Changing His Game

by Justine Elvira

  Kelly is applying make-up on my face and Kyra, a voluptuous woman in skintight jeans and midriff baring top, is doing my hair.

  "Jared called his spray tan guy, so after Kyra's done with your hair we'll get your body all tan and ready," Kelly says as she finishes applying the fake lashes to my eyes.

  "What will my wardrobe be?"

  "You're filming by the pool, honey, your wardrobe is a bikini."

  I guess in all the excitement of being in a movie, my brain took the day off. Of course it's a bikini. Thankfully, I'm young, in pretty good shape, and forgot to eat breakfast this morning.

  Kelly and Kyra finish up my hair and make-up and I look completely transformed. I'm wearing a lot heavier make-up than I usually wear. You can't even see the few freckles on my nose and cheeks. Kelly's given my skin the sun kissed look with a smoky eye and pale lipstick. I can’t imagine anyone wearing this kind of make-up to the beach, but Kelly said I need this much so the camera can see it.

  My hair is left down and straight. Kyra played with the top of my hair to give it a wet slicked back look. I look in the mirror and can’t help thinking I look like one of the models in one of the magazines in Brock's bathroom.

  The door to the small bedroom opens and in walks Jared with another man. Jared's got a towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else. I can’t move my eyes away from his chest and the tattoos that cover it. He has various tribal designs all over his body. I spot an arrow on his forearm and crossed hockey sticks between his shoulder blades; neither tattoo really fits his personality. But it's the one on his chest that makes me stop lusting over his body, and really wonder about the man inside it. Above his chest is a tattoo of a heart split in half and the words Nothing Lasts Forever in black ink underneath. I want to analyze the tattoo more, but the sound of Jared's voice stops me.

  "For fuck sake, Kelly, I told you to have her look natural," he says loudly as he sits next to me on the bed. The man he walked in with opens a large case, with what I am assuming is a tanning gun. He starts to lay towels out over the carpet on the floor.

  "We can’t have her looking too homely, Jared. I think she looks hot."

  Jared looks over at me again and then brings his attention back to Kelly.

  "She does look hot. You've made her look like every other girl I've worked with. I liked her natural look, that's why I said keep her looking natural."

  "Do you want me to take off her make-up and start over?"

  "We don't have time for that. We're running late as it is."

  Another man walks in and Jared stands up to talk to him. He grabs some papers from the man and turns to me.

  "This is the contract I need you to sign. Look it over and let me know if you have any problems with it. You'll get paid at the end of the day." He hands me the contract and sits back down next to me. "I'll also need your test results and I'll show you mine."

  "My test results for what? I didn't know I had to take a test."

  Jared looks at me and rolls his eyes, "Don’t be a smartass, it doesn't suit you."

  "I'm ready for you, Brandon," the man with the tanning gun says. Jared turns around to face the man and the next thing he does has me screaming and covering my eyes. Jared drops his towel.

  I cover my eyes with my hands as I speak. "What are you doing? I just met you, you shouldn't be so comfortable showing me your butt."

  Nothing. Silence. No one is talking or responding to my words.

  I slowly lift my fingers from my eyelids and open my eyes. Kelly, Kyra, tanning man, and Jared are all looking back at me with confused expressions on their faces. Jared is the first one to speak.

  "Is this your first movie? You're going to be seeing a lot more than my ass in a few minutes, you'd think you wouldn't act so prude about it."

  My mind is slowly starting to put everything together. Everything is starting to make sense. The party last night... why he's so famous and I've never heard of him... stage names... test results... telling me to clean up everywhere... another way to tell if I'm a natural blonde.

  Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.

  Oh. My. God.

  He's a porn star. Jared's a porn star, and he thinks I'm a porn star.

  "You're... Oh my God... you're a... a porn star," I whisper, unsure if anyone can hear me.

  "You catch on fast. Let me guess, honey, you're not?" Kelly asks me.

