The Test Shoot

The drive to the studio was short and fraught with anticipation; the summer sky had long since gone dark, the city lighting the way for them as they rode together; Devika in the backseat, her hair now in a thick, tight braid, Levi playing the chauffeur.

When they arrived at the studio there was a U-Haul truck backed into the loading bay. "That probably has our bed for the shoot," said Levi, after swallowing a bite of an Animal Style Double-Double; they stopped at In-N-Out on the way to fuel up.

"Bringing in a prop bed for us to have sex in," mused Devika, who went with a Protein Style single cheeseburger because apparently it doesn't take that long to become self-conscious in the modeling game. "Power move, Levi."

He smiled, nodded, but couldn't quite engage. "Those guys bringing it in probably aren't union," he said, partly to himself. "Normally I'd be helping them out."

"So help them out," said Devika. "I'll be fine here."

"And leave you in a parked car at night in Downtown? I don't know what comes next in that story, but I'm pretty sure it ends with me running from the cops while David Bowie sings 'The Heart's Filthy Lesson.'"

"I understood that reference."

"Really?"

"No."

Levi shrugged. "Forget it." He stretched himself out in his seat. "You know, back at the house, when we were on the couch," he continued, "I never talked to any of my girlfriends like that before...Actually, no, I talked to somebody like that once and I made her really uncomfortable. At that point I was just starting to figure out this whole 'maybe my shit actually does stink' thing and figured 'oh, that's disrespectful.' And I know it isn't necessarily, I know some women are into that, but...I dunno. Stuff like that, stuff like hiring movers at the ass end of the night, sometimes I wonder if I'm a bad person pretending to be a good one."

"Your dad's a billionaire, Levi. Of course you're a bad person." Levi chuckled, and Devika put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll tell you what," she continued earnestly. "Maybe you're not the ideal feminist or champion of the working class, but you're very considerate, and I appreciate that." There was more to say, but Devika decided to retreat a bit before saying it, giving him room to react. "I don't know if you know this," she continued, "but Cat could tell you were into her and gave me a slight heads up about it."

"Really?" Levi sounded ashamed of that.

"I believe she described you as 'a little thirsty.'"

"Shit."

"But here's the thing: You still made her feel comfortable! You still created that space you try to create for all your models, and she said that she'd love to work with you again! Look, would I be surprised if your vibe bothered some people? Not at all. But it definitely doesn't bother me, and anyway, I don't think a guy who constantly examines how his behavior affects the people in his life can ever truly be a bad person."

Levi took in her words, quiet for a moment, and nodded. "Thanks," he said. "Sorry to make you play my therapist for a minute."

"Gosh, Levi, I really hope you don't fuck your therapist the way you're going to fuck me later."

"I would, but she's kind of a prude."

Devika shoved him, grinning.

In the distance, a couple of the guys made their way to the front of the truck, looking exhausted. Levi unsnapped his seatbelt. "I'm just gonna tip these guys," he said, kissing her quickly before opening the door. "Don't get kidnapped or anything."

"I make no promises," said Devika.

* * * * *

Devika assumed she'd be impressed, but holy shit was she impressed. In the midst of this very modernist studio with clean lines and monochromatic colors, there was a large, colorful bedroom fit for a king and his favorite concubine. The set had three painted walls and a faux-marble floor, gaudy stone carvings flanking the bed and fine Middle Eastern art on the wall behind. The bed itself was a four poster canopy, made with ornate silk sheets and draped with gauzy curtains. Devika couldn't wait to fall backwards into it, nor could she wait for Levi to fall forwards into her.

First, though, she had to be dressed. And before she could be dressed, she needed to put her jewelry on.

On Levi's order, she stripped bare for him in the dressing room, putting on the veil that covered her nose and mouth with a translucent blue mesh. Levi stopped whatever he was doing and gawked at her glowing, glittering glory.

"I take it I look good?" she asked.

"You don't know what it's taking for me to not pin you down and fuck you now," he admitted.

"Easy, boy," said Devika, feeling a little spicy. "Don't blow your wad before you show me where this is going."

"Oh don't worry," he said, pulling out a bottle of spirit gum. "A woman like you only comes around once in a lifetime. I'm gonna make this count."

Boy did it feel good to see him take a little charge.

