Caught Up
by Navessa Allen
Contents
12
Overview
Summary
On a beautiful midsummer day, Lauren, Taylor, Ryan, and Walter the dog take a coffee break between touring potential venues to replace Velvet. So far they've seen one centrally located building needing too many renovations and another beautifully appointed but too expensive. Lauren catches her roommates up on Junior's groveling apology and the stairwell encounter, sparing no details at Taylor's insistence.
The roommates debate whether Junior is creepy or romantic. Taylor leans toward star-crossed lovers, framing his framing of Kelly and attack on the principal as guerrilla justice protecting his fair maiden. Ryan insists his confessions are alarming and lacking remorse. Lauren admits she never felt physically unsafe with Junior, but acknowledges he could be much more dangerous now after potentially a decade in the mob.
Pressed by Ryan on whether her feelings are more than casual, Lauren insists they aren't. She explains she can't let Junior back in because being around him reopens the shame and darkness of that period in her life, when classmates mocked her fan fiction after Kelly exposed her pen name. Taylor, who shares a strict religious upbringing (Mormon, adopted from Vietnam), empathizes. Lauren resolves to hide if Junior reappears at Velvet, since her hormones can't be trusted around him.
Taylor changes the subject to a strange paid request from a sub: a video of her naked, oiled, herbed, with an apple in her mouth, basting herself like a turkey. Lauren and Ryan gently inform her it's a cannibal fetish. Taylor screams in horror, alarming Walter and the cafe. Lauren advises her to block, report, and screenshot, promising to walk her through Me4U's process and warn her about other dark-side hazards of sex work. They rush off, late to their third venue viewing.
Who Appears
- LaurenRecounts Junior encounter to roommates; resolves to avoid him to protect herself from reopened shame and past trauma.
- TaylorLauren's loud, dramatic roommate; romanticizes Junior, then panics upon learning a client's request is a cannibal fetish.
- RyanPragmatic roommate who urges caution about Junior, sees through Lauren's deflections, and helps identify the cannibal fetish.
- WalterRyan's dog; comforts Lauren during emotional moment and barks when Taylor screams in the cafe.
- JuniorDiscussed but absent; his groveling, stalking, and confessed past violence are debated by the roommates.