Two Hundred Dollars Ch. 21

115 Dollars

"So let's get this straight," Laura said.

"Go ahead."

Laura set her tea cup down firmly in the centre of her gingham place mat and squared off against Bailey. She gave one last glance around her mother's kitchen before going on.

"Getting spanked to pay off a debt," Laura paused. "Not prostitution."

"Right," Bailey agreed, equally firm, and sipped her tea.

"Getting spanked to earn extra money?" Laura wondered.

Bailey thought a moment, took another sip of her tea and set it down.

"I guess that's not prostitution either," she admitted. "But I'd definitely feel weirder about it."

"At least you're consistent," Laura tilted her eyes at the ceiling. "The definition of the act shouldn't change with context."

"Even if the reason for doing it does?"

Laura nodded, "That's Situational Ethics. Whether something is right or wrong might change with the situation, but we shouldn't make it more complicated by giving the same act two different names."

"With you so far."

"Now," Laura raised a finger. "It's only the spanking though?"

"What?"

"You've done other stuff with Kent. Does tha-?"

Bailey cut Laura off, "Not for money, I didn't."

Laura held her hands up defensively. "Okay. Because that would be prostitution?"

This won a grimace from Bailey, "I'm not going to give him a hand job for money, if that's what you're asking. That would make me a prostitute."

"But letting him see you naked is okay?" Laura glared at Bailey, a tender note of accusation in her voice.

"That's part of the spanking," Bailey shrugged Laura off and turned up her chin. "As long as it's with the spankings, it's fine. It's just... a different way of doing them."

Laura twisted her lips in doubt, but mostly she wanted to rib Bailey, not actually analyze anything.

"What if he paid you to just take off your clothes and look at you?" Laura turned her wide-eyed glare up to eleven.

Bailey went pale and gulped, "I don't know."

"That's not prostitution, is it?"

"No," Bailey stammered, trying to shore up her voice. "That's more like I'm a stripper, though."

"Ooooh," Laura rolled her eyes. "So there's a category between 'Bailey' and 'prostitute' called 'stripper'?"

"Clearly," Bailey frowned at her friend.

"And you're okay with being a 'stripper'?"

"I'm not stripping for him," Bailey gritted her teeth. "It's just however I'm dressed when he spanks me."

Laura considered this a while, carefully sipping her tea and plotting her next round of attack. Bailey took a few deep breaths in the meantime and tried to set herself straight.

"Bai," Laura said finally. "We're cool with being spanked, and getting naked for money. We're also down with him groping us while he's spanking us?"

"Guess so?"

"So when does it become prostitution again?"

"When there's a sex act," Bailey intoned. "We've been through this."

"A 'sex act'?"

"Like a handjob," Bailey sighed. "Or a blowjob, or... or penetration. Whatever."

"You mean," Laura replied. "When he has an orgasm? Or when we do?"

"I-" Bailey stammered to a stop. "Well, him, I guess."

"See?" Laura said. "If it's prostitution to give someone a hand job, then why isn't it prostitution when you make him come while he's spanking you?"

Bailey started to hyperventilate trying to respond, but calmed down three breaths into it.

"No," she said finally. "He didn't pay any extra because I made him come. He only paid for the spankings."

"Dammit," Laura twitched out. "Thought I had you."

Bailey shrugged, "Better luck next time."

"Alright," Laura prodded, "What if you needed some extra money?"

"Uh-huh."

"And he wanted a hand job."

"How badly do I need this money?" Bailey peered at Laura.

"Bad enough," Laura replied. "Like, for food."

"Then I'd probably do it," Bailey said. "If it's Kent, definitely, assuming he wouldn't just give me some food. But I'd still feel like a prostitute."

Laura waited a beat before adding, "Which would be bad."

"Which would be bad, yes," Bailey confirmed. "But not as bad as starving."

"So in the right context..." Laura trailed off.

Bailey only glared back at her.

"You'd totally do it."

Bailey took a turn to twist her lips. "What do you want me to say?"

"I just want to know the rules," Laura said. "So I know what I'm allowed to offer him."

"You already know that," Bailey shrugged. "His hand, the spoon, the spatula..."

"The whip," Laura enumerated, "varying degrees of nakednesss. Yada, yada, yada. I do like that 'being naked while he's blindfolded thing'."

"We'd be naked in front of each other, though," Bailey pointed out.

"That seems weird right now," Laura's eyes widened as she stared at the centre of the kitchen table. "But it won't when he gets here."

