Young Writers Society

Part One:

Aleks

("Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry, stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie."- William Shakespeare)

Chapter One:

Sex, Sex, And...Sailor Moon?

Sex isn't that much of a big deal, or a least to me. Sex is a way that two bodies meet and get some pleasure out of it with the possibility to procreate, but even for a guy as jaded as me, I know they're certain people who are made for that big, great love story that appear in movies and great novels like Gone with the Wind. You know, the sort of people that radiate goodness and sweetness even though they've been through so much shit in their lives you can't help, but wonder how they made it through it.

It's either that theory…or I just give a shit about Mina.

"You want…to get Mina a fucking whore for her nineteenth birthday!?" I yelled as I stood up in my seat and leaned over the stone table outside of our large college, staring at the two people who claimed to be my friends. I say "claimed" because friends don't suggest the idea of getting a fucking prostitute as a birthday gift and then tell me that this was a great idea.

No way, no fucking way.

I felt the blood drain from my face and my mouth go dry before my brain shut down for a moment. My heart stopped for a moment before throwing itself against the ribcage. They had to be joking. I've heard of grooms wanting to go see strippers before getting married and yeah, I've been to a strip club a couple of times, but this...this was fucking insane!

The summer air felt hot and sticky against my skin with the sun blaring down at us until the stone on the table felt warm against my hands. The trees bloomed the white flowers that smelled like rotting fish along with rose bushes beginning to bloom into the an array of pinks and reds. All the windows in the red bricked buildings of our college were open to let in the warm breeze because winter had been a bitch and nearly buried this place alive under snow. The campus was connected through a network of concrete walkways that didn't have a crack in them, so it was a nice college campus. We were in the middle of downtown city life with tall buildings and shopping areas right outside the college and constantly reminding us of the real world. Frat houses sat around the campus and stood in Greek style white buildings that looked imposing and important even though the guys that made up a frat house were usually just morons sleeping around with as many women as humanly possible. The lunch area was right in the center of the campus with a grassy area to sit on under trees with concrete tables on the side of a large concrete walkway that connected to the rest of the campus.

"The correct term is escort." Halley picked at her nail polish before she added, "And say that a little louder, why don't you?"

I felt a dark flush creep on my face as I looked around the lunch area to see people either glaring-slash-staring at me for having the nerve to make so much noise, or better yet, they tilted their heads with cocked eye brows. "Get back to your own food, people!"

Some of them gave me a sharp glare before turning back to their lunch while others did so immediately before I relaxed and sat back down. The anger sat in my stomach though. It turned and twisted in my stomach even though I didn't know why I was so angry about the idea of Mina getting an escort. It's just that I knew how stupid the idea was and how Mina couldn't possibly want that because...well, it's Mina!

Scottie looked between Halley and me, but I already knew that he'd side with his girlfriend in a heartbeat even if I was his best friend. You just can't win when there's sex involved. Scottie stood at five-foot-eleven and stood at a solid block of muscle with a shaved head that made him look powerful when in actuality, the guy was a complete idiot that tripped over his own feet most of the time, but he liked a good drink and knew where to get the kind of weed that had purple in the leafs, so he was a good guy.

I looked around before I whispered, "So, you want to get her a fucking prostitute? What the hell is wrong with you people?"

Scottie threw his hands up in the air in defense. "Dude, this is not my idea. I wanted to get her a book of Degas paintings on ballerinas, but nope, Halley said to pool in our money to get her something extra special." He ran a hand through his shaved head as I glared at him. He cringed under the glare, but the look that Halley gave him made him jump.

Halley was one of those girl who was scary pretty. So pretty that a person couldn't help and wonder that if they'd touch her that they'd cut themselves on her and start bleeding and never stoping, but that person wouldn't notice because they'd be too busy watching Halley to care. She wore her long, honey brown hair in a ponytail today while her dark eyes narrowed at me. Her full lips frowned at me as she tapped her manicured nails on the table. Halley stood at five-foot-seven with a model type body that could walk on the runway, but Halley had a mind that she wanted to use.

"And by extra special, you thought man whore?" I asked again, feeling that burning sensation in my chest and stomach that made me want to reach out and strangle someone. I've never been good with my temper, but it always got worse with Mina.

"Yes, actor boy," Halley stated as she sat up, "she needs to get some action already. She's nineteen and she's barely kissed a guy, that's just a little sad and she's so adorable. She deserves to have a good time."

Yes, Mina did deserve someone that'd love her and all that mushy shit, but this? This can't be a good idea. She's sweet and innocent, so a man whore couldn't possibly be a good idea. It was fucking stupid! So many things could go wrong and what if this guy was a fucking creep?

