No More Box, Saturday the 2nd

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"No More Box, Friday the 1st" 

(A)Day After the Storm

          Alana awoke with a start to silence and it took her a moment to remember that Hanna was visiting Grandma Hattie. As she looked at the clock she realized that Hanna would probably be on her way home soon, if she wasn’t already because it was already almost eleven o’clock. Alana rolled over with a moan as her body ached from sleeping too long, but she had to get up. She had things to do before Hanna got home.

Empty Threats

          Blaise awoke with a start as his phone was ringing. He moaned as he rolled over. He had to stop staying out so late, it was starting to hurt too much the next morning. He reached over and grabbed his cell phone, “Hello,” he said.
          “You’re not up yet?” came the up beat voice of Natty. He didn’t know how she was ever able to do it, she had been drunker than he had been last night, and every time before when they’d partied and drank heavily. But every morning after she woke up early, bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for the day to get going.
          “No, Natty, I’m not,” he practically moaned into the phone.
          “Well, I should probably tell you that Dom is on his way over to get you.”
          “What?” he asked confused, “Why?”
          “I don’t know,” she said, “He walked into the house two hours ago mumbling something about how you’d better not be going over to somebody’s house today and skip out on the cleaning.”
          Blaise moaned as there was a knock at his front door, “It’s okay Natty, he’s here.”
          “But what’s he talking about?”
          Blaise smiled and said, “I found Hanna,” with a sigh before he hung up and yawned.
          His phone was ringing on his night stand before he got to his door, but knowing that it would be Natty, he didn’t bother to go back for it. Dom was banging hard on his door now. As Blaise neared the door, he started yelling, “Damn it man, I have neighbors,” and then added once he’d opened the door, “Didn’t you see that my truck was out in the parking lot?”
          “Sorry, but I saw that you’re truck was in the parking lot and figured you were still asleep. I tried calling,” he said as Blaise turned away from Dom and the open door and headed to the kitchen where he would make some coffee before he went for a shower.
          “Here,” Dom said holding something out for Blaise and it took a moment for Blaise to realize that it was a cup of coffee from the gas station down the street.
          “I knew you were a true friend,” Blaise said taking the coffee and sitting down at his breakfast bar.
          “Yeah, but yet you want to blackmail me into telling you about Hanna,” Dom said leaning against the stove.
          Blaise smiled, “You forced me to.”
          Dom scoffed, “Oh really?”
          “Every time you meet a woman named Hanna you start asking about where she grew up. Any time you meet someone from your old neighborhood you ask them about her, if they knew her, what house they lived in, and last night when you heard where Alana had lived, even though you knew the house where she lived you didn’t ask her about Hanna,” Blaise paused and took a drink of his coffee, “Why?”
          Dom looked at him, “When I heard the street address of the house that she’d lived in I knew that she knew Hanna,” he said.
          “I figured that much,” Blaise said yawning again.
          “It was the house that my family and I had moved out of that Alana and her parents moved into,” Dom confessed, “I knew that her roommate was Hanna without being told.”
          “Now the question is, what are you going to do about it?”
          “I haven’t figured out that part,” Dom said with a shake of his head.
          “Well you better soon because Jarren and I are going to need help moving that couch, love seat and recliner.”
          “I figured that much,” Dom said with a sigh.
          “I’m going to go take a shower and then you can give me a ride over to Natty’s so I can help with the cleaning,” Blaise said getting to his feet. Dom laughed when Blaise had been half way out of the kitchen but turned back for his coffee.
          “I’ll make sure there’s fresh coffee when you come back out,” he said as Blaise walked out still nursing his first cup of coffee.
          “Thanks,” Blaise said over his shoulder before he disappeared into the bathroom.

Difficult Times

          Natty sat staring at the phone in wonder. Blaise had found Hanna, after all these years. It had finally happened. Well, that explained why Dom had been so moody this morning, but he’d been fine last night. Had she been at the party?
          She jumped when Kathy who’d been working in the kitchen with her said, “Everything okay?”
          “Blaise just said that he found Hanna,” she explained. Jarren, who was sitting at the table eating some dry toast and nursing a hangover looked up but didn’t say anything even though Natty knew that he wanted to.
          This morning when she’d woke up from one of her nightmares and found that the person that she thought was attacking her in her dream was just a dream and the only person next to her was Jarren just trying to protect himself, she’d just started crying. She hadn’t had a dream that had caused her to be so violent in almost a year and it hurt that she wasn’t moving past all of this like she’d originally thought. In fact it broke her heart.
          Jarren had tried to comfort her, but she’d just pushed him away and told him to get out. It had taken her running into the bathroom and locking him out before he’d left the room at which time she’d locked him out of the room, leaving clothes for him to put on in the hall. She hadn’t let him touch her since and it had been the hardest thing that she’d ever done.
          Once she’d thought that she would be able to get over this thing, and that maybe she and Jarren could be together, but after this morning she knew that it would never happen. She couldn’t let Jarren go on thinking that it would happen someday, she had to start pushing him away and stop wasting his life and time on her. This was something that she was going to have to do without him if she ever was able to do it at all. Not that she thought she would, not after this morning.

Clean Up!!!

