Jean Sifton - Underground model

Thinking of Patricia again, Jennifer giggled as she remembered that she had a further surprise in store for her Monday… Larry and Ellen were fast movers, and Patricia would soon learn plenty under their tutorship.

The ringing of the doorbell brought Jennifer back to the present, at last the party could get going, she thought impatiently, as she hurried to answer it. She opened the door with a set smile on her face, then gasped in amazement as she stared at her unexpected visitor. Before her stood Mark Saunders, an old boyfriend that she hadn't seen for months and months! Jennifer stood there speechless for a moment, not knowing quite what to say to him.

She had met Mark Saunders over a year ago at one of those ultra literary parties in Hollywood, and she took to him right away… he was handsome, charming, witty, and above all else, a rebel in every sense of the word.

During that first conversation between them, the young writer mentioned that one of his novels had been seized by the police and, after a brief court case, had been banned… after that Jennifer had seen to it that their first casual encounter had been followed by a brief, but blazing love affair.

Jennifer's strong animal attraction to him in the physical sense became even more poignant when she found that his basic social beliefs were almost identical to hers, although she found out later, unlike her he was a pure idealist and had a tendency to be a bit too romantic about sexual encounters. But he loathed authority of any kind; he was well-informed about the "hip" scene without being pretentious about it. One day he called her to tell her that he was going away to write a book, and that the L.A. scene was too distracting a place to concentrate in. That was the last time she had spoke to him, and often wondered in the months that followed what had happened to him… now as he stood there before her, all the old attraction for him was rapidly coming back…

"Mark! Where on earth have you been… It's so good to see you again!"

He laughed happily at her surprise, lifting her up in his arms, half-carrying her down the hall, and planted a warm kiss on her lips.

"Believe it or not I've been working, Jugs," he laughed. "Jugs" was the nickname he had christened her with the first time he got a look at her huge, firm breasts. He began to whirl her around and around him in a playful manner, still holding her helplessly in the air.

"Hey, put me down!" Jennifer wriggled her breasts against him, laughing and pretending to punch his shoulders.

He ignored her pleas and buried his face in her neck, growling and biting her skin playfully, as they came to the entrance of the livingroom. Then suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks! His eyes were opened wide in disbelieving amazement, staring past Jennifer at Patricia, now standing at the foot of the stairway.

"I don't believe it!" he half-whispered, then gave a long, dry whistle, his face still contorted from the sudden surprise. As if in a dreamlike trance, his hands slowly left Jennifer's body, lowering her gently to the floor.

Patricia was standing halfway on the last step of the stairway with her hand on the banister, looking at him as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Patricia!" He moved quickly towards her, caught both of her hands in his and gave the girl a broad, genuinely pleased smile. "This is fantastic! What on earth are you doing here?"

The touch of his hands on hers sent jolting electrical impulses whirring through her body, and she felt winded, as if she had just run for ten miles without stopping to rest. She blushed deeply, thinking that he could probably hear the pounding of her heart, thudding wildly inside her and pumping blood up to her brain so fast that she leaned slightly towards him to stop the dizziness.

Patricia took a deep breath and smiled up at him, determined not to let her emotions betray her, for she was not sure where she really stood with him now, or for that matter, just how much their brief affair had meant to him. When she finally spoke, her voice did not give away her inner feelings.

"I was just about to ask you the same question," she said, the initial excitement gradually ebbing.

His eyes were as warm and exciting as she remembered them, smoldering with secret promises of love and crinkling boyishly at the corners at the same time, as if he were laughing at his own burning desires.

"Friends?" he asked her quietly. And then Patricia suddenly remembered how abruptly she left the beach cottage that day, leaving no word of explanation.

She nodded, then smiled. "I tried to find you later, I-I wrote you but…"

He cut short her apologies. "There's no need to say anything," he told her. "We were both very much on edge then… Anyway… let's just forget it, luck is with me today, I've finally finished that book, and found you again in the same week. What more could I ask for?"

"Oh, Mark, I'm so happy for you. I knew how much you wanted to finish it, that's why I…"

"No more about that," he said softly, increasing the warm pressure of his hand on hers. "Are you staying with Jennifer now?"

"Y-Yes, I'm trying to find a steady job in modeling, and Jennifer's sort of helping me along… my money's running a little low right now." She looked over his shoulder and met Jennifer's eyes. The girl was staring at them with a puzzled, almost angry look on her face… as if she deeply resented their knowing each other.

Jennifer, who had been watching this exchange with mounting impatience, now interrupted the couple's intimate reunion.

"Suppose you two lovebirds come downstairs and help me open a few bottles of beer. It's time we got this party moving!" she called. "You'll have plenty of time for tete-a-tetes later on."

Patricia released her hands from Mark's, and looked over at the other girl quizzically. Jennifer was standing with her arms folded, now unable to disguise the anger in her voice and in her stance. What was the matter with her, Patricia wondered. Surely she wasn't jealous… Mark wasn't her lover too, was he? No, that wouldn't account for Jennifer's bad temper. She knew the girl well enough to realize that Jennifer was cool enough in her relationships not to be put out by an unfaithful lover. But something was clearly bothering her, and it obviously had some connection with Mark and herself.

Patricia shrugged her shoulders. Whatever it was, it couldn't be helped now that he was with her again. She hadn't realized before just how much he meant to her until he had appeared right out of the blue, but the pounding of her heart and weak feeling at the pit of her stomach told her that she wasn't about to let him get away so easily this time…

After those first few uncomfortable moments with Jennifer, Patricia noticed with relief the other girl gradually relax, becoming her old "cool" self again, laughing with them and telling Mark the latest gossip and happenings revolving around their inner circle of friends. It was not until much later when the rest of the people had firmly entrenched themselves in the livingroom, that Jennifer slowly withdrew from them, becoming moody once more and talking little to anyone around her. She began to chain-smoke from the tray of reefers… and at a rough count Patricia guessed that the girl had gone through at least six of the home-made sticks.

Patricia also noticed that none of Jennifer's "friends" seemed to pay very much attention to her withdrawal, for most of them were perfectly content to curl up on the floor and drink beer, talk and smoke an occasional reefer themselves. Patricia tried to join in the conversations, but despite the undeniably interesting topics which weaved patterns all around her, she was beginning to feel bored and restless.

Ever since Jennifer's first interruption, she hadn't really had much of an opportunity to talk to Mark, because the boy had been led into conversation after conversation as each new guest had arrived at the cottage.