Within ten minutes of opening on Saturday morning, Velvet Vixens was jam-packed with customers and curious passersby. Word of the lifelike mannequins spread quickly until a crowd formed outside the store. People snapped selfies with the plastic ladies, perused the sexy merchandise, and, most importantly, bought loads of lingerie.
By lunchtime, half of Rachel’s inventory was gone. Her employees kept replenishing the stock from the stash in the back room, but they couldn’t keep up with sales. By 2:00, only a quarter of the racks still held garments, but the shop was still packed with people. Rachel felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Jasper smiling.
“How’s business?” he asked, gesturing to the empty racks around them.
“Holy shit!” Rachel exclaimed. “It’s been a madhouse all day! I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done. I’m not exaggerating when I say you’ve saved Velvet Vixens.”
“I’m so happy to hear that, Rachel. And thank you for agreeing to partner with me on this. I needed an opportunity to show the world what I can do with gorgeous women.”
“Well,” Rachel replied with a grin, “I’m happy to oblige. Hey, I’m taking my staff to happy hour after we close at 6:00. Do you want to join us?”
Jasper nodded. “I’d be delighted.”
At that moment, one of Rachel’s employees walked up with a worried look. Rachel smiled.
“What’s up, Ashley?”
“Hey, Rachel. We’re totally out of 32C bras. And our supply of 34D is nearly gone. What do you want us to do?”
“Let’s offer preorders,” Rachel replied. “I’ll place orders with our suppliers this afternoon, so we should have more merchandise by Tuesday or Wednesday.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
Ashley disappeared into the crowd as Rachel turned to Jasper.
“Hey, I need to take care of those orders. Be back here at 6:00 for drinks on me.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
After placing orders with all eight of her suppliers, Rachel ventured back out into the shop. It was 4:00 and finally starting to die down as the lingerie selection dwindled, though the selfie-takers were still out in force.
Rachel felt another tap on her shoulder and turned around to find an older blonde woman in a blue tailored pantsuit.
“Oh, hi,” Rachel began. “How can I help you?”
“I’m Margaret Thomas, owner of Satin Sirens lingerie shop. Don’t worry. We’re three hours away, so we’re not in the same market.”
“Three hours away? You drove all the way here?”
“I did indeed. A friend tipped me off, and I had to see these mannequins myself. They’re even more gorgeous than she described. Where did you get them?”
“Well,” said Rachel with some hesitation, “I’m not sure I’m at liberty to say. No offense, of course. I don’t want to be presumptuous on behalf of my supplier.”
“Yes, of course. That’s understandable.” Margaret handed Rachel a business card. “I’ll tell you what. You discuss it with your supplier and call me if they want another customer. My shop is quite large, so I’ll need sixteen beauties to start, with the option to purchase another eight.”
Rachel’s jaw dropped before she composed herself. “Oh, they’re not for sale. It’s better than that! The supplier rotates them regularly, so you’d always have a fresh set to keep things interesting.”
“Ah, even better!” Margaret exclaimed. “And do you think twenty-four would be feasible?”
“I’ll have to check, but I expect they can make that work.”
“Excellent! Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Thank you for your time. I sincerely hope to hear from your supplier soon.”
“Of course.”
In the final two hours of the day, Rachel met the owners of four more lingerie shops: Barely There Boutique, Silk & Spice, Intimate Whispers, and Delicate Desires. All four of them wanted what Margaret wanted. Rachel did some quick mental math and realized the total count of mannequins would be seventy-five, triple Jasper’s current supply of models! Could he recruit more willing ladies fast enough to satisfy demand? Were these shops just the tip of a massive plastic iceberg? The potential was mind-boggling.
When 6:00 rolled around, the shop looked like a hurricane had come through. The racks were nearly empty, with a few garments scattered here and there. Jasper showed up right on time.
“Damn!” he exclaimed with a smile. “Looks like somebody cleared you out.”
“No kidding,” Rachel replied with a grin. “I just placed orders for a thousand more items. They can’t get here fast enough!”
“Well, I wish you the best. Now, about those free drinks…”
“Yes, of course! Give me a minute to sort through the aftermath, and then we’ll go.”
“Sounds good.”
Rachel and Jasper quickly drank her staff under the table. In their defense, though, they were already exhausted from the workday. Rachel bid them farewell and then turned to Jasper for a private chat.
