Susie Learns the Hard Way (20 page)

‘It's always a bit OTT for the camera. It'll look much better in the pictures than it does sat in here.' Maureen was offering comfort, but she didn't really need to. Susie turned her head from side to side, admiring the new her in the mirror, and began to like it more and more. It must be like acting, she thought. The person looking back at her was not the Susie she was accustomed to seeing in the mirror every morning – it wasn't the Susie she knew, but someone completely different.
This
Susie could pose unashamedly for the camera without a second thought.
This
Susie could do almost anything the photographer wanted. ‘I like it,' she said decisively.

‘Right then, let's get you dressed – or rather, undressed.'

Susie wondered why a frisson of excitement ran through her body at the girl's words. It wasn't as if there was anything going on between her and Maureen – not that she'd noticed, anyway. But as she unclipped her bra, reaching back and thrusting her breasts forward, she was acutely aware of Maureen's intense gaze. But of course it must be merely professional interest, and so she slipped the lacy garment down her arms and allowed it to drop away.

‘Very nice...' Maureen breathed quietly, making Susie blush at the unexpected intensity of her whisper. She undid her skirt, folded it over a chair, and then stepped out of her knickers. Growing increasingly aware of Maureen's simmering fervour, she quickly stepped into the soft yellow knickers, pulling them carefully up between her thighs, the silky material cool against her flushed heat. High, tight and snug, they outlined the shape of her body, highlighting the curving mound, the light yellow turning darker in the shadows where it dipped into her. The bra was soft too, just a hint of lace here and there, accentuating the two hard tips.

‘Very nice,' Maureen breathed again. ‘I'm sure Leo will be more than happy with you like that.' She was appraising Susie's reflection in the mirror, standing slightly behind her, the tip of her tongue idly wetting her lips. With white leggings, baggy blue jumper and dark curly hair framing a pixie face, Maureen looked about as normal a girl as you could expect to meet. Just an everyday girl working in a somewhat abnormal environment – but definitely not butch.

Susie realised she was staring back through the mirror at Maureen – and that she was reflected in it with her breasts lifted and squeezed tightly together by the bra, and her feet slightly apart in precisely the sort of pose she'd expect to arouse Maureen's curiosity if indeed she did have a more than professional interest.

Quickly she turned, looking for her clothes, and as if a spell had been broken Maureen pulled herself together and made a pretence of tidying the vast array of cosmetics on the dressing table. Susie found the matching suspender belt, smoothed on some light tan stockings and then dressed in the dark business suit and shoes she'd arrived in, buttoning the jacket over a white blouse Maureen found for her – a blouse with buttons at the front.

‘Ready now?' Maureen said, obviously meaning Susie to follow her. Susie took a deep breath, and nodded.

The dark-haired girl led the way along another gloomy corridor and out into the studio; a fairly large room, with what looked like bits of old junk and furniture tumbled around its edges in the shadows. In the centre was a brightly lit area, the warmth from the lights already noticeable.

‘Ah, Charlie, there you are.' Leo turned from the discussion he was having with a blond lad; early twenties, not bad looking, bit of a wimp, Susie decided with a quick glance. ‘Let's just have a look at you under the lights.' Leo was very businesslike as he gestured towards the lit area, and turned away again, obviously expecting that his instructions would be carried out even when he wasn't supervising. Susie walked onto the set, which consisted of a desk with a phone and blotting pad on it, an office chair, and a grey filing cabinet. She turned to face the camera, and leaned back to sit on the edge of the desk.

‘Good, good, now, just stay there and look straight at me,' Leo directed, taking his place behind the tripod with its squat camera mounted on top. ‘Good, stay still a moment.' He turned and muttered something to his young assistant, and the lad moved to one of the light stands and began aiming under instruction from Leo, until the photographer was happy.