And who the hell said that a good time mean sex? Okay, admittedly, I'm the sort of guy who believes that, but Mina isn't like that. She isn't like other girls. She's Mina. I know that's not a great excuse, but Mina's different to me.

I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to imagine my best friend. She stood at only five feet with a blonde pixie hair cut and pretty blue eyes that gave off a person's reflection when they looked her right in the eye like the surface of a lake. It's haunting when she looks at someone and they saw their reflections in her eyes. She smiled and had calloused, dry skin with her style being made up of lacy tank tops and ripped jeans. Her hair spiked up in a strange halo like she just woke up, but never really gave a damn about how she looked. I'm not sure she even wore make up.

Than I matched this image of what I thought a man whore might look like…

"Bad idea."

"You know, if I said, 'I want to get David a whore' you would've been all for it-"

"Well yeah, because he's a good little Christian boy." Scottie said. "It'd be funny as hell if he came into his dorm and a whore was sitting on his bed with a come hither look-" Scottie got a death glare from Halley that made him smile. "Well, it would be funny."

"-but since Mina is a cute girl and innocent in your mind, you think it's an awful idea." Halley said as her voice got higher into her super feminism, I-am-woman-hear-me-roar voice. Scottie moved slightly to get away from his girlfriend. "I don't see the big deal. She'll love it."

Okay, telling her that this was wrong because of morals or that she's way too damn innocent would get me a lecture on feminism and women's rights.

"Uhm, okay, fine, maybe she will love it," I said as I shuttered at the thought, "but it's illegal and incredibly dangerous." HA! Let's see her get around that. "She won't love the whole it's illegal part."

She snorted as she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. "You think I didn't do some research? It's like getting weed, if you do the research and background checks, you can find a safe dealer."

"I didn't know you smoked weed."

She shrugged. "I don't. I learned from the best though." She pointed to her boyfriend as I smirked and watched as Scottie give me a sheepish shrug. She gave me the list before I unfolded it and looked at the piece of paper in her perfect handwriting.

"You actually did research on this?"

Where would you even begin to search that? Did she go into google and typed fuck buddy for pay or man whore into the search engine? And what about the images that popped up?

She nodded as she pulled her honey brown hair up into a twisted bun while Scottie looked at her with a small smile. "Well, I had to go through a lot of gay porn sites to get to it, but I found a few good ones."

Scottie and I looked down at the list.

www.rentaguy.com

-Sean Millson

-George Samson

"Wait a minute, I thought Rentaguy was that website that politicians use," I said as I recognized the name of the website from the news a couple weeks ago.

"Well, that's why I looked at it." Halley explained as she tapped her red nail on the table. "I thought it would have some great guys, but I was a bit disappointed."

"Probably because it's a gay website," I reminded her as she shot me a glare.

"Some of the men, especially those two that I have written down, would love to help Mina give the night of her life."

I shuttered at the thought.

Mina and male escort...

Ahhh! I'm blind! I'm blind!

www.letmebeyourescort.com

-Marcus

-Steve Letterson

-Romeo

"What an appropriate name," Scottie said as I looked at Halley with a raised eye brow.

"There's a guy named Romeo, seriously?" I thought that was a red flag.

"Of course," she said, "the name in itself is what drew me in. Well, the guys do have to use fake names. Cops can be finding this stuff out you know."

"Gee, maybe that should be a sign that this is not a good idea," I told her as she smirked.

"Oh please, I know how to be sneaky too." She reminded me as I remembered the prank she pulled on me last week that involved my boxers, glue, and glitter while my pants magically disappeared.

www.ladyluckwantsagoodtimetoo.com

-Fabio

-Gwen

"Well, that doesn't sound too horrible," Scottie said, "and it's referring to a Frank Sinatra song, right?"

"Oh yeah, real great. Turn a great singer into a freaking porn sight." I stated as I thought of a very, very disturbing image of a male model with only black pants and a bow tie around his neck as he tried to woe Mina in a white Marilyn Monroe dress...I shuttered, but I had to admit that Mina in a white Marilyn Monroe dress sort of appealed to me.

"Whatever you're thinking, you better stop thinking it," Halley said as Scottie looked at me.

"What do you think of Mina in a Marilyn Monroe white dress?" I asked as Scottie shuttered.

"Dude, she's pipsqueak to me! I don't want to think of her like I do Halley!" Scottie said as I wondered if he just said that because his girlfriend sat next to him.

"I don't know, I think she could pull it off and we could add a modern twist..." Theatre is my major so I always thought about how something could change and twisted into something that could be put on stage.

"Stop," Halley warned me as Scottie laughed.

