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Message-ID: <57706asstr$1212844205@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:47:04 -0500
From: Magi <baner1@earthlink.net>
Subject: {ASSM} Pete, A Young man's Story  Chapter 93-100
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Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:10:05 -0400
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Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d


CHAPTER 93

I watched Abe Cohen's face as I listened to him tell me how to
talk Nell into doing something she said she didn't want to do. 
As he warmed to the subject he began to perspire and he looked
like he was actually enjoying himself when he said, "You have to
be forceful. You have to go in there and overwhelm her. The hard
part could be letting you tie her up. But from the way she acted
on the phone I think she'll let you, and once you do you'll be in
control.  Women like her always want to be in control and if
she'll release that power to you, the rest will be a piece of
cake. I'm having a document delivered to your house. When you get
home tomorrow, take it to her and get her to sign it."
From there he explained in graphic detail how I should tease her,
constantly getting her to the brink of orgasm but not letting her
go over the edge. When she was ready to climb the walls I should
slip the document in front of her and tell her to sign it 'or
else'.
"Or else what?"
"Or else you might have to slap her around! Don't worry, she'll
love it and..."
I held up my hand to stop. "I would never do that. I understand
how important this is and I'll try to help if I can but I'm not
going to be mean or do anything to hurt her."
"You're not being mean. I know women like her, they love that
kind of shit!"
"Well, I don't love that kind of shit. There must be another
way." 
"We need you to act on this right away. 
"You keep saying 'We'. Do Sylvia and Herb know what you want me
to do?"
 "I called Herb when I saw you today. I told him I was going to
ask you to talk to Nell. I didn't say what I was going to ask you
to do, so I don't know if he talked to Sylvia."
I stood there thinking about what he wanted me to do. I had
restrained girls before. The first time was at Kate's and I had
also done it with other girls. They acted like it was a turn-on.
It was kind-of exciting to me as well but I never quite
understood why. All I knew was that I wasn't going to get
physical with Nell and I wasn't going to hurt her.
Cohen interrupted my thoughts. "I get it. You want to know what's
in it for you, right."
"That isn't it at all. I just need time to think about it."
"Like I said, there isn't time! We need an answer by Tuesday at
the latest or that other outfit might step in front of us. C'mon,
there must be something you want. For starters, how would you
like to go to the after party tonight?"
I glared at him. "I can't go to the after party, I'm here with
someone. The only thing I want is for you to quit pestering me.
I'll talk to Nell when I get back to town and I'll let you know
what happens."
As I started to leave, he scribbled something on a business card,
held it out to me and said, "Call her as soon as you get to shore
and ask her to meet with you when you get back to LA. I'd ask you
to do it now, but our cell phones don't reach out here and I
don't want to use the ship's phone again because I can't tell who
might be listening. I'll be back on shore tomorrow morning. My
cell phone number is on the card. As soon as you talk to her,
call me."
I stared at him for a minute, "It'll be after midnight by the
time we get to shore. Besides, I want to talk to Herb about
this."
He pulled the card back, scribbled something else on it, handed
it back to me and said, "Here's Herb's private cell number. I'll
tell him you're going to call."
I stuck the card in my pocket and left.

When I got back to our table there was a small group of women
gathered around it. Monique had taken off her wrap and the women
were talking with her and making comments about the bikini she
was wearing. Meg and Marla were there as well and they seemed to
be talking and doing something. 
Jay and Lane were standing off to the side so I walked over to
them, nodded in Monique's direction and asked, "What's going
on?"
Jay gave a half smile, "Someone noticed that Monique was wearing
that special bikini and they all came to see it."
"What are Meg and Marla doing?"
"Meg is helping Marla hand out WE business cards. I think Marla's
going to try to talk Tammy into giving Meg a job."
"But that bikini wasn't part of the WE ad campaign."
"I know, but the women don't know that. It's a way to get WE
business cards out there."
"who's idea was it?"
"It was Marla's. She's pretty damn smart isn't she?" 
"Yes she is. You like her a lot, don't you?"
"Damn right I do. By the way, Monique said that Abe Cohen wanted
to see you. What's that all about?"
"He and a friend of mine are doing a business deal and he wanted
me to talk to someone about it. What do you know about him?"
"He and my dad have done business together. Dad says he's okay,
but he gives me the creeps. Did you see that girl he was with?"
"Yeah, she looks about fourteen."
He grinned and said, "She's almost thirty. She says she owes her
looks to large applications of uhh, male protein. I heard she had
sex with every guy on the boat last year."
"Was it at the after party?"
"Yeah, where did you hear about the after party?"
"Cohen asked me if I wanted to go. What's it all about?"
He rolled his eyes, "Shit! This is the fourth time I've attended
this thing and I've never been asked to it. It's by invitation
only and I'm pretty sure my Mom told my Dad to make sure I'm not
invited. It's supposed to be a no-holds-barred sex party."
"Cohen says your Dad knows about what goes on."
"I think he went to a few of them before my Mom put a stop to
it."
"She can do that?"
"She sure can. My Dad's a pretty big deal in business and he was
quite a player at one time. Mom used to let him get away with it,
but a few years ago she put her foot down and when my Mom gets
serious about something he pays attention."
I thought about things for a minute, "Are you planning on
spending a lot of time with Marla from now on?"
"I hope to, why?"
"I hear that you're a player too. What are you gonna do about
that? Are you going to give it up?"
It was almost a full minute before he said, "Yeah, I think I
will," then he added, "No, I know I will!"
Lane stared at him and said, "Are you kidding?"
Jay shook his head, "No, I'm not. I've screwed around long
enough. It's time I settled down."
Lane raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you rushing things a little? What
makes you think Marla wants to get serious?"
"I don't know anything for sure, but I know she likes me and I'm
going to do whatever it takes to get her to like me more.
Speaking of which, you seem to be getting along okay with Meg."
A smile came over Lane's face, "Yeah, she's quite a girl. She
beautiful, exciting and what's more important, I really like
being around her. I haven't been this comfortable around a girl
since... well, you know."
Jay was wearing an even bigger smile when he put his hand on
Lane's shoulder. "Damn! There may be hope for you yet. I haven't
seen you this excited for a long time."
Just then the band started playing a slow number, so the three of
us gathered up the girls and headed for the dance floor. Even
though she wasn't a great dancer, holding Monique close to me was
exciting and I began to forcefully lead her around the floor. I
was doing simple steps and before long she started to get a feel
what we were doing. She began to follow me and by the end of the
tune she was wearing a big smile.
 When we danced before, as soon as a song ended she wanted to
head back to our table. But this time, when the band immediately
started with another slow tune, she looked up at me expectantly
and we began again. Most everyone had left the dining room, so
our three couples had the dance floor to ourselves. While we were
dancing I took a second to watch the others. Both Jay and Lane
were holding the girls close to them. Marla looked like she was
talking about something but Jay seemed to be staring off in the
distance with a sort of dreamy look on his face. Meg and Lane
were by themselves at the edge of the floor and were moving
slowly. She had her head on Lane's chest and they both had their
eyes closed. 
While Mom was teaching dancing she used to say that some people
have natural rhythm and learn to dance quickly. Unfortunately,
Monique was not one of them, but she was trying her best and
holding her close and feeling her body against me had me so
turned on I was sorry when the song ended.
The band started packing things up so Jay walked over to us and
said, "That'll about do it for us. Most people will be hanging
around for the after party. Let's get our stuff and get ready to
go."

When we boarded the water taxi we were joined by Doctors Snow and
Engle. I think they were trying to appear nonchalant, but I
noticed when they sat down they sat close together. The boat was
about to leave when we were also joined by Delores Rio. She was
wearing a sweat suit, carrying a small travel bag and she looked
angry. I wanted to ask her what was wrong but she sat by herself
and didn't act like she wanted to talk. As we approached the
shore she began calling on her cell phone. It was nearly midnight
and apparently she wasn't able to reach whoever she was calling
so at one point she got so angry it looked like she was going to
throw her cell phone in the water. 
Surprisingly, Meg went over and sat next to her. They talked for
a few minutes, then Meg went to Jay and I heard her say, "She's
stranded down here and she can't reach anyone. She wants to spend
the night in a hotel and try again in the morning but she's
scared. I asked her if she wanted to fly back to LA with Pete and
I in the morning. Would it be okay if she spent the night at your
place?"
"Of course. But she looks upset. What's the problem?"
"That asshole Jack Hedden said he was going to drive her home
tonight, but he hooked up with that basketball player and they
are going to stay for the party. He wanted her to join them, but
he didn't tell her what kind of party it was. When she found out,
she left."
"I don't mind her staying with us, but she's a big TV star.
Wouldn't she be more comfortable in a hotel?"
"All I know is that she's scared and she doesn't want to be
alone. She can bunk in with me."
"It's fine; tell her we'd be happy to have her join us. But it's
still early. I was thinking that we might stop on the way home
for a drink or some ice-cream."
Meg's eyes lit up and she said, "Oooh, a big banana split sounds
great. Let me tell Delores."
She started toward Delores then she stopped and went to Lane. She
whispered something to him then she kissed him on the cheek and
went to talk to Delores. When Delores smiled and nodded, Meg gave
us the 'thumbs up' sign, but instead of coming back to Lane, Meg
put her arm around Delores and they rode the rest of the way to
shore. 
While Monique and I were watching this I had my arms around her
to keep her warm. She looked up at me and quietly said, "Meg is a
nice person."
"Yes she is." 
"Have the two of you and her been dating?"
"No, we just work together."
"Why not, she's a very pretty girl?"     
I wasn't sure why she was asking me this so I thought the safest
thing to do was to change the subject. "Because you got back to
town, and when you're around I can't think of other girls."
She turned around until she was facing me. "Pete, am I really
your girlfriend?"
"You are if you want to be. Do you?"
"Yes I do. It's like I told you, I'm not used to having a
boyfriend and I'm really not sure how to act."
"You're acting just fine."
She smiled and said, "Good." Then she kissed me on the cheek,
turned around and snuggled against me.
When I looked down at her I remembered the first time I saw her
at school. She and Alice had been walking across the quad and the
sight of her had given me a chill. There were pretty girls at
school, but nothing like her. She had just transferred there that
year and every guy at school was talking about what a babe she
was. Thinking back at what happened between us later was like a
dream. I tried to picture her that day in the hotel. When she had
dropped her robe and stood there wearing nothing but that
feathered mask she had looked like a goddess. I tried to remember
what it was like making love to her but all I could think of it
what she looked like. She told me once that the reason she never
made it big in modeling was because there were a lot of pretty
girls in the business that would do the things that she wouldn't
do. I couldn't imagine anyone more beautiful than her and I
wondered what her life would have been like if she'd been willing
to do those things. It made me wonder how far I would go to
further a career. Some unpleasant things came to mind and
suddenly I was glad I didn't have to make those kinds of
decisions. 
Then something came to mind. It occurred to me that, up to now,
other people had been making decisions about my life. Maybe it
was time I started making some decisions of my own. Things like,
what did I really want from Monique? Being around her was a
thrill, but I get the feeling she was becoming needy. She was
older and had actually been out in the world. How could she look
to a kid like me for answers? And about this acting thing, did I
really want to do it? Where did I want it to take me? I was
brought out of my reverie when the boat pulled up to the dock.
 The doctors had been sitting close together during the ride and
when we all climbed onto on the dock, Jay said to Dr. Snow, "Aunt
Jane, would you and Dr. Engle like to join us for some ice
cream?"
After a quick glance at Dr. Engle she answered, "Thanks honey,
but it's late and it's a two hour ride home."
They started toward their cars and when they got out of hearing
range Jay grinned and said, "Watch this." 
When Dr. Engle drove out of the parking lot he didn't turn toward
the freeway. Instead, he headed toward town and Dr. Snow followed
him.
Jay chuckled and added, "There's gonna be a ride all right, but
what do you want to bet it's going to be in a local hotel." 
It got a laugh from everyone. 

When we got to the car the extra person made things a little
crowded so Monique ended up sitting on my lap. The ride to the
ice cream parlor was a little bumpy and in spite of me trying to
think of something else, I had a pretty good hard-on by the time
we got there. When she turned to slide off me Monique's hand
brushed against the bulge in my pants. I felt her body stiffen
for a second and when she stood up she looked down at it then up
at me with an odd look on her face that became a smile as we
headed into the building.
The place was big, noisy and crowded, but we lucked out because
just as we stepped inside a small group got up from a table. Meg
ran to it and sat down. When we got there she stood up and
grinned at Monique, "You probably just want a small diet soda,
right?" 
When Monique nodded, she said, "It figures. Okay, you guard the
table while we order," and we followed her as she headed for the
counter.
Most of us ordered cones or small sundaes but Meg said to
Delores, "C'mon, we can share something," and ordered a huge
triple banana split. Delores had been quiet since she joined us,
but Meg soon had her laughing and between bites of ice cream the
two of them began telling stories about people at the studio. 
While watching Delores I noticed something interesting. She was
pretty but she didn't have any outstanding features. Her show is
very popular and her face was very well known but the only people
that noticed us at all weren't looking at her, they were looking
at Monique. I'm sure that if the people knew who Delores was it
would have been greatly different, but now she was just another
pretty girl. She seemed tense at first, but as she and Meg talked
she started to relax. They were about half finished with their
ice cream when Delores sat back and said, "Wow, I'm full." 
Meg made a face, growled, "Amateurs," and began attacking the
remainder with a vengeance. Everyone laughed. Especially Delores
and I began to see a pleasant, more attractive side of her. 
Then I glanced at Lane...
My Mom and I were watching a movie one time and the hero was
staring at the heroin with a silly look on his face. Mom had said
he was 'smitten' by her. That's the way Lane was looking at Meg.
He was definitely smitten by her and it was nice to see.

It was late when we got to Jay's place and as we pulled into his
driveway Monique seemed to get nervous. When we got inside we
walked up to the second floor and Jay asked, "Anyone for the hot
tub?" 
When we all shook our heads he said, "Marla and I are going up to
the deck to say goodnight to the stars. See you all in the
morning."
As they walked away Meg whispered something to Lane, then she
said, "C'mon Delores, let's hit the rack," and they headed for
her room.    
Lane went to his room and I turned to Monique. I thought about
asking her to spend the night with me but after a quick kiss she
said, "Goodnight," and hurried to her room. It happened to
quickly I didn't have a chance to ask her. 
When I got to my room I could hear the girls in the bathroom and
I crawled into bed and turned off my light. I was a little wired
and I couldn't fall asleep, so I lay there thinking about
tonight. I was remembering what the dancer looked like standing
amid the antennas on the ship so I didn't notice when it got
quiet in the bathroom and I was surprised when the bathroom door
opened and a voice asked, "Pete, are you awake?"
I answered, "Yes."
Delores stepped into the room. I could tell from the bathroom
light that she was still wearing the sweat outfit and I asked,
"What's up?"
It took her a few seconds before she answered. Then she asked,
"Do you mind if I leave your door to the bathroom open?"
"No, I don't mind, but why?"
"I uhh, really don't like being alone."
"Isn't Meg with you?"
"She went to say goodnight to Lane. I told her it was okay to
stay with him if he asked her and I don't think she'll be back."
It was a bit of a shock but after I thought about it for a few
seconds I said, "Good for her, Lane seems like a nice guy."
"Yes he does, but umm, I don't like being in unfamiliar places.
It kind-of scares me, do you mind?"
I was surprised. She was a famous TV star. I'm sure she traveled
places to promote her show, why would she be afraid of staying in
a strange place? But the look on her face told me she wasn't
kidding. She really did look scared. 
So much so, that I said, "Of course not. If you like you can
spend the night in here. I'll sleep on the couch."
"No, as long as I know someone I can trust is close by, I'll be
okay."
"Meg told you I could be trusted?"
"Yes, she said you were a good guy."
"Meg has a good heart."
"She sure does. I can't believe how comfortable she made me
feel."
I wanted to ask her what was going on. She was a completely
different girl than the one with the attitude who came to my
dressing room on the boat. Something was wrong and I wondered
what it was. 
Finally I said, "I uhh, suppose I should apologize for the way I
acted when you came to my dressing room on the boat."
"Don't bother; I was the one that was out of line. I was pissed
when I found out your girlfriend was going to be Miss Galatea."
"Well, I shouldn't have paraded around you naked. That was
uncalled for."
"Don't worry about it. I enjoyed your little show. And by the
way, I especially enjoyed dancing with you. You're very good."
"So are you. I had a lot of fun. I'd like to do it again."
"I would too. Well, I'll let you get to sleep. Would you mind if
I left the bathroom light on?"
"Not at all and if you get scared or need something just yell for
me, I'm kind-of wired so I'll be awake for a while."
"I'm not tired either. Uhh, Meg and I opened my bottle of
champagne. Why don't we have a glass?"
I said, "Sure," and when she went to get it I switched on the
night stand light, pulled on a pair of pants and sat on the
couch. She came back in with the bottle and two water glasses.
She poured each half full, sat next to me and said, "Here's to
Meg," and downed her glass. 
She quickly poured herself another, this time to the brim and
continued, "I told her that champagne on top of ice cream didn't
sound too good, but actually it's not bad and I think she needed
the courage."
I took a sip, "Why does she need courage?"
"How well do you know her?"
"We haven't known each other very long, why?"
"I think she's nervous about... Well, you know."
The thought about her being nervous about anything, never crossed
my mind and I asked, "You mean about being with Lane?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, she told me that she hasn't had a real boyfriend for a
while, but I'm sure she knows what she's doing."
She cocked her head at me and said, "Don't count on it. We girls
do dumb things once in a while."
"Do you think that what she's doing tonight is a dumb thing?"
"Probably not, he seems like a nice guy. But I'm not to one to
ask about stuff like that. I may be the world's champion at doing
dumb things."
"How so?"
She thought about things for a few seconds then she took another
long drink before she answered, "It was the morning after last
season's wrap party. During the party, some studio heavyweights
dropped by with a few of their friends. One of them is a big time
politician and he invited a few of us to his house for drinks.
His house is in the hills above Malibu. I hooked up with him and
we spent the whole night partying. I was driving home the next
morning and I hit a patch of water. My car went off the road,
down an embankment and I ended up in a grove of trees."
She took another big gulp of wine and continued, "When the car
came to a stop I was trapped inside it and couldn't move. I lay
there all day and most of the next, before some kids saw the car
and called 911. I spent the next two months in and out of
hospitals. My face took three separate operations."
"Wow! I never heard anything about it."
"It never hit the papers. The guy is a very well connected and he
made sure of it."
"What's with all the secrecy?"
"He's married. If his wife ever found out she'd cut off his
balls."
"So, no one ever found out about him?"
"No, he took care of everything. But I never saw him again. I was
pretty much okay by the time shooting started this season, but I
was still a little sore, so I told everyone I was in a skiing
accident. The story worked pretty well and I got a lot of
sympathy."
She drank the rest of her wine and was refilling her glass with
the remainder of the bottle when I asked, "Is that why you're
spooked about being alone?"
She stared at her glass for a while before she said, "I've always
been kind of a loner. I'm not married, I don't have a boyfriend
and I thought I liked it that way. But I laid in that canyon for
almost two days wondering if I was going to die and when I got to
the hospital no-one came to visit me. I've never been so scared
in my life and I-I uhh, don't like being alone anymore,
especially at night."
"Do you have someone with you at home?"
"I now have a full time, live-in housekeeper. On her day off I
stay out as late as I can and when I get home I take a pill and
go to bed."
She looked so vulnerable I slid over next to her and put my arm
around her. She looked up at me for a second then she put her
head on my chest and we sat that way for a while. I was wondering
what I could say to her when she began to snore softly. I was
going to let her sleep but it didn't seem right to leave her on
the couch so I gently picked her up. I was going to take her to
her room, but I didn't want her to be scared if she waked up in a
strange place during the night, so put her in my bed and pulled
the covers over her. I grabbed the bedspread off the bed and
tried to sleep on the couch, but it was too short to be
comfortable so I just curled up on the floor.

I didn't sleep very well. It was full light outside when I woke
up, but when I checked my watch it was only 7AM. I checked on
Delores and she was still asleep. I was a little sore from
sleeping on the floor so I took a long hot shower to work the
kinks out. I was drying off when I heard some thuds on my bedroom
door. It sounded like someone was kicking it, so I slipped into
my bathing trunks and when I opened the door Monique was standing
there holding two steaming cups of coffee and she rushed by me,
crying, "Hot, hot, hot," set them down on the end table next to
the couch and turned to me. 
She put her arms around my neck and said, "I'm sorry about last
night. I know you wanted to be with me but this is all new to me
and..."
Just then a noise caused us to look toward the bed. Delores was
sitting up staring at us. She had the bed covers pulled around
her and she was blinking and looking around as though she didn't
know where she was. 
Monique's eyes got huge. She looked at me wearing just a bathing
suit, back at Delores sitting in my bed and she said, "Oh Pete,
nooo," and she turned and headed for the door. 
I was standing there dumbfounded when Delores barked, "Monique,
Wait!"
She said it with such authority Monique stopped and turned toward
her. Delores stepped out of bed and standing there fully clothed,
she said, "Nothing went on between Pete and me. All he did was
sit with me while I drank myself to sleep. He never touched me."
I added, "I uhh, slept on the floor."
Monique looked back and forth between us. I think she was trying
to decide if we were telling the truth. Finally she said, "I'm
sorry, it looked like... well, you know." 
Then she said, "Here's some coffee. Come up to the deck when
you're ready," and she left.
I said to Delores, "I'm not sure she believes us."
She answered, "Don't worry; I'll take care of it. Get dressed and
go be with her. I'll be up in a minute."
I finished getting ready and as I was on the way out the door she
said, "Thanks for being a friend last night."

When I got to the deck Monique and Jay were sitting in the sun
drinking coffee. I asked Jay, "Are you guys gonna run this
morning?"
"I thought so, but when I knocked on Lane's door he didn't
answer. I was going to stick my head in but it was locked. I
guess he wanted to sleep in."
"What about Marla?"
"We were up kinda late last night. She told me if I knocked on
her door before ten she'd kill me. Are Delores and Meg up yet?"
Apparently Monique hadn't told him what happened with Delores and
I didn't want to say anything about Meg so I just said, "Not
yet."
"Well, instead of running I think I'll take a few laps in the
pool. Do you guys want to join me?"
When Monique shook her head and so did I, he said, "Okay, I'll be
back in a little while," and he headed for the pool. I pulled a
chair next to Monique and asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You're not mad about what you saw this morning, are you?"
"No, I believe what Delores told me. I was up most of last night
thinking about you. I know you wanted to have sex with me last
night and I decided that when I came to your room this morning I
was going to uhh, 'be with you'. But I found another girl in your
bed."
I was in shock! She had come to my room to have sex with me! 
"But nothing happened between Dolores and me!"
"I know, but this was a big deal for me this morning and it
turned out badly. It took a lot for me to come to you this
morning. You're the only guy I've ever been with. I loved what
happened in the hotel room. I was scared to death but you were
gentle and considerate. I used to think about that a lot. But
when I got to New York and I saw what the other girls would do to
further their careers I was disgusted. I made up my mind I
wouldn't do that kind of thing and I sort of put sex out of my
head. But I saw you again and I started to remember how wonderful
it was to be with you. I'm sure we'll have another opportunity.
Please be patient with me." 
I held her hand and we sat in the sun. It was a gorgeous day. The
sky was so blue it almost hurt your eyes and it was already
getting warm. Delores joined us and a little later Marla showed
up. It was great to see how Jay's eyes lit up when Marla joined
us. I'm sure they had talked most of the night but it was like he
hadn't seen her in a week. It was almost an hour later when Meg
arrived and a few minutes after that Lane got there. They both
looked tired and acted guilty. They had obviously been making
love all night and it was fun watching them trying to hide it.
Around nine-thirty I excused myself, went to my room and called
Herb. Caller ID showed him who I was because he answered on the
first ring with a cheerful, "Pete, how the hell are you?"
"I'm good, but I need to talk to you about something."
"Let me guess. You talked to Abe Cohen about how to handle Nell
Burger."
"Uh-huh. Did he tell you what he wants me to do?"
"Yes, he called me twice this morning already."
"He's kind-of a scumbag isn't he?"
 "He has absolutely no morals but he's a good businessman. May I
assume you want me to talk with you about how to handle Miss
Burger?"
"Yes, did he tell you what happens when he tries to talk to
her?"
Herb chuckled then he said, "He told me all about it. You must
have made a big impression on her the last time you were with
her." 
"I uhh, guess so, but he says I should treat her like a slave or
something. What should I do?"
"Pete, I've looked into her background a lot. Whatever notions
you may have about her are probably wrong. People say she can
appear to be a perfectly normal person. She's a brilliant
businesswoman and the success Burgers has had in the last few
years is largely because of her. But believe me, she's a very
disturbed young woman. You may have heard stories about her
unusual behavior with men and her peculiar behavior at the
stores. Those tales don't begin to tell the real story. Burgers
board of directors, spend a lot of money keeping her antics quiet
and out of the news."
"Like what?"
"One of the milder ones was told to me by a former employee of
Burgers. He said that she heard that one of the store managers
had been skimming, so she hid a video camera in his office. She
went to him, seduced him and taped her and him having sex on his
couch. 
When he finished she lay in his arms and began telling him that
she was pissed off at the board of directors and that she wished
she knew a way to get back to them by skimming money from the
store. He thought she was serious and started bragging that he
was doing it already. 
He suddenly found himself handcuffed him to the couch. Then she
stood up and, still naked and knowing she was being filmed, she
began going through his desk looking for evidence. When she found
it she held it up to the camera and called security. She was
dressed by the time they got there and she handed them the tape
and left."
"What happened next?"
"The chief of security called the head office and two members of
the board came to the store. They fired the manager and told him
if he ever mentioned what happened they would have him arrested.
The security people who were involved all got 'keep quiet'
bonuses."
"Wow! That's quite a story."
"And that's one of the tame ones. Rumor has it she was in a hotel
in Chicago and she had sex with a maid. When they were finished
the maid tried to hit her up for money. Nell got mad, punched her
hard enough to loosen two teeth and threw her out in the hallway
naked. 
I heard it cost the board ten thousand to keep her quiet."
"Huh! I didn't know Nell went both ways."
"I think there are a lot of things you don't know about her. For
instance, she can get really violent. Cohen told me that last
year a guy tried to mug her. She broke his jaw, his wrist and
when he was on the ground she jumped on his leg and blew out his
knee. I think she would have done more but some people ran up and
stopped her. Fortunately for her, someone saw the whole thing
from the beginning or there could have been a big problem."
"She's a big girl. I'd hate to cross her."
"Here's the reason I'm telling you this. I know Cohen has asked
you to try and talk her into signing with us. If you decide to do
it, fine. But if you don't want to, that's okay. I don't want you
to do something you feel is wrong."
"Cohen said that if you don't get the deal, dad would lose his
job."
"He told me he said that. Don't worry about it. If your dad lost
his job I'd hire him in an instant. I'm expanding my fleet of
planes and I need someone to run the operation. Even if we get
the deal I'm going to ask him to come and work directly for me."
"Cohen also said the only way to get through to Nell was to play
rough."
"He may be right. Are you worried that you can't handle her?"
"No, not really."
"I didn't think so, you're a big guy. Sylvia says you've gotten
bigger since I last saw you. What are you, about six foot six?"
"Six four, I think."
"Jesus! No wonder she looked tired when she got back from
California. You must have worn her out."
"She uhh, told you we were together?"
"She thought I should know. You know that she's crazy about you
don't you?"
"Well, I feel the same about her."
"That makes two of us. Three, if you count her husband. But he
won't be with us very long."
"Is he really that bad?"
"Yeah, he has a month, maybe less. That brings up something I
want to talk with you about. For quite a while, Sylvia has done
nothing but work and worry about Al. She has no life at all.
She's at work before anyone, she's the last one to leave and she
goes right to the hospital."
"He's in the hospital full time?
"Yes, he has been for a while now." 
"Isn't that awfully expensive?"
"Al did a lot of smart things. Two of the smartest were marrying
Sylvia and subscribing to a top notch health care program."
"So she's okay financially?"
"Oh yes. She and Al saved and invested well. She also makes a lot
of money working for me. But she could quit right now and never
miss it and when Al passes there's going to be enough insurance
money to fund a small country. Yeah, she's better than okay."
"So why does she work so hard?"
"Like I said, she has no life. I'm with her when I can, but I'm
gone a lot and if this deal goes through I'll be gone a lot more.
She knows that the end is near for Al. They were together for a
long time and when he passes it's going to leave a big hole. I
can't be with her and I don't want her to be alone for a while
after it happens. Do you think you could spend some time with
her?"
"Sure I will. But you love her and you know we've been together,
don't you mind her being with me?"
"I can live with it. I need someone to look out for her. You're a
good guy, I know how you feel about her and I know you'll take
good care of her."
"Of course I will, but what about you, Herb. Isn't there a way
for you and her to be together?"
"I hope there is. That's one reason this deal is so important to
me. My wife said she would never divorce me, but thank God, I
think she may have found someone she'd rather be with. A divorce
will cost me a lot of money, but it'll be worth it and if this
deal works like I think it will, I'll be back stronger than
ever."
"So, how should I try and convince Nell to sign with you guys?"
He sighed, then he said, "Cohen told me this morning what he
asked you to do. Are you sure you'd like to try and help us?"
"Sure, just tell me what to do."
"Hang up. I'm going to do a conference call and have someone talk
to you. He's a psychiatrist and he specializes in these kinds of
things. His name is not important; when he talks to you just
refer to him as 'Doctor'."
A minute or two later my phone rang. When I answered, Herb said,
"Pete, this is a friend of mine," and a low voice came online and
said, "Herb has told me what's going on with the women, are you
prepared to do what I tell you?"
"It's not going to involve violence is it?"
"No, but you're going to have to be positive with her. I
understand that when someone calls her she refuses to talk to
them because she's waiting for you to call."
"Yeah, that's what I heard."
"When was the last time you were with her?"
"Wednesday evening."
"How did it end?"
"W-What do you mean?"
"What was the last thing that happened between you? How did the
evening end?"
"I uhh, guess I was kind of mean to her."
"Tell me exactly what happened."

I told him what happened when I insisted that she ask to see me
again and for the next few minutes I listened as he told me about
women like Nell and how I should behave around her. 



CHAPTER 94

Pressing the phone to my ear, I listened with interest as the
doctor described what he thought women like Nell Burger were
like. 
"Wealthy powerful women are used to getting their own way. When
someone surprises them by being forceful their response is rarely
passive, in most cases they respond aggressively. From what Herb
has told me about this particular young lady, it has even
resulted in violence. But in rare cases they will temporarily
allow a personality they perceive as more powerful than theirs,
to take over their lives. It sounds like that's what happened
here."
"But I didn't do anything to..."
"It has very little to do with what you did or didn't do. It had
to do with her state of mind when you were together. Sometimes
powerful people tire of always being in control. Mister Johnson
tells me you are a large, powerfully built young man. Your
physical presence when you forced her to ask you to see her again
probably jarred her psyche and triggered something in her that
caused her to release that control to you. Right now she welcomes
your dominance, but I must warn you that this won't last long. If
you want to continue your influence over her you have to see her
often and you have to use that power every time you're with
her."
"You're telling me that I have to be mean to her whenever we're
together?"
"'Mean' isn't the right word. You have to be positive and
assertive when you deal with her. If you don't, you'll lose the
power you now have and if that happens she'll probably resent the
fact that she was subservient to you." 
"Are you saying that I can't be nice to her or I'll lose her as a
friend?"
"If what I heard about her is true, she's not your friend. She's
a very disturbed woman and you'd do well to stay away from her."
It sounded like Herb had taken the phone from him because I heard
His voice say, "Thank you Doctor." There was a slight pause, the
noise of a door closing and Herb came online by saying, "Pete, I
won't lie to you, this is important to us. I'd like you to go to
Nell and ask her why all of a sudden she doesn't want to come in
with us. But I don't want to you to do anything that's against
your morals or anything that makes you uncomfortable."
A lot of things were going through my mind, so I said, "Let me
talk to her and I'll get back to you." I hung up before he had a
chance to say any anything else. I knew Nell was strange, but I
never thought she was crazy. Her feelings for me had seemed odd,
but genuine. I tried to call Sylvia for advice, but all I got was
voice mail, so I took a deep breath and I called Nell.
Caller ID told her who I was and when she answered all she said
was "Hi."
She surprised me. From what Cohen said, I expected her to be
frantic or out of control. But she seemed perfectly calm and when
I said 'Hi' back to her she asked, "Are you having a good time?"
"Yeah, I'm uhh, in La Jolla."
"I know. Did you stay on the boat last night?"
"No, we stayed at my friend's house."
"Good, that boat is no place for you."
A little shocked, I asked, "You know about the boat?"
Her voice was quiet when she answered, "Yes, I know about the
boat. Is that the reason you called?"
"No, I want to talk to you."
"When are you coming home?"
"This afternoon, can I call you later?"
"Sure, would you like to come for dinner?"
"I don't know how late I'll be. I'll call you when I get in."
"Okay, I'll see you then."