          Blaise felt only half alive when he climbed into the shower, having drank less than half his cup of coffee, but by the time he’d climbed out of the shower having continued to take sips of his coffee as he’d showered he felt more like himself.
          When he walked back into the kitchen ready to refill his cup Dom was back leaning on the stove staring into his glass. Blaise could tell by the ice and the bubbles that he’d gotten into the stash of Coke that Blaise kept to appease his friend when he was over.
          “So how are you this morning?” he asked.
          “You’re awake now?” Dom asked.
          “I was awake earlier, but now I’m wide awake,” Blaise said as he sat back down at the breakfast bar.
          “What’s the difference?”
          “Earlier, your pitiful answer about Hanna and last night you’re brush off worked. Now that I’ve had a shower and coffee, you’re in trouble.”
          Dom ruefully smiled, “I’m ready.”
          “Ready for what?”
          “She was more than a friend, Blaise,” Dom confessed and then added quickly added, “She was my first.”
          Blaise smiled as he remembered his first time before something occurred to him, “Man, you were thirteen when you moved out of that house,” Blaise said in disbelief.
          “You don’t have tell me twice,” he said as he stood up, “We should probably get going,” clearly not wanting to talk about Hanna any more.
          “Yeah,” Blaise said as he got to his feet, “Just let me fill up my cup before we go,” he said heading for the coffee pot. One of his thermoses was already sitting next to the coffee pot, so he refilled the disposable cup and then filled the thermos. They headed out to Dom’s truck in silence.
          As they reached the parking lot Dom asked, “So have you and Luke talked about what needs to be done on the Malibu?” referring to the car that Blaise had just bought from Luke to work on while Dom worked on his ’67 Charger, Brock worked on his ’67 Nova, Jarren worked on his ’57 Chevy or ’45 Dodge pickup and Luke worked on ’37 Dodge. Every Tuesday and then every other Sunday they all got together to work on some or all of them.
          “Yeah, I need to go thru the engine, do some exhaust work, rebuild the carburetor, and then the obvious body work,” Blaise said calmly as they reached the truck.
          “Sounds like a lot of work,” Dom said before he climbed in hitting the power unlock so Blaise could open the door.
          “Not as much as you have to do on the Charger,” Blaise said.
          “Yeah, I had to do all of that, re key the entire car, straighten the frame and fix the drive shaft,” Dom said starting the truck and then revving the engine before he dropped it into gear and backed out of the parking spot.
          They continued the shop talk as they drove, “Yeah but the one I feel sorry for is Brock,” Blaise said. Brock said referring to the Nova that he was working on that needed everything that Doms car had needed and then needed the interior completely re done, as well as the water pump replaced and the windshield wiper motor replaced and several other little things.
          Dom chuckled, “He said he was up the challenge.”
          Blaise chuckled too, remembering this last Tuesday when Brock had emerged from the garage cursing up a storm because something had gone wrong, again, “You know, I felt sorry for him Tuesday. Nothing is going right on that car.”
          Dom smiled knowingly, “Yeah I know and I talked to Luke about it to see if there was anything that any of us could do to help.”
          “What’d he say?”
          “That Brock just needs to slow down.”
          Blaise smiled knowingly. It wasn’t an easy lesson to learn, but it was one that he’d learned on his Harley more than once, “What did he do wrong this time?”
          “He shredded the bolts and holes used to keep the drivers seat in place.”
          Blaise moaned and the talk turned to the more technical side of what they were up against with their own cars and the plans that they had for them once they got them running until they pulled into Natty’s driveway where they found Jarren out on the front porch smoking a cigarette.
          “I forgot to mention to you,” Dom said as he put his truck into park, “Something’s up with Natty and Jarren and neither one will talk to me about it.”
          Blaise knew without asking that Dom was worried, “Things have been tense between them before, especially in the beginning,” Blaise said.
          “Yeah, I know, but it’s been almost a whole year since anything’s happened to make them on edge around each other, and it’s never been this bad,” Dom said looking back at Jarren, “It’s almost like it happened all over again,” Dom said before he got out of the truck and headed inside. Blaise knew that Dom wouldn’t talk about it any more with Blaise, and the only reason that he’d brought it up at all was to give him the heads up that something was up.
          Blaise got out of the truck as Jarren flicked his cigarette and before nodding his head in grim greeting toward Blaise and then headed inside and back to work without a word. When Blaise walked into the kitchen it appeared that Natty had been doing dishes while Dom and Luke were in the living room talking in low voices. Blaise didn’t wonder about what, he knew that they both cared for Natty and that they were both comparing notes as to what they thought was wrong.
          “Hey girl,” he said calmly greeting Natty and watched her jump, sloshing water down the front of her cloths before looking back over her shoulder.
          “Oh, hi Blaise, I didn’t hear you come in,” she said and then looked down at her cloths to see how wet she was as he walked up to give her his normal greeting of a quick squeeze and a kiss on the forehead.
          “Off in your own little world?” he asked noticing how she’d stiffened as he neared, so he held back and instead of his normal greeting he took her hand from the edge of the sink and forced her to turn away from the sink so he too could see how wet she’d gotten. “I’d give you a hug, but I just got out of the shower,” he said making a face and hoping to make her smile at the very least.
          She didn’t, but she did seem to relax, “Do you need any help drying these off to make more room?” he asked trying to engage her in conversation. Natty was like a little sister to he and Brock, and she normally liked it when people helped her with the dishes as it was her least favorite job to do in the house.
          “No, thank you though. I think I hear Jarren and Brock in the garage moving the couches, maybe they need some help with the larger ones,” she said moving back to the sink and ignoring her wet cloths.
          “Are you sure?” he asked.
          “Yeah,” she said, “You also might want to make sure that they put the pieces that Alana picked out where you’ll be able to get to them easily on Wednesday,” she said.
          “Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said moving away, but he called back over his shoulder, “Let me know if you need any help.”
          When he walked into the garage he knew that he’d interrupted something by the way that it had become so quiet, but he didn’t let that stop him because he also noticed that Alana’s new furniture was about to be buried by some other couches.
          “Hey, wait,” Blaise said ignoring the dirty looks he got from both guys, “Is there anything I can say to convince you not to bury the ones that Alana picked out?” he asked half serious and half trying to lighten their moods. He hated it when everything was so tense.
          “Shit, man, I’m sorry,” Jarren said as he and Brock set down the couch that they’d been about to put on top of the loveseat and couch that Blaise had been referring to.
          “It’s okay,” Blaise said, “It’s easily fixed since we caught it,” he said moving in to help them slid the two pieces out and then help cram the rest of the couches over into one half of the garage. The two that didn’t fit sitting on their own feet were turned upside down on top of two others that were in the back, and then they were done.
          As they left the garage they ran into Dom and Luke who where patching the four holes in the walls, “Has she seen these yet?” Jarren asked.
          “I don’t know,” Dom said with a shrug of his shoulders.
          “But were not going to be able to keep them from her if she hasn’t. We’re going to have to sand them down some time,” Dom reasoned.
          “Oh, I know, but I don’t think she realizes that there’s more than one,” Jarren said.
          “Well, she might not notice the number, and we might get away with one or two of them,” Dom said and all the guys felt relieved by the thought of it. Natty might be quiet as a mouse, and as timid as a shy little girl, but she had a temper on her as well as a creative mind that she put to use when it came time to get the guys back for damage to her house from one of their parties.
          She had done everything from making extremely strong coffee for Brock after one of his dates had thrown up all over Natty’s bed, to putting a liquid laxative in Doms pop after one of his co-workers accidentally lit her couch on fire, to shaking up their beers before she handed them over so that they would explode all over who ever was to open it. Yeah they were all worried because they all clamed Charlie and his little brother as friends, especially when it came to their cars. Charlie and his little brother were geniuses when it came to cars.
          “Don’t worry,” came the sound of Natty’s voice from the kitchen, “I’ll get Charlie back for what he helped caused,” they heard her say before five sets of shoulders visibly relaxed.
          “Man do I feel sorry for Charlie,” Luke said.
          “Yeah,” Brock said and then added, “Should we warn him?”
          “No,” Dom replied without hesitating and like Brock was stupid to even suggest such a thing, “He knew what he was getting himself into.”
          “Yeah,” Luke said, “he even made a comment about how Natty was going to skin him alive when she saw what had happened.”
          They all chuckled together as they all realized that he had been right. Natty did not take damage to her house or personal things very well.
          “One thing is for sure,” Blaise said, “We’re going to have to kiss her ass in order to have my birthday party here.”
          “Yeah,” Dom agreed.
          “You could always have it over at Dom’s house,” she said coming around the corner, but stopping just short of being within arm length of any of them, “I mean, his house isn’t exactly new anymore,” she said.
          Blaise knew that Dom didn’t like the idea of a bunch of people traipsing around his house so he was surprised to here Dom say, “Only if you’ll alternate the parties with me.”
          “You really mean that?” she asked sounding just as surprised as Blaise.
          “Under one condition,” he said looking up at her from the floor.
          She looked from Dom to Jarren and then to each of the guys before she swallowed and asked, “What?”
          He waited until she was looking at him again before Dom said, “You sit down with Jarren, or someone else that’s in this house right now,” he said including Luke and Luke’s wife, Kathy, who was probably in the living room or checking the upstairs rooms, “about what has you so freaked out this morning. I hate it when you jump when I try and give you a hug. You’re my little sister, and I’m suppose to be able to do that, even when no one else can,” he almost whined.
          She looked down at her hands then, but she nodded.
          “What was that?” he asked wanting her to voice her agreement.
          “Okay,” she said looking back up at him.
          “Good,” he said and then added turning back to the hole in the wall that he was working on, “Then let’s all get back to work. The living room still looks like a disaster area.”
          Natty moved quickly out of the way as three male bodies started moving toward her and the rest of the house. Brock and Blaise stopped only long enough to grab a couple of trash bags before they headed into the living room while Jarren stayed back. Both Blaise and Brock knew that he was hoping Natty would open up to him, but they knew that it hadn’t happened when he followed behind them only moments later.
          “Hey, boys,” came a female voice from upstairs and they all looked to see Kathy coming down the stairs toward them, a bag of trash in one hand and a pile of dishes, mostly cups, in a bucket in her other hand.
          “Hey Kathy,” Blaise said taking her trash bag and giving her a one armed hug.
          “How have you been?” she asked, “I didn’t get to talk to you last night.”
          “He was hiding outside,” Brock said.
          “It was a nice night until it started to rain,” Blaise told her, “then I came in to play pool but I made a new friend instead.”
          “I heard about Alana and from what Luke told me about her I can’t wait to meet her,” she said with a wink before she moved onto Brock.
          “How are you since we talked last night?” she asked gingerly.
          “Better,” he said with an honest smile before he let her go.
          “How are you holding up?” she asked Jarren who she also gave a hug, even though Blaise had a feeling that she’d already done so this morning.
          “I’ve been better,” he said with a sigh, “she’s in the kitchen and Dom made her promise that she would talk to someone,” he told her and then lowered her voice, “She told me that she’d rather talk to you.”
          Kathy smiled, “Don’t you worry,” she said softly, “I’ll do whatever I can,” and then she walked past him and into the kitchen while the three guys turned to the cleaning of the living room. They’d seen it worse so they weren’t surprised that it only took the three of them an hour to get all the trash cleaned up before they pulled out the carpet cleaner to clean up the two spills they had found before they vacuumed.
          As Blaise and Jarren walked out to the curb with the four bags of trash that they had collected Blaise finally got the chance to ask, “So what happened man? When I left here last night you two looked as close as ever.”
          Jarren nodded, “Yeah, I know,” he said with a sigh and then said with a shrug of his shoulders, “Her nightmares seem to be getting worse.”
          “Has this ever happened before?” Brock asked just before they reached the door.
          “No.”
          “You know,” Brock said, “if she would just tie you to the bed and overcome her fear of that one eyed snake I have a feeling that they’d all go away,” Brock said trying to joke around with Jarren and make his smile at the very least.
          “You and me both,” Jarren replied taking him seriously, “but I can’t convince her of that.”
          “You mean you…” Blaise didn’t know how to word the rest of his question. Natty and Jarren had lived together, for almost two years now and while she always seemed so shy about kissing Jarren, she had. Blaise had even heard her tell off colored jokes from time to time, but he’d thought that since Jarren had moved in they’d at least made love.
          “No,” Jarren said, “when are you and Dom finally going to believe that she and I still sleep in pajamas?” Jarren asked rhetorically.
          Blaise shook his head, and put his hand on Jarren’s shoulder, “It takes a strong man to live a life like that,” he said letting his new found respect for his friend show.
          Jarren smiled and shook his head, “It’s about time you started believing me when I tell you that I’m hard up,” he said half joking.
          “Naw,” Blaise said joking with him, “That would ruin our fun.”
          Jarren threw his head back and laughed as Blaise opened the front door, “Thank you. I needed something to laugh at.”
          “What are friends for?” Blaise asked before he went off in search of Dom to see how much longer before they headed for home. Dom was just finishing filling in the last of the four holes when Blaise found him.
          “You guys all finished?” he asked.
          “Yeah,” he said looking around. He noticed that two of the drywall panels had been replaced and smiled, “I take it these two were too far gone?” he asked looking at their work.
          “Yeah,” Dom said over his shoulder, “and if this one gets another hole in it I’ll have to replace it too,” Dom said as Blaise squatted down to look at what Dom had done so far. “If it cracks I just might go ahead and replace it anyway,” Dom said smoothing out the putty over the hole one last time before he and Blaise started to clean up.
          “Where did Luke go?” Blaise asked.
          “He and Kathy are talking to Natty out on the deck, I think,” Dom said. “Kathy called him out there with her a little while ago and he hasn’t come back.”
          Blaise nodded, “Jarren told me what’s been happening.”
          “I wish there was something I could do to help her get past this,” Dom said with a sigh.
          “I know,” Blaise said, “We all wish we could do something.”
          “You know what’s really bad about the whole thing?” Dom asked before he got to his feet, and then went on with out weighting for Blaise to respond, “I think she had been a virgin before,” he said referring to before Natty had been raped.
          Blaise just nodded, not shocked to hear that after what Jarren had just told him outside. He’d wondered the same thing with some of the questions that she’d ask from time to time and then some of her comments about her wondering why any woman would like sex at all.
          Blaise and Dom took their supplies out into the garage and then on into the utility room that was off the garage behind the pool table. When they returned to the kitchen they found Jarren and Brock standing at the sink, Jarren with a Pepsi and Brock with a cup of coffee but neither of them were talking. They both stood looking out the sliding glass door at Natty, Kathy and Luke. Kathy and Luke looked to be trying to explain something to her, but Natty was being difficult and shaking her head like she didn’t believe what they were telling her.
          It only took one glance for Blaise to see that Luke was upset and frustrated. Blaise looked back at Jarren and saw that he had a disappointed look on his face. When they all watched as Luke gave up and headed inside the look on Jarren’s face went from disappointed to blank. Blaise loved his cousin, but he hated the way that he took bad news. It was like the man could turn off his emotions.

