Friday, July 10, 2009

No. 2: Virgin Mari


Chapter One
Mari Atkinson moaned loudly as she laid on top of David Logan and the two made love. Both were breathing heavily and Mari was soaked in sweat. David’s hands were wrapped around the slats of the headboard and Mari’s were wrapped around his.

“Oh! Ah! I’m…I’m coming,” Mari gasped.

David let go of the headboard, hugged Mari and rolled over so that he was on top of her. He slammed into her several more times as both of their orgasms mounted. Mari let out a breathy scream as she felt David ejaculate inside her. The two laid in bed to hug and kiss. Mari gasped as David withdrew.

“Now I am going to be late for work,” Mari said as she looked into David’s dark brown eyes.

“What can I say? You drive me wild,” David growled and the two kissed again.

Mari pulled away. “Okay, enough of the clichés. I seriously need to get ready for work.”

David rolled off of Mari and she got out of bed. Mari was a short woman with an average build but her shoulder-length blond hair and teal blue eyes complemented the adorable features of her face. Mari was a publicist for some of the most well-known stars in New York City and she was good at balancing work, friends and a highly active private life. As Mari washed the sweat and odor off of her body, David put this clothes on, wrote a quick good-bye note and left Mari’s apartment.

Mari got out of the shower and went into the bedroom, wrapped in a towel. Her hair was wet and stringy. She read the note David left and promptly dropped it into the wastebasket. She began humming and finished getting ready for work.




When Mari finally got to work, she was immediately greeted by Renee Waterston and Daniel Supiero, two of her assistants. Renee was a plain girl with mousy brown hair and freckles dotting her face. David was a wide-eyed young man who had the hopes of getting one of Mari’s clients in the next few months.

“It’s about time you got here,” Renee said. “We tried calling your house and your cell phone and you answered neither.”

“Well, I didn’t answer my home phone because I was driving and my cell phone was off. Why? What’s so important?” Mari asked.

“The meeting was moved. You have approximately twenty minutes to get from here to 107th Street!” Renee panicked.

“Relax. It’s a routine meeting,” Mari got a casual smile on her face. “Danny, get over to wherever the meeting is going to be and hold down the fort. Renee and I will get there as soon as possible,” Mari calmly ordered. Danny nodded and took off.

“What are we going to do?” Renee asked.

“We, my friend, are going to get me some cappuccino and a paper—I forgot to grab my Washington Post today,” Mari tapped Renee on the head with the New York Times she held in her hand.

“But we need to get to that meeting, Mari,” Renee urged.

“Danny can cover for me and if they refuse to wait then Danny can make the deal. I trust him and it’ll be good practice for him,” Mari was perfectly calm while Renee was wringing her hands together and nervously moving her eyes around the room.

Mari and Renee stood at the counter waiting for her hazelnut cappuccino. Renee continued nervously looking at her watch while Mari calmly looked around the coffee shop and hummed. As she looked around her eyes met with a guy in one of the other lines. They smiled at each other and the waitress handed Mari her coffee.

“Good! Finally! Now we can go!” Renee said.

“Wait. I see something else I want,” and Mari went over to the guy she saw.

“Aargh!” Renee moaned.

Mari walked up to the guy who was still standing in line. “Hi,” she said with a big smile.

“Hi,” he replied back with a similar smile.

Mari pulled out one of her business cards and handed it to him. “I’m Mari Atkinson and was hoping we could get together for an…intimate meeting, you know?”

“That sounds really nice. I think I’d enjoy that,” he accepted the card and took a quick look at it. “I’m Justin Loeb, a photographer for New York magazine. Sorry, I don’t have business cards.”

“That’s okay. Give me a call later this afternoon and we’ll coordinate our plans,” Mari added a wink to the end of the sentence. “I’ll see you later Justin.”

She turned and joined back up with Renee. “What is wrong with you?” Renee screamed.

“I am a healthy young woman, Renee and sometimes you got to grab the bull by the horns…or in this case, penis,” Mari smiled as she and Renee left the coffee shop.