I sat on in my room thinking about Nell. She sounded perfectly
normal. Was it an act or was something else going on? I was still
wondering when there was a tap on my door.
It was Meg and she said, "I'm glad I caught you, we need to
talk."
"What's up?"
Leaving the door open, she came in, sat on the bed and said, "I
may have screwed things up."
"How?"
"The girls were teasing me about being with Lane last night and I
teased Monique back about her spending Friday night with you."
"She didn't spend Friday night with me."
"Yeah, that's what she said and that's where I screwed up."
"What do you mean?"
"I told her I saw you and her in bed together."
"It wasn't her it was Marla. She stopped by and all we did was
talk for a while."
"Don't bullshit me, Pete. When I opened the bathroom door, you
were on top of a girl and you definitely weren't talking. I
couldn't see who the girl was, so I assumed it was Monique."
"So, what did Monique say?"
"Nothing, she just sat there staring at the ground. Marla jumped
in and tried to say that you and she were just talking, but I
think Monique suspects more than that was going on and after what
happened last night with Delores, I guess I can't blame her."
"What do you think I should do?
"I don't know, Pete. I guess it depends on how badly you want to
be with Monique. What was it all about? Is there something going
on between the two of you?"
"No, Friday night was just...well it was an ending I guess. It
won't happen again. Marla really likes Jay. Was he listening?"
"No, It was just us girls. Jay and Lane were in the pool." 
"Speaking of Lane, how did you get along with him?"
She blushed, "Uhh, we got along just fine."
"Oh c'mon Meg, what do you mean by, 'Just fine'?"
Blushing deeply now, she glared at me and said, "What do you
want, a blow by blow description?"
She was embarrassed, but she was obviously happy and I was
genuinely pleased for her. I grabbed her, began swinging her
around and in a sing-song voice I kept repeating, "Meg got
laa-aid, Meg got laa-aid, over and over. Meg was wriggling around
trying to get away, when suddenly my doorway was filled with
girls. 
Marla yelled, "Put her down you big Dork," and she ran over,
pulled Meg off me and said, "That's enough screwing around. We're
starving. You have five minutes to get ready."
We went to a local coffee shop for breakfast and it turned out to
be a lot of fun. Lane is a good-looking man and he has a
sophisticated air about him, but every time he looked at Meg he
seemed to melt and Jay started to tease him about it. Lane glared
at him, but that didn't stop Jay and he continued until Marla
kicked him under the table.
I noticed that Jay began to be different around Marla. A natural
prankster, he tried to make a joke about everything, but a look
(or sometimes, a kick) from Marla would cause him to quiet down
and as the morning wore on he seemed to be trying to behave
himself. 
Delores seemed to be enjoying herself as well. When Jay tried to
tease her about something she came back with a quip that had us
in stitches. 
I saw a different side of Delores. A little girl from another
table recognized her and came over for an autograph. Delores was
very gracious. She signed the autograph and even hugged the
little girl.  
Monique was quiet as usual. I tried to figure out if she was mad
at me about what Meg told her, but I couldn't get a read on her.
She sat close to me and always had one hand touching me while I
was eating. She smiled at everyone's jokes but she didn't add
much to the conversation. 
We were on our way back to Jay's place when Marla's cell phone
rang. There was a short conversation and when she hung up she
said to Monique. "It's Tammy. Something is happening early
tomorrow and she wants to make sure we stay down here tonight."
Monique asked, "Do you know what it's about?"
"We had a bad connection. I told her I'd call her when we got to
Jay's house." 
Delores looked at me and asked, "Should I call someone and ask
for a ride home?"
I was thinking about my meeting with Nell and I answered, "No,
I'll take you home, I have stuff to do tonight and I have to be
at the studio early tomorrow."
Meg chimed in with, "So do I."
When we got back to Jay's house, Marla got on the phone and I was
able to get Monique alone for a few minutes. I said, "About
Friday night. Marla and I were just..."
She held up her hand to stop me and said, "Its okay, I
understand."
I was surprised and maybe a little annoyed that she didn't seem
to be bothered, but I seemed to have dodged the bullet, so I
pulled her to me, closed my eyes and kissed her. She came
willingly and the kiss was wonderful, but something seemed to be
missing and when I opened my eyes she was looking at me. I was
trying to figure out what was the matter when Marla called us
over. She looked at Monique and said, "The local newspaper is
sending over some people around nine tomorrow morning. Tammy's
driving in, but she wants us to be there early in case they show
up before she gets here. Then she looked at Meg. "She wants to
meet you today. Can you call her when you get back to town?"
Meg looked surprised and said "Uhh sure, what's it about?"
Marla smiled and said, "Well it might be about a job. I lied to
her and told her you were kinda cute for an older lady."
Meg blinked then she grinned. "Well, you're right about one
thing: I am cute and I guess twenty five does seem old to someone
who's barely out of diapers."
That got a laugh out of everyone including Delores, who frowned
and said, "Shit! I'm almost thirty. I guess that makes me a
fucking antique."
Jay immediately broke in with, "A fucking antique! Gee, I didn't
know antiques came in different categories. Could I sign up for a
test drive?" 
It got Jay a laugh from everyone and a poke in the ribs from
Marla.
For the next hour we sat around talking about what a good time we
had. I tried to talk with Monique again but she, Marla and Meg
were continually talking about what was happening with WE. 
Around one o'clock we started to gather up our things. I called
home to say I was leaving, but I just got the answering machine
so I left a message. When I was finally able to talk to Monique
again she said she was going to come back to LA on Wednesday and
we could talk then. 
Jay drove Meg, Delores and me to the airport and we had an easy
flight home. 
There were people waiting for Delores when we parked the plane.
She gave both Meg and I huge hugs and we made tentative dates to
have lunch at the studio. 
On the way to Meg's house, she was very quiet. I asked, "Are you
okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You're thinking about Lane, aren't you?"
"Uh-huh."
"He seems like a good guy."
"Yeah, he sure is."
"Are you falling for him?"
There was a long pause before she said, "I don't know. I didn't
really mean to spend last night with him, it just happened and
it's a little scary."
"Why, did he get weird?"
"No just the opposite, he's a wonderful lover. The scary part is,
I can't get him out of my mind. He wanted me to ride back to LA
with him, but I had to get away from him and think about
things."
When we pulled up in front of her house I turned off the ignition
and asked, "So, you had a good time?"
"Yes, I had a wonderful time."
"And you found someone you'd like to spend some time with?"
"Uh-huh."
"So, go for it! Relax and have some fun for a change."
"What if he finds out he doesn't like me?"
"How could he not like you? You're beautiful, you're smart and
you have a killer ass. What's not to like?"
She surprised me by sliding across the seat, throwing her arms
around my neck and laying a big wet one on me. Then, still
holding on to me she said, "You always know the right thing to
say don't you. It's no wonder women can't wait to jump in bed
with you."
I smiled, "It didn't work with you."
She smiled back, gave me a quick peck on the cheek and as she
turned to leave, said, "I was tempted." She was almost out of the
car when suddenly she turned around, jumped on me and gave me a
kiss that almost curled my toes. 
I stuttered, "W-What was that about?"
"That's for convincing me to come along with you this weekend."
"Wow! You can thank me like that anytime you want."
She grabbed her bags and as she stepped away from the car she
said, "Be careful what you ask for."

It was after three o'clock when I got home. No one was there so I
went to my room and checked my machine. There were several calls.
One was from Bill. He said hello and asked me to get hold of him
when I had a chance. Another was from Denise reminding me about
next weekend, so I called her. I got her machine and left a
message that I hadn't forgotten. Then there were two hang ups.
Both came from restricted phones so there were no call back
numbers. 
Finally, with the words the doctor said about being my assertive
with her running through my head, I called Nell. 
She didn't say hello, she answered with, "What time will you be
here?"
I surprised myself by saying, "Six o'clock, have dinner ready."
There was a slight pause then she said, "Will there be anything
else?"
I said, "Yes, be naked when I get there," and I hung up.

I sat there laughing to myself. This was so out of character for
me I couldn't believe I said it. I was pretty sure Nell would do
it and the thought of her answering the door naked was exciting,
but suddenly I remembered something. I was supposed to be going
with Monique. She and I were uhh... What were we? Was she really
my girlfriend? I sat thinking about it for a while but I couldn't
come up with an answer. I know that anyone would be proud to have
someone like her as a girlfriend, but something was missing.
Finally I gave up and called Bill.
As I was dialing I realized it had been quite a while since I
talked with him and when he answered the phone I had to go
through five minutes of him cursing at me and accusing me of
abandoning him. But it was good-natured ribbing and I really was
really happy to talk with him. He said that he and Tess were
going steady, he was completely off drugs and that he and Tess
had made some new friends at school. He said they met at the
burger palace on Sundays and asked me to join them, but
remembering my date with Nell I said I was busy. He wanted to
know how the acting thing was coming along and I downplayed
everything and told him it was just a lot of work and I hadn't
met any famous people. After that, we agreed to get together soon
and when I hung up I realized that I missed hanging with people
my own age.

I knocked on Nell's door at exactly six o'clock and as I expected
she answered the door naked. Even though I expected it, seeing
that long lean body of hers was still a bit of a shock. I stood
there admiring her until she said, "Are you going to come in or
are you going to stand there all night?"
Without thinking, I said, "I think I'd like to just stand here.
You're so beautiful I'm afraid if I move you'll disappear."
She blinked, stared at me for a minute then she got a serious
look on her face and said, "Don't, Pete."
"Don't what?"
"Don't say things like that. You're just a boy and I can't afford
to get serious about you."
"A few words would cause you to get serious about me?"
"You'd be surprised what a few words can do. Now come inside
before I attack you right her in the doorway."
"That sounds like a great idea, are you game?"
"I'm ready if you are, drop your pants."
I decided this had gone far enough so I stepped inside and took
her in my arms. Kissing a girl is always exciting and kissing
Nell is special, especially when she's naked. She's so tall I
don't have to bend to kiss her and her body is as toned and
muscular as a professional athlete. The kiss started normally but
it soon graduated into a tongue fest and before long my cock was
pressing against her. As soon as she felt it she stepped back and
said, "If I have to be naked, so do you," and she began pulling
off my clothes. When she got to my shorts she had to reach inside
and hold my cock in order to get them off. When my shorts were
finally off, it jumped to attention. She smiled, bent and kissed
it on its head. I went to grab her but she stood up and said,
"Follow me." 
We went to the dining room and on the table were two place
settings and an open bottle of wine. She said, "Please sit," and
she turned to leave but I caught her hand and said, "Nell, I need
to talk to you," but before I could say anything else she put her
finger to my lips and said, "Not now. First we'll have some
dinner. Then, after you make love to me, we'll talk about what
you have to say. In the meantime I only want to talk about
dinner."
	She left and a minute later came back carrying two covered
plates. When she put them down I asked, "Did your friend help you
prepare this?"
	"No, I did this, she isn't here tonight."
"Oh! Where is she?"
"I'll tell you later. First, let's eat."
First she poured us each a glass of wine. I'm not much of a wine
drinker but it turned out to be light and delicious. Then she
took the lid off the plates to reveal some kind of fish lying on
top of what looked like a bed of mashed potatoes with a mound of
something green next to it. It looked kind of odd, but it turned
out to be the best fish I ever tasted and the green stuff was
creamed spinach, which I usually don't like, but it was
excellent. I was tempted to wolf everything down, but she was
watching me so I behaved myself and took normal bites like Mom
taught me and I complimented her several times over the course of
the meal. Dessert was simply cherries and ice cream, but the
cherries had a slightly alcoholic bite to them that helped finish
the meal. 
I finished before she did and I pushed back from the table and
sat watching her. She seemed completely unconcerned about being
naked and watching her as she finished her dessert and later when
she pushed her chair back and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin
was, for some reason, a huge turn-on. My hard-on had never gone
completely away and now it was back full strength. When she saw
it she threw her head back and laughed, "Does it ever go away?"
"Not when someone as beautiful as you are is sitting next to
me."
Suddenly serious, she stood up and said, "Come with me."
I followed her to her bedroom and when we got there she came to
me and kissed me. It was a long, luxurious, very sexy kiss and
when we separated we were both a little breathless. She went to
the bed, sat down and held her arms out to me, so I went to her
and I was about to lie down next to her when I saw a look in her
eyes. There was lust, but there was something else. Something
seemed to be missing and I tried to think of what it was. A lot
of things flashed before me: Things that Cohen had said, what the
doctor had to say and even what Herb told me. But I refused to
believe she was a nut case or a monster. 
I tried to think of what was missing and suddenly I had an idea.
She was ready to have sex, but what was missing was fun. Not
sexual fun, just fun in general. I took a chance. I sat next to
her and took her in my arms. I kissed her again and said, "I need
a favor. I want to make love to you."
"Okay, come here."
"Not just yet, I want us to do something first."
Her eyes narrowed and she asked, "Like what?"
"Do you have a pair of jeans, a sweater and some sneakers?"
"Uhh, sure."
"Put them on."
"What... Now?"
"Yes, right now. And hurry!"
She watched me as I started to put my clothes back on, then she
shrugged and left the room. She was back in a few minutes,
dressed as I asked,  but she was wearing some light make-up, so I
said, "Go wash your face. Come back without make up and grab a
hat of some kind."
She made a face at me, but I could tell she was intrigued, and
when she came back a minute later she looked freshly scrubbed and
she had her hair tucked under a baseball hat. She still looked
striking, but she could pass for being a lot younger. I think she
suspected what was going on because she didn't say a word when we
got into my car and when I pulled into the Burger Palace parking
lot she was actually grinning. 
Bill spotted us as we came in and called us over. He was with
Tess and two couples I recognized from school. I introduced Nell
as a friend from a cross-town school and for the next hour or so
I watched Nell play the part of a high school girl. At first,
Tess seemed a little leery of Nell. But Nell soon won her over
and before long the girls began chattering like old friends. It
was fun watching Nell. The girls were asking her about her
school, and Nell was telling  outrageous stories about things
that supposedly went on at the campus. 
At one point I went to the bathroom. Bill followed me and when we
got inside he was all over me with questions about Nell, what a
fox she was and how long we'd been dating. I kept saying that we
were only friends, but I could see he didn't believe me. When we
got back to the table, Bill leaned close to Tess and said
something to her. Tess looked at us and asked, "How long have you
two been going together?" 
Nell snuggled against me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "As
soon as I found out what an incredible lover he was, I haven't
let him out of my sight."
I guess it caught Tess off guard, because she stuttered, "O-Oh,
he's uhh, that good huh?"
"You mean you never got it on with him? What a shame, he really
is fantastic. Why the other night he..." She stopped, looked at
me and added, "C'mon stud, tell her about how many times you made
me uhh, happy, the other night."
She said it in such a joking way everyone began laughing.
Everyone laughed but Tess. She was staring at the floor and you
could tell she wasn't pleased. 
When Nell saw it she put her hand on Tess's arm and said, "I'm
only kidding, Tess. We're just friends."
Tess seemed to warm up again, but I was curious as to why she had
reacted that way and I vowed to ask her when I had a chance.
A little later someone commented that it was a beautiful evening
and that we should go to the lake. It was a bit of a shock. I
hadn't been back there since the night I was with Amy. But Nell
seemed curious about it so I agreed to go. We took separate cars
for what Nell described as "Obvious reasons." When we got there
the place was crowded. There was no place where we could park the
cars together so Nell and I waved goodbye to everyone and we
drove around until we found a place in the trees, with only a
partial view of the lake. When I complained about it to Nell, she
chuckled, "C'mon Pete, you didn't bring me here to look at the
lake did you," and she began unzipping her pants. 
I thought briefly about Monique, but when Nell pulled her jeans
down and I saw she wasn't wearing panties, I had something else
to think about, especially when she leaned back, closed her eyes
and said, "Play with me, Pete."
When I touched her pussy it was pretty dry, so in the beginning I
was gentle. I began rubbing it softly with the palm of my hand
and tracing my finger along her slit. Before long she began to
get wet and her body began to twitch when my finger touched the
area around her clit. So I put my finger inside her and started
gently rubbing the silky-smooth skin beneath her outer lips,
stopping occasionally to massage her rapidly hardening clit. The
twitching increased and so did her fluids. She was really getting
wet when she suddenly cried, "Finger fuck me Pete! Do it now! Do
it hard!"
I put in one finger then a second and I started a rapid in and
out motion. Her body was thrashing around and she was moaning
constantly, but she didn't seem to be able to come, so I added a
third finger and I started jamming my thumb against her clit. I
don't think I had done it four or five times when she grabbed my
wrist, her body stiffened and the warm flow of her orgasm ran
over my hand. She stayed that way for a full minute, holding my
hand tightly against her. My fingers were still inside her and I
could feel her body pulsate in decreasing cycles until she
finally relaxed and sat there motionless.
Her hands fell away from my wrist, so I took my hand away,
reached into the glove box where I kept a clean cloth and I began
wiping my hands. When I finished I began wiping her pussy and
when I looked up at her she was watching me through half open
eyes.
"That looked pretty intense."
"Yes, and it brought back a fond memory."
"Really, what happened?"
"When I was fourteen I fell in love with a neighbor boy. He drove
a Ford a lot like this one. He was eighteen and I was still a
virgin. I wanted him so bad it drove me crazy, but he treated me
like a kid sister. I chased him around all summer but all he did
was ignore me. The day I turned fifteen I went to him and
demanded that he take me to 'dinner'. He took me to a coffee shop
and after that I insisted he drive us to a place in the hills
that the girls in school had all talked about. I was wearing a
dress and when we got there I pulled it up to show him I wasn't
wearing panties. I did everything but rape him but he wouldn't do
anything until I grabbed his hand and put it between my legs. I
finally got him to finger fuck me and I got so excited that when
I came I passed out for a few seconds. It scared him so bad he
took me home and never talked to me again."
"What made you remember that?"
"It's because of tonight. Your plan worked, you made me feel like
a school girl again. I've been with men in boats, airplanes and
in the back of limousines but tonight is the only other time I
had an orgasm in the front seat of a Ford."
I started laughing, "Are you finished for tonight?"
"Not by a long shot. We're both to big to do much more in here. I
want you to take me home and make love to me properly. Then we
have to talk."
I was horny as hell after watching her and I drove to her house
as fast as I could. When we got there she took me into her
bedroom and said, "Pete, I'd like you to do something else for
me. I'm going to turn the lights down and I want you to make love
to me like you mean it. Nothing weird or kinky, I umm, I'd like
you to pretend I'm your girlfriend." 
She surprised me. She said it in a little girl voice, and my
heart went out to her. She was a rich powerful woman but
obviously something was missing. So, I turned down the lights,
poured us each a glass of wine and for the next hour I did
everything I could think of to make her feel loved and to make
sex good for her. It wasn't marathon sex, it was quiet loving sex
and she responded like never before. and I spent a long time
kissing her and talking softly. I told her how beautiful she was
and how wonderful her body was. I turned her on her stomach and
starting at her neck I kissed my way down until I was just above
her rosebud. She moaned and moved her legs apart so I could have
better access but I only let my fingers dance around it a little
and when she shuddered and tried to raise her butt up to meet my
fingers I  moved down and began kissing her on her inner thighs
and the backs of her knees. She was breathing heavily and moving
around a lot, so I turned her on her back and when I went to kiss
her lips she grabbed me and tried to pull me on top of her. But I
pulled away and began kissing her neck and starting to work my
way down. When I got to her nipples something unusual happened. I
had just begun to suckle them when she gasped, her body lurched
and a small river of cum gushed out of her pussy and pooled
beneath her. It wasn't like the time in Kate's bed with Mrs.
Torres but it was much more than any time I'd been with Nell or
almost any other girl.
She grabbed me tightly and held me against her for a while before
she let me go and cried, "I want you inside me, NOW!"
I was glad to oblige. I buried myself inside her and we began to
make love. It felt wonderful but I was so concerned with making
it good for her I was able to hold off for quite a while and I
was able to try some things. Her body is amazing. She's so tall I
was able to kiss her as we made love. I knew she loved to kiss so
I gave her lots of tender ones. Her tits are nice size and her
nipples are so sensitive she would gasp a lot when I touched them
so I made sure I touched them a lot. We'd been making love for a
long time when she began groaning and making guttural noises. It
looked like she was getting ready for a big one so I thought I'd
try something different. I backed completely out of her. 
Her eyes got big but before she had a chance to do or say
anything I grabbed both of her legs, pulled them up and leaned my
shoulders against them. It caused her back to arch and put her
pussy right in front of my cock. 
I plunged into her and stopped. I was in her so deep I could feel
her cervix. She let out a low, animal-like growl and grabbed my
arms and began shaking. I pulled out again and did it several
more times. Pulling completely out and slamming into her, hard.
Finally, she screamed so loud it hurt my ears and she came. But
it was more like an explosion than an orgasm and it took me over
the edge with her. Her fingernails dug into my arms and she
pulled me against her with what seemed like superhuman strength.
It was as though she was trying to get my entire body inside her.

Her fingers were really hurting my arms so I pried them off and
let her legs drop on the bed. She immediately grabbed me again,
pulled me to her and she shuddered and trembled for what seemed
like a long time.
Knowing I had pleased her so much was a real turn-on and I began
to whisper to her what a wonderful lover she was and how
beautiful she was.
Suddenly she got up and ran from the room!
I was thinking she had gone to the bathroom but she didn't come
back for a while. When she did come back she was wearing a
housecoat and she stopped at the door and stared at me for a
while.
Finally she said, "Why don't you take a shower. I'll fix us
something to drink."
I went in and took a quick shower. When I came out all the lights
in the room were on. I was putting on my pants when she came into
the room carrying a tray holding two giant mugs filled with
something frothy. She set the tray down, handed me one of the
mugs and said, "Nothing goes better after great sex than a root
beer float." 
She was right. There must have been more than a pint of ice cream
and an entire can of root beer in each mug. It was delicious and
we sat there noisily slurping our floats and spooning in
mouthfuls of ice cream until we both were ready to burst, then we
sat back grinning at each other. 
I started to say something but she held up her hand to stop me.
"Not yet, I'm not finished talking. First off, I want to thank
you for tonight. Things have been stressful lately and I guess it
must have showed. You surprised hell out of me with what you did,
but it was exactly what I needed and I must tell you, I haven't
had so much fun in a long time. I attended private schools my
whole life and I forgot how much fun 'regular' kids could be. By
the way, your friends are delightful. Secondly, I always enjoy
having sex with you, but you made tonight more special than ever
and I want to thank you. You are an amazing young man. I don't
know where you learned to please a woman like you do, but whoever
taught you should be congratulated."
She stopped for a second as though she was thinking about
something, so I broke in, "Does that mean we're done with sex for
the evening?"
She blinked once, then she began laughing and shaking her head.
Finally she said, "We'll see. For now let's just call this a root
beer break," and she laughed some more. Then she came to me,
kissed me on the cheek and with a final shake of her head she
added, "Okay, it's your turn. Let's talk about the real reason
you're here. You can ask me about the airline deal now."
I hadn't mentioned anything about it before and it surprised me.

"Uhh, yeah. I've been asked to find out why you don't want to
participate in the deal."
"Actually, I do. It's just that I wanted to keep that scum Cohen
waiting as long as possible."
"You don't like him, huh?"
"That's putting it mildly. He's a slime ball and a pervert. If
there was any way I could do this without him being involved I
would, but he's too much a part of it already."
"Do you have a problem with Herb, too?"
"No, I like Herb. He's a good businessman and I really like
Sylvia in spite of the fact that she's crazy about you."
"Did she tell you that?"
"No, but I can tell from the way she talks about you."
"I feel the same about her. Does she know about you and me?"
"Of course she does. She even knows you're here tonight. She's
very smart and I love the way she thinks. We would probably be
good friends if she lived closer."
"If you like them both, why did you let them think you're crazy
and keep Herb and her guessing about the airline deal?"
"It's business Pete, just business."
"Are you aware that there's another group that's interested?"
She raised an eyebrow and asked, "Can you keep a secret?"
"Sure."
"I'm the other group." 	
"You are? What's that all about?"
"Like I said, it's just business. There really is no other group.
I let it leak that there is because Burgers will end up with an
extra slice of the deal after I renegotiate things with them."
"What will you tell them changed your mind?"
"I'll tell them you talked me into it."
"What will you tell them I did to cause it?"
"I'll say that you gave me the best sex I've ever had and I
couldn't resist you."
"So that's why I'm here, I'm part of one of your business
deals?"
"That's part of it, but I wasn't kidding about the sex."
"It was that good eh?"
"It sure was, I'm still tingling."
I sat thinking for a minute then I said, "So all that crap with
you hanging up on Cohen was just part of your plan?"
"Uh huh."
"You know that he thinks you're crazy too, don't you?"
"I know he does. A lot of people do. That's why they'll believe
me when I tell them you talked me into it."
"Are any of those things Cohen told me about you really true?"
"I don't know what he told you, but some of them probably are."
"It doesn't bother you that people think of you that way?"
"No."
"Have you had a lot of lovers?"
"I've had a lot of sex if that's what you mean. What about you?"
"I uhh, guess I have too."
"So... that makes us even."
She got up, gathered up our dishes and said, "I'll be right
back."
I sat there thinking about what she said. I wanted to be mad at
her for using me, but I guess there really wasn't a reason. She
didn't do anything to hurt me and tonight had been great. I felt
a little like a pawn but it had been so much fun having sex with
her, knowing I was pleasing her so much I decided the heck with
it.
When she came back into the room she was smiling. When I asked
her why she replied, "I was thinking about tonight and my knees
got weak. You've taken me places I've never been before."
"You've never been to the Lake?"
She laughed and said, "Well, that too, but I meant sexually. How
in the world did you do that? Is that something Sylvia taught
you?"
I patted the seat next to me and when she sat down I said, "No,
you turn me on. When I'm around you I want to please you."
Her eyes narrowed and she looked at me for a second before she
said, "Pete, what do you want from me?"
"I don't want anything from you except your friendship. You're an
amazing woman and I like being around you. By the way, when we
were in Las Vegas, what made you choose to be with me?"
"You have a beautiful body."
"Thank you, so do you. As a matter of fact, everything about you
is beautiful."
"You've been telling me that all evening."
I slid over next to her and put my arm around her and said, "It's
true, you're a beautiful woman." She put her head on my shoulder
and we sat that way until she asked, "Do you really think I'm
beautiful?"
"Absolutely!"
"What else do you like about me?"
I kissed her. It was a long leisurely kiss with a lot of tongue,
and when we broke away we were both breathing heavily. I added,
"I like the way you respond to me. We've only been together a few
times but I think we complement each other. Don't you?"
She was shaking slightly when she answered, "I-I-I don't know
what to think. You have me a little off balance right now."
Nell really did turn me on, but I'd actually been playing with
her mind a little when suddenly a picture of Sylvia crossed my
mind and it scared me. At thirty seven or eight I knew that no
matter how much I liked Sylvia we couldn't have lives together.
But Nell at twenty five was a lot closer to my age! Would it be
possible that... Then I realized that she was already married and
equally out of my league. For a split second I was angry with her
for not being available, then suddenly I was ashamed of myself.
She didn't do anything to deserve my anger. I wanted to do
something extra to please her and I remembered something I read
last summer in the sex book I found in the bookstore in Cantil.
It said that great sex was more about the mind than the body and
gave some examples of things to try. One of them sounded
interesting and I turned to Nell, gave her another kiss and I
said, "Stand up; I want to look at you."
Her eyes flickered for a second, but she stood up. I moved her
over to the center of the room and I said, "Take off the robe."
She didn't hesitate at all. She let the robe slide off her and
she stood there naked, watching me. 
"You asked me if I thought you were beautiful. I want you to
close your eyes and be very quiet. I'm not going to touch you,
I'm going to walk around you and describe how beautiful you are."

She cocked her head at me, but after I stood there watching her
for a few seconds she finally closed her eyes. I didn't saying
anything for over a minute. I walked close enough to her that I
knew she could feel my presence and I circled her a few times
before I started talking to her. 
I went over everything from top to bottom, embellishing things
along the way. I told her she was always striking looking but
sometimes she had the face of an angel. That got a smile from her
and she tilted her head back a little. 
For the next fifteen minutes I went over each part of her, never
touching her but explaining in detail how each part of her looked
and how exciting it was for me to be this close to her. When I
mentioned how much I loved her breasts and her wonderful nipples,
her body twitched and I noticed tiny beads of perspiration
starting to form on her chest and belly.
I complimented her on her pretty feet, her trim ankles and her
long sexy legs then I moved around behind her and told her what a
fantastic, milky white ass she had. I said that sometime in the
future I was going to bring a paddle with me and see if I could
give it some color. 
Her body shook when I said that and she had to take a small step
to steady her self. 
I moved around the front of her and looked at her for a few
seconds. Her eyes were tightly closed and she had an intense look
on her face. Her head was tilted farther back, she was breathing
heavily and the perspiration was now on her neck and shoulders. I
leaned close to her and whispered, "I'm going to smell you. Don't
move and remember to keep your eyes closed." I got even closer,
inhaled deeply and said, "My God you smell wonderful. You smell
like a woman in full arousal. It's a fantastic odor; I can almost
see waves of it coming off of you. 
I was laying it on kind of thick and I'm sure she knew it, but
she seemed to be enjoying it because she was really trembling
now.
I knelt in front of her and I leaned forward until I was only an
inch in front of her. I made sure she could feel my breath on her
belly and I began telling her what a wonderful pussy she had and
how much I loved making love to her. When I described what it was
like when I reached my fingers inside her and told her how much I
loved the way she reacted when I found her G-spot, she began
weaving back and forth. I waited until she stopped then I went on
to tell her what it was like to be in her pussy from behind and
how much I loved watching her muscles tense when she came. 
She began making this low groaning noise and I looked up at her
and said, "But do you know what I like most of all? It's the way
you taste when you cum."
What happened next was startling. There was this "Pffft," noise
from her pussy, some drops of fluid flew from her and landed on
my face and a small river of fluid ran from her pussy. Suddenly
she shook violently, her legs collapsed and she started to fall.

Fortunately she fell forward and I was able to catch her, so I
carried her to the bed and put her down. 
She lay there without moving for a few seconds then her eyelids
fluttered and she looked at me. She stared at me for a few
seconds then she looked down. What I had done was also a huge
turn-on for me and my dick was standing out like a flagpole.
She sat up on the bed and said, "You Mother Fucker!" And she
started to laugh! She continued laughing for a minute or two then
she stopped. Her smile faded and she said, "Most guys can't make
me cum at all, but I always can when I'm with you and this time
you gave me one of the best ones I've ever had and you did it
without even touching me. Why do you affect me that way?"
"I guess you like me."
Her smile was gone now and she had a sober look on her face when
she said, "I guess I do." 
Then she did something odd. She lay back on the bed, spread her
legs and put two fingers in her pussy. When they were covered
with her juices she took them out, looked at them and said, "Yes,
my sweet, I guess I like you."  