Girl to girl talk on the deck

          “Natty what are you so afraid of, dear,” Katy asked as Luke went back inside.
          Natty just sat and stared at her hands, clearly embarrasses to be talking about this particular subject. Something that Kathy didn’t understand, because Natty used to come to Kathy with all sorts of questions about sex. It had been Kathy that had told her about blow jobs and the difference between sixty-nine and missionary position, but ever since that night that she was raped there was little talk from Natty about that subject anymore and Kathy didn’t like it.
          Kathy sat and put her arm around Natty’s shoulder, “You know, there’s nothing wrong with you, and it’s okay to be afraid. You just need a little courage that’s all,” Kathy waited to see if Natty would respond and when she didn’t Kathy went on, “Back when I was a little girl, my great grandmother was still alive until I was almost a teenager. Most of my life she was still up on her feet and running the house, making sure that the house was cleaned right, that the food was ready for meals on time. It wasn’t until her husband, my great grandfather, died when I was ten that she started to slow down. I think it was a day or two before she died that I was sitting next to her in bed, because she was sick, when I told her that I was afraid of dying. You want to know what she told me?”
          Natty looked up at Kathy with confusion in her eyes and Kathy smiled, “No I’m not telling you that it’s okay to die, just listen to the story and I think you’ll understand. She told me that as long as I had friends that there was nothing to be afraid of, and since all of her friends, including her best friend, my great grandfather, were already on the other side, then she had nothing to fear.”
          Natty smiled, “So you’re saying that since I have so many friends that I have nothing to fear?”
          Kathy nodded, “That’s one way to look at it, but I was thinking that since you’re the only one wherever you are with this fear you hold onto so tightly, then you’re not with your friends. They’re on the other side, where you need to be.”
          Natty nodded, but her smile faded, “You think that since they’re on the other side that I just need to leave my fear behind and follow them out of this dark place that I’m in, but I’ve been here so long and,” she paused and looked at the guys staring at her from the living room window, “they haven’t been able to bring me out yet. What makes you think that they can?”
          Kathy smiled, “Everyday, we meet new people. Each and everyone of us. Maybe one that you meet later today, or tomorrow will be the key, but don’t you have a better chance of meeting that one person if you have more friends in your life, because you know those men in there,” Kathy paused as she too looked at the five men at the window and smiled, “they would do anything to help you. Even share a new friend if they thought that that new friend could help you.”
          Natty nodded but didn’t reply. She withdrew into her own thoughts as Kathy stood up, “How about you come over to our place for dinner?” she asked.
          Natty just nodded, “I don’t think so,” she said, “not tonight.” She got to her feet, “I need to go make a phone call,” she replied before she headed for the doors that connected not with the living room, but with the kitchen.
          Kathy watched her go and then looked to Jarren. Oh how he loved that girl, she could see it in the pain that was all over his face when Natty avoided him like this, but there was nothing that Kathy could do about it short of shaking the girl to death, which she’d tried several times already. It hadn’t worked thought, Kathy thought as she headed into the living room feeling defeated and very sad about it.