Chapter Two
Jessica Clark was the closest thing to a rival Mari had at the agency. Jessica was a very beautiful woman with curly red hair, full lips, hazel eyes and a body that wouldn’t quit. Danny had been attracted to her since the day they met. Danny, Renee and Jessica sat together in the lounge in the bottom floor of the agency.

“So Mari’s not handling that client anymore?” Jessica asked.

“Nope. He specifically requested me as his publicist,” Danny answered. “But don’t cry for Mari, she still has plenty of work.”

“Well, congratulations Danny. I’m glad you’re getting out from under the shadow of that slut. Unlike some people,” Jessica looked at Renee.

“I like working for Mari,’ Renee defended. “And she’s not a slut.”

“Oh whatever. Whore then,” Jessica shrugged. “Speaking of Mari, where is she?”

“She had a date with a guy she met this morning,” Renee said.

“I retract my ‘whore’ statement against the little slut,” Jessica smiled.

Renee shook her head, got up and headed to the bathroom. Danny made sure she was gone before he scooted closer to Jessica. “Jessica? I was wondering if, as kind of a congratulatory event, you’d like to go out and have dinner with me,”

“I don’t think that would be very wise because now that you have your own client, we are now rivals and that may be a conflict of interest. Besides you might beholden me to some expectations that I just can’t fulfill,” she glanced at her watch, uncrossed her legs and stood up. “I have to go. See you tomorrow, Danny. Say good-bye to Renee for me.”

Jessica left and Danny sat alone for awhile as he waited for Renee to return. “Jessica return?” asked Renee.

“Yeah. I’m gonna bag her someday,” Danny convinced himself. “What do you think Mari’s doing?”

“From what I remember, his name is Justin and he’s a photographer,” Renee said.

“At least one of us is getting lucky tonight,” Danny sighed.




Mari unlocked the door to her apartment and invited Justin in. He gasped when he saw Mari’s spacious apartment overlooking Central Park. “Oh my God, you live in a palace!” he exclaimed. “I live in a water-stained apartment above a bar.”

“I’ve been blessed,” Mari said. “It’s bigger than I need but I wanted something overlooking the park. I’m gonna get comfortable. Feel free to turn on the TV or something.”

Mari went into her bedroom and Justin went to the doors leading to the balcony. He walked out and looked out over the park. He looked down at Fifth Avenue. Mari came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Enjoying the view?” she asked. “On clear, quiet nights you can actually hear and see the rapes and murders.”

“This has been a great night, Mari. There’s something about you…”

“Something about Mari, that’s very original,” Mari smiled.

“Ssh. You know what I mean. You’re different from any girl I’ve met,” Justin bent down and they kissed.

“Let me show you the bedroom,” Mari whispered.




Chapter Three
Mari and Renee were in her office discussing new promos requested for a perfume named after one of their clients. “None of these is even remotely what our client want to be portrayed as,” Mari said.

“She signed off on this stupid endeavor and now it’s going to hurt her career,” Renee said looking between two ad pages. “How was your date with the coffee shop guy?” she asked.

“Justin? It was amazing. He was so nice and charming unlike the others who are nice but losers or wonderful but jerks. Justin was a nice medium. I think I’ll be seeing more of him,” Mari smiled.

“It’ll be nice finally seeing you settle down,” Renee said.

“Who said anything about settling down?” Mari smiled bigger.

Danny came into Mari’s office. “Guys, come look at my office.” The three walked down a hallway, turning several corners until finally coming to Danny’s new office that smelled of mothballs. Fans were set up to air out the room faster. “They assure me that the smell will go away.”

The office was big but not as big as Mari’s. It was also located far away from any known life. “It’s really nice Danny and I know you earned it,” Mari said.

“And in addition to the client I stole from you, I’m getting three others and a shared one with Jessica,” Danny said.

“Ah, Jessica. Late night talking over possible promotions, dinners together and finally, the moment you’ve been…” Mari gasped passionately and slowly exhaled, “…waiting for.”

“I appreciate your faith in me but somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Danny said.

“Mari Atkinson?” asked a booming voice coming from behind them.