I want to apologize for taking so long with this chapter. A
vacation and later, a health problem kept me from writing for a
while. But all is well, now.
"Pete" is still fun to write, so he'll be around for a while. But
I'm going to  make the chapters a little shorter so there won't
be as long a wait between postings.
Anyway, here is #94, and as always, comments are welcome.
Magi   
 



Chapter 95

It was an interesting evening. We just had a sexual experience
where I was able to make her have an orgasm without actually
touching her.  At the end she had fainted, so I carried her over
and put her on the bed. She'd only been out a few seconds, when
she woke up and asked how I was able to do it I explained it was
because I liked her and wanted to please her and she said
something that surprised me. She said she liked me as well.
It wasn't what she said, it was the way she said it. There was
more than 'like' in both her voice and her manner and it made me
realize something. I liked her too. I liked her a lot!
Making love with Nell is exciting because she's enthusiastic
about the things I do and she's so tall and strong I'm not afraid
of hurting her.
Her reputation tells me that whatever she and I did had been done
before and it had almost certainly been by guys who had a lot
more experience than I have. But something about the way she
responded to me tonight told me that the people she'd been with
had been missing something. There was still a lot of little girl
in this rich powerful woman. 
I'd devoted most of the evening to doing things to please her and
it had been worth it. When we had been together before, we had
done things to please each other and the sex had been great but I
was always left with the feeling that we were just fucking and
there wasn't as much closeness as I would have liked. I was
determined that tonight was going to be different and I had given
it my all. 
Apparently it worked, because when she looked at me just now I
saw something that pleased me. She had a satisfied, almost
contented look about her. It was different than the look of
someone who had just had good sex. For the first time since I met
her, it was like she was completely relaxed and she actually
seemed to have a glow about her. I had never seen her like this
before and she looked different. She was always attractive but
tonight she looked beautiful.  
She pulled me out of my thoughts when she said, "Pete."
"Uh huh."
"Are you thinking about me?"
"I sure am, you look amazing. Why do you ask?"
"I was hoping I was the one you were thinking of, your cock is
sticking out like a flagpole. Please come over and sit next to
me."
I went to her and she immediately took me into her mouth. As
ready as I was it was only a minute or two before I began to get
that familiar feeling, and just as I did, Nell stopped, rolled on
her back and said, "Make love to me."
I said, "Let me get a condom," but she stopped me and said,
"Don't go, I want you to cum inside me."
Surprised, I asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I want to feel everything. I haven't been with anyone else
since I was tested. Have you been safe?""
I thought about me being with Marla but I'd used protection with
her, so I answered, "Yes," and I got on top of her. I was about
to enter her when I saw her looking up at me. Maybe it was the
light, but the look on her face was different. Mom looked at dad
like that sometimes. Usually it was after he'd done something
special that pleased her, other times it was just when they'd
been sitting quietly together.  
I wanted to ask her about it, but other things were more
pressing, and with a long slow stroke I buried myself inside her.

She shuddered and moaned, "Oh Pete," and I felt her insides
tighten around my cock. I started to move up and down but she
wrapped her long legs around me and locked her ankles. Then she
put her arms around me, pulled me to her and kissed me. She was
holding me so tightly it was like we were welded together. I was
so deep inside her our hip bones were grinding together and I
couldn't move around a lot, but the kiss was so wonderful and I
was so ready I couldn't help my self and I erupted inside her.  
It felt like I came a gallon. I came so hard I saw black spots in
front of my eyes and I think I must have passed out or something
because the next thing I knew, I was still on top of her but my
head was lying next to hers. I raised my head to look at her and
her eyes were glistening and I noticed her cheeks were wet as
though she'd been crying. I started to get up to ask if she was
okay, but she held on to me and said, "Don't go. Stay inside me
for a minute longer."
I lay my head back down and thought about what was happening. 
She was clearly emotional from what had gone on tonight. Had I
gone too far? I was trying to show her a good time, but I didn't
think she would react this way. How is she going to act now? Is
she going to demand things of me? I want to be with her again,
but is she going to expect me to top what went on tonight every
time I'm with her? She said she liked me, but I know it's more
than that. And how do I feel about her? The more I'm around her
the more exciting she is to me. But what about Monique?
These thoughts and others were going through my head when she
said, "Come dear, we have things to do," and she began to wriggle
out from under me. 
I stood up and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go rinse off; we have some calls to
make."
She started toward the bathroom but I caught her hand and pulled
her to me. We stood there looking at each other while I was
trying think of what to say, but before I had a chance to, she
touched my cheek and said, "I know," and she turned and went into
the bathroom.  
The bathroom had a bathtub shower and when she pulled the shower
door aside I got in with her. I stepped under the showerhead
first and as I was getting wet I noticed she was standing at the
other end watching a large drop of cum oozing from her pussy.
Just before it dropped off, she wiped it with her fingers, looked
at it for a few seconds then she looked at me. She had a sober
look on her face, but after a few seconds she smiled and joined
me. We started off just washing each other, but it soon turned
into playtime, and when she began washing my cock and it started
to get hard. 
We played around for a while, but she finally said, "Enough! We
have things to do. Now get out of here so I can clean myself
properly."
"How do you do that?"
"Never mind."
"I want to see you do it."
"You can't, it's a woman thing."
I decided to tease her a little, so I said, "I don't care, I want
to see."
She frowned, then with a little smile she reached up and turned
the shower head so it was pointed waist high at the opposite wall
then she went to the wall and leaned against it, put one leg on
the edge of the tub, and with the water hitting her on her waist,
she put two fingers in her pussy and began dragging out the
remnants of what I put inside her. 
When she finished she put her leg down and said, "So! Are you
happy now?"
I said, "No." and I turned off the water and went to her. She
watched with an amused look on her face as I picked up her leg
and put it back on the edge of the tub. Then I knelt in front of
her and put my mouth on her pussy. 
I ate her to three rapid-fire cums before her legs started
shaking and she began begging me to stop. Then I stood up and
said, "There! Now I'm happy."
When we stepped out of the shower I grabbed some towels. She was
still shaking as I handed one to her and after we dried ourselves
she asked, "Why did you do that?"
"You seemed to be in a bad mood and I wanted to cheer you up."
"Well, you succeeded."
"Good. Just remember that wherever we are, if I catch you in a
bad mood I'm going to throw you down and do that to you."
She grinned, "What if we're in a nice restaurant?"
"Then we'll have to be careful not to get gravy on your
clothes."
She cracked up at that and we went back into the bedroom where
she asked, "You have Herb's personal phone number don't you?"
"Yes."
"Give it to me. I'm going to call him and tell him that you
talked me into going along with the project, is there something
you want from him?"
I said, "I don't understand," as I handed her the number.
"Is there something you'd like him to give you or something you
want him to do for you?"
"No, Herbs a good guy, he's been more than generous to me."
She seemed to be studying me then she said, "I know he's in love
with Sylvia but he knows about you and her; doesn't he?"
"How do you know about Sylvia and him?"
"I make it my business to know a lot of things."
"Yes, he knows about Sylvia and me."
"Interesting... Okay, I'm going to call him, but I'm going to do
some negotiating. That won't bother you will it?"
"No. Shall we put on some clothes?"
"Absolutely not, I always negotiate better without clothes on." 
I guess I looked shocked, because she laughed and said, "I'm
kidding. I like to look at you naked and I'm not finished with
you yet."
I handed her Herb's number and when he answered she said, "Herb,
its Nell Burger. Pete wants me to talk to you about the airline
program." 
There was a pause, then, "Yeah, he can be pretty persuasive. He
wants me to have Burgers join with you and Cohen in the deal, but
you know how I feel about Cohen." She listened for a while, then,
"Okay, as long as you're going to be the principle on this we'll
go along with it, but we're in the middle of some things right
now, so it'll be a while before we can commit."
There was another, longer pause then she winked at me and said,
"Well, if they want it that bad let them have it."
It was obvious that Herb was talking to her about the 'other
group' that was interested and he was trying to persuade her to
act right away.
Then she did something interesting. She winked, pointed the phone
at me and said, "He wants me to go in with them right now, what
shall I do?"
I got her meaning, and loud enough so Herb could hear me I said,
"Nell, I asked you to do this for me. Are you going to do it or
not?"
With a loud sigh, she said, "Yes dear," and she put the phone
back to her ear. "Well, I guess we could put the other business
on the back burner, but if we have to interrupt things it's going
to cost us money, so the terms we talked about will have to
change."
For the next half hour they talked about percentages and things
that sounded mostly like a foreign language and it was amazing
watching her. Her whole demeanor changed. Her body and her eyes
were alert and she would punctuate every point she made with a
wave of her arm.
The call finally ended with, "Okay, call me back." She hung up,
and with a wide grin and an arm pump she cried, "Yesssss!" 
"He went along with your terms?"
"Yeah, he's going to call Asshole and get back to me."
"What if they find out the other group was a phony and you were
behind it?"
"They probably will, but by that time everything will be signed
and it'll be too late."
"Won't they be pissed off?"
"Nahh, its just business and they'll understand. At some point
we'll even joke about it."
I was shaking my head in wonder when the phone rang. She picked
it up, mumbled 'yes' a few times and said, "All right, I'll call
my people in the morning," a pause, then, "Yes Herb, I'm looking
forward to this as well," another pause, then "Okay, hang on."
She handed the phone to me, "Herb wants to say hello."
When I took the receiver Nell started playing with my cock. It
took me a second before I was able to say, "Hi Herb."
"Well young man, you did it again. That's twice now you've been a
big help to me. The last time it cost me a motorcycle. What's it
going to cost me this time?"
I laughed and answered, "I'm glad to help. You don't owe me
anything."
"Nonsense, I owe you big time. You're on vacation now aren't you?
How about as part of what I owe, I fly you and your friends down
to my place in Mexico again?"
"Thanks Herb, but it depends on work. Let me see what's happening
and I'll let you know. By the way, is Sylvia there?"
"She's home with Al."
"How is he?"
"Not good. The doctor says it could be any day."
"That's a shame."
"Uhh Pete, you're gonna be there for her when he passes, aren't
you?"
"Sure. What about you?"
Nell had my cock in her mouth now and she was stroking the head
with her tongue. It was hard to concentrate as Herb continued
with, "It's going to be difficult for me to spend time with
Sylvia. I'll come to the funeral because we've known each other
for a long time, but there'll be a lot of people there and I may
even have to bring my wife."
"I'll talk to Kate. I know she'll be there and between the two us
we'll make sure she's okay."
"Good. Well, let me call Cohen and tell him about the new terms.
I'm going to tell him about your part in this and that he owes
you too. Don't be easy on him."
I dropped the receiver in its cradle and as soon as I did, Nell
began sucking and stroking me, but the minute I felt myself get
ready she stopped and held me until I calmed down then she pulled
me on top of her and whispered, "Fuck me slow Pete. I want to
feel your cock sliding in and out of me." 
"Aren't we waiting for Cohen to call?"
"When he does, I want you inside me."
"Why?"
"He'll probably know what we're doing and it'll drive the asshole
crazy."
We both laughed for a minute, then I asked, "Why do you dislike
him so much, did he do something bad to you?"
"No, but he was responsible for some bad things that happened to
a friend of mine."
"Is it the girl who lives here?"
"No, it's someone else. Hey, are we gonna screw or what?"
I buried myself inside her, and as I was slowly moving in and out
I grinned and said, "You said I was the horny one. What's with
you all of a sudden?"
"You may have created a monster. My pussy feels like it's on
fire. It's been that way all evening. I don't ever remember
cumming so hard or so often."
"Is it me that has you excited or is it because you're involved
in a big deal?"
"The only big thing that turns me on this much is that big cock
of yours, now get busy!"
I watched her as we made love. She didn't have the frantic,
lust-filled look she had before. Her eyes were closed and she was
wearing a little smile. Every time I touched bottom she would
inhale sharply and as I pulled out she would slowly exhale. It
looked like she was really enjoying what we were doing but I got
the feeling she could have gone on all night. It was sexy as hell
and for the first time since we were together I felt like we were
actually making love. I held off as long as I could, but it felt
too good and when I couldn't wait any longer she must have felt
it and she said, "Go ahead dear, it's okay."
A few minutes later we were lying in each other's arms and I had
an idea. I asked, "Are you busy next weekend?"
"I'll be in New York next weekend. We're opening two stores
there. I'm leaving Thursday morning and I won't be back for a
week or two, maybe longer. Why, what's up?"
For the next few minutes I told her about Denise, why I was going
there and I told her I was disappointed that she couldn't come
with me.
She surprised me by saying, "Why don't you take Monique?"
"You know about her?"
"Of course I do. She's beautiful."
"And you wouldn't mind if I took her with me?"
"No dear, I wouldn't mind. I already know you spent last weekend
with her."
"What if I told you that I'd rather be with you?"
"I'd say you were crazy. She's very beautiful and more
importantly, she's available."
"How do you know what she looks like?"
"I have file on her."
"A file! Why do you have a file on her?"
"Because she's with you."
"Do you have files on all my friends?"
"Most of them."
"Why?"
She sat up and looked at me. Her face was sober when she said,
"Burgers is a big company my love, I have to be careful with the
people I let into my life."
"So, I'm a part of your life?"
"Of course you are. I don't let people get as close to me as I
have with you and I had to find out about you."
"But why do you need to know so much?"
There was a long pause before she said, "Can't you guess?"
It took me a second to realize what she was saying and suddenly
my head was spinning. I was trying to think of a reply when I was
literally saved by the bell. It was the phone and when Nell
answered "Hello," she mouthed 'Cohen' at me and what followed
was..."Yeah, I did agree to it. I'll tell my people in the
morning and they'll contact Herb Johnson. He's the point man on
this isn't he?"
She listened for a minute, then, "Stop! You're over selling it.
I've already agreed to it even though it's against my better
judgment. But Pete says we must, so we will." 
She winked at me, listened for a few seconds, said, "Your damn
right I listen to what he says. I want him to be happy and as
long as he stays happy Burgers will go along with this deal. So
you better make sure he stays happy!"
They talked briefly about something, then she said, "Fine," and
handed me the phone.
Cohen was obviously excited because he was talking so loud I had
to hold the phone away from my ear. Nell could hear him when he
said, "God Damn it boy, you fucking did it!. She says I have to
keep you happy. What's it going to take?"
Suddenly I had an idea. I said, "You have influence over Jack
Hedden, right?"
"You bet your ass I do. What do you need?"
"I need him to do something for me next Saturday night."
"Not a problem, I'll have him call you on your cell. Is that
all?"
"No, there's more. I don't want you to mention to anyone about
Mrs. Berger's involvement with me and I don't want you spreading
stories of any kind about her. That means; no snide remarks, no
innuendos and no rumors. Do you understand?"
There was silence, then, "I'll be damned, she has you under her
spell, huh? Well, don't worry; we're business partners now so I
won't do anything to upset her. Will there be anything else?"
"No, that's all for now."
He laughed and said, "That's all for now eh? Well young man, you
learn fast. But I'm serious; if you need anything let me know.
And thanks again."
I hung up and when I looked at Nell she was smiling.
She touched my cheek and said, "So you're my protector now, eh?"
I smiled back, "I have to be. You heard Cohen; I'm under your
spell."
She took my head between her hands and looked closely at me. Then
she kissed me soundly and said, "I'm afraid that I'm the one
under a spell." 
She started to back away, but I held her and asked, "You're
leaving Thursday, can I see you before then?"
"This is going to be a busy week; I'll call you and let you
know."
"Is there any chance of you putting off your trip until Monday?
I'd sure like you to go to Cantil with me."
She surprised me by saying, "No dear, I can't. Take Monique with
you and when you make love to her, pretend it's me."
Astonished, I said, "Wouldn't it bother you if I made love to
someone else?"
She looked at me for a full minute before she pushed away from
me. She went over and slipped on her robe then she came back, sat
next to me and said, "I think its time we had a talk."
She looked serious when she said, "Do you like me?"
"Yes, I like you a lot."
"Where do you see things going between the two of us?"
"I uhh, don't know."
She took my hand in hers and said, "What if I told you I was in
love with you?"
Stunned, I stuttered, "Y-You are?"
"Yes. I knew it the first night at the hotel in Las Vegas."
"But we didn't even do anything that night!"
"I know, but I guess sometimes it happens that way."
"I-I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. I'm not going to makes demands
on you. All I want is for you to be my friend."
"I'll be glad to be your friend, but you must want something
else. Is it sex or do you want us to be a couple or something?"
"It's much more than sex. I thought I had sex before I met you
but you've taken me to places I never even imagined. I don't know
how you do it, but you seem to know exactly what I need. Today
has been beyond anything I've dreamed of and I want to continue
to be with you, but," 
I broke in with, "I want to be with you as well. You're
wonder..."
She put her finger on my lips to stop me and said, "We can't be a
couple . We can see each other, but I'm away more than I'm home
and as you know, I'm married. It's a marriage of convenience but
it's important to the business that I stay married to him."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"I want you to go on with your life. Continue being seventeen
years old. Date whoever you want, but be there once in a while
when I need you."
"You seem so worldly and self sufficient it's difficult for me to
believe you actually need anyone."
"I didn't think I did before I met you. I've never needed anyone
before, but when you're not with me I feel incomplete."
"Is it because we get along so well, sexually?"
"That's part of it. Sex with you is wonderful but it's much more
than that. When I'm with you I feel something I never felt
before. I feel your strength, and for the first time I can
remember, I-I feel at peace."
"If we can only see each other once in a while is that going to
be enough for you?"
She was almost pleading when she said, "If you're asking about
other men in my life, there won't be any. If I know I can be with
you when I need you, I don't need anyone else."
"What if I'm away or I can't be with you for some reason?"
"I don't expect you to understand, dear, but just knowing that
you're a part of my life is enough. If you can't be around, a
phone call is all it'll take to let me feel I'm not alone."
What she was telling me was astonishing. I felt that what she was
saying came from her heart and I pulled her to me and wrapped her
in my arms. She seemed to mold herself to me and to my amazement,
she started to cry. I held her until she calmed down, then
suddenly she got up and went into the bathroom. When she came out
she sat next to me and said, "I want to convince you that I'm
serious. Is there something you would like to know about me?"
I was kind-of overwhelmed and all I could think of right now was,
"Uhh, tell me about this place."
"I don't live here; I have a home in Beverly Hills. I bought this
as a place to get away from things and to paint."
"You mentioned that someone else lives here."
"Yes, Megan moved in around six months ago. I've been doing some
remodeling lately. She watches the place when the workmen are
here and as you know, she also paints."
It occurred to me that it was the first time I'd heard Nell
mention the other person's name and I asked, "Can you tell me
about her?"
"She asked me not to. I'm sure she'll tell you about herself one
day, but it may be a while."
"Do you have a lot of visitors here?"
"No, Brandy shows up once in a while but you're the only man I've
ever been here with."
"What about Megan?"
"She doesn't have visitors."
"Is she deformed or something?"
"No, and please don't ask anything else about her."
"Okay. Uhh, you asked me to be a part of your life. Would it be
just for sex?"
"No, a lot of things happened this week and we'll be spending
time together. As you know, I arraigned for you to be the model
for Solotronics. We bought them several years ago and we've
deliberately kept them as a separate entity. This week we decided
to have our advertising show that they are actually a part of
Burgers, so we'll be using you in the Burgers ads as well. Some
of our people are upset by your lack of formal training and
because I'm the one that recommended you they insisted that I
keep my eye on you."
"Have you really thought this through? I might disappoint your
people, or worse than that, I might disappoint you?"
"You won't disappoint us. There'll be a lot of people working
with you who are trained in this kind of thing and they'll train
you properly. And if I know that you are around in case I need
you, there's no-way you could disappoint me."
I looked at Nell for a long moment then I got up and went to the
bedroom window. I stood there while a million things were going
through my mind. Nell wasn't a young girl asking me to shield her
from schoolyard bullies; she was a grown woman who'd been around
a lot more than I have and she was asking me to be the person she
leaned on in times of stress or if things went wrong. How could I
possibly be of help to her? She's a lot smarter than I am, what
make's her think I could be her, (what's the word the history
teacher at school used,) Champion? I wish I could talk to
someone. Sylvia would know what to do, but Nell is looking for an
answer right now and I get the feeling if I didn't give her the
answer she wants she's going to be disappointed. I don't want her
to be disappointed. I owe her a lot. Hiring me to be the
spokesperson for Solotronics and now, Burgers, sounds like I
could soon be making a lot of money and it's all because of her.

Could she really be in love with me? 
Could it be true that she wants me to go on with my life, date
whoever I want and do as I please if I would just be there for
her if she needed me? Something seemed wrong about it and I
turned to look at her. My heart went out to her. That tall,
strong, powerful woman was sitting there with look on her face
that reminded me of Erin when she was a little girl and
desperately wanted something.
Suddenly it hit me that I didn't need to talk to anyone. It's
time I started making my own decisions. I like Nell. She's done
some amazing things for me and she's never asked for anything in
return. I don't know if what she's asking of me is strange or not
and I don't care. She deserves what she wants from me and I'm
going to do what ever I can for her. 
I went to the bed, knelt in front of her and took her hands in
mine. 	"I don't know why you chose to love me. I don't think I
deserve your love and I don't know if I can return it the way you
want me to but I'll be pleased and honored to help you any way I
can."
"W-Will you Pete? It might be just a phone call, but I need to
know there's someone I can talk to. Someone who likes me, someone
I can count on to be my friend."
I wrapped her in my arms and said, "I like you, I like you a lot
and I'd be proud to be your friend. You're an amazing woman.
You're beautiful, exciting and when I'm around you, you turn me
on so much I can barely keep my hands off you. I'll be glad to be
a part of your life and I promise I'll do my best to be there for
you if you need me." 
Nell hugged me so tightly it hurt and when I was finally able to
pry her arms loose there were tears in her eyes. Her voice was
shaky when she said, "You won't regret it dear, I promise you
won't."
We didn't make love again; we just held each other for a while
and when I said it was getting late she didn't complain. She
stood there watching me as I put on my clothes and when I went to
kiss her goodbye I could feel her trembling. I finally let her go
and as I went though the door to leave I heard her quietly say,
"I love you." 






CHAPTER 96	

All the way home I thought about Nell and what had happened.  She
had poured her heart out to me and asked me for help. I had made
a promise to her and I intended to keep it. I'd been going along,
just letting things happen to me and I'd decided it was time I
started to think for myself.
When I got home, the front house was dark but I saw a light on in
Amy's room so I went in, tapped on her door and whispered, "Hey,
it's me. You up?" 
She answered, "Hang on while I put something on," and a minute
later she opened the door. She was wearing one of my old football
t-shirts. It came down past her butt and she looked cute as
hell.
I pointed to it and asked, 'Where did you get that?"
"Mom gave it to me. I've been meaning to get a bathrobe but I
never seem to get around to it.
"You look great in it."
"Thanks. How did the weekend go?"
We sat on her bed and I gave her an edited version of La Jolla
and the boat. When I told her that I took Meg with me, she wanted
to know all about her and when I mentioned that I had danced with
Delores Rio she insisted that I tell her about that as well. Then
she asked about Monique. 
"I don't know what to think about her."
"What do you mean?"
"We're sort-of going together but I don't know if her heart is in
it."
"What does, 'sort of going together', mean?"
"We talked about going steady this weekend and she said okay, but
I, uhh, I don't know if I want to."
"You're crazy, she's gorgeous."
"Yes she is, but there are lots of pretty girls around and
there's something strange about her."
"Like what?"
"I don't know for sure, she just acts kind-of weird."
Amy made a face and when she looked off in the distance, I asked,
"What the matter?"
"Oh nothing, we'll talk about this another time."
I was tired of people telling me that they would get back to me
when I asked them something, and I growled, "Bullshit! Tell me
what's going on!"
She looked surprised and she raised an eyebrow and said, "Okay,
you know that Kristen and I talk a lot don't you?"
"Uh-huh."
"She was working a gig in New York a while ago and she mentioned
that she, Alice, and Monique spent some time together. When I
found out about that movie deal for Alice and that she was coming
out here to sign with us, I told Kristen about it and she started
pressuring me to find some work for Monique. When the deal with
WE came up it was natural for Monique to come along, so it all
worked out. But I always wondered why Kristen was so insistent."
"So you have no idea what it was about?"
"No, but I think it might have had something to do with you."
"Me! Like what?"
"I don't know. If Monique is your girlfriend, why don't you ask
her?"
"Maybe I will when she comes back from La Jolla."
"Didn't she fly back with you?"
"No, she and Marla had some kind of interview tomorrow and Meg
had to get home."
"When did you get back?
"This afternoon."
"We were hoping you'd be here for dinner, where've you been all
evening?"
"I was with Nell Burger."
"You're still seeing her?"
"Uh huh and as you know, Burgers own Solotronics. Well, they're
going to start advertising them as their store brand."
"Are they going to keep you on as the Solotronics spokesperson?"
"Yes, and she said I'm going to do the ads for Burgers as well."
Her eyes narrowed, "Why wasn't the agency told about this?"
"I think it just happened. You'll probably be notified tomorrow."

Amy stared at me for a moment, "Well, we knew that the reason
Solotronics wanted you was because of her, but it can't be just
because you're sleeping with her, can it?"
"It's kind of a long story that has something to do with her
husband."
Amy stood in front of me, put her hands on my shoulders and said,
"Do you know what this means? Burgers is a giant account. If what
you're telling me is true, you're going to be making a ton of
money. What else are you doing for her?"
"Nothing, she just wants me to be her friend."
"C'mon, there has to be more to it than that. What's the deal
with her husband?"
"It's kind of complicated. Their marriage is just for show and
there's a lot of internal politics involved. I think she's kind
of lonely."
"Hmm, how old is she?"
"She's twenty five."
"Wow, I've heard that she's the real brains behind Burgers.
That's pretty amazing for someone that young."
"You're only seventeen and you run a business."
"Yeah, but it's nothing like Burgers. What does she look like?"
"She's very tall and very pretty."
"It's hard for me to think of you being with other girls when
someone as beautiful as Monique is around."
"I'm spoiled. I'm used to being around beautiful girls."
"Maybe so, but nothing like Monique."
"That's not true. Guys look at girls differently than girls do.
Kristen is as pretty as Monique but in a different way. Monique
is beautiful in the classic sense. Kristen is beautiful in a dark
and sultry way and she's sexy as hell. And of course, so are
you."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you. Both you and Kristen have better bodies
than Monique, you're as pretty as either one of them and you have
something neither one of them has."
"What's that?"
I grabbed her around the neck and said, "You have a handsome
brother who's crazy about you," and I started giving her
'Nuggies'.
We giggled and wrestled around for a while, trying not to wake
everyone when at one point she twisted and our faces were only an
inch apart. Suddenly we both stopped and looked at each other. I
had an overwhelming urge to kiss her but before I had a chance to
act, she surprised me and she kissed me!
It was a long luxurious kiss. No tongues, but a lot of feeling
and when we finally pulled back we were both a little breathless.

There was a moment of silence before I said, "Wow!
She added, "Yeah, I uhh, forgot what a good kisser you are."
"It's easy to be a good kisser when you're kissing someone as
pretty as you are." 
She looked down and said, "N-No I'm not."
"Sure you are. You're different than either Kristen or Monique
and in some ways you're even prettier."
"How?"
"You're like the girl next door only ten times prettier and a lot
sexier."
"Oh Pete, I..."
I interrupted, "Which brings up a question. Why aren't you dating
someone?"
"I don't have time."
"What do you mean?"
	"On weekdays I'm up at five. I'm usually on the phone until time
for school and when I get to school I'm a TA in two classes. I'm
on a shortened schedule so I leave at around two and I'm at Stone
until dinner time. I'd be there longer but unless something big
is happening, Mom insists I leave work at six." 
          "Then what?"
 	"Mom is teaching Erin and me how to cook. After dinner we clean
things up, then, mom insists we spend time talking to each other
about what went on during the day. After that we go to our rooms.
I do homework, Erin studies her lines and we go to bed."
"Erin studies her lines! Doesn't she do homework too?"
"No, she was let go early, same as you."
"You're almost eighteen and you're a legal adult, why do you let
mom treat you that way?"
She frowned at me and said, "Because she's my mom! She isn't
mistreating me. Everything she does is done with love. I can't
tell you how much I love being part of this family, Pete. I now
have the life I always dreamed about and sometimes I have to
shake myself to believe it's real. I know you think I'm smart but
after my dad died all I did was go to school. After school I
would rush home to be with my mother and my brother because I was
afraid something bad would happen. That night when we went to the
lake was one of the few times I'd left the house at night in a
very long time. Maybe I am smart, but there are things I don't
know about becoming a woman. Erin is only fifteen but in some
ways she's more advanced than I am. Mom is teaching both of us
how to grow up."
"What about weekends?"
"I'm at the agency on Saturday and on Sunday I usually go to see
my mother."
"How's she doing?"
"Not good, she's been losing weight. I'm going to have a doctor
look at her on Tuesday."
"So you haven't been dating at all?"
"No, the guys at school don't ask me out and I don't really have
time to meet anyone else."
"Why do you think the guys at school won't ask you out?"
"Tess says that the jocks won't ask me out because I'm your
sister and the other guys are scared of me or something."
I laughed. "The real reason is because you're so smart and so
pretty. Except for the smart part, Monique went through the same
thing. Guys don't ask you out because the jocks and the good
looking guys all have big egos and they don't want to risk being
turned down by really great looking girls. The regular guys and
the nerds don't think they have a chance so they're afraid to
ask."
She was embarrassed and was looking at the floor when she said,
"I-I'm not that pretty."
I put my arm around her, pulled her to me and said, "Of course
you are, you're a stone fox. That settles it! I'm going to put an
ad in next Sunday's paper and start to interview guys for you to
go out with."
"So anybody I date has to go through you first, right?"
"Damn right! And I have to go along on the first three dates to
find out if the guys are worthy of you."
She hugged me then she grinned, looked up at me and said, "I love
you big brother."
I hugged her back and said, "I love you too little sister."
We sat there for a while holding each other and I thought about
what I'd said to her. She really is beautiful and I tried to
compare her to other beautiful girls in my life.
Monique has a calm, almost too-perfect beauty about her. When she
walks into a room everyone looks at her but few people will walk
up and talk to her because she seems untouchable. 
Kristen has a dark, sensuous look about her that calls attention
to her whether she's across a room or across the street. I've
watched people in the audience when she was on the stage. Every
guy there would have given his right arm to be with her. 
Amy is different. When she first came to live with us she was
cute, but she was thin and undernourished. The change has been
dramatic. Now, she radiates health and strength. I think that you
might not pick her out in a crowded room but once you did, I
believe her face is something you'd never forget. She has a
wholesome look about her and a body that'll stop traffic, but
there's something else. I don't know how it affects other people,
but when I look at her, I sometimes get a little breathless. And
a strange thing happens when she looks at me. It's like she can
see what I'm thinking. It would be difficult for me to lie or to
try to hide something from her and I know I'd never want to. I'm
kind-of glad she isn't dating someone. I guess I'd be a little
jealous.  
Suddenly she made an odd noise and when I looked at her she was
sound asleep. The clock showed it was almost two o'clock, so I
laid her down and pulled the covers over her. She looked like an
angel lying there and I wondered what my life would be like if I
hadn't met her.
I was awfully glad I had. 

Monday morning I hit the snooze button several times before I was
able to drag myself out of bed. When I got to the front house
everyone had left so I gulped down some cereal and drove to the
studio. On the way I called Ms. Devon's cell phone. She told me
to come to sound stage six and when I got there she was sitting
at a desk talking with the director. Myrna smiled when I walked
up but the director gave me a slow up and down look, like a guy
staring at a girl. It made my hair stand on end and for a second
I thought about punching him in the mouth. Instead I just said
"Hi," and sat next to Myrna. 
Apparently they'd been arguing and I guess it had something to do
with me because the minute I got settled, he said to Myrna, "Look
at him, they'd be sensational together."
Myrna answered, "I-I don't like it. Besides, you're over budget
already and by the time the writers get through with it, it'll
add two, maybe three more days."
"Not true! It's already been written and I've even had it staged.
Think about it, Myrna. Can you imagine what will happen if we get
those two together? They'd be incredible."
"How do you know, you've never seen them work together?"
"I can tell, Myrna. Remember, I've been doing this a long time."

