SSMM Ch17

“Sure,” Ava lies. “I’ll help.”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to do much,” Cristy says quickly, throwing Karina a look. That got weird for a second there.

“No worries. We’re all working for the same people,” Ava replies, trying to use a calm voice to mask the crazed butterflies in her tummy.

This tennis pitch is horrible. It would probably be a huge hit, but it’s bad. Ava doesn’t have delusions of grandeur, and she’s not arrogant enough to think of herself as a good person, but some girl fresh out of high school is going to get burned by this if it happens. Probably a lot of them. Ava owes it to those girls to shoot her shot and try to stop it.

But she can’t do that by putting her foot down here. Simply not helping wouldn’t stop these two, it would only inconvenience them. This means… trouble. Ava has an idea. It might not work, but she’ll be able to sleep at night. That’s more important than the money and opportunities afforded by this internship, and even the possible action with two tennis players that she might miss out on if she read that correctly just now.

Ava finds herself in Karina’s bathroom with Cristy helping her out of her maid outfit. The slutty Halloween maid outfits aren’t a big deal to put on and take off, but this one that Jane wears is the real deal. It is substantial.

“Thank you,” Ava says, meaning it. “I got it from here.”

“No problem.” Cristy gives her some privacy, and Ava sighs deeply, confronted by her reflection. She looks fine. Good, even. Not because of her hair, which needs a lot of work. Not because of her makeup, which needs a lot of help right now. Not because of her face, which isn’t that memorable.

She takes a deep breath, and her heavy chest rises and falls. This is what people see. Her boobs look good in this bra, and they’ll look good in this goofy tennis outfit. Great. Perfect. The outfit is the color of charcoal. Predictably, the top is no more than a sports bra made to look like a low-cut top. The skirt has a weird little ruffle and is short enough that every move she makes will offer some kind of panty flash.

And that’s not great, because not only is Ava wearing plain, cotton ones that do not work for this, but she’s had an exciting day and her underwear is frankly gross. Of course, Cindy and Karina have provided some clean ones, but they’re slim athletes and Ava has hips to match her bust.

She puts on the too-small underwear all the same, then the tennis ensemble. Shoes and socks off, she critically examines her toes before donning the slides that Cristy left behind. Clutching the racket that is meant to be her prop, she faces her reflection again. Ponytails are not right for her. And how many tennis hopefuls have boobs like hers? How come they had this uniform ready for a busty girl, but not reasonably sized panties? This isn’t supposed to be a tennis show at all. At least FUTA pretends to care about soccer.

Ava throws the racket aside and flinches at how noisy it is, clattering around the bathroom.

“Sorry,” she calls before Cristy or Karina can knock on the door or ask if she’s OK. “I dropped your thing. It’s fine.” It’s not fine. Ava leans on the sink and gazes at herself.

She came here for money. When it looked like she might have some fun too, that had been added to the list. Money and fun. Not to have a hard conversation with herself about her involvement with this organization.

She looks down to see the marks on her palm from her fingernails. She’s so pissed. It’s not fair.

Ava snatches up the racket and yanks the door open, coming face to face with Cristy.

“You OK?” Cristy asks worriedly.

Ava puts on a smile.

“I’m good. Your panties are too small.”

“Sorry.”

Ava shrugs and brushes past. “Dancing through life,” she sings. “Down at the Ozdust! If only because dust is what we come to. Nothing matters,” she goes on as she does a little spin. Karina’s by the door, grinning.

“But knowing nothing matters,” Karina sings in reply.

“Huh?” Cristy says.

“Not a musical person, Coach?” Karina opens the door.

“Young people are weird,” Cristy says, following them into the hall.

Karina takes Ava’s hand and walks beside her, bumping her with her shoulder.

“Looks good on you,” she says.

“You too,” Ava replies. Karina’s version of the outfit is cut the same, but in pale blue. She looks amazing. Cristy’s is white, and weirdly, that seems to be the most flagrantly erotic. It annoys Ava that Viv got her so spun up that even when she’s this mad and nervous, a part of her is still being horny.

Cristy leads them confidently to Viv’s side of the house. The view Ava gets following Cristy up the stairs only makes her self-conscious about herself, but a moment later they’re in Viv’s gorgeous sitting room.

Viv does not sit on a throne like a Roman emperor being fed grapes or whatever, but she looks relaxed and sexy in her silk robe, curled up on the sofa with her wife. They look cozy, and they’re both holding drinks. So is Annette, but Annette has her clothes on and is sitting in a nearby armchair.

Viv looks pleased by their arrival.

Aubrey seems neutral. She’s pretty all the time, but in jammies and cuddling with Viv, she is almost ethereally beautiful. Ava’s temper flares and she controls it.

