Part 5

Having finished her doughnut on the way, Samantha helped herself to a banana and sat on one of the chairs near the middle, her parents sitting either side.

“Hey, you’re here too?” Jennifer had been pleased to see the familiar friendly face, “Any idea what this is about?”

“Not a clue!” Samantha had admitted, swapping places with her dad so that she and her friend could sit next to each other. Jennifer’s parents were wealthy-looking and the tall blonde who had danced in a red crop-top and cycling shorts, before stripping naked for the second round of course, was now back in the same designer-branded top but this time with matching red sweat-pants. They were quickly joined by Rebecca and her far more modestly-dressed mum and dad and, after exchanging pleasantries, the parents had decided that it was best for the girls to sit together and had arranged themselves accordingly.

A few minutes later, once everyone was set up with drinks and snacks, Carla had come in with two smartly-dressed men – one was the man that Samantha had seen taking to her parents but the other was unfamiliar yet somehow familiar at the same time, as if she had seen him on television once or knew a relative of his.

“Thank you for joining us,” Carla had smiled, “and sorry for the mystery but we asked your parents not to tell you ahead of time what we wanted to ask you about. First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Carla Erickson, General Manager of this branch of Sidney’s. This,” she gestured to the first man, “is my assistant Darren and we’re very fortunate today to be joined by the head of Sidney’s UK and brother of Sidney herself, Hunter Roebuck!” The handsome man who looked to be in his early to mid thirties flashed a perfect American smile and waved at the small audience.

That was where she recognised him from, Samantha had realised. Not only had she seen him in the background of photos of the opening of the first Sidney’s in America but he bore a strong family resemblance both to Sidney and to their father, Orin Roebuck.

“First of all,” Carla had smiled warmly, “let me tell that whatever happens in the next ten minutes or so, the three of you are on the team! Your auditions really impressed us all and we can’t wait to see you perform again.” The girls had all grinned excitedly and looked at each other before exchanging high fives while all the adults in the room chuckled indulgently. “But more than that,” Carla had smiled, “we have a very special proposal for you. I’m going to let Hunter tell you all about it.”

The handsome American had thanked Carla, addressed the small assembly with very charismatic warmth then begun the presentation which had utterly changed Samantha’s life and everything she had imagined about her future.

At first, despite Hunter’s obvious enthusiasm, the presentation had seemed pretty dry – a simple history of Sidney Roebuck, her campaign and the international chain of restaurants founded in her name. Interesting enough in itself, Samantha supposed, but hardly new information to her or, she expected, to the other two girls. Only after about ten minutes of rambling that sounded like an advertising pitch did Hunter finally get to the point.

“So as you know, girls,” he flashed them that gleaming white American smile again, “the branch opens to the public two weeks on Saturday and that’s sure to be an amazing night but on the Friday before we’re having a special bash for invited guests only. Mostly investors but some celebrities too and some local dignitaries and we want to make the night extra special for them!”

“So you’ll have us do a special dance?” Rebecca asked. “But why not the whole group? Why just us three? Were we the best?” she asked, hopefully.

“Well you certainly all caught our eye!” Hunter grinned again. “And there will be a special dance for sure, but hopefully the whole group will be performing. But the reason we’ve asked you three girls to come have this chat with us is, well,” he glanced over at Carla, “we’re putting together a very special menu and we’d like you three to be on it!”

“You want to cook us?” Jennifer had asked in a tone that could just have just as easily been excitement as incredulity.

“Yup!” Hunter clasped his hands together. “We don’t want just any girls for this important meal, we want the best! And your auditions this afternoon proved that that it you three. We want you to dance for us with the others and then we want you to be the first delicious trio cooked in our public cooking area by the carvery.”

The girls all looked at each other, shocked but intrigued. Rebecca seemed to be wiggling in her seat, clearly quite excited by the idea.

“Umm…?” Samantha raised her hand tentatively.

“Yes, Sweetheart?” Hunter asked her with another dazzling smile.

“Do we have a choice?”

“Of course you do!” the American exclaimed. “We never cook a girl who is not one hundred and ten percent willing! I’m not telling you this is what is happening, I’m asking. Your parents have all given their consent in theory but it remains entirely up to you three. Not to influence you unduly,” he smiled disarmingly, “but if you agree, we’ll be paying twice the going rate for your meat. Look, we know you wanted to dance, not be on the menu, otherwise you’d have signed yourselves up as meat already but this is a very special occasion and we want only the very best. To make up for the fact you won’t have an especially long dancing career, we’ll be having a photo shoot next week for just the three of you. You’ll be on flyers, brochures and posters all around the city. We’ll even use your pictures in our magazine ads. It will be a kind of instant fame and it will be a long time before any of you are forgotten!”

Rebecca had agreed straight away.

“Woah! For real?” Samantha had asked her new friend.

“Of course!” the slightly chubby brunette had grinned. “The whole reason I went for the dance troupe was to get my parents on board with the idea of this place so they’d let me volunteer eventually. Admittedly, I didn’t think it would be this quick but, hey, why settle for being just one of many when you get to be the first? And the poster thing sound cool too! Just think about it!” she had urged, her eyes sparkling, “your naked body on display all over the city! Hundreds… no, thousands of people taking home flyers with pictures of you on! And the best thing is, nobody can tease you about it because you won’t be around to tease!”

“You’ve got a point...” Samantha had conceded, still unsure.

“I’m in!” Jennifer had announced confidently and this had been all it took for Samantha to make up her mind.

“Me too!” she had declared, to the visible relief of everyone else in the room. “Looks like you’ve got yourselves a menu!”