“Hello stranger, it’s been a while,” the voice on the other end of the phone said.
“Melody!” Maggie exclaimed. Maggie and Melody had been friends at uni, but it was over six months since they’d both graduated.
“I came across your blog the other day on the joys of being unemployed. If you’re interested, I have a proposition for you. But it’s a bit dodgy.”
Since graduating, Maggie had totally failed to find any use for her degree in film studies. “Well, it can’t be any worse than being a bar maid,” she said. That had been her last job, but she soon had realised she was not the bar maid type.
“You haven’t heard what it is yet. I’m sort of running my own film company. Very low budget, sales over the internet. I’m expanding for my new project and I need a new assistant on the set. If you’re interested, I’ll send you some details and the script I’m about to film.”
Maggie spent the next few hours looking at Melody’s website – the imaginatively named Melody Videos – and the script. The films that were up for sale all seemed to involve young ladies losing their clothes and running around unlikely places. The script was more of the same. Melody’s note with the script said it was based on a series of Japanese comic books called Exhibitionist Girl’s Diary. In the script, the heroine is alone in her school classroom and has an urge to take off all her clothes and wander around the school building, avoiding other pupils and teachers where possible and masturbating in the most unlikely of places. Finally, she encounters another young lady who has had the same urge. They have wild passionate sex among the desks and then go off together hand in hand.
Maggie phoned Melody back.
“It’s lesbian porn, right?”
“I prefer to think of it as Sapphic Erotica,” replied Melody. “You know my tastes. Which reminds me. You haven’t met Karen yet. We’re planning to get married soon. You’re invited, of course, whether you take the job or not.”
“Oh, congratulations. Can’t wait to meet her.”
“You’re still single, aren’t you, according to your blog. Are you looking for a Mr Right or a Ms Right?”
“Nobody’s interested in me. I’m quite happy to be single. But about this job. I’ll take it. I’ve never been on the set of a porn film before. It sounds fun.”
Melody sent Maggie the details of where the filming was to take place. She’d somehow discovered there was a disused school that was about to be demolished, but the old desks were still in some of the classrooms. Although it wasn’t entirely above board, she’d been able to get permission to film there for a few days.
It didn’t get off to a good start for Maggie. First the train she was on was delayed. Then she got lost walking from the station. She phoned Melody for directions.
“Where are you?” Melody asked. “We’ve started without you. Already shot the first scene.” When Maggie told Melody where she was, Maggie was able to give her directions and ten minutes later she was entering the old school building. One of the others involved in the project was waiting at the entrance and led her to the classroom they were filming in. When they entered the room, Maggie stared in surprise. There was another woman talking to Melody, and this woman was totally naked. She had her back to her and all Maggie could do was stare at her nicely rounded buttocks.
Hearing them enter, Melody turned round.
“Stop gawping like that and meet Jackie. She’s our star.”
The other woman turned round, and Maggie had a view of her in all her naked glory. She continued staring.
“I do apologise for my friend,” Melody said to Jackie. I don’t think she’s seen a naked woman before.”
Well, Maggie had certainly seen naked women before, but there was something about this one. Her short hair gave her face a boyish look, but her large breasts belied that. Maggie’s eyes moved down to the wide hips and shaved pussy. Maggie wanted her to turn round so she could see her bum again.
“You’re drooling,” Melody pointed out.
“Great to meet you,” said the naked woman, holding out her hand as if she always greeted total strangers whilst naked. Maybe she did, given her profession.
“Why are you naked already?” asked Maggie. It was the only thing she could think to say.
“We’ve already shot the undressing scene before you got here,” explained Melody. “So we’re just sorting out the next shot.”
Jackie moved closer to Maggie and leaned over to whisper in her ear in a conspiratorial manner, her breast pressing against Maggie’s.
“I’ll tell you a secret,” Jackie explained. “I like being naked.”
Despite her whispering, Melody had overheard this.
“That’s no secret. Everyone knows that about you. And she’ll find out soon enough anyway.”
There were several other people in the room, all part of the filming crew. All women, Maggie noticed. One woman was holding a camera, a much smaller device than Maggie was expecting. This woman turned out to be Karen, Melody’s partner. There was a boom mike, but this wasn’t being used at the moment. Melody explained that there was little dialogue in the film and Jackie would provide a voice-over for the final version, telling her feelings as she explored the school naked.
The next shot involved Jackie deciding to walk out of the classroom and into the corridor. Jackie herself, of course, had no trouble doing this, but her character was supposed to be wary about being seen, and it required several attempts before Melody was satisfied that Jackie was peeking out of the door into the corridor with just the right amount of trepidation.
