“It’s called
“Did it hurt?” I asked.
“Hell, yes. The old man that did mine did it the traditional way. They don’t use a tattoo gun. It was done with a blade attached to a stick, and he whacked me with it. To get them so dark, he had to go over it again and again for what seemed like forever.”
“It looks pretty cool.”
“Chicks dig it,” he said with a smile.
“When my mom comes, you’ll have to tell her that.”
“I’ve been warned about your mom. There’s no way I’m going to tell her anything of the sort.”
It was probably safer for him if he didn’t.
“What’s the deal with you and Teresa?” he asked, to change the subject.
I just shrugged.
“She’s a fine woman. Is she in college?” he asked.
“Yep. You interested in her?” I asked.
“More like in lust,” he admitted.
This was more like what my security needed to be: guys I could talk about important issues with. Not the candy-asses I had back home who were afraid I would lead them astray.
“Ask Fritz to see the tape.”
“What tape?” he asked. “Did you … uh … never mind.”
It was funny to see the big guy get awkward. I just gave him a mysterious smile and let him twist in the wind. Maybe I could get him to handle Teresa’s mom. That woman worried me. If she would just focus on Manaia, it would be a load off my mind. I sure he wouldn’t mind taking one for the team in that regard. Now she was hot!
◊◊◊
“Good morning,” I said to Misaki as she entered the men’s dressing room.
I was about to get my makeup put on, so she took the seat next to mine.
“How was your day off?”
“Good. How was work?” I asked to get the small talk out of the way.
We both knew that Misaki was here to either give me sisterly advice or tell me who my next lunch victim was.
“I’ve been bad,” she admitted, surprising me.
“Oh, do tell,” I said, giving her my full attention.
“Today is your big scene with Haru when she gives you her first kiss.”
In this episode, I had kissed her when we filmed the beginning. It was all about her crush on me, what the kiss meant, and all the girly stuff associated with it. Kenta’s character would do everything he could to convince her that I was just an American playboy up to no good. The girls would all think it was romantic. Jiro, the nerdy actor Hana was dating, would stand up for me. They had Haru get brave and corner me after class so she could kiss me back. That would set up the next few episodes where everyone tried to figure out what it all meant.
I think I was hired to be the eye candy for this show. What else could I conclude when I had zero lines in this episode? I wondered if it would help if I showed some skin for the scene. They should get their money’s worth. I decided to ask Misaki.
“Do you think it would help if I took my shirt off for the scene?” I asked.
I could almost hear her eyes roll at that. She gave her head a little shake, ‘no,’ and then her eyes bore into mine.
“She’s nervous. Don’t you be too sexy and cute to cause her to mess up,” Misaki warned.
“You think I’m sexy and cute?” I asked innocently.
“You’re a brat. Just be nice,” she cautioned.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said and gave her a slight head bow.
Misaki liked it when I showed her deference. It was all part of being a big sister to boss around her charge. Somehow, I’d collected several big sisters who thought they were the boss of me. Little did they know …
I looked at her curiously.
“How have you been bad?” I asked.
“Haru told us what you did,” she began.
Haru must have shared that I slipped her the tongue to get her to react for the scene.
“We’ve been giving her ideas about what she should do in retaliation,” Misaki continued. “She was ready to turn up the heat with her kiss this afternoon when I reminded her that you’d already had sex on screen before. I told her you might not be like the typical guy from Japan who would be shocked by her brazen behavior.”
“First of all, it was never confirmed I had sex on set.”
“According to our research, I disagree,” Misaki said authoritatively.
“Our?” I asked, giving her my one-raised-eyebrow look.
She blushed.
“In exchange for pictures of you on set, friends back in Japan do research for us. We hit the mother lode when you decided to go skinny-dipping,” Misaki admitted.
“Let me get this straight. All the girls on the set are secretly taking pictures of me and sending them home?” I asked.
“Maybe not Tomoko.”
Tomoko played one of the professors and was older. I could see her not being caught up in all this. What struck me as funny was that Misaki wasn’t even embarrassed that they were doing it.