‘Okay. That's fine. We'll leave that one like that.' He directed operations for another five minutes as the assistant fiddled and aimed various lights until Leo was completely satisfied. In front of the lights it was very warm. Only if she squinted could Susie see anything much beyond the brilliant halo, and then only vague shadows. It was all a bit disconcerting and unnerving, but there wasn't much going on while the lights were adjusted.

‘Okay, Susie, now just unbutton the jacket and give us your chest... yes, really push it towards me... looks good through the lens.' Susie leaned forward, thrusting out her breasts as provocatively as she knew how – and she was surprised how easy it was. ‘Oh yes,' said Leo appreciatively, ‘very nice. And the lights look perfect. Wait there while we do a Polaroid. Look at me now and hold it...' There was a sort of shuffling noise and an explosion of light. ‘Okay. Button up and sit down.'

He turned away and that was it. Susie's first ever picture as a model was over, and she hadn't felt a thing. No one was taking any notice of her as she stepped off the set and smiled uncertainly at Maureen.

‘You looked great. Come and look at the Polaroid.' The stylist smiled, and led the way to where Leo was gently peeling the black paper off the picture.

‘Almost spot on,' he confirmed happily. ‘Just a little hot. I'll go down half a stop, Phil. We'll go with that.' He offered the small coloured square to Susie. ‘Looks fine to me ladies, and we're ready to go to work.'

The image was not of her, Susie was sure of that. The petite blonde looking at her out of the picture looked calm, confident, and scared of nothing. The crisp business suit was matched by an equally crisp businesslike look, and though Susie herself knew it was just a façade, she supposed that no one else could tell.

‘Okay,' said Leo, ‘we're ready to take pictures. Charlie, this is what we'll do. You take a seat behind the desk – yes, that's good,' he told her as she seated herself on the edge of the chair and picked up a pen. ‘Maureen, the glasses, please,' and he waved a hand at Maureen. She stepped out of the shadow at the edge of the light, holding a pair of round horn-rimmed glasses.

‘Plain glass,' she said, fitting them carefully onto Susie and stepping back to admire the effect.

‘Like them, like them,' called Leo. ‘Leave them on and we'll do a couple of establishers, just to set the scene and get the ball rolling.' There was a sudden flash of bright light, followed by another. ‘Just move a little between each shot please, love, turn your head or move an arm, but nothing too drastic... good...'

There were more flashes, and Leo clicked through a few more frames as Susie experimented with the glasses, sliding them up and down her nose, turning her head, tilting it, smiling, and peering moodily.

‘Good faces,' called Leo, still flashing away behind the lens. ‘I like sultry. Goes with the clothes. Think mean and rude for me; get dirty.' The camera clicked and flashed.

‘Okay, fine. I'll change the film and we'll keep right on.' Leo pressed a button and the camera started whining steadily. Thinking that there wasn't much to this modelling lark after all, Susie waited patiently while he swapped the rolls of film, passing the used one to his teenage assistant with a series of complex instructions about clip tests and processing, and for the first time Susie considered that strangers would soon be looking at pictures of her. Not that there was anything unusual about the pictures so far, but there probably soon would be, and though she'd previously convinced herself that Leo's client would be a gorgeous hunk, now, as she waited with mounting anxiety to pose more explicitly, he became old, ugly, and smelly, ogling her soft clean pinkness while rubbing a stiff erection that stuck out of a grubby old coat.

With a new film in place Leo set the camera just a little lower. As he did so the atmosphere in the studio changed noticeably. The lights were still warm and dazzling, preventing her from seeing more than shadows around her, but Susie felt the change as everybody seemed to lean in a bit more, the studio seemed smaller than before, and there was an urgent stillness in the air.

‘Stay as you are, love,' directed Leo. ‘Just undo the jacket and lean back a little... good. And we'll do one like that, and then just move a little, keep still until I shoot and then move again, just like you did before.'

Susie did as she was told and the flash went off at once. She turned her head, lifted her chin, pouted, licked her lips, and every time she changed the pose the lights flared and the camera whirred. A dozen times the camera flashed, and as she relaxed and began to move more confidently, so Leo began to direct her from outside the pool of brilliant white, his instructions punctuated by sudden bursts of even brighter light.

