The Convert

"Yeah. It kind of was. And remember, I like trying new things." There was that smile again. "Okay, number four coming up." Paula took another smaller hit and exhaled it without making any kind of face or change in her expression.

"Okay. You're done. That's $125 in the bank!" he told her.

Dax didn't see Sage's eyes open wide when she heard the amount he was paying. She'd never seen anything but a drug trial sponsored by big pharma pay anything close to that for a single session. She was doing the mental math for just one girl and the cost really blew her mind.

"Wow! That was easy. Can I try one more?" she asked.

"You don't have to but you can if you'd like."

"Yeah, one more. New things, right?" She took a deeper drag than before and again he saw her bow her neck a little as the additional smoke was taken in. This exhale wasn't bad at all. Not great by any means but not too bad.

"Okay, I'm done. I understand now about feeling nauseous." She ground it out and said, "I don't feel sick or anything. Just a little bit queasy."

"That's perfectly normal. Come on over and I'll get your money."

Dax was very aware of her new smell as she came in. So was Sage. "I probably smell kind of icky," she said. "Sorry."

"You smell just fine to me, Paula," he said as he counted out her cash. As he counted, she moved closer and kind of leaned over his shoulder as he was pulling out two fifties, a twenty, and a five. "All that's for me?" she asked.

He could smell the smoke on her soft lips and he wanted to kiss her so bad he could hardly stand it. But he forced himself to count it out then turn around and hand it to her. "There you go. There's more just like that tomorrow."

"Wow! That was the easiest $125 I ever earned. I'll definitely be back bright and early tomorrow. In case you can't tell, I'm a morning person and I usually drive people who aren't crazy with my happy, perky morning-person attitude."

Sage was more than a little annoyed, but she wasn't sure why. She didn't like getting up early, but she could do so without complaining. Paula was a nice enough person and she was definitely very attractive. There was no reason for Sage not to like her, yet something about her just bugged her. She bit her tongue and said goodbye to Paula very pleasantly as Dax walked her out.

"I love the outfit you chose today, Paula. That's one of my favorites," he told her as he helped her with coat. Sage had stayed in the control room leaving him some time alone with Paula.

"Thank you. It was at the top of the list and it is very pretty so I thought I'd start there. I can't believe I get to keep this. It was very expensive."

"It's an investment," he told her. "And again, you really look great."

She thanked him, smiled again and left.

Not ten minutes later another one of the girls came in and Dax got ready to take her into Monitoring Room 2.

"Let me do that," Sage said. "I think I can handle this and I need to do something to earn my pay around here."

"Well, okay. That'd be great. Thank you, Sage."

Dax noticed that Sage passed on every single detail to the next girl that he'd mentioned to Paula and the new girl was just as pleasant and attractive, but she'd chosen not to 'model.'

"I didn't have time to get to Nordstroms," she said. "I'm going to stop by there today, though, and I'll definitely be modeling from now on."

However, by the end of the session, she felt so nauseous, she told Dax, "I think I've changed my mind about this. I didn't know I was going to feel like throwing up after the first day. I'm not sure I'll be back again."

Dax assured her that would pass, but she seemed pretty sure there wouldn't be a second session. "Okay. Well, regardless of your choice, you did earn $100 today."

He handed her the cash, thanked her, and told her he hoped to see her again in spite of what she'd said.

There were two no-shows leaving Dax to conclude he was now down to 12 girls although he wouldn't be sure for a couple more days.

"So do you need to me do anything with the um...data...we collected today? Can I collect, compare, contrast, collate, or...anything?" Sage asked knowing the answer already.

"Um, not today. I'll just make a few notes in each girl's file and we'll call it a day. You want to grab lunch when we're done?"

"I'd love to but I have a seminar in 30 minutes. I'll just take another cup of coffee for the road it that's okay."

"Help yourself," he told her.

As she finished pouring it she said, "Dax? I know I'm just the assistant but...well, I couldn't help but notice all of the participants are females."

"Oh, um...well, yeah. I was thinking I could do this in two phases, you know. First with women and then with men."

"Oh, I see. So will all of the men be as handsome as these woman are beautiful?" Sage raised her eyebrows indicating a genuine interest in hearing his answer, but Dax knew she had already put the first '2' in the 2 + 2 = 4 equation. It wouldn't take her long to figure out what the other missing term was.

