21 Taboo Tales

by Robin Pressley

  “Look,” Cliff says, taking out his phone and holding it. “See how my fingers are when I hold the phone? It’s a simple thing, but we take it for granted because we never even think about it. Here, you hold it.”

  The young man on stage nods with understanding and takes the phone.

  “Now I want you to really feel the phone—feel the weight of it. The texture. What temperature is it? How would you hold it to your ear? How would you place it on the table? You need to practice all of these things and really pay attention to what you are doing. When you’re performing, you can call upon all of those sensory details to make your performance feel real and alive.”

  The other students are nodding as Cliff talks. Me personally, I have trouble keeping track of what he is saying because I am so wrapped up in his deep, rumbly voice. Just listening to him talk, it’s like I can feel his manly voice vibrating through my whole body—though some parts vibrate a bit more than others.

  My nipples go stiff beneath my sweater and there is a surprise pulse of warmth and moisture between my thighs. Now I’m extra glad I’ve chosen to sit in the back tonight.

  The young man performs his scene again, this time miming holding the phone as Cliff has shown him. I have to admit, his whole performance seems that much better. It’s like that little detail about the phone has plugged him into something real and vital.

  A few other students do some exercises in front of the class too. One guy eats an invisible steak while he is on a date with an invisible woman. Of course, we can only hear the guy’s side of the conversation, but it is obvious his date isn’t going well. It’s really funny, and everybody laughs and applauds for him when he’s done.

  I hate to say it, but I feel a little jealous. I want to have applause like that just once. But of course, when you hide in the back of the room for your whole life, what do you expect?

  After that, a girl from the class who looks like an Instagram model gets on stage and mimes like she is putting on makeup. Her gestures are really realistic, but Cliff feels like something is missing from her performance.

  “So, what is your character's motivation in this scene? Why are you putting on the makeup?” Cliff asks.

  “My character's motivation?” The young actress thinks for a moment. “Well, I guess to look pretty?”

  “Right,” Cliff muses, “But why does the character want to look pretty? Maybe she’s getting ready for a first date. Or maybe she’s getting ready for her wedding. Or she could be a prostitute getting ready for her first night on the job.”

  The girl on stage blushes and some people in the class gasp quietly.

  “These characters are all within the realm of possibility, folks. If you are serious about acting, you have to understand that you might be called upon to play all kinds of roles. The question is, how deep are you willing to go for your craft?

  Cliff takes a moment to look out over the class. He is so confident up there on stage—so in control.

  “Well, does anyone else have a scene they would like to present before we move on?”

  Cliff’s eyes land on me, and my heart stops. I try to scrunch down even lower in my chair, but it is impossible.

  “No one?” Cliff asks. “Okay, then let’s move on to the meat of tonight’s lesson. So you all had some homework last week to memorize a scene from the screenplay for The Extortionist’s Daughter. Did everyone read the scene?”

  Many people in the class shift uncomfortably in their seats, and I can tell many of them have not done their homework. But I didn’t have that problem. In fact, not only have I read and memorized the scene, I’ve memorized the entire screenplay. It wasn’t hard to do, considering how steamy the story was. I read it over and over during the week, playing the scenes out in my mind. And before you know it, poof, I had the entire script memorized.

  Actually, I have to say, I was kind of surprised that Cliff had picked such a sultry screenplay for the class. The title, The Extortionist’s Daughter, sounds a little bit boring, but that is misleading. This screenplay is smoking hot, and often while I was reading it during the past week, I would have to take a break to, ahem, relieve a bit of tension.

  And every time, I would imagine myself in the title role and Cliff as my daddy’s dirty friend.

  “All right!” Cliff says, clapping his hands and startling me out of my reverie, “I want to run through the entire scene today, and we can discuss the character’s emotions and motivations every step of the way. This will be a collaborative effort, folks. I want you to participate and ask questions. And I’ll need a volunteer to act out the scene with me.”

  He scans the room again, but this time his eyes go right to me as if he isn’t even considering anyone else.