After the Talk

          Luke didn’t say anything as he came inside and shut the door behind him. When he turned around and saw all four of the guys standing there he looked at Jarren and said, “I’m sorry, but she’s not ready,” before he turned and left the room.
          Blaise looked at Dom and then at Jarren before he said, “If you need anyone to talk to, just call.”
          “Thanks man,” Jarren said as he looked back out to Natty as she sat listening to Kathy. He’d tried to tell him self so many times that what he did for Natty was just like being a big brother to her, but deep in his heart he knew that wasn’t the entire truth.
          “You can call on any and all of us,” Brock said as he gave a friendly thump on the back.
          “I know,” Jarren said with a sigh as Natty looked at all of them standing and watching the two of them talk. He didn’t care if she knew that he was there or not, he tried to tell himself, even when he knew it wasn’t true. He wanted more than anything for Natty to finally trust him, to let him be the man in her life. In ever aspect of her life, but he knew that day hadn’t come yet. He just hoped that he’d still be around when it did finally happen.
          He’d barely finished that thought when the sliding glass door opened and Kathy came in followed by Natty who walked past this set of doors and a moment later he heard the doors open in the kitchen only about ten feet away. Kathy didn’t say anything and it took a moment to realize that Kathy was looking at him with pity in her eyes because he was listening hard to figure out what Natty was doing. He heard her pick up the phone before he looked around at everyone and said, “Well, thanks for your help today. I’ll see you guys soon, I suspect.” he said before he walked into the kitchen.
          Five minutes later Jarren followed her back out of the kitchen and announced, “I’m going out. I’ll be back later. Thanks for the help today the house looks wonderful.”
          Kathy advanced on her and all the men held their breath, “Good, I’m glad to see that you’ve come to your senses. Now go change your cloths if you don’t want to help me entertain my friends looking like you’ve been cleaning all day. Now move young lady we’ve got a dinner to get on,” she ordered like a drill sergeant.
          Natty stared her down for a moment before she lowered her eyes and then left the room. Kathy shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest before she turned to look at Jarren, “I’m sorry for all of this Jarren, you don’t deserve it, but I promise it will help.”
          Jarren just nodded and then they all stood around in an awkward silence for the next thirty minutes while Natty changed. She came down the stairs looking like she was ready to flop around the living room, with her purse and car keys.
          “You’re coming over in that?” Kathy said as Natty disappeared into the kitchen without answering.
          Two minutes later they all heard the garage door go up and a minute later they heard it go down.
          Jarren was the first to speak up, “Was anyone parked behind her car?” he asked.
          “I was,” Dom replied.
          Jarren smiled, shook his head and then walked over to the front door. When he had it opened he smiled, as his phone rang and he stepped outside to answer it.
          Dom looked at everyone else and then followed Jarren outside, as did Blaise and Brock. Kathy and Luke were soon on their heals until every one stood on the lawn. Jarren was still on the phone and smiling as everyone else stood waiting. He didn’t say much, just a couple of okay’s and a ‘you too,’ before he hung up his phone.
          Dom was the first to ask, “Is she okay?”
          “Yeah, she’s fine,” he was able to get out before Kathy was asking ten other questions.
          “Where is she? Who’s she out with? When will she be back? Why didn’t she tell me that she was making other plans?”
          Jarren took a drag off of his cigarette, “She took my car,” he said motioning to where it had been sitting earlier. He’d left this morning to run to work and when he’d returned, the driveway had been full so he’d parked in the street in front of the house. “She’s on her way over to Alana’s and would you have listened to her if she’d tried to tell you no?” he asked Kathy.
          Kathy stood there for a moment in an awkward silence.
          “Maybe she’s finding what she needs with Alana and Hanna,” Jarren said with a sigh before he took a final drag off his cigarette and flicked it out into the yard.
          Half an hour later, Blaise, Dom and Brock walked Jarren out of the house on their way to the bar where they would all get drunk and end up calling Luke for a ride home.

Kristine going to meet Cary

          Kristine walked into the restaurant, nervous and full of anticipation, so she paused in the entry and took a deep breath to clam her shaking hand. She’d been able to find someone to cover for her babysitting tonight, and she was excited. The man she was meeting was an older man, he drove a nice car and he had money. Just wait until she told the girls at school tomorrow. They would never believe in a thousand years that the man that had approached them in the mall Thursday had asked her out on a date, and had connections with photographers that could help her get her modeling career launched with her very own portfolio.
          Nervously she looked thru the windows into the restaurant and while she couldn’t see him, she had a feeling she knew where he’d be sitting. She’d worked at this restaurant this last summer during the day, so she knew there was a table in the back that was very private, and could be requested ahead of time. Man, just wait until the girls heard about all of this, she thoughts as she took one more deep breath and then walked into the restaurant and walked up to the maître d' and dropped Cary’s name.
          “Don’t tell me you’re the young sophisticate that he’s expecting,” the Host questioned in disbelief and she recognized him from school. He had been in her Freshman English class three years ago. He had been quiet and sweet then, and she’d had a feeling that he had had a crush on her back then, but he’d never made a move so she’d let him be.
          Now she just smiled sweetly and said, “I could have sworn that Carl,” she said referring to the manager, “didn’t like it when his employees interfered with the business of his patrons.” She had practically quoting the memo that probably still hung on the break room wall and the door that lead from the kitchen and into the front of the house. She knew she was right because John’s ears turned red and the look on his face showed anger, more than shame or embarrassment and she was surprised with the way that he had always been so quiet and seemed so withdrawn, but that had been two years ago.
          “This way ma’am,” he replied and then walked, not toward the table in the back but toward the small private meeting room in the center of the restaurant, but just as he reached the door, he turned back to her for one final plea to rethink her next move. “Don’t do this Kristine,” he said, “I heard this guy has raped more than a couple of girls and guys like that don’t change. The only way he got off was his rich and well-connected grandfather.”
          “I’m a big girl,” she told him as she went to move past him, but he placed his hand on her stomach and stopped her one more time.
          “If you need anything, if he tries anything,” he paused and looked her in the eye letting her know that he was very serious and went on, “just knock your water glass on the floor. I’ve heard a water glass in that room hit the floor on a Saturday night before the main attraction at the theater,” he said referring to the noisiest time in the restaurant all week.
          She raised her eye brows and smiled, knowing that he wasn’t only telling the truth, but that something had him really concerned for her, “Good ears,” she told him, and then she cupped his cheek with her hand and then gave him a brief kiss, “and thank you for being a good friend and understanding.”
          She again went to move past her but he stopped her one more time, “You know I can get you those pictures for a lot less than what he’ll charge you, and they’ll be just as good, if not better,” he offered.
          She cocked her head to one side, “Why do you think that?” she asked.
          He swallowed nervously and then she watched his eyes nervously dart around the room and then back to her face before he said, “Because I’ll be able to capture your heart on film.”
          She smiled, “How would you know my heart?” she asked gently.
          It was his turn to smile, “I’ve always known your heart,” he said quickly before he turned and left her standing at the door.
          She watched him leave and then turned back to the door with a light heart and smiled gently. She’d always had a feeling that John had been sweet on her, and if he’d ever made a move before now, she probably would have dated him, but now it was time for her to move on and leave behind those high school boys. She had a career waiting on the other side of this door, and it was time she started looking toward her future. She took another deep breath then opened the door, and walked in.

