Stacy closed the front door, and instinctively headed to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of wine to ease the pain of yet another unsuccessful blind date. This had become a far too familiar routine. Friends paraded guy after guy in front of her, all with the promise of "he'd be PERFECT for you". "Perfect seems to be subjective", Stacy mused to herself.
Truth be told, all these encounters could hardly be called "dates" but more like "drunken fondlings". It seemed to suitors that dinner & conversation was just another word for foreplay in their eyes, and no sooner had the check been paid and the taxi called that her date would be slobbering all over her. If she had to endure another rough grab on the ass or an attempt to put their hand down her pants she was going to scream.
As she grabbed the wine and walked down the hall, she caught her reflection in the dressing table mirror. She paused for a moment. Stacy was not what you would call stunning, but she certainly was not unattractive. She had short black hair, a slim build and a more than ample bust. Her dark brown eyes were quite round, and had a gentle face.
"So why can't I find a decent guy???" she said to herself.
It was not only the lack of companionship that frustrated her. Stacy had not had sex in many months, and she was in dire need of a proper release. Masturbation and her vibrator could only do so much.
She headed to the living room, slumped into the couch and flicked on the TV just to have some noise to break the silence in her apartment. As she took the first swig of her chardonnay, she picked up the newspaper that was on the coffee table and had a casual flick through. As she came to the Personals section, she paused to read in more detail.
She always had a sense of schadenfraude reading about men and women who were more hard up and desperate than she was. After wading through an endless set of ads for busty Asian women, her eyes were drawn to an advertisement in the corner of the page. It was just a simple ad, with a black outline that simply read "Erotic Inc. Sexual satisfaction 100% guaranteed" with a phone number underneath.
She chuckled, "Ain't no such thing as guaranteed satisfaction".
She stayed up for about an hour before dragging herself to bed.
Stacy woke early the next morning and set off on her regular power walk down by the bay. She was grooving along to Pink on her iPod when she felt the vibration of her mobile phone in her pocket. She fumbled around for a second before grabbing it and reading the message. Stacy let out a groan when she saw that it was her date from the previous night asking if she wanted to go out again. She promised herself not to be so free and easy with her mobile phone number in future.
Halfway through her "thanks but no thanks reply" her body was jolted backwards as she crashed into a woman walking the other way. As they both hit the concrete, the contents of the other woman's handbag spilled out all over the footpath.
"I'm so sorry" Stacy said "That was totally my fault. I wasn't looking".
She started grabbing the strewn contents of the woman's handbag and putting them back in for her. A gust of wind suddenly whipped up and sent some papers flying off the pavement and onto the nearby grass. Stacy rushed after it to stop it from flying further. As she grabbed the papers, she saw a business card that made her stop in her tracks. "Erotic Inc. Sexual satisfaction 100% guaranteed" it said. The same as the ad in the newspaper she read last night. She turned the card over. It said "Your appointment: 12:30pm" with today's date on it, and an address below. Still looking at the card, she turned and said
"Hey, what do you know about this place?"
She looked up for a response, but the woman has gone as quickly as she had appeared. She turned a full 360 degrees to see if he could spy her, but it was like she had vanished into thin air. Stacy started walking back to her apartment, all the while her eyes transfixed on the business card that she held. Her curiosity had well and truly been piqued. She looked at the appointment details once more when a daring thought crossed her mind.
"No, no I can't" she said out loud, "This is another woman's appointment I can't just turn up unannounced. What if she is there?"
Her mind began to turn over. The woman DID disappear quickly, Stacy thought, maybe she will forget about the appointment she made. After thinking about it intently for several minutes, Stacy made her choice.
"Fuck it. I'm going" she said.
As she arrived at the address on the card, Stacy looked at the storefront in front of her and then checked the card again to make sure she had got it right. The faΓ§ade was very simplistic. The windows had been dark tinted, but everything else looked no different to any other office or storefront you might see in the city. Over the door were the words "Erotic Inc." in simple lettering. It was nothing like Stacy expected. Having promised 100% sexual satisfaction, she had visions of a red light out the front of a seedy looking establishment out in the suburbs.
Nervously she opened the door and went inside.
The interior was just as simplistic as the faΓ§ade outside. Apart from the reception desk at the back of the room, the only other features were a few chairs and a pedestal with a small water feature in the centre of the room. The walls were all a dark shade of grey. The only coloured feature in the room was a bright red door to the behind and to the right of the receptionist's desk. There were no other exits apart from that door and the main entrance. Nervously, Stacy walked towards the reception desk. The young brunette behind the desk, looked up from her terminal and said to Stacy
"Good afternoon. Do you have your appointment card with you?" Stacy handed the card over.
The brunette looked at the card briefly and said "Thank you. You may take a seat."
Stacy sat down and proceeded to stare intently at the water feature, since there was little else to look at in the room. After a few minutes, a tall gentleman came over and said
"Would you come with me please?"
Stacy stood and followed the man as he walked through the bright red door.
Stacy felt slightly disappointed when she discovered an equally non-descript room behind such an ornate door. This room had the same bland grey walls, a desk along the side, with a single wooden chair in the middle of the room. Another bright red door was seen at the back.
"Sit, please" the tall gentleman said.