  “Nina?” He asks, “What do you say?”

  Everyone in the class turns around to look at me. Dozens of pairs of eyes stare me down as I try to crumple up like a hedgehog.

  “Oh, I don’t know, Cliff…”

  “What’s the matter?” Cliff asks. “Didn’t you do the homework, Nina?”

  “Oh yes, Cliff,” I blurt out. “Actually, I read ahead and memorized the whole thing.”

  “The whole screenplay?” He asks with a grin.

  I nod and some of my classmates gasp in surprise.

  “That’s the kind of dedication I like to see in a young actor,” Cliff chuckles, “But it’s not worth a damn if you aren’t willing to face your fears and get on stage, Nina.”

  “Yeah, come on, Nina!” An encouraging voice calls from somewhere in the crowd.

  “You can do it! Don’t be afraid!”

  Suddenly it seems like everyone in the little theater is cheering me on to get up on stage. Part of me wants to just leap out of my seat, run out the door as fast as I can, and never come back. My heart is drumming so hard and so fast it feels as though it could burst out of my chest at any moment.

  There’s no way I can do this. There’s no way I’m getting up on that stage.

  Then my eyes turn back to Cliff. He has his hand outstretched, and he’s gesturing to me to join him on stage. He’s gesturing the way someone might do to a hurt and scared animal. The smile on his handsome face is so sexy and gentle.

  Somehow my body is rising out of its seat. My feet are moving, one after the other down the row of chairs, down the aisle. Surely I’m not doing this on my own, right? Frightened, timid little Nina who sits in the back and never says a word. My body is just moving on its own, completely under Cliff’s sensual spell.

  The class claps for me as I make my way to the small stage. I don’t know what I’m so afraid of really—everyone here is so friendly and understanding. They just want to help each other get better at their craft. Sometimes they give each other constructive criticism, but nobody ever bad mouths anybody else.

  I take Cliff’s outstretched hand and he pulls me up onto the stage. He’s so strong that he pulls me up like I’m weightless. My body bumps lightly against his and I give out a little gasp as I feel the hard muscles beneath the soft fabric of his shirt.

  “Don’t be scared,” he whispers in my ear, so low that only I can hear it. “You’re going to be great.”

  A little shiver of excitement tickles upward from my tailbone, and I’m really glad that I have on this long-sleeved sweater so the whole class can’t see how my flesh erupts in goosebumps.

  I still feel a little nervous about being on stage in front of everyone, but something about having Cliff nearby makes me feel so safe and secure. I know he’s going to help me through the scene, and he won’t let me fall.

  But at the same time, my heart is going pitter-patter in my chest because this is one heck of a steamy scene that we’re about to act out. I guess we’ll probably stop before the big kissing part, though.

  “Okay, so first we need to set the scene a bit,” Cliff says.

  He pulls back the stage curtain to reveal a bed and some extra set decorations like a nightstand and a standing lamp. Oh wow, I kind of thought we would just read th
e lines standing up, but it looks like we’re going to use scenery and everything.

  “Right,” Cliff says, turning back to the class. “So, as you all know, since you read the scene for homework, this scene takes place in the main character’s bedroom. That character is Annabelle, which is who Nina will be playing…”

  He smiles at me across the stage, setting my nerves even more at ease. I swear I could just stare at that sexy smile all day long.

  “I’m going to be Ed. He is best friends with Annabelle’s daddy—or at least he used to be. For most of the story, he thinks that her dad is blackmailing him for an affair that he’s been having. But it turns out that it was really Annabelle who was blackmailing him all along. Ed has just figured this out, and he’s not too happy.”

  While Cliff is setting up the scene, I’m trying to get myself into the right headspace. My character kind of acts like an innocent little angel, but underneath she’s really a wicked little brat. I’ll have to try and show both sides of her character during the scene.

  “At the start of the scene,” Cliff continues, “Annabelle thinks she’s all alone at home, but she gets a little surprise visit from Ed. Okay, so Nina, why don’t you go ahead and sit there on the bed. I’ll walk in through the bedroom door, and we can start the scene. Ready?”

