Opening Montage
Theme: "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne
We see Quinn and Jim having a romantic dinner. Next, we see Quinn entertaining clients while Jake beams proudly. We then see Eric trying to boss Helen around, but Helen is having none of it. Cut to Stacy and Chuck holding hands while Sandi looks on enviously. Kevin and Brittany are making out in the girls locker room while Brittany is supposed to be coaching. Cut to Mr. DeMartino going totally beserk. Cut to Quinn having a girls night out with Stacy and Lindy. Montage ends with Quinn's smiling face in front of a pink background. Below that:
Quinn
in
"Quinn's Skin"
written by
WildDogJJ
It's morning in Lawndale and Quinn and Jim are at their apartment having breakfast. Quinn is eating Model Crunch while Jim is having eggs and bacon.
Quinn asked "How can you eat that junk and not gain weight?"
Jim said "It's easy when you spend an hour a day in the gym."
"But I do power yoga and cardio and still have to watch my weight."
"It's simple math. You work off the calories you take in. It's when you don't do that that you gain weight."
Quinn smiles.
"That is such a brain answer."
Jim smiles back.
"Not like you expected any different."
Quinn said "True. So, what are you gonna do today?"
Jim said "I have two job interviews today. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Hopefully, I'll soon have a paycheck again."
"You can do it, Jim. I believe in you."
"Thanks, hon."
Quinn looks at her watch.
"I've gotta go. I'll see you this evening."
She walks up to Jim and kisses him on the forehead.
Quinn said "Bye, honey."
Jim said "Have a nice day, sweetheart."
At the New York City apartment she shares with Jane Daria is sitting on the couch reading a book while Jane is painting on a canvas. The canvas has a psychedlic patchwork of stars blending into a rural landscape. Jane has a frustrated look on her face as she groans. This gets Daria's attention, causing her to look up at Jane.
"Something wrong?"
Jane said "I need to come up with something for the upcoming art gala at the Met but everything I paint is just a variation on something I've already done."
Daria asked "And how is that a problem?"
Jane said "I want to wow the critics this year, but that won't happen if I display something that they've already seen me do. I need to become more diverse. Start showing some range instead of being a one trick pony."
At this point Jane seems to get an idea.
"Hey, Daria, remember that time I asked you to pose nude for one of my paintings?"
"Yes, and my answer is still no."
Jane said "Now, Daria, the human body is nothing to be ashamed of."
Daria said "And my human body is for the eyes of lovers and doctors only."
"Come on, I can't afford to pay someone. Who else would do me a favor for free?"
"Someone with great sex appeal and a massive ego."
Jane grins. She just thought of the perfect candidate.
Music: "Bitches and Money" by Buckcherry
At an office building Jim is seated in front of the hiring manager, a balding man in his sixties.
The manager said "So, Mr. Carbone, what are you willing to contribute to this company?"
Jim said "Well, I am an intelligent and consumer friendly individual who has three years of experience in the financial sector. In that time I've developed a knack for helping people make wise financial decisions."
The manager looks at Jim's resume.
"It says here that you went to Vance University. How did you pay for it? It is one of the most expensive schools in the country."
Jim said "Full academic scholarship."
"And since then your only employer has been the brokerage firm Grace, Sloan and Page."
"That's correct."
The manager looks grim.
He said "I have to be honest, Mr. Carbone, while your education is perfect we'd prefer someone with more experience. If you had stayed at Grace, Sloan and Page longer you'd be a shoo-in. I'm afraid, however, that you were only there three years. From what I understand, you quit shortly after receiving a promotion. Why was that?"
Jim said "It caused me to move to Japan and break up with my girlfriend. I was so miserable that I quit and came back to the States...and got back with my girlfriend."
"That's not good. What we value here is loyalty to the company. A man who leaves a job for a loved one can hardly be called loyal."
Jim looks a little peeved.
"Actually, that shows loyalty to said loved one."
"We'd prefer an employee who puts the company first."
Now, Jim's pissed.
He said "I thought this was an investment bank, not the Mafia."
