Chapter 58 – Heart of the Party

Elena was standing at the edge of the crowd, a glass in her hand, looking for her. She was wearing a black dress with a low back, and her long black hair fell loosely over her shoulders. When she spotted Chloe, a warm smile spread across her face, which Chloe immediately returned.

Her first genuine smile of the evening. Elena came over and pulled her into a hug.

“Hey, superstar.” Elena held her by the shoulders and looked her up and down. “You look outrageously good. Looks like you’re building yourself a real little empire.”

“Thanks for coming,” Chloe said. In a room full of people who either wanted something from her or were making money off her, she could use a little moral support.

“As if I’d miss this. After all, you’re launching your own sex toy, which is practically a historic moment.” Elena grinned. “Plus, there’s free champagne.”

Chloe laughed. “Believe me, I definitely agree with your priorities.”

They stood together at the bar and got themselves something proper to drink, and Elena told her about a shoot last week where the air conditioning had broken down and the male actor had narrowly avoided heatstroke, when suddenly Steve pushed his way through the crowd and appeared right next to them.

He was wearing a neat white shirt tucked into dark jeans. He had obviously made a real effort. Even his hair was somewhat combed, and he beamed when he saw Chloe.

“Hey! There you are. Wow, this is amazing!” He pointed to the displays, the velvet curtains, the whole setting. “I mean, look at this!”

“Hey, Steve.” Chloe smiled. “May I introduce you? This is Elena. Elena, Steve.”

Steve held out his hand to Elena. “Hi! Nice to meet you, I saw you in ‘Loving Latina Loca 8,’ you were great!”

Elena shook his hand, puzzled, then looked from Steve to Chloe and back again. A knowing smile played around the corners of her mouth.

“Steve,” she repeated, as if filing the name away in a card index. “Nice to meet you too.” Then she said casually to Chloe, “Nice guy. You haven’t told me about him yet.”

She figured it out in, like, three seconds.

“Steve’s a colleague,” Chloe said neutrally, raising her eyebrows.

“Sure,” Elena said with a wink. “And besides that, you guys are fucking.”

Steve, who either didn’t notice this brief exchange or decided to ignore it, reached into a paper bag he had been carrying under his arm the whole time and pulled out a dark red box. The dark red box of the evening, to be precise.

“Look!” He held the box up like a trophy. “I got one. They sell them over there at the stand. The packaging feels really good.”

He turned the box in his hands and admired it with a loving gaze, as if he had gotten his hands on a limited edition vinyl of his favorite album.

“Steve,” Chloe said slowly. “You know you have access to the original, right? At least if you don’t act like a complete idiot again?”

It took him a second to understand, but then he blushed a bit.

“I… no, I mean, sure, but I just thought, um, well, the thing is really cool, and I wanted to support you, and, uh…”

Elena threw her head back and laughed out loud, a truly heartfelt laugh that made a few people nearby turn their heads toward them.

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, clutching her belly dramatically. “Oh my God, that’s the best thing I’ve ever seen. He bought your pussy.”

“I wanted to support her!” Steve defended himself, now holding the box uncertainly in both hands, as if he suddenly didn’t know where to put it.

“You’re supporting her,” Elena repeated, wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye. “Yeah, you’re supporting her good, oh man, I’m dying.”

Chloe shook her head, but she smiled. It was absurd. It was completely absurd, but she just couldn’t be mad at him.

“Thanks, Steve,” she said simply. “I appreciate the support.”

“Maybe you can sign it for me?” he asked cautiously.

“Don’t push your luck!”

~

By half past nine, it was definitely a party and no longer a promotional event. The important officials said their goodbyes, the press people had disappeared, and someone had switched the lounge playlist to something more danceable. The lighting dimmed and the club became a real dance floor again.

The PR duties were over, and Chloe could finally breathe more freely.

Elena pulled her onto the dance floor, and Steve followed, and for a while there was nothing but the bass vibrating through them, the warmth of bodies in motion, and the pleasant buzz of the alcohol finally doing its job.

In between, Elena introduced her to a few people while they were getting new drinks. Performers she knew, colleagues from the industry.

Nate was tall, well-built, and had a friendly face, a small gap between his front teeth, and brown eyes that laughed even when his mouth didn’t. He hugged Chloe right away. “Congrats on the launch, you were really professional.”

