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Wednesday morning, August 18

Yesterday, I discovered that afternoon coffee at Starbucks could be as exciting as a first date at Balthazar -- if you're with the right guy. Or even the wrong guy, as Randy happens to be.

"Did you tell Matt about the stalker?" Randy asked in his overly direct, young voice. The sound of his voice used to startle and repel -- I found it sexually and socially presumptuous. But now I like this overwhelming feeling -- he makes me feel like I'm somewhere I've never been.

"No," I half-mumbled, chewing the plastic straw in my Frappuccino.

I took in his well-constructed cheekbones and his alarmingly tender eyes -- you can't really avoid a face if it's not framed by hair, I thought. Too many of these young bald guys have a tendency to look mean and weak but Randy -- sweet, boyish and confident -- can carry it off.

Randy fell silent as I looked away, trying to hide my simmering excitement. Here I am playing hooky from my customers in the middle of the day, flirting with a cute boy who doesn't know I actually charge other men to fuck me ... a guy I shouldn't bother with ...

Nancy Chan: Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl appears in Health & Body every Monday and Thursday. + About Nancy Chan: Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl -- with links to all episodes to date. + Read the Diary from the start.

"Why don't you tell him?" he said, after a moment. "Doesn't your boyfriend care if some guy is threatening your safety?"

"Randy," I sighed. "Thanks for worrying but I am old enough to be your big sister." How old is he, anyway? Is he even 20? Biologically speaking, I might even be old enough to be -- banish that thought!

"I hadn't really noticed," he said, giving me a slightly insolent once-over that made me blush and change the subject.

"So, I think I should join a completely different gym and erase my existing records," I told him. "Maybe that would get the creep off my case. I mean, you're not always there and -- you know how clueless some of the other trainers are."

I was really thinking: If the guy's a cop and he comes back with some kind of search warrant -- but have I thought this through? If I switch to a new gym, I'll have fewer opportunities to ... flirt with Randy. Our cup of coffee, that time he walked me home -- it's all quite normal since he works at a gym where I'm a member. If I went to a new gym, I would have to -- call Randy?? I couldn't believe I was contemplating a "come hither" strategy with Randy.

"That guy hasn't been back," Randy reminded me. "I may have erased him from the place."

How do I explain that I'm in danger without actually telling him what I do for a living?

"I've been getting these strange phone calls and I think it's him," I said. Randy's expression darkened as I continued: "Somebody calls from time to time and --" this next part was not quite true -- "the first time, he pretended he was from the phone company! He knows too much about me." I couldn't exactly admit that I'd been speaking to a strange caller in the hopes that he was a john.

"What does Matt want you to do about it?"

"Look, Matt doesn't know," I explained. "I don't want him to worry about me."

"You haven't told him that either? Your whole thing with Matt -- it doesn't make sense. Does he love you?"

Next page | The uncomfortable truth about Matt