The manager's unimpressed.
That evening at their apartment Quinn and Jim are having dinner and talking about their days.
Quinn said "So, how'd the interviews go?"
Jim said "The morning interview wasn't too bad. They said they'd let me know in a few days. The afternoon one went south quickly. First, they were uncomfortable with my only having three years experience. Then, they asked why I left Grace, Sloan and Paige. I told them and was accused of being disloyal."
Quinn has a guilty look on her face.
"Jim, I'm sorry."
"What for? You didn't do anything."
Quinn said "I still feel like it's my fault. What if you were blacklisted because of me?"
Jim said "I don't think Tom's that vindictive. If it turns out he is and I was blacklisted, however, I have a trump card: girlfriend whose mother is a lawyer. I doubt I was blacklisted, though. I think I'm just unlucky."
"Don't worry, Jim. Tomorrow's another day."
The phone rings.
Quinn said "I'll get it."
She gets up and answers the phone. Jane is on the other end of the line.
"Hello."
"Hey, Quinn, it's Jane."
"Jane! How are you?"
Jane said "I'm alright. Listen, do you still have any desire to model?"
Quinn said "Not professionally. Why?"
Jane explained "I need to do a painting for an upcoming art expo. I want to do a life portrait. The problem is that Daria won't pose for it and I can't afford to pay someone. How would you like me to capture your beauty on a canvas?"
Quinn's eyes light up.
"You want me to model for one of your paintings?"
"Yep."
Quinn said "Of course I'll do it. Can I come up this weekend?"
Jane said "I'll be expecting you."
Excited, Quinn said "This is great. I get to model."
Jane looks a little guilty.
"There's just one more thing. You'll have to pose nude."
Quinn's jaw drops.
Quinn is very apprehensive about posing nude, even if it is a favor for a friend.
"I need to think about it."
Jane is hopeful.
"So, you'll do it?"
Quinn said "Maybe. Let me think about it and I'll call you back."
"Okay."
They hang up. Jim looks at Quinn.
"What was that about?"
Quinn said "Jane wants me to go up to New York this weekend and pose for one of her paintings."
Jim said "That's great. Why so apprehensive?"
"She wants me to pose nude."
"How is that a problem? After all, you have a great body."
Quinn said "She wants to display the painting at an art expo. People are going to see me naked."
Jim said "So? I've seen you naked and you look incredible."
"This is different. Complete strangers will know what I look like without clothes on."
"Quinn, your bikinis leave very little to the imagination. They only hide your pubic grooming style and the look of your nipples. Your body shape is on full display."
"Jim, you know how I am about overtly sexual stuff."
Jim said "It's just a painting of you without clothes on. It's not like she's asking you to do a porno."
Jim is suddenly thoughtful.
"She isn't, right?"
"No, I wouldn't be doing anything. I'd just be naked."
Jim said "It's your decision, but I fail to see a problem. Whatever you decide you have my full support."
Quinn looks relieved.
She said "It doesn't make you jealous, then? The idea that strangers will see me naked?"
Jim said "What they'll see is an image of what you look like naked, not the actual thing."
Quinn dials a number on her phone.
"Jane, I'm in."
Come Saturday Jane has set up her studio in the living room of her and Daria's apartment. There's an old fashioned red recliner and in front of that an easel with a blank canvas. Jane is waiting for Quinn to arrive. There's a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Quinn and Jim enter.
Jane said "You know, Jim, you didn't have to come along. Since you two are a live-in couple now I can assume you already see her naked on a regular basis."
Jim said "True, but she still has some misgivings about this."
Quinn added "I know it's inconvenient but I just feel more comfortable with him around."
Jane said "I understand. Anyway, there's a bathrobe in my room that you can change into. Daria will be busy with work and grad school until this evening so we have all day to do this."
"Wouldn't it be easier if I just strip now and we get started?"
Jane said "You've much to learn, young padawan. This isn't like posing for Playboy. There's no flash photography involved. This will likely take all day and you'll need to take breaks. I seriously doubt you want to spend all of that time completely naked. This is also why most nudes show the model in a reclining position."