"Hm," Bailey nodded. "Wait, what? When he gets here?"

"Oh, right," Laura sat up straight. "You're not doing any tonight are you?"

"Maybe one when I get home," Bailey said. "But my butt's too red to bother having you over."

Laura acknowledged the wisdom of this. It seemed a shame to make a whole thing out of doing one dollar each. They'd barely get turned on.

"That's what I figured," Laura said. "Take tonight off, but tomorrow's Friday. My parents are going on some retreat for the weekend. We can have Kent over here. Just for a change?"

Bailey sat back in surprise and a smile touched her lips. Her eyes wandered around the little kitchen and through the entry into the foyer and the living room beyond.

"Just for a change," she nodded her head. "Yeah."

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"Hey, Kent," Bailey called into his room as she entered the apartment, still flush from the cold, November air.

"Bai," he replied. "What's up?"

"Um?" Bailey looked down the hall.

"Carson's not home yet."

"Ah, good," she said. "About tomorrow. You busy?"

"Got a late lab," Kent reminded her. "5:30 until whenever. Usually done by eight. Why?"

"Laura's parents are away for the weekend," Bailey said. "She wants us to, y'know, do it over there."

"Change of venue?"

Bailey tilted her head. "It's no library, or anything, but-"

"But it has a lot of pictures of Jesus?"

"Yeah," Bailey looked uncomfortable for a moment, "we can work around that."

"I thought you'd want some now," Kent pointed out.

Bailey looked thoughtful for a moment, "Kind of wanna save my butt for tomorrow, actually."

"Planning a new record?" Kent put his elbow on his desk and rested his chin on his palm.

Bailey looked away, her eyes flickering wide, "You never know."

Kent watched as she took a deep breath, her face flushing red with excitement.

"Okay," she said. "I'll do two dollars right now, over top, one one condition."

"What's that?"

"You promise to spread them around," Bailey glared at him, "All over, not just one spot. So I'll be okay tomorrow."

Kent twisted his lips in doubt, knowing he had to protest. "That's not the -"

"In exchange," Bailey held up a finger. "You can do eleven instead of ten for each dollar."

"Intriguing," Kent leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "A ten percent surtax."

"Sound fair?"

"Almost," he replied thoughtfully. "How will we agree I've adhered to our deal?"

"What?"

"I won't have you saying I broke the agreement and spanked you unfairly," Kent said. "After I'm done, we'll need to prove I fairly distributed the spankings?"

Bailey peered at him, "How?"

"An inspection," he pronounced with a sharp, melodramatic nod. "I'll even take a picture."

She glared hard at Kent again and he smiled.

"Two dollars," she recapitulated. "Twenty two spankings over top. And an inspection with a picture -- on my phone?"

"Of course your phone," Kent said. "The image contained, besides being important to you for whatever reason, will also allow you to complain if I focused my punishment too much."

"It's not punishment," Bailey quickly retorted. "Just payment."

She turned to the white board and made her two ticks, then promptly walked over to his bed, pulling her cell phone out of her back pocket as she went. Bailey then took her position, bent over, lowering her chest to the mattress.

"Here," Kent said as he kicked the stool toward her.

"Don't I get to pick position?" Bailey scolded over her shoulder.

"You want it spread around?" Kent explained, "You get up higher so I can get everywhere."

With a harumph, Bailey stepped backwards up onto the stool.

Much better. Of course, it'd be best if we got those pants off, but she still looks good in super tight jeans.

"Twenty-two," he warned.

"Just hurry up," Bailey replied, locking her legs and prepared herself with a deep breath.

"Quick and hard it is," Kent answered.

She doesn't want artistry this time around. Maybe she's stressed out about something or maybe she's nervous. This might be like that time she just lost herself in the count. Whatever she wants, she's worried Carson might return soon, so I've got to get on this.

Kent laid his hand on Bailey's right cheek.

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I want this debt to be over with. Bailey thought, feeling Kent squeezing her cheek through her jeans. I don't even know why but I feel like... like it's hanging over me. It's in my way. I can't feel free as long as I owe him.

Bailey told herself that this sensation of encumbrance lay at the source of her desire to take twenty two swats on her ass today. As Kent began pounding her cheek, spreading his strikes all over as he had promised, she counted so automatically that the process didn't disturb her thoughts. In fact, she felt a certain kind of clarity.