Cary takes an interest in his son

          Cary had been waiting for nearly ten minutes, most of which he had been on the phone, when the door finally opened and the young girl walked in. He hadn’t thought about touching her, but seeing the sexy outfit that she was wearing, of tight and fashionably ripped jeans and a well fitted low cut ruby red top, he just might change his mind before the night was over. Nor did he have any intention of following thru with his promise to hook her up with a photographer friend of his. Hell, he didn’t even know a photographer, he thought to himself as she smiled sweetly and shut the door behind herself, he just wanted information about his son and Unity.
          “Hello,” she said as she sat down next to him and within arms reach.
          “Hello,” he replied as he stretched out in the booth seat that they shared and put his arm on the back of the seat so that he could touch her hair. He couldn’t help himself, he’d always been a sucker for soft and silky hair, and her hair was as soft as corn silk. Suddenly he had a flash of her down on the table with him on top of her, her hair against his chest, and instantly he was hard. She had changed his mind about touching her, and with only a simple hello.
          “So,” he said sweetly, “I was just starting to think that you had changed your mind and weren’t coming,” he told her. He was lying of course, but she wouldn’t know that until it was too late for her.
          She shook her head, “No,” she replied gently, “I just got caught in traffic,” she replied, “there was an accident just a few blocks away,” she explained.
          “Ah,” he replied and smiled gently, as he continued to play with her hair, “nothing too serious I hope.”
          “Just looked like you’re everyday average ordinary fender bender to me,” she replied with a shrug as she looked around the room and took in, a painting, a mirror directly across from them, three plants and a wood coat rack in the corners that decorated the room.
          “I see,” he said gently, “that’s good,” he replied absentmindedly just before there was a knock on the door and the waiter came in for their drink orders.
          He ordered a bottle of wine while she stuck with her water. He smiled as he conceived his plan. A plan that consisted of getting her drunk on the wine so she wouldn’t fight him too much when he forced her down on the table, but that wouldn’t be until after dinner. Until then he had other plans in mind, starting with her main job of babysitting his son.
          “So,” he said casually, “tell me about yourself,” he requested softly.
          “There’s really not all that much to tell,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, “I go to school during the day and most evenings I baby sit for this kid down the street.”
          “Oh?” he inquired politely.
          She sighed and smiled before she replied, “Yeah,” she said and then went on, “Emerson’s a really cute kid,” she said with a fond smile.
          Cary smiled and tried not to look too interested as he asked, “Is he a good kid, or one of those trouble makers?”
          She almost laughed, “No, he’s gentle as a church mouse, but not nearly as quiet,” she explained.
          “Full of energy?” he asked with a knowing smile. After all he had once been a young boy himself.
          “Yeah, and creativity,” she said respectfully, “If’ he’s not creating something then he’s thinking of a way to solve some problem or another. Just the other night I walked into his room and found him playing with his Erector Set, which he had from one end of her room to the other, by the way,” she informed him with a loving smile and a gentle shave of her head. “When I asked him what he was doing he said that he trying to find a way to be able to pull the shades of his room down when he turned on the lights.”
          “Did he succeed?” he asked truly intrigued.
          She chuckled, “Not by the time that it was time to clean up and go to bed, but he was close.”
          “Did he figure it out the next night?” he asked.
          “I really don’t know, because I didn’t work the next night and here recently he’s been trying to come up with burglar alarms,” she informed him.
          Cary couldn’t help but chuckle at the ideas that his son could have come up with, “Has he been watching ‘Home Alone’?” he asked remembering the popular kids movie about a young boy that got left behind when the family went out of town for Christmas and the young boy saved the house from some burglars.
          She smiled, “I’m not sure he’s seen it, and right now I don’t want to give him any ideas, but some of the things that he’s come up with have been pretty clever.”
          “Like what?” he asked truly intrigued.
          “Like empty pop cans set in front of the front door, and his skate board in front of the back door pointed at the power button of his radio less than six inches away, with the volume cranked.”
          “Why with the volume cranked?” he asked.
          “I asked that question too,” she said, “you want to know what he said?” she asked and he nodded, “Not only so you know what door he came in, but so you have time to get out the front door and not have whoever is coming in the back door hear the cans crash when you open the door.”
          “Smart kid,” he said.
          “You’re telling me. When I first got the job I thought it would be a cinch. He’s a young boy, kind of a book worm, pretty quiet at school from what I’ve heard, but that first week I about quit after losing so many fights with him and his mom getting angry with me for letting him have candy after dinner, and all sorts of other things.”
          “What happened?” Cary asked.
          She smiled, “I spent some time with Unity and Emerson at home when they were together and learned some of her tricks. Like not letting him sucking me into the argument in the first place, and not letting him talk me into circles so that what I say sounds stupid and what he says sounds right, when it’s actually the other way around.”
          Cary laughed aloud then. That defiantly sounded like his son there was no denying that.
          “Yeah,” she said smiling as she remembered that first week, “I look back at it now and I think about how stupid I was not to see thru his schemes, but now he doesn’t get anything over on me,” she said proudly.
          “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Cary said.
          “Why’s that?” she asked.
          “Have you checked under his bed, in his sock drawer and under the dirty cloths pile in the closet?”
          “Let me guess,” she said laughing, “you’re favorite hiding spots as a kid?”
          “Not, my favorite ones, but the ones that worked,” he confessed with a mischievous glint in his eye.
          “What did you have hiding in those places?” she asked innocently.
          He leaned forward and said, “That’s for me to know,” then he touched her nose with his finger as he said, “and for you to find out, sweet thing.”
          She smiled sweetly but the nick name disgusted her and made her feel like he was coming onto her so she looked down at her hands that rest in her lap as there was another knock at the door and the waiter returned with their drinks and to take their orders.
          “May I ask who the chief is tonight?” Kristine asked.
          “Chief John Ramsey,” was the waiters’ reply.
          “Good then I’ll have his special for tonight and tell Chief Ramsey that his Faithful Food Worshiper Kristine sends her compliments.”
          “Do you eat here often?” Cary asked when the waiter had left.
          She smiled and shook her head, “No, but I worked here this last summer.”
          “Ah,” he said with a knowing nod and if she had been paying attention, she would have seen the disapproving look that passed across his face. Mentally he kicked himself for letting his emotions show across his face, only to smile at the absurdity of it. She would never guess what he was about in a thousand years until he was ready for her to guess it. She was too young and innocent to guess how much he was dying to have her struggle against him as he sheathed himself inside of her. The idea that she could still possibly be a virgin made his groin throb with wanting, and he had a feeling that if he played his cards right that she might even cooperate and not scream, alerting the staff so they would interrupt him.
          Still, he hadn’t counted on her having worked here before and being familiar with the restaurant, or even possibly the employees. Again, he questioned if he should attempt anything here tonight, but quickly he dismissed the thought, discussed with himself, because he knew he could get her cooperation if she thought she would get her dream out of it. He smiled sweetly before he asked, “Did you like it here?”
          She shrugged, “It was okay. Stressful and the pay wasn’t all that great, but the staff was fun to hang out with when things were slow or when we weren’t open.”
          “Did you make any life long friends?” he asked idly.
          “No one new,” she said with a shrug and then explained, “most of the front of the house staff I went to school with.”
          “Are there still people here that were here when you worked here?” he asked trying to sound like he was just making conversation, but truly curious.
          “I really don’t know,” she sad shaking her head, “I didn’t see anyone that had been here when I worked here, but I didn’t really work many nights. I had Emerson to baby sit and that job paid better than this one, Dan the manager understood that and rarely scheduled me in the evenings.”
          “So you didn’t see anyone you knew?” he asked.
          She looked down at her hands as she said, “I didn’t really look around all that much. There was just this guy from my Freshman English class that showed me to the table. But I haven’t talked to him since we were in class together,” she said honestly.
          “Did he say anything to you on your way here?” he inquired.
          She gave him a funny look, “Why would he?” she asked as if it were the most asinine thing that she had ever heard. For some reason she was reluctant to admit the extent of the conversation that she’d had with John.
          He shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe he’s secretly had a crush on you all this time,” he said and then watched as she blushed innocently and thought to himself about how sweet this night would end.
          “Even if he did have a crush on me, he wouldn’t say anything to me. He’s the book worm kind that trips over his own feet when he’s walking down the hall, and that gets tongue tied when he gets called on to answer a question in class.”
          Cary smiled, “Maybe he’s changed over the years.”
          She smiled, “Well, even if he has, I’m not looking for anything he could be offering,” she said and he could see by the way that she met his gaze that she meant what she said even if she didn’t feel all that courageous right now. He smiled down at her and again his groin started to throb, and just when he was about to reach over, smooth her hair, raise her chin and kiss her, sweetly and innocently, there was another knock at the door as the waiter returned with their food.
          Saved by the bell, he thought, as there was another knock on the door and in walked Chef Ramsey himself to serve their food and to say hello to Kristine. He waited for her approval of what he’d made for her, complimented her palate and then left telling her not to stay away so long in the future.

Dinner Arrives

          Kristin was glad that the food had arrived then, because if she had guess right, Cary had been about to kiss her. When had all of this gotten out of control? He was suppose to be helping her get her pictures taken as her first step into modeling and here he was asking her all sorts of personal questions, about Emerson, about her work here, and about anything but modeling. She didn’t like this and if things didn’t change soon, she would excuse herself to go to the bathroom and just not come back. She might seem young, innocent, and stupid, but she wasn’t. She might be young, but ever since the tenth grade, she’d left most innocent things behind, and she was far from stupid.
          Not to mention, if the idiot tried anything before she got out of here she would show him why her Karate instructor of nearly ten years now, said that she was one of his top students. She knew what to do if she had to and nothing would stop her or stand in her way. Brock had trained her just as he had trained all the other girls in the class for situations like this. She knew what she would have to do if things went wrong here just as she knew what to do to get out of most situations.
          She knew so well that she’d started teaching Emerson a few things as a reward for a particularly hard task that he’d accomplished, but that was a secret from his mother. One that could lose her the job if Unity ever found out, but Emerson knew that to, not to mention he was a smart little kid, and the things that she showed him were things that he could pick up anywhere, for the most part. She just perfected his technique for him so that no one could get out of his holds or retaliate and hurt him.
          Cary had waited for Chef Ramsey to leave them alone before he began to pour the wine in both of their glasses, even though he knew she was underage and still in high school. She decided that she would have a sip or two, just to be polite, but no more. She refused to let anything cloud her mind tonight. She decided to watch him carefully now, so she started pretending to stare off into space but in reality she was watching him in the mirror that was across the room from them.
          Ever since she had mentioned that she had worked here this last summer every now and then a look would fallen over his face that she didn’t like, but it was usually gone before she could figure out what had caused it, or if it had really been there at all. She didn’t like the way things were set up all of the sudden, but she would give him just one more chance while she had a few bites of this delicious food that she couldn’t ever get enough of while she’d worked here, and if he didn’t bring the conversation around to modeling soon she was out of here.