  "No!" I scream and sit up in the bed, pulling the robe I have on me tightly around my body.

  "What do you mean you're not a porn star?" His voice is stern and angry; I can see the tightness of his jaw through his cheeks. "You came here to visit Tawny. You said she was going to help hook you up with a job. You jumped at the chance to do this scene with me."

  "I... I thought this was a movie. I thought you were asking me to be in a movie."

  He laughs, but there is no humor behind it.

  "Let me get this straight. You show up in California less than twenty-four hours ago, have never acted a day in your life, and you thought someone would just hand you a role in a mainstream movie? You're cute, Billy, but you're not that cute."

  "Stop calling me Billy!" My voice rises as I'm fighting between being embarrassed and being pissed off. "I didn't know," I yell. "I came here to get away and Tawny is my friend. When you asked if I wanted to do a scene with you I thought you were being nice. Fuck! You thought I was a... a...God, I can't even say it. Do I look like the kind of girl who has sex with strangers for money?"

  He doesn't respond to me, but he does talk to everyone else in the room. "Everyone leave, I need a minute with... Autumn."

  He says my name with such disgust, I want to storm out of the room. Kyra and Kelly leave and the tanning guy stops at the door.

  "I'll be downstairs for when you need me, Brandon."

  Jared nods his head and closes the door after the man leaves.

  "Brandon, huh? I guess that's your stage name. Or is Jared what your fans call you?"

  "Shut up and don't be a judgmental little girl, Billy. Remember your good friend Tawny is in this business, too. Brandon Boner's my porn name and my real name is Jared Reynolds."

  I almost forgot about Tawny. I can't believe she would ever do this.

  "Tawny wouldn't do porn, she came here to be an actress. Her dream is to win an Oscar."

  "Oh, she's won awards all right, but they weren't Oscars. I should know. I fucked her in her award winning roles."

  I gasp at his harsh words. Any attraction I ever had for Jared is gone. I can't believe this guy duped me.

  "Now I'm sorry you thought this was going to be your big break, but it's not. You've wasted my time and the time of the other fifteen people in this house. It's too late to find another actress, so production is going to have to shut down for the day." He looks over at me and narrows his eyes, "Because of you."

  He grabs his towel off the ground and covers himself back up so that all his man parts are hidden. "As for your question. No, you don't look like the kind of girl who is in this business. That's what intrigued me about you. You have the whole girl-next-door vibe going for you. Now if you don't mind, I have to go explain this to everyone downstairs. My driver will take you back to my place."

  He doesn't even wait for me to respond before he walks out of the room. I rush to the door and lock it before taking off my robe and quickly getting dressed. I grab my purse and sneak down the stairs, praying that no one sees me. I don't want to talk to anyone right now.

  I make it out the front door and see the black Cadillac Escalade we came in. Jared's driver is waiting for me. He opens the door to the back seat and I debate getting in. My indecision only lasts a second when I realize I have nowhere else to go and only nine hundred dollars in my bank account.

  The ride back to Jared's home is quiet. Soft music is playing in the background, but I'm too consumed with my thoughts to hear it. I keep replaying everything that's happened since I got to Jared's home. There were so many warning signs, so many signals. How did I not catch th
is until now?

  By the time we pull up to his front door, I've run the past day over and over again in my head. I thank the driver, who I later find out is named Tony, and make my way into Jared's home. It's quiet and empty inside except for a woman who is cleaning the windows.

  I make my way to the second floor and into Tawny's bedroom. Sitting on the floral comforter on her bed, I contemplate what to do. Should I leave and look for another place to stay? Should I go home and face the music? I'm supposed to be walking with my graduating class tomorrow.

  I pick up my phone and decide to call my sister. I've been ignoring her phone calls, along with everyone else's, the past few days. She's the only one I'm willing to talk to right now and I need her advice. I wait as the phone rings, preparing to leave a message when she picks up at the last damn second.

  "It's about time you called someone. I thought you might be dead."

