Saturday, May 2, 2015

Honeymoon (Part 3)

     ".... You take Leonard to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
     "I do."
     "And do you, Leonard, take Bekka to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
     "I do."
     "Then by the powers vested in me by the state of California, I pronounce you husband and wife.  You may now kiss the bride."

     And just like that I was married to the most beautiful woman in California, possibly on the continent.  Certainly the most beautiful woman in porn.
This is not Bekka.
     Bekka had taken up the gentlemen's wives offer to find a dress.  She had spend a few weekends in LA shopping for something that was comfortable and sexy, figuring everyone would expect it from her.  I had no objections to the dress, even if it would only be worn once.... Although Bekka suggested it might show up in a video at some point.  I made a note to write a wedding-themed treatment for a script.  Frankie and I made a good writing team.
     I was in a rental tux, along with my groomsmen and best man.  Boss, Chip, and Dale were my groomsmen, with my best friend from high school, Mike, filling in as my best man.  Bekka had a couple girls I'd never met before plus Ellen as her bridesmaids.
     Our guests were an interesting mix.  Besides family, we had a load of pornographers, porn stars, punk rockers, bikers, and general weirdos to choose from.  I finally got to meet some of Bekka's extended family, who were none too thrilled to meet me thanks to Bekka's dad; he'd passed along word about what a horrible person I was.  My family didn't get along with the Luchessis, due to what was viewed as slander on their part.  And the weirdos didn't get along with the bikers initially, as the sight of two women kissing was fine in a video but distasteful in real life.  Boss, bless him, kept the bikers from announcing their displeasure out loud.
     The most nerve-racking moment was the part in the ceremony when the minister asks if anyone present sees reason why these two should not be married.  Fortunately, Reverend Owens didn't pause very long ("Anyone?  Anyone at all?  C'mon, there's gotta be someone out there....") before moving on.  I was afraid one of the parents would have piped up and made the proceedings very uncomfortable.
     As it was, each set of parents blamed the other for the travesty that had just taken place.  My parents felt it was Bekka's  dad's fault: his daughter had seduced their son into marriage at such a young age.  Mr. Luchessi felt my parents had done a poor job of raising me: why else would I be involved in such a scummy business, which his daughter was trapped in?  Fortunately they had this exchange early into the reception, before either party had much to drink, and pointedly avoided each other for the rest of the evening.
     Bekka and me smiled through it all, thanks to Boss' unofficial wedding gift of fifty hits of MDMA.  (He also gave us a gift certificate to Nordstrom's for a couple hundred bucks.)  Ya-hoo.  I made the male members of the wedding party happy along with some guests, while Bekka did the same for her bridesmaids.
     I was waiting for Bekka to return from having her train removed when I was cornered by a couple of her uncles and quizzed about my current and future plans.  They didn't want to hear they were one and the same: continue working for Inana so long as Inana was in business.
     Uncle one came to the point: "Really, we want Bekka to stop working for that company, and now that she's married, she has no reason to work.  Especially for them."
     "That decision is ultimately hers to make," I told him.  "Besides, she is becoming quite successful."
     Uncle two responded with, "We don't care about her success.  But she should not need to prostitute herself as a married woman."
     Uncle one asked, "You are capable of supporting her, aren't you?"
     "Of course he is," came another voice.  It was Angel, emerging from the bathroom.  "But whether Bekka works for Inana or any other production company is her decision to make.  She is happy working.  Excuse me, let me introduce myself.  I am Angel Morelli, the owner of Inana Productions and part owner of five other production companies.  What is being discussed here?"
     "They want Bekka to stop working," I said.
     "That would disappoint me greatly.  She is beautiful, talented, and intelligent.  The combination of the three make her valuable for anyone she is working for.  Obviously this is up to her, but she would be missed.  Has she expressed an interest in leaving Inana, Lenny?"
     "Not at all.  These are her uncles, and they want her to stop."
     "I see.  Why don't we ask her now?"  Bekka was coming down the stairs.
     "Uncle Louie!  Uncle Sal!  Come give me a hug," said Bekka.  "So, what am I interrupting?"
     "These gentlemen  wish you to stop working," Angel told her.
     "So does my father, and I've already said no to him," stated Bekka.  "Why do you wish me to quit a job I like, anyway?"
     "It's humiliating work," said Uncle Sal.
     "For who?  Not me," shot back Bekka.  "I can't help it if you don't like the work.  My advice is to not buy videos I appear in."
     "I would never buy such videos."  "Me either."
     "That's nice for both of you.  I don't buy them either.  They're free."
     Uncle Louie said to me, "So can we trust you to remove yourselves from this business?"
     I told him, "Absolutely not.  I think I can speak for both Bekka and myself when I say the pay is too good and we're having too much fun.  Angel, do you plan on setting things up so they aren't fun anymore?"
     "Of course not.  Happy workers are loyal workers, and I saw my two best employees get married today.  I want them to continue being happy."
     Bekka said, "Well!  That's all settled then.  There's a very nice party happening through those doors, and here we are hanging around in the hallway.  Why don't we join the fun?"
     "An excellent idea," said Angel.  "Lenny, I believe you had people you wanted to introduce me to.  Shall we?"
     "We shall.  After you, sir."
     Uncle Sal said, "But we...."
     In her syrupy voice, Bekka said, "This  subject is closed, Uncle Sal.  You can send us a letter after we return from our honeymoon.  And thank you again, Angel, for your wonderful gift.  I'm sure we'll have a great time in Florida."
     "It is my pleasure.  Enjoy yourselves."



     The reception was great, except for one problem: every time I was alone, I could count on being double-teamed by members of Bekka's family making their case as to how I should get Bekka out of the horrible business she was in.  They made the same pleas, I gave the same responses.  I made it a point to keep various punks and bikers within earshot at all times.  Sometimes that didn't help, with them being dragged into  the conversation.  They would respond with, "Hey, she's happy, right?  Sure it's a little weird, but weird doesn't bug me.  Why not let them make the decision on their own?"
     A conversation that did go well happened between Angel and Boss.  As a favor to me, Boss would take over my position of supplying the drugs to Inana, even though the amounts of speed were much smaller than what Boss usually sold.  This was more than made up for by Angel massively increasing how much Ecstasy was delivered.  Basically, Boss would be supplying the MDMA for all six companies.  His lab boys would be working overtime to keep up.
     Vinny had brought some cocaine with them.  Like, enough to share with anybody who wanted it.  He let the word get around that anyone who wanted a line should just give him a tap on the shoulder and they'd go upstairs to an unused classroom.  For a while, there was quite the procession going on.  Coke wasn't normally my cup of tea, but I indulged too.  My friend Mike came up to me with a manic grin on his face and said, "Wow.... Free drinks, free Ecstasy, free cocaine.... Do people in porn always party like this?"
     I told him no, but when we partied, we partied hard, and are you having a good time?
     "Dude, I can't wait for you two to get married again!  You should have weddings every month!"

     With the exception of family, a good time was had by all.  No matter how entertaining it would have been, getting my parents high would have had an unforeseen downside.

CLICK HERE FOR PART FOUR

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