The Convert

Dax was a very good-looking guy who was confident without being cocky. What he wasn't was confrontational. He didn't like arguing. He didn't enjoy challenging people. He even hated breaking up with a girl. But he had to reduce these numbers right off the bat or he'd spend all day wasting time doing interviews with girls he'd have no interest working with.

He opened the door and stood outside and tried to get everyone's attention the best he could. "Ladies? Excuse me! Ladies? Could I have your attention, please?" He was cupping his hands and talking as loudly as he could. "The turnout this morning is overwhelming. I want to thank every single one of you who showed up. But I am only taking 25 people for the study in the hopes of finding three finalists. So as much as I don't like doing this, I'm only going to able to work with a select few of you."

He started at the front of the line and began looking for girls who obviously weren't attractive to him at all. He hated being mean, but some of them were just downright...unattractive. Others had three or four features working against them, and still others who weren't bad looking just did nothing for him.

He began with one particularly large girl with glasses and said quietly, "I'm sorry. This won't work for us." He tried to be discreet, but she let him have it.

"Oh, right. You don't think big, beautiful women can be models. Well fuck you, asshole!" she said as she waddled off.

He walked up to another girl was as plain-looking and homely as homely can be. "Sorry. We can't use you in this study, but thank you for coming," he said politely.

"That's okay. I was just hoping maybe I'd get lucky. I could really use the money. Thanks anyway."

By the time he reached the end of the line, he was left with just eight girls. How many had he rejected before 9am? Seventy-five? A hundred?

This was disappointing. And out of the eight who remained, would any be willing to participate? Had he been too selective? Did he just shoot himself in the foot?

He reminded himself it was early and that he had the rest of the day and tomorrow to find his initial group of volunteers as he invited the first group of attractive young women to come in and have a seat.

"Okay, ladies. Well, you've made the first cut!" he told them as they all sat there smiling at him. "I have to ask one question before we start. Please don't assume one way or the other about it because you may assume incorrectly." He looked at each one before asking, "Do any of you ladies smoke?"

Each of them looked around at the others and one hand went up. "Dammit!" Dax said to himself. She was the most attractive girl in the group. "Okay, thank you for your honesty," he told her. "One other follow-on. How many of you used to smoke but quit or smoke socially at a bar or whatever?" Two more hands went up.

One of them offered, "I quit three years ago and haven't smoked since." Taking a cue from her the other girls said, "I only smoke a few times a week. You know, when I'm drinking with friends or whatever."

"Well, unfortunately, we won't be able to use you," he began.

The girl who'd quit was stunned. "You mean even though I haven't touched those things for three years, I still can't be in this study? That is some kind of messed up!" she told him.

"I'm very sorry. But those are the rules. Thank you for coming, though."

On the way out, she flung the door open as the other two girls left then said, "You should've at least said that in your ad and saved me from getting up at the butt crack of dawn to come stand in line and freeze my ass off. Thanks for nothing, asshole!"

The five remaining girls looked at each other and smiled. "Shall we get started?"

The rest of that day and the following day, young women trickled in off and on all day long. By the end of the two-day period, he'd ended up a total of 15 girls—not the 25 he'd hoped for—that he wanted to work with. Five of them told him 'no' in one form or another after he explained what it was they'd be doing. Two of them simply said, "Smoking? No way," and left. Two of the other girls were much more vocal in their rejection of his offer and one of them even told him there was a special place in hell for people like him. Evidently God hated smoking a LOT. One even started crying as she told him about her grandmother who died a slow, painful death from emphysema brought on by a lifetime of smoking. He bother reminding her grandma would have died from something and that smoking had been her choice. He wished them all well and turned to the ten remaining semi-finalists.

All ten of them were girls Dax found attractive or very attractive. There were four girls he found not only attractive but also very interesting and hoped three of them would stick with to the end. All ten were excellent prospects.