A Much Needed Girls Night In

          Alana was in her room putting away the last of her clean cloths when she heard Hanna come in the door to their apartment. Quickly she shut her drawer and headed out to help her roommate and best friend with her luggage and to give her a welcoming hug.
          “Hey, girl,” Alana said releasing Hanna from her hug and shutting the door behind her, “How was your trip?”
          “Long,” Hanna said simply before she started dragging one of her duffle bags toward her bedroom.
          Alana laughed and followed Hanna with her other two bags. The one that she knew held her bathroom supplies she set just inside the bathroom while the other she carried on into her room for her.
          “Oh, thank you,” Hanna said taking the bag and putting it by her desk.
          “Is there anything more still out in your car?” Alana asked.
          Hanna shook her head with a yawn, “Nope, this is it.”
          Alana gave her roommate a funny look, “Where did you sleep last night?”
          Hanna smiled sheepishly, “I climbed in bed with Grandma.”
          Alana couldn’t help but laugh at her friend, “Oh, Hanna, Hanna, Hanna,” she said teasing her friend, “you are the only one that I know of that would rather sleep with her grandmother than in her own bed.”
          Hanna just smiled as she sat down on her bed and started taking off her shoes, “So what movie did you pick out, or were you waiting for me to get home?”
          “No, I got four to choose from,” she said and then named them off.
          “Those sound pretty good as long as we watch the scary one before it gets dark,” she said laughing at herself, “Now what junk food did you get?”
          “Ice cream, the brownies are just about to go into the oven, pizza for later, that spray cheese and crackers that you like so much, and the stuff to make some s’mores,” she said trying not to leave out anything.
          “Oh, that sounds good. I love the smell of brownies cooking,” she confessed with a smile.
          “I know that’s why I’ve been waiting to put them in,” Alana confessed as her cell phone started ringing. “Whoops, be right back,” she said before she dashed to her bedroom and her cell phone where she’d tossed it on her bed.
          “Hello?” she answered not recognizing the number.
          “Alana?” asked a scared little female voice that Alana couldn’t quite place.
          “Yes,” she said trying to think of who this could be.
          “It’s Natty,” said the voice and Alana smiled.
          “Hey girl, what’s up?” she asked cheerfully.
          “Um, well I was wondering,” Natty said uncertainly, “What you were doing tonight?” and for a split second, Alana got the feeling that something was making Natty upset.
          “Well, my roommate just got home from a long road trip and usually when one of us gets back from a trip like that we turn it into a girls night in, eating junk food and watching movies,” she explained, “Why, what’s up?”
          “Well I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place for dinner. I was kind of hoping for a girl’s night of my own,” she said sounding almost depressed.
          “Oh,” Alana said, and then realized that Natty sounded almost desperate, “well I don’t think Hanna would be up for going over there but you’d be welcome to come join us here, and actually I was planning on calling you tonight anyway to see if you wanted to go out shopping with my mom, Hanna, and me tomorrow,” she said.
          “Really?” Natty said sounding almost excited, “That all sounds like fun,” she said.
          “Before you commit to the shopping I think I should tell you a couple of things first, but that can wait until you get here,” she said and then she gave Natty directions on how to find her apartment before she hung up.
          “Hanna?” she said leaving her room.
          “Yeah?” came the sound of Hanna’s voice from the kitchen where Alana found her putting the brownies into the oven.
          “Hey, I kind of did something that I’m not sure if you’ll mind it or not,” Alana told her sitting down at the table that separated the kitchen from the living room.
          “What’s that?” Hanna asked cautiously turning away from the oven and joining Alana at the table.
          “You remember the party I went to last night?” she asked.
          “Yeah, was it fun?” Hanna asked brightly.
          Alana smiled, “I made some new friends,” she said, “and one of them is on her way over here now,” she said tenderly, “I think you’ll like Natty.”
          Hanna made a face, “Is she wild and obnoxious?”
          Alana smiled as she thought of words to describe Natty, “No, I’d actually say that she’s quiet, down to earth, and shy, really.”
          She saw the relived expression on Hanna’s face before she nodded, “Okay,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders as if it didn’t matter as long as she wasn’t wild and obnoxious.
          “I should probably tell you something else about her, so you can kind of understand why she’s so quiet,” Alana said and then watched Hanna get a confused look on her face, “Natty was raped, and from what I’ve heard about it and the little bit that I’ve seen of her with Jarren she hasn’t gotten past it yet.”
          The look that came over Hanna’s face was almost pure terror and horror before her face went totally blank for a moment. Then her smiled returned, however fake that it was, “Okay,” she said with another shrug of her shoulders before she got to her feet and started digging out the ice cream and toppings.
          “Hanna, are you okay?” Alana asked sing the look that had been on her face.
          “Yeah, fine,” she said still digging in the refrigerator, “Where did the caramel topping go?” she asked with her head practically inside the refrigerator.
          “I finished it the other night,” Alana answered, “I got a new one, but it’s still up in the cabinet with the magic shell stuff. Are you sure you’re okay? You had a funny look on your face there for a minute.”
          Hanna shut the refrigerator and moved to the cabinet on the other side of the sink as she answered, “I’m fine, I promise. Why would there be anything wrong with me?” she asked, as there was a knock at the door.
          “I’ll get it,” Alana said getting to her feet, “It’s probably Natty. She sounded like she was in her car when she called,” Alana explained as she headed for the door.
          When Alana looked out the door, she saw a tear streaked Natty standing there and it took Alana a moment to realize that she was trying not to cry so she ripped the door open and ushered her inside.
          “What’s wrong?” she asked as she took Natty’s coat and hung it in the closet.
          “Oh, nothing, Jarren and I had a fight. I’d really rather not talk about it,” she said with a wave of her hand.
          Alana smiled, “Okay, then how about some ice cream? Hanna just dug it all out.”
          “Oh,” Natty said her eye’s getting as big as saucers, “ice cream sounds so good,” she said and then they both headed toward the sounds of Hanna running hot water over the ice cream scoop before she dished ice cream into her bowl.
          “Hanna?” Alana said getting her attention, “this is Natty. Natty, this is my roommate Hanna.”
          “Hey,” Hanna said giving her a brief smile before she turned back to her battle with the ice cream that seemed to be winning.
          “Hi,” Natty said timidly, “I’m sorry to burst in on your girls night.”
          Hanna smiled back over her shoulder, “You sure don’t look like a transvestite or a cross dresser, so my guess is that you have nothing to be sorry about,” she said so nonchalantly that both Natty and Alana started laughing.
          “So I see the ice creams winning this time,” Alana said once she had stopped laughing.
          “This battle, but I’m gonna win the next one,” she said grunting over her effort.
          “Mind if I give it a try?” Natty asked.
          Hanna smiled back over her shoulder, sized her up and then said, “Sure, be my guest, but if you do better than me, I’ll be sure not to ever make you mad at me,” she joked.
          Natty smiled and stepped up to the ice cream where she made easy work of dishing up three bowels of the chocolate chip ice cream.
          “Wow,” Hanna said taking her bowl of ice cream from Natty.
          “You just softened it up with all that you had done before,” Natty said with a timid smile, and then she and Hanna both broke into gales of laughter that lasted a full two minutes before they were able to get to their feet and add their topping.
          Alana had been sitting at the table laughing at them, but not nearly as hard as they had been laughing so she was starting to eat her ice cream by the time they started adding their topping and they all started talking about what movie to watch first.
          Natty had practically begged them not to watch the scary one until after she’d left and they had agreed. Hanna almost readily as she didn’t really get into the scary movies either, but to Alana it was a small price to pay for the addition of a new face in their apartment and the fun that came with the new face.
          They’d been having so much fun that Alana had completely forgotten about the new couches until Natty brought them up after they’d watched the first movie.
          “Oh, man,” Natty moaned, “Dom’s old couches are a lot more comfortable than these are.”
          “Yeah, we’ll have to do this again after they get moved in so we can break them in properly,” Alana told her and then turned to Hanna. “By the way, I almost forgot” she said, “Natty has a bunch of couches in her garage, and most of them are in really good shape, and since she said we could have a set I went ahead and picked one out. It’s a gray set that’s made out of that soft fabric you love and it has a couch, a love seat and a recliner.”
          “And both ends of the couch recline back too,” Natty put in, before she added, “if you’d like you can come over and see them before they move them in on Wednesday.”
          “Who are they?” Hanna asked confused.
          “The boys,” Natty said with a wave of her hand.
          “There’s Blaise, and Dom, and then Jarren and Brock. Will Luke be helping too?”
          Natty shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t think so, but I never know when he’ll show up. It mostly depends on Kathy,” she said then paused, “After today, they’ll both probably be there, so yeah, he’ll probably help.”
          “That’s great and all, but what are we going to do with the ones we have now?” Hanna asked.
          “You can keep them in my garage,” Natty offered.
          “Hanna wants me to make her some throw pillows out of the fabric. These couches sat in her mothers living room as she grew up,” Alana explained to Natty.
          “You would do that?” Hanna asked almost amazed, “I mean you’d let us keep our old couches in your garage while Alana cannibalizes them for me?”
          Again Natty waved her had as she said, “Sure, why wouldn’t I?”
          “Cause we just met?” Hanna asked and then she and Natty started laughing again. Once they were back under control Hanna looked at her couches with a sad look, “You know I knew the day would come, but I thought it would be harder to see them go,” she said sadly.
          Alana smiled, “Well you’ve had a few months to get used to the idea as we’ve looked for a set that we like and can afford, but I also think it’s the fact that they’ll be going into a good home until I’m able to get them made into pillows for you,” she said softly.
          They grew quiet then until Natty got up to use the bathroom and Hanna asked, “So how many pillows do you think you’ll be able to make?”
          “How many are you hoping for?” Alana asked.
          She shrugged her shoulders, “Three or four, I guess,” Hanna said and then added, “but decent size throw pillows, not those little rinky dink ones that aren’t good for holding your head up.
          Alana smiled, “Well of course,” she said and then looked back at one of the couches, “and three or four shouldn’t be a problem. To be honest with you, I’ll probably be able to do twice that if you want,” she offered with a knowing smile and knowing how much these couches meant to her friend.
          Hanna smiled, “That would be nice but I don’t know what I would do with that many,” she said as Natty returned and started looking at the other movies.
          “I’m sure you could figure something out,” Alana said with a wink.
          “Which one now?” she asked as Hanna and Alana got to their feet.
          “Surprise me,” Hanna said as she headed to the bathroom.
          “I agree,” Alana said as she headed back to her bedroom to grab a couple of extra pillows and some blankets.
          When she came back out she saw Natty holding one of the movies in her hands as she looked at the wall of pictures that the girls had on the wall behind the TV. More specifically at the picture of Hanna when she was a little girl with the boy that had lived next door before Alana moved in.
          “That’s Hanna,” Alana said seeing what she was looking at, but not really paying too much attention other than that, “and the little boy that had lived in the house next door to her before he moved out and I moved in,” she explained. “He was her first love and her first kiss, and,” she added with a sigh as she sank down onto the couch, “her first time.”
          “Her first time for what?” Natty asked turning to look at Alana.
          Had Luke not told her last night that Natty had been rapped in high school Alana might not have realize what Natty was asking, but she was surprised, “He took her virginity,” she explained and then the look on Natty’s face made Alana realize something more, “That bastard took yours didn’t he?” she asked flabbergasted.
          Natty’s head came up shocked, and Alana realized her mistake, “I’m sorry, Luke told me because I was there with him. I think he told me so I wouldn’t let him drive me home last night.”
          Natty nodded, “Its okay,” she said before she went to one of the other couches as an uncomfortable silence overtook the living room.
          Alana looked down and seeing that she still held the pillows and blankets form her room. “I brought you some pillows and a blanket in case you get cold and to make the couch more comfortable,” Alana said trying to cover up the awkwardness of the moment.
          “Thank you,” she said before she opened the DVD player to switch the movie, “Alana?”
          “What?”
          “Does Hanna talk about,” she paused, “that boy often?”
          Alana smiled, “You bring him up and then you tell me,” she said sarcastically.
          “Do you think that if they hadn’t moved that she and he would have dated and all that?” Natty asked.
          “You know I’ve asked Hanna that same question and all she’s ever said is that she’s not the same person that she was back then. All she knows is that her life would be very different from how it is now,” she concluded.
          Natty nodded and was silent as she thought about what she’d been told before she asked, “Does she have a boyfriend now?”
          “She’s been seeing this guy, Vincent,” Alana said and then went ahead and expanded for Natty, “but if you ask me their relationship lacks something.”
          “What do you mean?” Natty asked.
          “I don’t know how to explain it other than they’re just so polite to each other. There’s no fire between them. It’s like Hanna is happy with him because she knows he’s safe or something, but I’m sure I’m not expressing it clearly. If you ask me she’s only let one or two other men touch her any way close to the way that boy did all those years ago before she met me, and she’ll bring him up every now and then. She’ll compare Vincent to him even, which just drives him crazy.”
          “Did you ever meet this mystery guy?” Hanna asked.
          “No,” she said, “he came for a visit or two that first year but Hanna always kept him to herself. They wandered off toward the creek and I never found their hiding spot,” she explained and then added, “That I know of anyway,” she said as Hanna finally came out of the bathroom. “Finally,” Alana said joking with her, “I was about ready to send in a search party. I’d thought you’d fallen in or something,” she said and then got up for her quick turn in the bathroom before rejoining the other two as the movie started. They were all asleep before it was over.

