I had refused to check my phone for the rest of my meal. It got pretty awkward just sitting there by myself eating, and for some time I even felt foolish for eating alone. I had money now – well...some – I could have just ordered this expensive food to go and enjoyed my solitude at home.
When I finally did finish eating, I left a hefty tip. It felt good to do so for once. I usually was only able to tip a few dollars, but this time I tipped a twenty. I mean, being the penny-pincher I am, I had to take a moment to part with the bill. After a couple of seconds though, I realized how easily I would make it back, and the stress of letting it go was no more.
I left my table as neatly assorted as I could, dishes stacked on top of each other so the friendly waiter boy didn't have to do much else. In the parking lot, however, my almost pleasant meal – with the exception of GREY – was concluded with me losing my car entirely.
"Wanda? Oh shoot," I hurried down the steps from the restaurant door, "where did I park?"
I began to frantically scope the parking lot in disbelief. Not only was my car not where I know I parked it, but it was nowhere to be seen. Panicking, I rushed back into the restaurant.
There was only one man dressed differently from the wait staff, receptionist, and chefs. He had to have been the owner.
"Uhm, excuse me, Sir?" I tugged lightly on the back of his sleeve.
"Oh, yes, Ma'am?"
"I drive a light blue Beetle. I could have sworn I parked it second row on the right and two spaces in. It seems to have, um, magically disappeared."
I swatted a stray hair from my face. Moments like this stressed me out, and I tried intensely to fight back tears. The last thing I needed was any unforeseen cost.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. We had to have it towed. You actually parked in a handicap parking space."
My expression went flat. I knew for certain that I had not. However, I was extremely non confrontational in person, and I let it slide. I clenched my jaw before continuing.
"Oh, wow. I must not have seen," I lied, "Do you by chance have the number to the towing company so that I can make arrangements to pick it up?"
The man lead me to the front desk and scribbled down some numbers on a piece of paper. I snatched it from his hands as rudely as I could while still trying to be polite. Kill them with kindness, Ana. Kill them all.
I waited in the parking lot for a cab to pick me up and take me to where Wanda was being held captive without fair trial. When I got there, a heavy set fellow lead me to her after taking my money. I started to regret the twenty dollar tip, but quickly I reminded myself that I had earned 300 dollars for the raffle already – not including the almost 1200 dollars I had coming in this check. That was a pretty good check to close out the rest of this month.
Maybe afterwards I would stop camming. After all, I had what I needed.
After an inconvenient, and incredibly long day I finally arrived back home. I wanted nothing more than to scream into my pillows or go into a food coma on the couch while watching television. I needed to cam though, I reminded myself. It was important that I finish out the month strong...that way if I quit I -
"Crap," I mumbled while sprawled out on my bed, "I can't quit, not yet. I still have the raffle. If I quit before holding up my end of the bargain I would have cheated whoever won out of money."
I sighed, sitting up and looking at my laptop. I guess another week after the raffle couldn't hurt. Besides, just a little extra money for when I did stop camming. I could store it away in case of an emergency.
It was time, I decided. I needed to get on cam. I needed to make some money to replenish the hole left from Wanda's imprisonment – but, most important, I needed to block GREY from my YouCam room. I knew blocking members didn't keep them from watching your room, but it did eliminate their ability to comment or contact you.
I dug through my secret lingerie stash, which was honestly just some nice panties and bras I purchased from Wal-Mart, picking out a cute pink set, and donned Jessie's signature blonde locks. Some clear white stockings went well with my outfit, and in ten minutes I had transformed from boring, broke Ana, to magnificent, looks-off-in-the-distance-while-pumping-gas Jessie.
With that, I logged on to YouCam and turned on my camera. The little blue light on my Logitech c920 lit up, and I was live. My room filled steadily as my regulars began to file in. In ten minutes I had drawn in 100 people. It seemed like a lot to me, but when I watched the popular camgirl's rooms my gatherings always felt meager.
The support was immediately overwhelming as I began to relent to my viewers about the terrible day I – er, Jessie – had endured.
"I went out to eat today, and I know – I know – I parked my car in a non-handicap parking space. And you know what? It got towed! I had to pay to get her back!"
Jessie'sBestie: What bull! Did you kick anyone's ass?
Jessie'sBoy: That's stupid. I would have thrown the food at the guy.
PSAZN: Wow, that is crappy. Sorry.
ZoonBoss: Who do I need to hurt?
I smiled at the regulars who offered their friendship towards me. When I started camming, I knew I would be looked at as a sexual object, but to have people look past the business and see me as an actual person was amazing.
GREY has logged online.
My eyes flitted to the corner of the screen. It was time to block him. I swung my cursor over to his name, waiting to see him enter my room before I blocked him.
When people added you to their friends list, they could see when you logged on. Sometimes they could even get notifications if they had your specific room set to notify them when you went live. It worked the same way for models. If a model added a member, whenever that member logged on they would be able to see it. I had added GREY out of respect and appreciation. Now, I felt regret towards that decision.
GREY is in Lina's room.
"Oh," the words slipped out.
My heart sunk when I read that, and not being able to fight the curiosity, I went to the main page and searched for Lina's icon.