As he began the interview process, he noted how their reactions varied widely even among those who'd chosen to stay. One of those who didn't leave was all about the money. She was 22, a senior, and up to her neck in debt. She saw this as an easy way to make a lot of money she desperately needed. "So how much do you pay again each day? A hundred dollars, right? And the weekly bonuses? How much are those? If I stay for the entire 60 days, how much is that worth? Oh, and what about the modeling? How does that work and much more do you pay for that?"

He patiently answered each of her questions letting her know she could earn up to $25,000 for the entire two-month period. "However, I only pay half of the final bonus on day 60. To collect the other half, you need to come back 30 days later and have one last session with me. You'll smoke three more cigarettes, then receive the rest of the money." Obviously, that was to build their addiction and keep them smoking for another month. He wasn't sure he'd still have this place by then or whether any of them would stay for the entire time, but he could meet them anywhere for that final session.

Another girl, perhaps the most interesting, had been raised a Mormon but quit going to church a year ago after discovering how much she enjoyed sex. "I was dating a non-member...sorry...a non-Mormon guy...for the first time. He was really hot and I was just so ready to try new things—if you get my drift. When I discovered how much fun those...new things were, I just stopped going to church."

Dax smiled and said, "I bet that was pretty unpopular back home."

"That's an understatement," she said smiling. "But my family's reaction isn't going to keep me from trying new things and if this is as much fun as, you know...those new things then...I'm in!"

"Well, it won't be much fun the first few times. I can assure you that."

She smiled wickedly and said, "Neither was...that...the first few times."

The others all had their own personal reasons, and each one of them seemed either interested or very interested and that was all that mattered to Dax.

He'd had his late father's attorney draft up legal release paperwork to ensure he could never be sued or held liable in the future just in case someone tried to blame him for something down the road. They were all adults entering into a contract of their own free will, were aware of the risks, and would be knowingly and intentionally giving up their right to seek redress in the future.

By the time he left Friday evening, all of the paperwork had been signed and notarized and the girls would be coming back in on Monday for their first session. He'd given each of them key cards to the building because he knew they had schedules which kept them from necessarily being able to show up at the same time he would be there every day. All any girl needed to do was swipe her card, lock the door, swipe one of the three monitoring rooms, turn on the recording device, fulfill her contract for the day, then lock up on the way out. Forgetting to lock up meant forfeiting her payment for the day and Dax hoped that would be incentive enough to keep them security conscious. Thankfully, none of them were ditzes so he felt reasonably comfortable trusting them.

All of them were very curious about the schedule. "So how much do we have to smoke each day?" Every girl had asked the same question.

Dax showed each of them the schedule which started out with inhaling four puffs of one cigarette the first day. They would inhale four puffs from two cigarettes the second day and four from three cigarettes the third. Then they would take five puffs from three cigarettes per day for three days and so on. By the final week, they would be completely smoking 10 cigarettes a day. They could smoke more anytime they liked, but they had to be in the monitoring room recording their progress each and every time they smoked or they wouldn't be paid. They could miss a day but doing so meant forfeiting their next payment. If they missed more than three days total, they would be out of the study.

"How does the modeling work?" was the other question they all wanted to know.

Dax told each of them, "I have an account set up with Nordstroms. You can go into any of their stores and buy any of the outfits I've selected and posted on line." He showed them how to access the page.

"If you want to model, you must style your hair, wear makeup, select and wear one of the approved outfits on the list, as well as jewelry and heels. You can also find those accessories and shoes on line, by the way. They are free to you and you may keep the clothes. Each girl may have up to 15 different outfits not to be worn more than four times each throughout the study. Any day that you model, you'll receive an extra $25 and as I said, you can keep the new clothes."

"So unless anyone has other questions, I'll see you all Monday morning the 18th between 8am and noon. Remember, you must be physically present here with me the first session. After that, you may come and go at your leisure. Just don't forget to lock up, ladies!"

______________________________________________________________________

September 18th

Sage was waiting outside when he arrived. "Hey there! I didn't expect you to be standing here out in the cold. Come on, let's get you inside. You want a cup of coffee?" Dax asked as he opened the door for her.

"That sounds perfect!" she told him. "I love Seattle, but I'm so tired of the cold."