"I suppose that'll depend on who shows up," he said without looking at her.

"Oh, okay. Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," she said.

"Okay. And thanks for all your help, Sage. You were great."

Sage didn't reply. She just smiled and said, "Bye, Dax."

September 25th

They were one week into the 'study' and the two no-shows never showed. The girl who said she wouldn't be back didn't return, and three others had quit (how ironic) the first week. Dax only wanted to fund three girls anyway, so he let them know on Friday he would have to reduce their numbers early the following week.

"I'm only going to able to be able to keep three of you. So on Monday, I'll be reviewing your weekend sessions in terms of style, the way you look (all of them had chosen to 'model' and were all very attractive in their own right and were stunning when smoking), and your overall attitude and desire to be here. I wish I could keep you all, but unfortunately that's not possible. So good luck to each of you."

When Dax walked in at 7:45am, Sage was already in the office working. "What's got you in so early?" he asked.

"I'm looking through this weekend's videos," she told him. "Check this out. It looks like they're actually competing with each other. I guess your little talk on Friday really put the fear of...money in them."

Dax pulled up a chair next to her and what he saw mesmerized him.

"See what I mean?" Sage said. "Look at Paula. Ever since that first day, she's worn nothing but tight-fitting sweaters. They keep getting tighter and shorter. Just like her skirts. And look at those heels. Those are what? Five inches?"

He was so caught up in watching this gorgeous young woman smoke, he forgot about Sage and her growing awareness of what was going on around her.

"Dax? Did you hear me?" she said.

"Oh, sure. Yeah."

"Yeah, what?" Sage asked. "You have no idea what I even said, do you?"

He actually didn't hear her because Paula was also speaking on her latest video. "Hi, Dax. I'm here late at night recording this. I really wish you were here because I enjoy being with you...a lot." She smiled, took an amazingly deep drag, and exhaled while she spoke. "I'm so glad I signed up for this study." She tapped her cigarette in the ashtray and took another huge drag. "As you know, I really like trying new things so if...you know...you'd ever like to get together sometime...somewhere that's not here...and try some new things with me...just let me know, okay?"

She was finishing her cigarette and her daily requirement, but after putting it out, she reached for another one and lit. "I've changed so much over the past year, Dax." She took a long drag and exhaled again. "A year ago, I'd have never worn anything like this really cute crop sweater that exposes my midriff. And any skirt I wore had to go to within an inch of my knee." She looked down, took another long hit and smiled. "This one barely seems to even cover my pussy." She looked up, put her hand over her mouth, and said, "Oops. Did I say that? Shame on me." She flashed a wicked smile, took another very deep drag, and said, "I'm kind of starting to enjoy these." She held out her hand with the cigarette in it as though she were admiring it. "And I hope you're enjoying watching me as you um...do your research." She took two more quit hits exhaling a huge, thick stream of smoke and said, "Well, I guess that's it for today. I hope to see you again real soon, Dax. Bye." She took one last drag and blew a kiss with the exhaled smoke.

"Fuck," Dax said under his breath.

"What was that?" Sage asked knowing perfectly well what he'd said. "Did you need me to get you something?"

"Um, no. No, everything's just fine, Paula." He caught himself too late and said, "Jesus. Sorry, Sage. I just..."

"Got caught up in your work?" she offered doing her best to sound like she had no idea what was up.

"Um...yes. Right. Sorry about that. Can you cue that one up again? I need to um...take some notes."

"Notes. Right. Sure thing. Here you go." She reset the counter to the start and hit 'play' as Dax sat down staring at the screen as though Sage wasn't even there.

"I'm just gonna go blow up the studio okay, Dax?" she said confirming her suspicions about his not paying attention to her.

"Yeah. That sounds great. Can you bring me one, too?" he said never taking his eyes off of the soft porn show on the screen in front of him.

Sage stood there and watched Dax watch Paula. She was looking for clues and by the time he was finished 'reviewing the data' she was almost certain she'd discovered the second term of this equation.

Dax then reviewed each of the other girl's performances as Sage noted he only watched Paula's more than once. One of those three girls was also clearly playing to the camera although she didn't speak. But she was using all of her feminine charms to win one of the three finalist spots, and if Sage was right, she'd done just that.

