“Would you help me be more like you? I’ll pay you five-thousand dollars.”
I’d worked myself up for two weeks in order to even talk to Sheri Bremmer. She was the most popular and outgoing person that I knew. I could tell that she loved life and that life loved her. So did about two dozen of the men and women in our marketing department, and in the case of the men it didn’t apparently matter whether they were married or not.
Sheri studied me and carefully said, “You’re Brianna, right?”
I nodded and forced a smile. “Brianna Ashley Porter.”
“And you want to PAY me to help you to be like ME?” There was great disbelief in her voice.
I nodded again. “It’s all I can afford. If it costs more, I can pay it off over time.”
Sheri held her head in her hands for a moment while thinking. This apparently was not an easy sell. I wish I’d had more money to offer.
Sheri finally said, “Why me?”
“You’re so happy all the time. You smile and have something fun to say with everybody. I’ve watched you. You’re smart, too. People like you and even love you. The guys all want to date you. You’re popular. You have a fabulous wardrobe, although some of the clothes are pretty risqué. You use makeup to perfection. I know you use the company gym, so I started to do that, too. Your body is like perfect, whereas I need some reshaping. You’re my idea of a perfect woman.”
Sheri studied me. I didn’t think I was all that bad. I wasn’t badly overweight or anything. I thought I looked all right. I just lacked confidence and all sorts of social skills.
Sheri shook her head again. “What prompted this?” She gestured to the chair next to her desk. She had one of the larger cubicles in our office and was leading one of the hot marketing projects for Knightsbridge, our company.
I sat. “My mom and dad have always tried to get me to be more outgoing — an extrovert, and to take bold steps. They just sent me a framed picture of a scared turtle hiding in its shell. Above the turtle is the slogan ‘No Guts, No Glory’. I decided that at my age it was now or never; I’m twenty-four. I have to be bold. I need help to do that. It’s scary and I should have done something way before now, but I didn’t. I’ve been very shy and introvertive. I haven’t been social at all, and certainly not done anything sexual. I’m not even sure what to do, and I just know you’ll have thousands of suggestions. I need your help.”
“Brianna, I’m not sure you want to do what you’re asking. I am far from a good role model. Some might consider me a terrible example to emulate. I do have my own insecurities, but I’ve learned how to hide them.”
“Will you teach me how to do that?”
Sheri sighed. “Brianna, what is your background?”
I said, “The short version is that I’m from Middleton, Kansas, age twenty-four, valedictorian in high school and college where I graduated summa cum laude, the latter in business and marketing. I interviewed here at Knightsbridge and took the job because the money was good and it looked like I could keep my head down and disappear. Now, I know that’s not what I should be doing if I want to be happy.” Tears came to my eyes and I choked up, “I HAVE to change. I don’t want to die a friendless old maid.”
Sheri studied me and said, “I was a B-minus student in school. I was too wrapped up with social things and cheerleading. What did you do beside study?”
I cringed slightly and got hold of my emotions, “I was in the chess club, and studied about computers and their application to marketing and sales. I built several websites for my friends and helped the college with theirs. No one really taught that kind of stuff in my college; I learned it on my own.”
Sheri swore under her breath but I heard her, “Shit. I’m dumb as a stump compared to this girl.”
Sheri looked at me and I kept quiet to let her think. She finally said, “I’ll do it, but hold onto your money. If you really want to keep up with me, you’re going to need it for other things we’ll be buying. You should know that my close friend Maryann will help.”
I smiled, “Thank you. I know who Maryann is. How do we start?” I figured I was a sympathy case for her.
“We start by me thinking about how to start. In the meantime, confirm to me that if I tell you to do something, that you’ll do it.”
“I promise.” I would do anything, too. I just had to change, and if my role model had an idea, I’d try it. No guts, no glory.
Sheri said, “All right, meet me after work — five o’clock here, and we’ll talk over a martini at Epoch. My roommate and best friend Maryann will probably join us. As you may know, she works in finance.”
I nodded. Epoch was a cocktail lounge about a mile down the road from our offices. Many of the people in the company stopped by there after work, but I’d never even been in the place. I only knew about that by hearing others mention it at lunch.