The next little while, unfortunately, promised tedium. After rubbing down Devika with additional coats of Unicorn Snot, Levi had to glue silver Swarovski crystals onto her body one at a time. He worked from the ground up, starting with little wavy line designs that went up her outer thighs and spiraled over the sides of her rump. After gluing a silver sunburst on her belly around a large orange crystal, he then outlined her pelvis, circling the crystals around her hips and across her lower back, where they met over her tailbone in a purple-silver moon before shooting up her spine in a straight line. He outlined the tops of her breasts in a similar fashion, placing a large blue crystal over her heart and gluing a line of silver crystals down her breastbone, until they reached the sunburst design on her stomach. Finally, he outlined the brow and the front of her scalp. At the point above her nose where the crystal lines met, he placed a slightly larger red crystal that he then outlined with smaller silver crystals to create an ornate bindi. He topped off Devika's makeup with crimson lipstick, gold eyeshadow, a liberal amount of mascara, and thick eyeliner that flared outwards for a bold look. On a lark, he added various other bits to the costume: long red press-on nails, a golden arm cuff and wrist bands left over from the last shoot's wardrobe, diamond pendant earrings, a gold lace choker, and painted Devika's toenails to match the press-ons.

The process took the better part of 90 minutes. When Devika looked at herself in the mirror, dressed in full costume, she felt like it was worth it; Levi's designs accented her beauty as opposed to making her look trashy. He'd already left to do some setup, and she had planned to hang out for two minutes or so after dressing to create some anticipation, but ended up staying back for another five just trying out possible poses, admiring the beautiful brown body that peeked through the gossamer outfit; the dark circles of her areolae, the visible cleft of her labia. A literal painted lady, enhanced with sparkling crystals, golden glitter, and glowing pigment, made to look like someone bigger than she really was, someone powerful and essential...there was an obvious word for this. What's the word?

Shortly after Devika figured it out, she walked onto set; a very chill instrumental track with sitars and tablas was playing on the set, which Levi was currently dressing with lit candles on either side of the bed. Intimacy gave him permission to be more brazen when he gawked at her, which Devika liked. What she liked even more was that Levi seemed to be just as impressed with her (technically) clothed than he was with her buck-naked. "You done setting the mood, Levi?" she asked as she walked by with a gentle brush of his cheek.

"Just about," said Levi, passing up the banter but clearly leaning into his obvious arousal now. "Need to see how the lights look on my subject. Stand in front of the bed for me?"

Devika followed his direction, hands on her cocked hips, looking well below the camera Levi raised to his face. He smiled, noticing her gaze, then moved to a nearby laptop and swiped his fingers on the trackpad a few times, dimming the lights on set.

"Don't want to overlight this," he said, looking through his lens. "Low light is always more erotic, plus the glitter and jewelry's going to catch anything we shine on you." He went back to the computer and punched a few keys. "I'm gonna add a little orange, too. Give the set more of a candlelit feel." The lights above and around dissolved from bright yellow to a dark amber.

"Don't get too arty," fired Devika. "I want you to see me clearly when you jerk off to these pics later."

"Oh, I won't need these pics to jerk off to you," Levi returned. "But I'll do my best anyway."

Devika leaned back against the foot of the bed, smiling. Levi shot his first pictures of her doing that. "Confident horndog's a good look on you, Levi."

"Thanks," he said. "Smartass slut's a good look on you." He quickly added, "Um, no offense. I mean that in a positive way. Somehow."

"Of course." Devika went back to her first pose, which Levi finally shot. "Funny how we each bring it out of each other. I don't know if you'd believe me, but I'm never this forward with guys."

"Yeah, I can see that," said Levi. Devika turned into profile and he snapped more pictures; she was barely registering the clicks of his shutter now. "Overworked, undersexed, cute thirsty dude you get along well with," he continued. "I probably shouldn't treat it as a given, but I can see how the pieces fit together."

"Mmm." Devika turned her back to Levi and put her hands behind her head, swaying her butt gently back and forth for his camera. "It's a shame I don't know how to belly dance," she said. "That would've helped me figure out what to do for this part of the shoot besides, well, this."

"I'm not worried," said Levi. "We'll figure it out. Can you kind of hang off one of the posts of the bed?"

"Sure." Devika crossed to a corner and grabbed onto the bed post like it was a stripper pole. Holding on with one hand, she leaned away, as if she was dancing around it.

"Good, good." Levi got the pictures.

