"I guess if he's a nice guy," she stammered.
"Oh yes… whatever you didn't like about that Don fellow, I think you'll find this guy is quite different." Ertha waited for a response. Ever since that afternoon four days ago, Julie hadn't been the same. Sex, she guessed had been the cause and, if her ears were not deceiving her, she was certain she'd heard the familiar mewls and cries of masturbation last night. Either that or Julie was making love to a phantom ghost out there in the living room.
"Tell him I'll go…" Julie said, reaching for the wine bottle.
Roy picked through his clothes in his closet. Half of them were dirty and the other half didn't fit now that he'd lost fifteen pounds, shed from hard work, anguish, and late night drinking that left him hung over and appetiteless the next day.
The movie was just about finished. Another week's work and he could make copies of the film and, hopefully, have it sold by the following month.
Maybe then his life would straighten out. With Julie gone time seemed endless, but he'd fought the depression with work and booze, a combination that kept him out of trouble. If his daydreams became realities, he'd make a pocket full of money. Shit, he might take Julie to Acapulco and stay in one of those fancy hotels with your own swimming pool where they float roses and orchids in the pool water and serve you iced drinks for nickels.
Until then, he'd maintain as best he could with the lesson in mind that getting laid was not the same thing as getting loved. And love – God how he needed it – was on his mind!
Julie gathered the stamina to take a shower, wash her hair and put on fresh makeup. Her constant presence around the apartment was becoming a point of contention with Ertha, she knew, though Ertha was too kind to say so. But then, if Julie had as many male visitors as Ertha, she'd feel uncomfortable with another woman around, too.
Now, driving toward the beach, she felt an unexpected and undeserved calmness, a self assurance that all would work out in the end. All she need do is cope and hope, she realized, speeding through the yellow light, and time would take care of all.
When she returned at four-thirty, Ertha was waiting for her with the message that Joshua would like to come over and visit with Julie. Though she didn't tell Julie, it was to be her first experience with what would lead to a profession… of sorts.
"He'll be here at seven…" announced Ertha, whose voice carried from the other end of the apartment where she was remaking the room she playfully referred to as her "office". It was a small room draped in arabesque style with tie-died fabric of deep reds and purples, tented at the top to shade the foam rubber mattresses that filled every inch of the floor space. Hookas and other oriental water pipes were strategically placed at an arm's length. The heady scent of sweet incense filled the air and, on the window ledge rows of earthy-smelling oils decorated the wall – everything from "coconut" to "rose", "rain water" to "spring earth". It was a twentieth century harem, if ever there was one.
Julie came to the door and watched as Ertha pulled a burned stick of incense from its holder. "Seven, you said?"
"That's right, baby. Oh, and doll yourself up. Joshua likes that. I've gone out with him a couple of times and he's really sweet."
Julie will be climbing the walls tonight, Ertha thought to herself. She had told Joshua the whole story about Julie, about it being her first such experience at nude massage. She wouldn't have trusted just any man with her best friend, but Joshua was the emotionally receptive type who could figure out a woman in two seconds flat. He'd know right away if Julie was strong enough to make it in this business and she trusted his judgment. Who could tell? Maybe Joshua would make as much money for Julie as he had for her, for Joshua was a man of the streets, besides being well-spoken and polite. That's what separated a pimp from an entrepreneur, and Joshua was definitely an entrepreneur with libertine tastes and a hedonistic view of life. That, Ertha, surmised, made him just about perfect… In fact, if they hadn't restricted their relationship to a business one, she might have fallen in love with Joshua…
"I'll just pour myself another glass of wine before he comes," Julie said, tipping the bottle of California burgundy so that her glass was filled to the brim. She was happy that she had found the magic potion that would settle her nerves. She had never been much of a drinker before, but now there didn't seem to be any harm in it, and she was using it for medicinal purposes. Ertha had gone out even though Julie had tried to convince her to stay at least until Joshua arrived.
"Now you just relax… you look simply wonderful!" she had called to her as she went out the door.
Julie looked in the living room mirror one more time. The knit jumpsuit Ertha had insisted she wear left little up to the imagination, but it made her feel nice and slim.
Ertha acted just like a mother hen with her, sometimes, she realized… but she knew that Ertha was only doing it for her own good. She wants me to be happy again… she thought to herself, downing the remains of her glass.
The bell rang melodiously and Julie stumbled to the door. She wasn't drunk, but she was very high. Opening the door, she was surprised to see Joshua dressed in a pair of tight, fashionable Levi's with suspenders, a European style shirt, collarless, with rolled up sleeves underneath. He looked young and energetic and she realized what a terrible state she must have been in that first night she'd met him. He hadn't looked half as carefree and handsome then.
"Joshua?" she asked, focusing her eyes more clearly.
"Yes, ma'm. That's me… Ertha said you were beautiful, but I didn't realize what a foxy chick you really are."
Joshua walked in and Julie breathlessly closed the door behind him. She couldn't think of anything to say. Fortunately, Joshua made it easy for her, beginning the conversation on his own accord.
"I'm glad you agreed to have a date with me tonight," he said confidently.
Julie blushed, teetering slightly over her high platform shoes.
"Come in and have a seat won't you?" she said, starting into the living room.
Joshua followed her down the short hallway, watching the gentle sway of her full, rounded buttocks as she walked.
Julie felt confused and embarrassed suddenly. Somehow everything was very difficult. Joshua's piercing eyes were looking at her with rapt attention as though making silent judgment on her. He was hanging on every word she said and yet she had said almost nothing so far. She felt a great tension between them, something that she thought she ought to fight against. A strange magnetic current was drawing her to this man.
"Drink?" she asked, heading for the kitchen.
"I don't drink. Why don't we smoke one of these reefers instead?" He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a slender cigarette box made of hand-tooled leather. "Good stuff. You look like a swinging chick, bet you really get off on weed." He shot a prize-winning smile at her that made Julie's heart lift.
"Well… once in a while."
"I'd really like to enjoy this with you, Julie," he said softly, pulling the hand-rolled cigarette out of the case before stuffing it back into his pocket. Julie made a mental note of the freckle in the cleft of his chin as he smiled back at her with eyes that wouldn't stop shining.
"What delicate bones you have, Julie," he said when they were on the sofa passing the joint back and forth. "You know I bet you really missed your calling. You'd make a great model with that hair of yours… and those eyes… I'll smoke to that…"
He passed the joint to her. "I'd really like to experience you, Julie. Lie naked with you and just hold you. We wouldn't even have to make love… just be together…"