“Right, let’s break for lunch,” Melody called.
Two things surprised Maggie as they walked down the corridor to the school canteen in which lunch had been arranged. One was that Jackie was still naked. (Actually, that didn’t surprise her so much now.) The other was that Karen seemed to be still filming.
“We do a behind-the-scenes video as well,” Melody explained. “With Jackie liking to be naked all the time, that’s even better for us. Makes scenes like the film crew eating lunch even better.”
Maggie couldn’t help staring at Jackie as she ate her lunch. There’s something incongruous, she realised, in a naked woman doing mundane things among a group of clothed people who don’t even appear to notice she’s naked. Jackie noticed her staring.
“I have that effect on people,” Jackie said. “I don’t mind you staring. It’s even a bit of a turn-on. A couple of days here, though, and you’ll probably not even notice anymore.”
They went back to do the next scene. This involved Jackie walking down a corridor and while they were setting up their equipment, Jackie sat down on the window ledge. They were up on the first floor, and Maggie realised something.
“Anyone walking along the street can see you!” she explained out. Melody heard this.
“She has a point,” Melody said. “I know you don’t mind people looking at you, but we don’t want to attract a crowd while we’re filming. We could get shut down. Best you stay away from the windows.”
They finished filming for the day, and Maggie saw the still naked Jackie disappearing down the corridor. Presumably to go and get dressed before going home, she thought.
Or maybe not. Maggie arrived in good time the next morning and Jackie was already there, already naked. Maggie was beginning to wonder if Jackie had gone home naked. Did she drive, did she walk, or did she take public transport? The thought of Jackie sitting in a train carriage, reading a book, checking her phone, or doing a crossword whilst naked, with fellow commuters totally ignoring her, gave Maggie a funny feeling all over. She’d never had feelings like this before.
There were other actors on set today. Three young men wearing blazers were supposed to be schoolboys. They almost looked young enough. One of them joked with Melody that as they were keeping their clothes on for the entire shoot, that would cost her extra. Maggie realised what sort of acting they normally did.
And dialogue! Maggie got to hold the boom mike. The scene involved the three of them entering a classroom discussing Jackie’s character. They thought her a bit of a weirdo but sexy enough. They were totally unaware that the subject of their discussion was hiding under the teacher’s desk, totally naked. Then, as they walk out, Jackie was to come out of hiding, but too soon. One of the men was to turn back and catch a glimpse of her as she hurried back to her hiding place. The other two called on their mate to hurry up, leaving him not sure if he’d seen what he thought he’d seen.
The third day of filming, there was a change in Melody’s appearance. On the previous days, she had been casually dressed in jeans and tee-shirt. Today she was wearing a smart skirt and blouse, her hair was tied up, and she was wearing glasses.
“Going somewhere later?” enquired Maggie.
“No, I’m in costume. I’ve cast myself as the teacher in the next scene.”
The scene involved Jackie sitting on the teacher’s desk in a classroom and masturbating. A teacher walks past and sees her through the window. Rather than going in and confronting her and taking her to the head for immediate expulsion, the teacher gets turned on by this sight and starts masturbating herself.
“You’re going to film yourself wanking!” exclaimed Maggie.
“I told you this is a small operation. I’ve appeared in several of my films. In this one I even get to keep my clothes on.”
“She has, you know,” confirmed Jackie. “I’ve seen her. I don’t know why she’s staying dressed for this scene.” Jackie, of course, was already naked.
“I can’t compete with you in the nudity stakes,” said Melody. “Besides, I thought it would be more fun if you are the only person naked until the final scene. Alice is coming in to do that tomorrow.”
“Alice?” said Jackie.
“Is there a problem with her?” asked Melody. “You’ve worked with her before.”
“We had a bit of an argument last week. She went off in a huff, said she didn’t want to see me again. You might check if she’s still up for this.”
During the break for lunch that day, Maggie found herself sitting next to Jackie and realised that Karen was filming them eating. It suddenly occurred to her that if Melody included this “making of” extra when the film was released, everyone who bought the film was going to see her. What’s more, there’d be many shots of her staring at Jackie. Did she want this to be seen by others? She wondered if she could persuade Melody to keep her out of the finished film.
During the afternoon, while trying to finish off what Maggie kept thinking of as the wanking scene, Melody kept trying to phone Alice to see if she was still going to do the final scene. All her calls went to voicemail.
