Roleplay and Real Life

She'd worked the closing shift the night before, and Bianca felt it. Never an early riser, she had slept in to nearly noon to recover from being on her feet late into the night. That night she would do it again, the same with the next night, and the next. It was the life she had chosen, a life that paid her bills and gave her the independence she wanted. So after waking up long past the sun's arrival and spending some time rubbing her feet, she got up to enjoy her time off before her shift began.

Carlos, from the kitchen, had offered her a ride home, which of course she'd taken. An Uber would have cut into her earnings, and besides, she always liked spending time with Carlos. He'd only been at Sage & Cedar for three months, but in that time he'd shown himself to be a good friend; a good listener, not pushy, patient, kind. While she normally eschewed male attention, Carlos had piqued Bianca's interest. She'd even hinted at him that there could be something more in their future, when she was ready of course.

But last night's shift had been a little strange. It wasn't every day that you experience a revelation like she had.

Carlos had chatted about how busy the shift was, how the dish pit guys couldn't keep up, how he was growing to hate the smell of hummus. He was funny, easy going, the kind of guy you could spend time with and forget the passing hours. As the city flew by them, she listened to his banter with a smile, enjoying the company.

But then, at the end of the ride, in front of her building, he'd done what he normally did, opened his arms for a hug.

And Bianca had been horrified.

There was a moment of confusion as she looked at him. Carlos, she knew, was a hugger. He'd always given her a hug to say goodbye. It wasn't sexual. It wasn't like how it had been with her mother's boyfriends. Carlos was her friend, and he just wanted to say goodbye.

But it was not unreasonable for her to want men to keep their hands to themselves!

In a flash she removed herself from the car, mumbling thanks for the ride, scurrying into the building, happy that she had the locking door between her and Carlos. She liked him, she liked to spend time with him, but if he thought he could just touch her, he had another thing coming.

Glancing at her phone, Bianca saw that Carlos had texted her in the night. He was most likely concerned for her, wondering at her rapid departure. She ignored him. She didn’t owe him an explanation. She was being reasonable wanting to not be touched. If he couldn’t figure that out, maybe he wasn’t as good of a friend as she had first thought.

Hands on her hips, Bianca stretched her back. She often felt sore in the morning after working a late shift. The strain of being on her feet as long as she was, plus the restless sleep that usually accompanied a busy night, left her stiff and aching. It wouldn’t last long, it never did. Bianca had some yoga exercises she did after breakfast which would loosen her up. Right then, though, some stretches would at least get her moving.

Again her mind slipped to the night before. A big night. Good tips. Plus Joey Granger. How lucky was Bianca to not only be working that night, but also be assigned his table! So many things could have prevented their meeting: Evie not wanting to switch shifts with her, Joey being ill, Joey's mother picking a different restaurant. Bianca had no way of calculating it, but she guessed that the odds would be staggering.

Her apartment wasn't big, but one selling feature for Bianca had been the closet size. Not rich by any definition of the word, Bianca knew how to stretch a dollar. She didn't own a car, she didn't travel, and she hadn't accumulated any education debt. She did, though, like to buy clothes. Pulling open the large double doors to her closet, Bianca stepped inside to the space that was nearly as large as her bedroom. What the architect had been thinking by making a closet that big in an apartment that small was beyond her, but Bianca wasn't complaining. That design quirk was her gain.

Her fingers ran along the clothes hanging up, her mind on Joey Granger, the young man whose sexual gratification Bianca was responsible for. What kind of woman was he into? Did he have a type? These were all questions that Bianca would have to answer if she was going to be effective. He'd seemed nice enough, a little nerdy, a little skinny, but polite. A young man that would go out for dinner with his mother instead of going out and getting into trouble.

That was something. Bianca paused, her hand touching a denim skirt she hadn't worn in a few weeks. Joey had been out with his mother, Donna. At least, that was what they had said she was. Normally mothers don't look at their sons that way Joey's mother had been looking at him. Bianca had waited tables long enough to recognize that kind of look, and it had everything to do with a different, more intimate kind of relationship.

Maybe that was his thing. Maybe it was a game, a roleplay, a kink.

Maybe Joey was into moms.

The thought was silly. Bianca knew that she was beautiful. Objectively speaking, a guy like Joey, even if he wasn't allowed to touch her whenever and however he wanted, would walk barefoot over broken glass to be with a woman who looked like Bianca. The tips she brought in that paid for the myriad of outfits in her oversized closet had reinforced her belief. Bianca was hot. She shouldn't have to change anything in order to have Joey let her fulfill her duty to him.

Although he had gone home with Donna, not Bianca.

Stop it, she told herself, you can't expect him to not go home with the woman he was eating with. Besides, she might very well be his actual mother!

And yet the only texts Bianca had received since Joey left were from Carlos, not Joey.

Reaching up, Bianca pulled down a blue dress with white polka-dots. It had a low-cut neckline and a white apron sewn over the short, ruffled skirt for the look. She had bought it in the fall to wear to a Halloween party. She'd been a sexy housewife, something she and her friends had laughed about. It seemed that every girl there had chosen a sexy version of something to dress up as. Sexy nurse. Sexy pirate. Sexy football player. Sexy Big Mac. Men's costumes could be anything. Women's costumes, though, had to be sexy on top of everything else.

She'd laughed along with her friends because Bianca hadn't cared. They were young, and even without the costumes, they were sexy. That party had been fun, and she had gotten all the attention she wanted in that short dress, walking around, pretending to take care of the boys, and playing along with the costume's theme. A wave of shame washed over her as she thought of how many boys had touched her that night, how she'd let their hands explore her body, how she'd ended up on her knees in the bedroom, Tim's hands in her hair, her face in his groin.

Stop it, she told herself again, you didn't know. How could you? Joey hadn't explained it to you yet.

But maybe that night she had been onto something. If Joey was into the mom thing, maybe Bianca would make use of her costume again soon. While she knew that she had allowed men to act inappropriately with her that night, men who weren't Joey, she gave herself grace since it had been a learning opportunity, a dress rehearsal for being alone with Joey and giving him what he wanted.

She returned the costume to its place on the bar and left the closet. She could pick an outfit later. First, food. Bianca was hungry. Then yoga. Then tidying up. Then she could put some time into what to wear. She still had to work that night, so she didn't want to waste the time she had off on idle thought. Bianca had no idea whether Joey would want her to be more matronly, or if Bianca should try another tactic. She was willing. A man his age must need a lot of sexual gratification, and Bianca was up to the task. But that didn’t mean she could skip her chores. Joey needed taking care of, but so did her laundry, and so did her dishes.

And so Bianca returned to her bedroom, grabbed her phone, and got on with her day. She kept the device with her as she went, volume always on maximum. She needed to be ready for him, in case he wanted to touch her. She knew the deal, she knew who she was. Whenever. However.