Quinn seems to understand. A few minutes later and Quinn emerges from Jane's room in a bathrobe. She hands her clothes to Jim.
"Would you mind putting these someplace where they won't get dirty?"
"Not at all."
He takes Quinn's clothes and lays them out neatly over the back of the couch, which has been moved to a far corner of the room.
Jane "Okay, here's what I need you to do."
She walks over to the recliner and sprawls out on it. She folds her arms and places her hands behind her head while raising her left leg in a triangular position while he other leg remains prone.
Jane said "Just lay on this recliner and hold this pose as long as you can. Let me know when you need to take a break."
"Okay."
Quinn suddenly has another concern.
"Um, Jane, that's going to show a lot."
Jane gets up off of the recliner.
She said "Don't worry. I don't expect you to touch yourself or anything like that. If I'd wanted to do something pornographic I would've asked Daria to stick around so I could really push the envelope."
"Ewwwww!"
Jane smirks.
"Sorry, couldn't resist."
Jane walks over to the easel.
"Ready to make some art?"
"Yes."
Quinn starts to undo her bathrobe. She opens the robe and lets it drop to the floor. (Sorry I'm not more descriptive, but I'm trying to keep it PG-13.)
Jane said "No wonder every guy who meets you is an instant slave to your every whim."
Quinn walks to the recliner. Jane and Jim watch Quinn assume the pose.
Music: "Beautiful" by James Blunt
Jane works on her painting. She diligently captures every part of Quinn's body on the canvas. Jim likes what he sees. When he smiles Quinn smiles back. Later, they are chatting while taking a break, Quinn wearing the bathrobe. Afterward, Jane is once again painting away. Quinn grows increasingly comfortable in the situation. She is soon so comfortable that she stays naked during the breaks. As we get in to the late afternoon Jane is making the final touches on her masterpiece.
"And...viola. I have now captured Quinn in all of her naked glory."
Quinn picks up her bathrobe and puts it back on.
She asked "Can I see it?"
"Of course."
Quinn and Jim look at the portrait in awe of it's beauty and Jane's talent.
Quinn said "Jane, it's beautiful!"
Jim said "That's because you're beautiful. This actually allows the rest of the world to see what I see when I look at you, a stunning goddess among mortal women."
Quinn blushes at the compliment.
Quinn and Jim, on their way back from New York, have decided to pay Jake and Helen a surprise visit. They are having microwave lasagna for dinner (no way Quinn or Helen will allow Jim to be subjected to one of Jake's culinary experiments).
Helen asked "So, Jim, any luck finding a job?"
Jim said "Despite the low unemployment rate, no. Some rejected me because they feel I don't fit in with the company culture, but that's only a handful. Most of the time it's either that I'm over qualified because of my Ivy League education or I don't have enough experience."
Jake asked "How could three years at Grace, Sloan and Page not count as enough experience?"
Jim explained "When they say "Experience Required" they mean at least a decade. At least it seems like that."
Helen asked "Well, how did you get the last job you had?"
"I was recruited at a job fair at Vance a few weeks before graduating."
Just then, Jim gets and idea.
"Of course, job fairs. I can just attend one of those. Multiple prospective employers right there for the picking."
Quinn, seeing that her parents are grilling Jim, decideds to change the subject.
"Did I mention that we spent today at Daria and Jane's place in New York?"
Jake said "That's great, sweetie. How is your sister?"
"She had to work all day, so we didn't see her. I was there because Jane wanted to do a portrait of me."
Helen said "Wonderful. Why?"
Quinn said "The Metropolitan Art museum has an expo coming up where local artists put their work on display and admission is free."
Quinn suddenly gasps as she realizes she's just said too much, but Jake and Helen don't notice.
Jake said "That's great. We should go, Helen.
Helen agreed "Of course. You girls may be grown now but we can still be supportive parents."
Now Quinn and Jim are both very nervous.
Jim said "I don't think that's such a good idea."
Helen said "Nonsense, it's a great idea."