  I nod. Honestly though, I only caught about half of what Cliff was saying because I was totally enraptured by those bottomless, dark eyes and dazzlingly bright smile. At least with this gorgeous man to distract my attention, it’s easy to forget that I’m on stage in front of a small crowd of fellow acting students.

  As I climb onto the bed, I try to get myself into the mindset of an eighteen-year-old girl. It’s not that hard to do, since I’m only twenty-two now.

  Cliff walks to one side of the stage. Then he perfectly mimes turning a doorhandle and slowly opening a door. When he steps through that door and raises his eyes to meet mine, he’s not Cliff anymore. He’s Ed.

  And Ed kind of scares me. But it’s a good kind of scary.

  “Ed,” I gasp, reciting the lines from memory. “What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be here.”

  He steps forward, towering over me where I’m sitting on the bed. My body tenses and I move away, but only a little.

  “Surprised to see me?” he grunts. His voice sounds different now—husky and rough. “I know your little secret, babydoll. I know it was you all along.”

  “What do you mean, Ed?” I whimper innocently. “Whatever are you talking about?”

  “Cut the crap, Annabelle,” he rasps, “I thought it was your old man, but now I know it was you who’s been blackmailing me this whole time.”

  “Ed, that’s not true. That’s not true at all. I—”

  “Shut up!” he snaps, cutting me off. Even though we’re just acting, the whip-crack of his voice makes me jump a little, which is actually good for the scene.

  “I traced all of the emails, Annabelle. I know it was you. The only thing I don’t know for sure is why you did it. But I’ve got some theories about that.”

  Slowly, like a prowling leopard, he crawls onto the bed with me. The springs creak slightly under his weight.

  “Ed,” I gasp, “Ed, what are you doing?”

  “You want to know what I think, Annabelle?” he says, crawling closer, “I think you did it out of jealousy. You couldn't stand seeing me with other women. You wanted to mess up my marriage and my affair. But if you wanted to be with me, all you had to do was say the word.”

  He leans close to me, gripping my shoulder roughly in his big strong hand. I resist a little because that’s what it says to do in the script.

  “Ed, we shouldn’t,” I whisper, “What if Daddy comes home and finds us?”

  “That’s a chance we’ll just have to take,” he growls.

  He cups my face in his hand and I press into it lightly. His thumb brushes the soft cushion of my bottom lip. God, I want to dart my tongue out to taste him.

  “You’ve been a bad, bad girl, Annabelle,” he says. “And you need to be punished.”

  I relent, and he pulls me to him, pressing his soft, hot lips to mine. Wow, I wasn’t sure if we were actually going to do that part. I mean, it’s just a stage kiss—no tongue or anything like that. In fact, it’s not even very kissy at all. But just the touch of Cliff’s plush lips against mine send a thousand dark shivers slithering through my veins.

  “Okay, good work, Nina,” Cliff says, pulling away.

  His face has changed back. He’s not dark, scary Ed anymore. He’s Cliff, the guy who makes me feel so safe and confident.

  “So what did you all think?” Cliff says to the class.

  “That was incredible,” someone says from the audience. “I didn’t know what to expect from Nina, but she was amazing. She seemed so comfortable and relaxed in the role.”

  “Yeah,” someone else chuckles, “I’m kinda jealous, Nina. I wish I could be so at ease on stage. That was awesome.”

  More and more people from class compliment me on the scene and I start blushing, but it’s not really from embarrassment. It feels really, really good being praised like this.

  But I can see that Cliff is thinking about something, his fingers stroking the sexy scruff on his chin.

  “Is there anything I could improve, Cliff?”

  “Well, I think everybody’s right, Nina. You did seem really at ease, which is good. But this is supposed to be a tense scene. Remember, you’ve been caught red-handed, plus the guy you were blackmailing—your daddy’s best friend—is coming on to you, and he’s coming on pretty strong at that.”