"You know, I probably should've learned to belly dance when I decided to keep this outfit," said Devika. She leaned back against the post, holding her face close to it as she slid her hands up and down. "What kind of concubine doesn't know how to dance seductively for her master?"

"Put your back against the post and slide down," said Levi. "Hold onto it above your head. One hand." Devika did so, locking her eyes on Levi's constantly shuttering lens. "You're doing great so far," he said. "You've already gotten better at taking direction."

"Thank you," said Devika, smiling.

"Ready for this to get wild?"

"Sure." She stopped herself from shaking her head; this was clearly ending in sex and yet he still asked for permission to escalate things.

"Reach down your pants with your free hand," he said. "Start touching yourself."

"Mind if I change hands so I'm working with my right?"

"Of course. And just keep sliding up and down the post while you're at it."

Devika went to follow Levi's direction, but some twist of her gut stopped her. It was interesting; she thought she had gotten as naked as she could have gotten for Levi, but playing with herself on camera, even covered with these strips of so-called "clothing," suddenly felt like a level beyond even that.

"You okay?" asked Levi. "Too much for you?" He kept asking for permission, and he kept making sure she was comfortable. What a guy—what a man.

"I'll be fine," she said. "Just suddenly felt weird for some stupid reason. I'll get over it."

"All right, let's pump the brakes." Levi brushed off the wrench in his plans like it was nothing. "Stand up in profile, show me those legs."

Holding onto the post for support, Devika arched her leg up, thigh forward, calf down. The open sides of the sheer harem pants left her thigh fully exposed.

"Nice! Can you pull those pants away from your ass a bit?"

On a lark, Devika dragged her hand over the crystals on the side of her rump on her way to the pant material.

"Actually! Actually!" Levi broke in, animated, a little intense. It threw Devika off before she remembered that this meant Levi was into everything and that she shouldn't be intimidated. "Keep your leg up, run your fingers over the crystals on your thigh, that was super hot."

She went slow, relishing every cool little bump from under the pads of her fingers. So exotic, so unlike her.

"Open your mouth," Levi said midway through her hand's journey. "Not wide, though. More like you're about to drool."

She did so, and Levi mimicking her lustful expression while he snapped the pictures. Finally she reached her ass and pulled the mesh away to show its unimpeded skin.

"Fucking A," he said. "That's amazing. Sit on the edge of the bed; feet on the floor, spread your legs."

Levi came in close now, on his knees, shooting extreme closeups of her lips through her gauzy harem pants, then looking up to shoot her from a low angle. She gently took her tits in hand and began to knead them.

"Nice, nice, pinch those nipples a bit."

She did so, tilting her head back.

"Tell me about that first time you wish you had."

"Hmm." Devika reared back onto the bed, sitting cross-legged. "Well, you know how I had that crush on Sandip, right? From Michigan, turned out to be gay?" Levi nodded. "Well, God help me, I still fantasize about him sometimes."

"Shit, that can't be comfortable."

"Oh, he knows. He finds it hilarious, actually. You have to understand, he's my number one; we tell each other everything. Maybe things would be different if he wasn't gay, but he'd still be the guy I trust the most, and I'd always put that over his dick."

"I have a similar thing with the girl I was going to work with today," said Levi. "The one who got sick? We've been helping each other out with projects since SFAI, and we could talk with each other for hours, but we've never seriously considered sleeping together for whatever reason."

"Oh yeah? So are you telling her all about what a hot piece of ass I am?"

"Am I telling her that I'm smashing terrorist pussy thanks to the bad shellfish she had last night? Damn straight, girl."

Devika turned her head and laughed. "Fuck you," she said, jovially, as Levi snapped a picture.

"Don't worry," he said. "Even around her, I tend to hold back on details. Speaking of which, I want details about this deep, dark sexual fantasy about your GBF."

"Right!" Devika snapped her fingers for effect. "Some context first. When we were younger, he used to steal my toys, and I'd have to chase him around wherever we were before he'd tell me where he hid them. And I'd whine 'Sandip, Sandip, mera khilaune kahaan hai?' Or, 'Where is my toy?' Our parents always watched us when we were that young and we had to speak in Hindi around them. Anyway, he'd go, 'Devi, Devi, meree gupt jagah se bachaav ka intajaar!'—'Awaiting rescue from my secret place!' It ended up becoming a running gag between us because he'd always borrow from me without asking. We added lines to it, too, made it a little poem between us. So we'd say the other guy's name twice, and the lines—again, in Hindi—would be: 'How dare you hide it away?' 'It's better when we share!' 'Give it to me now!' 'Only if you make me!' 'You're so cruel!' 'Would we play if I was kind?' It wasn't a very good poem, but it was between us and we didn't give a shit.

