Kasper's Prince Charming

Chapter 9 - Strip Tease

"I'm so sorry, Kasper. I thought without internet here you wouldn't find out for a while and I could convince you... Everyone else was on board so easily that the production company assumed you were too. I didn't correct them," Michael explained when I confronted him in the editing room.

He asked me to walk with him so we could get lunch and talk.

"How could you do that? I trusted you more than anyone in my life," I said.

"I know and I'm sorry.... But how the hell did you get a team of crazy lawyers so quickly? They were ready to shut the entire show down. I was getting pissed off calls from every company affiliated with ours. Advertisers too! I was up all night until that Arab guy agreed to meet with us this morning. What the hell happened?" Michael looked at me with amazement.

"I don't know. I just kind of wandered into it..." I filled him in on everything. He listened with rapt attention as an incredulous look swept over his face.

"Holy fuck, Kasper! That's the reality show I should be filming! Do you even know how much that family is worth? California twink taken in by wealthy Arab royalty. If I could get you back to Satra and embedded with a camera crew... " Michael started to say. But I cut him off.

"No fucking way! I don't think they want anything to do with you. I'm not sure I do either." I said.

"It's all been taken down. There is no mention or picture of you on the porn site. It's all been scrubbed. I swear. The production company was ready to pull the whole show over it. We're on probation right now. I just let everything get away from me. I really am sorry." Michael gave me puppy dog eyes.

He offered a hug. I took it. He had been there for me many times before.

"I'll understand if you don't want to come back to the show. But you should know that the first episode got a big following and the online comments seem to love you. You're a lot of people's favorites and they voted for you to avoid the first punishment," Michael laughed.

"They liked me, really? What is the punishment?" I was a little intrigued.

"It's pretty lame this week. Three of the guys have to go around in their underwear and do the house chores. It's pretty mild, but we'll think of better ones for next week," Michael said.

I agreed to come back. I knew Amir would be upset, but if I could hang in for a few weeks I'd have enough money to decide what I wanted to do when I got back home.

I couldn't go back to my parents in defeat and beg to move back with them.

I found the french stylist on his coffee break. He looked excited to see me and noted I was late.

"I like the clothes. This is good, but come and let me fix your hair," he said as he waved me to an empty station.

He pulled my hair up and braided it loosely on top. He added a little black liner to my eyes and rubbed in the sunblock in a few areas where I'd missed spreading it.

"Perfect. I like this shirt on you, so sexy." He rested his hands on my shoulders as he eyed me in the mirror with a nod of approval. "You will win his heart." He was talking about Niles, but I was thinking about Amir.

I was still a little upset that he really thought I was incapable of choosing this for myself. He'd done everything but call me an idiot.

When I showed up to the filming I got a few angry looks from some of the guys. I guessed it was over the threats the lawyers had used of shutting down production for what they'd done. I walked into a scene where Niles was showing the guys his modeling portfolio from when he was younger. He stopped when he saw me wander in.