"But they're brother and sister!"
"Exactly! And when the press finds out they'll go crazy! They'll
be in every tabloid in town, the rumors will run wild and it'll
practically guarantee the show will be picked up!"
I broke in with, "Hey! What's going on here?"
Myrna answered, "He wants you and Erin to do a love scene."
"What kind of a love scene?"
The director said, "Nothing too sexy, just some long looks and
maybe a kiss."
It only took me a second to think about it. I was sure Erin and I
could do it and I said, "No problem."
Myrna asked, "You and your sister wouldn't mind kissing each
other?"
"Not at all, we know it would only be acting."
The director asked, "What if I asked you to give her a sexy
kiss?"
"We trust each other. If you wanted it to be sexy I'm sure we
could do it."
The director grinned and said, "That's exactly what Erin said."
Myrna gave him a cold look and said, "You already talked it over
with her?"
"Yes, she said it wouldn't be a problem."
"Did you mention it to the twins?"
"Actually it was Rose's idea. She thought they'd be great
together."
"Neither one has much experience, how will you handle it?"
"You've seen Erin work; she takes direction like a pro. As for
Pete, you leave that to me."
"I'd have to talk with their mother about it."
Just then his pager buzzed. He looked at it then he handed some
papers to Myrna and said, "Here's the scene. Talk to their mother
and let me know. I know how I want to do it and if it's okay I'd
like to start setting up right away. I gotta go. We're shooting
the final scene with the twins, do you want to come by and
watch?"
"Yes, I want Pete to see it. We'll be there in a little while."
He left and I watched Myrna look at him as he walked away. She
seemed upset, so I asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yes... it's just that things are changing."
"How so?"
She was quiet for a while, then she said, "Remember when I told
you that the girls were getting too old to play the kind of parts
that made them famous and that this would probably be the last
show they would do before they moved on to different things?"
"Yes, I remember."
"For a long time they carried any show they were in. We had
offers from every studio and writers were always pitching us to
read their stories and scripts. But as I told you, they're almost
too old to play the sweet faced little pixies they once did and
the director knows it. He's been making Erin more and more
important to the show and now he wants to bring you in."
"What's the matter with that?"
"He doesn't think the twins can carry the show any more. He's so
sure of it he even staged this new scene with the two of you in
it."   
I didn't know what to say so we sat quietly until Myrna stood up
and said, "I'm going to the rest room. When I get back we'll go
to the set," and she left. 
Suddenly, with a loud, "Pete," (a noise that got dirty looks from
some others in the building) Meg ran up to me and said, "You're
not going to believe this. I met with Tammy yesterday and she
offered me a job!"
"Really, doing what?"
"She's going to teach me to run a salon."
"Fantastic, when do you start?"
"I start next week. For a while I'll be working at the Beverly
Hills salon in the afternoons and evenings. I'll be able to work
with you for the rest of this week and after that, during the day
until the show wraps, then I'll go there full time."
"You'll be running the Beverly Hills store?"
"No, she's going to be opening another salon."
I grinned, "I'm really happy for you. But how will I get along
without you?" 
"You'll get along fine. You seem to have the magic touch,
especially with women."
"What makes you say that?"
"When I mentioned to Tammy that you'd taken me to La Jolla she
raved about you for ten minutes. I think she's in love with
you."
"I love her too. Everyone in my family does. We've been through
some serious stuff together and she's like a sister to me."
"She didn't talk like any sister I ever knew." 
"She and I have a special bond. What's the matter, are you
jealous?"
"Don't be silly, I just wonder how you manage to be so lucky with
women."
I joked, "I'm not all that lucky. After all, my so-called 'magic'
didn't work with you!"
We hadn't seen anyone come up to us, so we were both startled
when a voice said, "Maybe you should have showed her your magic
wand, Pete."
It was Jack Hedden and before I could reply, Meg glared at him
and said, "Well, stick around, maybe he'll show it to you!" Then
she turned to me, "When you get done here meet me on the set,"
and she walked away.
I thought Jack might be offended but he just smiled and said,
"Cohen says you want to talk to me, what's up?"
"I have a friend that grew up in a show business family. She goes
to high school in a small town about an hour from here and when
she mentioned the names of some people she'd met, the kids
started making fun of her. They all think she's lying and it's
getting a little out of hand."
"So? What do you want me to do?"
"There's a dance on Saturday night. I'd like you to go there and
make believe you know her." 
He looked surprised and said, "You want me to go to a fucking
high school dance and pretend I know some little cunt that you're
trying to get it on with?" 
"She's not some little cunt and I'm not trying to get it on with
her, she's a friend and I want to do her a favor. And the dance
isn't at a high school; it's a formal dance at a Grange hall.
Shall I call Cohen and tell him you won't do it?"
He shot a look at me then he thought for a minute and asked,
"Who's the show biz family she was part of?"
"Her mother is Vivian James."
His eyes got big, he cried "Holy shit," and he started laughing.
After a few seconds he said, "I know Vivian James. The first
adult movie I ever did was 'High School Hi Jinks' and Vivian
James played the school teacher. The set was at some big estate
somewhere north of here. Come to think of it, she had her kid
with her."
"Her daughter was in the movie?"
"No, she was only 5 or 6 years old. They shot the scenes in the
main house and I think the kid was in the barn playing with the
horses. 
"How old were you?"
"My buddies and I were only fifteen or sixteen and we all had
phony ID's. They weren't as careful then as they are today." He
laughed again and added, "The name on my ID was Lance Allott".
"Did you do a lot of adult films?"
"I did a few. Why, are you interested in doing one?"
"No, but I thought you were uhh..."
"You heard I was gay, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, I am, but I tried pussy for a while. I did those films
before I came out."
"Aren't you afraid people will find out?"
"What, that I'm gay?"
"No, that you did adult films."
"Nahh, it was a long time ago. Plus I had a different name then
and thanks to modern medicine, I looked a lot different. What
about my being gay, does it bother you?"
"I uhh, really don't know what being gay is all about." 
"That's okay, a lot of people don't."
"Does it bother you being gay?"
He laughed out loud this time, and asked, "Does it bother you
being straight?"
"I  never think about it."
"Well, I think about being gay all the time, especially when I
see a good-looking guy like you."
I was getting uncomfortable with the conversation and when he saw
it he said, "Okay, enough of this, I'm not going to make a pass
at you unless you want me to. Now, we need to talk about a couple
other things. First, Cohen tells me I have to do what you want,
so I'll need directions and what time you want me there this
weekend."
"Okay, what's the other thing?"
"I talked with your agent this morning. When I said I was going
to see to you today she asked me to fill you in about some things
that are going to be happening in the near future. It's something
we've been planning for a while. We're going to leak a story to
the tabloids about Kristen and me, 'seeing' each other. I'm going
to New York next week and we'll be seen having dinner, going to
parties etc. God knows what they're going to print, so be ready
for anything."
"Why are you telling me this? Kristen and I aren't together any
more."
"Well, your agent says that Kristen wanted me to tell you."
"Uhh okay, I'll look into it. In the meantime, give me your cell
number and I'll call you about this weekend when I have more
information."
"Call Cohen, he'll get the message to me."
"Why not just give me your number?"
He dismissed me with a wave of his hand and said, "I don't give
people my personal number. Don't worry kid, Cohen will get hold
of me."
His attitude and the way he dismissed me bothered me. 
I used to watch his show. In his Rocketman costume he always
looked huge and imposing. He's well muscled, but he isn't nearly
as big as he looks on television. As a matter of fact he isn't as
big as I am. In any case, I decided I wasn't going to let him get
away with talking down to me, so I stepped close to him, looked
down and said, "Cohen said you weren't going to give me any shit.
Give me your cell phone number."
Instead of getting mad, he chuckled. "Relax Pete, I'm just
fucking with you." He reached in his pocket and handed me his
card. "My number is on the back."
"Why are you trying to tease me?"
Still grinning, he said, "I like you and I wanted to see if you
were as feisty as Cohen said you were."
I was shaking my head in dismay when suddenly I had an idea and I
asked, "That ranch where you did those films, where was it?"
"One of the other guys drove. All I remember is that it was
outside some little town north of here."
"Was the name of the town Cantil?"
"Yeah, I think that was it!"
"Was there a long driveway after the front gate?"
"That sounds like the place. Have you been there?"
"Yeah, I met Ms. James there."
"Did you fuck her?"
"No, I took her daughter there to pick up a set of keys."
"Too bad, she was a great piece of ass. The first time we met
her, she..."
I held up my hand to stop him and asked, "So, are you going to be
able to come on Saturday?"
He thought for a minute then he said, "Can I bring Blaster?"
'Blaster', whose real name is Justin, is the name of his sidekick
on Rocketman. He's like a junior version of Jack. He's three
inches shorter, thirty pounds lighter and he follows Jack around
like Robin does on Batman. Jack is a good-looking guy. He appeals
to women of all ages. Justin looks five years younger than Jack
and his fans are younger. A couple years ago I remember Erin and
her friends referring to him as a 'cutie pie'. I thought he might
appeal to the younger crowd at the dance, so I said, "Sure, no
problem." I told him I'd get in touch with him later in the week
and I headed for the set. When I got there the twins and Erin
were standing by a doorway talking with the director. I started
toward them but someone cried "Places," so I stepped back and
waited while everyone went to their spots. When the director said
'action' the twins, pigtails flying, raced toward the door. As
the first one went through the one behind looked over her
shoulder at Erin and yelled "C'mon" and Erin went running after
them. They did it three more times, before the director said,
"Print."
When they were finished the girls came back and when I stepped
out of the shadows one of the twins saw me and cried "Hey, the
hulk is here," and they came running over, jumped on me and began
tickling me. 
I tried to get them off me without hurting them and we were
flailing around when the director yelled, "Knock it off before
you ruin your makeup. We have another scene to shoot."
One of the twins had an arm around my neck and her legs around my
waist. The other girl had both legs wrapped around one of my
legs. When the director yelled at them the one around my neck
dropped off. But the one who had her legs around my leg hesitated
for a second then she forced her crotch against me. She held it
there until I looked down at her, then, making sure I was
watching, she did a 'bump and grind' on my leg before she jumped
off and ran away giggling. 
I looked over at Myrna and Erin to see if they'd noticed. Erin
was grinning and Myrna was frowning. But all she did was shrug
her shoulders and say, "Meg had to go to pick up some script
changes. Wait for her then meet us at the schoolroom." 
Myrna and Erin walked away just as Meg showed up. Apparently she
had seen what happened. "You gotta be careful of those two. They
may look like little kids but they're not."
"I know. Myrna has asked me to keep my eye on them and it might
be more than I bargained for."
"You umm, may be right."
The way she said it led me to believe she had left something out,
so I asked, "Why, have you heard something?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Are you really watching out for them?"
"Yeah, I promised Ms. Devon I would."
"I don't want to get them in trouble, but there are people around
here that like to take advantage of young girls. Some friends of
mine passed by their trailer last Thursday they said they heard
weird noises." 
"What kind of noises?"
"They said it sounded like they were having wild sex."
"Do they know who was in there with them?"
"I asked and they said no. This is a big place and usually nobody
pays much attention to what people are doing. But they were
making a lot of noise." 
"Do you think I should mention it to the girls?"
"Yes I do and you should do it before Ms. Devon hears about it."
"I'll talk to them." 
"Okay, but remember they are just young girls. Try to be
diplomatic."
"I will, but I think they should know that people are talking,
and if they are having sex I want to know who it's with and if
they're being careful."
She raised her eyebrows, "You're serious about watching out for
them aren't you?"
"Uh huh, I promised Ms. Devon I would."
She cocked her head and smiled, "If I asked you, would you look
out for me?"
"Sure I would, but I think someone else has that job in mind."
Her smile faded, "I guess you're right. He called last night and
we talked until two this morning."
"You're complaining?"
"No, I guess not."
"You like him, don't you?"
"Sure I do, it's just that everything has happened kinda fast."
"Well, sometimes it does and a girl of your advanced age should
take advantage of things before it's too late."
That got me a swat on the arm and we headed for the schoolroom.

The schoolroom set looked just like a regular schoolroom;
complete with battle-scarred desks and an assortment of notebooks
and papers lying around. There were kids sitting at the desks and
the director was explaining what the shot was about. The twins
were sitting at desks next to each other and Erin was at the desk
behind them. 
Meg was explaining to me how nothing was left to chance. That
even the places where the kids were seated were dictated by their
height, coloring and sometimes even their ethnic mix.
Suddenly I felt my cell phone buzz, so I stepped out of the room
and I was about to answer it when I saw Myrna coming toward me
with a big smile on her face.





 


CHAPTER 97

Myrna stopped and watched me as I answered my phone. 
It was Mom. "Well young man I have some good news. Burgers just
dropped off the signed contract and a check with a lot of zeros
on it."
"Really, how many?"
"Amy is the one that negotiated it for you so she'll tell you
about it when you get home tonight. But the contract calls for
you to be very busy this summer so don't make any plans until you
talk with us."
"It's not going to be next weekend is it?"
"No, the real work won't start for a week or two. For now they're
going to use the shots they took at the studio. The layouts are
already done, so they're going to start immediately. The first
ones will be in Wednesday's newspaper."
"Gee, that sounds awfully soon if they just signed the
contracts."
"It is soon, something must have held things up. But it's a done
deal now and you have the check to prove it."
"Which pictures are they going to publish?"
"I'm not sure. They're going to messenger over the proofs this
afternoon. I'll bring them home."
A man came up and started talking to Myrna so I turned away and
asked, "Mom, did you hear that they want Erin and me to do a love
scene?"
"Myrna talked to me about it. It isn't really a love scene, dear;
it's just some sexy looks and things. You kids can handle that
can't you?"
"I haven't talked to Erin yet but I'm sure we can. I just wanted
to make sure it was okay with you." 
"Myrna is coming over for dinner, let's talk about it then."
"Okay. By the way, when is dad coming home?"
"It looks like he'll be gone for at least another two weeks."
"I miss him."
"I do too, dear."
When I hung up Myrna came over and said, "I heard about the
contract. Congratulations."
"Thanks, it looks like I'm going to be busy."
"Well, we'll be finished here in the next few days, so you'll be
okay."
"Good. By the way, did you see what happened when the twins were
jumping on me?"
Her eyes narrowed, "Yes I did and they knew I was watching. I
didn't say anything because I know they're testing me."
"You know that I wouldn't do anything to hurt them don't you?"
"Of course I do. I trust you, Pete, that's why I asked you to
keep an eye on them. Please try to stop them from making bad
choices."
"I'll try, Myrna. I promise I will." 
I thought about saying something about the noises coming from
their trailer but I decided to wait until I talked to the girls.

I went back into the schoolroom and watched them shoot a short
sequence where all the twins did was giggle until Erin told them
to shut up. They filmed it over and over until the director was
satisfied. It took me a minute to realize that the girls were
acting and the giggling and Erin's response was actually part of
the script. 
For the rest of the afternoon we watched Erin and the twin's film
pick-up-shots. It was strange because the shots were out of
sequence and by themselves they didn't make sense. But Myrna and
the director knew what they were doing. It was surprising how
well they worked together.  
But the thing that most surprised me most was how complicated
everything was. People were constantly running around, setting
up, fixing and changing things. Meg explained that each set
involved a lot of different trades. Carpenters, electricians,
lighting people, sound people, cameramen and a myriad of others
all worked together to make each shot as good as possible. She
was amazing at explaining how things worked. When I noticed that
near every set there was a table with several TVs and a VCR, she
explained that the TVs showed what the camera saw. She showed me
that there was a video camera attached to each film camera and
that it fed into the VCR. It allowed the directors to instantly
review the shot after each filming. Then she went on to explain
how critical lighting was and how important the lighting director
was. I hadn't realized how many people were involved in what
appeared to be a simple scene. 
Another thing that surprised me was watching Erin and the twins
doing their scenes. It was remarkable how comfortable Erin was in
front of the camera. Everything she did went off without a hitch
and she played her part as though she really was the person she
was portraying. The first time I had a chance to watch a scene
they just finished on a monitor, I was amazed at how convincing
Erin was. She acted so natural it was easy to forget that the
tall gorgeous blonde was actually my little sister and I could
see what they meant by 'the camera loving her'.
Around four o'clock Erin finished her last scene. Myrna said
something to her then she came to me and said, "Erin is going to
her trailer to change. The twins and I are having dinner at your
house tonight and I have to pick up some things. The twins are
going to be a few more minutes. I'll take Erin home, but the
twins rode in with me today. Would you mind taking them home with
you when they're finished? They won't be long."
"What happened to the limousines?"
"They were provided by the studio while we were in production.
The production is officially over, this is just pick-up work."
"No problem, I'll see you at the house."
When she left, Meg said, "We're done for today, I gotta get
going."
"What's the hurry?" 
"I have to do laundry and straighten up my place. Then I'm going
to take a long hot bath and go to bed."
"Boy, it must be tough getting old, do you need some help getting
to your car?"
She gave me the finger as she turned and walked away.
I called after her, "Be sure to put the phone next to your bed
for when your 'boyyyy friennnd' calls!"
It got me the finger again, this time with both hands.
I watched the twins until they finished, then they came to me and
said, "We're going to our trailer to get this makeup off and
change clothes. Give us a few minutes will you?
Everyone had left the set so I turned on the monitor and watched
the last scene they did with Erin. Something struck me as odd. I
watched it several times and it looked like the camera spent more
time on Erin than it did on the twins. There were several long
closeups on Erin and the camera seemed to favor her whenever she
had lines with the twins.      
About twenty minutes had gone by before I got to their trailer. I
knocked on the door and said, "Hi. It's Pete." There was some
scrambling around, then one of them yelled, "Come in," so I
stepped inside. 
The trailer I used when I was here was mobile. They towed it to
film sites and the rooms were small. This one was semi-permanent
and the room was much larger. There was a long couch, a wardrobe,
a makeup table with a couple chairs and a shelving unit that held
a TV and some sound equipment. Next to the table there was even a
small refrigerator. A door on one end of the room was slightly
open. It appeared to be a bathroom and a voice said, "Sit down
we'll be out in a minute. There's stuff in the fridge if you're
thirsty"
That sounded good so I went to the fridge and when I opened it
there was a selection of sodas and I was surprised to see a
six-pack of bottled beer. I was reaching for a cola when a voice
said, "You can have a beer if you want."
One of the girls was standing by the door to the bathroom. She
was wearing a bathrobe. The belt wasn't tied and it was hanging
slightly open. I could see some skin but enough of the robe was
wrapped around her so I couldn't really see anything. She stepped
into the room and said, "I'm thirsty too, I think I'll have a
beer," and she walked toward me causing the bathrobe to blow
open. She was naked beneath it. 
She never even looked at me. When she got next to me she bent
over, took out a beer, turned toward the bathroom and said, "Do
you want one?"
The other girl was now standing in the doorway. She was also
wearing a robe and it was untied as well. She stepped into the
room, put one hand on the door jam, put the other one on her hip
and struck a 'pose'. It caused the robe to open wide and when she
saw that I got a good look at her naked body as she said, "Yeah,
a beer sounds good."
The girl near me grabbed another beer then she turned toward me
and in a little girl voice she said, "Pete, the twist-top edges
are kind-of sharp. Would you open these for us?"
They were both looking at me now and I wondered how far they
would go, so I said, "Okay," and I took both bottles in my left
hand and reached toward her with my right. She'd been watching my
eyes, but she looked down at my hand as it got close to her. Her
eyes got big and I heard her gasp slightly when my knuckles
brushed her skin as I took the collar of her robe to protect my
fingers and I twisted off the top of both bottles. Then I handed
them back to her and said, "You're right, they are sharp,"  
I headed for the couch and sat down, waiting to see what they
would do next. With a quick glance at each other they both walked
over in front of me. Both robes were open now and I made a show
of staring at their bodies. They were both cute, but they still
looked like little girls. Their bodies were straight as strings,
neither one had a waistline. Their breasts were only small
bulges. I doubt if they needed brassieres but both had puffy
areola and prominent nipples that stuck out like small  erasers.
Their bodies seemed hairless, but I tried to keep my eyes above
their waists.
Finally, one of them asked, "Do you like what you see?"
I stretched the truth a little and said, "Sure, I love looking at
sexy naked girls. Which one are you?"
"I'm Lily. Do you think we're sexy?"
"Of course I do, don't you?"
"We think we're sexy but nobody else does."
"That's not what I hear."
"What do you mean?"
"There are reports of some pretty wild noises coming from here."
She looked at her sister, grinned and went to the TV. She turned
it on, pushed a button on the VCR and suddenly a girl appeared on
the TV. It was a porn tape and the girl was getting screwed in
both holes. She was moaning and shrieking at the top of her lungs
and the sound was turned up so loud it hurt my ears. I reached
over, turned the TV off and asked, "What's this all about?"
Rose answered, "We turn it on when we see people outside. Its fun
watching them freaking out."
"Aren't you worried about what they might think?"
"Yeah, they might think we're having a good time."
"C'mon girls, what's going on?"
Lily came close to me, looked up at me through half-closed
eyelids, in what she must have thought was a sexy pose and said,
"We're tired of the 'good little girl' image and we want to have
some fun. Would you like to have some fun with us?"
"Why me?"
"The girls at school say you've screwed every good looking girl
on campus. Some even brag about it. The rest say they'd have sex
with you anytime you asked. We guess you know what you're doing
and we want to know about sex."
I backed away from her a little and answered, "That's not true. I
haven't been with that many girls from school. But you girls are
almost eighteen years old. You mean to tell me you haven't had
sex yet?"
"Not really. Until recently Mom never let us out of her sight. We
talk about sex with her and she tells us about the nuts and bolts
of sex, but we get more info about real sex from the social
studies class at school than we get from her."
"So what do you want from me?" 
There was a moment of silence, then Lily said, "We want to know
more about sex and Mom said you'd show us how to, umm, do it."
"She said I should have sex with you?"
"Yup, that's what she said."
I almost laughed out loud. I knew Myrna hadn't said that. She may
have told them to talk with me about sex but I was sure she
hadn't said to have sex with me. I decided to have a little fun
with them and I said to Lily, "How tall are you?"
"Five feet."
"Bullshit. How tall are you?"
"Okay, four foot ten and a little bit."
"How much do you weight?"
"Almost ninety pounds."
I looked away as though I was thinking, and I said, "Let's see.
I'm six foot four and a little bit and I weigh almost two hundred
and forty pounds. What do you think would happen if I got on top
of you?"
"I uhh, I don't know."
I stood up, towered over her and said, "I'd crush you like a
grape, that's what! Now cut the bullshit, close your bathrobes
and tell me what your mom really said."
Lily reached for her robe but Rose moved between us, scowled up
at me and said, "What's the matter, aren't we pretty enough to
fuck?"
I grabbed her under her arms and lifted her until her face was
level with mine and said, "You're both cute as hell and you know
it, but I'm not going to have sex with either one of you. What I
will do however, is be the best friend you ever had. I'll talk to
you about anything including sex. I'll never lie to you and I
won't judge you. But whatever we talk about, I don't expect you
to lie to me."
"We can ask you anything?"
"Yes."
"And you won't tell Mom what we talked about?"
I put Rose down and Lily came over and stood next to her. 
I explained, "Your Mom doesn't want to know everything, she
realizes you girls are almost eighteen. She just wants you to be
safe and not make bad choices. That's why she asked me to look
out for you."
"Are we going to have to worry about you interfering?"
"No, not unless I see you doing something that's obviously unsafe
then I might ask to talk about it with you."
"What if we decide to have sex with someone?"
"Look, I'm not going to always be around and I'm not trying to be
a cop. I'm only here to help. I hope that you would talk to me
about it first. If not, I hope you would use good judgment."
Lily stepped forward a little and said, "Pick me up like you did
Rose."
Curious, I lifted her too. When her face was level with mine she
threw her arms around me and kissed me. It startled me and I
staggered back until my legs hit the couch, causing me to sit
down. She didn't jar loose, she continued kissing me for a second
then putting her feet on the cushions on each side me she stood
up. Her robe had opened and her pussy was now directly in front
of my face. I stared at it for a second. Except for a few wispy
hairs it was like looking at a baby. No evidence of lips or a
clit, there was simply a mound with a crease down the middle. 
When I finally looked up at her she was watching me and she had a
little smile on her face. 
I was a little flustered, but I said, "What's this all about?"
"We're gonna fuck you and we wanted you to see what we have to
offer."
I didn't want to say that she didn't have anything that I wanted,
so I said, "No, you're not gonna fuck me! Now get off me, we have
to go."
"Aren't we going to talk about sex?
"Not now, they're waiting for us at home. We'll talk about it
when we have more time."
Then she did something that shocked me. She moved her body
forward until her pussy touched the end of my nose. She moved up
and down a couple times then she jumped off the couch. The whole
thing didn't take more than a few seconds but it left me with the
faint odor of her womanhood and I have to admit it turned me on a
little. 
When she hit the floor, Rose gave her a dirty look and said,
"Let's get dressed." Lily followed Rose to the bathroom but just
before she passed through the bathroom door she stopped and
turned toward me. She let the bathrobe slip from her shoulders
and stood there for a second, completely naked. I know she was
trying to be sexy, but my turn-on quickly faded. From across the
room she still looked like a twelve year old.
When we got to my car I unlocked the passenger side and Lily
tried to get in the front seat, but Rose pulled her back and got
in first. Lily glared at her for a second before she slid in next
to her.
After what Rose did, I thought things might be strained between
them, but the minute I pulled away they started chattering away
with each other like nothing happened.
When we got to the house everyone was in the kitchen and the
kitchen table was piled high with take-out boxes from the local
Chinese restaurant. Myrna introduced the twins to Mom and Amy
while Erin was setting up the dining room table, so I went to my
room to wash up. When I got there I noticed my answering machine
light winking and there were seven messages! The first one was
Bill just wanting to say hello, the next was from Denise asking
me to call her back and one was from Cindy wanting to know when
I'd be home for her driving lesson. The rest were hang-ups from a
restricted number. The odd thing was that each time he called;
the restricted caller didn't hang up right away. I could hear
breathing but no-one said anything. 
I'd actually forgotten about the driving lesson, so I gave Cindy
a call. After I told her that I was kept at the studio until now,
she surprised me by saying, "Is Ms. Devon there yet?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"Digger told me. He said he talked to her a couple times today. I
uhh, think there's something going on between them. She picked
him up Saturday morning to take him to the doctor and I didn't
see them for the rest of the day."
"Where were they?"
"Digger called me from the doctor's office to say they were
finished and they were going to stop and have lunch. Then he
called to say they were going for a ride. Next he called and said
they were in Santa Barbara and they wouldn't be home till late.
They didn't get home until almost midnight! And yesterday she
picked him up for lunch, brought him back at five o'clock and
stayed for dinner."
"Good for them. It sounds like they're having a good time. What
did his doctor say?"
"He'll get the results from the tests on Friday. But Pete, Digger
and Ms. Devon are like, uhh, dating!"
I chuckled, "So what, they're old enough. And speaking of dating,
how are things between you and Jake?"
"They're okay, but how can Digger and her be dating, they just
met!"
"They're grown-ups, Cindy. I guess it doesn't take them as long
to make up their minds about things as it does kids like us."
There was a short pause before she said, "It doesn't take all of
us very long, I knew I liked you right away."
I didn't want to go down that road so I changed the subject.
"What do you mean that things between you and Jake are just okay?
I thought you guys liked each other."
"We do, but he wants to get serious."
"What do you mean by serious, is he trying to pressure you into
having sex or something? 
"No, it's just the opposite. Every time we get to that point he
jumps up and says we have to wait."
"Wait for what?"
"He wants to get married and he says we have to wait until we
graduate. It's that damn religious stuff."
"Married! You're going to get married?"
"No! I told him we were too young to even think about getting
married."
"What did he say about that?"
"He said he loves me and he has his mind made up." 
"Do you love him?"
"I like him a lot, but I don't want to get married and I don't
want to wait for another whole year to have sex."
"So you and he haven't umm, done anything yet?"
"No! We haven't even gone as far as you and I did and I'm getting
frustrated." 
"I'm sorry."
"I am too. I'd break up with him, but I do like him and he's the
first real boyfriend I ever had."
"That's not fair Cindy. Don't lead him on unless you're serious
about him."
"I know, I guess I'll have to make up my mind about what I want
to do. Anyway, what about the driving lessons, I'd really like to
get my license."
"I can't do it tonight but I'll be available for the rest of the
week."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

