Panties for Sale (31 page)

“I love the way you think,” Joseph brushed a strand of hair
away from Alex’s face, tucking it neatly behind her ear.
 
They were lying together on the bed in
Joseph’s suite, watching the clouds float by in the clear blue afternoon sky,
too comfortable to get up.
 
“It’s the way
I want to think but, it’s not the way my country thinks.
 
It’s not how I am supposed to think.
 
I want to think like you,” he said rolling
onto his stomach. “You are so open and honest, so, how do you say,
innocent?”
  

“Innocent?
 
You think
I’m innocent?”

 
“Yes, you always
think good of people”

“Of course, because people are good, if you give them a
chance.”

“Not everywhere,” Joseph shrugged.
 
“It’s different in my country”

“How so?”

Joseph sighed and rolled back onto his back and rearranging
the pillows behind him. “In my country, men and women don’t hang out, as you say.
But it’s nice. Women stay at home.
 
Only
men can go to the café and smoke and drink and talk.
 
It’s good. They don’t have to worry about
their women.
 
They know their women are
safe.
 
Did you know,” Joseph turned to
Alex with a grin, “it is not allowed for women to sit in the front seat of a
car.
 
They must sit in the back.”
   

“You’re joking.
 
What
if they want a good view?”
 

“No,” Joseph shook his head laughing, “that’s not
important.
 
Women must sit in the back
seat so men aren’t tempted by them.”
 

“What?” Alex was stunned.
 
“That is so stupid.”

“No, it’s the law.
 
But it’s not what you think,” he looked up at the ceiling. “My country
is not so strict.
 
Women don’t have to
wear scarves over their heads.
 
And the
president made a law that men are only allowed one wife.”
 

“Oh, that’s important.”
 

“But, the women like it this way.
 
They like their lives.
 
It’s true, really.
 
You see, they see your Hollywood movies, they
watch Sex and the City.
 
But, they don’t
want that lifestyle.
 
Why?
 
They say; I have a beautiful house and a nice
husband who kisses me and gives me presents, why do I want to live in a small
apartment and have to worry about money and stress and not get presents.
 
No they say, the American life is too hard,
and it’s not worth it.”

“Right,” Alex said slowly, not sure how to respond.
 
Alex sat up and arranged her pillows behind
her then leaned back against the head board with a sigh.
 

“I know,” Joseph seemed to read her thoughts, “I know.
 
I told you, I like the way you think.
 
It’s just not how my country thinks.
 
But, I like you,” he leaned over and kissed
her shoulder, “and I love your mind,” he kissed her arm, “and you make me so
happy, you can’t imagine.”
 
Alex looked
down at him as he kissed her hand and rolled her eyes.
 
She couldn’t help but laugh, he was so
adorable sometimes.

“So, tell me, would you be tempted if a woman sat beside
you in the front seat of a car?”

“Ah,” Joseph wrapped her up in his arms, “I would if you
sat beside me.
 
If you wore a short
skirt?
 
Yes,” he clicked his tongue, “I
would.
 
Don’t you see how tempting you
are?”

“How many women have you been tempted by then?”
 

“What do you mean?
 
How many people have I slept with?
 
No,” he shook his head, “this is a bad idea.”

“Why?” Alex laughed. “No, it’s not.”

“Yes it is.
 
I tell
you then you are upset because it is too much.”
 

“I won’t get upset.
 
Look at you.
 
You are handsome and
successful, and what, you are 40 now?
  
You must have slept with quite a few women.”

“Ok, I have.”

“And?”
 

Joseph paused and looked up to the ceiling.
 
Alex watched as he counted.
 
Finally, he turned to Alex, “85.”

“85?”
 
Alex was
shocked.
 
She had no idea it would be
that many.
 
Maybe he was just trying to
impress her, exaggerating the number.
 
But why would anyone think such a large number was impressive?
 
But wait.
 
He’s 40.
 
So give him what, 20
years?
 
That’s only 4 a year or so.
 
But wasn’t he in a relationship for a few of
those years?
 
He had to have been.
 
He wouldn’t be single that whole time.
 
And how did he count so fast?

“And you?”

Alex smiled at Joseph.
 
What should she say?
 
She didn’t
want him to think she was an innocent virgin; well she wasn’t anyways.
 
She wanted him to think that she did know
what she was doing.
 
He was paying for
her expertise, after all.
 
But, she
paused to count.
 
Wow! Shit.
 
She hadn’t thought about it, for a while, but
her number was growing very quickly.
 
Before she had started escorting, her number had been 8.
 
She knew that.
 
But then, there was Joseph, Mr. Lomax,
Martial, Mr. Frankel, Mr. Town, Mr. Weinsberger, or something like that, that
weird skinny guy, the businessman guy.
 
No, Mr. Nimbin doesn’t count; no intercourse. There were two others the
last week, but what were their names?
 
She could see their faces.
 
Then,
Mr. Walker, Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Ho, then the American guy, and the cigarette
guy, whatever his name was.
 
No, the
cigarette guy was Mr. Stephenson.
 