"So like I said, we went to prom together, but it was with a big group of our friends, and the limo we were sent ended up being too small for all of us, so I ended up having to sit in Sandip's lap. He was still mostly in the closet back then, it was just his parents and close friends who knew, so I pretended like he was having a good time, but yeah; entirely innocent. We went to prom, we partied downtown, we checked into a hotel room and slept it off while everyone happily assumed we were fucking.

"Every now and then, though, my head goes back to that night, both of us drunk, me a little horny from all the couples hooking up around us, and I wondered how different things would be if I felt him get hard against me. And I remembered our little poem."

"Hold on," said Levi. "Why don't you get up on your knees, turn for me. Show me that ass." Devika obliged. "Flare it out." She did. "Perfect. Can you sit on your haunches?" She did that too. "Great. Twist your upper body a bit and give me a slight profile from your left side...Cup your tit, too...good, now play with it. Thanks. Keep going with your story, sorry."

"It's no problem," said Devika. "So I'd have these fantasies of climbing into his bed on prom night, naked, holding his body close, and I'd whisper in his ear, 'Sandip, Sandip, mera khilaune kahaan hai?' And he'd turn his head, kiss me, and gently lead me by the wrist down his body until my hand was resting over the bulge of his boxers, and he'd whisper back, 'Devi, Devi, meree gupt jagah se bachaav ka intajaar.'"

It felt right at this point, so Devika reached behind her and undid her top. The gold strings fell away, revealing her naked, sparkling back, her spine and hips highlighted by the silver crystals and purple moon.

"Can you go on your back, hang your head off the bed?" asked Levi. "Cover your tits with an arm as you come down."

Falling into position, her head came down just below Levi's crotch, giving her an upside down view of his considerable bulge. She smiled, and licked the palm of her free hand. "So I'd fish him out," she continued, placing her wet hand on Levi's bulge and unzipping his fly, reaching inside to pull out her prize. "And I'd stroke him, he'd already be so hard, and I'd say 'Sandip, Sandip, aap ise kaise chhipaate hain.'"

"'How dare you hide this?'" asked Levi, trying to remember.

"Uh-huh," said Devika, lazily stroking Levi's member.

"I don't know the Hindi for whatever comes next, in case you're starting some kind of game with me. I think it's 'I like it when we share?'"

"Close enough." Devika pulled her top free from her chest and opened her breasts back up to Levi's camera. "He'd say, 'Devi, Devi...'" She pulled Levi's right hand over her body until it came to rest over the crotch of her pants, until he could feel her warm, wet lips soaking his digits through the gauzy material. "'...jab ham saajha karate hain to yah behatar hota hai.'"

Levi gasped. "Your pussy feels fucking amazing," he said, continuing to lightly stroke her through the harem pants.

"So does your cock," said Devika, continuing to stroke him, "but I already knew that."

Realizing that it would be all too easy to just keep masturbating each other and never see this session through, Devika broke away soon after and turned her entire body around, getting up on her hands and knees. Holding up one hand to keep her lover and photographer back, Devika used the other to slide her harem pants off of her ass, eventually holding her legs out to let them fall to the floor with her top.

Now, finally, what felt like too much too fast was going to be just what she needed at the right time. She flipped once again, her veiled face craned forward, her bountiful bejeweled chest pushed up, her legs spread wide open, her fingers slicking back and forth between the juicy pink juncture between her legs.

"He'd slide down my body and eat me out," she moaned. "His tongue would feel so good...strong yet nimble...careful and caring...he'd take me right to the edge, and I'd say 'Sandip, Sandip, ab mujhe de do!'" She grinned. "Bastard would shake his head...'Devi, Devi, keval agar tum mujhe banao!'"

Levi had taken one or two pictures, but was more invested in getting out of his board shorts at this point.

Devika licked her lips at the sight of Levi's turgid length now free and unobstructed. She crooked her finger toward her, reeling Levi in. He snapped a couple of pictures of it, then took off his shirt, leaving him naked but for the camera around his neck. Then he followed her direction, documenting in pictures the journey up the landscape of her body; the bend of her knee, the pink of her pussy, the dazzling brown traverse of her belly.