I didn't know how long dinner was going to last so I called
Monique but it went to voicemail so I said, "Hi girlfriend, it's
Pete. We have dinner guests here, if they leave early enough I'll
try you later. If not I'll call you tomorrow."
All through dinner Erin and the twins were talking about today's
filming and I noticed something interesting. The twins are almost
three years older and a lot more experienced than Erin and when
they tried to talk about something they constantly interrupted
each other. But when Erin said something they both stopped and
listened. Oddly, I saw that Myrna noticed it too. When we
finished it only took a few minutes to clean things up and after
a brief discussion with the twins, Erin asked mom if she could
ask Kelly over to meet them. Mom said okay and when they went
into Erin's room to call her, Amy, Mom, Myrna and I went into the
living room. 
There was a large envelope sitting on the coffee table. Mom
reached for it and said, "Pete, there are some financial things
in here we need to talk about. It all has to do with you and some
of it is very private. Do you mind if Myrna listens in for a
while?"
"No, not at all."
She reached into the envelope, pulled out what was obviously a
check and handed it to me. It was made out to Peter Baker/Stone
Management/CCS, and it was for twenty five thousand dollars!
Stunned, I looked first at Mom, then Amy and Myrna. They were all
three sober-faced. 
I stuttered, "W-Wow, this is a lot of money. I-Is there a
problem?"
Mom answered, "We're not sure, dear," and she nodded to Amy.
Amy said, "When I was first contacted by the studio about using
you in the pilot I talked with Myrna. She told me that typically
the amount we could ask, for someone like you without experience
would be a few thousand dollars. I talked to the director and it
was obvious that he really wanted to use you, so I was determined
I could negotiate for five thousand. But when they sent the
script over, they also sent a proposal to pay you fifteen
thousand dollars. So I immediately talked to Myrna about it."
She nodded to Myrna, who continued with, "Let me give you a
little background. When a studio agrees to fund a pilot, they're
using their own money unless they have additional backing. This
backing can come from a number of places. If it involves a major
star, the star will sometimes put up part of the money to get a
larger piece of the profits. For instance, I put up some of the
money for this pilot because I know my girls are marketable and
I'm pretty sure the pilot will be picked up. But when they sent
over the contract for you, it was for much more than normal. So I
asked some friends of mine in the legal department to find out
what was going on. No-one I talked to was able to find a reason
for it other than someone high up had insisted on it. As you
know, I've been doing this a long time and I have a lot of
friends. But I ran into a stone wall everywhere I asked, until a
few days ago, when a friend of mine in legal saw your name on
some documents. It was from a company in Spain agreeing to some
extra funding for you. Who do you know in Spain?"
Dumfounded, I answered, "I don't know anyone from there. I can't
imagine who it could be. So you can't find who's behind it?" "
"I didn't find out about the Spain thing until recently. Funding
and salaries are things you ordinarily don't talk about at the
studio. It's nobody's business and can cause problems. If people
find out you're poking around, actors especially, it can cause
trouble. We decided we would leave it alone and see what
happened."
"Who do you think it might be?"
"We thought it might be Nell Burger but it doesn't appear to be."
She held up this check and said, "For instance, there's no doubt
about who sent you this check, Burger's name is all over it."
"This check is for a lot more money. Is it in line with what you
expected?"
Myrna nodded to Amy, who said, "Yes, it's exactly what we
negotiated."
I sat back to think for a minute or two, then I said, "So, I have
forty thousand dollars?"
All three of them smiled before Amy said, "Uhh, not really.
That's one of the things we're here to talk about."
Just then Myrna's cell phone rang and she got up and went into
the kitchen to answer it.
Amy continued, "California law says twenty five percent of
anything a minor earns in things like the entertainment or
advertising world must go into a blocked account. As your agent,
we have to send that money to the court and they hold on to it
until you're eighteen. It's your money and it earns interest, but
no-one including you can touch it without going through a judge.
We forwarded money from the other check and we'll do the same
with this one. The law is there to stop unscrupulous people from
stealing money from minors. So out of the forty thousand you
earned this year, ten thousand is going into that account. That
leaves thirty thousand. Stone management acts as your agent and
we manage your accounts. An agent usually takes between ten and
twenty percent of the gross and a manager usually gets five to
ten percent, also of the gross. Stone was going to charge you a
flat five percent for everything, but this new contract is a lot
bigger and a lot more work, so we're going to up it to ten
percent. That's basically our cost and it amounts to four
thousand dollars. It cost you another couple thousand to join the
Actors Guild and several other union things. Then there's car
insurance, other normal expenses and the two biggies, state and
federal income taxes."
"Holy cow, am I broke!"
Amy answered, "Far from it and it's only the beginning. The
contract you have with Burgers is the real thing. You are
officially their spokesperson. You're going to be in newspaper
ads every week and starting next month they'll be running TV ads
also featuring you. But Mom and I have some concerns."
She pulled bound copy of something from the envelope, opened it
to a page with a red marker and said, "They're planning huge
sales pitches for each store. If you work out like I think you
will; they may want you there for every one. They have a lot of
stores Pete and they're from coast to coast."
"Wow! It sounds like I'm going to be busy. Does it umm, pay
extra?"
Mom and Amy both laughed and Amy said, "Oh yes, it pays a lot
extra. If all goes well, you'll make an awful lot of money."
"How much is an awful lot?"
They looked at each other and both smiled when Amy said, "This
contract is for ninety days. It's sort-of a feeler. They want to
find out if you can do the job and to find out what kind of an
impact you'll have on sales. It's for two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars."
I sat there stunned, waiting for it to sink in. Finally I gasped,
"Wow! Why are they paying that much for a nobody like me?"
Amy answered, "What they're paying you is nothing. Burgers is a
huge company. Their advertising budget rivals the GNP of a small
country. You're a bargain. An established model would cost many
times that. A top model would get that for just one appearance at
a major event."
"So, I have a job for three months?"
"Yes, but this is just the beginning. If you do well, and we know
you will, they are going to want you for an entire year. That's
when you'll start making big money but that's when you'll start
all that traveling."
"What do you mean by 'big money'?"
"In the next twelve months you could make close to a million
dollars from this contract alone."
"What do you mean by, 'this contract alone'?"
"It doesn't include extra appearances and/or TV spots."
My mind was numb. This was way too much information for me to
process all at once and I sat quietly for a while. Then, because
it was something I could understand, I asked, "So I'm doing okay
money-wise?"
"You're doing fine. After we put enough away for taxes you have
around sixteen thousand dollars in your account and starting in
two weeks you'll be getting sequence payments."
"You said that there were some problems?"
It was Mom that answered, "It's not a problem, its just that we
have concerns. This is supposed to be your summer vacation and it
could be the last one for a while. You could be working or
traveling for almost a year. Then there's the school thing. The
contract says they have it covered and Myrna says it can be done
with tutors and the Internet. But you'll probably miss your
senior year, which means football and all your friends."
I made up my mind and I interrupted her with, "Mom, I want to do
this. I really don't care that much about football and as you
know, I don't spend much time with people from school. But think
about it, Mom. I can give up a year of my life for a million
dollars!"
Myrna's voice cut in from behind us with, "Be careful what you
wish for, that was the director on the phone. The show just got
picked up. It's scheduled for the spring line-up and depending on
how the scene with you and Erin works out, you may have much more
to do."
Just then the doorbell rang and Erin ran and let Kelly in. I
hadn't seen her for a while and she looked different. She always
had nice breasts but they looked even bigger and she must be
working out because her stomach was flat as could be. She stopped
for a minute and looked at me. I flashed on the time that she had
sneaked into my room and what it felt like to make love to her.
When it first happened I thought I was with Marla, but I
remembered how she responded and I was thinking about it, when in
a quiet voice she said, "Hello Pete."
The way she said it was sexy as hell and suddenly I was turned
on.
There was a second of silence as I stared at her then Mom said,
"Erin, after you introduce Kelly to the twins, would you come
back here please?"
She nodded took Kelly to her room. I followed her with my eyes
until Amy bent close to me and whispered, "She' growing up isn't
she?"
Before I had a chance to answer Erin came back and said, "This is
about that scene with Pete and me isn't it?"
Myrna stepped forward and said, "Yes, do you know what it's
about?"
"Sure, the director told me all about it."
Myrna looked surprised and asked, "When did he talk to you?"
"This afternoon, right after you left. I think it'll be great."
"What did he tell you?"
"He said the first part will be me watching Pete cutting the
grass. I'll look at him, he'll look at me and they'll make it
like we really noticed each other for the first time. The next is
supposed to be a dream sequence. I'm wearing a long dress. Pete
is in tight pants and he's wearing one of those frilly white
shirts that's mostly unbuttoned. The stage will be full of smoke,
and when I walk out, Pete will take my hands. We swing around for
a while then Pete kisses me. It should really look neat."
Myrna blinked, looked over at Mom and said, "This is the first
I've heard of this angle." Then she looked at Erin and asked,
"Can you do this?"
"Sure, no problem."
"It won't bother you to kiss your brother."
"Heck no, I kiss Pete all the time."
"Yes, but I'm sure he's looking for more than just a casual
kiss."
Erin came over next to me, took my arm and said, "I know what
they're looking for." Then she looked at me and said, "We can do
this can't we Petey?"
It wasn't a question it was a statement and I smiled at her and
said, "Sure we can."
Mom said, "If you're supposed to be lovers, you know what's going
to happen when the tabloids find out that you're brother and
sister, don't you?"
Erin answered, "Sure, the show's ratings will triple."
"Yes, but there'll be a lot of nasty talk."
Myra looked thoughtful for a minute then she said, "Not
necessarily, I know a way to turn that around. We're going to
break some new ground here." 
Mom said, "Well if it won't happen until next spring I guess we
have plenty of time to figure it out. In the meantime, there are
some private things I need to talk with Pete about."
Amy went to her room and as Erin went to hers, Myrna came to me
and said, "You have a great career ahead of you, young man," and
she kissed me on the cheek and followed Erin to her room.
Mom and I were alone now and she looked at me and said, "You're
going to be spending time with that Burger woman aren't you?"
"I-I guess so."
"I want to meet her."
"Okay, why?"
"Sylvia says she's kind-of unusual."
"You talked with Sylvia about her?"
"Sure, I like to know about the women my son is sleeping with. If
you are going to be spending a lot of time with her I want to
meet her."
"Okay, I'll ask her, but I think she's going on a business trip
tomorrow."
"There's no hurry as long as I have a chance to talk with her.
And by the way, I hear you're going to take Denise to the dance
in Cantil this weekend."
I started to tell her about it when Myrna came out of Erin's room
and said to me, "The girls are having fun and they want to stay
for a while. I'm going to leave, would you mind dropping them at
the house?" 
I said okay and when she left I began to tell Mom about Denise
and what she was going through at school. When I told her that I
was going to have Jack Hedden show up as well, her eyes got big
and she asked, "How did you manage that?" I assumed she knew
about the airline deal so I told her how I was able to convince
Nell to join with them and how Jack Hedden was managed by Abe
Cohen. About half way through my conversation I noticed that mom
got a sober look on her face. 
When I asked why, she said, "You father never mentioned this to
me. I wonder if that's why he's been acting strange lately."
"How so?"
"He usually calls every night, but lately it's been two or three
times a week and when he calls he doesn't talk very long."
"He probably doesn't want to worry you. But it also might be
because he's so busy. He said that this training session was
going to be difficult. But just think of what'll happen when he
gets this rating, he'll be able to move up to a 747. That pays
more money and he said the routes are better."
She seemed to accept that and she looked like she felt better
when she said, "That's probably the reason."
I made a mental note to call Dad's cell later tonight.
Just then the girls came out of Erin's room and Erin ran to me
and asked, "Petey, would you take us to Fosters so we can get
some root beer floats?"
When I looked at Mom she nodded, so I said "Sure," and we all
headed to my car.


 




CHAPTER 98

	I drove away in kind-of a fog. The numbers we just talked about
were staggering and I was suddenly stricken with worry. Could I
really pull this off? What did they really expect of me? I was
brought back to earth by cries from my passengers when my
day-dreaming caused me to narrowly miss a parked car. 
The ice cream shop was crowded. Summer vacation was almost here,
school finals were out of the way and this place was the hangout
of a little older crowd of mostly seniors. I went in first to
find a table and the kids were all talking about what they were
going to do for the next couple of months. But when the twins
came in, things quieted down a little. Re-runs of their last show
were currently playing on local TV and they were getting looks
from most of the people. I found a table and we all ordered root
beer floats. We were waiting for our orders when I noticed Jake
and Cindy sitting at a table by themselves. 
Some kids came to our table to talk to the twins, so when I got
my drink I started toward Jake and Cindy's table to say hello but
they seemed to be arguing about something so I went to another
table and began talking to some guys I knew from school. 
I immediately noticed something was wrong. These were guys I used
to be with almost every day, guys who I used to joke with and
complain about school with. But something was different. They
seemed cooler toward me. 
I couldn't figure out what it was until one of them said, "So,
how does it feel to be a big movie star?"
I replied that I was just a minor player in a TV show, but
because of what I learned today I had a feeling that it might not
be the last time I heard something like this.
There was a small crowd of guys and girls gathered around our
table now and I went over and watched how the twins behaved. They
were bubbly, outgoing and obviously in their element. They
flirted with the guys and were nice to the girls and for the
first time I began to notice a subtle difference between them.
One of them, I could tell it was Lily because the lights were
bright enough that I could make out the tiny scar on Rose's chin,
would always respond first when someone asked a question or made
a comment. And I also noticed something else. The guys kept
trying to start conversations with Erin and Kelly. Both of them
were so pretty they made the twins appear plain by comparison and
I saw that the twins noticed it as well, because every time one
of the guys would try to start a conversation with Erin or Kelly,
one of the twins would do something or make a comment to turn the
attention back to them. But after while the kids left, so we
finished our drinks and as we got up to leave Cindy showed up. 
She said hello to the girls then she stepped close to me and
asked, "Pete, can you give me a lift home." 
I glanced at the table where she and Jake had been but another
couple was sitting there and when I looked back at Cindy she was
staring at the floor. So without comment I said, "No problem,"
and we headed for the car. 
I dropped the twins off first. Their house was a huge gated place
not far from where Kate and Ben live. I was going to walk them to
the door but they jumped out, waved at everyone and ran to the
gate. I waited until they were inside then I drove to Cindy's.
When I turned down her street I passed Myrna's BMW going the
other way and I looked in the rear-view mirror at Cindy. She had
seen it too and she was frowning. She'd been quiet all they way
home and as I walked her to her door I tried to ask about Jake,
but she just shook her head.
Next I dropped off Kelly and when I got home and turned off the
car, Erin said, "I hear you're going to take Denise to the dance
in Cantil this weekend."
I told her what was happening with Denise, then I asked, "Do you
want to come along?"
"Darn! That would be fun, but I uhh, have a date."
"A date! With who?"
"Well, it's not really a date. A bunch of us are going roller
skating Saturday night and we're going out for Pizza after."
"So, what's this about a date?"
"His name is Glenn. He's in my English class."
"How long has this been going on?"
She frowned, "Nothing is 'going on' we're just going to go
skating and have some pizza later. I asked Mom and she said it
was okay."
"Do you like this guy?"
"He's okay."
I guess I was frowning, because she asked, "What's wrong Petey?"
I sighed, "It's you, sis. You're a stone Fox and I worry about
you. I'm surprised you haven't been asked out before."
She smiled, "I have, Petey, I get asked out a lot. Guys from
school ask me all the time and so do guys from the studio."
"So you've been dating?"
"No I haven't. What happened the night you caught Kelly and me
with those guys, scared us Petey. It scared us a lot. Up until
then, Kelly and I figured we could take care of ourselves, but a
couple things happened that opened our eyes. Neither of us had
smoked grass before that night and we didn't realize what it
would do to us. Everybody says it's no big deal, but it is Petey.
I would never have done that kind of thing if it hadn't been for
the grass. It was like I didn't have a care in the world and that
the things the guys were doing to me were okay. I didn't even
like those guys and what they were doing to me didn't even feel
that good, but it was like I didn't care. But the thing that
scared us most was what it took for big guys like you and Jake to
handle them. It was the first time we realized that we could have
been in a lot of trouble."
"So you haven't had any experience with sex yet?"
"No I haven't, and except for you, neither has Kelly. We talk
about sex, but we were both pretty turned off after what happened
that night, especially after what we saw in the back of that van.
To me, it was the most disgusting thing I ever saw. I even have
nightmares about it once in a while."
I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm not encouraging you
to have sex and I don't pretend to be an authority, but that
wasn't sex. That was what happens when things like drugs or
alcohol are involved. Sex with the right person can be a very
special thing."
"I'm sure it is, but I have other things to think about right now
and it'll be a while before I get that picture out of my head."
"What other things?"
"The acting thing. I really love it, Pete. I want to do it for as
long as I can. I'll worry about sex some time in the future."
"So, what about this date?"
"It's not really a date, I just want to go out and have some fun
with kids my age. I uhh, may not be able to do that a lot from
now on."
"Is this kid a nice guy?"
"Yes he is. He's not a jock or anything and he's not all that
cute. But that's okay; I'm not ready for anything else right
now."
We got out of the car and she was starting for the house when she
suddenly turned and asked, "Am I really a Fox?"
"You're more than that sis, you're drop-dead gorgeous."
She said, "No I'm not," but she was smiling as she headed for the
house.
I called Monique when I got to my room but all I got was
voicemail again so I called Marla. Instead of saying "Hello," she
answered, "Again?"
"It's Pete, what does 'again' mean?"
She chuckled, "I thought it was Jay. He broke the 48 hour rule
and called me twice already today."
"What's the 48 hour rule?"
"You mean you don't know? The 48 hour rule is, "You never call a
girl for at least 48 hours after the first date." I guess guys
think it makes them appear needy or something."
"He must think you're something special."
"I guess he does. I think he's pretty special too."
I joked, "I'm jealous. I'm gonna miss that great-looking fanny of
yours."
This got a big laugh, then she said, "Well, I'm gonna miss a
certain part of you as well." Then she added, "But you don't need
me. You get more ass than a toilet seat."
"Not a great ass like yours."
"Bullshit! But speaking of great asses, where is your
girlfriend?"
"Isn't she with you?"
"No, she left after the newspaper interview this morning and we
haven't seen her since. She didn't even tell Tammy she was
leaving. We thought she was with you."
"No, I haven't talked to her since I left LaJolla. Whenever I
call her it just goes to voicemail."
"That's strange. If you hear from her let us know will you?" 
I told her I would and when I hung up I looked out at Amy's
bedroom widow. I was going to ask her if she'd heard from
Monique. But the light wasn't on so I went to bed.

	Some time later I was awakened by a rustling noise. I was facing
the wall so I turned over to see where the noise was coming from.
The blinds were partially open and there was enough moonlight to
make out a form sitting at my little table facing me. It looked
like it was a girl, but she was backlit and I couldn't make out
who it was. But the noise continued so I turned on the light next
to the bed. Cindy was sitting at my little table watching me. Her
clothes were in a pile next to her, her hand was on her pussy and
she was rubbing it like mad.
Stunned, I asked, "Cindy, what are you doing?"
Without missing a beat she replied, "What does it look like I'm
doing?"
"It's uhh, obvious. Why are you doing it?"
"I'm getting myself ready for you."
"Ready for what?"
"You're going to make love to me tonight."
I sat up in bed and said, "I already told you I wouldn't do that.
You have a boyfriend. Let him do it."
"He won't do it. He keeps saying he wants to wait until we're
married. Jake and I are done for now. We broke up tonight and I
don't want to wait anymore. I want you to make a woman of me and
I want you to do it now."
Thinking fast, I said, "I don't think having sex makes you a
woman. You're almost eighteen, you're smart, you're pretty and
you're terrific to be with. As far as I'm concerned you're
already a woman. I'm not going to make love to you, it's
something you should save for someone special. You'll regret it
if you don't."
She came to the bed and stood next to me bathed in the light from
the night stand. The messy growth of hair around her pussy was
gone. A small, neatly trimmed triangle above her vagina was all
that remained and I have to admit it was a turn on.
She stood for a minute looking at me then she said, "You are
someone special. I want you to make love to me and I'm not going
to regret it."
It was tough for me to say, "No, Cindy, I'm not going to do it.
It's not the right thing to do and it's not fair to Jake."
Without another word, she turned, picked up her jeans and
wriggled into them. Then she slipped on her shoes and said, "Jake
is history and I'm not going to be a virgin when this night is
over. I'm going to walk to the corner, I'm going to stick out my
thumb and I'm going to fuck the first guy that picks me up." 
I was sure she was bluffing and I lay back and watched her as she
left, closing the door quietly behind her. I waited a minute then
another and after another I went to the door and looked outside.
Her bicycle was there but she was gone. In a panic I threw on my
pants and shoes, grabbed a shirt and ran out the door after her.
Our house is the third one from the corner and when I got there a
car was pulled to the curb and Cindy was standing next to it
talking to someone through the window. I ran to her, grabbed her
by the arm and shouted to the person in the car, "Get the fuck
out of here."
The car roared away and Cindy said, "Are you ready to take me to
your room?"
We walked back to the room in silence. To tell the truth I was
still turned on by the sight of her naked body, but I was peeved
that she was forcing me into doing something I thought was wrong.
When we got to my room she went into the bathroom. I heard water
running and a minute later she was standing in front of me,
naked. 
I started to say something, but she put her finger on my lips to
silence me and she said, "Pete, please listen to me. I want to do
this. You took me places sexually I only dreamed about and it
woke something in me. But you wouldn't take it any farther. I
thought Jake would, but he refused me too. Well, Jake is gone and
I'm tired of waiting. I want to see what sex is all about and I
want it to be now. I just washed myself and I'm clean and ready
for you right now."
"But Cindy, aren't you still a virgin?"
"Uh-huh, but umm, not completely."
"I don't understand!"
"Jake and I were fooling around the other night and he put his
finger inside me."
It took me a second before her meaning dawned on me and I asked,
"He broke your cherry with his finger?"
"He uhh, has really big hands."
"Did he know what happened?"
"Yeah, he apologized about a million times. But it really wasn't
entirely his fault."
"What do you mean?" 
"I umm, sort-of pushed his arm a little."
I wanted to laugh but I thought better of it and I asked, "What
happened then?"
"It didn't really hurt but there was a tiny bit of blood. When he
saw it he ran around the room like a nut for a while, then he
insisted we go to Las Vegas and get married. I told him I didn't
want to get married but when I told him I'd have sex with him we
had a big fight."
"About what?"
"I'm not sure. He said he'd been looking for someone like me and
he wanted to wait until we were married. I told him I didn't want
to wait and that's when the fight started."
"So, you couldn't talk him into bed?
"I probably could have, but I was a little scared. I don't know
anything about sex and I probably would have messed things up.
That's why I came to you. I want to have sex, I want to have it
with you and I want to have it tonight."
"Why now and why with me?"
"It has to be now. After what we did together the other night
it's all I think about. I can't even concentrate when I'm at
school."
"Won't having sex make it worse?"
"I know it might seem silly to you, but once I start something I
have to finish it. I want to know what it's like to have a naked
body next to me and have someone like you inside me."
"And you were willing to find that out with a total stranger?"
"No, I knew you'd come after me."
I stared at her for a minute then I said, "What if the guy had
tried to force you into his car?"
"He wouldn't have. I told him I was sick and I was asking him if
he knew where the nearest free clinic was when you came running
up. He was tickled to death to get away from me."
"But Cindy, why me?"
"You must know how I feel about you. I like you a lot and I've
wanted you to be my first from the day I met you."
"But Cindy, it's uhh, not right."
"Yes it is! I know you don't feel the same way toward me, but
that's okay. I know you like me and that's enough. Knowing I
didn't have a chance with you I was going to settle for Jake. But
when he said he wanted to wait, I was actually glad."
Then she did a funny thing. She put her hands on her hips, glared
at me and said, "You're my fantasy Pete and like it or not,
you're going to make love to me tonight because I'm not going to
leave until you do."
There was a naked girl standing in front of me telling me I was
going to make love to her. Her jaw was set when she said it and
it was one of the cutest things I ever saw. I was getting turned
on again and when she saw the bulge in my pants she said, "I'm
getting cold standing here. Are you going to screw me or are we
going to talk all night?"
I felt a little defeated but if this was what she really wanted
to do, I wanted to make things as memorable as I could. First I
reached into the nightstand, took out a condom, opened it and lay
it on the bed next to my pillow. Then I took off my clothes and
pulled her into bed. She was shivering slightly so I pulled the
covers around us and held her for a while. She threw her leg over
me, pressed her body against me and when she began to warm up I
pushed her on her back and said, "So I'll know this for sure,
Jake is no longer around and you're positive you want to do
this?"
The bravado was gone and in a quiet voice she said, "Yes, Jake is
gone for good and yes I want to do this more than anything. But I
hope you understand that I'm new to this and you'll have to tell
me if I'm doing something wrong."
I touched her cheek and said, "Don't worry, you won't do anything
wrong. Would you like me to turn the light off?"
"No, I want to see everything."
I nodded and I began to make love to her. 

When I went to kiss her she threw her arms around me and hugged
me. The kiss was long, tender and there was a lot of tongue. She
was a great kisser and I was surprised at myself because we were
both out of breath when it ended. I was pretty turned-on when I
moved down and began touching and kissing her breasts. She began
moaning and seemed to be enjoying things until I suckled one of
her nipples. When I did, she twisted away from me and her body
tightened up. 
Shocked, I asked, "What's the matter?" 
It took her a few seconds before she was able to say, "Oh my God,
Pete. No-one's ever touched me like that. I never realized my
breasts were so sensitive."
"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful."
"NO! Don't be careful. You just surprised me, is all. Please do
it some more. Do it a LOT more."
I had never been with a girl who had such sensitive breasts. She
seemed to love what I was doing and it was fun watching her
writhing around moaning as I licked them and sucked her nipples.
Suddenly she cried out and her body stiffened. It was obvious
that she was Cuming. 
She pushed me away and lay there gasping for a full minute, then
she reached for me and crushed her lips against mine. I kissed
her back then I asked, "Are you okay?"
"Oh God yes, that was wonderful. Are you going to make love to me
now?"
"I am making love to you. This is what making love is all about
and I'm not finished."
"So we're going to uhh, do it now?"
"Not just yet, there are some things I'd like you to experience
first." 
She gave me a curious look and I kissed her quickly and said, "I
think you'll like what's next."
I kissed her breasts again and touched my tongue to each of her
nipples, causing her to gasp again and I began kissing my way
down her belly. I stopped at her belly button for a minute but
when I tried to spend some time there she pushed me away and
said, "No, it's too sensitive," so I continued downward. When I
got near her pussy I pulled my head back and looked at her. I was
amazed at how wet she was. Droplets of fluid were glistening off
the triangle of hairs and there was a huge wet spot beneath her.
I reached for my shirt and wiped her off a little then I lay my
head on her belly and lightly touched her pussy. Her body
stiffened and she pulled her legs together at first, but when I
began petting and caressing the lips of her pussy she began to
relax and I could hear her sighing quietly. I kept it up for a
while and watched her mound and outer lips turn bright red as
blood rushed to the area. Then, when the little silver bud of her
clit began peeking out I moved down pulled her legs apart a
little and touched my tongue to it. 
She groaned loudly, her body jerked and in a tiny voice she said,
"Pete, please stop!"
"Surprised, I asked, "Why, doesn't this feel good?"
"It feels wonderful. It's beyond anything I imagined. But I want
you in me, and I'd uhh, like to look at you first."
It took me a few seconds to realize what she meant. She wanted to
see my package! So I lay on my back beside her.
She got on her knees and looked closely at me. I'd been so busy
paying attention to her that my cock was not quite hard. She
looked at for a minute then she reached out and touched it. It
jumped when she did and she quickly pulled her hand away. But her
touch was enough and it quickly rose to attention. 
She stared for a long minute before she said, "I've read about
penises and I know how they work, plus I've seen pictures on the
Internet and I've seen Digger's when I help him shower and stuff,
but it looks bigger in person. Is every guy's thing this big?"
"I haven't paid attention to other guys."
"Do you think Jake's is this big?"
"I don't know, I've never seen it."
"Don't the guys on the football team shower together?"
"Yeah, but we don't look at each other down there. Besides, we're
not hard when we're in the shower."
"Oh."
She stared at it for a while then she said, "I'm really
excited."
"I am too."
"I can see that you are. I'm glad I affect you this way."
"You do. You're a very sexy girl."
"Thanks. Is it okay if I look at it for a minute?"
"Sure."
She looked at for a while, put her hand on it and squeezed it
slightly then she looked up and said, "It's really hard."
"It gets that way when a pretty girl touches it."
Suddenly she sat back and closed her eyes. I waited for a few
seconds then I asked, "Are you okay?"
She looked at me, and she was trembling when she said, "I'm kinda
scared. Will it hurt?"
"I don't think so; you're pretty wet down there."
She closed her eyes for a second then she opened them, set her
jaw and said, "I want to do it now."
I thought I'd calm her down and I said, "Okay, but first you have
to kiss me."
"Please Pete, let's do it now before I lose my nerve."
She seemed determined, so I said, "Kneel on top of me, put the
head in and take your time. You'll be fine."
She crawled up and straddled me. She was reaching for my cock
when I said, "Not yet, first you have to put the condom on."
"C-Can't you do that?"
"Sure I can, but I want you to remember doing this and make sure
it always happens."
She nodded and with shaking hands she unrolled the condom and put
it on me. She looked up at me and when I nodded she slid forward,
put the head against her vagina and slowly lowered herself. She
was so wet and slick it started in easily, but she stopped when
the head was barely in and closed her eyes. 
I asked, "Are you okay?"
"Uh-huh, but I guess I'm not a virgin anymore."
"Well, sort-of, but if you stop now you could probably say you
still are."
Her eyes were still closed when she said, "I don't want to stop,"
and she began to sink lower. I was about half way inside her and
it was really feeling good when suddenly she stopped. She
shuddered, her mouth dropped open and with a long low moan she
dropped down all the way. I was deep inside her now and I could
feel wetness running from her and dripping on my balls. She
leaned forward and hugged me until I asked, "Do you feel like a
virgin now?"
She whispered, "Oh God no," and she sat back up and started
moving up and down. 
I don't know how many times we made love but it turned out to be
a memorable night. After the third or fourth time for me I
couldn't cum any more but she was so enthusiastic I somehow
stayed hard and except for several trips to the bathroom for her
to replenish and expel fluids and for a rest period now and then,
it was almost non-stop sex. I used my last condom about four in
the morning. I told her about it then I fell into an exhausted
sleep. She woke me a short time later and in her little girl
voice she asked, "Petey, there's an all-night convenience store a
few blocks from here, could we go get some more?" 
All I really wanted to do was sleep, but she looked so
disappointed I dragged myself out of bed. I was putting on my
pants when I saw her go to my closet and take out a long-sleeved
shirt. She was putting it on over her naked body and I asked,
"What are you doing?"
"The night clerk there always leers at me when I stop by. This
time I'm going to give him something to leer at."
"What about the next time you go there?"
"Don't worry, after tonight he won't even look at me again."
"What are you gonna do?"
"You'll see.
She grabbed her purse and when we got in the car she scooted over
next to me. Her hair was tousled, all she had on was her shoes
and shirt and the shirt wasn't even buttoned all the way. The
transformation was amazing. The plain looking girl from down the
street looked sexy as hell and I couldn't help myself, I grabbed
her, kissed her and slipped my hand between her legs. She grabbed
my arm but she didn't pull it away, she said, "Put your fingers
inside me and make me cum. I've fantasized about someone doing
that to me in a car."
So I obliged her.
When we got to the convenience store she said, "Give me a minute
and when you come inside, look mean," and she jumped out of the
car. I was parked right in front and I could see the store was
empty except for a guy behind the counter. His eyes got big when
she ran inside and they got even bigger when she went to him,
bent toward and said something. Her shirt was open half way to
her waist. When she bent forward it hung loose and I'm sure he
could see all the way to her crotch. She started talking rapidly
and kept motioning to the car. After a few seconds he looked
toward me, then he backed away from her, and still staring at me
he pointed to something. Cindy turned and waved at me so I went
inside. 
When I got there she rushed over and gave me a big kiss. Then she
pointed to a display and in a loud voice she said "The condoms
are over here." 
I went to the display and there was a sign that said there was a
sale on a pack of thirty six so picked up a package. As I did,
Cindy picked up another small pack. I held up my package and
said, "Cindy, this is plenty."
She answered, "I know, I'll tell you about them later. By the
way, you go first, and be sure you glare at the guy at the
counter." 
When I went to the counter I stared at the guy. He looked scared
and he made my change so fast I found out later that he gave me
ten dollars too much. As I started for the car I heard Cindy say,
"Hey Rocky!" When I looked around she was standing at the counter
holding up her pack of condoms and she added, "We better get some
more, it might be a busy night," and she threw a bill on the
counter and followed me. 
As we drove away I asked, "What did you say to him?"
"I told him I was a working girl and you were my pimp. I said to
be very careful not to piss you off because word has it you're a
killer and that you always carry a gun. I don't think he'll
bother me any more."
"I see, and what's the extra pack of condoms for?"
"It's for Jake."
"Jake! You told me you and he were finished."
"We are, but what you showed me tonight was wonderful. I know I
can't have you and Jake is a great guy so I'm going to give him
another chance."
"I thought you said he wouldn't have sex with you?"
"Well, the problem was that I didn't press the issue. I didn't
know anything about sex and I was afraid I'd mess things up. I
know now that it's not a problem."
"But you said you broke up with him for good."
"I did. I did it because I wanted to know about sex and I
couldn't do it if I was going with him."
"So you decided to do it with me?"
"Yes. Amy said that if I insisted on having sex for the first
time I should have it with you."
"Amy said that?"
"Uh-huh. She said you'd understand, you'd be concerned with my
feelings and you wouldn't tell anyone about it. She was right,
you were wonderful. But it didn't take much convincing. I wanted
to do it with you anyway."
"How did you know I'd go along with it?"
"Amy told me you would if I handled it right. She even told me
how to do it."
I pulled the car up behind the garage, turned it off and said,
"What happened to that shy girl I used to know?"
"She's still around but she's not nearly as bad as she used to
be. I've learned how to be more confident from Amy and Erin. I'm
closer with them than any friends I ever had and they've taught
me a lot. I hope you know how wonderful they are are. Amy is
scary smart and one of the nicest people I ever met. Erin is
smart too and wise beyond her age. The only fault I see with
either of them is that they are both crazy about some
blond-haired dork that lives in their garage. But I guess they
can be forgiven, because I'm nuts about him too."
A little embarrassed, I said, "Well, I love them too and I'm
awfully fond of an oversexed friend of theirs. Speaking of which,
you say that those condoms are for Jake. How are you going to
handle that?"
"We almost did it once. The only reason we didn't was because I
was afraid of not knowing what to do. I know now and Jake's a
dead man."
"Aren't you afraid that he might know that you've been with
someone?"
"No, I know how to handle that. The girls won't tell him and
neither will Digger. He won't find out unless you tell him."
"I won't tell anyone, especially Jake."
"If I didn't know it would hurt him I almost wish you would. The
girls at school would have a cow if they knew we'd been
together."
"Did you just say Digger knows?"
"He probably does. He heard me when I left the house. He knows
how frustrated I was and I'm pretty sure he knows where I was
going. What do you want to bet he's awake when I get home?"
"He won't be mad?"
"No, he'll be happy for me. Especially since it was you. He likes
you a lot."
"So everyone knew we were gonna have sex tonight except me!"
"Yes and we're not finished."
"I'm almost afraid to ask. What do you have in mind now?"
"I want you to fuck me in the back seat of the car."
"What... now?"
"Yup! Jake won't ever do it because he's too much of a gentleman
and it may be a long time before I get someone else to do it. I
don't want you to make love to me, I just want you to fuck me and
I want you to do it right now."
She didn't open the door she just scrambled over the seat, opened
my shirt, spread her legs and sat there looking at me."
"Is this another of your fantasies?"
"Yes. Hurry back here and get on with it."
I was thinking that I should probably be mad at her for using me
like this, but she looked so damn sexy sitting there my cock got
hard. So I just laughed and climbed into the back seat. It took
me a few seconds to get my pants off, tear open the box of
condoms and get in the right position. When I was ready I reached
between her legs and she was sopping wet, so without hesitation I
plunged into her. 
When I did her eyes got big and she cried "Oh God!" 
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, yes, don't stop now."
It seemed like she wanted it rough, so I started slamming into
her. She responded by trying to keep up with me and we began
flailing around so much I was worried we were going to break a
window or something. She was more ready than I thought and it
didn't take long. And when she came she screamed so loudly I was
worried it would wake the neighbors. I stopped moving but she
grabbed me around the neck and continued to shudder and move
around for a full minute before she fell back and lay there with
her eyes closed. 
I looked at her lying there all askew. In spite of the wild sex
she still looked fragile and my heart went out to her. A lot of
things had happened to her tonight. She had insisted on given me
her virginity. I felt honored but should I have said no? Would
she have really gone to someone else if I had refused her? In the
short time I had known her I had watched her go from a shy, plain
girl to someone who knew what she wanted and set about getting
it. Even though Amy and Erin had more to do with her growth than
I did, I felt a part of it. But she was still a young girl and I
had an almost overwhelming urge to hug her and somehow protect
her. 
It was getting chilly in the car so I touched her and said,
"Let's go inside and get you dressed."
When we got inside she asked, "I'm a mess, can I take a shower?"
I nodded and she went into the bathroom. I heard the shower
start, then the door opened and she said, "Want to help me with
another fantasy?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I want you to shower with me."
I needed one as well, so I took off my clothes, but before I
joined her I cautioned her, "This can't be a long shower, the
water heater in here isn't very big."
"No problem, the one at home is small, so I know what to do."
We got in the shower and when we got wet she turned off the water
and said, "You first," and she began to soap me up. She stood on
her tip-toes and gave my hair a vigorous scrub then went over my
chest and legs. Then she turned me around, scrubbed my butt,
turned me back, washed my balls and began rapidly scrubbing my
cock. I hadn't cum when we were in the car and it got hard almost
at once. When it was at full attention she turned on the water
and watched me as I rinsed off.
When the soap was gone I turned off the water and said, "Okay,
now it's my turn," but she held up her hand, said, "Not yet," and
got on her knees. 
I said, "Cindy, no! You don't have to do that."
"Its okay, I want to. And don't worry, the girls at school told
me about the 'no teeth' rule," and she took the head of my cock
into her mouth.
There's more to oral sex then being careful about teeth but
there's no such thing as a bad blow job. She did her best, but
she never got much more than the head in her mouth. It was fun
watching her because she kept looking up at me to see if I was
enjoying it. So I closed my eyes and pretended it was the best
one I ever had, but I tried to cum as soon as possible. It still
took a while and when I began to feel that familiar urge I peeked
down at her. It's a good thing I was ready because it was clear
she was getting tired. She had a pained expression on her face
and it looked like her jaws were aching. 
When it finally happened I reached down and pulled her head away.
She surprised me by twisting away and she grabbed my cock, closed
her eyes and held it while I spurted on her face and neck. There
wasn't a lot because I was pretty used up but there was some on
one eyelid, a little on her chin and some on her neck. She opened
the other eye and looked me. Then she wiped her chin, looked at
it, smelled it and I think she was going to taste it but she
wrinkled her nose, turned on the water and rinsed off. 
When she finished she turned off the water and said, "The girls
on the internet always do that, I wanted to feel what it was
like" 
"Well, what was it like?"
She made a face and said, "I don't get it, it was umm, kind of
icky." Then she added, "I-I'm sorry Pete, the girls at school
said they swallow, but I just couldn't." 
I laughed, "Its okay, you don't have to do that on our first
date."
I meant it as a joke but she seemed serious, when in a low voice
she said, "I wish it was a date." She looked me for a second then
she bent forward and lay her head on my chest. It was a tender
moment and I wanted to say something but before I had a chance,
she asked, "Can you wash me now?" 
I washed her hair first. I massaged her scalp because every girl
I ever knew loved that. Then I took a wash cloth to her face,
shoulders and breasts. I soaped my hands up good and ran my palms
lightly over her nipples. When I did, she moaned softly and
whispered, "Oh God, I love it when you do that." I played there a
little longer, then I started on the rest of her. But when I got
to her crotch she jumped and said, "Oooo, be careful I'm really
tender down there."
"I'm sorry; I guess I was a little rough in the car."
"It's okay; I may walk funny for a few days but it was worth
it."
When I finished washing her I turned on the shower for a quick
rinse. When I got out of the shower to dry off she stepped under
the water and stayed there until it ran cold. I was waiting for
her with a fresh towel, and when she stepped out she had a dreamy
look on her face. I began drying her and I asked, "You okay?"
"Oh God yes, I never felt this good in my whole life. You're a
wonderful lover. This was a night I'll never forget."
I sat on the toilet seat to dry her legs and when I finished I
pulled her to me. My face was at crotch level and I looked up at
her and said, "That thing you did to me in the shower; would you
like me to return the favor?"
She pushed away from me and said, "It sounds wonderful but I'm
much too tender. Besides, it'll give me something to look forward
to with Jake."
I pulled her back to me, lay my head on her stomach and said,
"I'm going to miss you."
"Not as much as I'm going to miss you. I talked with Amy earlier
and she said that pretty soon you might be traveling a lot.
Besides, I hear you have a girlfriend and Amy says she's
beautiful."
I was suddenly in shock! I had completely forgotten about
Monique. Only a few days ago we had decided that we were going
together and here I was cheating on her. I began to feel
terrible. I was trying to figure out what to do about it when
Cindy kissed me on top of the head and asked, "Are you alright?"
There was no sense involving Cindy with this, so I looked up at
her and said, "I'm better than alright. I'm with the most
wonderful girl in the world. Why wouldn't I be all right?"
The words were barely out of my mouth when she said, "Stop! Don't
say any more unless you want me to fall in love with you more
than I already have. Let's keep this light. I'm so happy I could
cry and I don't want to spoil the mood."
I stood up and we kissed. It was a long luxurious kiss with a lot
of feeling. I thought my cock was dead for the evening but it was
getting hard and pressing against her when she pulled back and
said, "God I wish I wasn't so sore," then she turned away and
added, "Let's get dressed. It's time we got going before
something else happens; it's going to be hard enough for me to
walk as it is."
I put her bike in my trunk and on the short drive to her house
she talked incessantly. I had never seen her so animated, but it
was difficult to pay attention because I kept thinking about
Monique. 
Her house has a driveway alongside it so I pulled in. When we got
out Cindy came to me and hugged me. I hugged her back and we
stood there for a minute. It was wonderful holding her but I
couldn't help feeling guilty. Finally she looked up at me. The
sun was just coming up and I could see tears in her eyes when she
said, "We're going to stay friends aren't we?"
"Of course we are."
She started to leave then she turned back and said, "Thank you
for tonight my love."
Just then the door to her house opened and I saw Digger standing
in the doorway. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and said, "I
have to go, would you put my bike in the garage?"
I nodded and she ran to the house. When she got to the door she
stopped and kissed Digger before she went inside. I took her bike
to the garage and on the way back to the car, Digger said, "Pete,
could you hold on for a minute?"
There are some chairs on the porch. He sat down on one and said,
"I know it's late but sit with me for a minute."
I sat on a chair next to him and he said, "She seems very happy,
were you good to her tonight?"
"Yes sir."
"Well, I'm glad. It was time for her. Did you use protection?"
"Yes sir."
"And you're not going to tell anyone about this are you?"
"No sir, nobody at all."
"Good."
He was quiet for a minute then he said, "Did you and her make any
promises to each other?"
"Only that we would stay friends."
"That's too bad."
"Why?"
"I was hoping you'd be more than just friends."
"I'd like that, but it looks like I'm not going to be around very
much. Besides, I think Cindy wants to give Jake another try."
"He seems like a nice young man."
"He is. He's a great guy."
He was quiet again, then, "Myrna says you may have quite a career
ahead of you."
"I guess so. By the way, how are you and her getting along?"
"Very well, she's quite a woman."
A pause, then he continued, "You want to hear something funny?"
"Sure."
"The doctor says I have a pretty good chance of getting some
vision back."
"Wow! That's great news. What's the funny part?"
"When Myrna found out she seemed kind-of sad. I think that she
believes I won't like her when I see her for the first time."
"But that's silly. She's not a bad looking woman."
"I wouldn't care if she looked like Quasimoto. She pushes my
buttons like no woman has for a long time."
Suddenly he started laughing, then he said, "There's another
reason I'm glad that you and Cindy got together tonight."
"What's that?"
"Cindy won't be able to get on my case if I ask Myrna to stay
over some time."
Cindy's voice from the doorway behind us said, "I won't get on
your case as long as you don't make so much noise you keep me
awake all night." 
We looked toward her and Digger said, "What are you doing up, I
thought you went to bed?" 
She stepped onto the porch and said, "I was on my way there, but
I had to stop and look at the two men I love." 
It caught me by surprise and I looked at Digger. He had a little
smile on his face and he reached his hand to me. It wasn't for a
handshake; it was just so we could touch. I took his hand and
suddenly I felt a tremendous closeness to these two people. Cindy
said earlier that tonight had been something she would never
forget. I felt the same way, but especially about this moment.
The spell was broken when Cindy said, "But one of them better go
home before his mother sees he's missing and calls the cops. And
the other one better get his wrinkled old butt into bed before I
call his girlfriend and tell her what kind of plans he has for
her."
Cindy went to Digger and took his arm. She winked at me and began
leading him into the house. As I headed for the car I heard
Digger saying, "What do you mean, 'wrinkled old butt,' I'll have
you know that..."





