Forty Years After Her Debut

[ghbh]

(In the same universe as "Fun With Mark's Sister" and "Kelly's Police Line Up" by MrMongo, and Kelly's First Day Back at School by me. Originally posted in the Fun With Mark's Sister thread.)

Before there was Riley Reid, before there was Misty Mundae, there was Jenny Phair.

Jenny was a redheaded bombshell who skyrocketed to fame from the depths of Middle America to the freakiest porn sets of LA. She never really talked about how she got into her industry, but after a rocky start couch surfing in the City of Angels she instantly became a star in such classics as "Citizen Jane: How Her Bud Became Rosy" and "Virginity: Gone with the Wind" and scored massive amounts of money.

But this all came at a cost. Jenny's career choice had been... not the most pleasant for her parents back home, and they and her brother Mark stopped talking to her or financially supporting her. The family was solidly middle class, and Mark started a job working for the IT department of his local bank. After a couple of decades in the business, he was promoted to be the Senior VP for Telecommunications and he purchased a new house in Columbus, Ohio, moving to the town with his wife.

Mark and his family lived a solidly comfortable life, and this was especially so after he inherited everything from his folks - Jenny, of course, was not invited to either funeral - but Jenny was living it up with her earnings. Millions upon millions each year went into a mansion in Beverly Hills and the newest Lamborghinis and Bentleys. She was never really good with money, but after her first film deal fell through she was smart enough to hire an accountant to take care of her assets to make sure she was set for life. And she was. Even if she retired, which at 57 she was planning to do, she could spend the rest of her life living a life her hometown could only dream of. It almost made up for the shame of the last 40 years! Almost...

It was just after Halloween when Jenny thought about her brother Mark. She had legally changed her name from Tripkowski to Phair to separate herself, but that didn't stop her from looking up Mark Tripkowski in the phone books and never having the guts to dial him up. After he moved to Columbus and the parents died her trail ran cold, but now in 2024 there was the internet and she had no reason not to look him up. And there he was, his phone number and address all public information.

Having whatever midlife crisis she was having, Jenny broke through her inhibitions and dialed the number.

"Hi, this is Mark," came the other line.

"Mark, it's Jenny," Jenny demanded, "and I want to meet up this Thanksgiving."

"Uhhh, hi Jenny," Mark's body had grown colder and colder as he realized who he was talking to, "what brings you around this Thanksgiving?"

"I just wanted to talk about... the last 40 years." Really she wanted an apology from Mark for 'ruining' her life, but she was seasoned enough in life not to come across as that condescending.

"Okay, perfect. Well, my wife and I are thinking about having dinner and you're invited."

"Oh really? You have a wife now?" Jenny almost scoffed, blissfully unaware that she already knew her sister-in-law.

"Mhm," Mark just went on, "so shall we put you in for Thanksgiving? I live in Columbus now, I can text you the address if this is your main texting phone."

"That would be fine," Jenny continued curtly and courteously.

"Alright, see you then!" Mark concluded the call before hanging up.

----
It was two weeks before Thanksgiving, and Mark entered his home after a hard day at the job.

"Ugh," he complained to his wife, "everything's been hounding me about the CrowdStrike shortage."

"I know," Kelly sat at the table sorting through the mail, "we got a letter from Jenny's employer."

"Really?!" Mark hadn't heard from Jenny in about a decade before last week's call out of the blue, "what do they want?"

"They said they realize Jenny's body isn't quite what it used to be and wanted to drum up interest in her career history. They said they heard about our Thanksgiving meetup and wanted to reenact her premiere tape, the one on Super-8."

"Oh do they?" Mark smirked. "Do we have to do anything?"

"I hope not." Kelly continued, "It was bad enough showing my naked run through K-Mart in court the first time around. Now I have a professional image to maintain..." she sipped on her coffee.

"Come onnn, you know you love it!" Mark teased her, "Don't act like you didn't always suggest Strip Atari after that day."

Kelly's face turned red, "Damn it, Mark! I was young and dumb."

"Weren't we all," Mark continued, "nowadays they can't let little kids run around butt nekkid!"

Kelly's face kept its redness as she went on, "Anyways, it doesn't say if we have to do... anything in particular. It says they'll send us a free DSLR to shoot everything, and that we have to call them to let them know if we're interested."

"No all-expenses-paid trip to LA?" Mark ribbed his wife more, "Ah well, didcha call 'em?"

"Not yet," Kelly continued, "I wanted to know if you were up for it."

"How much are they giving us?"

"$2 million."

"Well hot damn! Call them up right now and put them on speakerphone."

"If you say so," Kelly took out her phone and started dialing the number.

[ghbh]

The line rang a few times before a cheerful voice picked up, introducing herself as Lisa from Jenny's management team. Kelly explained they were interested in the offer, and Lisa's tone turned enthusiastic, detailing how they'd need to set up a scene reminiscent of Jenny's first film, using the DSLR they'd provide.

"What exactly do you mean, 'reminiscent of Jenny's first film'?" Kelly asked with trepidation.

Lisa hesitated for a moment before responding, her cheerful tone slightly faltering. "Well, Jenny's first film was... quite iconic. It involved a certain setting and, uh, specific scenarios that made it memorable. We're thinking of recreating that vibe, but in a more modern context. You two would need to, ah, reenact some of those scenes."

"What do you mean 'recreate'?" Kelly kept pressing on. "What about the costume department?" she asked, wary of being around in nothing but a towel.

"Well," Lisa continued, "everyone will have to wear what they wore in the original. Why, what did you wear?"

"Ummm," Kelly thought about what to say before blurting it out, "I wore a towel in scenes of the film."

Lisa's voice came through the speakerphone with complete professionalism. "Well, they want us to recreate that exact look." Kelly's face turned bright red as she looked at Mark, who was trying not to laugh. "I can't believe they want us to do this," Kelly muttered, shaking her head. Mark, however, was already thinking about the money.

"We'll do it!" Mark shouted before Kelly could get in any second thoughts.

"Perfect! I'll let the production team know and they'll send you everything by the end of the week!" Lisa chirped before parting with a "Have a nice day!" and hanging up the call.

Kelly turned towards Mark with a glare. "You really want me to get in just a towel in front of a whole audience, huh?"

"Hey, $2 million is nothing to sneeze at!" Mark just shrugged with a grin.

"Oh fuck!" Kelly shot up in realization, "what are we going to do about Jessica?"

Jessica was Mark and Kelly's 11-year old daughter, and the spitting image of Kelly when she was younger with her shoulder-length straight blonde hair.

"I already told you, she's taking the bus home tonight," Mark waved off Kelly's concerns.

"No, I mean for Thanksgiving!" Kelly clarified, "We can't have her in something like this! How are we going to explain Aunt Jenny to her?"

"Grandma and grandpa can just take her in," Mark shrugged.

"Martin and Eva are in a nursing home, they're not going to have anything for an 11-year old girl!" Kelly protested.

"Well, we'll just figure something out," Mark shrugged as he walked out the room.