She is up in her room and as she dresses for her day. She makes sure that nothing can be seen under her street clothes by her dad or Kate. She hears her grams talking about her play and the part she just landed and decides that now is the time to make a hasty exit from the loft. If she doesn't do it now she'll be late for her 10 am appointment. She sees her grandmother bow and say to her dad,
"I am deeply in your debt."
"Yes, deeply, but if you'd like to start paying rent…"
"No, no, no! I mean I owe you a debt of gratitude!"
Her son says "Oh" with disappointment.
"If you had not urged me to take this audition, I would have never gotten this part. Now I'm off to my wardrobe fitting. Bye!"
As Alexis hits the bottom step and says "Bye" to her grams. Who returns the departing wish. Now she hopes she can get away without the third degree from her dad, but she's not that lucky.
"Where are you off to? Rick asks his daughter who looks a little hurried as she throws her messenger bag over her shoulder.
"Oh, I signed up for an escort service and I have to meet with a client."
"What! For a wha…"
"I just wanted to see if you were listening" she tosses in a nervous giggle and walks towards him. "I'm going to the library to study." If they only knew what was really going on.
"Not cool!" Rick says to her. "So not cool."
Alexis walks up to him and kisses him on his cheek. She really needs to throw them off completely and sell this to make it seem normal so she leans in and kisses Kate on the cheek as well taking her by surprise. "Bye Kate."
And it worked. "Mmm Bye bud!" Kate says totally stunned by the affection she has just shown her.
Alexis turns and heads for the door. As she does she hears her dad say "A goodbye kiss? When did that start?"
Kate watches as Alexis leaves and shuts the door, as she does she tells Rick "Just now. Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are…."
This is the last thing Alexis hears as the door closes completely. She leans back against the door and lets out an unsteady breath. She hates to deceive them. But she really has no choice. Foolishly she had answered an ad placed by what at the time she thought was the answer to her problems. It had been over a year since she made the biggest mistake of her life. She had gone in search of a way to pay off her lease for an apartment that she no longer stayed at, settle her student loans she had accumulated and pay off Pi's debt that he straddled her with after he left her.
The problem was the arrangement she had entered into. While at first, it was fine, it had changed quickly thereafter. She was hired by basically men who were honestly looking for a date for dinner or maybe to go to a current play on Broadway or an event that required a distinct caliber of person for accompaniment which she had mastered and could provide. It was a win-win situation. After a month of being wined and dined, she had agreed to something longer with the agency thinking that what she was exposed to at first would stay that way in the future. She had been wrong.
Her first indication to what faced her was when she was asked to a simple dinner. The meal went fine, but then the tables turned against her and she was cornered into her dates hotel room after the meal ended. She had thought that he was going to end the date with her being paid for her services for the meal, but he had other ideas. He had told her that he had given her a great night out and he had expected some gratification in return. She tried to leave but as she did he told her that if she did leave he would spread the word to his friends, who happened to be well-paying clients of hers that she was a tease and would not be asked to attend anything with them in the future. He would also report her to her escort service for non-compliance of her duties for which she would forfeit everything she had made since she started working for them. She was stuck because she had been so naïve.
And this is where she is now, walking away from the two people she loves the most, her father and her stepmother. She finds it ironic now that she has to go and meet with a client who she knows will need to be satisfied sexually. She is glad that she was able to pull off her slip up about being an escort with them. If they only knew the truth. She only wishes that she listened to her father before her life included Pi. She walks to the elevator and as she does she waits to remove her top to reveal her sexy lace top showing off her assets until she's safely in a taxi heading to meet her client. She regrets what she has become now…