Lina was a top earning cam model. She was so well off in fact that she had been in magazines about tattoos – and of course adult magazines as well. She even had her own lingerie line coming out soon.
The thing about Lina was that she was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. She had a petite waist, no body fat, a perfectly sculpted face, and beautiful medium brown, waist length hair. Lina was basically a Victoria's Secret model who had not been signed.
In her room, I saw her talking fondly of GREY's presence.
"I haven't seen you in almost a month, GREY! Where have you been?"
Her beautiful green eyes sparkled as GREY tipped her two-thousand tokens with the tip note: "Sorry. I became distracted by lesser things. It won't happen again".
It felt like a knife cut into my chest. Lesser things, he called me. I was certain that was about me. To add insult to injury, he tipped her 100 dollars just to say it.
I closed out of the room, not wanting to see anymore. I was determined to have a great night on cam regardless of how crappy of a person GREY was.
"Who wants to tip for shots. Someone should match me," I blurted out.
I wanted to be numb to the day and all of it's awful situations for the night.
It didn't take long before the countdown became nothing but nonsexual goals. 500 tokens per shot, 1000 tokens for a sip, 100 per raffle ticket. I couldn't bring myself to be sexual or enticing in the current mood I was in. However, once I bounced back from being upset, and also stupid drunk, I would be the best cam girl I could. For another two weeks anyway. GREY could suck it.
"You guys," I slurred, "you are all so awesome. I literally love every single one of you."
That wasn't just the booze talking either. I had made well over 350 dollars for the night without even having to touch my boobs. Mission accomplished. On the downside though, I was hideously nauseous from my alcohol filled night of ranting.
As I was saying my goodbyes and getting ready to log off, a familiar named popped up in my chat.
"Oh," I scowled, " and you! I can't stand you. You're such a jerk."
GREY's screen named appeared at the top of the 'Viewers' sidebar.
"You think...you can just tell me...to do this and do that...but who even are you? Just because you can pull money...out of your ass...maybe even other people's asses – I don't know you – you think...you can be a huge...stupid...jerk!"
Several "LOL" messages appeared in my chat. I didn't care how much a fool I was making myself seem like. I was legitimately upset still, even past the drunken stupor.
GREY: Jessie, text me.
"Text yourself asshat!" I frowned.
Jessie'sBestie: Oh, a lover's quarrel.
"I don't think GREY could ever love anyone another himself!"
GREY: Log offline, and text me. Sleep it off, you will embarrass yourself.
GREY is now offline.
"Ugh!" I pouted.
Logging offline was the equivalent of hanging up first. I did as he said though. Not because he said it, but because I was pretty sure I had to throw up and I did actually need some sleep.
Weak minded by means of inebriation, I text him.
"I hate you," I read as the words formed on the screen, "and send."
I hugged the porcelain throne for a few minutes, ridding my body of most of the alcohol I had just consumed. It wasn't pleasant, but I instantly felt better.
BZZ.
GREY: Name a price.
I thought I was lesser things.
GREY: Name a price, Jessie.
I thought, sort of, long and hard about what I wanted in exchange for the end of the raffle.
Okay, fine. I want a Victoria's Secret gift card that's loaded. I also want to be driven around in a limo while I do my shopping.
Oh, and a massage.
GREY: Anything else.
Yes. Double what I've made on the raffle so far.
I picked myself up from the bathroom floor and struggled my way to the couch. There, I would lay until I passed out or death swept over. I may have gotten alcohol poisoning. At least I would have made 900 dollars from the raffle on top of whatever I reminded myself I had made earlier.
BZZ
GREY: Deal. Sleep well, Jessie.
I passed out after reading his last message. I don't know for how long, but when I was woken up, Kate was lightly smacking my cheeks.
"Hey, Ana, did you drink yourself silly tonight or what? Maybe I should have stayed home and partied with you," she laughed.
"Oh, uh," I sat up, wiping the drool from my mouth, "sorry. Rough day today."
"Apparently," she grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and came to sit beside me, "So, guess what! While I was out shopping with some friends today, this amazingly beautiful man came up and started talking to me."
"While you were shopping? Did he work at the store? Was he an employee?"
"Oh my goodness, no. We were sitting down to eat. Anyway, he invited us all to this costume party -"
She kept going, but my head was throbbing so immensely I couldn't focus on anything she was saying. To keep the conversation going so it would end sooner, I nodded and agreed to everything she said.
"So you will come?" The excitement in her voice was like that of a child's in a candy store.
"Yep." I nodded, stumbling my way into my room. "Night, Kate."
I shut the door behind me and fell onto my bed. Before passing out all I could think about was how GREY would pull off his end of the bargain. The dude was loaded, I knew that, but would he really do whatever he could to stop me from making these videos? Lina had tons of videos exposing every part of her body. He didn't seem to mind any of that.
If he really did hold up his end of the bargain, I would call him while I was in the limo. He had begged me to call – I mean, basically – and if there were ever an opportune time that would be it. I would settle things with him.
I would ask why me. Then I would ask for his real name. If he refused to answer me, I would call a taxi from the mall and leave without every contacting him again.
"Mm," I mumbled into my pillow, "the ball is in Jessie's court now, GREY."