This episode starts shortly after Far Enough Away Part 1 ended. It kind of stands alone, but reading the earlier parts may not hurt. Some characters wander into this story from others of my stories, in particular from The Bush Walkers. Reading those stories will give some, but not much, insight.
The story so far: a porn star identifying as Shoshana Rosenberg arrived unannounced in Perth, Western Australia,. There are still questions she needs to answer about this. She is staying in a seaside suburb with Michael Stillman, an actuary she met by accident in LA. She seems to have disrupted his ordered life. And yes, it is raining.
***
We both nursed chia lattes at the kitchen island, acting like everything between us was absolutely normal now that we were back in our clothes. Like we hadn't recently wanked ourselves stupid while watching Shoshana in one of her big budget movies on my big home screen.
I thought for a moment. "You definitely want to meet my friends?" I needed to make sure.
Shoshana smiled at that, quite eager. "Yeah, will they like me, Michael?"
"I can't imagine that they won't."
"Great, let's have a party! You do know what a party is in Perth?"
I scratched my chin and let her believe that I was trying to work it out. "That's when you try to get a lot of people you know all together at the same time, fill them with alcohol and stuff and everyone loses their inhibitions?"
"Exactly! Let's do it," Shoshana effused.
I looked at her smiling face. There was no way I was getting out of this. "It's not going to be one of those parties," I asked Shoshana.
"What sort of party is 'those parties'?" she teased.
Hopefully I looked worried, because I was. "You know the sort where people get their clothes off and stuff."
"Is that the sort of party that you usually have with your friends?" she teased, widening her eyes in mock horror at me. "Oh, I see," she over-exaggerated. "You think that having a porn star at a party is going to automatically lead to unbridled sex."
"That's not what I meant," I tried weakly to backtrack.
Shoshana laughed. "It's exactly what you meant. That you think your friends are going to be mysteriously seduced by my presence and go mad with each other. Or you."
"Well, it's a hope," I tried to joke. Shoshana didn't seem to get it, no smile.
"Or maybe because I'm a porn star I have this hypnotic effect on people that turns them from vanilla missionary in the bed on Saturday night into exhibitionist sex performers," she continued.
"Well, there is what happened at Brighton Beach. There were a lot of exposed breasts and men and women getting turned on," I reminded her, in case she had forgotten that most things that had happened around her since she arrived in Perth seemed to lead to sex.
"I have warned you that I'm far more cautious than your friends are likely to be. It's an occupational health and safety issue for me. Where it's just a hobby for you. But you know, if I like your friends and there's enough condoms, who knows what could happen."
I gave my porn star guest a careful look. And realised I was worrying about what my friends may think about me afterwards.
We sipped chai for a further moment. "Tell me," Shoshana smiled, "why do men get turned on by watching lesbians? Why do you?"
"Maybe I get turned on by watching attractive people having sex. I'm not sure I have much lesbian stuff in my collection."
"Sure, let me have a look." Shoshana opened the folder on my laptop and started to list out the titles. "There's plenty," she observed and turned the screen to me. "Look, you even have a folder."
I tried to look calm, as I grabbed the laptop from her. "Okay, you've made your point. Now why wouldn't I like to enjoy two or more women with excellent bodies and perfect teeth being naked together, showing each other affection and lust and doing stuff to each other?"
Shoshana grabbed back control of the laptop. "Look you have this series where innocent girls find themselves in the hands of dominant lesbians who convert them to their deviant ways. I think I was in a few of these, in both roles. Here's one where I am the dominant dyke, and guess who is the innocent girl? Did you pay for that one?"
"Of course I did. You know that I believe your work should be properly supported. But it's a fantasy. What's wrong with that?"
"So you think that stuff only happens in the movies? That's Alexis, by the way, you recognise her? Miss Penthouse. Well, to be confirmed." Shoshana smiled slyly like she knew the truth there, but she wasn't going to tell me. "Put it on," she insisted. "This is a memorable one, it's the day that we met." Shoshana walked with laptop in one hand and chia latte in the other back to my couch in front of the big screen.
As I followed her I had to ask. "So you never knew each other before you started taking each other's clothes off in front of the cameras?"