I may as well have not worked for the rest of the day thinking about what Sheri was going to have me do. On an impulse I’d agreed to do anything that she suggested. I kind of guessed that she could be a little wild, but I hoped that didn’t extend to her helping me. Then again, I was just too conservative and maybe that was what I needed. I probably needed ‘wild’.
At five o’clock, I found Sheri in her cubicle wearing only panties and a very thin bra that revealed everything. She seemed unperturbed at my arrival and her state of undress. “Hi Brianna. I’m just changing my clothes so I’m dressed the way I want to be for the Epoch. You need to dress for the environment you’re going to be in. I’ll show you, but tonight you have on what you have on.”
I looked down at my own clothing, in this case a simple mid-calf dress with tiny flowers randomly scattered around as the design. I was wearing dull, black, almost-heelless flats. They were comfortable. My mom called them sensible shoes. Sheri was dressing as though she were going out on a serious date.
I asked, “Do you have date? We could do this another night if you do.”
“No, no,” she insisted. “Tonight, this is fine. You know this place. I want to look my best for the guys that show up there. Who knows what might happen?”
I said in a near whisper, “I’ve never been inside Epoch. I only know where it is.”
Sheri paused and studied me. She muttered about starting to see the scope of the problem. She spent five minutes on makeup after having me follow her to the ladies’ room. She told me what she was doing to her hair, eyes, lids, cheeks, and lips, which ended up highly glossed. She used a little of her cosmetics on me. I thought I was beyond hope and almost cried at my insecurity. I was to do the same after that day. I was also to get contact lenses, but I was ‘allowed’ to wear large sunglasses, even pushing them up into my dark hair.
In the end, she had on a very short skirt, very high heels, a nearly see-through blouse, and a black sequined vest to actually hide her nipples — sort of. She looked really pretty. I wondered whether I could ever look so good.
I followed Sheri in my car to the Epoch. As we walked in, I asked, “Are you sure you even want to be seen with me? I’m so Plain Jane.”
“I think you and I are going to have fun, and soon enough you’ll have your own look to be in a place like this. I’m fine and as of today you are my protégé.”
As the door to the place opened, we were assaulted by a blast of music. I knew I’d have to yell to be heard. We strolled in, and while the music was very loud, I did get used to it and even found that we could talk rather than yell at each other.
Sheri said, “Maryann got a last-minute dinner date, so she won’t be joining us. Do you know her; she works in finance?”
I shook my head. “I know who she is, but I’ve never met her. ”
“You’ll like her. She’s even more of a slut that I am.”
Sheri’s language shocked me. She led me to a stand-up cocktail table that was away from the large speakers blasting music at the bar area and somewhat away from the other tables. The place was only about half full, so we weren’t crowded. We immediately had a waitress asking our drink order. I started to order a Diet Coke. She waved away my order and got both of us a Cosmo before I could even think about what had happened. Our drinks arrive five minutes later.
Sheri and I both sipped. I liked this drink. It went down too easy.
She said, “I have some questions. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No,” I replied. “Never have had one of those.”
I thought Sheri would fall over backwards. “You’ve NEVER had a BOYFRIEND? How could you not and be twenty-four? You’re not bad looking, in fact you’re kind of cute.”
“Thanks, I think. I just never knew what to say to a guy. I never went out much. Mostly, I studied or played chess.”
“Are you a virgin?”
“Yes. I’ve never done anything with a guy other than a goodnight kiss after one of my rare dates.”
Sheri sighed and asked, “Do you do any sports — tennis? Golf? Jogging?”
I shook my head.
“Do you have any special friends — male or female?”
“I have a girlfriend I went to high school with and we keep in touch, but I don’t see her very regularly. She was a nerd, too. We talk on the phone occasionally — once a month, maybe. I’m friendly with the people that I work with. I think they like me. I guess I’m too introverted, huh?”
Sheri rolled her eyes and I knew my responses were not what she expected to hear.
I explained further. “Sheri, my parents lived a very simple rural life. I was told I was normal and that I should attend church, read and study, and go to the regional school, and then the nearby college, and that was my life. I lived at home. I was discouraged from dating, but not forbidden. I did go to two proms in high school, but they were no big deal except I had to learn how to dance. We had just gotten the Internet then, and I could watch dance videos and teach myself. I did about the same in college.
“So, I was a very simple person, and then I graduated and moved here. I came to the city for various reasons — touring, museums, the aquarium, and such. There’s so much to do here.