  It feels so good to hear her voice.

  "I'm sorry, Winnie, I should have called. I just needed some time to myself to think. How mad are mom and dad?"

  "They were mad at first, but I think they've calmed down. Now they're just worried. Brock said you surprised him at home and misinterpreted what was going on between him and Lexi. He said you ran off before he could explain. He seems really worried, sis."

  My anger towards Brock comes back just at the sound of his name.

  "I misinterpreted? Funny, I don’t know how I could misinterpret walking in on him naked, with his dick inside Lexi."

  "No," my sister gasps. "That son of a bitch. I knew something was up. You wouldn't just leave over a misunderstanding."

  "You know what the best part is? I'm not even upset that he's sleeping with her. I don’t think I was ever in love with Brock; I just stayed with him because it was what was expected. I'm upset that he didn't cut me loose first. That he did this behind my back."

  "Oh, Autumn," my sister says tenderly. "You deserve so much better than that cocksucker. Any guy that cheats on you is a moron. You're the complete package, and I'm not just saying that because you’re my sister. You can ask all my guy friends."

  I tell her about what happened, and how I got in the car and just drove. She tells me about how it's been at the house the past few days. My dad's upset about me missing the graduation ceremony.

  "So you're really all the way in California? Where are you staying?"

  I lie down on the bed and look around the pale pink room. Seeing all of Tawny's things is oddly comforting after the day I've had.

  "It's a long story, but here's the shortened version. I came to stay with Tawny, I pull up to her address and the house she lives in is a mansion. I find out Tawny's not here, but her roommate Jared is. I stay the night in Tawny's room. Jared misinterprets why I'm here and asks me to be his co-star on set. I obviously say yes because I think it’s a movie. Blah, blah, blah... Turns out he's in the adult movie business and thought I was, too. We get into a fight, I come back to his place, and now I need to decide if I should try and stay here for a little while longer or come back home."

  I've probably thrown too much at her because I hear silence on the other end of the phone.

  "Hello? You there, Winnie?"

  "Wow... that's just... wow."

  "I know, so what do you think I should do? Should I make the drive home?"

  "And come back to what?" Winnie asks me. "Working at the boat shop all summer and then working at the local elementary school in the fall? This is your out, Autumn. You were going to be stuck in this town for the rest of your life, just like Brock. Just like me. Now you have a chance to make your life the way you want it.

  "Stay in California if that's what you want, leave and go somewhere new if it's not, just don't come back to Michigan. There's nothing for you here and I know you don't want to be here."

  "You're there," I whisper.

  "And I'll be here when you visit. I'll come visit you, too. And there's this thing called technology, you may have heard of it, but it makes it so we can talk on the phone, chat online, and Skype."

  "Funny, I won't miss your sarcasm."

  "Yes, you will."

  I sit back up in bed, startled from suddenly hearing music being played downstairs.

  "I think Jared might be home. Should I go down and talk to him? Maybe I should apologize."

  "Wait, Jared? The guy letting you stay with him is named Jared?"

  "Yes-"

  "And he's the porn star?"

  "Yes, but his porn name is something different. I think he said it was Bran-"

  "Brandon Boner!" She screams so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear.

  "I didn't get the last name, but his first name is Brandon."

  "Okay, gosh, I'm so freaking excited. Is your Brandon covered in tattoos?"

  "Well, he's not really my Brandon, but yes."

  "Does he have a broken heart tattoo on his chest?"

  "Actually, yeah he does-"

  "Oh my God, that's Brandon Boner. I love him. Aunt Crystal and I watch his movies all the time. I have to come visit you, I want to marry that man."

  I can't believe my sister knows who he is and has watched his movies.

  "You watch porn, and with Aunt Crystal?"

  "Ugh, see this is exactly why I didn't tell you. You can be so judgmental. No, I don't watch porn; I watch Brandon, and Brandon just so happens to make porn. I've only ever seen his movies and he is completely swoon worthy. I can't believe you turned down the chance to have sex with him."

