"What does she do, then?"
"I’m not sure she works, if I'm being honest."
Nick sipped his coffee, tasting what he'd heard. A song by The Cure played in the purposefully-chic coffee shop Taylor had chosen. The decor didn't suit him but Nick didn't mind. Robert Smith was a legend.
"One of those, then," Nick decided.
"One of whats?" said Taylor.
"Parent's money, right? Probably in school still. Does she study?"
Taylor rolled a curl of beard like a cigarette between his fingers. "Not when she's with me."
Four seconds passed.
"Fuck off. I know what you're thinking."
"What?" said Nick.
"She's not a fucking stripper. OnlyFans, maybe, but I mean - that's part of shit now. You can't blame people for taking advantage of horny assholes. That's not a pun."
Nick blinked. What he had been thinking was that his friend was robbing the cradle, not the strip club. Much less a chat room. Was OnlyFans a chat room?
"I didn't even consider that, man, come on," he said, running their entire conversation through this newfound filter. Still inconclusive, but a few more of the dots lined up through the analysis.
"I didn't even consider that, man, come on," he said, running their entire conversation through this newfound filter. Still inconclusive, but a few more of the dots lined up through the analysis.
"I mean, would it bother you?" Nick prodded.
In a crucial few-second pause, Taylor answered the question. "I mean, you can't judge people for that these days, right?" he said in response.
"Yeah, no, I hear you." Nick sprinkled some sugar into his lukewarm coffee, stirring briskly to get the granules to dissolve.
"Yeah, that's cool man, I'm happy for you. Looking forward to meeting her."
"Yeah, man, me too."
But the character I am representing in those snippets weren't created this week. I have been thinking about her for years now. I just didn't name her in these particular snippets because I was practicing more than trying to start a new project of its own.