“Yes?” Mari turned around and saw a tall, handsome man in a suit with dark brown wavy hair standing behind her. Mari was halted by his attractiveness.

“Someone told me I’d find you down here. I’m your new assistant Chase Ruccollo,” Chase introduced.

“You’re hot,” Mari said quietly. “Well, it’ll be good working with you. You seem to be an upstanding, hard-working, attractive young man,” Mari said and shook Chase’s hand. “I look forward to working with you.”

“And I, you Mari Atkinson. I’m gonna go get set up in my cubicle,” Chase pointed behind him, smiled and walked away.

“Ooh, he was cute,” Renee said.

“And he’s all mine,” Mari smiled.




Jessica and Danny sat in her office and were arguing over how to handle their shared client. “Look, Daniel, I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you so I think I know what the people are looking for from us,” she demanded.

“But it’s all the same old stuff. We have a chance to do something really intriguing with this client…”

“As long as they agree with it,” Jessica interrupted Danny.

“Yes, yes. Of course. Look, at least hear me out. Listen to what I have to offer, if you like it we’ll run it by the client, if she doesn’t like it, I’ll shut up about the old procedure.”

Jessica sat still and looked between Danny and a small stack of papers on her desk. She took a deep breath and nodded her head. “Okay. All right I will hear you out. What do you have to offer?”

“Dates,” Danny said.

“Dates? You honestly think that’s original? Dates with who?”

“Anyone. Guys, girls—make the press confused. The paparazzi will be all over her. ‘Is she straight? Gay? Both?’ She may get some negative PR for looking like a whore but that’s when we’ll up the virginal aspect,” Danny explained. “Do you like it?”

“No, I don’t,” Jessica said honestly. “But I think we should try it. Run it by her.”

“Great. I’ll call her agent and set up an appointment for tomorrow,” Danny smiled and left Jessica’s office.




Chase was thrusting hard into Mari as her short screams of pleasure rang through Chase’s bedroom. Mari had a hard time holding onto Chase’s back so her nails dragged down his back every so often. His hands caressed her breasts and fingered her brown nipples as she moaned and positioned herself to take even more of him. She came and Chase ejaculated inside her. He rested on top of her for a few minutes before pulling out and rolling off of Mari.

“I’ll be right back,” Mari kissed Chase and got off the bed to go to the bathroom. When she came back she climbed back into bed next to Chase and covered up. They snuggled together and fell asleep. Mari awoke in the middle of the night and licked her lips. “Gotta pee,” she groaned.

She closed the door of the bathroom and sat down on the toilet. She began urinating in the complete darkness of the bathroom and Mari rested her head on her hand.

“Mari?”

Mari’s head jerked up and she looked up into the darkness. “What?” she replied.

“You need to stop,” said the voice.

“Chase?” Mari smiled a little and reached for the light switch.

“I want you to stop having sex,” the voice now had an ominous tone to it. “It’s going to kill you.”

“What are you talking about? Having sex makes me feel good and it makes the other person feel good,” Mari justified.

“The next time you have sex Mari, you will die.”

Mari finally got the light on and looked around the empty, silent bathroom. She wiped, washed her hands and rejoined Chase in bed. Chase was still sound asleep. Mari stared off into space from bed as the mysterious voice saying ‘you will die’ echoed through her brain.




Chapter Four
Mari and Renee stood in the airport terminal at JFK. Renee carried one suitcase while Mari held another. “I still don’t understand why you’re doing this,” Renee said.

“I really don’t either but it’s something I should do. Besides, it gets me away from the city and into the glorious wilderness of New Hampshire,” Mari took the suitcase from Renee. “I’ll see you in two weeks. I left instructions about the clients on my desk. I’ll see you later.” Mari turned and headed for the gate with Renee waving behind her.

Renee went back to the office and was approached by Chase outside of Mari’s office. “I heard Mari’s taking a couple weeks off. What’s the problem?” he asked.

“Nothing’s wrong. Mari just needed a vacation. She has a very high demand job,” Renee said.

“Okay. You need me for anything?”

“Yeah. Mari wants you to handle this client,” Renee handed Chase a folder containing ad promos and 8x10” glossies of a beautiful Egyptian woman. “She should be fairly easy to handle. Good luck.”