“I’ve also discovered there’s so much that I’ve been missing. I’m trying to take it all in and I started to watch other people. I realized I was not the person I wanted to be in the process. I looked for potential role models, and I found you were close to my ideal.”
Sheri had paid careful attention. She said slowly almost cautiously, “Brianna, I think you want a more rounded person as your role model. I don’t think I’m your typical girl and if you try to emulate me, you’ll get in some kind of trouble. I’m not a church girl, and might not even be welcome in one. I wasn’t a good student because I was too focused on social things.”
“Why?”
Sheri sighed, “My primary motivation in life has turned out to be sex. I put in my eight hours at work, but the other sixteen hours are devoted to sex, and I fit sleeping and meals around it. Brianna, I’m a slut. I accept that and still like myself.”
I said, “I don’t understand. So what?”
Sheri rolled her eyes again. I was frustrating her, I guess. She said, “I fuck men. I love to fuck. I love to flirt, to seduce, to give them blowjobs, to swallow their cum, to have them eat my pussy, and to get them in my bed so we can fuck for hours. I like to sleep with them, and then make love with them again in the middle of the night. For me, each orgasm is a religious experience, and I can’t get enough of them. I relish talking about and doing all things sexual. When a man is not around, I’ve been known to do all of that with another girl. Do you understand all that?”
I nodded. “I think so. I’m inexperienced and don’t know how to start to get any experience in any of that stuff. I guess I want some of that — all of it. I need a social life, but don’t know how to start to get it. I’m not sure I want a steady man in my life just yet; maybe later.”
Sheri tried to argue me away from her as a role model. “You need someone else to fixate on. You need someone that’s more intellectual and well-read. You need someone who’s athletic — that’s healthy. Find someone that worries about nutrition and diet, plays tennis or something, that dates normally, and focuses on their self-development.”
“That’s what I’m doing, I think,” I told her. “I’ve done the non-social side of all that. Now, I need all that I missed. I heard you talking to someone about going boating over last weekend. That sounded like so much fun. I’ve only been on a little skiff fishing with my uncles.”
Sheri rolled her eyes again. “Brianna, once we were away from the marina on that boat, I was naked and giving blowjobs. I fucked the men on that boat all weekend — multiple men, sometimes two at the same time. So did the other girls, including Maryann. When we couldn’t get the men in action, we girls fucked each other. For me, it was spectacular.”
I nodded vigorously. “I want to try that. That sounds like fun, but it’s miles from where I am right now.”
Sheri said, “I’m worried that you’ll find this kind of life hollow and vapid. I feel that way some days. You’ll get a reputation as a girl that’s easy to seduce — you’ll be a slut, like me. Your life will have a lot more drama in it. You won’t be able to tell your parents or many friends about most of it because it’ll be too racy, risqué, and downright lewd and pornographic.
“You’ll have a lot of men in your life. They won’t want commitment with you; they’ll want to have their dick in your pussy, sometimes two at a time. Some may get a little rough with you. Someone will ask you how you spent your weekend, and you’ll have to lie and tell them you were reading, when, in fact, you were with me fucking four guys the entire time.
“I just don’t think you’ve made a good choice for a role model by picking me.”
I slowly shook my head. “No, the more you talk, the more I think I picked exactly the right person. I have a gaping hole in my development, and you just described the things that will fill it. In doing so, I’ll be more rounded and much happier. Please, let’s try it for a few weeks. I know I’ll be a burden, and that’s why I’m willing to pay you for taking me on.”
Sheri protested, “I’m not taking your money. I do want to be your friend. I just gave you a lot of friendly advice that you aren’t going to follow, I guess.”
I smiled at her and sipped my Cosmo. I liked this drink. After a moment of silence, I said, “So, how do I start?”
Sheri said, “You already have, but plan on spending Saturday with me. Bring your credit card. We are going to overhaul your ‘look’, your wardrobe, and do some role playing, maybe even get some practical experience. In the meanwhile, think about all I’ve said.”
I did think about Sheri’s advice. I quickly got an eye exam and contact lenses the next day. Fortunately, I had easy eyes to fix. I bought large sunglasses like so many of the other girls used. I also went through my closet to think about my image, but I didn’t know what to do. I went through the few cosmetics I had, with a similar result. What should I do