Sofia felt like an idiot, standing there with her mouth hanging open in shock, and she made an effort to smile so she didn’t feel so ridiculous. She hadn’t imagined it, Lucas really was interested in her, at least a little bit.

He smiled back, “I’ll look for you after my demo – well, I’ll leave you alone if you’re in the middle of something. But come see the demo if you want to. And have fun.”

“I will,” she said, “Have fun, that is. I don’t think I’ll get involved in anything, but I might come watch your demo.” He nodded encouragingly and turned away. She watched him go, then turned back, looking for Lori. But Lori was no longer in sight.

“That’s ok,” Sofia thought, “I’m a big girl, I can do this on my own.” She wandered for a bit, stopping to watch some scenes from a discrete distance. So much flogging and spanking going on. Then she wandered into an area set up for fire play. She watched, fascinated.

“I might want to try that,” she thought “But not today.”

Wondering what it would be like to let someone set you on fire, she turned away, and almost ran into someone in front of her. “Oh, sorry,” she said, just as the young man said, “Oh, I’m sorry!”

She looked up at him and smiled, “No problem.” He was maybe in his 30s, brown hair and brown eyes, attractive in a bland way.

“Well, hello, there,” he said, “You’re new here aren’t you? I haven’t seen you around before.” Not waiting to hear her response, he added, “I’m Jeff, not Sir Jeff or Master Jeff, none of that for me. I’m just Jeff.” He laughed. “Now, who are you? I see you have a yellow wristband, let’s go over here and get a soft drink or some water so we can get to know each other.”

He took her wrist and turned to the right, but she hesitated and he paused. “Don’t you want to talk to me?” he asked. “I’m harmless, I promise.” And he smiled, disarmingly.

Sofia was acutely uncomfortable, she did not want to go talk to him, but it seemed silly to refuse. What harm could there be in getting some water with him? But she didn’t like the way he was holding her wrist and she didn’t want to go anywhere with him.

“Oh,” she said, “I can’t – I want to go watch the rope demo, I’m sorry,” she said, feeling relieved that she had a good excuse. (“Although,” she chided herself, “You could have just said no without having an excuse.”)

“Well, you’re not in the right place for that,” he said, shaking his head. “Come on, I’ll show you where to go.” And he changed directions, still holding her wrist.

She pulled her arm away, but he waited for her and insisted on leading the way back to the demo stage. Mistress Molly was still caning someone. Sofia didn’t see Lucas anywhere, and then was irritated with herself for looking for him. Jeff ushered her into an aisle, which she also didn’t like. She really preferred to sit on the end. He had maneuvered her in before she quite realized what was happening.

But, she realized, there was no one in the row at all yet, so she kept moving til she was at the far end of the row, putting her on the outside and him inside. “Hey, wait,” he said, a couple of times, but she pretended not to hear him, smiling to herself at having won the seat she wanted.

He settled himself next to her and leaned over, “Hey, are you a submissive?”

She paused. She didn’t even want to talk to this guy. “Good grief,” she fussed at herself, “You’re 60 years old, don’t you know how to get rid of a pest?” But apparently she didn’t.

“Yes,” she said, reminding herself that submissive didn’t mean weak. “And if you’re not a “Sir,” you must be a sub too.”

Clearly, Jeff didn’t like that assumption. “No, I’m not!” he said, “Definitely not! I like to think of myself as a kinkster, just out here having fun, kind of anything goes. I’m really just a nice guy. But I can do just about anything, just about anything you want, I’m up for it. I can beat your ass or lick your pussy…”

And instinctively, Sofia turned her head away from him, holding up one hand in a “stop” gesture.

“What’s the matter?” he said. “That doesn’t sound good to you? Maybe I’m not good enough for you?”

“No,” Sofia said, “that’s not – I mean, no, I don’t want to have this conversation with you. No.” And she began looking around for a monitor. Not that she was afraid of Jeff, but she didn’t want to cause a scene. And he was gross. Just gross.

Before she spotted a monitor, a young woman wearing a corset and an amazingly short skirt approached her from the aisle. “Sofia?” she asked.

“Yes!” Sofia answered, realizing how relieved she was to have this woman show up, even while she wondered how she knew her name. “Yes, I’m Sofia.”

The woman smiled, nodded, “I’m Mandy, Lucas asked me to see if you’d come answer a question he has. He’s getting prepped for the demo, but he said it was important. Do you mind? He’s up front.”

Sofia hesitated just a moment. But the pressure of knowing Jeff was waiting for her, along with her natural curiosity, tipped her into agreeing. As she stood, Jeff demanded querulously, “Where are you going? I thought we were going to talk?”

Sofia smiled apologetically as she followed Mandy away. “Maybe some other time.” And was even more annoyed with herself for not just saying no.

Lucas was sitting on the edge of the stage, off to one side. He smiled. “Hey,” he said, “I might owe you an apology – we noticed Jeff following you and I know that he can be a bit pushy. Harmless, but annoying to some people. If you were having a good time, then I apologize.”

Sofia shook her head, “No, not a good time, I wouldn’t say that. I was about to tell him to leave me alone.” She thought that might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but she was ok with that.

“So you didn’t need me interfering at all – and I didn’t interrupt you when you were having fun. Good. I wanted you to meet Mandy too. I know you’ve got Lori for company and you’ve probably met some other folks, but it’s always good to know someone that you can be sure is trustworthy. Mandy’s good people.”

Mandy grinned. “So is Lucas,” she said. “He’s been like a father to me,” and when Lucas raised an eyebrow at her, she giggled, “Ok, maybe a big brother. Whatever. But kind of a teddy bear anyhow.”

Lucas looked at Sofia. “That’s right,” he said drily. “Just a big ole teddy bear.” But his eyes lingered on her face, and then moved to her wristband, and back to her face. She felt warm.

“I wouldn’t say that,” she replied slowly, her eyes on his. “I wouldn’t say you’re a teddy bear at all.”