Annette seems almost disinterested, but her eyes linger on Ava. Probably because she didn’t know that Ava would be a part of this presentation. Now that there’s an audience, Ava’s self-conscious about every move. The top doesn’t provide much support, and too-tight underwear doesn’t offer much coverage or concealment. She feels naked.

“Do you want to use the, uh…” Viv points at the big TV on the wall.

“Nope,” Cristy replies. “No AV presentation. We are the presentation.” She shrugs, then rather casually puts her hand on her hip for the briefest pose.

Viv smiles and accepts the same handout that Ava read earlier.

Cristy starts to talk, then stops. She pokes Karina, who is just standing there.

“Oh. Right.” Karina smiles and starts going through a few cursory poses and twirls, nothing too openly demeaning, just making sure that she and her outfit can be seen from every angle. Cristy gets back to her pitch, and Ava boldly walks over and joins Annette in her armchair.

“Excuse me,” Annette mutters, startled as Ava parks herself hip to hip and takes her arm.

Cristy glances over, but gamely keeps on with her pitch.

Ava holds on like a smitten groupie, and she has Viv’s attention. Viv and Aubrey are looking friendly on the couch, but not this friendly. Ava sees Viv’s gaze linger on the way Annette’s arm is nestled against Ava’s chest.

“What are you doing?” Annette whispers.

Ava leans in close, her lips almost touching Annette’s ear. Jane wants to torment Viv? Fine. Ava agreed to help her.

“My job,” she whispers, letting Annette feel her breath tickle her skin.

“Your job is not to distract the investor from the fucking pitch,” Annette says under her breath. “Or to flirt with me, if that’s what you’re doing.”

“What if she wants me enough to do whatever I ask?” Ava puts her hand on Annette’s thigh and moves even closer. “Now do your part and act like I’m something you have that she doesn’t.”

“You cannot be serious,” Annette breathes.

“You’re the one who started a TV show about chicks with dicks kicking a ball,” Ava whispers.

“I like chicks with dicks.”

“Picture me wearing a big strap.”

And there it is: a little color in Annette’s cheeks. It’s enough. She snaps into character and gives Ava a look, then pushes her face away before putting an arm around her. She gets it on both levels.

They settle in to let Cristy do her thing. For a moment, Ava considers how she cannot possibly make good on all of her commitments. Subjugating Viv to make sure that Annette gets a W here. Delivering Jane’s W. Denying Cristy’s. And whatever else she’s agreed to. Oh, right. Sleeping with Viv. That one has good synergy with at least some of this. Of course, her wife is sitting literally right there, looking sour about the downright hungry way that Viv is eye-fucking Ava.

Ava smiles prettily and chooses to focus on the pitch.

“So, it’s smaller than FUTA. Way smaller. Very select lineup, but that means we guarantee that everyone is a perfect ten. It’s more personal. Look at Formula One,” Cristy goes on. “Twenty drivers. It’s not like most pro sports. You can know them all personally. Same idea here. Small cast, getting smaller every week. And we’re looking at a partnership with an app developer. We want to do a pilot test for getting into sports betting. If we can make it work here, we can roll it out to all the other FUTA-branded programs.”

Ava’s jaw drops, and Viv is having trouble paying attention to Cristy anyway. She lifts a hand.

“Uh, Ava?” she says. “Are you OK?”

Ava pulls away from Annette and sits up straight.

“Am I OK? You didn’t say anything about any sports betting,” Ava accuses Cristy, thinking fast. She was going to have to be a bitch in this meeting no matter what, but Cristy just made it much easier for her.

“Well,” Cristy replies. Annette puts her hand on Ava’s leg. Ava just gets up and moves away. “It’s kind of off to the side. The app would be parallel to our project.”

“It’s not enough to wring out some juicy barely legals? You want to crash some families too? Have any of you ever known someone with a gambling problem?” Ava demands. “Because it’s fucked up, OK?”

“Ava, people already bet on FUTA stuff,” Annette says calmly. “We’re listed on everything. I mean, you can bet on elections these days. People will be doing it no matter what.”

“Oh my god!” Ava’s about to crash out and it’s only partly an act, but Viv elegantly lifts a finger.

“Um,” she says. “Let’s set the betting aside, because that’s not something we can control. App or no app,” she says reasonably. “It sounds like you’re not a fan of the proposal, Ava.”

