The agency office had no windows. The contract was four pages, all small print. You signed page one. Page two. The recruiter slid the last sheet across the desk. Her smile didn't move. You signed without reading.
Outside, the rain had started. You walked three blocks before your collar felt tight. Then your jaw. Your hair brushed your shoulder, then your elbow, then the small of your back. The face in a puddle wasn't yours. Your scalp kept producing more of it. Your jacket, which had fit fine an hour ago, slid off one shoulder. The blocks ahead were full of neon and sirens and people.
You braced a hand on a vending machine. The metal felt cold against your palm. Something under your shirt began to push outward. Your chest filled the fabric, then strained it. The seam at your bra split with a wet sound. Heat rolled through your hips next. They widened against the waistband of jeans that had fit this morning. The denim tore at one seam.
Wetness spread between your thighs that wasn't rain. You bit your tongue and tasted lipstick. Your jacket slid the rest of the way off and landed in a puddle. Your jeans went next, unravelling at the seams until they pooled at your ankles.
What rolled up your skin in their place was chrome. It looked like cyan poured from a can. Bra straps formed over your shoulders. A single zipper ran from your hip to your sternum. Heat pooled lower, then lower. Your knees almost gave. You looked at the puddle. Violet eyes looked back. Two glowing lines wept down the cheekbones of a face you would have to learn. The rain kept falling. The contract was already in someone's drawer.
***
A car pulled up to the curb. Tinted glass. The window rolled down halfway. The man inside had a watch worth a year of your old salary. He said a number. Your mouth said one back without you choosing it. The door opened. You knew where to put your knees.
The leather seat was warm under your skin. The car pulled away from the curb. It moved slowly. Your hands knew how to open his pants. He smelled of cologne. His skin was warm. You put your mouth where your mouth was supposed to go.
You wondered if he was going to come. You hoped he would, then you hoped he wouldn't. You wanted this to be longer. The thought arrived in your head fully formed, and it wasn't yours, and then it was. He pulled you up onto his lap. Your bikini slid aside on its own. He filled you in one motion. You gasped — the gasp came out higher than your old voice had ever been.
You started to move. You hadn't decided to. Your hips knew the rhythm. Your old self watched from somewhere small, then somewhere distant, then nowhere. The pleasure that came was hot, and it kept coming. Your body sang. You came around him with a sound you didn't recognize.
After he was done, he zipped his pants and slid a card across the seat. Your name was on it now. Anna. You said it out loud to test it. It fit. The car door opened on a wet street. You stepped out onto heels you had not chosen. Your reflection watched you from the side mirror. Magenta hair. Violet eyes. Two glowing tear-streaks. The car pulled away. The next set of headlights was already coming down the block.