I was bored. Again. Hell, even my day job as a copywriter for a law firm was duller than usual. No high-profile cases, no juicy scandals. Just a couple of boring mergers to proof-read and straighten out the usual egregious errors in grammar, not that anyone but me would care. Yuck. Lawyers!
Most times my second profession, my nighttime job, was compensation enough, but not lately. Oh, Sly had been getting clients for me all right, but they'd all been pretty ordinary. Nice guys, for the most part, but
ordinary
. I mean, I appreciate his efforts to protect me from weirdos or situations that could potentially become dangerous, but I just wanted a tad more spice. I guess I'd been getting a little spoiled of late.
Oh yeah, if you didn't already know, I sell sex, and Sly is what I like to call my agent. He has a different term for it, but he's learned not to use it around me.
I called him.
"So, you have anything for me this week?" I asked.
"Yeah," he responded. "I got a couple of guys lined up, including that guy with the funny haircut from a couple of weeks ago. He wants a rematch. You okay for next Tuesday?"
I sighed, audibly.
"What's the matter, Princess? You got a problem?" Sly was always solicitous of my welfare, and not exclusively for professional reasons. As my agent, he of course wants me available, but as our professional relationship has grown, he's developed an uncharacteristic (for him, anyway) respect for me, and I knew that his concern was genuine. Of course, he doesn't have a lot of patience for less tangible emotional problems like boredom, so I stifled it.
"I guess not," I said reluctantly. "I'll be there."
"C'mon Princess," he said. He still calls me that. When we first met, he used it in a pejorative way to mock my lily-white upper-class Connecticut upbringing. In a way it was defensive on his part. Around me he's acutely aware of the rough life he's led and that his only education comes from the streets. In mocking me he could let me know how hopelessly unsuited I was for the "real world", as he calls it. Now it's just a name. It took a while, but I've earned his respect, something that means a lot to me. He's accepted that I'm good at what I do, in spite of my background. Still, I'll admit that I like the name.
"Level with me."
"Okay, you asked," I said. "I feel like I need a little excitement. These last few jobs have been okay, but just that: okay. I'm remembering the balloon guys and the opera guy."
"Ah," he said. "I see. Y'know, Princess, you're fuckin spoilt. Fuck. I'm used to a different kind of girl, one who's in it just for the money. I never worked with anyone like you before, so forgive me if I haven't learned to cater to your more sophisticated tastes."
"Fuck you," I said, getting mad at his sarcasm. "You goddam well know that I've been good for you. I'm a professional. None of our clients have ever complained, have they? I do my job and I do it well. I'm just asking that once in a while you get me something a little more interesting, that's all. Is that too much to ask?"
"Okay, okay, Princess. I hear ya. Keep yer panties on, for now, at least. Lemme see what I can do."