"So, what's the verdict?" she asked Dax once he'd finished the last of the footage.

"I think I've narrowed it down, but I'd like your take on it, Sage. Who do you think we should keep?"

This offer gave Sage the perfect opportunity to test her theory. "To me, I think we can easily eliminate Paula and Nikki (the other girl doing more than just 'her job') then move on from there."

Dax spun around in his chair and said, "You can't be serious. They were the two best by far. Don't you agree?"

Sage pretended to really think about what he'd just said before saying, "No, they actually seem to be trying to...act...or something. The other girls are doing exactly what they're being paid to do. So for my money...oops, sorry. I'm not paying them...I'd get rid of those two and narrow it down from there."

Dax's brain was still so flooded with dopamine he couldn't think. He needed to step outside and breath some cold, fresh air to clear his head. And his little head. Paula's performance had giving him a raging hard on and it was still pushing um...hard...against his denim jeans. As he stood up to leave, he noticed Sage glance down ever-so quickly but in such a way as to make it seem it was purely coincidental.

"I'm gonna take a quick break. I'll be right back, okay?"

"I'll try and keep things under control while you're out," she said seriously hoping he wouldn't call her on her sarcasm.

"Thanks, Sage. You're the best."

Sage just smiled as he walked out. She took his seat, queued up the video of Paula and watched it one last time while her 'boss' was outside. She laughed at the idea of him taking a smoke break. "Now that's funny!" she thought to herself and actually laughed out loud.

Dax had agreed to meet with each of the girls individually as they came in that morning.

When he told the first girl how sorry he was for having to let her go she said, "That's okay. I was planning on dropping out anyway. I really needed the money I made the first week, but I can't stand smoking so this is perfect." Before she left she asked, "Do we get paid for today by any chance?"

She'd worn in something really nice so Dax said, "Technically, no. But you've been such a good sport through all of this, I'm gonna give you a hundred bucks as a kind of thank-you."

He handed her a crisp, new hundred-dollar bill. She thanked him then gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're really sweet," she told him. "And you're really cute. If you ever wanna hook up or anything..." She held out her phone for him to punch in his number but he told her no thanks. "Okay. You're loss. Take care, Dax."

"One down, how many more to go?" he asked Sage.

Rather than answer his question she said, "I can't believe you turned her down. I mean, isn't she your type?"

"My...type?" Dax repeated with a strong emphasis on 'type.'

"Well, yeah. Short skirt, pretty sweater, spiked heels—gorgeous. You know...your type."

"If only you knew," he said almost absent-mindedly not knowing or caring whether Sage heard him.

"Oh, I think I know," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Just then the front door opened and they both saw Paula on the monitor as she stepped inside. "Oh, good grief," Sage said as Dax bolted for the door to meet her.

"Paula! Good morning. How are you? How was your weekend?" Dax gushed.

"Hey, Dax! Nice to see you!" She dropped her black coat revealing another short, tight knit top and a very, very short spandex skirt then opened her arms for a hug.

Dax was only too happy to hug her and Sage heard him say, "Hmmm. Has someone been smoking outside of the study?"

Paula smiled and laughed much too hard. "Oh, Dax. It was just one cigarette on the way here. Can't a girl have a cigarette when she wants one?"

"Are you saying you actually wanted one outside of the study?" Sage just shook her head. Dax was like a little puppy dog owned by the pretty young Mormon girl. Or would that be ex-Mormon? Whatever. She clearly had Dax wrapped around her little finger or rather fingers when a Virginia Slims cigarette was between them.

"So I'm a finalist? Yes! Oh, Dax! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm am so happy!" She held out her arms again and said, "Can I have another hug? Pleeease?"

And just like Pavlov's dog, there he went straight into her arms.

By noon, Dax had informed each of the girls about their fate with regard to the study. Only two of them were genuinely disappointed. Sage thought Dax might open the 'study' to a fourth girl when his fourth-place pick said, "I'm really bummed about that. I've actually enjoyed this and I think I might actually keep smoking. I can't believe how much I like it after just a week. Are you sure you can't keep a fourth girl?" Unlike Paula, she wasn't throwing herself at him. She just seemed to really want to continue being a part of this and of course, getting paid in cash every day. Dax told her how much he'd like to do that but that it just wasn't in the budget.

