The first place we stop is in front of a big step-and-repeat banner with the logos for the awards, the hotel, various distributors, and the liquor sponsor. Flashes go off around us, and I put my arm around Lola and pull her into me.
“James alone!” the mass of photographers yell, attempting to get a solo pic of me.
I shake my head and give them a grin. I’m with my girl tonight, dudes. No solos.
“Look at me, Lo,” I say to her as quietly as I can over the buzz of the press line.
She glances up into my eyes, and I can see that she’s a little nervous, but she’s trying not to show it.
“You’re doing great, kid,” I say.
She gives me a shy, appreciative smile.
I look from her eyes to her lips, and I can’t hold back. I lean down and give her a sweet, innocent kiss.
That really sets the flashbulbs into high gear, and it’s like a strobe light at our end of the carpet as photographers go crazy snapping pics.
I didn’t kiss her for the attention, I kissed her because she’s beautiful, I love her, and I wanted to kiss her. Still, I’m glad all these people are taking pictures. I want everybody to know I’m with her and that this is the real deal for me. I’m even more psyched when she puts her left hand on my chest because I know everybody’s going to see my ring on her finger. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen; this hottie next to me is going to be my wife.
We make it to the first Internet interview, and I know we’ve got to keep it short, so I plan to go with the most concise answers.
The guy is from a very popular porn blog that rates almost every movie. They’ve given all my stuff good reviews, so I’m feeling pretty good about it. The dude is kind of nerdy looking, but he’s got hipster glasses and you can tell that he’s trying to look cool for the awards. He checks out Lola big time, and I can tell from the way he kind of squints that he’s trying to figure out if she’s a star or just my date. I’m not surprised at the assumption, since Lola’s got a body that would make every girl here totally jealous—and it’s natural, too.
“Now, your scenes are up for twelve performance awards, including the big one, Man of the Year. You’re the man of the hour, all eyes on you,” the dude begins. “Is there a lot of pressure on you tonight?”
“Not too much,” I say, smiling. “It’s cool to be recognized at this level and to have everybody dig my work so much, but I’ve always loved the AVAs, so I’m just psyched to be here. Winning would basically be a bonus at this point.”
“You recently announced your retirement,” he says. “You’re at the top of your game. Why leave now?”
“I’m growing up, dude,” I joke. “No, but really, I think my priorities have just shifted. I’m in a really good place, I’ve got a really great girl,” I say, glancing down at Lola, “and I’m just sort of moving forward with my life in a way that doesn’t include on-camera stuff anymore.”
“And this is the lovely lady that snagged James Langdon.” He grins at Lola. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Lola,” she says cordially.
“And is this your first AVAs?”
“First award show period,” she replies as her cheeks flush. “It’s really exciting.”
“Well, you’re one lucky girl,” he says. “You’ve got the very best in the business.”
“Believe me, I’m the lucky one,” I say, chuckling as I put my arm around her waist.
“What’s it like to be with the star of the show tonight?” he asks her.
“It’s an honor.” She smiles and winks at me. “I’m really happy for him, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he wins Man of the Year.”
“You can be his good luck charm,” the dude says to her.
Elizabeth, the short, brunette publicist, nods to the guy, and he acknowledges her, knowing it’s time to wrap up.
“Well, you two have a great time tonight,” he says, “and good luck to you!”
“Thanks so much.” I smile politely and take Lola’s hand.
She looks up at me as we move forward to the next stop. She’s a little flushed, but I can tell she’s happy to have made it through her first red carpet interview.
“You’re doing great, baby,” I say to her, kissing the side of her head.
“Was I really okay?” she worries. “I don’t want to sound like a total ditz, but I feel like I get stupid the second they put a mic in my face.”
“No way. You were perfect, Lo.”
The next few interviews are pretty much the same. They ask me about all the nominations that Collared has, about retiring, about my girl, same old stuff.