Quinn said "No, Jim's right. It would be a bad idea for you guys to come."
Jake asked "Why?"
Quinn is visibly sweating bullets at this point.
"Well...um...you see...This painting is...well...a nude portrait."
Helen and Jake are both shocked.
Helen: "WHAT!?"
Jake: "GAH!"
Quinn is now having a heated argument with Jake and Helen while an uncomfortable looking Jim looks on and doesn't dare get involved.
Helen barked "Quinn Louise Morgendorffer, how could you do something like this!?"
Jake panicked "Oh, God! Horny perverts are gonna be staring at my little girl! I'll kill 'em. I'LL KILL 'EM!"
"Jake, calm down! You're going to give yourself another heart attack."
Jake calms down. Helen turns her attention back to Quinn.
"As for you, young lady, I can't believe you would do something like this. It reinforces the old notion that women should be valued only for their looks."
Quinn said "Mom, it's just a painting of me without close on. I admit it seems awkward at first, but when you look at it from a strictly logical point of view it's not really a big deal. Would you object to me posing for a portrait of me laying on a recliner in my current outfit?"
"Don't be ridiculous, sweetie. Of course I wouldn't object to that."
"Then why do you object to this? It's the same thing. The only difference is that I didn't have any clothes on."
"There's a huge difference. It plays in to the notion of women as sex objects."
Jim said "I was there, it wasn't like that. It was actually very tastefully done."
Jake stands up and goes totally ballistic.
"YOU STARED AT MY LITTLE GIRL WHILE SHE WAS NAKED! YOU PERVERT! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL CASTRATE YOU!"
Jake looks like he's about to lunge at Jim but Helen holds out her arm and stops him.
"SIT DOWN, JAKE!"
Jake sits down. Quinn and Jim exchange worried looks.
Helen said "Jake, you're being ridiculous. Quinn and Jim are a twenty-something live in couple. Remember what we were like at that age?"
Jake's eyes go wide.
"GAH! OH, DEAR GOD, NO!"
At this point, Quinn decides she's had enough. She gets up to leave.
"Come on, Jim!"
Helen barked "We're finishing this discussion, young lady!"
Quinn snapped back "Yes, we will, when you and Dad are ready to be adults about this. I'm not a little girl or an ignorant ditz. I'm twenty-three years old, it's my body and my decision. I'm sorry that it upset you, but it was my decision to pose nude."
With that, they leave.
Music: "Stupid Girls" by Pink
Later, at hers and Jim's apartment, Quinn is on the phone.
"...so now Dad wants to kill Jim and Mom's ready for all out war."
Daria is on the other end of the line.
"And that's why I'd never tell them something like this. Did you relapse into your airhead phase?"
Quinn said "I wasn't going to tell them. I mentioned that I posed for a painting and they pressed for details. They were insisting on going to the expo where this will be displayed and I had to tell them why it wasn't a good idea"
Daria said "I remember those days. Morgendorffer dinner conversations, like the Spanish Inquisition but more painful. Did Dad have another heart attack?"
"Thankfully, no. What I really don't get is Mom's objection. She said I was playing into the idea of women as sex objects. What's with that?"
"Tell me, Quinn, are you familiar with second wave feminism?"
"No."
Daria explained "The womens movement has come in waves. The first wave was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The crowning success of this wave was the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. The second wave emerged in the 1960's. This wave fought against things like wage discrimination and sexual harrassment in the workplace while championing reproductive rights. In the 1980's this wave fragmented as many feminists joined the New Right in it's war on pornography, which the feminists saw as another form of male chauvanism. Many peoples definition of pornography, unfortunately, tends to be so broad as to classify any depiction of nudity as pornographic whether it depicts sex or not. Mom was a part of this second wave and as she grew older and more conservative her views on nudity have shifted accordingly."
Quinn said "So, she thinks that by posing nude I'm sending the message that women are sex objects. We all have bodies under our clothes. It's not like I'm inviting everyone who sees the painting to have sex with me."