"You moved here, didn't you?" he asked her as he poured water into the pot.

"Yes. I grew up in Southern California and moved here when I started college a little about seven years ago. My parents are both UW grads so it just seemed like the thing to do. I finished my BA in four years and will be getting my MA at the end of this year."

She took off her coat and gloves and waited for the coffee to brew.

When the coffee was ready he poured them both a cup and handed one to Sage.

"Thank you. This is perfect. Okay, so what's this study of yours all about?"

"Addiction," he said providing a one-word answer.

"That's kind of cryptic. Are you providing your subjects with cocaine or something?" she teased.

"Something. It's actually more addictive than cocaine but most people don't know that."

"Heroin? Meth? Is that what this is? Are you studying addiction at that level?" she asked with amazement.

"No, neither of those, Sage."

"Okay, so spill! What's going on here? What kind of addiction are you examining?"

"Smoking," he told her flatly.

"Cigarettes? Eeew! Smoking is so...disgusting. Who even does that anymore?" she asked.

"Rates have fallen off dramatically over the years, but somewhere around 17-18% of people over the age of 18 smoke. Nicotine is powerfully addictive and I'm studying the process of addiction."

"So who's in your control group and what kind of variable isolation techniques are you using?" she asked.

Sage was good. She was a fellow grad student and Dax didn't have all of the proper controls in place to do a serious study which could be peer reviewed and published. He'd been so anxious to have Sage around he'd overlooked something completely obvious. Like him, she knew what was necessary to set up a valid study and Dax could never possibly get her to believe this 'study' was legit.

"Sage, this is more of a...personal...study. It's a kind of curiosity thing for me. I really can't tell you more than that."

Sage was not only cute, she was smart and she was intuitive. She would quickly put two and two together if she hadn't already done so and once she had, she would likely walk out on him the way Gabe had walked out on her. No, that wasn't quite true. She'd most likely tell him what she thought and then walk out.

"So can I assume the university isn't funding this um...study of yours?" she asked him.

"That's a fair assumption," he replied.

"Hmmm. This can't be cheap." She looked around at the rooms and the equipment in them and said, "All this and whatever you're paying the participants—and now me. Interesting."

She stopped digging and said, "So how can I help you? What would you like me to do first?"

Dax showed her the forms the girls had signed the previous week and asked her to file them. He then explained how the monitoring system worked and the process involving key cards. "Oh, here's yours, by the way," he told her as he gave her her own key card.

"It doesn't really seem like you need a full-time assistant, Dax. Are you sure you want to spend the extra money to pay me?"

"Um, yeah. I know it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot to do, but there will be times when it'll take two of us to handle everything."

Sage was wondering why the girls could come in any time, day or night, even when no one was here if what Dax had just told her was true. Maybe there would be a lot of data entry and paperwork. Maybe. Like before, she chose not to dig deeper and left well enough alone.

Dax was giving Sage a hands-on tutorial in one of the monitoring rooms when they heard someone come in through the front door. "Ah! Our first participant has arrived."

They stepped into the waiting room and saw the Mormon girl. "Hi!" she said. "Am I on time?"

"Oh, sure. You could come in anytime during that four-hour window so this is perfect. If you want to set your coat down, we can go ahead and get started.

She took off her coat and Dax did a double take but tried not to stare. "Is this okay?" she asked. "For the modeling part?"

"Modeling?" Sage said.

"Oh, sorry. Sage, this is Paula Eastbrook. Paula, this is Sage Melton, my um...assistant."

They smiled and said hello to one another. "So...you're modeling today?" Sage asked wanting to learn what was going on without letting Paula know she was clueless.

"Definitely," she gushed. "I went to Nordstroms and picked out this outfit." She looked concerned for a moment as Dax was boring holes through her with his stare then asked, "Is it my hair and makeup? Did I not do it well enough or something?"

Dax stepped in and said, "No, it's perfect. And you look great, by the way, Paula. So why don't you follow me and we'll get you started."

Sage took note of what Paula had worn. She had a on a very cute pink sweater and a black skirt with black heels and a gold necklace with matching earrings. "Interesting," Sage thought to herself as she followed Dax to Monitoring Room 1.