CHAPTER 99

By the time I got home it was after five in the morning. Dead
tired, I threw myself into bed. I was sleeping so soundly I guess
I didn't hear it the first couple times it rang but when I
finally did I staggered to my phone. Myrna said, "Finally! I know
you were out late last night but you have to come to the studio.
They want to shoot the scene with Erin today. Take a quick
shower, but don't shave and be here ASAP!"
She sounded like she was a little annoyed, so I showered, threw
on my clothes and made a bee-line to the studio. When I got to
the set I was ushered to makeup where they told me to take off my
shirt and two older women began to work on me. They covered my
chest and arms with a spray that made me look like I was tanned,
then they put some jell on my hair and finally put something on
my beard. My hair is so light my beard doesn't really show until
it's two or three days old, but the stuff made it look darker and
when I looked in the mirror I looked like I had that short growth
that's so popular today. Then they worked on my eyes for a while.
I wanted to see what I looked like but they were in a hurry and
insisted I follow them. They took me to a room where one wall was
a large blue screen. One of the women pointed to a metal lawn
chair and said, "Have a seat but don't lean back or you'll screw
up the makeup. They'll be here in a few minutes." 
They left and I was alone. 
Perched uncomfortably on the chair I began to think about last
night. It was an amazing night and one I wouldn't soon forget.
Someone once told me that I fall in love with the girls I've been
intimate with. I'm not in love with Cindy but I feel a lot closer
to her than before and I began to think about what it must have
taken for her to come to me as she did. She knew what she wanted
and I saw how determined she was to make it happen, but I bet she
was terrified inside. 
Then I thought about how she looked and acted when we made love.
The rather plain looking, slightly awkward girl came alive. She
was enthusiastic about everything we did and she didn't hold back
at all. And she was very caring. She came to me with no
experience but she tried her best to make sure I enjoyed things
as well. I knew we couldn't continue to be lovers. I'm sure she
wanted more from me than I could give her and it wouldn't have
been fair to her. I hoped she realized it, because I really liked
having her as a friend. I almost wished that I was in love with
her. I knew she'd make someone a great girlfriend and much, much
more. 
Next I thought about Monique and immediately I was confused.
Where was she? Why hadn't she tried to contact me? There was
something wrong and I didn't know what it was. And on top of
everything there was Nell. She was doing a lot for me and she
told me I can date whoever I pleased as long as I could be with
her on occasion. I found that hard to believe. 
These thoughts and more were running through my head when the
director, Meg and a bunch of guys showed up. Meg came over and
said hello, but the director seemed not to notice me. I'm sure he
saw me sitting here but he didn't even say hello. I asked Meg
about it and she said, "He's concentrating. This guy is a pain in
the ass, but he's good. When he gets what he wants you're going
to be surprised at the outcome."
"It's hot in here and I'm getting a backache sitting in this damn
chair."
"Don't be a wimp! Erin went through the same thing this morning
and she didn't complain."
"How long is this going to take?"
"At least another hour, then we'll have lunch and we'll start on
the dance sequence. We probably won't finish until late tonight.
Myrna wants everything to be done by tonight, but I don't think
it's going to happen. I see at least one more day."
I watched the director spend over half an hour having people move
lights around and setting up camera shots. Finally he came to me
and for the next hour I stood with my hands on the mower. I
looked right, I looked left, I stared at fixed objects and he
spent part of the hour getting me to look serious, happy or sad.
But the hardest one of all was when he wanted me to stare at the
chair I'd been sitting in and, as he put it, "Pretend to make
love to it." 
I tried, but apparently it wasn't working. Finally he went to
Meg, and said something to her. She nodded, came over to me,
leaned in and quietly asked, "Would you still like to fuck me?"
I was caught completely off guard and I stuttered, "Uhh,
Y-Yeah."
She said, "Good. Pretend it's going to happen," and she went over
and stood by the chair. 
It took me a second to realize what just happened. She'd set
herself up as the object instead of a chair. I wanted to laugh,
but a quick look around at all the people that were waiting for
me to do something made me realize that this was serious
business. So I tried to concentrate on her. I tried to think of
what it might be like to actually have sex with her. I hadn't
seen her naked, but on two different occasions I'd seen her in a
bathing suit that had left little to the imagination, so I knew
she had a great body. The thought of making love with her was
exciting and as I thought about it, it must have showed on my
face because the cameraman began moving around me and a few
minutes later the director said, "That's it...cut," and everyone
started packing things up.
I went to Meg and asked, "Well, was it good for you?"
She raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh yeah, that was the best lay I
ever had. C'mon, let's go eat," and headed for the door. 
I caught her before she got there. "I'm half naked, you want me
to go outside like this?"
"Yes. Don't put a shirt on just yet or you'll ruin your makeup.
They're reviewing things now and they may want you to come
back."
I'd seen people walking around in full makeup before and I'd
wondered what it would be like. 
On the way to the lunch room I got several looks from girls and
when one really pretty one looked at me I winked at her.
When Meg saw it she joked, "Fine! You have your way with me and
now you're looking for greener pastures."
"So far, the only 'way' I've had with you has been me standing at
the fence watching you and another bull frolic in the pasture."
She grinned and came back with, "Maybe I didn't want to be just
another heifer in your herd."
"My herd may be thinning out. Have you talked to Marla or Tammy
today?"
"Is it about Monique?"
"Yes, have you heard anything?"
"I talked to Marla this morning. She says she hasn't heard a word
from her."
"I haven't either."
"That's strange, I hope she's okay."
I agreed that it was strange and after we hung up I made a mental
note to call Mom at the office to see if they'd heard from her.
When we got to the lunch room Myrna and Erin were just leaving.
Myrna caught Meg and said, "When you get finished with lunch take
him to stage six and see Calvin. We have a dress rehearsal
scheduled for three o'clock; get him to Calvin no later than two
fifteen."
They left and when we got our lunches I noticed that Meg just had
a salad and iced tea. When I asked what was going on, she hung
her head and said, "None of your business."
I stared at her for a minute before it hit me. I grinned as wide
as I could and said, "You have a boyfriend now and you want to
keep your girlish figure!"
"Shut up!"
"Wait, there's more! You finally got laid and you're so happy
about it you're afraid you'll get fat."
She blushed, waved her plastic fork at me and said, "Shut up or
you'll be sorry."
I held my hands up and said, "I surrender, I never argue with a
girl who's armed," then I grabbed her hand, kissed it and said,
"But I couldn't be happier for you. Lane seems like a good guy. I
hope he knows he's found a terrific girl."
She dropped her eyes and mumbled, "Thanks, I think he's pretty
terrific too."
"Good, now who's Calvin?"
"He's in wardrobe. When we're done here I'll take you to him and
he'll dress you."
We finished lunch and we had plenty of time so we were taking a
leisurely walk to wardrobe when my cell phone vibrated. When I
answered, a woman's voice said, "Hello dear." It took me a second
to realize who it was before I asked, "Aunt Kate?"
"So I'm 'Aunt Kate' again, huh? Well, your Mom tells me you're
going to Cantil this weekend."
"Yeah, I'm going to take Denise to the dance."
"When are you leaving?"
"I thought I'd go up Saturday afternoon. Why?"
"And you plan on coming home late Saturday night?"
"I guess so."
"Why don't you stay until Sunday? Ben and I haven't been there
much lately because of the baby and the horses could sure use a
workout."
"Doesn't Jose exercise them?" 
"Not as much as he should, his wife is pregnant again and I guess
there are some complications. He and his family are living in the
outbuildings now and he stays pretty close to her. But the main
house is empty. Why don't you bring some friends? There's plenty
of room and the kitchen is well stocked."
"That sounds like fun, let me get back to you."
When I hung up I turned to Meg and asked, "What are you doing
next weekend?"
"I'm not sure. I know Lane wants to get together, but we don't
have plans yet."
I explained to her about Denise and the dance then I told her
about the ranch and the horses. The minute I mentioned horses she
perked up and told me how much she loved to ride. She said she'd
check with Lane and let me know.
When we got to wardrobe Meg introduced me to Calvin. He was about
five foot three and couldn't have weighed than one-thirty. He
took one look at me and gushed, "Oh my God, nobody told me you
were a giant!" Then he walked all around me, said, "Go wash off
that nasty make up and meet me back here," and he flitted away.
I looked at Meg and made a face. She grinned, "I know, but don't
worry I'll protect you. If he tries to make a pass at you I'll
kick his ass."
We both laughed then she pointed to a room. "That's the locker
room. Go shower and when you come out put your pants back on, put
your wallet and the rest of your clothes in a locker and take the
key. Then come back here. He'll have everything you need."   
I did as she asked and when I came back Calvin was waiting. He
handed me a white shirt and insisted on helping me on with it. It
felt like silk. It was form-fitting and after he pulled and
tugged at it for a while it felt pretty good. Then he handed me a
pair of pants and stood there waiting for me to put them on. They
were some kind of smooth material and they were heavier than I
expected. I looked around us and we were alone, so put them on a
chair, turned my back to him and took off my pants. When I
reached for the pants he brought, he said, "No shorts, we want a
smooth line." 
I glanced at Meg, frowned and I was about to say something when
Meg stepped between us, leaned close and said, "Don't be such a
baby. Drop the shorts and put on the pants."
She had a little grin on her face and I thought to myself, "She's
doing this to tease me," so I turned toward her, pulled down my
shorts and let them slide to the floor. 
She was looking at my face but I saw her eyes flicker. I knew she
wanted to look down but when she saw me watching her she kept her
eyes glued to mine. I reached over and grabbed the pants and as I
was putting them on they were kind of tight, so before I could
zip them up I had to tuck everything in. I looked away from her
for a second and when I looked back I caught her staring at my
crotch. I remembered that in La Jolla, she had seen my naked butt
when she'd come into my room and caught me on top of Marla, So I
leaned toward her, "Well, you've seen both sides of me now, which
one do you like better?" She gave me a dirty look and turned
away, but I noticed her face was flushed.
Calvin asked, "How do they feel?"
"They fit okay but they seem heavier than I thought they'd be."
"Move around a little."
"I did and I was surprised that even though they were tight I had
no trouble moving. When I described it to Calvin he asked,
"You're going to be dancing aren't you?"
"A little bit, I guess."
"They're satin lined! Even if you perspire you won't have any
trouble moving. Try these."
He handed me some calf-high black socks and a shiny pair of what
appeared to be brand new patent leather shoes. I put on the socks
and when I slipped on the shoes it was like stepping into a well
worn pair of old friends. They fit perfectly.
I said to him, "Everything fits great and you didn't even measure
me. How did you do that?"
He stuck his nose in the air and said, "It's what I do! Now take
the shirt off and go to makeup. When you're finished come back
here."
Meg stayed to make a phone call and I went back to makeup. This
time they trimmed my hair a little and worked on my face and
eyes. When they finished I went back to Calvin and as I was
putting on the shirt, Meg said, "I left a message for Lane about
this weekend."
I was about to answer her when Calvin glared at us, so we got
quiet as he pulled and tugged everything into place. Then he told
me to hold my arms out wide and twirl around a few times. I felt
silly doing it but after I did, he nodded, "You're as ready as
you're ever going to be," and he just walked away! 
Meg looked at me for a minute and said, "Not bad, take a look."
She took me to the corner of the area where there was a full
length mirror. 
I couldn't believe the image looking back at me. I looked at
least twenty five. The tight black pants made my waist look thin
and the white shirt with the three top buttons undone, made my
chest look huge. 
I turned to Meg, "I thought I was going to dance with Erin. This
get-up makes me look like a body builder not a dancer and I sure
as heck don't look like a high school kid."
"I know, everyone's been complaining about how big you are, but
that's the way it is and they'll work around it. And the script
has you as the next door neighbor; it doesn't say you're in high
school."
Next I followed her to another area that was blocked off. When we
go there the director's assistant was standing outside a closed
door. Meg went to him and after a short conversation said, "We
can't go in right now, follow me." We went outside and she led us
to a lunch cart that was serving coffee and soft drinks. 
I asked, "What's happening?"
"Erin is in there right now. It'll be a few minutes."
"Can't we go watch what she's doing?"
"No, you'll find out why in a little while. Have a Coke or
something, they'll call me when they're ready."
I ordered us a couple soft drinks and walked over to a bench. I
was about to sit down when Meg cried, "No! Don't sit down or
you'll wrinkle the pants."
"You mean I have to stand here until they're ready?"
"Yes, and don't complain, they're paying you a lot of money for
this."
She was right, but last night was catching up with me and I was
getting tired. So I went over to lean against a light pole. Meg
immediately said, "No! You'll get the shirt dirty!"
So I stood there like a statue, trying not to fall asleep. It was
a half hour before Meg's phone buzzed. After hanging up she said,
"They're ready for us," and we made our way back to the set. 
The room was quite large, at least thirty feet square and the
walls were that same familiar shade of blue. The director was
there with several other people including a tall, very attractive
brunette. She was dressed in jeans, her hair was in a pony tail
and she had a killer body. When we walked up, the director
introduced her as Carmen, and said she was going to help me with
something called 'Placement'.  
There were taped 'Xs' on the floor, and for the next hour she
lead  me from one spot to another, while the director made
comments and had an assistant move the tape around. It was
exasperating how slowly things went. She would take me to a spot,
I would stand there and she would go back to the director and
they would discuss lighting, flow and a dozen other things. I
probably should have been nervous, but I was so tired I just
stood there until she came back. Then she would take me to
another spot and the whole thing would start over. 
When they decided that things were where they wanted them, the
director came to me and said, "You look more relaxed than I
expected. Here is what we're looking for. You enter a room and a
moment later a girl comes in. You know her because you've seen
her next door, but she's never looked like she does now and
suddenly you're absolutely floored by her. You might even be in
love. You go to her and take her hands and the two of you circle
each other for a while as the feeling builds for each of you, and
finally you stop, pull her to you and kiss her. I know she's your
sister, can you do it and make it look convincing?"
"Yes sir. Erin and I talked about it and I'm sure we can."
"Okay, let's practice." He nodded to the girl and she took me to
the spot with the biggest X. Then one of the assistants went to a
table where a tape player was sitting and touched a button. A
slow tune filled the room and when Carmen went to one of the
other X's the director said to me, "Walk toward her. Do it slowly
and when you get there take her hands."
I took three steps before he said, "Stop!" He nodded to one of
his assistants who came over next to me, and when the director
nodded, he took three slow steps, two quick ones and four more
slow ones. By then he was at the girl and he reached for her
hands. 
The director said, "Again," and he came back and did it again.
The way he moved looked like something out of an old movie Mom
loved to watch whenever it came on TV. The Actor was a guy named
Gene Kelly, and I think if someone else had done it that way it
would have looked effeminate. But he pulled it off, so I gave it
a try. 
It didn't work.
I tried it several times and it just didn't feel right so the
next time I eliminated the stutter step. I started slow and
gradually increased my stride until I got close to her then I
slowed and took her hands. I saw Meg out of the corner of my eye
and she seemed surprised and a little nervous, but the director
said, "Okay, good." 
The way I did it must have been okay because when I looked at Meg
she seemed relieved.
Then the director told us to dance around in circles. So still
holding hands we began circling each other. It didn't seem to be
working and the director said to me, "Pay attention to where you
are in the room, but remember that you are supposed to be in
love. Look like you mean it."
It was strange looking at a stranger and pretending I was in
love, especially when the girl was more interested in our dance
routine than she was with me. But I tried.
It bothered me a little. She was an attractive girl and I had
tried to turn on the charm, but all she did was look down to see
where we were on the floor and when I misunderstood where we were
headed she would tug me harshly into position. 
We circled around for a while until the director said "Okay,
that's enough," and he turned to his assistants. They began
pointing to us and saying things. I couldn't hear what it was but
it looked like they didn't like what they saw, so I went over to
him and said, "Sir, Carmen seems to be angry, am I doing
something wrong?"
"No, you're doing fine and so is Carmen. Her job is to show you
where you need to be on the floor for the best lighting and
camera angles."
"Why aren't Erin and I doing this?"
"We're after something special you'll see what it is in a few
minutes. Now do it again with Carmen and try to remember where
you are on the floor. The tape won't be there because we're using
low-level smoke."
I wasn't quite sure what that meant but Carmen came back and we
did the same thing over and over, stopping at each different tape
mark. I began to get what she wanted and I started to line up the
marks with different parts of the room, and once I did I was able
to lead her there without looking at the marks very often. The
director must have noticed it, because he said, "Okay, one more
time and this time forget about the marks. Remember where you're
supposed to be and just look at each other."
They started the music again and we went into the routine. By the
second time around I had it down and I began staring at her like
the director suggested, but she was still busy concentrating. We
were almost to the end of the third sequence when I noticed she
mistakenly tried to turn the wrong way. I caught it and when I
turned her back the proper direction she gave me a dirty look,
but we finished okay and the director seemed satisfied and told
us to take a break.
I went to Meg and asked, "Why did you look so strange when I
talked to the director about changing that stutter-step?"
"He must like you because nobody changes things when he's
directing. I've seen him walk away from an entire picture when
someone changed so-much as a simple thing."
"What about Carmen, why does she seem so hostile?"
"She's an actress, but she also thinks she's a dancer. She was up
for a part in a movie recently and they chose someone else. The
director gave her this gig as a favor. She doesn't know how well
you dance and she doesn't know how important you'll soon become.
I guess she thinks it's beneath her to try and teach a nobody
like you how to move."
I said, "She does huh," and I went to director and asked, "How
long will it be before you need me again?"
"About fifteen minutes. There's time if you need the rest room?"
I went to the tape player, reset it and turned the volume up a
little. Then I walked over to the girl and stood with my arm out
in the classic dance pose. She looked at me and rolled her eyes,
but she came over to me. I know she thought I was asking her to
show me how to dance, but the second she was in my arms I swept
her into a waltz. It took her a second to realize what I was
doing and she started to follow me. I exaggerated some moves
slightly and she tried to follow but it soon became evident that
she wasn't very good. We'd only been dancing for a couple of
minutes when I felt a tap on the shoulder and someone said, "Hold
it." We stopped and Delores Rio shouldered Carmen aside and said,
"C'mon Pete, let's show them how it's done." Delores is a really
good dancer and I was having fun until the director shut the tape
player off and said I had to stop because he didn't want me all
sweaty. 
I asked Delores, "What are you doing here?"
"I heard you were shooting today and I thought I'd come by and
watch. Is Erin Swan really your sister?"
"Uh-huh."
"And you're going to do a love scene with her?"
"It's not a love scene; all we're going to do is kiss."
"This should be interesting; everyone is talking about it."
Just then things started to move fast. Myrna and the twins showed
up and some guys came in with smoke canisters. A make-up girl
came to me, led me over to where the starting X was and began
touching things up. 
There were two cameras today. One was shoulder-mounted and the
guy carrying it was off to the side with the camera pointed at
me. The other one was on a dolly and it was behind me on my
right, pointed at the entry door in front of me. 
There was a smoke layer on the floor a few inches high now and as
it started to get higher the director came to me and said, "This
is a dream sequence. You've seen the girl next door and you're
attracted to her. But she's always been dressed casually with her
hair in a pony tail. When she comes in the door she'll be in full
make-up and I want you look surprised. You'll go to her, take her
hands and swing around with her just like you rehearsed, and when
I say stop, you'll look at each other for a while then you'll
take her in your arms and kiss her. I'll be talking to you the
whole time. You'll have some dialog, but we'll dub it later. Are
you ready?"
"Yes sir."
"Okay, look at the door," then he pointed to each camera and
nodded. 
I heard the whirr of the cameras and minute later the door opened
and a girl stepped into the room. She was wearing a white dress
and she was walking with her head down. Then she stopped and
looked up at me. It was like an electric shock went through me.
It was Erin and she was so beautiful it took my breath away! Her
hair was a mass of waves that hung to her shoulders and framed
her face. The dress was simple, with short sleeves and a scoop
neck. It wasn't low-cut but her breasts were so full and the
cleavage so deep it made her bust look huge and her waist look
tiny. She looked sexy as hell. But the main thing was her face.
They had done something with her eyes that made them stand out
like blue beacons. I was stunned. I was supposed to go to her and
take her hands, but I couldn't move. The director called, "Cut,"
but when I looked at him he didn't seem mad, instead he said,
"Erin, stay where you are. Pete, back up a few steps, then
continue like before."
I backed up a little and when he called, "Action", I went to her
and took her hands. We began circling around like I'd done before
but we hadn't taken more than a few steps when he cried, "Cut,"
and said, "Relax kids, take five," and he walked to the dolly
camera. 
I was still holding Erin's hands and I said, "Do you know how
beautiful you are?"
"They did me up pretty good didn't they Petey? They said they
wanted to film your expression when you first saw me."
"So that's why they kept us apart."
"Uh-huh. I wish Mom and Dad could see me now."
A voice next to us said, "I see you dear, and you really are
beautiful."
Mom was standing next to Myrna with a huge smile on her face.
Erin started toward her, but a make-up girl yelled, "NO! No
touching or hugging anyone but Pete until this scene is
finished."
Just then the director called, "Places everyone," and we resumed
our dance. We did it five or six times until the director was
satisfied, then we took another break and Erin and I went over to
where everyone was standing. Someone brought us all water and the
twins and Myrna were complimenting Erin on how she looked when
one of the twins said to me, "Erin says you are going to stay at
a ranch this weekend and ride horses. Can we come?"
I thought to myself, 'The twins are even more famous than Jack
Hedden, I'm sure they would go along with what I have planned for
Denise,' so I said, "Sure, have you asked your mom?" 
"Not yet, we wanted to ask you first."
"No problem under two conditions. You have to dress differently
so I can tell you apart and the other one is something I'll tell
about later."
The director motioned for Erin and me to join him, so we left our
group and he said, "Okay, here is what I want next. You'll go
back and hold hands like before then make one more circle and
stop. 
Pete, you'll look at her then you'll pull her to you."
Erin, you'll come willingly and when you get close I want you to
look into his eyes like he's the love of your life."
Erin surprised me by saying, "He IS the love of my life. He's the
best brother in the world and we aren't going to have a problem
with this." She looked at me and said, "Are we Petey."
It wasn't a question it was a statement. I answered, "No Sis, no
problem at all."
It went off without a problem. I'm not sure if it was because
Myrna and mom were both there, but the director did the kissing
scene in only two takes. 
We did the final circle thing at least five times. We stopped and
looked at each other and he shot that at least six or seven
times, telling us to get closer, back up a little or hold our
heads differently, but the kissing was done with him standing not
more than two feet away just out of camera. He said, "Slowly now,
get closer, closer, STOP! Now breathe for a second."
Erin surprised me again by saying to him, "Don't worry so much,
we can handle this."
And we kissed.
It started out to be a chaste kiss on my part but Erin pulled me
into a real kiss and sister or not I have to say I was affected
by her intensity. 
The director said, "Hold it, hold it, hold it, okay let her go,
and all the time the shoulder mounted camera guy was moving
around getting different angles. Then he said, "Do it again." 
I was a little curious about how I felt about this, so this time
I kissed her for real! No tongue, but a lot of feeling and plenty
of moving around like I would do if I was with someone other than
her. I was surprised at how she responded. She kissed me back
with such emotion it would have been easy to forget it was Erin I
was kissing. But Erin didn't seem to be affected and when the
director said, "Back slowly away," then, "Cut!" She immediately
turned to him and asked if we did okay. 
He answered, "Fine kids, that'll do it."
For a second I was bothered. I like kissing girls and I thought I
was pretty good at it. For her to stop like that and show no
emotion seemed strange until I noticed she was darting looks at
me and she was blushing.
I thought we were finished, but Myrna said we had to do some
still shots and the still photographer was on the way, so we had
a few minutes. I went to Mom and said, "I'm glad you showed up.
It went well didn't it?"
"Yes, it went beautifully. I wanted to see how you kids handled
it and you both did fine. But there are a couple other reasons I
came. First off, have you heard from Monique?"
"No, she hasn't answered her phone lately. Why?"
"We got an odd phone call at work. It was from the office of
something called Selinco International and it seems to have
something to do with her. They want to meet with us tomorrow. We
haven't heard from her in several days. Do you know anything
about it?
"No, nothing at all."
"Hmm, okay, the other reason is, I told you I wanted to talk to
Nell Burger. Well, I left a message for her at Burger's main
office and she called me back. I'm going to meet with her now, so
I'd like you to take Erin home."
"No problem, what are you and Nell going to talk about?"
"I want to know exactly what's going on between you and her.
After all dear, she's a married woman."
"She says it's just a marriage of convenience."
"Dear, you are only seventeen years old. I want to know exactly
what her plans are and I want to hear it from her."
"Where are you going to meet her?"
She showed me the address of the Venice house and I was thinking
that I would love to be there for that conversation. Mom can be
very forceful when she wants to be, but Nell didn't get to where
she is by being passive. 
Mom left right after the photographer got here. A minute later
the twins dragged Myrna over to me and she said, "The twins want
to go away with you this weekend. Your mother told me about your
friend there and about the dance and Cantil. I'm sure they'd
enjoy it, are you sure you don't mind?"
"No, I don't mind at all. Is it okay for them to ride the
horses?"
"They're both experienced riders. It's not the horses I'm
concerned about. This will be the first time they've been
somewhere without me and they can get a little unruly at times.
But they promised me they'd be on their best behavior." She
stopped, glared at the girls and said, "Didn't you?"
They were nodding so hard they were almost jumping up and down.
She turned back to me and asked, "Will you promise me you'll keep
your eye on them?"
After what she said I was a little apprehensive, but they looked
so happy and anxious I took a chance and said, "Of course I
will." 
Myrna and the twins left and after another round at makeup, Erin
and I spent nearly two hours having our pictures taken. It was
almost eight by the time we left and we were starved, so we
stopped at McDonalds, and over dinner I asked, "How did you feel
about the kiss?"
The blush returned and she looked down and said, "It was uhh,
good. Amy said you were a good kisser. I guess you are."
"The fact that it was me didn't bother you?"
The blush faded and she smiled, looked up and said, "No. I'm glad
it was you. I wanted to make this look real and I don't know if I
could have done it with some stranger."
I suddenly realized that I had been a lot more worried about this
then she was and I chuckled to myself. 
We had both cleaned up and changed clothes before we left and the
pony-tailed girl in jeans and a sweat shirt with ketchup on her
chin who was sitting across from me didn't look like the gorgeous
creature I had kissed earlier. But she was still beautiful. It
wasn't sexual, but I don't think I'll ever get the way she looked
today out of my head.
When we got home Mom wasn't there yet and Amy wanted to know all
about what happened. We sat on the couch and I listened to Erin
telling her all about body position, camera angles and such. Amy
listened as long as she could then she looked at me and asked,
"How did she look?"
 I smiled and said, "So beautiful you wouldn't believe it. But I
don't think it was her, they probably used a double."
Erin cried, "Petey!" and she hit me on the arm.
I quickly added, "I'm sure it wasn't her. The girl at the studio
was not only beautiful, she was nice."  
Amy followed up with, "That settles it. It couldn't have been
her."
Erin jumped up, stuck her tongue at us and said, "You guys have
all the fun you want. I'm going to my room. I'm going to call
Kelly and tell her what a rotten family I have," and she left.
But she had a big smile on her face.
Amy sobered quickly and said, "I wish I could have been there,
but there was too much to do at work. Did mom tell you about the
people who called?"
"Yeah, I don't know what's up with that. Let me try Monique right
now? 
I called her on my cell but again, all I got was voicemail. So I
shrugged and asked, "Do you have Alice's cell phone number?"
"I talked to her this morning and she said she hadn't heard from
Monique, but I think she knows more than she's telling. We have
an appointment at ten tomorrow with the people who called today.
Maybe we'll know then. What are you doing tomorrow?"
"I have some voice-overs in the morning. I'll call you when I get
a chance."
We said goodnight and I went to my room. 
I was brushing my teeth when there a tap on my door. It was Mom
and when I let her in she was carrying a large envelope and she
had a thoughtful look on her face. 
She sat at my little table and said, "I just came from Nell
Burger's place. That's quite a little second home." 
"Yes it is. You were there a long time, what did you talk
about?"
"You, of course. I went there to find out what was going on! She
ended up fixing dinner and we went through a whole bottle of
wine."
"What did you think of her?"
"I think she's one of the most interesting women I ever met.
However, she may be the loneliest."
"Really; I never thought of her as being lonely."
"She hides it pretty well. I think it explains some of her past
antics. It may even explain why she thinks she's in love with
you."
"She said that?"
"She didn't have to. I don't know what you did to cause it, but
she has it bad for you."
"I knew she liked me but I didn't think it went that far."
"Well it has. I don't know if that's the only reason she's doing
it, but she has some amazing plans for you. Look at this."
She opened the envelope and pulled out a bunch of papers. The
first was a folded page from a newspaper. She opened it, handed
it to me and said, "This is what will be in tomorrow's paper."
It was the back page of a section and nearly half the page was a
headshot of me smiling like an idiot. I recognized it as one of
the photos that were taken the day we were at the studio in Van
Nuys. Under it in large letters it read, "Pete says you'd be
smiling too if you were shopping at Burgers," and under that in
smaller letters it read, "If you see Pete in one of our stores,
introduce yourself and register for a valuable free gift." 
I asked, "What's this all about?"
"You'll have to ask her. But this is only the beginning. She has
things planed for you that are way beyond what we first agreed
to. There's a fact sheet and a prospectus in here. Amy and I will
look at it tomorrow. It looks like you are going to be a very
busy boy."
"What about her; do you feel better about her now?"
"Yes and no. I'm a little worried about both of you. She tells me
that there's a struggle going on within Burgers and I don't want
you to get caught in the middle of it. I think our lawyers can
protect you, but I'm also concerned about Nell."
I was thinking about how she handled things with Cohen and Herb,
and I responded, "I've seen her in action, she's pretty tough."
"I'm sure she is, but I'll bet she's not that way around you. I
don't know what you did to cause it, but you should hear her talk
about you. It's a little scary."
"What do you mean? Is she planning on doing something bad to
me?"
"No, it's just the opposite. I'm worried you might do something
bad to her."
"But Mom, I would never do anything to hurt her."
"Not deliberately, but I want you to be careful around her. You
have more effect over her than you think you do. You could hurt
her badly if you mistreat her."
I shook my head and said, "You are too much. You go over there
ready to kick her butt and the next thing I know you want to
adopt her."
Mom didn't smile. She said, "Peter, I'm asking you to be cautious
when you're with her. She's very vulnerable when it comes to you.
Don't lie to her or try to play games with her. She's way too
smart. She'd catch you and she'd come after you with a vengeance.
You'd survive, but the act of doing it would destroy her and I'm
not sure she'd ever get over it."
I looked at Mom and wondered if I should tell her about something
that had been bothering me. Finally I took a chance and said,
"Mom, she said that she wasn't going to see anyone else but I
should go out with whoever I like. What's that about?"
"She told me the same thing. It's a defense mechanism dear. She
knows you're young and she knows how popular you are. She also
knows how immensely popular you're going to be once all this
publicity hits. It's her way of protecting herself. You and she
will be apart a lot and when you see other girls it'll be because
she gave you 'permission' to do it. As long as you don't lie or
try to hide things from her and if you'll be with her when she
really needs you, she'll put up with almost anything."
"It sounds a little weird."
"It is! I'd love to see her in therapy, but therapy rarely works
with people as strong-willed as she is. They always think they
know what's best and rarely want to take advice from others."
 
