Page 21 of The Producer: Aaron

I grab my phone and transfer the amount she needs to her account as I have done many other times. I live in a mega villa with a pool. It costs me nothing to help her when she needs it.

“Sorry for inviting all those people the other night.” She finally looks up at me.

I study her for a few moments. She really regrets having done it.

“I was a little jealous of where you live and wanted to come and see for myself. I told Roland…who then told some of his friends…who told some other friends, and in the end, things got out of hand. I didn’t want to get you into trouble.”

I shrug and smile. “Don’t worry. Aaron instills fear, barks, but doesn’t bite.”

A mischievous smile appears on her face. “You mean he didn’t put you on his lap to spank you?”

The implications of her tone are far from chaste, and I blush.

“Serena!” I reproach.

She bursts out laughing, and I with her.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never dreamed of putting your hands on that hot body,” she teases.

The embarrassment becomes more and more evident because I must admit that when I found him staring at me from the balcony of his room the other night, I caught fire. I’ve had several guys, and it was also quite pleasant to go to bed with some of them, but nobody’s looked at me with such intensity that I almost came.

“I might have imagined him while using BoB,” I admit with abit of shame.

Serena laughs even louder. “Are you serious? Do you use a vibrator when you have him in flesh behind the door literally next to yours?”

I push her until she gets up and lies on the deck chair next to mine.

“It’s not like I can walk into his room and slip into his bed,” I protest.

“Why not?” Her question is genuinely curious.

“Have you seen the models he usually dates? I can’t be so femme fatale. I am… Awkward. I blather about romance novels. He can’t find me attractive,” I confess.

“Do you really tell him about the porn you read?” she teases.

“I don’t read porn. They’re novels with a plot!”

“Yes, of course. Have you ever found a man who makes you come as described in those books?”

To tell the truth, the only one that made me experience decent orgasms is BoB, the boyfriend on battery I keep in my bedside drawer.

“Exactly as I thought. Hold this, take a sip, and forget the mediocre fucks you’ve had.” She pulls out a bottle of Jack Daniels from her bag and all the lightness of this moment slips away.

“Serena, I don’t…” I hesitate instead of grabbing the bottle as I usually do.

My friend rolls her eyes and pushes it into my hands.

“We don’t have to get drunk, and it’s just you and me in this house. No press, no witnesses. What harm can it do to take a sip of this stuff? It relaxes you and brings back your smile. Don’tbelieve I didn’t notice your serious face when I arrived. Have you talked to your mother?”

I look down, and I don’t need to say anything. She’s witnessed enough phone calls home to understand when my conversation with her puts me in a bad mood.

“Just a sip. I don’t get drunk.” I accept her offer and let a sip of the liquid that burns my throat descend into my practically empty stomach, apart from this morning’s Frappuccino.

“Just a sip.” She winks at me as she grabs the bottle and drinks a generous amount.

Two hours later, we are both in her car with two of her friends, with light heads and a smile on our faces. Serena is sitting in the front, next to Sean… or Dean, I don’t remember, with her head out the window singing at the top of her lungs the songs that play on the radio. Next to me, in the back seat, Sean or Dean, is telling me something about one of the auditions he flunked because he arrived drunk and vomited in front of the casting director.

I laugh when he laughs, and I make a surprised face when he makes a surprised face, but I’m not really following what he is saying. My head is elsewhere. It travels between the guilt of succumbing to the temptation to go out and the sense of freedom that alcohol causes me. I’m not drunk, but I’m tipsy enough not to be held back by my inhibitions, by the sense of duty that tells me to behave like an adult.

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