‘Open the jacket a little more... chest out... turn your shoulders... pull your skirt up some more, show me stocking-tops... that's good, just stay there while I do a bracket... and move again towards me... undo the top button of your blouse... and the next one, let me see cleavage... yes, good... and legs apart a little more... skirt higher... even more... look straight at me now...'

She could have played it coy or dumb. She could simply have left the blouse buttoned up and kept her legs together. But she was burning with arousal, and when Leo asked her to spread her legs she shifted her knees generously apart, deliberately making sure that instead of a prim peep, she was giving him her all, thighs wide, panties tight across her mound, the sheer yellow secretly darkened by her dampness.

‘Hold it there... and sexy!'

Susie looked down the barrel of the camera, and didn't have to fake the pout of arousal. Her knees were apart and her skirt had ridden high up her thighs, and Leo was taking pictures of her yellow knickers, which were plainly visible even before the flash went off and lit them with a blinding glare that made every teasing undulation stand out in shimmering detail. The camera could see right to the softly round gusset, where it swelled and dipped as it clung to her moist body, the bright light picking out the deep furrow at the centre, and the dark shadows of moisture.

‘Unbutton your blouse now, right down to your waist... good, and turn to me... just hold it there...'

Susie knew her eager nipples were pressing cheekily against the soft yellow fabric of the bra.

‘Okay, right hand, pull the bra down so we can see... yes... and change... one more... now thumb and finger, tweak your nipple...'

The camera was still flickering away as it recorded detailed images of Susie sitting behind the desk, stroking a puckered nipple, teasing it with thumb and forefinger, her eyes half closed, lower lip pouting, looking as hot and ready as a girl can look; and once again, she wasn't acting.

‘Legs a little wider now...' and the wetness was a dark shadow in the yellow fabric. ‘Leaning back... and further... and one foot up on the bin...'

She rested one elegantly stilettoed heel on the plastic wastepaper bin by the desk, artistically brimming with crumpled sheets of white A4 as Leo changed film and swung the camera even nearer, shooting from low down near her knee, looking right up between her legs at the tight slash of yellow with its damp valley, zooming in for a close-up so the frame was filled with stocking-top, thigh, and a curve of canary yellow.

‘Jacket right off, and pull your blouse out... yes, right, now lean back in the chair... good, pull your bra down on both sides... squeeze them together, both hands... push together and out... now finger and thumb again... now both of them...'

There's a direct connection between a girl's nipples and her pussy, about which Leo either knew nothing or everything, but twisting each hard tip between her fingers created an electrical storm in Susie's groin and she went from simmering arousal to lustful desire in just a few seconds, mouth open, breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps, liquid fire dribbling from her sex.

‘We'll change that now,' instructed a voice in the far distance. ‘Take your skirt off – just kick it out of shot over there. Fine, now come to the front of the desk and lean back against it...'

Susie rested her bottom against the piece of office furniture and supported herself with her hands as she leant back. Leo swung the camera around her, flashing furiously as it roamed over her body, sometimes from a distance, sometimes close up, sometimes high, sometimes low. She pulled the blouse back across her shoulders, then let it slip off completely, and then took off her bra. When Leo instructed, she cupped one and then both her breasts, teased the cherry-red tips, and inched her feet further and further apart, stretching the skirt up around her thighs, exposing the tantalising flesh between its hem and the dark bands of her stocking-tops, pulled tight by the suspenders.

‘Hand between them now, love... make a cup and cover yourself... fingers wide apart, make a star... both hands now... one foot on the chair...'

Swooping in, the camera hovered just in front of her crutch while Leo twirled the focus ring and the yellow blur hardened and became a bright V of colour dipping between her thighs with one long finger pressing it deeper and deeper into the valley; the warm, wet, slippery valley where the fabric slithered in oily juices.