"So, you don't like her?"
"Actually I do like her. Something made her the person she is
now. It probably happened when she was growing up. I tried to get
her to talk about it but she wouldn't. Does she have any close
friends?"
"The only one I know about is a girl that was in Las Vegas when
we were there."
"What about the one that shares her house?"
"Did she tell you about her?"
"Only that she has a friend that stays there. She wasn't there
tonight. Do you know anything about her?"
"No, I've never met her. So, what do you think?"
"Well, I'm not crazy about you being involved with her. But she's
doing an awful lot for you, so I guess I'll have to depend on
your good judgment."
Mom gave me a big hug and left. I fell into bed and tried to
think about what we talked about, but I was asleep in about two
seconds.

I met Meg at the studio at ten. We went to a sound room and met
with the director and some sound techs. For the next two hours I
watched tape about the things I did. Starting from the remote
shoot where I was cutting the grass, up to the dance and kissing
sequence with Erin. In the places where I said something, I said
it again and again and tried to match my words to the movement of
my mouth. 
We finished at noon and Meg and I went to lunch. I was watching
her munching on a salad and sneaking glances at the mustard
dripping off my double cheeseburger when my phone buzzed. It was
Mom and she sounded strange when she said, "How soon can you be
at the office?"
I asked Meg, "Are we done?"
"Yeah, that's it unless they want you back for some pick-up
stuff. But you're finished for today."
When I put the phone to my ear, Mom must have heard Meg because
she said, "Get over here as soon as you can," and she hung up.
She sounded anxious so I said, "I gotta go, something is up," and
as I stood up Meg said, "Oh, by the way, Lane and I would love to
go with you this weekend."
"Great, I'll call you later and we'll talk about it."

When I got to the office Jasmine greeted me with a big smile. She
held up a copy of the paper with my picture on it and said, "Wow,
this is really something, Congratulations."
"Thanks, are they inside?"
"Yeah, they're waiting for you. I think something big is going
on, and she nodded to a grey-haired man sitting in the corner."
"Who's he?"
"I think he has something to do with you."
I went into Mom's office and she, Amy and Gale Adams the lawyer,
were pouring over a pile of papers. When Mom saw me she nodded to
Amy, motioned for me to follow them and we went into Amy's
office.
We sat down and Mom said, "Something gigantic just happened and
part of it has to do with you."
"Like what?"
"That group from Selinco International showed up today. Among
other things they took over Monique's contracts."
"I didn't know they were for sale."
"They weren't, but they offered us a deal we couldn't refuse.
They have a talent agency here in Los Angeles. They traded it to
us for Monique."
"They traded an entire agency for one girl?"
"Yes. They have big plans for her and the money and contacts to
make it happen. In return they gave us their clients and anything
Monique does when she's in the US.
 "What do you mean by 'when she's in the US'? Where is she
going?"
"All they would say was that she wouldn't be in the US. She's
going to be the cover girl for Beaute. Beaute is the largest
cosmetic company in Europe and one of the biggest anywhere. Their
offices are in Paris."
"Paris, France?"
"Yes! 
"She gave up her life here, so she could be on the cover a
magazine?"
"There's a lot more to it than that. She's going to be 'The
Beaute Girl'. They showed us a prospectus. By this time next year
she'll have been on the cover of nearly every fashion magazine in
the world and she'll be a multi millionaire."
"Wow! Why do you suppose they're doing this for her? 
"We don't know. All we know is that someone with an awful lot of
money is behind this."
"And you don't know who it is?"
"Ms. Adam's office is looking into that right now."
"I-I don't know what to say. You uhh, said I was involved with
this?"
"Yes. We'll get to that in a minute, there's a lot more going on.
Selinco is getting out of the talent agent business altogether.
They said they were going to close their New York and Chicago
offices and sell off their clients. Well, we're going to buy
them."
"It sounds like a big deal."
"It is big. It's so big we couldn't possibly handle it ourselves
and Howard Martin has agreed to come in with us. The guy is
amazing. Ms. Adams has kept Mr. Martin up to speed on what was
happening here. When the people from Selinco told us about
closing the offices, Ms. Adams stepped out of the room and called
him. She was back in two minutes and stuck a note in front of us.
It said that if we thought we could handle running the Chicago
and New York offices as well, he would back us. We told the guys
from Selinco about it and asked if they would talk to him. They
agreed and Gail Adams got hold of him and put him on speaker. I
never heard so much 'lawyer talk' in my life. When all was said
and done, it looks like we're going to take over the New York and
Chicago offices and we're going to have to triple the size of the
operation here."
"How in the world are you going to do that?"
"There's going to be a lot of big changes. We're going to sit
down with Mr. Martin this week and work out a plan. But you asked
how you were involved." 
She turned to Ms. Adams, who slid some legal papers in front of
me. They were so full of legal language I didn't know where to
look and I asked, "What's this?" 
She said, "It says you're to have no contact with Ms. Dennis
whatsoever."
It took me a second to realize he was talking about Monique and I
said, "You mean Monique, uhh, Molly Dennis?"
"Yes. You're not to call her, write to her or communicate with
her in any way. Furthermore you are not to discuss with anyone,
any dealings you have or had with her in the past. Do you
understand?"
"Uhh, yeah, but why?"
"It's part of these negotiations. You and she have a
relationship, is that correct?"
"Well yeah, at least I thought we did."
"That has to end right now. You are too young to sign this
agreement so they've made the Stone Agency responsible. If you
disobey any terms of this agreement it could spell financial
disaster for Stone and anyone connected with them."
"That sounds serious."
"It is serious. They aren't kidding about this."
"Does anyone know where Monique is or who's behind this?"
Ms. Adams looked around the room and asked, "Is everyone okay
with this?"
When Mom and Amy both nodded she pushed a button and said to
Jasmine, "Please show him in." 
The grey-haired guy who was in the office came in. He opened a
briefcase, took out a paper and a small tape recorder. He turned
on the recorder and asked, "Does everyone here including Mister
Baker understand the terms we spoke of?"
When we all nodded he turned to me and said, "I'm going to ask
these parties to sign this document in front of you. It says that
they are going to guarantee your silence as regards to Miss
Dennis. Do you understand that there are severe consequences if
you disobey this agreement?"
"Yes sir, but what shall I tell our friends about her?"
"Simply say she went to Europe to pursue a modeling career.
"If they sign this will you tell us where she is?"
"I will."
Everyone was looking at me, so I shrugged and said, Okay, I
promise.
They signed it and as he was putting the paper in his briefcase
he said, "Ms. Dennis is traveling with Mister Selin Toksas, owner
and CEO of Selinco International. They left on his yacht this
morning."
    







 









CHAPTER 100

Amy and the guy from Selinco left the room and I sat for a while
staring at the floor thinking about what had just happened.
Monique was gone. She was on a yacht, going somewhere with
another guy. Thinking back to when we'd been on his boat I guess
I should have seen how interested he was. After all, he made her
Miss Galatea and gave her expensive diamond earrings, so I guess
I should have known something was up. But she was my girlfriend,
how could she run off with someone just because he gave her
things? 
Then the door opened and when I looked up Amy motioned for me to
follow her. 
We went to a room next to her office and she said, "You look
bummed."
"Yeah, you guys signed that thing without even asking to talk to
Monique. How do you know she hasn't been kidnapped or
something?"
"I spoke to Alice. She's been talking with Monique and she's
convinced that everything is okay. Monique knows what she's
doing, Pete. It's an opportunity of a lifetime and she wants it
very badly."
"But she's supposed to be my girlfriend."
"Since when?"
"Since last weekend."
"I see. You've been going with her for less than a week and
you're pissed off because she ran off with one of the richest
guys on the planet. He can make her a millionaire and more famous
than she ever dreamed of. Gee, I can't understand it. Why would
she give up being the girlfriend of a high school kid for
something as silly as that?"
"Don't make fun of me, Monique and I have a, uhh, history."
"Yeah, Mom told me about it a while ago. Monique paid you to have
sex with her and as soon as it was over she left town."
"That's not exactly what happened! Besides, there was a reason
she went to New York."
"It IS what happened. She went to New York to pursue a career. I
had a talk with her when she hired on and when I confronted her
about it she told me what happened. She may have fallen for you a
little, but like it or not she used you to get what she wanted
then, and it sounds like she just did it again."
"What are you talking about?"
"You took her to the yacht where she met that guy, didn't you?"
"I-I guess so."
"See what I mean?"
It was like a light went on. Amy was right! She HAD used me
again. I couldn't believe those had been her intentions, but
that's what had happened. Suddenly I was pissed and I punched the
wall next to me. Not hard, but hard enough to rattle the window
and Amy asked, "What the heck are you doing?"
"I'm pissed off and I don't know what to do."
"What you should do is get over it! For God's sake Pete, you were
only going with her for like fifteen minutes."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Darn right I am. We have a lot of stuff going on right now and
we need your full attention."
"We do, don't we?"
"Yes, an awful lot. Please be home tonight, we need to have a
family meeting. Oh, and tomorrow morning we all have to be at Mr.
Martin's office."
"Why do I need to be there?"
"There's going to be some big changes and it's going to affect
all of us. In the meantime, here," and she handed me a slip of
paper with a phone number on it.
"What's this?"
"It's Alice's cell phone; she's waiting for you to call."
"When did you talk to her?"
"I talked to her several times. The last time was a few minutes
ago."
"She'll tell me about Monique?"
"Yes, call her," and she left the room.
Alice answered on the first ring and said, "You heard what
happened?"
"Yes, did you know this was happening?"
"Yeah, she and I have been over all of it."
"How do you feel about it?"
She sighed, "It's what she wants, so I guess its okay. But I'm
going to miss her."
"Aren't you worried about her?"
"Of course I am, but she says she knows what she's doing and she
knows he's for real."
"That boat of his, do you know about the parties that go on
there?"
"She told me about them."
"And she's going to be a part of that?"
"No, and he doesn't participate either."
"Why does he let the parties go on?"
"He said that a lot of huge deals happen on the boat and the
party is what brings in the big players."
"Did she tell you about the girl that was with him?"
"Yes. Her name is Aysun. He lets everyone think she's his wife or
girlfriend, but she's actually his sister and a very big part of
his whole operation. Molly said that Aysun spent a long time with
her before Selin asked her to be with him. She thinks he was
waiting for her approval."
"What do you mean, 'be with him!'' Is she actually going to like,
move in with him?"
"What do you think?"
"But how could all this happen so fast?"
"Apparently he's been looking for a replacement for the Beaute
girl. They had their eye on someone else, but when he saw her he
changed his mind."
"What about her moving in with him, what's that all about?"
"I don't know and I'm not sure she does either."
There was a pause, then, "Pete, you know what she looks like,
every guy she meets wants to be with her. She's turned down a ton
of marriage proposals. She said he told her that 'she was going
to be with him' and she assumes it means that she'll be his
girlfriend."
"So she's willing to do whatever it takes."
"Stop it Pete, she's not a slut. You're the only person she's
ever had sex with."
Surprised, I said, "But that's not normal! She's nineteen years
old, surely she must have met someone she liked well enough to,
well, you know."
"I wondered about that too, but she always said she just wasn't
interested."
"But she's interested enough to be with this guy?"
"Pete, this guy offered her the world. He offered her fame and
fortune beyond anything she ever dreamed of and the only
condition is that she be with him. Hell, if he offered me that
deal I'd go with him too."
I spit back angrily, "So she sold herself for money and fame."
"And that's something you would never do, eh? Amy told me about
your thing with Burgers. I know you're seeing Nell Burger and it
sounds like the same thing to me."
I started to say it wasn't like that when it hit me. It WAS like
that. I was doing pretty much the same thing. I would never be
the 'Smiling Burger guy' if I didn't have a relationship with
Nell. I was trying to think of a way to say that my situation was
different, but I decided 'to heck with it' and I changed the
subject and asked, "Are you sure she's not being forced into any
of this?"
Alice knew I was evading the issue, but she answered, "No, she
knows exactly what she's doing. She asked for proof of his
intentions. His company has holdings all over the world,
including offices here in town. In less than two hours a signed
contract and a check was hand carried to me. I have a certified
check in front of me right now. It's made out to our joint
account and it's for so much money it scares me to look at it."
"He did all this in less than three days?"
"I guess it helps when you own the company."
"And it's made to your joint account?"
"Yup, I could cash it right now and run away somewhere. I'm sure
Monique insisted on him doing it that way to prove that he's
serious."
"Do you know that I'm under orders not to contact her or talk to
anyone about her?"
"Yeah, I am too. I can talk to her but I can't tell anyone about
what was said. It's called a gag rule and they're not kidding."
"But you and I are talking about it."
"Amy said this is an unlisted private line and I'm at my broker's
office waiting to deposit this check."
"What's with all the secrecy?"
"Molly told him everything. She told him about us working at
Delight and she even told him about what happened when we filmed
you and her at the hotel. She didn't want any secrets that might
come back to haunt her. She said he never even blinked when she
told him and he said he's okay with it. If she gets as famous as
we think she will, there'll be people watching her every move and
trying to find out about her background. We're not worried about
that time in the hotel, we're pretty sure that guy would never
tell. And as you remember, she wore that feather mask, so there's
really no way to identify her. But they would prefer her time
with Delight didn't get out."
"But she's been in newspapers, magazines and even done a few
covers. How are they going to hide who she is?" 
"She said that the person the world knows has ceased to exist.
She's going to have a different name, a different look and
they're going to create a different past for her."
"They're going to do all this while she's on the boat?"
"She isn't on the boat. She's on a plane headed for Brussels
where they're going to do something called a Blepharoplasty. It's
a minor surgical procedure where they do something to your
eyelids.
"She's going to have an operation?"
"It's an outpatient thing where they remove a small strip of skin
from just above your eyelid. They do in a fold, so there's no
visible scar and it heals quickly."
"But that's crazy! She's one of the most beautiful girls I ever
saw. Why would she agree to do something like that?"
"Have you ever seen her first thing in the morning?"
"I, uhh, don't remember."
"She has puffiness around her eyes that she usually hides with
makeup. She's been talking about the procedure for some time."
"Gee, I never noticed. So he'll be with her while it heals?"
"Actually no, he's headed somewhere else. But she's going to have
a companion with her in Belgium and she's going to be busy taking
a crash course in French."
"What kind of a companion and what's with the French lessons?"
"Her companion is a woman that works for his company. She's going
to tutor Molly in French and get her ready for her first Gig."
"Where is it?"
"She told me you saw the jeweled swim suit she wore on the
boat."
"Uh-huh, it was unbelievable."
"She'll be wearing it again. She's going to be the queen of the
ball at the Diamond Jubilee in Paris a month from now."
"Wow! That's fantastic. But she's not famous yet, what's with all
this secrecy about me?"
There was a pause before she answered, "She told him about her
feelings for you. They run deeper than you think. He's going to
have a huge investment in her and he wants to make sure you don't
try to contact her and risk the two of you doing something
silly."
"I didn't realize she felt so strongly about me. Back in school
she told me that you were the one that liked me."
"I know she did. I'm going to tell you something and then I have
to go. I hate the expression, 'He made a woman of me'. I think
it's stupid and trite. But you changed both our lives the day you
made love to us. We'd been planning on leaving as soon as we got
the money from the filming, but I fell for you that day and so
did Molly. For a while we toyed with the idea of staying around
for a while, but it became plain that if we did there might be
problems between us because of you."
"Gee, I didn't know."
"We know you didn't. If we had stayed, one of several things
might have happened. One, you could have blown us both off. Two,
you could have tried to romance both of us, or three you could
have chosen just one of us. We didn't want to find out which
option you would choose. That's why we left without seeing you
again. Since then I've been able to move on with my life, but
Molly never has and I guess she told him so."
"Wow, I had no idea."
"I have to go now. I want to deposit this check and get to the
set. The filming here will be over soon and I'll be coming home.
We'll talk more then. In the meantime, don't worry about her,
she'll be fine."
"Okay, but one more question. Why didn't she want to tell me
about this herself? Why didn't she want to talk to me at all?"
"She was scared, Pete. She's was afraid you'd say something to
make her change her mind. You could have, you know. You could
have ruined this whole thing for her. If you'd asked her, she
would have run to you in an instant. Unfortunately, later on she
probably would have hated you for doing it."
When she hung up I stood there dumbfounded. I had no idea either
of them felt that strongly about me. I tried to think of how
things between Monique and I were last weekend when we were
together. She never let me know how deep her feelings were. I
tried to think how I felt about her. It was great to have someone
as beautiful as she is as my girlfriend, but for some reason I
never felt the intensity toward her that I probably should have.
It was just after three when I got home. I went into the kitchen
to get a snack and I sat around in a daze for a while, thinking
about everything that happened and the effect it was going to
have on my family. Finally, a little frustrated I went out to my
room and attacked 'Killer'. It had been a while since I had a
decent workout and I had a pretty good burn going when my phone
went off. Caller ID said it was Nell so I answered, "Hi, what's
up?"
"I miss you and I just wanted to say hello."
"I'm glad you called. I hear you and Mom got along very well."
"I like her. She's a lovely woman. I see where you get some of
your good looks."
"She likes you too. I think you convinced her that you're not
going to just whisk me away somewhere so you can have your way
with me."
"Well, I do intend on having my way with you, but I think she
knows that I have your best interests at heart. By the way, what
did you think of the spread in the newspaper?"
"Very interesting, but I need to ask about something first. How
are things going with the take-over?"
"We're fast-tracking everything. The newspapers should be all
over it by this weekend. Why do you ask?"
"You know that my dad works for the airline don't you?"
"Of course."
"Have you talked with Herb or Cohen about what they intend to do
about him?"
"Actually I have. Johnson says he'd be ideal as director of
flight operations. Cohen wanted to try him out locally for a
while, but Johnson says he can handle it nationwide and after we
talked about it both Cohen and I tend to agree. Johnson knows the
aviation industry and he knows your dad. If he says your Dad can
be trusted to do the job right we believe him."
"Has anyone talked to him about it yet?"
"I'm not sure, why?"
"When you and Mom had dinner, did she tell you what kind of work
she did?"
"She said that she works for a talent agency, why?"
"It's more than that. It's my sister's business and they run it
together. They have an opportunity to acquire two other agencies.
They are both located back east, which means they'll be gone a
lot and I have a concern."
"It sounds like a wonderful opportunity. What's your concern?"
"This is a big deal. We're having a family meeting tonight to
talk about it and I'd like Dad to know that things could be
changing for him as well."
"Watching out for everybody and being a good son, eh?"
"I guess so."
"Well, the deal is far enough along that we can make him an
offer. I know that Johnson is friends with your family; I think
it would be better if it came from him. I'll call him and call
you back."
When she hung up I called information for the address of the
Grange hall in Cantil, then I called Jack Hedden to give him
directions. We talked a little about how I'd like him to make a
fuss over Denise and he said not to worry, both he and his
sidekick Jason knew what to do. I even asked him if he wanted to
stay over and ride horses on Sunday but he said he was busy.
I'd been on my cell phone and for the first time I looked over at
my answering machine. It had sixteen messages on it!
Marla, Tammy, Cindy, Bill and even Tess left messages commenting
and congratulating me on the newspaper thing. There were a few
hang-ups and surprisingly, the rest were from kids at school.
They were almost all from girls. Some I didn't even know or
couldn't remember and most of them left phone numbers. I began to
realize that maybe being famous wasn't such a bad idea.
A few minutes later my cell phone rang and Nell said, "I talked
to Johnson and he's calling your dad right now."
"Good. Uhh, about tonight, I think we better put this off until
you get back, I don't know how long the meeting will last."
"Alright; I'm leaving first thing in the morning and I won't be
back until Tuesday night. What about the filming, are you almost
done?"
"Yeah, we finished today."
"Talk to your Mom. Make sure she clears your schedule for at
least a month. And keep your cell phone charged. You're going to
be contacted tomorrow by a man from our office. His name is Colin
and he'll explain to you what we have planned."
"I wish you were in town, I'd like to take you with me this
weekend."
"We'll have plenty of time together. You'll probably get tired of
being around me. Why don't you take that girl you've been seeing
lately, I hear she's a real beauty?"
"She's no longer around."
"Why, what happened?"
I joked, "She left when she heard about you. She knew she
couldn't stand up against the competition."
"My goodness young man, are you trying to turn my head?"
"If you were with me now I'd do more than turn your head."
"Come over tonight and you can demonstrate what you have in
mind."
"Let me see how tonight goes. I'll call you later."
After she hung up I sat for a while thinking about her. With
Monique gone and Marla seeing someone else, she's the only girl
I'm seeing right now. It seems that because of my picture being
in the paper, I was suddenly pretty popular and it looks like I
could have my pick of a lot of girls at school. It was tempting,
but the thought of what Nell had looked like when we had made
love the other night, made up my mind. I don't want to start with
someone new. I didn't know why she liked me as much as she did
and I didn't know how long it would last, but being with someone
as exciting as her was all I could ask for.
I got on Killer again, but I didn't last long. I was starting to
cramp up when my land line rang. When I answered I was surprised
to hear Dad say, "Hi Son, I just talked to Mom. It sounds like we
both have some big stuff ahead of us."
"So you talked to Herb?"
"Yes I did. I understand you had something to do with this."
"A little at the beginning, but I had nothing to do with them
wanting you for the director's position, that was all Herb's
doing. You're going to accept it, aren't you?"
"I hate to give up flying, but it's such a great opportunity I
can't turn it down. But that's not the reason I called. What
about you? I hear you hit it big time?"
"I uhh, guess so."
"Is it something you really want to do?"
"Sure Dad. Why, are you worried about something?"
"No, it's just that you're going to be gone a lot and I hate to
see you miss out being with your friends. We were a little short
of money a while back, but we're fine now and it looks like we'll
be a lot better soon. So if you're doing this for the money, you
don't have to. We've treated you like an adult for quite a while
and you've never disappointed us. If you just want to be a kid
for a while it's okay with us."
"Thanks, Dad, but this sounds exciting and I want to give it a
try. But what about you? What exactly will be your new job be and
when do you start?"
"They're using regional flight operation people now and there are
too many scheduling problems. I'm going to set up a central
system where I can keep an eye on things. In the beginning it'll
be a little tough dealing with the regional people and I may have
to let a few go, but I know how to handle that and once I get the
system up and running it should make things a lot more efficient.
The take-over will be complete in a couple of weeks and I can't
step in until then, but that's fine because even if I don't pilot
commercially again I want to complete the 747 certification just
so I can say I did it. I should be home in about ten days."
"Did you tell Mom about everything?"
"I talked with her right before I called you. She's really
excited about what's coming."
"We all are. I love you Dad, I'll see you when you get home."