Chase took the folder and left the office. Danny immediately came in. “Seriously, what’s the story on Mari’s vacation?” he asked.

“Shut the door and sit down. She’s really embarrassed about it but after she slept with Chase, she started hearing voices,” Renee began.

Danny gasped. “That’s the first sign of syphilis!” he said.

“No, it’s not. Mari doesn’t have an STD. Mari went on a Virginal Expedition. It’s a wilderness retreat where women go to learn to stop having sex. When they leave the retreat, they can leave as born-again virgins. That’s what Mari went for,” Renee explained.

“Mari wants to be a virgin again? And she’s doing it from a ‘whores anonymous’-type retreat?” Danny asked.

“In layman’s terms…” Renee sighed. “Don’t say anything to anyone about it because she is really embarrassed about it.”

“I understand. I’m embarrassed just hearing about it. I have to go. I gotta meet Jessica and one of our clients for lunch so I’ll see you later,” Danny got up and opened the door to the office. “Ha! Born-again virgin. Classic Mari,” he laughed.




Danny and Jessica sat across from Alessandria Kinski, a raven-haired beauty from Brazil. Her olive skin glowed in the dimly lit restaurant. “The reason for this lunch is to go over an idea we…I came up with to get more publicity,” Danny said. Danny leaned forward, glanced at Jessica and cleared his throat. “How would you feel about dating other women?”

Alessandria was silent and took a while to absorb Danny’s question. “But I am not a homosexual,” Alessandria sounded confused.

“We know and we don’t want you to be homosexual,” Danny convinced.

“Yeah,” Jessica began, “we want you to be bisexual.”

“What is bisexual?” Alessandria asked.

“It’s where you like both men and women,” Danny explained. “The plan is to show you out with both men and women. The press will go wild trying to figure out if you’re gay or not.”

“But I’m not gay,” Alessandria said.

“We know but this will be wonderful publicity for you,” Danny reassured.

“If you want to go through with it,” Jessica said. “If you don’t want to do this we can always work out something else.”

Without hesitation Alessandria nodded. “Okay, I’ll do it. Just tell me what to do.”

“Come to our office tomorrow and we’ll get you all set up,” Danny said. “Until then, enjoy the lunch and have a quality rest of the day.”

As Jessica and Danny left the restaurant, Jessica looked at Danny. “You perked up there at the end,” she said.

“I get to coach a very attractive and beautiful woman to be a lesbian. I finally have a purpose in life.”




Chapter Five
Meredith, New Hampshire was a small town in Belknap County along the coast of Lake Winnipesaukee. The first two hours of the women’s retreat was spent being introduced to everyone. Mari couldn’t help but laugh because most of the women there were about to get married and wanted to be virgins for their husbands. Before the evening circle gathering, Mari went up to the bar and stood next to a middle-aged, tall, blond woman. “I didn’t know this place was going to make me vomit,” Mari chuckled.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night—go for it,” the lady said. “Why are you here?”

“You may think this is crazy but I heard a voice telling me that if I had sex one more time, I would die,” Mari said.

“Oh, yeah,” the woman suddenly clutched the underside of her left breast, “this boob said if I had sex once more, she’d leave. The right one doesn’t care but I don’t even like it when they go on vacation.” Mari looked at her with her eyebrow raised. “Hi, I’m Meredith Ewels.”

“Mari Atkinson. My boobs don’t talk.”




Later, gathered around a bonfire, the head counselor was explaining what the next two weeks would be about. “Now we’re not going to be going through this alone. We are going to have sponsors to help us through any rough periods of our abstinence,” the counselor said.

“Sponsor? I signed up for a revirginization camp, not A.A.,” Mari whispered to Meredith.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be your sponsor. It’ll be fun,” Meredith said.

“Not too much fun, I hope. That’s what brought me here.”

“Your sponsor will be there for you if you ever have any urges. For most of you, this will be easy, but for some…”

“Me!” Mari interrupted, raising her hand.

“Yes,” the counselor smiled uneasily, “for some of you this will be difficult.”