Shoshana smiled, remembering. "Relationships have been started on less. Pushing your chair into someone else at a restaurant, for example." She gave me the appropriately condescending smile. "Now enjoy this. I think you'll find that about thirty seconds after we strip, I'll have two fingers in her bottom."
This of course proved to be the case. We watched Shoshana accidentally bump into Alexis while they were both jogging in a park. Within two minutes of screen time they were inside a house and Shoshana was checking her elbow for damage. Alexis came close, massaged her arm and looked deeply into her eyes, discovering something she liked there. Two more minutes and they were both naked and soon Alexis was on her knees bum up with Shoshana probing her as promised.
I was not as turned on as I had hoped. Shoshana watched both the screen and me with a smile but she seemed as little turned on as I was. We each watched the love making in a different way. "Bring back memories?" I asked her. She nodded with a cool smile.
"Maybe the difference between this and real life is that there is a certain inevitability in porn that the people in the scene are going to get it on," I suggested. "You know, if the title of the movie is Shoshana's Lesbian Inductions you get a pretty good expectation of what will happen if two attractive joggers one of whom is you accidentally run into each other. And they obviously know too. But in real life..."
Shoshana knew what I was thinking. "But do you think that's healthier?" she asked as she stretched out on her part of the couch.
"I know what you're saying. And I agree with you except for one thing. The unknowing, the chance for rejection or finding that you are just not into your willing potential partner. That uncertainty is what keeps you aware that you are alive."
Shoshana gave me her 'I'm a professional' look. "I can grant you that. But I still like being prepared," she added.
"But you and me..." I argued.
Shoshana smiled warmly. "Yes, I know. That's a bit reckless for me, I'll admit. Not my usual thing. But not a regret."
I felt like I almost had the chance to get her to open up and tell me exactly why she was here, literally half way around the world from her home and what she was avoiding back there. But it didn't seem the right time. Maybe she would trust me enough to tell me soon, before I had to ask.
+++
The video came to a merciful end. Since it was still raining, we decided to head out for a civilised lunch, at a café that I heard from some work colleagues was quite classy and ostentatious. I didn't say anything to Shoshana, but I hoped that the ambience of the place might overwhelm her and not licence her to again become the centre of attention. Although I did worry that she would regardless raise her performance to whatever level her surroundings required. That she was a performer and she would perform.
On Shoshana's insistence, we sat at a table for four in the centre of the place. She was wearing a long sleeve top and jeans but still managed to have a lot of her taut midriff bare. Shoshana appeared not to notice the waitperson's attempts to shunt us towards a smaller table near a wall after we had confirmed that we were only a party of two. The waitperson was a strong-cheeked, muscular woman who looked like she usually got her own way. I heard her swear under her breath as Shoshana sat where she wanted to sit. I hoped that Shoshana had missed the rudeness.
"I love this town," Shoshana expressed in her broadest American voice. "And I love these sweet little places." So I guessed that she hadn't.
She leaned forward to me over the table. "Are you cringing?" she mouthed. "Don't worry, I have only just started." I rolled my eyes at her, for what it was worth. Shoshana beckoned me closer and gestured towards the waitperson who was now bullying a nearby couple. "Did she swear at me," she whispered. I stared into her large brown confident eyes. She clearly saw the fear in mine.
"You have to be deferential to survive in Perth," I tried to explain. "Perth waiting staff don't know how to handle people who act self-confident in their establishments."
At that moment, another waitperson, a thin pale boy with a ponytail, brushed up to us. "I hope everything is all right so far," he ordered.
Shoshana leaned back in her chair, baring a lot more than her navel. "Oh perfect," she exclaimed. "I love these quaint little places with these tiny tables." She gestured in front of her as if we were cramped up. "Such character!"
I grimaced at the waitperson because that's what Perth people do. He strode off to intimidate other patrons.
"Shoshana," I hissed.
"What?" she asked with that open-eyed fake innocence. "They're going to get a big tip. Promise."
"No one tips in Perth," I explained.
"Ah," she considered, relaxing, "there's your problem."
