JL Short Fiction

Making the Rent [1]

Jennie took a deep breath, steeling her resolve. Lips set into a hard line, she lifted her hand and knocked crisply on the door. She could hear footsteps approaching, but they couldn't blot out her heart pounding in her ears.

Lisa pulled open the door, blinking twice at the sight of Jennie dressed in a black satin robe. "Uh, yes?" she squeaked. She quickly coughed. "Jennie is there something I can do to- uh, for, for. is there anything I can do for you?"

"Were you serious about me posing for you?" Jennie asked quickly, her tone completely businesslike. She kept her manner as serious as she could and found herself struggling to keep her eyes on her rather than looking at the floor.

Lisa stared at her blankly for several heartbeats. "Yes," she finally answered. "I would love to sketch you."

"Three hundred dollars, right?" she asked. "Cash."

Lisa nodded and then groaned and shook her head. "Hanbin would kill me," she said.

"My brother doesn't have anything to do with this," Jennie countered, her expression hard. "I'm doing this on my own. I'm an adult. Neither Hanbin nor my father has any say in my life now."

I'm going to Hell, Lisa thought. "Okay," she said, standing back to let her into her penthouse apartment, "Come in here before someone sees you in that."

Jennie thankfully hurried into the apartment and waited for Lisa to close the door, looking around nervously. Now that she had agreed, this suddenly felt like an asinine way to make money, but three hundred dollars for lying around for an hour or so couldn't be that wrong, no matter how it felt.

Lisa walked stiffly to her bedroom and didn't look back at her as she pulled the comforter off the bed and threw it aside on the floor. She rumpled the black silk sheets and closed her eyes for a split second, taking a deep, hard breath. Then, moving into motion as if she hadn't stopped, she scattered the pillows over the bed as if it were from lovers tangling together in intercourse.

"Lay down," she said, gesturing at the tousled bed, "and I'll just...uh...get my, get my stuff."

Jennie waited until she left the room before slipping off her robe, leaving it pooled at the end of the bed. She climbed on quickly, not wanting her to see her in any lewd position when she walked back inside the room. She carefully arranged herself in the centre of the bed, covering up almost completely with carefully arranged pillows and sheets.

That was how Lisa found her when she came back into the room. her brow wrinkled as she looked over her, seeing nearly none of her golden, decadent flesh in the open.

"What?" Jennie asked as she looked over her, not speaking.

"You said you'd pose nude," Lisa said carefully.

"I am buck naked here! Are you blind?" Jennie snapped, knowing her cheeks were bright red and the blush was quickly traveling down her body.

"Believe me, Jen, I can see just how undressed you are," Lisa said huskily.

"Well, okay, fine," she said, somewhat mollified, "can we just get on with this?"

Lisa sighed in exasperation, leaning her sketchpad against the wall. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to be the nice girl again. But this was Jennie. And Hanbin was her best friend. And she couldn't just push her ethics aside no matter how much her cock was screaming for her to do just that. "Jennie, why are you doing this?" she asked after a long pause.

She scowled. "Just do it."

"Not until you tell me why you need the money. Is it for rent?"

She pursed her lips together tightly, not wanting to answer. "Yes," she finally admitted.