My eyes went back to the list.

www.Candyorchainsandwhips.com

-Christopher

-Hercules

www.cowboys&angels.com

-Hermes

-John Wayne

"Cowboys and angels?" Scottie asked as we looked at one another.

"How do those two things even relate to one another?" I asked as Scottie shrugged.

"Well, you know, the men are sexy cowboys and the girls are pretty little angels." Halley explained as I had a bad image of some cowboy douche bag having his hands all over Mina. "I think that one has some promise." Halley's face split into a smile. "Oh yeah, they even had some good pictures too. There was this one, I swear this guy could've been a model for all I knew, he was completely naked in this perfect picture. Play Bunny was put to shame in those pictures."

"Wait, girls have a Play Boy version? And you read it?" Scottie asked as he looked between the two of us. I rolled my eyes. Clueless idiot, yes.

"I did read them," Halley admitted before she wiggled her eye brows. "That was before I met you."

Scottie blushed and cleared his throat a little. Oh please, like this couple couldn't get any cheesier.

I asked, "They had pictures?"

"Yup," Halley said with a grin, "well, of course they have pictures. How are we going to find the right guy for Mina if we didn't?"

"Do you even know what Mina's type is?" I asked as Halley smirked which unnerved me.

"I probably know more then you do."

"Yeah right," I said as I looked down at the list again, "I'm a little concerned about the candy or chains and whips website." I pointed out before adding, "And which John Wayne do you think this guy wanted to be known for? The actor or the murderer?"

"The actor, smart ass," Halley corrected as she folded her arms over her chest.

I returned my gaze back onto the list.

www.whatsyourfantasy.com

-Blake/Olympia

"Why does this guy have two names?" Scottie asked.

"Because he serves men and women." Halley explained as I remembered something from a class I took in high school. And the picture that came with it that lesson.

"Olympia was a popular name for prostitute a long time ago." I remembered as I thought about a painting. "I think Manet did a painting called "Olympia" a while ago."

Halley's eyes widen slightly as her eye brows raised. "Wow Alesk, I'm impressed."

I smirked, but admittedly the only reason I remember that picture was because I liked how the prostitute looked so proud and relaxed as she sat there naked for the world to see. She didn't give a shit with what people thought of her and she enjoyed it with a servant giving her flowers from one of her many admirers, but she didn't even give a shit about her admirers.

Mina liked art. She adored it and had stacks of art books in her room back home where she would sit next to me on the carpeted floor and flip through it for hours on end. She'd point to paintings while I got bored to death and lean my head on her should because it was one of the few times that she was happy. That's probably why I never told her that the pictures bored me to death because happiness in that small shitty town was hard to find and when we did find it, we would cling onto it as hard as we could.

www.lovesongs.com

-Leonardo

-Indiana

www.princess&frogs&princes.com

-Kurt

-George Willbert

"Is this one supposed to be a threesome website?" Scottie asked, pointing to the link as Halley glared at him. "What? It says, princess, frog, and prince. Sounds like a three way to me."

I scanned the list again. "Threesomes are only fun if they're two girls."

Halley turned her gaze to me for one silent moment before tapping her nail again on the table. "You would know that."

"Maybe that's what you should do for Scottie's birthday," I told her with a smirk as she shot me a dirty look.

www.wellhungandpinkpanties.com

-Bill

-Eric

-Edward

"None of these sound real promising," I said as I looked at Halley. "Actually, they all sound sketchy."

"They're not that bad," she told me.

"Yeah, I guess 'well hung and pink panties' sounds like a respectable business."

Scottie's face split into a smile. "Well, some of these guys have names of vampires." Halley and I both looked at him. "What? Edward is from that stupid book, Twilight while Eric and Bill are from True Blood. That series is actually good."

"Halley, I think you're boyfriend developing a vampire fetish!" I laughed.

Halley rolled her eyes as Scottie tried to explain why True blood was a good series while I went back to looking at the list.

All these places sounded weird like a Hollywood sex shop or a porn sight, and I just thought that if Mina were to do it, it should be with someone that she loves deeply, but if I said this out loud, Halley might want to strangle me, which I could very well see in my mind.

She smiled. "Actually, Blake sounds interesting. You can do some research on his website."

"He's not with an agency?" Scottie asked. "Or with a pimp?"

"Funny," she said as her face scrunched up. "No, and that's why I like him. That, and he has a great body that looks so good that I thought it was photo shopped."

"For all we know, it could be photo shopped," I noted.

"I'm planning on interviewing him," she said, "to see if he's good enough for our little Mina."