“I’m not. It’s bullshit. And it’ll get dragged on social media. It won’t work if you target real tennis players because they have real events to compete in. So, you’ll be stuck with **** people. And that’s gonna get real sad real quick,” Ava snaps. “I mean, do you want to be the girl who hooked up on a TV show so there’s a blurry sex tape of you on the internet and you didn’t win, so you don’t have a college or tennis career? Just a sex tape and a bunch of strangers talking about your boobs on Twitter. Is that who you would want to be? Because that’s who you would be asking these girls to be.”

Cristy has turned as white as a sheet. Karina’s covering her mouth, and her eyes are wide.

“OK. Wow.” Viv looks taken aback.

Ava stands there, her stomach dropping through the floor. She groans in frustration.

“Argh! OK, try this. OK? Try this. Tennis is sexy. Nobody’s arguing with that. You want to objectify? Fine. Let’s objectify. How about this? You have all these pro players literally retiring before they hit thirty. OK? They still look hot. These are the women who might want to do something that’s sexy and fun and not as high-pressure as pro tennis because they already shot their shot on tennis. Why are we not talking about doing something with them?”

Silence. Too much silence. Ava rolls her eyes.

“Because FUTA is mostly college girls. I know. That’s the whole template. But why? Life doesn’t end when you graduate.”

“MILF Tennis TV,” Aubrey murmurs with a giggle. She’s blushing. She glances at Viv, then shrugs and takes a drink. “What? I’d watch it.”

“I’m not even saying that, but there are a lot of good, serious pros who are pushing thirty, still look hot, and want to play more tennis. At least they’re adults.” Ava points at Cristy. “What about her?”

“How old are you again?” Viv asks.

Ava plants her hands on her hips and leans forward aggressively. “I’m done with undergrad. That’s all you need to know. What are you laughing at?” she asks Aubrey.

“Her,” Aubrey says, pointing at Annette, who is looking away politely because Ava’s all but mooning her.

“Shit!” Ava springs upright and tugs at the skirt. “And this is too much. Like are you fucking kidding me? This is what slutty catboys would wear in some horny anime or some shit. Fuck.”

Viv smiles. “I don’t know what that means.” She glances at her wife, and her fingers are in Aubrey’s hair, toying with it idly. “But I guess after hearing all that, I’d be a real witch if I…” She looks up at Cristy and doesn’t go on.

It’s only then that Ava realizes that she just indirectly confronted whatever went on between Cristy and Viv. Cristy had probably been a young tennis player when it happened.

Viv takes a breath and gathers herself.

“I would be really awful if I didn’t listen to feedback like this. Cristy.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you reorganize this around what Ava is suggesting? Can you find some beautiful women with a little more experience? Like you, for example?”

Cristy bows her head. “Yeah,” she says, then turns and walks out.

Karina follows.

Ava nervously faces Annette, who looks a little stony. Ava bends down.

“Can I convince you this was part of my plan?” she whispers.

Annette’s eye twitches.

“You’re mooning us now,” Aubrey says.

“Fuck!” Ava jumps upright and tugs at the hem of the skirt, whirling. “Sorry!”

“We don’t mind,” Viv says, although her eyes are covered by Aubrey’s hand.

“Shut up, babe. I’m glad you spoke up,” Aubrey says. “And I bet Annette is too. Even if she won’t say so.”

“I’m gonna go change,” Ava says, then hustles out and crosses to the big hallway where most of the bedrooms are. Cristy’s walking much faster than Karina. Karina turns back and sees Ava.

“Hey,” Karina says, catching Ava’s arm.

“I’m sorry. OK? I’m sorry.”

“No. Don’t be.” It’s only now that Ava sees that Karina’s not upset. She’s a little intense, but it’s closer to a smolder than anything else. “Whatever happens, you did the right thing. And for the record, that was the most attractive thing I have ever seen in my life. Forever. Nothing will ever top it.” Karina puts her hand on Ava’s shoulder and squeezes. “Thank you.”

Wow. Ava smiles stupidly.

“Was the courageous stupidity attractive? Or my boobs?”

Karina laughs.

“Is she gonna be pissed?” Ava looks meaningfully at the door to Cristy’s room.

Karina grimaces. “She needs this. It’s her sister. She doesn’t have health insurance. It’s a whole thing.”

“Oh shit.” Ava is suddenly nauseous. “I didn’t know.”

“You couldn’t have known. It’s OK. We’ll figure something out. I mean, shit. I thought your pitch was fire.”

“Still, she must be freaking out.”

Karina snorts. “Probably.”

A door opens. Chitose enters the hallway and stares at them in their sexy costumes. After a moment, she smiles and gives two thumbs up before trotting away.

“OK. OK. Fuck me.” Ava shakes her head. She feels horrible. “Fuck. Uh…”

Should she apologize to Cristy?

Or give her some space?