the workout gear that was to be his costume. They both headed out to the main area where Johnny and the still photographer were ready for them. Taking stills before the main shoot was always wise so they didn't lose time having to set up again after too many real and fake bodily fluids got in the way, ruining both makeup and costumes.

Even though it was still early morning, the main living room had large enough windows that the indirect sunlight coming in satisfied the photographer. Julie and Ricardo set themselves up for shots, with both of them posing with the other in various stages of undress. At some point, Julie had her lips hovering over the crown of Ricardo's cock while her small hands held the base of his thick nine-inch shaft. In another, she was standing with her back to Ricardo, her arms encircling his neck while his large hands cupped her handful-sized mounds, her puffy, pink areolas and nipples peeking through his fingers.

Ricardo towered over her at just over six feet, pornography taking advantage of the size disparity to make the men appear larger than they are. As he had his head between her legs to imply eating her out, she could feel his hot breath on the bare skin of her pubic mound and she found herself getting moist, the blood engorging the lips of her pussy, and her breathing began to get short and heavy. She could hear the pounding of her heart in her ears. Finally, they had Ricardo slot the tip of his penis just in the entrance of her plump, wet, hairless pussy for the last of the promo shots.

The still photo sessions always had her hot and bothered, so when Johnny called a wrap for the stills, she practically ran to makeup and wardrobe. She was breathing heavily, her breasts heaving as a sheen of perspiration was ready for Charles to wipe away and retouch her makeup. Some of her other colleagues were able to set themselves apart during stills, taking a very clinical view of it, but Julie had always found the process to be like prolonged foreplay, building the anticipation and denying release.

"Hey sweetie, are you OK?" she heard Ricardo murmur in her ear. "I know the stills always get you going. Want me to ask Johnny for a break so you can settle down?" he asked her. That's why Ricardo was one of Julie's favourite partners. He was always so thoughtful.

"Thanks Ric, I'm doing fine. You know, that wife of yours is so lucky that you're so thoughtful," she observed.

"Hey, she's the one who taught me how to be. You think it happened by itself?" he asked as he looked over at his wife of ten years lovingly while she walked through the door with an armful of the rest of the day's wardrobe.

As Julie saw that, she felt a quick pang of jealousy and thought back to her one meal with Daniel. All of a sudden, she felt a quick, painful emptiness in her chest. Just as quickly, it went away and she shook the moment off, getting her head back to the task at hand. "So, wanna get the show back on the road?" she asked Ricardo as Charles finished her makeup and she got ready to dress back up.

"Sounds good," he replied as the production assistant stuck her head into the room.

"Hey Candi, want some extra lube for the scene?" she asked, and Julie remembered a tidbit of advice that a veteran actress at Greg's agency gave her: "Always say yes to extra lube!" so she nodded as she left to get back to work.

* * * * *

Late-February, 2020 - Toronto

"HEY RAVI!" DANIEL yelled out his office door that same Monday as he saw his colleague walk by on their floor in a midtown commercial building. Ravi turned around and stuck his head into the office as Daniel continued. "Thank Priya for me, would you? Yesterday's lunch was amazing!" he enthused, thinking to the wonderful meal of various curries and chutneys and the dessert of galab jamun, a syrupy sweet, deep fried milk curd dumpling, which he just had to take over the top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

"YOU'RE GOING TO give yourself a heart attack one day, you know!" Priya scolded him yesterday afternoon as she handed him the ice cream scoop. She tried to look stern, but had a glimmer of humour in her eye. He was the stupid kid brother she and Ravi missed in their childhoods, both being the youngest in their families. "So Ravi tells me you met someone in Las Vegas this week."

Daniel gave Ravi the side-eye as he answered Priya slowly. "I did, kinda... She works in entertainment in LA, and she's a part-time business student so all she wanted was someone to mentor her. That's all," Daniel brushed off. His eyes started to lose focus as his mind drifted back to her face. "Anyway, it's up to her. I left her my card so the ball's in her court"

Priya noticed the faraway look he had on his face in the moments that he spoke about Julie and she crooked her eyebrow and gave her husband a knowing look, suspecting there was more to this than just what Daniel was saying. She was hoping to get Daniel to settle down and took it as a personal mission to find him a wife. She sighed with a chuckle and looked at him "If you say so... Hey Dan, don't let the boys see you with the ice cream on your galab jamun. I don't want them getting ideas. I'll be scraping them off the ceiling if they ate like you!" she laughed.

"Alright Doc," laughing along with Ravi's pretty wife, who was a respected cardiologist, but still allowed him his ice cream sugar bomb.

"WILL DO DAN," Ravi replied. "Hey, I was just going over to Accounts Receivables to check on something. Have you heard anything odd about billings?" he asked. "Old man Petersen over at Allied Logistics called over to ask us to review the last invoice."

"Not that I heard of," Daniel said after thinking a moment. "But if there's anybody who could get to the bottom of it, you'd be it." Dan thought back to how he and Ravi met, when Dan was a young, 23-year-old sales associate, and Ravi was the 29-year-old accountant in the Controller's office at the small pharmaceutical company where they both used to work. Ravi was giving him a hard time about keeping proper records for audit and S-OX purposes, and a friendship was born. If anyone could tease out financial entanglements, Daniel was confident that Ravi could. "Let me know what you find, OK?" Dan called out as Ravi turned to walk away.

Ravi stuck his thumb in the air in an affirming gesture without turning around. Daniel put everything else out of his mind and went back to putting together a growth plan for a small coffee chain out of Halifax.

* * * * *

Late-February, 2020 - Los Angeles, Later That Same Monday

"THANKS FOR GETTING that wrapped up so quickly Johnny!" Julie enthused as she reached up and gave the director a hug and a kiss on cheek. Back in her street clothes, she was shouldering her bag and was ready to head out, suddenly finding the rest of her day free. Walking away, she quicky turned around remembering something she had to tell Johnny. "Hey, had lunch with this nice Canadian last week when I was in Vegas! I think he's from Toronto, aren't you from there?"

Johnny rolled his eyes pointedly "Yeah sure Jules, we all know each other there..." he responded sarcastically. He called her by her real name, one of the few people in the industry who did know it, and whose sarcasm, Julie knew, was an act. Under that semi-emaciated, drugged out, rock-star pirate look that he affected, he was really a teddy bear of a family man who had been clean and sober for over 20 years. "Anyways, I woundn't ever go back there. Too cold! I don't think they'd even want me back there to begin with."

"Don't you have a business there?" Julia asked.

"Yeah, I set up the paperwork for a film and sound editing firm there about fifteen years back, but never got around to doing anything about that," he said, rubbing his chin as his eyes squinted, trying to remember more details. "I keep paying my lawyer and accountant up there to keep the corporation current, but it may as well be a zombie company, seeing as I don't have the time to be doing anything with it," he shrugged. "Anyway, get outta here. Go do whatever it is you do when you're not doing this! I have to get one of the PAs to pour some coffee down Rebecca's throat so she resembles a human being before we shoot!" he grumbled.