Daria said "Some people are too irrational to understand the difference. That's what Mom wants to protect you from. You know that in the eyes of a parent you never seem to age past five years old."
"Tell me about it."
Monday morning Jake is in his office when there's a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Quinn enters, making Jake very nervous.
He said "Oh, my, I have a meeting with a client in five minutes. I'd better run."
"Dad, I know that's not true. I looked at your schedule before I came in."
Jake looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Quinn sits down in front of his desk.
Very nervous, Jake asked "So, um, what did you want to talk about?"
"About the other night."
"Um, Yeah, I was hoping we could just pretend that never happened."
Quinn said "Well, I feel the need to explain a few things. I'm sorry if what I did upset you but it's not like anyone pressured me into anything. The decision was my own."
"I know, sweetie. It's just hard to accept that your child is now fully grown. I guess a part of me wished that you'd stay a little girl forever."
Quinn said "Dad, that never happens. I'm still your daughter but I'm also a grown woman now. I didn't do anything wrong and I was not taken advantage of. The whole thing was done very professionally."
"You really need to talk to your mother about this."
"I know, but in addition to being father and daughter we're also business partners. The sooner things stop being awkward, the better."
Jake said "I understand. I was just shocked."
Jake pauses for a moment.
"Um, I'm not gonna have to go to this expo, am I?"
Quinn said "God, that's too awkward for me."
Jake looks relieved.
Later on, Quinn is back in her own office. She's on the phone.
"Hi, Mom."
Helen is on the other end of the line.
"Hello, Quinn."
Quinn said "Mom, we need to talk about this nude painting. You reacted as if I'd been in something pornographic."
Helen explained "I just felt that you'd done something to make yourself seem like a sex object."
"The picture is a tasteful nude that has nothing overtly sexual or erotic about it. Would a picture of me in a bikini be this bad?"
Helen sighs. She sees Quinn's point.
"You know, I'm still not entirely sure why you did something like this."
"Remember David Sorenson?"
"The tutor you had that one summer. Of course."
Quinn said "He once said something to me that's always kind of stuck with me. I wasn't taking the session seriously and when I pointed out to him that I'm popular he said, quote: "The only reason you're popular is your looks, and those won't last forever." It was a long overdue wake up call. By doing this I can look back in old age and be reminded of just what a stunner I was in my youth."
Helen, seeing Quinn's point, smiles.
Friday evening at the New York Metropolitan Museum of art is a banner that reads "Up and Coming Artist Expo 2006." Inside the museum Quinn, Jim and Daria approach Jane. The nude protrait of Quinn is covered.
Quinn asked "Why's it covered?"
Smirking, Jane said "It's a surprise. I was waiting for you to get here before unveiling it."
With dread, Daria said "I can't believe I'm doing this."
Jane said "Trust me, Daria. This idea will appeal to you very much. Now that you're all here I can uncover this thing."
Jane grabs the sheet covering the painting. They all see the full portrait and gasp. Jane has painted on two black squares, one covering Quinn's breasts and the other covering her sex. In each box Jane has written the words "European Verson Only". Cut to a grinning Jane.
"After you left last weekend I decided to make some alterations. Anyone can do a nude, but how many people do one that's also social commentary?"
Daria is impressed.
"I have to say, Jane, it's nice to see art that's brutally honest."
Quinn and Jim both laugh.
Jim said "It's funny because it's true."
Quinn said "Tell me about it."
Daria said "Another indictment of American squeamishness."
They all smile.
Jane said :By the way, Quinn..."
She hands Quinn a poster tube.
"...a little payment for your contribution."
Back in Lawndale late that night Quinn and Jim are in the bedroom of their apartment. Quinn has the poster tube Jane had given her.
Jim said "It was nice of Jane to copy the painting before she altered it."
Quinn said "When I'm all old and crusty I'll be able to look at this and say "That's me when I was 23.""
They tack the poster on the wall. Final shot is the original verson with Jim and Quinn's heads each blocking the view of Quinn's breasts and nether regions.
Next Time
The good news: Jim gets a job. The bad news: one of his coworkers is Kevin.