“So, Jasper,” she began, “your little operation has the potential to become quite a lot larger.”
Jasper raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Yes, I was approached today by the owners of five different lingerie shops in nearby cities. You’re looking at orders for seventy-five, including the eight mannequins for Velvet Vixens.”
Jasper grinned. “That’s wonderful to hear! I’ll need to recruit more models to augment my current twenty-five.”
“Yes.” Rachel set down her vodka tonic and folded her hands on the table. “Look, here’s the deal, Jasper. This whole thing has almost limitless potential. If I were you, I’d be looking to scale up fast. I’m talking thousands of mannequins shipped worldwide. You can start locally, but you’re going global eventually.”
“Wow, global? How am I going to manage something like that?”
Rachel grinned. “I’m so glad you asked. What would you think about a partnership? Let’s go into business together! I’ll sell Velvet Vixens and become your CEO, responsible for recruiting models and signing up customers. You’ll be the CTO and focus on refining our technology and scaling the operation while I handle the business side of things. What do you think?”
Jasper’s jaw dropped. “Really? You’d do that? I don’t even know what to say.”
“Well,” Rachel replied, laughing, “you could start by saying yes. And then we’ll get to work on world domination. Oh, I also know who can be our CFO: my long-suffering accountant, Michael. He’s a wizard with numbers.”
“Wow,” said Jasper. “I’m almost speechless, but I will say yes. 100% yes!”
Rachel pumped her fist in the air. “Hot damn! Our mannequins will rule the world!”
“So,” said Jasper, “on the topic of world domination, how do you propose we scale up?”
“In a word, responsibly. We need our supply of mannequins to rise steadily and meet the increasing demand. I propose offering longer terms at attractive rates.”
“Oh? How much longer?”
“Besides the seven-day term, we should offer 30, 60, and 90 days. Do you think the models would agree to this?”
Jasper took a sip of his martini as he thought it over.
“Some would stick with seven days, but others would jump at the opportunity to go longer, assuming the money is good.”
“Excellent! That’ll give us time to ramp up recruiting. We must get to a hundred mannequins immediately and keep going from there.”
“Well,” said Jasper, “I’m certain you’ll be more persuasive than me in talking to prospective models. And it’ll allow me to focus on tech. I have a few ideas I want to try out.”
“Oh,” said Rachel, “I almost forgot. Our new company needs a name.”
Jasper thought for a moment. “How about QuinTek?”
Rachel considered the suggestion and then nodded. “I like it.” She picked up her vodka tonic. “To QuinTek.”
“To QuinTek,” Jasper replied as they clinked glasses.
Rachel surveyed the collection of empty glasses on the table. “We might want to switch to water at this point.”
Jasper laughed. “Yeah, good idea.”
They continued to chat about their ambitious plans. Rachel couldn’t believe her good fortune that Jasper had chosen her shop for his trial run. This opportunity would change everything.
A few days later, Rachel sold Velvet Vixens to her most loyal employee, Ashley, in a sweetheart deal. The women shared many tears and fond memories of the shop’s early days. It wasn’t easy for Rachel to leave her life’s work, but a new life awaited her—one with limitless possibilities.
Jasper built a small office in the corner of the warehouse for Rachel, though she didn’t spend much time there. She was usually on the road, traveling to every lingerie shop within six hours to pitch QuinTek’s lifelike products. Not surprisingly, her closing rate was 100%.
And while Rachel was in each city, she visited fashion and glamour photographers to get leads on potential models. QuinTek offered a referral fee, which kept the names pouring in. Rachel enjoyed much success on the recruiting front, quickly blowing past her initial goal of a hundred models. All five shops whose owners visited Velvet Vixens signed up as long-term customers, creating a steady stream of revenue to fund Jasper’s tech endeavors, which often involved expensive new hardware.
Everything was moving along perfectly, much to Rachel’s delight. She loved her new gig and couldn’t wait to reach each new milestone. The sky was the limit with QuinTek.
Copyright 2023 Olivia Quinn
Image by thank you for 💙 👍 💬 from Pixabay
Story notes
This second part sets the stage for bigger, better, and sexier things to come. How much potential does QuinTek have? Can Jasper and Rachel scale it up to meet demand? How many women will they recruit to become mannequins? As the tantalizing tale of “Mannequin Dreams” continues, these questions and more will soon be answered.
Article Tags: Female · Mannequin · Sci-Fi · Volunteer