The budget. Sage was dying to know where this money was coming from it. Between the building, the equipment, and the outflow of cash, a LOT of it was being spent. Dax was a grad student so unless he'd robbed a bank or was pulling a Walter White from the hit series Breaking Bad, and selling meth, he couldn't have this kind of cash laying around.

The three finalists had stayed and put in their 'day's work' and collected their 'hard-earned' pay while Dax broke the bad news to the other girls.

Once the last girl had left, Sage said, "Any chance of getting a rain check on that offer to have lunch with you from last week?"

"Don't you have your seminar?" he asked.

"Not today. So if you're free and if the offer still stands..."

"Yeah, sure. Let me just close up and I'll be ready to go."

As they ate, Sage asked him, "Dax? When you first asked me to assist you, I was curious about where the money is coming from to fund this...study. You said you could tell me but chose not to. It's still none of my business, but is there any chance you might reconsider your decision?"

Dax finished chewing and said, "I have a question for you first, okay?"

"Shoot," she said. She folded her hands, sat up straight and prepared to listen very attentively.

"What's your impression so far? What do you think the purpose of this study is and where do you think the money is coming from?"

"Well...I had no idea when you first asked me, of course. Then when I noticed that every single participant was a beautiful, young woman, I knew this couldn't be an actual academic study. And come on, Dax. We're both grad students. You had to know I knew that." Dax just smiled and told her to continue. "So for the first couple of days I was really dumbfounded. I had absolutely no idea. Then I mentioned it to my roommate, Dee, and she said she was one of the girls you let go on the first day before she got inside. And Dee is very attractive."

Dax asked her to describe this girl and he said, "Oh, yeah. I remember her. She really is nice looking. She just wasn't really that attractive—to me. But yeah, I remember her now."

"Well, when I told her I was working for you...she'd asked me to come and try out with her, by the way, but I said 'no' because I knew a girl like me would never be picked...she was totally surprised. She wanted to know exactly what we do here and how much people get paid, etc. When I told her she said, 'He's got a smoking fetish.' I had never heard of such a thing so like any good grad student, I Googled it."

She noticed Dax's cheeks flushed ever-so slightly when she said the words 'smoking fetish.' "When I typed in those two words, there were over 2.3 MILLION results! I had no idea! So to answer your question, everything points to this being a cover for you and your...smoking fetish. How am I doing so far?"

He pointed to his nose and said, "Spot on. And no, I didn't think I was fooling you. You're much too smart to fall for anything this obvious. And the funding?"

"Well, as I was searching through a few of those 2.3 million hits, I saw a ton of sites for models who smoke for the benefit of admiring men...like you, Dax...so my assumption was one or maybe more or those guys/companies/businesses or whatever, were paying you to make videos of pretty girls who smoke. Then they turn around and sell them."

"Is that your best guess?" he asked.

"It's my only guess unless you're somehow independently wealthy. But even that makes no sense because you're paying these girls so much money it seems impossible they could ever recoup that amount let alone make a profit."

"Again, you're spot on. I can't say I'm independently wealthy, but when our dad passed away he left us a fair amount of money in the form of a life insurance policy."

"Ah, hah! So this must be really important to you then. I mean in order to spend this kind of money on a project like this." She looked away for a moment then added, "I'm not judging, Dax. I'm just making an observation."

"Your observation is also exactly right, Sage. I've had this...interest...for as long as I can remember. I stopped trying to figure out how or why I have it a long time ago. I just accept it for what it is. And this um...study. No, this...idea...is my way of killing several birds with one stone."

Sage looked puzzled and said, "Okay, I get how just watching these girls—and all of them are drop-dead gorgeous, by the way—satisfies or...kills...one of your 'birds.' But beyond the enjoyment of watching them, what else do you get out of this?"

Dax seemed a little bit uncomfortable and Sage quickly said, "You don't have to answer that. I forgot we barely even know each other and I'm talking to you like we're best friends who tell each other everything. I'm really sorry. I'll cease and desist." She smiled to soften the edges just in case. After a brief moment of silence she said, "But I would like an answer to a question I think is my business. Would you mind?"