OK.
 
Alex thought for a
moment.
 
God, was that it?
 
No, she was sure there was more, of course
there were more. She’d been escorting for 4 months now.
 
But she didn’t want to get up and look
through her appointment book.
 
Oh, Mr.
Comeau.
 
Forgot about him.
 
Shit. 25.
 
Wow.
 
That was enough.
 
She didn’t want to think about the rest,
truly shocked at herself.
 
At this rate,
she thought she’d be hitting 85 herself and way before she hit 40.
 
She couldn’t believe she had never thought
about it before.
 
She couldn’t say 25
though.
 
That didn’t sound right.
 
At age 24?
 
No.
 
“12.”

“12?
 
But that is a
lot for a girl!”

“Nice, Joseph.
 
You
can hardly talk, Mr. 85.”

“Ok,” Joseph laughed, “who was your first?
 
Was it your boyfriend in high school?
 
I bet you were very popular.
 
Yes?
 
Like the pretty girls in the TV shows.
 
Were you a - what do they call it?
 
A cheer leader?”

“No.”
 
Numbers were
still running through her head.
 
What
would her number be after 6 more months as an escort?
 
She shuddered and turned back to Joseph. “I
was more into sports.
 
And actually, I
didn’t have sex in high school.
 
It’s
true,” she laughed at Joseph’s surprised face.
 
“I was kind of shy with boys.
 
And
I thought sex was really important.
 
I
had this crazy notion, that sex was almost sacred.
 
That I should wait, until you know, it was
true love.”

“So, did you fall in love?”

Alex laughed and shook her head. “No.
 
I think I just gave up.
 
In university, everyone was having sex and I
guess I just got sick of wondering what the big deal was.”

“So you and your boyfriend?”

“No,” Alex shook her head.
 
“One night, in my second year.
 
I
was at pub.
 
It was a party for this
international hockey tournament at my university.
 
It was a big deal.
 
All these teams came from around the
world.
 
And some of my friends played on
my university team.
 
So, a bunch of my
friends went with me to watch all the games.
 
Then all the hockey teams went out to our pub.
 
Our pub was really small, so it was pretty
exciting.
 
We got all dressed up, you
know, to impress the new blood.”

“New blood?”

“New boys.
 
Different
boys.
 
Cute boys.
 
Not just the regular friends we always hung
out with.
 
I had actually met some of the
players after the game the night before.
 
There was this one guy.
 
He was really
tall.
 
He came right over and talked to
me.
 
I don’t know why.
 
He just kind of zoned in on me. He was a bit
older, really mature.
 
I wouldn’t say he
was handsome.
 
Maybe a little. He was the
assistant coach from the German team, so he had this great accent. We kept
making him say, ‘I must break you’, like from Rocky.
 
I must break you.” Alex laughed at her lame Dolph
Lundgren impression.
 

“Anyways, the party sucked.
 
All my friends hooked up really quickly, and I was left standing
alone.
 
So I left early.
 
But, then when my roommate got home, she
knocked on my door and woke me up.
 
She
said she had brought a present for me.
 
I
got up and went downstairs and there was that German guy I was talking to
earlier.
 
I was in my pajamas and half
asleep.
 
I went back up to my room and he
just followed me.
 
My roommate said he
was looking for me as she was leaving, so she brought him home.
 
He just walked into my room, and sat on my
bed.
 
We started making out and well, one
thing led to another.”

“But, he didn’t know?
 
You know, it was your first?”
 

“No,” Alex shook her head. “I didn’t tell him.
 
I think he might have figured it out, because
afterwards he was touching me and he made this sound like oh, and then he got
really quiet.”
 

“So then did he go?”

“You mean leave?
 
No,
he slept over, and,” Alex said starting to laugh remembering the morning after,
“he tried to have sex with me again in the morning, but I didn’t want to.”

“Why not?
 
You didn’t
like it?”

“No, it was ok.
 
Actually he was pretty good.
 
But
after we had, you know, sex the first time, we started talking and he told me
that he was married and had a little boy at home.
 
He said it like it was nothing.
 
He actually said his wife was cool with him
having sex when he went away on trips.
 
He said she understood that he had needs.
 
Can you imagine?” She looked down at
Joseph.
 
His eyes flickered.
 
Damn, she thought. Why did she tell him all
these things about her?
 
“So,” she
cleared her throat and tried to end her story quickly, “in the morning, I
didn’t want him to touch me.
 
I just wanted
him to leave.
 
I pretended to be asleep
when he tried to have sex again.
 
Finally,
he gave up, got dressed and left.
 
That’s
it,” she shrugged again, wanting Joseph to know that it wasn’t a big deal.
 

Joseph sat up and cupped Alex’s face in his hands.
 
He leaned close and kissed her gently, small
gentle kisses all over her face.
 
Then he
wrapped her in his arms and together they lay down, Alex slipping her head down
to that hollow sweet spot just between his shoulder and his chest.
 
She smiled as Joseph kissed the top of her
head and sighed.
 
She had never told
anyone that before.