Eventually, I do fall asleep and wake up just before eight in the morning. Talia is in deep sleep and probably won’t wake until noon. Quietly, I put on a camisole, sweater, and stretchy jeans. I’m not sure what “look the part” means, but I don’t have anything fancy. I pack some clothes and toiletries in a duffel bag and head downstairs, where I call in sick. It’s not a lie because I do feel nauseous.
Four other women, including Sierra, are waiting in the office when I arrive. They’re dressed much nicer than I am. Two wear cocktail dresses. One wears a form-fitting sheath and four-inch heels. Sierra is in black leather leggings and a bustier that makes her ample breasts look even bigger.
She narrows her eyes at me. “What are you doing here?”
“Great recruit, Sierra,” Dan says, walking up behind her. “If your friend gets selected, you’ll qualify for a referral bonus.”
She perks up. “How much?”
“If the pricing works out the way I think it will, five hundred.”
She doesn’t say anything to me after that.
Dan looks me over and wrinkles his face. “Not a fan,” he says of my outfit, “but given your ‘part,’ it might actually work. At least put on some makeup.”
Sierra snorts as she observes me applying some lip gloss and mascara, about the only makeup I own at the moment. The other women already have on the full range of cosmetics: foundation, powder, eye liner, lip liner, eye shadow, etc.
We pile into a van. I sit in the last row next to a beautiful Latina with perfect olive skin and super long eyelashes. I regret not thinking of making myself as presentable as possible, but I think it’s because, deep down, I’m not fully committed to this.
“My name’s Abril,” she introduces.
I shake her hand, glad for any camaraderie in these unusual circumstances.
Sierra, sitting in front of me, turns around. “So you’re a virgin, huh?”
“Yeah,” I reply cautiously, wondering where she’s going to take this.
“Kind of old to be a virgin, aren’t you?”
I don’t say anything. Her question is rhetorical anyway.
“How old are you?” asks a woman Dan had addressed earlier as Rachel. She seems to be in her mid-twenties and the oldest among us.
“Twenty-one,” I respond.
“Wow. I lost my virginity when I was sixteen.”
“I lost mine at fourteen,” Sierra says.
“I’m nineteen and still a virgin,” Abril says. “Is that old?”
“Hell yeah. You like super religious or something?”
“I’m just Catholic.”
“So why are you in this?”
“I think we’re all here for the same reason, right?”
“Yeah, but I’m no fucking virgin. You really want this to be the way you pop your cherry?”
Abril flushes and looks down.
“Is a referral bonus always five hundred?” I ask in an innocent tone, but Sierra glares at me.
“I’m not really in it for the money,” says Rachel. “I just want to meet rich men. No one else is worth having sex with.”
“Seriously?” asks Julia, a petite Asian with large almond eyes. “What if he’s totally ugly? What about a guy who doesn’t have money but is totally ripped and hot?”