Our first waitperson brought out our salads and made a fuss of placing them correctly and ensuring that our cutlery, our drinks and our table water were all correct and acceptable. Shoshana beamed at her while I looked on in amazement. "I hope everything's all right," she apologised to Shoshana. I may not have existed. Even worse the waitperson stood by and waited for Shoshana to taste her salad. Realising what was up, Shoshana played up to the waitperson, dramatically pausing with her fork close to her mouth. Then after chewing for a moment she did the kooky thing, head to one side, while she eyeballed the waitperson who was still standing, waiting. Eventually Shoshana smiled at her allowing her some release of tension. Then she called her over and whispered something in her ear which saw her nodding happily back to my friend.
"You've tamed her," I blurted after that ordeal. "That just doesn't happen in Perth. And what did you say to her?"
"Something that she wanted to hear. Stay with me boy, we're going to improve this city one restaurant at a time. Now who should I take into the washroom for a Shoshana induction?" She smiled to let me know it was a joke. And took a bite of her salad and then nudged me. "There's a woman over at the table near the window who has been looking at us."
I decided not to look. "I'm sure she's not," I replied automatically assuming that Shoshana expected to be recognised wherever she went. She had been rather showy since we'd arrived, so I guessed it would a Perth person scandalised at her outré behaviour.
Shoshana grabbed my wrist firmly. "Trust me, she is. She probably recognises me from my work. You do know how to look over at her discretely?"
The window table was immediately behind me, so there was no way I was going to solve the problem discretely. And even if I did look over, what then? But with Shoshana silently urging me to do something, I got up to go unnecessarily to the bathroom. And I saw who it was. On the way back, I went over to say hello.
"Yes?" demanded Shoshana when I returned to her. She was otherwise admiring a leaf of artisan lettuce she had lifted off her plate. "Never seen anything like this," she decided, staring at the lettuce.
"Rocket," I diagnosed. "And it's one of my work colleagues. Actually two of my work colleagues." I waved over at the table and noticed that only Dilani was there, so I gestured her to come over. She was a tall, statuesque blonde who I had never guessed would looked decidedly attractive in a short black dress that showed off her long legs. The sort of thing she didn't wear to work. I did the introductions. "Shoshana, this is my work colleague, Dilani Halder. Dilani, this is my cousin from America, Shoshana Rosenberg."
Dilani stood awkwardly in front of us, too tall to be inconspicuous. "I'm not disturbing anything?" she apologised.
Shoshana reached out and shook Dilani's hand. "We're having a party next weekend. And you're invited. And your friend."
Dilani removed her hand from Shoshana as soon as possible.
"You're coming?" Shoshana insisted.
"Sure," Dilani replied to politely end the conversation, preparing to worry about her promise later. Something was up. But what?
Shoshana appeared to ignore that. "Michael's worried that I'm going to get everyone to take their clothes off at the party. You don't have a problem with that?" she probed, look as serious as she could, almost academic.
Dilani looked confused. "I don't know..." she trailed.
I apologised. "It's her American sense of humour. It doesn't translate well over here. I keep telling her." I smiled at each of them in turn.
"Purely for scientific research purposes," Shoshana added pretending to placate Dilani but managing the opposite.
"Uh, maybe," Dilani prevaricated now looking quite uncomfortable.
Shoshana ignored that and continued on. "You've seen on the TV how we live over there. Always getting our clothes off, having a good time. That's my life."
We all laughed but in different ways. Shoshana because it was true and she was enjoying teasing Dilani, me because I was in Hell and Dilani because she hoped it would be give her a polite way to get away from whatever we were doing to her.
But something buzzed in Dilani's mind long enough for her to prolong the interaction. "I don't think I'm familiar with those sort of shows. Why, are you an actress?" she asked as if getting to Shoshana's true meaning may be her way out. Either that or she was just curious.
Shoshana sharply retorted. "Why do you say that?"
Dilani prevaricated again. "I don't know. I haven't met any actresses. But I guess if I met an actress, she'd be like you."
Shoshaha chuckled. "Loud mouthed and embarrassing?"
I couldn't help myself: "I was going to say that."