  "Just a second ago you were just as shocked as I was that someone wanted me to be in a porno," I say to her.

  "That was before I knew it was with Brandon Boner. He's not like other porn stars, Autumn. It's not all rough sex and calling women derogatory names. He makes it look like he's in love with his co-stars. It's slow, passionate; he loves to kiss and make-out and there is a ton of foreplay. It's why so many women love him. He has a huge following.... and his dick is huge-"

  "Okay, I've heard enough. How do you know Aunt Crystal watches him?"

  "Remember when Josh and I broke up last year? I was really down and you were away at school, and I couldn't talk to mom about him so I went to Aunt Crystal. She said I should stay away from men for a while. She gave me a video and told me to go home and watch it. It would help with my loneliness. It was a Brandon Boner video and I was hooked right away," she says, sighing into the phone. "He's a god in bed."

  "Well, thanks for all the information and for probably making it more uncomfortable for me to talk to him. I appreciate it," I say sarcastically.

  "No problem."

  We talk for a little while longer. I promise to call mom and dad and she promises to visit as soon as she can. When I hang up I feel a little better and am ready to talk to Brandon, I mean Jared.

  I walk around the house looking for him, but he's not home. It must have been the maid who turned the music on, so I grab a bottle of water from the fridge in the kitchen and head back up to Tawny's room. I'm still tired from being in a car the past few days, and from all the craziness that went on today. It's not long before I lay my head down to take a nap, and I fall asleep instantly.

  Chapter Three

  I wake up from someone knocking on my door. I roll over in bed to look at the clock on Tawny's nightstand. It's a little past seven. I've slept the afternoon away.

  "Come in," I yell to the door, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

  The door opens with a creak and Jared is standing in the doorway looking disgustingly perfect.

  "I ordered a pizza and it's just arrived. I thought maybe you were hungry."

  My stomach chooses that moment to growl and it's then that I realize I haven’t eaten anything all day.

  "I could eat," I say, standing up from the bed and stretching my legs out. "I'll follow you down."

  We go down to the living room where Jared has the pizza, plates, and soft drinks on the coffee table.

  "I didn't know what you liked to eat, so half the pizza is j
ust cheese and the other half is veggie. There's soda or water to drink."

  "Thank you," I say timidly and move to put two slice of cheese pizza on my plate. I grab a soda and sit down at the end of his leather couch.

  We eat our food in silence while watching the Kings vs. Blackhawks hockey game. I don’t complain because I'm a big hockey fan myself and it's the play-offs. When the first period ends I decide to take this time and apologize to Jared.

  "I'm sorry about earlier today. I was thinking about it the entire way back to your house and all the signs were there, I just didn't put it together. You've let me stay in your house, you didn't kick me out when you got home tonight, and you're letting me eat your food and watch television. I appreciate it."

  Jared's chewing his pizza from the other end of the black leather sofa. I watch him as he swallows what's in his mouth and takes a sip of his soda. He turns towards me and relaxes his right leg on the cushion in front of him.

  "There's no need for you to apologize. I was upset about all the changes in shooting today and acted like a fucking jackass. I should be apologizing to you. I should have known there was no way you were in the business. You look too virginal."

  "Hey, I'm not a virgin."

  "Sure you aren't, Billy," Jared says, obviously not believing me. "I'm sorry for how I acted and if you need a place to stay, you can stay here for as long as you need. Any friend of Tawny's is welcome here."

  I nod and take another sip of my soda. The game starts back up again, but neither of us is really watching and I'm too hung up on his last comment.

  "I'm not a virgin," I mumble. "I just... I don't know why I feel the need to defend myself. There's nothing wrong with being a virgin, but I'm not."

  "So how many sexual partners have you had?"

  Did he really just ask me that? I don't even know him.

  "Why is that important?" I ask back.

  "I'm just curious. You went to school with Tawny so you're what? Twenty-two? How many partners have you had?"