By the time we get to the video interviews, I think Lola’s feeling a little more comfortable. Even though she’s loosening up, I still want to show her that there’s nothing to worry about, so I keep holding her hand and giving her little kisses when we’re between interviews.
Our next stop is a celebrity gossip blog that just recently started covering the adult industry. Apparently I’m well-known enough that my retirement was a trending topic on Twitter for about an hour, so that means I’m part of pop culture.
“James Langdon!” the journalist says. He’s much more E! News than Internet geek. He jumps right into his questions, knowing he doesn’t have a lot of time. “You’re the favorite for Man of the Year tonight. What would winning mean to you?”
“I hope I’m the favorite,” I reply, chuckling at his certainty. “If I win—and I want to stress the if—it would be a huge honor. People don’t always realize it, but we work really hard in this business. It’s not just a show-up-and-fuck situation. We put a lot into our scenes, and it’s amazing when people appreciate what we do.”
“You’ve been in the industry since you were nineteen. What’s your most memorable on-set experience?”
“Hmm…” I ponder it for a second. “Oh! I was shooting a threesome on my twenty-fifth birthday. I didn’t tell anybody, and I figured it would just be like any other workday. We had just finished and the director goes, ‘Oh, no! There was a camera error and we have to do everything all over again!’ So I was all bummed—not that I was upset about having to do it again, just that I thought we did a great job the first time. He said we should all go wait in the kitchen of the house where we were shooting while he and the crew tried to fix the cameras. I walked into the kitchen, and they had a giant birthday cake for me. Everybody sang happy birthday, and I was really surprised and touched by the whole thing. We’re like family in this industry, and I really appreciated that everybody got together and planned that out for me.”
From the look on Lola’s face, I think she’s remembering how psyched I was when I told her about it.
“Now, you’re known for having an amazing body,” the interviewer begins. “What do you do to stay so fit?”
“Well…I fuck a lot,” I joke.
Lola snickers, and I see her blush just a little.
“But seriously, sex is my favorite workout. I do weights and stuff too, but there’s no funner way to burn calories than spending a few hours between the sheets with this one right here.” I point to Lola, who loudly laughs in embarrassment.
“And you’re the girlfriend,” he says, smiling at her. “It’s Lola, right?”
She seems surprised that he knows her name, but she nods.
“You’ve been the star of many an Instagram pic,” he teases her.
“Ugh! I know!” she groans. “I have to keep telling him that no one wants to see pictures of me doing mundane stuff, but he just keeps taking them.”
“You can’t be sure that no one wants to see it,” I joke. “I’m guessing someone out there has a fetish for watching hot women eat cereal.”
She crinkles her nose at the idea.
“He might be right about that,” the dude says, chuckling. “I’d take his word for it when it comes to fetishes.”
Lola laughs, and I slide my arm around her, resting my palm on her hip.
“They’re telling me t
o wrap it up,” he says, glancing at one of the publicists. “Last question: what’s next for you, James?”
“Just focusing on the toy line right now. I’ve got my realistic toys, and we might be expanding the line down the road somewhere, but we’ll see.”
“I’m sure a lot of our readers will be looking forward to that,” he says, smiling at both of us. “Well, thanks for stopping by to chat, and good luck tonight!”
“Thanks, man,” I say before we’re ushered down the line.
As I look around at the fake boobs and bleached-blond hair, I can’t help but appreciate Lola even more than I already do. First off, she’s pretty—way prettier than every other girl here. She looks classy and elegant, like she could fit in at a White House event or something. Her dress isn’t so short that it almost shows her panties and her tits don’t look like two cantaloupes stuck to her chest. Even her skin stands out because it’s naturally a warm, olive shade and not the semi-orange spray tan of the rest of the girls on the carpet. I always used to think these chicks were sexy, but now I’ve seen what true beauty is and they all start to look bland to me. A sea of Spandex and silicone. Kind of funny how my whole perspective has changed. Last year, I would have gladly taken two or three of them back up to my room at the end of the night, but now I only want Lola.