"Didn't you ever consider that Mina just might want a nice pair of shoes or something? And not a Romeo?" I asked as I wandered into dangerous waters and the only reason I knew this was how Halley's eyes flickered toward me before relaxing and smiling. She reminded me of a cat or a lioness, ready to strike.

"Hmm, now let's think about this for a moment." She said in a taunting sweet voice as I looked at Scottie to see his shoulders tensing. Oh yeah, I'm screwed. "If I were Mina, would I like lipstick that cost my friends…twenty, thirty bucks?"

"Thirty bucks!" I yelped. "For some crap that makes your lips too sticky-"

"And leaves stains, don't forget that." Scottie added as Halley turned her gaze to him. He shrunk away from her; it's almost like someone poured water on him and he was melting.

"Or!" She yelled, stopping us. "Do I want a hot guy paying me a lot of compliments, making me feel like a queen, or better yet, a sex goddess? Hmmm, I wonder which one Mina will pick when all of her life, she's never felt like that."

"Felt like what?" I asked.

She did a face palm before she said, "And you're supposed to be her childhood friend? God, you're a moron. Felt wanted, needed, loved, sexy, fucking loved! That's what every girl wants and Mina is in desperate need of this."

Isn't physical intimacy a bit more complicated? And last I checked, physical intimacy wasn't on the things that human beings had to have to survive.

And isn't that what a boyfriend is for?

"….Did she tell you this?" I asked her as Halley's shoulders relaxed, deflating her slightly. I relaxed a little, finding my edge.

"What the problem with you two? Why are you so against this?" Halley asked. "It better not be because it's illegal. Remember, I have a nice long list of illegal activity you two have committed." She reminded us as her eyes narrowed.

"Well, sure, we've done shit like weed and drinking, but… gee, prostitution is a big deal, Halley. I mean, think about all the diseases she can get if we're not careful." Scottie mused out loud.

"That, and she's the picture of innocence. I'm surprised she hasn't sprouted wings and a halo yet," I added as Scottie glared at me. "What?"

"Dude, you're not helping."

She snorted. "Why does innocence have to do with hymns for you jerks?" She leaned back and threw an arm over the chair. "You out of everyone should," she pointed her free hand at me, "know the crap that she's been through."

I turned my gaze away from her before I said, "Mina's pretty enough to get a boyfriend if she really wants one."

"But she's never had one."

Not exactly true, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"Don't you think it's weird that she hasn't had a boyfriend?" Halley asked as she folded her arms over her chest. "A girl by now usually has some sort of a relationship."

"She's….been close. The guys I've met were always in the sorta, kinda, not really stage." I explained as I refused to look at them, my eyes went down to the list of names and websites again. "It's like they could never cross something to get to her, but then again…"

"It's probably your fault," Halley told me as I glared at her.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Remember when you first met David?" Halley asked as I nodded.

"Yeah, he's a pipsqueak and he kept looking at Mina like she was a model or something..." I stated as Scottie rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Dude, he was just curious about Mina. That's just how David is," Scottie said.

"And Scottie doesn't even like David, so his opinion isn't biased." Halley told me, "You're protective."

I rolled my eyes. Yeah right, Mina's a big girl who can pick out her own boyfriend. She doesn't need me telling her what to do and she'd kick my ass if I even thought about it. "I am not. We're just close friends and guys are scared of me. They probably feel threatened by it."

"You're ego never ceases to amaze me," Halley stated.

"Well, he does have a point, babe." Scottie agreed with me. "Guys do feel a little..." Halley looked at him, but he didn't back down. "When you were dating that one guy before we started dating, I was a little nervous."

"Scottie, you weight about twenty pounds more then him in solid muscle, so how could you be nervous?" Halley asked.

"Because I liked you and you were dating him."

Halley didn't say anything to that.

I fell into silence as I thought about Mina, standing out in the open with her arms behind her back with that smile on her lips. She wore her heart on her sleeves and her head on my shoulder when she was too tired and needed a pillow, but she'd never admit it.

Why don't you kiss me?

Don't say stupid things like that.

Don't look at me.

And for god's sake, please don't cry.

She's like a reflection. She's so fucking pure, it's like looking at a reflection with no flaws.

"Then again, what?" Scottie asked as I looked up suddenly, startled as I realized that I had been thinking too much or letting my mind wander again. I shook my head.

"Nothing."

Halley looked at me as she played with a strand of her hair. She was thinking of another way to convince me and the only reason she was even putting up an effort was the fact that she probably needed money. I don't know much about whores, but I doubted they were cheap, well especially if they were safe.

"No," I said, "I'm not doing this. You don't know what she wants. I doubt opening her legs up for a stranger is what she wants. That's not Mina."

I got up and walked away.