Smiling, Dilani regained some of her dignity. "I was going to say self-confident and glamorous. Anyway I should get back to my friend. She's been sitting by herself while I've been over here."
We looked over. And she had returned. Another of my colleagues, Susan Erskine, pretended to check her phone but she was obviously surveilling the three of us.
Shoshana noticed. "I think yes she's missing you," she noted in a way that allowed Dilani to escape back to her friend.
Shoshana looked me in the eyes seriously. "You're keen on her," she diagnosed.
"She's a work colleague," I complained.
"So?" laughed Shoshana, "I sleep with my work colleagues. What's the hang up?"
I tried to point out our difference. "I crunch numbers with my work colleagues if you want a comparison. With our clothes on. It's not really the same thing."
Shoshana spent a moment studying Dilani and Susan who were deep enough in a conversation not to grok us. "They're lovers, you know."
For a moment I wasn't sure what she was talking about. Then it dawned on me she meant my colleagues. "I doubt it," I stated with some confidence.
Shoshana shook her head. "There are so many things that men don't see. Take my word on this." She studied my face for disappointment. "You are keen on her, aren't you?" she repeated.
I could see no reason not to confide in this stranger who seemed to be taking over my life. "Well, perhaps if she wasn't a work colleague."
Somehow I was in a local café with a foreign porn star giving me life advice. Shoshana spoke louder, taking her role seriously. "Well sorry she's taken. But leave it to me. Get her to the party and I'll sort something out. Maybe the two of them for the price of one."
I gave her a look of horror. "Oh great, so things become complicated with two of my work colleagues instead of one. I can't wait for that to happen. Look, my life is not a subplot of Lesbian Amateur Seductions Episode Four."
Shoshana shook her head at my unknowing. "Maybe not yet. But you'll find it's a lot closer than you think. Especially if I get hold of them at our party. And you're thinking of Lesbian Amateur Seductions Five." She smiled at me with wide, remembering eyes. "That's the one we watched where I met Alexis. So I should know. Episode four was one of those silly step-daughter things. Step-daughter is home alone thinking of boys, so she drops her pants and masturbates. New sexy step-mother sees her, and hello sex scene. I don't get asked to do those anymore. Not since I smirked all the way through a shoot at the utter absurdity of it all. For a start, the actress playing my step-mother was five years younger than me. I even sneaked in the line 'you look so young' to her. The reviews said I sucked, and sales weren't good. It's one that is hard to get hold of now, an actual collectors' item, I'm told."
I shook my head, tried not to laugh and retorted a bit more forcefully than I intended. "It's always about sex with you."
Shoshana smirked, probably as she had in her step-daughter movie. "Yes, Basil," she taunted.
+++
Shoshana came back from the bathroom smirking. "She followed me in," she exploded.
"Fuck off," I said, because, well, what else was I going to say? "Okay, tell me everything."
"Well," she sighed like it was so mundane, "she suddenly appeared behind me as I was going into the stall. 'I'm about to have a piss,' I told her. She says 'that can wait,' and throws herself at me. 'I know who you are,' she says. 'I have no idea who you are and I'm bursting,' I tell her. So she offers to help, crams me into the stall, closes the door and gets my jeans down below my waist. Then she goes to work with her tongue. And she's good.' And gave me her tough eyed look, the one with the half-smile.
Shoshana took a breath, long enough for me to interject. "Do I have to hear this now? Can't it wait for when I can enjoy it?"
At that moment the tamed waitperson came over and touched Shoshana lightly on her shoulder. Shoshana patted me on the hand and started to arrange her things. Just as she was about to stand up, she noticed my look of concern.
"Don't worry," she smirked, "I can find my own way home later. Don't wait up for me."
The waitperson was standing near her looking very possessive. Shoshana leaned close to me. "It gives you a chance to go over and talk about sex to your friends," she suggested. "Go tell them all about me," she insisted.
I shook my head. So much for being careful, I thought. That conversation with my colleagues wasn't going to happen. They would stay as colleagues and that would be that. But I looked over to see Susan and Dilani smiling at me as Shoshana and her new friend ostentatiously went out the door.
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