“There’s a company that’s created something called Orange Goo. They designed it to go under body armor for the military. The stuff doesn’t stop bullets, but it does work against blunt-force trauma. You should see this stuff in the lab. It looks like orange Silly Putty. You can pull it, stretch it, and shape it into almost anything. When it receives an impact, it stiffens. The guys in the lab call it a ‘non-Newtonian fluid,’ whatever that means.
“To test it, they wrapped raw eggs in the stuff and threw them against the wall. When they unwrapped them, the eggs came out intact. We got an intern to wrap it around his finger and then hit it with a hammer. He was perfectly fine and said he barely felt it. The stuff is unbelievable.
“I had them create these gloves for you to try out. The cloth on the inside is something we developed with the idea for something that gave you as much feel as possible while improving your grip.
“That’s only one of the applications we’re considering. We’ve talked about everything from football helmets to pads to anything that needs to be able to stand up under pressure. One of our guys thought we should use it in thermos containers after he broke his when it fell out of the back of his truck,” Devin said.
“What I can’t believe is how lightweight it is.”
“There’s a huge market in football gear. This will make any gear you put it in safer, lighter, and more flexible,” Devin predicted.
“What about baseball? I could see applications in batting, fielding, and base-running gloves to start. Think about those impact t-shirts you had made to protect us from errant pitches. I bet this would do a better job.”
The photographer looked impatient. Devin let me get to work.
◊◊◊
At lunch, you could tell that Devin had had a hand in ordering the food. Instead of model food, we had steaks.
“I need to do more shoots with you,” Sarah said as she joined us.
“It’s all Devin. Usually, I get cigarettes and coffee.”
She didn’t think I was funny. Fritz sent me a text to call him.
“One of your castmates has gone missing. Misaki called your dad because you weren’t answering your phone.”
Dad knew I was at a shoot and could have called Manaia if it were an actual emergency. I looked at my phone and saw I had three messages and several texts. They were looking for Ai. I sighed; while I didn’t know exactly where she was, I bet I knew who she was with and what she was doing.
“I’ll take care of it,” I said.
“Yeah, I figured you would know where she was. I take it she isn’t in any real danger.”
“No, I seriously doubt it. I’ll call you if I can’t track her down,” I assured him.
“You call Misaki back. I’m not getting into the middle of that,” Fritz said, and then hung up.
I called Bill, and he answered on the fifth ring. He sounded terrible.
“Hello.”
“It’s David. I wanted to give you a heads-up. Ai needs to go home because her husband is looking for her.”
“What?” Bill said as he became more alert.
“Just tell her, man.”
I could hear Bill talk to Ai. “David said your husband is looking for you.”
“Give me the phone.”
She said a few choice words in Japanese. It was lucky that I’d made Hana teach me some swear words. Then she got sweet.
“I’m with my future husband.”
“What?!” was Bill’s response in the background.
“Call Misaki. She’s worried that you’ve gone missing,” I said.
Best I avoid having to tell Misaki that one of my friends had hooked up with Ai.
“She thinks because you favor her and she’s older that we have to do what she says,” Ai complained.
“What if I asked you to lunch in front of everyone next week?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, now call her before she calls the police.”
“Maybe later,” she said in a sexy voice.
I swear! TMI!
◊◊◊
In the afternoon session, I was with Sarah. Towards the end, she was showing signs of losing focus, which Adrienne spotted.
“We need a break,” she said to stop the shoot.
“I can fix this,” I offered.
Adrienne gave me a death glare, so I smiled at her. Ignoring her, I turned to Sarah.
“You’re losing focus,” I said, then pulled her to me and kissed her.
She stiffened at first but then wrapped her arms around my neck. Welp, that might have been a mistake. Adrienne cleared her throat, which made Sarah let go of me and blush. Adrienne looked like she was about to launch into a tirade.
“I’m losing focus,” Tyler said to break the tension.
Adrienne looked at Tyler in disbelief. Then she relaxed and even laughed when I kissed Tyler.
“Enough goofing around. Let’s finish this,” Adrienne ordered.
Sarah took the opportunity to flirt with me the rest of the shoot, which made for better pictures. The chemistry I’d been hoping for was finally there. I imagined that in the back of her mind, she was worried because I was best friends with her boyfriend, Wolf.
When we were done, Cora and Devin found me as I was getting dressed.
“Come to dinner with us,” Cora offered.
Behind her, Devin was shaking his head ‘no,’ so I hesitated.
“I’m not sure …”
“Cal will be there,” Devin explained.