“I do love the cock!” Mari said gruffly.

“Now before we go to dinner, I want you to sit with your sponsor and talk about what made you decide to become a reborn virgin and describe what you will now look for, when you want to lose your virginity…again,” the counselor smiled.

Mari and Meredith sat down on the grass and looked at each other. “So why are you really here Meredith?” Mari asked.

“I’ve never had a proper sexual relationship. I lost my virginity when I was fifteen to an uncle I only saw once. Since then, my relationships have been horrible because I’m a neurotic in bed. Unless I am in control, I am what one boyfriend called a ‘dead-fuck’, and I cry if I feel them come inside me so I make the guy pull out. I’m just hoping this puts me one step closer to keeping a relationship—especially a sexual one,” Meredith explained.

“Wow. And I’m here just because I’m a huge slut. I’m sorry Meredith,” Mari apologized.

“Don’t be. This is just one more step to a hopefully normal life,” Meredith smiled.

“Well I’ll be here for you. Where do you live?”

“New York. Along the East River.”

“Me too. Only I live on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park.”

“Wow! What do you do for a living?”

“I am a public relations representative for celebrities,” Mari said.

“Okay, now I think you’re lying,” Meredith laughed.




Chapter Six
Danny tossed the tabloid magazine onto the desk in front of Alessandria. She picked it up and looked at the small picture of her and lesbian singer Donna Corday holding hands.

“We couldn’t knock Angelia Jolie’s lips off the cover,” Danny admitted, “but we got you on the cover.”

“I had a really good time, too. Donna is an interesting person. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

“Guaranteed but for now you’ll be seen with a man and you will have to kiss him so the questions can start then you’ll have to do it all over again with Donna,” Danny explained.

“No problem,” Alessandria said.

Danny smiled big. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“A little bit, yes,” Alessandria giggled.

“Whatever. You have a photo shoot at the Kaplan Building so get on over there and we’ll talk tomorrow about your man date,” Danny escorted Alessandria to the door and led her out into the hallway. Jessica came up behind him and watched Alessandria depart. “Do you think if I recruited her as a lesbian, I could get the mini-fridge?” Danny asked.

“What?”

“Nothing. So is Alessandria man-date all set up?”

“Yep. Tomorrow night she’ll be out with that new country singer. You know, the guy who always wears the hat,” Jessica said. “Do you like her?”

“Alessandria? At first I thought it’d be great but I like her as a friend, nothing more. Why? Do you?” Danny jokingly asked.

“Kinda,” Jessica shrugged.

“What? But you’re straight!”

Jessica just shrugged again.




Renee and Mari drove from JFK Airport through the crowded New York streets. Mari was regaling Renee of stories from revirginization camp and of Meredith.

“I’m glad you had a good time,” Renee said.

“Yep, I met some great people, made a new friend and the best thing about it,” Mari smiled, “is I’m not at all one bit horny.”

“Well that’s why you went. However when you get back, you have both Justin and Chase vying for your heart so you’ll have to figure out what to do with them.”

“Well, they will just have to understand that this is important to me and they have to wait until I’m married. I’m a new Mari Atkinson, Renee.”

“Either way, I’m glad you’re back because I am not cut out for the PR life. Danny had to help me,” Renee confessed.

“Do you want to come to dinner with me and Meredith? I want to introduce my friends to her.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there…”




Chapter Seven
“Why are you leaving early?” Renee asked Mari. Mari had been home for nearly a month and everything had reverted back to normal for everyone. Mari had started seriously dating Justin but remained good friends with Chase.

“I’ve just been feeling a little under the weather the last week or so,” Mari said.

“You probably got Lyme disease from being up in the woods with ticks,” said Danny.

“I wasn’t bitten by a tick, Danny,” Mari sighed. “While I’m gone I want you two to work together on Eric Throckmorton…”

“What the hell kind of name is that?” Danny interrupted.

“That’s actually what you’ll be helping with. He wants to change his name and wants a listen of suggestions.”

“We can do that. Hope everything’s okay with you, Mari. See you tomorrow,” Renee said. Mari waved and smiled sickly as she left her office. “We’ll meet at my place. What do you like to drink?”