One Last Warning

          The food was gone and her wine glass just seemed to be getting fuller and fuller, as opposed to empting at all, as Cary kept filling it a little fuller after she would take a sip as opposed to his glass, that he was barely filling a third full after he’d empty it. It was starting to annoy her, but that was okay. She was far from drunk as her family often sipped wine with dinner on Sundays and other special occasions, a family tradition that wasn’t in many houses today. So the wine was having very little effect on her, and as the end was in sight, she could still smile as she leaned back and said, “Oh, I couldn’t eat another bite. That was so delicious, I think I made a pig of myself.”
          Cary smiled gently, “I was surprised you ate so much with the way you talked about getting into modeling,” Cary said, finally bringing up the reason for the dinner in the first place.
          She smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, I know, but I eat like this all the time and I’ve never gained a pound, so I’m not worried about it right now. Maybe in another few years,” she said trying to sound worried.
          “Ah, the pleasures of being young,” he said with a sigh, as he leaned back, placed his hand on the back of the booth and started playing with her hair again. It was starting to annoy her.
          “Well, I don’t know about you, but I need to run to the ladies room,” she said as she started to get up, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.
          He glanced down at his watch and then looked back at her, “Well, I know we were suppose to be discussing your modeling and I know we haven’t been, but that was because my friend, the one I told you about, should be here in about ten minutes. He had originally said he’d be here earlier but something came up today so he’d called and said he’d be late. I knew he was coming and he could answer all your questions better than I could, so hurry back. He’s notorious for being earlier than what he says he will be.”
          She smiled and thought to herself, ‘Well it’s about time,’ and then got to feet, “I’ll only be a few minutes,” she replied before she left the private room and headed for the back where the restrooms were. She really was quick but when she walked out of the bathroom, she almost ran into John.
          “I thought I saw you come back here,” he said as he pushed her further down the hall and away from the front of the house were all the patrons were ordering, eating, talking, and drinking. “This will only take a minute and then you can get back on your way to where ever it is that you’re headed,” he said as he pushed her into the employee break room that was empty at this busy hour.
          “I’m fine really,” she told him as she resisted being pushed further than just inside the room.
          “I just wanted to tell you,” he said, “that I talked to my mom,” he said like that should mean something.
          “Yeah and?” she asked slightly annoyed and trying to speed things along.
          He took a deep breath before he said quickly and all in one breath, “She told me that Cary’s been accused of being raped multiple times and he’s gotten off every time because the girl is either too afraid to testify or there’s not enough evidence to prosecute him.”
          She smiled, “Thanks John,” she said sincerely, “but I’m sure I can take care of myself,” she tried to placate him as she again cupped his face with her hands and kissed him gently one more time. She wasn’t sure what had come over her, but for some reason it felt right to give him a kiss.
          “Just remember,” he said as he closed his eyes as if to collect himself for a moment, “if you get into any trouble, just drop your water glass on the floor and I’ll be right there to help you out,” he told her and then she heard him swallow.
          “John,” she said sweetly, “I really can take care of myself,” she told him honestly.
          “I know,” he said nodding, “Brock told me that you were one of his top students.”
          She looked at him questioning, “How do you know?”
          He smiled, “He told me that I needed some work on some of my technique and he said that I should talk to you if I wanted help getting better,” he confessed.
          “Oh,” she said a little shocked and completely flattered, “I’ve never seen you there before,” she said slightly stunned.
          “I go on Tuesday and Thursday.”
          “Oh,” she said still slightly shocked as she went on Monday and Wednesday, “I should be getting back,” she said absentmindedly.
          “Yeah,” he said, “but just remember, if you need me—“
          She interrupted him, “I’ll drop my water glass on the floor,” she said and then smiled, “and I’ll try and come in on Tuesday or Thursday to help you out in the next week or so.”
          “Okay,” he said as he reluctantly let her pass and then watched helplessly as she watched her walk away.