At this precise moment, I am doing everything I can to clear my debt and get beyond it.

She also knew she had a bit of money in her bank account, but offering that to Kent felt wrong, too.

I allocated that money to my expenses, not to this debt to Kent.

Much as the two spankings she owed Laura couldn't be repaid with a two-dollar coin once they'd become spankings, it didn't seem right to use Normal Money to pay off Debt to Kent.

The money from students loans isn't for this. That's for books and tuition and rent and stuff. This debt to Kent is separate.

Bailey considered, even while she counted off the spankings on her right cheek, what she might do with extra money. What, she wondered, might she do if she found a five-dollar bill on the sidewalk?

I supposed I'd give it to Kent, then. It's extra money, isn't it? Unassigned?

"Eleven," Bailey announced.

"That takes care of the right cheek," Kent said. "Does it feel evenly spread out?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Mm," Kent expressed his doubt with a moan.

You just want to see my ass after, she smirked toward the wall, but then again, so do I.

"Ready for the left?"

"Go ahead."

Bailey started counting at 'twelve' as Kent picked up his assault. Through the denim, the spankings had more to do with impact and vibration than stinging pain. He could strike harder, deeper, and not really hurt her the way that a bare ass slap did.

And never mind that spatula or the whip. Christ.

Still, her mind dwelt on the debt.

I want it gone, but I want it gone fairly and honestly. The challenge here, clearly, is to pay off the debt without using any of the money that's meant for my education. I won't touch those student loans, no matter what.

A gleam, unseen by anyone, came to her eye.

But I do want to get past it. I mean, yeah, it's fun and daring and makes me horny as fuck, but I need... I need to have it done... to get to the other side.

"Ha!" she cried out. "Twenty two."

Without hesitation, she stood up on the stool and unbuttoned her jeans. One breath later, she let them and her panties hit the floor, fiddling with her phone the whole time. With everything set how she wanted, she handed it over to Kent.

"How do I look?"

"Evenly pink everywhere," Kent nodded with satisfaction. "I think I nailed it."

Bailey squeezed her cheeks together, locking her muscles up so the picture wouldn't turn too raunchy, and leaned over the bed. She heard the camera app click twice before Kent handed the phone back to her. She stood up and accepted the camera, turning to sit down with her legs crossed.

He can see my hair, if he's looking. Of course he's looking. It's fine. I'm going to pretend I don't care.

She flipped to review the pictures.

"Nice and pink," she said, noting that he'd taken the two pictures from opposite sides, neither right up her ass. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

=============================

Kent had had a terrible time concentrating on his lab work.

I can't just fuck up my education because of these two girls, he reminded himself as he walked home in the dark. I still have to do my school work somewhat competently.

He had managed to shut down his imagination, at least for brief periods of time. This supreme effort had allowed him to finish his lab work, collect his notes, and reach the park near their basement apartment just after eight o'clock.

"Almost home," he texted Bailey. "You ready?"

A moment later, his phone binked at him.

"Already at Laura's."

The little icon spun around, indicating it wanted to download some image she'd sent with her text. A second later, a tiny picture popped up. Kent squinted at it, the cold air making his eyes water unexpectedly. He expanded the image with two fingers.

Looks like one of those magnetic pads you attach to a fridge. It says... "Shopping List" on top.

In addition, someone had written "$113" into the top of the "List" area.

Oh, nice. A substitute for the white board. I hadn't even thought about that. How else could we do spankings at Laura's house? What are you going to do, bring that giant thing from your bedroom over?

Kent smiled as the phone binked again.

"Cool?" Bailey asked.

"kk," he sent back.

By that time, he'd reached the side door to their house. Quickly as he could, he entered and ran down the stairs.

All things considered, I don't know how far we're going tonight, or how many time we're doing what.

With all the options in mind, and knowing he wouldn't have home advantage, he threw two extra pairs of underwear in his backpack as well as the spatula (which had never left his room to reach the kitchen). He tossed in an extra shirt and, deciding he didn't want to smell like a chemistry lab, ditched the shirt he'd worn all day in favour of a dark blue polo.

Not exactly club ready, but that's not the plan, I hope.

=============================

"You have a plan for tonight?" Bailey asked, trying to lounge in the uncomfortably hard couch Laura's parents kept in her living room.

"Me?" Laura's eyes widened.

"It is your house."