He got her situated, showed her how the camera system worked in case she wanted to come in alone, then took Sage back to the control room—better known as his office. "Can you hear me okay, Paula?"

"I can," she told him.

"Great. The video is perfect so we're all set. So...have ever even tried smoking before?" he asked her.

"Nope. Been a good Mormon girl all my life," she said smiling at him. "Or least I had been until...you know."

Dax smiled back and said, "Yes, I do. Okay, initially, I'm not too concerned about your smoking style, but ultimately, style is very important. So please go ahead and open the pack and take out a cigarette and just hold it."

Dax zoomed in on her as she opened her first pack of cigarettes and he loved watching her French nails extract one of them from her box. "Okay. Now what?" she asked.

"I'd like you to just hold it and try to be as feminine as you can."

He was going to explain about bending her wrist, holding it with two fingers, keeping her elbow near her body, etc., but she was already doing all of those things. "Like this?" she said.

"That's perfect. Are you sure you haven't done this before?" he teased smiling back at her.

"First time. I promise!" she told him.

"Okay, next let's practice taking a small puff without lighting it up. When you smoke, you don't inhale directly or it'll burn your throat. You take a small amount into your mouth and just hold it there for a second, and then inhale it. Does that make sense?"

"Uh, I think so. Something like this?" Paula held the cigarette to her lips and pretended to take a small draw and he noticed she waited for about a second, then 'inhaled.' He could clearly see the ring of pink lipstick around the filter and hoped Sage couldn't see the growing bulge in his jeans.

"Perfect! Then take as long as you like before your second drag on so on. Four is the minimum requirement for today and I wouldn't recommend going over."

"Will I get drunk or something?" she teased.

"Um...no, but you might feel a little queasy so take it easy the first few times, okay?"

"Okay," she told him. She looked so damn sexy just sitting there holding her cigarette even before it was lit.

"So go ahead and light it and maybe do something like this," he said as he showed her what to do using his hands to explain how to hold the cigarette while lighting it.

"Got it. You ready?" she asked. There was that amazing smile again.

"I am," he assured her.

Sage was watching in silent fascination as she realized this young, 20-something woman was about to smoke a cigarette for the first time her life. She couldn't help but wonder exactly what it was Dax was interested in but she knew time was on her side when it came to filling in this puzzle.

Paula did exactly as he'd shown her and he felt an ache deep in his balls as he saw the smoke curl off the end of her first-ever cigarette. He zoomed in even closer as her cheeks indented slightly. He watched as she held the smoke just as she'd practiced then kept on eye on her face as she inhaled for the first time in her life.

She didn't cough but she did raise her shoulders and lower her head a bit. He could barely see the exhale but it was definitely there. All of the background walls were black to maximize viewing the girls' exhales and while this one was very thin, it was indeed there. "Oh, wow! That was...interesting," she said.

"Good interesting or bad interesting?" he asked.

"How about 'not too bad' interesting? It definitely wasn't fun, but it also wasn't horrible. Should I try again?" she asked her eyebrows raised looking for his approval.

"Sure. Whenever you're ready."

Paula took another puff about the same size as the first and exhaled. There was slightly more smoke but it was also very weak. "Just go at your own pace, Paula, okay?" She nodded then took another hit. This one was slightly deeper and he saw her eyes bulge slightly. The exhale was a bit better and it looked almost like a smoker's first-hit exhale.

"Okay, I bit off more than I can chew...or smoke...with that one," she said. "I feel a little lightheaded."

"Okay. Just sit there and relax for a while. No hurry."

She looked so incredible sitting there in her beautiful pink sweater which showcased her perfect boobs as she held her first cigarette in a way that spoke of more experience. "What's funny is I got this kind of tingling down the back of my neck on that puff. Is that normal?" she asked.

Dax had read a lot of stories about smoking and although he had no personal experience, he'd learned that was a common occurrence the first time or two someone tried smoking. "Yes, it is. That's a nicotine buzz. Was it pleasant?"