How the Night Ends

          Kristine walked to the door to the private room they had been using, but paused before she opened the door and pasted a smile on her face. She didn’t want Cary to think that she doubted that he would help her, she thought as she thought of what would happen if he really had made arrangements for her. No, she thought to herself, not if, but when Cary’s arrangements went thru. Besides his friend should be here by now, so she shouldn’t be alone with him too much longer, if at all, so she opened the door, but for some reason she wasn’t surprised to see that it was just Cary sitting alone and on the phone, in the private room.
          Still smiling she sat down in her seat and pretended to take a sip of her wine as Cary finished up the phone call. He hung up quickly when she returned and she knew by the smile on his face that she’d been had and there was no photographer friend coming tonight.
          “Bad news,” he said with a sad sigh, but the smile was too happy for him to be convincing about it, “my friend called and he’s not going to be able to make it tonight.”
          She nodded as she realized that Cary wasn’t the nice guy that he was trying to portray. There was something about the way that he smiled and the look in his eye that made her realize that she’d never really trusted him, so she decided that it was time to start heading for the exit.
          “Well, I guess that’s that,” she said and then quickly added, “at least for tonight.”
          “What do you mean?” he asked.
          “If you’re friend isn’t coming then I guess we should be asking for the check and I should be heading for home,” she replied gently and telling him that she wasn’t about to just hang out with him for no reason.
          “Well, we could have some desert, just for spite,” he offered.
          She smiled, “Thank you, but I really don’t want to intrude on any more of your valuable time,” she said getting to her feet.
          “I’d make time for you any day of the week and any time of the day,” he replied catching her hand.
          “Thank you,” she said gently pulling back on her hand, but he had a firm grip on it as he smiled at her.
          “Come on, you don’t have to leave just yet,” he told her.
          “Actually I have a test that I still need to study for,” she replied gently but refusing to sit back down.
          Cary slid across to her chair and then pulled her toward him and trapped her between his legs. She looked over to her water glass but it was too far away. Somehow it had ended up closer to his plate than to her own, “Oh, come on, it’ll be fun. I promise,” he said with a teasing voice, and suddenly she went cold with fear.
          “No really, I need to be heading for home,” she said as she tried, once again to pull away from him, only to almost fall, and giving him an excuse to pull her closer.
          “Careful,” he told her as he turned his head and looked toward the mirror. She too looked at the mirror and then realized that he practically had his head between her breasts.
          She looked herself in the eye thru the mirror and then remembered Brock’s voice as he’d started training her on more specialized defense moves. Within seconds she was free of his grasp and he was on his feet coming after her again, but she was at the door and almost free. Except for the fact that the door wouldn’t open. She knew there was a way to lock the doors to keep them from opening but she couldn’t remember how it was done or how to undo it.
          “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked coming up behind her.
          “I,” she said calmly, “am leaving, now unlock the door.”
          “No, I don’t think so,” he replied calmly, “first you and I are going to have some fun.”
          She turned to face him, “Not unless you like pain,” she told him as she took in her immediate surroundings. It would be tight, but she should be able to defend herself just enough to hurt Cary and make him think twice about ever trying to touch her again.
          “I don’t think I’ll be the one getting hurt,” he said with a smile.
          She raised her eyebrows and questioned, “How well did you do your research on me?” she asked, but didn’t wait for him to answer, but asked, “Did you find out what I do on Monday and Wednesday?”
          “What do you do on Monday and Wednesday?” he asked still smiling, “Go to the library or the mall,” he asked playing with her and thinking that he had her pegged as a brainless twit.
          “Neither,” she replied superiorly, “I study Karate at that place on Floyd and twelfth. I’m a black belt,” she informed him as his smile faltered.
          “What, may I ask do you do on Tuesday and Thursday?” he asked sweetly as his smile returned, “Weightlifting?”
          She didn’t but she knew where he was going with this so she smiled sweetly to throw him off, “You guessed it,” and then added, “now you know how I can eat like I do and still look like a wimp little twig.”
          “Have you ever beat anyone up?” he asked.
          “I’ve done a few tournaments,” she replied.
          He raised his eyebrows, “How did you do?”
          “Third in one and first in the other two,” she replied honestly, but failed to mention that they were based more on form and technique than actual fighting.
          “I see,” he replied and then he had her hands above her head, spun her around and then pinned her to the door.
          She had let her guard down and she knew it, but she still had faith that she could get out of this as she started to feel slightly dizzy and she shook her head thinking that he’d just spun her too fast.
          “Kristine, are you feeling okay?” he asked, “You look a little dizzy,” he said just before she realized he’d put something in her wine.
          She started to fight it, but her arms were still pinned and they felt so weak compared to the hold that he had on her.
          “I was just starting to worry that you hadn’t had enough wine to for it to effect you, but it looks like you had just enough to make this good,” he said into her ear, and then added, “I’d like for you to fight.”
          Instantly she went still as she heard his zipper. A moment later she felt his knee push her legs apart and then felt him press into her. It took all her self-control for her not to fight him.
          “Come on Kristine,” he said in her ear, “I know you want to fight me,” he said, “I can feel it,” he said as he let go of her arms and spun her around, but she refused to look at him.
          “Fine,” he said thru his teeth, “have it your way,” he said before he slapped her and then moved her to the table where he pushed her down on her back.
          She reached her hands up and knocked over her water glass. It splashed onto the table and then rolled off the edge, smashing on the floor. Then she felt him between her legs and she clamped them together as tight as she could trying to prevent him from moving in any direction, and it worked.
          “Let go of me,” he said in a threatening tone.
          “Unlock the door and let me leave,” she said.
          “I can’t while you have a hold of me,” he told her and she knew that he was right but she also knew that he wouldn’t give up so easily.
          “Well, then,” she said, “I guess we’re at an impasse,” she told him, “because there is no way I will willingly let go of you knowing that you intend to rape me.”
          “Then I guess I’ll have to do something about that,” he said and then elbowed her in her stomach and knocked the air out of her.
          Although she couldn’t breath she knew that she had to fight him, but she couldn’t. So she just tried to sit up, but again he held her down, so she just tried to roll away and succeeded. As air rushed back into her lungs she realized that Cary was no longer coming after her and that someone else had opened the door from the outside.
          The next thing she knew, John was by her side and Cary was against the wall and being held there by Chef Ramsey who was talking to Cary very quietly. She smiled as she sank into John’s arms, “Thank you,” she managed to say before she started to cry.
          An hour later, after talking to the police, she let John drive her home and then gave him a kiss at the door. Later when she couldn’t sleep she called him to come over. He was there ten minutes later and didn’t leave until the next morning before her parents woke up, when she told them what had happened.

Sleeping Alone

          Jarren walked up to his front door hoping Natty was home, but when he walked into the house it was silent. Maybe she was already asleep. he doubted it, but it was a possibility he climbed the stairs to the guest bedroom and fell into an empty bed fully clothed.
          He tossed and turned all night, because he knew that something was bothering Natty and she wouldn’t talk to him about it. It was frustrating that she didn’t trust him enough to talk to him about whatever it was that was bothering her and he didn’t know what else he could do to convince her that he would never hurt her. Hell, he thought, he’d slept in this bed with her for the last two years and done his best to keep her nightmares away and he’d rarely touched her. He kiss her, he’d taken cold showers until his lips were blue, and here recently he’d given up on cold showers and just started jacking off in the shower, but even that wasn’t helping like it should.
          Finally, around four in the morning he gave up trying to sleep. He had piles of paper work to do at work. Not to mention the guys in the shop had started slacking when it came to cleaning up and it was starting to look like a pig sty so he had plenty of things to keep him busy until his body was too tired to let his mind keep him awake, so he got up and left the house.





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"Monday the 3rd and Tuesday the 4th"