So it was that when Maggie arrived the next morning, everyone on set was looking glum.
“Alice has pulled out,” explained Melody, “so we’ve got no-one for the final scene.”
“We’ve been phoning around,” added Jackie, “but it’s short notice.” Maggie was amused to see that Jackie was already in costume (or out of it) even though there might not be any filming today. She really does like being naked, Maggie thought.
“I’ll do it,” said Maggie.
“What!?” said everyone else.
“Did I say that out loud?”
“Well, it’s an idea,” said Melody, half-heartedly. “But you’re too inexperienced. I mean, have you even had sex before. With another woman, I mean, um.” Melody stopped before she made things even more awkward.
Maggie found this pointed suggestion about her lack of a sex life annoyed her.
“I am a woman!” she said indignantly, “I’ve had a lot of practice on my own recently. Besides, I’m sure Jackie will be a great tutor.” She didn’t add that part of her feelings when staring at Jackie’s naked body all week was wondering what it would be like if people were staring at her like that. Or would it be that no-one found her naked body interesting. Going around naked and nobody cared. That could be so humiliating.
“All right,” said Melody. “Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes. Strip.”
Oh yes, thought, Maggie. If I want to do this, I’ll have to take me clothes off. Can I do this?
She pulled her arm through the armhole of her tee-shirt and pulled the garment over her head. Step one. She looked down and realised she had on a tatty old bra. Part of her thought it would be more embarrassing to be seen in that than to be seen without it. The bra joined the shirt on the floor.
The rest of the crew were obviously trying to make her feel comfortable, trying to look neutral. Then again, they were old hands at this, had probably seen many naked women. They knew how to react so as not to scare their actors as they put themselves in what could be potentially very embarrassing situations. Maggie did find this comforting and undid her jeans and pulled down jeans and knickers in one fell swoop, presenting her fully naked body for all to see.
“Well done!” said Melody.
Then Jackie came over and hugged her. Bare flesh on bare flesh suddenly brought her situation home to her. It was true. She’d never been intimate like this with another woman. But, she realised, what they had to do together that day, she’d better get used to this.
“I suggest you ladies go into one of the other classrooms and discuss what you want to do with each other while we set up for the shot in here,” said Melody. “And you might want to take a pair of scissors with you. Maggie could do with a trim down below.”
As they wondered down the corridor to find a secluded spot, Maggie wondered if the rest of them were staring at her arse as she walked. Part of her hoped they were. And after all, she was staring at Jackie’s arse in front of her.
When they were alone, Jackie turned to her and put her hands on Maggie’s shoulders.
“You don’t have to go through with this, you know. If you just wanted to have sex with me, all you had to do was ask. You’re cute, and I would have been happy to oblige.”
“I didn’t think I did, until just now. But Melody said something to me the other day about my sex life, and she was right. I’ve been holding myself back and now I think I want to prove myself. Mousey little me appearing in a porn film. That’ll show people.” She paused. “Er, what do I have to do?”
This brought a grin to Jackie’s face.
“Most of it’s just instinct. Well, it was for me. But an older woman showed me what to do so I’ll show you. Best thing to do will be to practice some moves in here.”
Melody and her crew had been waiting around for their stars to return. Finally, the pair appeared in the corridor. Maggie looked both shocked and elated.
“About bloody time,” Melody said. “We could hear you all the way down hear. I hope you’re not too tired to do that all again in front of the camera.”
Maggie was certainly ready to do that again. But before they could begin, Melody gave her a warning.
“Let’s make sure you want to go through with this,” she said. “Our sales are not putting a dent into the profits of Hollywood studios, but people all over the world buy my videos. There’s always the chance that someone you know could see them. Are you prepared for that?”
“Are you kidding? I’m so hyped up now I don’t care if the whole world sees me.”
And so, Maggie made her debut before the camera. Strangely, she found it easier than when it had just been the two of them. She found the thought of being seen turned her on.
“OK, that’s enough,” said Melody after a while. “We’ve got enough footage of that for two films. We’ve still got to shoot the final scene of the two of you walking off down the street. I’ve left that to last as it’s the most public. If someone tries to shut us down now, I’ve got the whole shoot backed up to my company server. Maggie, you said you wanted the whole world to see you. Are you prepared to walk down the street naked?”
Maggie was standing in the street naked, holding Jackie’s hand. There was the occasional car driving past. Someone walked down the other side of the road, turning their head as if just to make sure the two women they saw were actually naked. The presence of the camera crew probably gave people the impression this was all legitimate.