We get to the last interview, the long one with the cable channel, and I hold Lola’s hand from the second we step onto the raised platform that overlooks the carpet. There are two cameras set up, one for the wide shot and one for the close-ups of what we’re wearing. Even at the porn awards, people like to do a glam-cam.
I look down at Lola and kiss her forehead. “You okay?” I whisper to her before we begin.
She nods and gives me a sweet smile, squeezing my hand a little tighter.
“Last one, baby,” I softly respond.
Our final interview is being conducted by Jade Ling and Kylie Banks, two girls I’ve worked with a lot. Jade is tiny and Asian with really long hair and kind of small boobs. We did a super-hot scene together a few years back that scored her a Best Anal award. Kylie usually does girl/girl stuff, but she and I did this really sexy scene where she was handcuffed to the bed and I was doing everything all slow and sensual. That one was up for Best Boy/Girl, but we lost to one of Ethan Dane’s movies.
Ethan fuckin’ Dane! That guy’s always right on my heels trying to steal my title. He’s the Wes Mantooth to my Ron Burgundy, the Joker to my Batman. Everybody says it’s a long shot that he’ll win Man of the Year tonight and that I’m a lock for it. If he wins it, I’m going to be so pissed!
I shake off my annoyance at the thought of Ethan and smile at Jade and Kylie. They both hug me and give me air kisses on the cheek, making sure they don’t smear their lipstick.
“James Langdon, the man of the hour!” Kylie starts in her high, baby voice. She’s twenty-two, but she’s always playing schoolgirls or babysitters or curious eighteen-year-olds who want to experiment. “You are the biggest fuckin’ superstar of the night! How does it feel?”
“Great! I mean, I don’t know if I’m actually the biggest star of the night, but it’s rad to be here and to have so many nominations for my scenes.”
“Now, Man of the Year,” Jade starts, “that’s the big one. Do you already have a speech prepared, or are you gonna wing it?”
“Well, if I win, I think I’ll just wing it, you know, say something from the heart,” I reply. “But I don’t want to get too psyched up in case I lose.”
“You won’t, darling!” Jade grins. “Everybody in here knows you’re walking away with that trophy.”
I smile modestly. It would be so cool to win right here in front of Lola, but I don’t want to get my hopes up too much.
“Your movie, Collared, has basically dominated the nominations this year,” Kylie says. “You and Amber Blaze have such chemistry, and you guys pulled off a scene that’s been nominated for Best Boy/Girl, Best Bondage, Best Female-Friendly, Scene of the Year, and Movie of the Year. It also scored you and Amber noms for Man of the Year and Woman of the Year. How did you guys pull off a bondage scene that managed to have enough passion to also score that Female-Friendly nomination?”
“That’s a weird one, isn’t it?” Bondage movies almost never get the Female-Friendly nomination because they’re not generally considered passionate and romantic. They’re not shot with female consumers in mind, so they’re usually rough and hardcore. “I think it was one of those things where Amber and I know each other really well and we always had a good time when we worked together, so we just went for it.”
The real reason the scene was so great was because I was thinking of Lola the whole time. I did that shoot right at the height of the Eva Satana drama. I’d just done a really violent scene with Savannah Slade/Stacey, Eva’s personal sub, and I was way psyched to be doing something normal again, something where I had some semblance of control. I was fucking Amber really hard and rough, the way I know she likes it, but then my mind sort of turned her into Lola and I slowed down and went all passionate and sensual. The scene took a whole different turn, and even though she was tied up, it was kind of gentle and romantic, the way I wanted to do it if I ever had Lola. Our director was pissed because we didn’t follow what was on the list for the day, but then they cut the movie to focus on the passion aspect, and it was a huge hit.
“You’ve got scenes nominated all across the board tonight,” Jade says, “but which one was the hottest to shoot?”