“Thanks, that’s nice of you to say.”

“No, seriously, that was really impressive, especially since you haven’t been in the industry that long.” He nodded appreciatively.

He was one of those people who, after thirty seconds, you knew you didn’t have to worry about. Just a nice guy who seemed genuinely happy for others.

Then there was Kayla. She was blonde, in her early twenties, with dimples that appeared as soon as she even began to smile, and she smiled pretty much all the time. She wore a tight-fitting turquoise dress that left little to the imagination, but she could definitely get away with it. Chloe knew that because she had actually seen a few videos with Kayla and was a little surprised to see her standing in front of her now.

“Oh my God, Chloe!” Kayla grabbed her arm as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, even though they had never met before. “I have to tell you something. Your Bound.com scene, you know, I’ve watched it like, at least three times.”

“Oh, wow. Thank you!”

“You know, I didn’t dare to say yes to them for ages. They had already made me an offer four or five times, and I was always like, no, BDSM isn’t really my thing , I don’t know.” She shook her head excitedly. “And then I saw your scene and how many times you came, and I thought, oh my God, if they can get that out of her, then I want to know what they can get out of me.”

Chloe blinked. “That’s, um, thanks. Cool! I’m glad to hear it. So? Have you shot with Bound.com yet? How was it?”

Kayla’s dimples appeared as she grinned broadly. “Yes, last week, and I’m still having orgasm flashbacks. It was a-ma-zing!” She gave Chloe a quick hug and then clinked glasses with her. “So thank you! I have you to thank for that.”

She’s a porn star. And I’m her colleague.

It was a strange feeling. But it was slowly becoming less strange.

She danced with Nate, who was a surprisingly good dancer and moved around her with fluid ease and natural physicality. She also danced with Kayla, who was full of energy and shamelessly performed the most shockingly sexy dance moves against her. And she danced with Steve, who was now slightly drunk, put his hands on her hips and looked at her as if she were the only thing in the room that he could see clearly.

At some point, Chloe sat down next to Elena at the bar, the both of them slightly sweaty, their hair no longer quite so perfect, and Elena ordered two vodka sodas for them.

“Are you okay?” Elena asked.

“Yes,” said Chloe. “Actually, yes.”

Elena nodded and sipped her drink. Then, casually, “By the way, your ‘colleague’ can’t take his eyes off you.”

Chloe looked over her shoulder. Steve was standing a few feet away talking to Nate, but his gaze wandered over to her every few seconds.

“That’s just how he is,” Chloe said.

“Mhm.” Elena grinned. “Sweet.”

Chloe shrugged, but she felt something warm in her chest that had nothing to do with the alcohol. Despite everything, it was nice to be looked at like that by someone.

The music changed, and Kayla screamed enthusiastically somewhere on the dance floor because her favorite song was apparently playing. Nate laughed. Steve looked over at Chloe, spread his arms in a silent invitation, and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Chloe quickly finished her drink and set it down on the bar.

“Come on,” she said to Elena and pulled her onto the dance floor.

~

The crowd thinned out around one in the morning. Chloe leaned against the bar, warm from the alcohol and dancing, her feet now numb in her heels, her hair half out of its bun. She felt good though.

Elena hugged her goodbye and blew her a kiss from three meters away as she walked backwards toward the exit.

“Take care, superstar.”

“You too.”

Elena glanced briefly at Steve, who was leaning against the wall a few steps away, pretending not to look over at them, and grinned a grin that said everything that needed to be said.

Then she was gone.

Steve came over to her. Slightly flushed, a little unsure, with his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, should I call you a cab? Or, um. I mean, I could also… if you want, I-“

“Yes,” Chloe said.

He blinked. “Yes what?”

“Yes, come with me.”

Five minutes later, the taxi driver had the radio playing quietly on some oldies station, and Steve’s hand was in hers on the back seat, warm and a little damp. Chloe leaned her head against Steve’s shoulder, and his thumb slowly stroked the back of her hand.

Then they stood on the sidewalk in front of her apartment for a moment. Steve looked at her, and she looked back, and then she kissed him, just because she felt like it.

His mouth tasted of champagne and his hand found her back, and there was nothing complicated about it.

Then she took the key out of her bag, unlocked the door, and they went upstairs together.