Chapter 30
“So how did you…” the man across from lyn thought for a moment, “how did you get into… your line of work.”
“As a teen?” Lyn asked.
“Yes, you know,” the man was obviously awkward about the subject.
Lyn-z smirked slightly; she found it humorous that he couldn’t bring himself to say the name of her ‘line of work.’
“Do you know what I mean?” The man questioned.
“Say it. I know what you mean, but I want you to say it.” Her voice was kind, “say it with me, proooooooostitue, prooooooostituuuuuuute. Prostitute, prostitution. Pro-sti-tu-tion.” Lyn elongated, shortened, emphasized, and broke up the word.
“I was worried I’d offend you,” the man chuckled embarrassed. Lyn didn’t respond, “How did you find yourself being a prostitute.”
“Despiration,” Lyn shrugged, “that’s all it was. My dad is terrible at telling stories, mainly because he was drunk for those years. If you were to ask him, he would know I worked, took care of us, but he’d never be able to tell you what I did. I’d rather he not know, my dad was drunk so often he may as well have not been ther, but he was, and I had to take care of him, and myself. I wasn’t about to run to my mother for help, and I refused to go to an orphanage. My dad needed me, and I wasn’t about to leave him in his intoxicated state.
When searching for a job, money on the street, anything. I could get my hands on, I met a friend. She worked on the biggest streets of jersey. She was a prostitute, and she made it sound so easy, so glamorous, glamorous it wasn’t. In no way was it fun, but it was easy.
As I said before, that’s how I met josh, at age 16. My mom left when I was 13, found work at 14, got off the streets at 17, then josh left that same year. I met Gerard my freshman year of college at 19, luckily I got scholarships for my art. I came back in contact with josh at 19. Then you know the story from there.”
“Yes,” the interviewer nodded, “how exactly did that happen? How did you meet josh?”
“Well cherry and I were on our normal post, I would meet her there, everyday at about seven o’clock. West avenue and jones street was the biggest intersection in Jersey, and that’s where we stood, every night, we’d go home at two if we hadn’t gotten work already. Almost always though, someone would pick us up, but there were those few nights that we would go home empty handed.
Cherry and I would split the cars, we each got everyother car. It was my turn, I walked up to the curb when josh got out of the car, but at the time It was just some guy. Josh smiled at me and I backed away as he stepped out of the car.
“May I help you?” he smiled tilting his head.
“No,” I shook my head putting up my hand to my face embarrassed. But the man in the car drove off.
“Would you like to go for a drink with me?” the boy, josh, offered.
“I can’t drink, and I don’t have any money,” I looked at my feet then back at cherry. She made a face at me wondering what was going on. I shook my head at her letting her know she didn’t have to worry.
“I meant more like a coffee or soda or something,” the boy chuckled.
“Why should I go with you?” I don’t know who you are,” I crossed my arms.
“If I’m judging the situation correctly, you go home with people you don’t know every night,” Josh smirked.
“I made them tell me their names too,” I hugged my sides feeling suddenly exposed.
“Well I’m Josh, if you’d meet me half way, we won’t be strangers anymore, according to your standards.”
I couldn’t help but smile. I felt like his eyes looked through me. His eyes were a piercing blue complimenting his bright blonde hair. “I’m lyn-z,” I smiled, only slightly, “So you want me to follow you around, so you can by me a drink? What’s in it for you?” I frowned at what seemed like the most obvious option, sex.
“Hopefully a friend, and if I’m lucky…” josh paused.
“and…?”
“If I get lucky a phone number.”
“I don’t know, you might have to work a little harder than a drink, it won’t be easy.” I smirked.
“I like a challenge,” Josh smiled, he took off his jacket putting it around my shoulders, most likely noticing my awkward state. I held the jacket onto my shoulders and walked with him.
Josh and I had a really good time together that night. It’s kind of confusing as to wy some random wealthy kid would pick up a prostitute, not for sec, but to make her his frined. It was extremely obvious josh was rich. You could tell by the clothes he wore, his watch, the expensive phone he used. Josh was kind, polite, considerate, handsome, funny, he could have any girl he wanted, yet, he picked up some girl walking the streets.
That’s what didn’t make sense to me. My guess always was that he was apart of a ‘save the prostitutes’ program, ‘make our major intersections clean!’ Josh did just that, eventually he did pull me off the streets.
“Shit!” I put my head on the table.
“What’s the matter,” josh tilted his head. We were still in the coffee shop and I had just realized I’d be coming home with no money to pay the bills.
“I was supposed to work tonight,” I tilted my head off the table, “I was supposed to bring money home, my dad doesn’t make enough money to pay the bills so I have to help out,” I lied, my dad didn’t make any money at all. “If the rent is late this month, they said they’d kick us out!” I was crying at that point. It seemed like my whole world was falling apart.
“look, lyn, you don’t need to cry, I can give you the money,” Josh smiled, “you’re not going to lose the house.”
“You don’t have that kind of money,” I sneered, “your what, seventeen.”
“Eighteen, and that’s two years older than you,” Josh shuffled through the bills in his wallet tipping his head to my drivers license on the table with his chin. “How much do you make an hour?”
“Two hundred,” I replied calmly.
“Two hundred, you’ve been with me, three hours, we’ll double that, Josh thumbed through the bills, he handed me twelve bills. “Here’s 1200 dollars, don’t spend it all in one place.” He joked, as I nearly choked. I had never seen that much money in my life, let alone held it.
“Josh, no, I can’t,” I quickly pushe dit away.
Josh picked it up and closed my hand around the bills, just like you see in movies, “please, you need it more than I do.”
“I can’t just take 1200 dollars from you,” I stared at my hand in shcok.
“Yes you can, come one, let’s go,” josh stood, “I’ll drive you home.
“Fine,” I got in his car directing him to my house, “th- thanks, for everything,” I got out of the car.
“What? Is you’re phone number worth more than 1200 dollars?”
“Oh- uh, no, it’s not worth anything actually but here,” I typed it into his phone, “text me.”
I walked into my house keeping his jeack. I found my dad laying on the couch unconscious as expected.”” Lyn-z finished her story looking to the man sitting across from her.
“And that’s the first time you ever met josh?”
“I’d never layed my eyes on him before that in my life, but it certainly was not the last.”

Notes

Again i love lyn-z
josh is an origonal character and this is also an origonal backstory! thanks