“Dark beer. Pretty much anything dark beer.”

“Okay, I’ll pick up some beverages and we’ll meet at my place at eight.”

“I’ll be there. I have to go meet Jessica and Alessandria so I’ll see you later.”

Danny left the office and went to Jessica’s office where she and Alessandria were seated. “You’re a little late Danny but better late than never. Our ‘straight lesbian’ campaign is putting Alessandria on the front page but now it’s seeming more like a gimmick so Alessandria has agreed to enter into a long-term relationship,” Jessica began.

“I don’t want anyone entering into a relationship just for the sake of stardom. I can’t condone this,” Danny said.

“Don’t worry. It is a mutual relationship and I am relieving myself from her PR duties. You are going to completely in charge of Alessandria’s public relations,” Jessica said.

“Why?” Danny questioned.

“Because Jessica is my girlfriend and she felt it would be a conflict of interest,” Alessandria said.

Danny was silent as he looked back and forth at Jessica and Alessandria then left the office.




Renee sat on the edge of her bed naked with her face in her hands. Danny came into the bedroom only in boxers and carrying two bottles of water.

“Here’s some water. Are you okay?” Danny sat down next to Renee and put his arm around her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just…I haven’t had sex since I was in college and I honestly thought I would never have sex again until I found my true love,” Renee said.

“I understand. Look, I’m sorry if I…But I don’t regret it. You were so wonderful and beautiful. I would do you again in a heartbeat.”

Renee looked up at Danny and smiled. “Thank you. We came here to work so maybe we should. You put some pants on and set up the dining room table. I’ll get dressed and meet you out there.”

Shortly, Danny and Renee were sitting on her couch, drinking some dark beer and listening to the radio while a portfolio lay on the coffee table. “This is not how I pictured my life.”

“What do you mean? You seem to have it pretty good. I wouldn’t be complaining,” Danny said.

“Compared to the woman I work with, I’m grotesque. I’ve only had sex two times—eight years apart—and I am not really happy with my job,” Renee admitted.

“Okay, first of all, you are extremely attractive and if you are really unhappy working there, quit. I’ll miss you and so will Mari but we can still hang out together,” Danny said. “Look, my life didn’t come out the way I wanted. After five years I finally got my own clients; I have turned down offers from beautiful women because of my infatuation with Jessica and now I may have begun the end of a good friendship.”

“What do you mean? It was just sex and I’m not going to let a trivial thing like sex get in the way of our friendship,” Renee chuckled.

“Making love to you felt so right. I don’t think I could ever go back to just being friends,” Danny stated.

“Then what are we gonna do?” Renee asked. Danny leaned into Renee, they closed their eyes and kissed.




Chapter Eight
Mari entered her office with a wry smile on her face. Renee was sorting files in Mari’s cabinets. “Hello, Renee. How’s everything going?”

“Better than I expected,” Renee brushed her hair behind her ear and Mari noticed that Renee’s hair was down and not pulled back into a ponytail like usual.

“Running late this morning?”

“A little. I had a long night,” Renee smiled.

“Oh, yeah. Danny was over,” Mari said nonchalantly.

“How’d you know?” Renee turned.

“I’m the one who made you work on that client, remember?” Mari said. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Danny and I slept together last night…”

“Oh my God! Renee got some!” Mari got closer to her friend. “Did you come?”

“That’s not the point, Mari but good God yes! We decided to start dating and just see where it goes but enough about me. How did your doctor’s appointment go?”

“I’m pregnant.” Mari said.

Renee and Mari both shrieked and hugged each other. “How far along are you?”

“Only about a month.”

“Who’s the father?”

Mari shrugged.

“You don’t know who the father is?”

“It’s either David, Justin or Chase. I’ve called them and I’m gonna tell them tonight. Neither one is gonna love the idea,” Mari said.

“So you’re gonna keep it?”

“Of course!”

“I just thought of something. You’re pregnant but you’re a born-again virgin so does that make you the virgin Mari?” Renee then busted out laughing.

Mari rolled her eyes and left the office.