“I’d have to say the one with Amber for Collared. It was one of the hottest scenes I’ve done, but I think the anal scene with Kayla Grey was pretty great too. The DP with Lexi Jaxxxon is up there on the list, though. I don’t really do DP scenes very often, but that one with Lexi was totally crazy.”
Lola unconsciously squeezes my hand, and I know I need to cut back on the double penetration talk. This kind of thing used to make her blush, but now I think it makes her kind of nervous. It freaks her out to think about the things I’ve done with some of these girls because they’re pretty extreme. Lola was a virgin until just a few months ago, and I’m sitting here talking about how fun it was to fuck a girl in the ass while some other dude was balls-deep in her pussy. I can see why she’d be a little uncomfortable with that.
“So, the question on everybody’s mind,” Kylie begins with excitement, “why did you decide to retire?”
I smile and shrug. It does seem to be the question on everybody’s mind, and I’ve been asked it about six thousand times in the past few weeks leading up to the awards.
“I think I just reached a point in my life where I was done. I still love this business, and some of the most fun I’ve had was with the awesome people I’ve met through the industry, but it was time to call it quits. I wanted to pull a George Costanza and go out on a high note.”
Kylie and Jade laugh, and even Lola looks amused by that comparison.
“What can I say? I fell in love,” I explain. “I know it sounds totally corny, but my heart belongs to her and I seriously can’t even consider having sex with anybody else.”
“Aw! So you left for her?” Jade sighs and looks at Lola.
“Apparently so.” Lola says, laughing with her eyebrows raised like she’s surprised.
“I left for me, because there’s no way I could be with anybody but her.” I kiss Lola’s temple.
“Lucky girl!” Kylie smiles at her. “You took him away from us!” she adds with a playful little pout.
“Yeah, you’ve got James Langdon all to yourself now,” Jade chimes in.
“That’s right,” Lola says, a triumphant, slightly cocky smile plastered across her face. “His fine ass is mine!”
Both girls laugh, and I can tell they like Lola. For someone with so little sexual experience, she’s always been really comfortable around porn stars. She’s been around hypersexual people like me for long enough to not get too intimidated, and people in this business don’t have that pretentious quality you find in Hollywood. Li
ke a lot of us, Kylie and Jade don’t really have a PR filter that dictates everything they do in public. They aren’t phony…well, except for the tits, and the eyelashes, and the plumped-up lips, and the heels, and the spray tans—whatever, you get what I mean.
“And have you guys been together long or is this a new thing for you?” Kylie asks.
“We grew up together,” I explain. “The dating part is new but we’ve been friends for, like, a zillion years.”
“I knew him before all the dick slinging, back when he was just a smart-ass little kid,” Lola adds.
I laugh and put my arm around her, pulling her into me. “You want to talk smart-ass kids?” I say. “This one here was about as smart-ass as they get. Gave me shit for everything my entire life, but I fuckin’ love her for it.”
That makes her smile big time, and Jade and Kylie give us that “aw” look that says they think it’s sweet.
“Now that you’re departing the world of porn,” Jade says, “what tips do you have for new guys just getting into the industry?”
“Always respect the girls—that’s number one,” I answer. “Be professional. Be on time. Show up ready to work, and don’t be a diva about shit. Also, have a big dick and be able to get hard really fast.”
All three ladies laugh loudly at that, and Lola playfully shakes her head as she looks up at me.
“Well, thanks for stopping by to chat with us,” Jade says, smiling. “Have an awesome time tonight, and good luck with your award—even though you totally don’t need luck because you have that shit in the bag, man!”
I laugh and the girls move back in to air-kiss me again. I’m happy to see them being equally warm with Lola. Both of them hug her, and they seem genuinely happy for us, which is cool.
“All done.” I smile at her when we’re on our way into the show.
“That was okay, right?” she asks with adorable, slightly frightened eyes.
“That was wonderful, babe.”
“You don’t think I sounded vapid or anything?” she worries. “I mean, that one girl was doing that baby voice and I worried that I sounded like that too.”
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