Their preparation, up to this point, consisted of the white board and two bottles of alcohol -- Laura's mostly full Irish Cream and Bailey's nearly empty whisky-- resting on the knee high living room table. Three shot glasses made a neat triangle around them, already filled with what Laura had called a "Lucky Irishman", equal parts of each alcohol.

"I was just going to wing it, I guess," Laura said. "Did you want to do the blindfold thing again?"

"You itching to get naked?"

Laura reddened and shrugged. "Just trying to keep it interesting. You don't mind pushing it a little, do you?"

Bailey tilted her head, "You know how the rules work."

"Yeah," Laura said, "I just mean, y'know, if I wanna do what you did."

"What I did?"

"Well, I just wondered if you'd be okay-"

The doorbell rang, interrupting Laura, prompting Bailey to hop up off the couch -- where she'd never wanted to sit -- and rush to the door.

"Hey, Kent!" she greeted him at the door.

Kent unslung his backpack and dropped it in the foyer.

"Bai, Laura," he smiled in reply. He pulled an envelope out of the backpack and handed it to Bailey, "Mail came in. This one says 'Urgent'."

Bailey took the hand-addressed envelope from Kent and eyed it warily. "Oh, it's from my grandmother."

Laura appeared beside Bailey and reached up to give Kent a warm hug and a peck on his cheek. "Hi, Kent."

Bailey and Kent looked at Laura awkwardly, then at each other more awkwardly, Bailey still clinging to her letter with both hands.

"There are a lot of Jesus pictures," Kent observed, dodging the awkwardness.

"Yeah," Bailey agreed, turning away, her eyes setting on the shot glasses. "Here!"

She laid down her envelope and seized the glasses in her fingers, handing them out immediately.

"Bottoms up!" Laura toasted, and the alcohol went down. "Oh! That's way better than straight whisky."

"If you say so," Bailey's lips twisted doubtfully. "I'm going to need more whisky. My bottle's almost empty."

"I could have brought mine," Kent offered. "If you'd told me."

Bailey acknowledged this and turned back to the letter on the table. "It is 'urgent', you know."

Laura shrugged as Bailey tore the letter open.

"Oh," Kent saw the card inside. "I didn't know your birthday's coming up."

"Next Saturday," Laura told him.

Bailey opened the card and three crisp, green, twenty dollar bills fell out.

Oh, shit, Bailey thought, looking over at the little white board on the fridge in panic. Sixty dollars? No, no, no.

"Um," she said aloud, "You guys want to hit the LCBO?"

=============================

Laura stared at Bailey, heard the strained note in her voice.

Something is horribly wrong and I have no idea what it is, Laura realized, I mean, thinking about your Nana right now could be a buzzkill, but that's not what I'm hearing.

She tried to figure what had happened. Maybe kissing Kent on the cheek had gone a little over the top, but Laura felt pretty sure that sort of schmaltz just rolled off Bailey like water.

Then what? She'd opened the birthday card, found the money, and suddenly insisted on an outing.

Laura tilted her head, peering at her friend, waiting for their eyes to meet. Bailey turned her gaze up, eventually, but the stony, fake innocent face she showed Laura gave her no new information.

Alright, something freaked you out. Is your twentieth birthday that big a deal? I didn't think so. But if you need some breathing space before we get down to business, I got your back.

"Is my Irish Cream that bad?" Laura kept her voice playful, forgiving.

"Yes, actually," Bailey jumped at the offer, her facial expression changing from vulnerable to a more comfortable cynicism. "But-"

"Butt?" Laura asked.

"You want to do one dollar before we go?"

"Each, or together?" Laura asked, thinking, whatever you need, I'm here for you.

"Together, thanks," Bailey sighed with relief. "Over top?"

Kent stood aside as Laura swept past him into the little kitchen to make a single mark on the fridge.

Okay, Bai. If this is what we're doing, I'm cool with it, Laura looked imploringly at Bailey but got no response. You gotta clue me in here.

"Where should we do it?" Bailey asked, instead of explaining. "Side by side?"

"Right," Laura said, and looked around her living room, her brain scattered. "Kneeling on the couch?"

"Sure," Bailey nodded.

Laura's panic over Bailey's mysterious mood swing suddenly swung into a different sort of blood rush as she turned her back on Kent.

Oh, god. We're starting again.

Laura shivered putting her knees on the edge of the couch and leaned over to rest her elbows on the back, sticking her rear in Kent's direction. Bailey took a parallel spot on her right, the girls sharing a brief smile before Kent moved in behind them.