“OK,” Melody said. “We’re ready. Go back inside. I’ll film you coming out and then you walk down the street in that direction,” she indicated with her hand, “and keep going as long as you feel comfortable. And, if you get arrested, I’ve never met you before in my life.”
The pair of them set off. Nobody seemed to be bothered by their nudity. Maggie was enjoying herself. When they had travelled some distance from the film crew, Maggie asked Jackie a question.
“How far should we go? I’m enjoying this and don’t want it to stop.”
“If we go up to the top of the road and turn left, there’s a small park we can sit in and wait for Melody to catch up with us. If we don’t come back, she’ll cotton on.”
They found a bench to sit on in the park and sat there hand in hand. Maggie was finding the situation she had got herself into surreal. It was a fine day, early evening, and there were many people strolling through the park. Most gave the pair a look and walked on. Some got out phones and took their picture. Some of those even asked their permission before doing so. One young lad even asked if he could take a selfie with them and they said yes.
“Are we going to get arrested sitting here?” wondered Maggie.
“If we just sit here like this, we should be OK. Nobody’s complaining. If we started doing things like we did just now in the school, there’d probably be problems. ‘Lewd behaviour’ or ‘Behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace’ would be the charge. It’s happened to me a couple of times. Melody does some films in the ‘Nude in Public’ line. She films me walking down the street naked and sees how people react. You should ask her if she wants you to do one. You seem to be having no trouble with this.”
Melody and her crew finally appeared. Karen was still filming.
“Right. That’s everything in the can,” Melody said. “Who’s going down the pub?”
“Can we go to the pub like this?” Maggie asked in surprise.
“You can to the pub I’m thinking of,” replied Melody. “In fact, you’ll be very popular there.”
And so it was that a big cheer went up as the two of them entered the pub that Melody took them to. The fact that most of the clientele seemed to be women in each other’s company quickly told Maggie what sort of establishment it was. And a number of women asked for selfies here, too.
After a while, Maggie realised she had better be getting to the station to get home.
“Where are my clothes?” she asked.
“Oh,” said Melody, looking around. “We brought your bag, but we must have left your clothes back in the school. And it’ll be locked for the night now and we can’t get back in.”
“Travelling back on the train naked! That’ll be a challenge,” said Maggie. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that on my own.”
“Tell you what,” said Jackie. “I’ve got my car here. I can give you a lift.”
When they got to Jackie’s car, Maggie thought that Jackie would get dressed but she opened the door and got in the driver’s seat. Maggie had still not seen Jackie wearing clothes. She asked Jackie about this.
“OK, I admit it, I do have clothes in the back, but I thought it might make you more comfortable if you weren’t the only one naked. Do you really want me to get dressed?”
So Jackie drove off still naked. After they’d been travelling for a while, Maggie made an offer.
“Do you want to stay at my place tonight?” she blurted out.
“I was wondering if you’d ask. I didn’t want to ask you, in case you felt forced. And I’m not sure I want to be in a full relationship yet, after the problems I had with Alice, but a night together and then see how it goes is a start.”
“OK, but I should warn you, I don’t live on my own.”
The two naked women entered through Maggie’s front door and went into the living room to confront the couple there watching television.
“Mum, dad, this is Jackie” said Maggie. “She’s staying the night. Don’t worry about the spare room, she’s sleeping my room.”
The couple looked at the naked pair and then at each other.
“I told you so,” said Maggie’s mother.
“About bloody time,” said Maggie’s father.
I enjoyed this. Keep up the good work.
Nice story. Maggie’s parents reactions are so funny. It is good that her father is happy with seeing Maggie with a friend and naked. Supposedly Maggie will not be wearing clothing much when at home or visiting friends or driving. The way the world ought to be.
It’s been a while since I wrote this but I don’t think I had any thoughts about what Maggie would do next. But I did imagine her as a non-driver, so maybe naked train rides are in her future. (I find that idea more fun than naked driving.)
As to her parents, partly it’s playing off my own history. When I was in my twenties, my mother was always nudging me about getting a girlfriend, but I imagine she would have been as equally happy if I turned up with a boyfriend. But also that final line was probably influenced by the BBC sitcom Miranda where Miranda Hart played a version of herself as a socially awkward woman who lusts over the chef at the restaurant next door to the shop she runs. In one episode, to avoid some hook-up her mother has arranged, she pretends to be a lesbian and her mother says something like “I knew it! That’s twenty pounds your father owes me.” (Incidentally, the chef was played by Tom Ellis, who now plays Lucifer in the TV series of that name.)