  Cliff turns to the students in the audience.

  “What do you think folks? Do you have any ideas for how we could up the ante?”

  One older guy off to the side raises his hand, and Cliff points to him.

  “Well, maybe it doesn’t matter,” the guy says, kind of stammering, “But in the screenplay it says that the girl, Annabelle, is lying on the bed in her underwear, right?”

  “Hm, yes, that’s right,” Cliff mutters, stroking his chin some more.

  “Well,” the guy in the audience continues. “I guess it might not be appropriate, but maybe if she were playing the scene in her underwear, she would feel more, you know…vulnerable.”

  That guy must be out of his mind right now. Does he have any idea how much courage it took for me just to come up on stage? This is a big-time landmark for a shy girl like me. There’s no way in heck I’m going to get undressed in front of everybody. I’m certain that Cliff will shut that idea down.

  But to my surprise, he doesn’t. Instead, he turns to me with a funny twinkle in his eye.

  “Nina?” Cliff asks, “Would you be comfortable doing that?”

  Oh my God, I can’t believe he’s seriously considering this. Then again, there is a part of me that really wants to show Cliff my body. It’s been my fantasy ever since I started coming to this class. And having a room full of people watch…while that’s kind of scary, it is also a pretty big turn on.

  “Cliff, I don’t know, I mean…”

  Cliff puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder and looks down at me.

  “Remember, Nina, acting is all about taking risks and putting yourself out there.”

  Gosh, I already felt like I was taking a big risk just by stepping on stage tonight. But I really do want to please Cliff, and it seems like he wants me to try it. I can’t believe I’m actually considering this.

  Then again, it’s just my underwear that we’re talking about. It’s basically the same as wearing a bikini, and I do that at the beach. I might be shy, but I’m not a total shut-in.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” I say.

  “Good girl,” Cliff says, but I swear his voice has a bit of Ed in it. “Go ahead and take your clothes off, and then we can replay the scene.

  “O-okay,” I stammer.

  I get up and stand beside the bed. Shit, I guess I’m really going to do this. I’m going to strip down to my underwear
in front of a room full of people. Then again, they are all artistically-minded folks. It’s probably no big deal to them.

  After I kick off my shoes, I slide my jeans down my thighs and step out of them. I have on a pair of white socks, and I go to take those off, but Cliff stops me.

  “No,” he says. “Keep the socks on. They look cute.”

  I gulp, and I can’t help feeling like I heard a hint of Ed in his voice again. At this point, the only thing I’ve got left to take off is my big baggy sweater. It actually hangs down almost to the middle of my thighs, so I don’t feel totally exposed yet. But as I pull the sweater up over my head, my body is on display. All I have on is my bra, panties, and socks

  Hushed sounds and murmurs rise from the crowd.

  “Wow, she’s got a great body,” somebody says, and I realize it was the Instagram girl who said it.

  “Th-thanks,” I reply.

  That guy was totally right. Standing here in my bra and panties, I do feel totally exposed and vulnerable, but I don’t know if that is going to help me play the scene better. I guess we’ll find out.

  Cliff looks me up and down and nods in approval. He’s so hard to read, but it kind of seems like he’s checking me out. I try to push that thought out of my head because I can already feel my nipples getting hard and tight and my pussy getting slick with arousal. The last thing I need is for the entire class to see me getting all hot and bothered on stage.

  “All right, Nina,” Cliff says, “go ahead and climb back onto the bed, and we’ll go again. And don’t be afraid to depart from the script and improvise a little bit. This is all about exploring the characters and their feelings and motivations. If you have any impulses or intuitions, just go with them, okay?”

  I nod as I crawl back onto the bed, this time wearing only my bra and panties—and of course my little white socks that Cliff insisted I keep on. I position my legs so that I can hide my crotch a little—you know, just in case.

  “We’ll start from the line ‘Ed, what are you doing?’’” Cliff says.

  He pauses for a second, and I can see Ed—dark, scary Ed—emerging from his features again. He sits down on the bed beside me.