Mom, Erin and Amy got home around five o'clock. We gathered in
the front room and for the next hour we talked about the future.
Amy was always excited when she talked about the agency but this
time she was practically bubbling over and so was Mom. 
When Mom started working at Stone I noticed a change in Amy. I
used to listen to Mom and her talking at night and Amy always
seemed stressed. Amy seemed more relaxed lately. Mom told me that
Amy still handled the bookings and contract negotiations, but
more and more of the business stuff fell to Mom and she said she
loved it. I vaguely remember Mom mentioning that her major in
college was business, but I also remember Dad saying he didn't
want her to work full time while she was raising us kids and
until now the dance classes were all she'd ever done. 
But Mom was clearly excited about what was happening now and she
stood up and said, "A lot of changes are about to happen. They
are going to affect all of us and we need to talk about them.
Some of them also include Myrna Devon. She'll be here in a few
minutes, but I wanted this to be between us."
She talked about Dad's new job, what it entailed and the fact
that even though he was going to be based here, he was going to
be traveling at lot for a while. 
Then she looked at me. "I spent some time with Nell Burger
recently and she told me what Burger's has in mind for Pete. You
all saw the spread in today's paper. Well, that kind of thing is
going to continue. They're going after the youth market with
their music players, game boxes, CDs and such. He's going to be
their spokesperson and they are building a huge campaign around
him. He's also going to be gone a lot. They're going to try to
get him an interview at every store, and as you know, they have a
lot of stores. So he's going to be gone for most of the summer.
Then there's Amy and I. This new thing is big, but Howard Martin
says we can do it and we're going to meet him at his office
tomorrow and talk about it. If we do it, we are also going to be
traveling a lot. It means that for a while at least, some or all
of us are going to be away from home. Are there any questions?"
Erin asked, "Uhh, what about me?"
"For now, I'd like you to come with Amy and me. New York and
Chicago are wonderful places and I think this is a great
opportunity for you to see what really big cities are all
about."
"But I have friends here and this is all business stuff. Why
can't you go and let Amy stay here with me?"
"Amy needs to be with me. She's going to be talking with the
models about renewing their contracts. Maybe you can help her."
Amy jumped in with, "That's a great idea! If I show up with Erin
in full makeup and I introduce her as, 'Erin Swan, the star of an
upcoming TV show' and one of our clients, it'll go a long way
convincing them to stay with us." 
That got a big grin from Erin and a smile from Mom.
Things got a little quiet for a few minutes as we sat there
thinking about how our lives were about to change.
Myrna and the twins showed up a few minutes later carrying boxes
of pizza and as were eating, Mom started going over some of the
things we'd discussed. Before long Mom, Amy and Myrna were
talking about the business aspects of things and when Erin said
she wanted to go to the kitchen for some ice-cream, the twins and
I followed her. I was scooping ice cream into bowls when the
phone in Erin's room rang. She grabbed a bowl of ice cream and
when she left I began talking to the twins about the weekend. We
went over how they were going to surprise Denise by pretending to
be old friends and what to expect about being in Cantil. They
were excited about spending time with the horses and when I told
them about the trails and how we would pack a lunch and have a
picnic in the mountains, they were ecstatic. 
Then I asked something that had been bothering me. "It looks like
the director is favoring Erin as much as you guys. Am I
mistaken?"
The scar on her chin told me it was Rose who answered, "No, we
told him to."
"Why?"
	"Pete, do you know what it's like, starring in a weekly show?"
"I-I guess not."
"It's a bitch! Its fourteen hour days and a lot more. Its hours
spent learning lines, more hours in makeup and weekends spent
doing interviews or making appearances. You have practically no
life! We know we're getting too old to play kid parts. Mom has
made some great investments for us over the years, so we have all
the money we need and we're looking forward to relaxing for a
while."
"Wow! I didn't realize it was that hard. I thought the business
watched out for kids." 
"People did do it when we were young, but as we got older the
rules began to relax a little. The last movie we did we were on
the set one time for thirty six hours and went through total
makeup five different times."
"Did you tell Erin about this?"
"We explained it all to her but she doesn't care. She wants it
bad, Pete. And I'm almost sorry to say that she's going to be
big. Probably very big."
"So that's why the director concentrating on Erin doesn't bother
you?"
"Yes. Don't tell Mom, but before we knew how serious Erin was, we
were hoping the show didn't get picked up. We'll do it if it
does, but we're out of high school now and we were hoping to
concentrate on college next year."
"Can't you do both?"
"Not really, a weekly show is a full time job and then some. If
that kiss between you and Erin leads to something, and everybody
seems to think it will, you may find out for yourself."
"I don't think I want to be an actor."
"Yeah? Well, we've heard that before. I bet you change your mind.
In the meantime; let's talk about this weekend?"
"Okay. As you know, this is going to be a surprise. Do you mind
following me to the house in Cantil?" 
"No, we would prefer it that way."
"Okay, I'm planning on us getting there around five o'clock. I'm
going to pick up Denise around seven o'clock. She lives in the
house next door. Watch for us until we leave, wait about a half
hour then come to the dance. When you show up, there'll be a lot
of excitement. Make sure you make a big to-do over Denise. She's
a pretty redhead. I'll make sure she stays close to me. Jack
Hedden and Jason will be there around nine, but they won't be
staying. Oh, Meg and her friend will also be at the house and at
the dance. They're staying on Saturday and they'll be riding with
us on Sunday."
Rose wanted to know why Jack Hedden was coming and when I told
her that I asked him first, her eyes narrowed and she asked, "You
asked Jack Hedden and his butt-boy to come to a dance in some
dinky little town so he could do you a favor, and they said
yes?"
"Uh-huh."
"Pete, I know you're not gay, what's going on?"
"Their manager owed me a favor."
"It must have been a big favor."
Just then Erin came back, so I said, "It was; I'll tell you about
it this weekend. By the way, your mom is depending on me to keep
my eye on you guys. You're not going to cause any trouble are
you?"
She grinned, "It depends, are there going to be some cute guys
there?"
I scowled at her and pointed my finger at her. All she did was
laugh.
***

We got to the lawyer's office the next morning at ten o'clock. It
was a sea of glass and chrome, and took up an entire floor of a
high-rise building in the middle of Los Angeles. A secretary with
movie-star looks greeted us in the lobby and after she pushed a
button on her desk, Ms. Adams appeared and took us to a huge
corner office.  
Howard Martin was standing behind a desk big enough to host a
basketball game and he came over to us and shook all our hands.
We all sat down and he got right down to business.
He said to Mom and Amy, "Ms. Adams filled me in on everything
that happened yesterday. You traded a client for a small talent
agency and you have an opportunity to acquire two others, is that
correct?"
Mom nodded, "Yes."
"And if I can help with the financing, you are prepared to run
all three?"
"Yes."
"You realize of course that you are going to be stretched to the
limit if you take this on, don't you?"
"Yes we do, but we're convinced that we can make a go of it."
"Well, I am too, and if this is what you really want, I'm
prepared to back you."
Amy interrupted with, "That's wonderful Mr. Martin and we promise
we'll..."
Mr. Martin held up his hand to stop her and said, "But I have
another idea. Have a look at this," and he pushed a folder in
front of them. 
Mom and Amy opened the folder and started poring over papers. A
few minutes later Mom looked up and said, "It says here that you
are offering to underwrite this entire thing including something
you're calling 'an additional acquisition'. What is it?"
"Unified Artists is one of the largest talent agencies in Los
Angeles. It's well run and well managed. But I happen to know
that the owner is in financial trouble because of a matter
unrelated to the business. I've made him an offer contingent on
what you decide today. If you like what I propose, I'm prepared
to purchase it and make it part of the deal."
Amy gasped, "But combined with Stone and the two we're buying in
New York, that would make us the biggest talent pool in the
country! We don't have enough experience to run an operation that
big!"
Mr. Martin sat back and looked at both Amy and Mom for a minute.
Then he turned to Amy and said, "I've looked into how you've been
running Stone. You've done a great job, but things are going a
lot better now that Beth has been helping you, aren't they?"
"Absolutely! I didn't realize how little I knew about the
business end of things until she started working with me. Why, do
you have something in mind?"
He said, "Yes I do," then he looked at Mom and said, "Beth, let
me tell you why I think we need UA. The owner has very little too
do with running UA. He has a top-notch management team that
handles everything. If we get UA, I'd like to promote one of that
team to assist you. You'll be running around a lot at the
beginning but once we get things set up we'll let him do most of
the leg work and you can concentrate on running things from
here."
Amy was looking confused until he looked at her, smiled widely
and said, "I'm not forgetting you. You, young lady are amazing.
You've only been doing this for a short time and the name Amy
Stone already strikes fear in the hearts of some of the best
talent negotiators in the business."
Then he laughed out loud and continued, "The funny thing is, if
they knew you were a seventeen year old high school girl they
would probably commit suicide."
An obviously embarrassed Amy said, "Thank you mister Martin, but
you sound like you have something else in mind."
"I do indeed. This wonderful family you're connected with means a
lot to me. I don't know if they told you about what happened, but
my wife and I are alive today because of the actions of Erin and
Pete. They saved us from almost certain death and they did it at
considerable risk to themselves. Since that day I've made it my
business to look into this family and that includes how you
became a part of it. You should consider yourself very
fortunate."
"I do, Mr. Martin. They saved my life as well"
"I know they did, and you've come a long way. But it's time for a
change and here is what I propose. UA has a nationwide
reputation. I suggest we combine the interests of Stone,
including the new acquisitions and re-form under the UA banner."
Wide eyed, Amy gasped, "You mean you want to shut down Stone?"
"Yes, and there's more. I want to make Beth president, the staff
at UA responsible for scheduling and your duties to be confined
to contract negotiations only."
"But once contract negotiations are set there's nothing more to
do. What will I do with the rest of my time?"
"I talked to the principle at your school. He said you're the
brightest student he's ever seen and with his help we talked to
some people at UCLA. If you are willing to devote nearly all of
your time to it, they think that within eighteen months, maybe
less, they think you can make it all the way through a master's
program in business."
A stunned Amy looked at him and stuttered, "U-Uhh, you mean I can
get an MBA without even finishing high school?"
"Your principle says you are working beyond graduation level in
every one of your classes and he's certain you would have no
problem passing every final test needed for a high school diploma
right now."
"B-But how could I get an MBA in a year and a half?"
"When he described your accomplishments to the people at UCLA,
they said you qualify for a special program. If you promise to
stick with it, they put together a team that takes you through
everything."
"Is it expensive?"
"Yes and no. When you sign up, you commit to a pretty hefty
number, but if you complete the course and pass all the tests,
it's free. But I understand it's pretty intense. It would mean an
awful lot of work and you wouldn't have time for much of a social
life for a long time."
"I don't mind that, but you said something about a hefty
number?"
"I think it runs around twenty two thousand."
"Amy's eyes got big and she cried, "Twenty two thousand dollars!
T-That's a lot of money!"
"Well, it could be, and they won't accept your emancipated minor
status, so an adult will have to sign for you. But I wouldn't
worry about it, I'm sure you'll do alright."
"But Mister Martin, what if I can't complete it?"
He was wearing a slight smile when he asked, "May I call you
Amy?"
"Of course you may."
"Good, please call me Howard." Then he looked around and added,
"That goes for everyone here."
Turning back to Amy he continued, "Amy, I employ over a hundred
people. I don't allow people around me without checking them out.
I've seen how you handle yourself and I have no doubt that you'll
do just fine."
"But, twenty two thousand is a lot of money."
"It is, and we'll get to that in a minute.  Now I have a question
for you. I said that I wanted to make Beth the president of UA.
Do you have a problem with that?"
"No, not at all and I think I understand why. You want an adult
to be the face of the company."
"Exactly." 
He slid a folder in front of her and said, "This is a prospectus.
It explains everyone's role here including mine as your backer.
I'd like you and Beth to look it over and while you do, I want to
talk with Erin and Pete for a minute."
He motioned for us to follow him and we went into a small office
next to his. He looked to Erin and said, "I understand you may
have quite a career ahead of you. Are you happy with the way your
life seems to be headed?"
"Yes sir, I love acting."
"Do you think you'd like to pursue it as a career?"
"Yes, and I really want to learn all I can about it."
"I see. How would you go about doing that?"
"There are workshops and classes. I was going to ask my folks
about letting me enroll in one this summer but she says she wants
me to go with her to check out the new business in Chicago and
New York."
"Those trips shouldn't take too long, can't you do both?"
"Not this year, the really good ones are already full. But there
are some community classes I can take."
"So this is what you really want?"
"Yes sir, I really love it and umm, they say I'm pretty good."
He smiled at her, "I'll bet you are. I'll be looking for you on
TV."
Then he turned to me, "Pete, the drug dealer's people are talking
about a deal, so it may never come to trial. I almost wish it
would because I would bury him so deep he'd never get out, but as
it is he'll probably do at least fifteen years. I hear you're
also headed for big things. Is there something I can do for
you?"
"We had to sign something yesterday that said if I tried to
contact a friend of mine in any way, they would come after us
legally. I'm not going to do or say anything to violate that, but
could we get into trouble?"
"Ms. Adams told me all about it. Don't worry, that was a scare
tactic. If they try something I'll take care of it. Is there
anything else?"
"No, I guess not."
He handed each of us a business card and said, "Kids, my wife and
I think about what you did for us all the time. Our private
numbers are on there, call either of us anytime for anything."
We thanked him and he said, "I'd like you kids to go back inside,
but before you go I have a question. I know Amy is acting like a
member of the family. She tells everyone that she's your sister.
Is that okay with you?"
We both showered him with praise for Amy and how happy we were to
have her as our sister. When we finished he said, "Good, I was
hoping you would say that. Go back in there now, I'll join you
shortly." 
When we got back, there were papers all over the desk and both
Mom and Amy were going over them. Mr. Martin joined us a minute
later and for the next hour they talked about corporations,
trusts and things about which I had no clue. It was when they
talked about compensation that Amy said, "The salaries you have
planned for Mom and I are very generous, but you have me making
twice as much as Mom and she's going to be doing all the work."
Mom interrupted with, "That's okay dear, after all it's..."
Mr. Martin was grinning when he broke in with, "After all it's
your company."
Amy shot back with, "I don't care about that. If Mom is going to
run things she's has to get paid for it!"
"Would you be happy if it was the other way around?"
"Absolutely, why she is..." 
Martin slid a paper across the table and said, "Like this?"
She looked at it and said, "You knew I'd want it this way didn't
you?"
"The people around you think you're terrific. I wanted to satisfy
myself that you were for real, and you have. But as you know,
salaries don't tell the real story. We're going to make a lot of
money out of this deal and I'm pretty excited about it. With your
permission, here's how I'd like to see things start to happen.
I'm going to get going on the UA thing and we need to get Beth to
Chicago and New York to close those deals."
Mom interjected, "I want to bring the girls with me. I'll
introduce Amy as my daughter so she can put a face on the models
she's going to be dealing with later, and we'll say Erin is a
rising TV star we just signed. It'll give us some credibility
until the UA thing goes through."
Mr. Martin chuckled, "Great idea! I'm going to assign Ms. Adams
to you, permanently. She'll accompany you and handle the
legalities. Can everyone be ready to leave on Monday?"
Mom looked at the girls and when they nodded, so did she. 
He continued, "Ms. Adams will make the travel and accommodation
arrangements and she'll keep me posted on your progress. Anything
you need, just see her and she'll take care of it. Our office
will contact the Selinco people today. We'll get the ball rolling
so they can be ready for you when you get there."
"Won't they think that this is kind-of sudden?"
"Exactly! I hope to close this thing before they know what hit
them. From what my people were able to find out, they've been
talking about getting rid of the talent agencies for a while now.
I want to grab them up before they change their mind." 
Just then a light on his desk came on. He pressed a button and
the receptionist came in with some papers. He glanced at them
then he handed them to Mom. She studied them for a minute,
smiled, and handed them to Erin. After a quick look, Erin
screeched, "Oh my God, you got me into the Daughtry Institute!
That's the most famous acting school anywhere. How in the world
did you do it, there's a two year wait to go there and you have
to be sponsored?" 
"They're clients of ours. John, the owner is a golf buddy of mine
and he owes me a favor."
He looked at Mom. "It's a six week course and they have her
scheduled to start the first of next month, is that okay?"
When she nodded, Erin ran to Mom and kissed her then she went to
Mr. Martin, gave him a huge hug and began thanking him. He had to
actually pull her off of him, but you could see he was pleased.

Mom and Amy dropped Erin and me off at our house and went to the
office. Erin made a B-line to her room and started calling
people. So I made myself some lunch and when I finished I went to
my room. The answering machine was blinking but I didn't want to
talk to anyone right now, so I unplugged the phone line. I jumped
on Killer for a while then I sat down and called Kate on my cell
phone to tell her about the weekend. When I told her about the
people who were coming, she surprised me by saying, "That's fine,
I'll make sure Jose stocks the kitchen. I uhh have a question.
What are the sleeping arraignments?"
"I never thought about it. I guess we'll use the downstairs
bedrooms, why?"
"I'd like you to use the upstairs room."
"Gee, that's a big room for only one person."
"I know dear, but the time we spent there was beautiful and I'd
like to think of you being in that big bed even though I'm not
with you."
I was a little surprised but I said okay and when we hung up I
sat for a while thinking about those times. They were beautiful
times indeed. She taught me a lot of things there and they
weren't all about sex. Most of it was about loving. She was
wonderful at that and I'll never forget how amazing it was making
love to her. We also did some bizarre things there. She brought
someone else to bed with us on two occasions and for a long time
I actually suspected one of them might have been Mom. But it
wasn't. One of those times it was Mrs. Torres and I still have
trouble believing it. 
I was with other girls there too, but whenever I think of that
room I think of Kate standing by the windows with the moonlight
shining on her naked body. That time, and the night she moved to
the music in Sylvia's sunroom will be with me forever.
The minute I thought about Sylvia my stomach began to hurt. I
spent a lot less time with Sylvia then I did with Kate, but
Sylvia is the one that's always in the back of my mind. Nell
sort-of reminds me of Sylvia. I wonder if that's why I'm so
attracted to her.
 
I spent the next few hours tending to the lawn and doing things
around the house that I'd been putting off. Around three o'clock
my cell phone rang and a guy said that he was Colin and asked if
I was home. When I said I was he said, "I'll be there in a few
minutes, I have some things for you." Twenty minutes later I
heard a car in the driveway. Colin was a short gray-haired guy
and after he introduced himself he began loading boxes onto a
dolly. He asked me where my room was and when I took him there he
unpacked a new laptop, a fax machine, a laser color printer and
he started hooking everything up. It took him over an hour to get
things all hooked up and get me onto the internet with a DSL line
and an email address. I mostly knew how everything worked, but he
spent another half hour going over things with me. He gave me a
small booklet that had a bunch of email addresses of the people
at Burgers, including one that one that belonged to Nell, and he
cautioned me to guard the booklet and not let anyone else see it.

Then he said, "Take the laptop with you wherever you go. You'll
be asked about sales numbers and given instructions about
technical issues," then he pointed to a black spot on the top
edge of the screen surround and added, "This is a camera for
video conferencing." Finally, he handed me a tiny box. It had
"Burgers" splashed across it on all four sides. I opened it and
shook out a flash drive and a folded paper. The paper was
instructions on how to use the drive. After I assured him I knew
what flash drives were and how to use them, he said, "Put it
in."
I put it into a USB port and when I opened it a JPG file
appeared. When I clicked on it there was a full screen head shot
of me. I was smiling and written across the top was, "Here's a
free gift for you, thanks for shopping at Burgers," and at the
bottom was, "If you have a problem with any of our products,
contact us at," and it gave an email address starting with
'askpete'. 
Startled, I looked at him and he said, "It goes to our tech
department." Then he pointed to the flash drive and added, "This
is a new promotion. These will be waiting for you at every
location. On the day you're scheduled there, everyone who signs
up for a Burger's credit card gets one of these. When you're
actually there, they get a picture of you handing it to them and
a copy goes on a display board at the entry."
 "They'll be right at the entry as the people come in?"
"Yes, and Monday we want you at the photo studio in Van Nuys.
They're going to take a lot of pictures of you in a Burger's
shirt. When you're not at the locations there'll be a life-size
cut-out of you standing next to the display board."
He started to leave then he stopped and said, "You're listed in
the phone book aren't you?"
"Yes, but not my address. None of our numbers include addresses.
Dad did it that way because of the girls."
"Good. Change to an unlisted number. Your name and photo is in
today's paper and it's going to appear quite often from now on,
so it won't be long before you're going to be inundated with
crank calls." 
He left after that and I went into the house to look for today's
paper. Sure enough, on the back page of the sport's section was a
full page ad for Burgers and at the top was the same picture that
was on the flash drive and the caption under it read, "Ask
Pete."
I went back to my room and sat there for a while with my head
spinning. Finally I went to the answering machine and plugged it
in. 
The phone rang immediately. When I answered and girl's voice
said, "Hi Pete its Carmen from school," then I heard her turn
away and whisper, "It's him," and a bunch of giggling. 
I don't remember a girl named Carmen, so I asked "Do we know each
other?"
"Sure, I'm friends with a girl you fucked and she said you had
the biggest cock in school."
There was lots of laughter in the background, so I just hung up.
A second later it rang again, and I grabbed the phone and said,
"What!"
"Pete, its Denise, Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just got a stupid phone call is all."
"Oh. Uhh, you're all over the newspaper, did you strike it rich
or something?"
"So it got there too, eh?"
"Boy, did it. I've been telling everybody at school that you are
my friend and now NO one believes me. When you and I walk in
together they're all gonna umm, faint."
I chuckled, "You cleaned up your act."
"You mean the old Denise would have said, 'they're all gonna
shit', right?"
I laughed, "Yeah, that's it exactly. By the way, I have a couple
questions. Does Desi stand up for you when the kids talk about
you at school?"
"She tries but as you know, I transferred here from a private
school in LA and in the beginning we told people that the reason
I was staying with the Torres was that my parents were killed in
an auto accident. Well, we got our stories crossed a couple times
and now nobody believes either one of us."
"I thought Desi had a lot of friends."
"She used to, but she got a bit of a reputation a while back and
people tend to not believe her anymore."
"That's a shame. Uhh, when I talked to you a while ago I got the
impression there might be someone special at school. Is that
still true?"
"I don't know. His name is Dale. Everybody at school thinks I'm a
big blowhard and I was kind-of hoping he would stick up for me,
but he didn't."
"Then he doesn't deserve you."
"I think he wanted to, but he's kind-of shy."
"If he's there this weekend, point him out to me and I'll have a
talk with him."
"Don't do that. He's really shy and you'll scare the hell out of
him."
"Okay, I'll be nice."
"Good, are you going to bring one of your gorgeous girls with
you?"
"Nope, I'm all yours. I'll see you on Saturday."
Before we hung up I gave her my cell phone number and told her
not to use my hard line any more. Then I unplugged it.
Cindy showed up around six and asked, "Can you check me out and
see if I'm ready to take my driving test?"
"Sure, but I thought Jake was helping you."
"He was, but he wouldn't let me go over twenty miles an hour and
it was driving me crazy."
We went outside and parked next to my car was a late model Honda
Civic, so I asked, "What's this?"
"It's mine. It belonged to the lady next door. She's getting too
old to drive, so Digger helped me buy it."
"You drove here by yourself?"
"It's only two blocks and I was careful."
We went for a long ride and she said she wanted to concentrate on
her driving so I sat quietly and watched her. She did very well
and when I told her so, she pulled over on a side street and
said, "Pete, I have to tell you about Jake."
"What's the matter?"
"He wants me to spend all our time at his house."
"So you guys are, uhh, getting it on a lot?" 
"Heck no, all we do is spend time with his family and all they
want to talk about is religion. They want me to go to a fucking
bible school."
"And Jake goes along with it?"
"Worse than that, he insists on it! I don't want to put up with
it and I told him last night I didn't want to see him anymore."
"You broke up with him? Gee, I'm sorry, is there something I can
do?"
She didn't answer for a minute, then she said, "It looks like
you're gonna be famous, will you still be my friend?"
"Why of course I will. I hope we'll always be friends. Why would
you even ask that?"
"I-I don't want you to forget me."
It looked like she was going to cry so I pulled her next to me
and put my arm around her. As soon as I did she began to cry. I
held her until she started to calm down, then I said, "I won't
forget you. You'll always be my friend. C'mon Cindy, what's the
matter?"
"I've only had two guy friends my age. You and Jake, and now Jake
is gone."
"Well, you still have me and I'll bet when the guys find out that
Jake's no longer around you'll have lots of them asking about
you."
"What if I don't want other guys chasing after me? What if I want
it to be you?" 
I put my finger on her lips to stop her and as gently as I could
I said, "We've been over this."
I sat for a while holding her. She's a sweet girl and I was
wondering what I could do to comfort her when she asked, "Could
you take me to get my driver's license tomorrow?"
"I'll be happy to, but isn't Myrna..."
"Myrna is busy this weekend and I have to take Digger to the
doctor on Saturday, so I need to get my driver's license
tomorrow"
"You want to drive him all the way to Orange County?"
"Uh-huh."
"What time is his appointment?"
"Ten o'clock."
"I'll go with you. I don't want you to go that far on the first
day you get your license. I'm going out of town Saturday
afternoon but I don't have to leave until four o'clock." 

She thanked me and when she dropped me off I called Jake. When he
answered I asked, "Hey, what's going on between you and Cindy?"
"I figured she would talk to you. She broke up with me and I'm
kind of glad. I like Cindy, but she's not the girl for me. My
faith is too important to me and she doesn't seem to respect
that."
"So can I tell people that Cindy's back on the market again?"
He laughed, "Don't you really mean, would I mind if you set Cindy
up with someone else? Well, the answer is, no, I don't mind.
Cindy is a great girl and she deserves to be with someone. I wish
we were right for each other but we're not. So go right ahead."
I was surprised he saw through me so easily and after we talked
for a few more minutes, my next call was to Bill.
After he gave me the expected crap about my picture being in the
paper again I asked, "Hey, you remember Cindy, the girl that
works in the school office?"
"Sure, she goes with Jake, doesn't she?"
"Not any more, they broke up. Do you know someone that would like
to take her out?"
"If I wasn't going with Tess I'd ask her out myself. She changed
a lot lately and it's all for the good. Just last week the guys
were talking about her. Do you remember that quiet kid that sat
behind us in English?"
"Yeah, his name is Ted isn't it?"
"That's him. He was saying how cute she is. I know he'd like to
go out with her."
"What kind of guy is he?"
"He's a brain and he's kinda geeky but he's a good guy. But he's
shy around girls and I don't know if he has the balls to ask her
out."
"Do you have his phone number?"
"No, but he'll be here in a few minutes. My car's in the shop and
he's picking me up. We're going to meet Tess and some friends at
the Mall."
"Tell him to call my cell as soon as he gets there, and don't
tell him what it's about."
About fifteen minutes later my cell phone rang and a very
tentative voice said, "Uhh, Pete, this is Ted, you wanted to talk
to me?"
I put on a gruff voice and growled, "Do you know who I am?"
"Uhh, everyone knows who you are, you're Pete Baker. I saw your
picture in the paper today."
"How'd you like to do me a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Do you know Cindy, the girl who works in the office at school?"
"Yeah, she goes with that football player."
"Not any more. How would you like to go out with her?"
"That would be great, are you uhh, sure they broke up?"
"I'm positive. I want you to ask her out for tomorrow night."
"Uhh, okay, where do you want me to take her?"
"That's up to you but make it somewhere nice."
"I can do that, but why are you doing this?"
"She's a good friend of mine and Bill says you're a good guy. Are
you?"
"Uhh, yeah I think so."
"Good. I'm going to give you some phone numbers. Do you have
something to write with?"
He said yes and I gave him Cindy's phone and my cell number. Then
I said, "Go somewhere quiet and call her right now. Don't tell
her I told you to call. When you hang up, call me back and let me
know what happened. Now let me talk to Bill."
When Bill got on the line I explained what was happening and
asked him to give the guy a few minutes to make the call. When I
did, he said okay then he added, "By the way, guess who I saw. I
was at the store the other day and Karen's dad came in. He had
Clair with him."
"Wow, she's back! Did she recognize you?"
"I don't think so; she looked right through me."
"What did she look like?"
"She seemed different. Her hair is longer and she put on a little
weight. But she was following him around like she was on a leash.
It was like she was afraid to be more than a few inches away from
him."
"It sounds like she's on medication."
"I agree. But she still looks pretty good. That time I spent with
her is something I'll never forget."
Just then there was a click and he said that someone was trying
to reach him and he's call back later. It was nearly two hours
later when an obviously delighted voice said, "Pete, this is Ted.
I've been on the phone with Cindy all this time. She agreed to go
out with me!"
"Good. You're going to be nice to her aren't you?"
"I promise I will and I want to thank you for thinking of me, but
we have a problem. You asked me not to say who gave me her
number. Well, she knew right away it was you. I tried to tell it
was someone else but she wouldn't buy it."
"Well, that's okay I guess."
"And theirs umm, a couple other things. I'm going to take her for
a soda tonight. Would it be okay with you if I took her to get
her license tomorrow and went with her when she drove to the
doctor on Saturday?"
"No problem. Just make sure she drives carefully."
He said he would and thanked me about a dozen times.

I slept until nine on Friday and when I got up everyone was gone
so I spent most of the day cleaning my room washing my car and
changing the oil on the Magna. When I finished with the bike I
grabbed a helmet and went for a ride. It was a beautiful day and
I didn't get home until almost four. When I went into the house
it was like I walked into a clothing store. The dining room table
was piled high with boxes and Amy, Erin and Mom were laying out
clothes. They had bought new outfits for the trip and were
talking excitedly about makeup and things. 
When I got a chance I asked her about changing my phone number.
When I did, she said, "From now on, whenever you need something
like this taken care of, call the office and speak to Jasmine.
She's the office manager now and she'll be taking care of those
kinds of things."
"Aren't you worried about her leaving if she gets an acting
job?"
She glanced quickly at Amy before she answered, "She's agreed to
stay on with us. She's very good at what she does and we're glad
to have her."
I was curious about what the glance was for, but she didn't say
anything else, so I asked, "Is she going to be running things
when you're gone?"
"No, Myrna will be there full time from now on. If it has to do
with business, she'll take care of it."
 
Mom woke me at nine on Saturday. She said she wanted us to all
have breakfast together for a change. I threw on some jeans and
when I went into the kitchen she was teaching the girls how to
make 'One-eyed toast'. It's where you cut a hole in the center of
a piece of bread, put it in a frying pan and break an egg in the
middle. She used to make them when we were kids and it was fun
watching them all doing it. 
After breakfast we talked about what time I was going to leave
for Cantil. When I told her around four o'clock, Mom said they
were going shopping again and they might not be back by then, so
we all hugged and after some half-serious warnings from Mom
about, "No parties in the house while we're gone." It was only
then that I began to realize I was going to be completely on my
own for at least a week, maybe longer. 
They left a short while later so I went to my room. I got on
Killer for a while and I was working hard when my cell phone
rang. It was Meg and she wanted to know where we were going to
meet for our trip to Cantil.
I said, "You're coming from Hollywood, why don't we meet at my
house, it's on the way?"
I heard her say something to someone and Lane came online and
said, "We're at my house in Brentwood. What time should we get
there and how do I get there from here?"
I said to get here at four and I gave him directions. Then he
said, "Hang on, Meg wants to say something." 
Meg came online and asked, "Just how dressy is this thing going
to be?"
"It's not black tie, but the guys will be wearing suits and most
women will be in evening wear."
She said, "Oh shit!" So I added, "Wear causal clothes for the
trip, we can change at Kate's. The only thing is, I don't know if
they allow fallen women at the dance."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Well, you obviously didn't spend last night at your house and
I'm not sure they'll let your kind in there."
She said, "Fuck you," and hung up. 
I was laughing to myself when I called the twins and after a
explaining the same dress code to them they also agreed to be
here at four.
With some time to kill I went to the answering machine and
plugged it in. There were about twenty calls. Most were hang-ups
and the rest were from kids at school. I so I unplugged it
again.
A minute later my cell phone rang and an excited-sounding Cindy
said, "Guess what! I passed my test. I'm now a licensed driver."
"Good for you. Was it difficult?"
"Not really. I think Ted was more worried than I was."
"So you two got along okay?"
"Yes, he's umm, a real sweetie-pie." 
She sounded hesitant, so I asked, "Is something wrong?"
"No, he's everything I thought I wanted. He's smart, he's nice
and he treats me like a princess."
"So, what's the problem?"
"I like him, but he isn't a 'take charge' guy like you and Jake
are. I'm uhh, afraid I might hurt him."
"Then don't! If you like him, treat him the way you want to be
treated. You've come a long way lately. I think it's because
Erin, Amy and maybe me, have showed you what a great girl you
are. Give him the chance and I bet he'll surprise you."
"So you want me to take him under my wing like you did for me?"
"No, I want you to have fun. If he comes along like you want him
too, that's fine. If not, there'll be plenty of others to take
his place. Look at what just happened. You broke up with Jake two
days ago, and there's already someone new."
"That's because you sent him to me."
"Cindy, look at your self in the mirror. You're a babe!"
There was a pause, then, "If I'm so hot, why can't I be with
you?"
"Because I won't be around! I'm going to be traveling all summer,
Cindy. You need someone who's more stable."
For the second time in less than fifteen minutes, a girl said,
"Fuck you," and hung up on me. 

I packed and I was waiting in the front house when the twins
showed up in one of their VWs, followed a moment later by Meg and
Lane. Lane was driving a silver Mercedes sports car that looked
like it cost as much as a house. Meg introduced Lane to the twins
and we got on the road.
The traffic was light, so less than an hour later we pulled into
the ranch. Things were tidier than I remembered and it looked
like the main house had a fresh coat of paint. I showed everyone
to rooms on the ground floor but I didn't show them where I was
staying. It was early so after everyone put their things away we
gathered in the kitchen. I got some sodas from the fridge and I
explained to everyone whose ranch it was and how I knew about it.
Rose wanted me to tell her again who Denise was and why they were
pretending to know her and I gave her my edited version of who
she was and why we were there. I said her mother was a movie star
but didn't say who, and things seemed to be going well until Rose
asked me who her mother was.
I knew someone would ask and I said, "I'm not allowed to talk
about it and please don't ask Denise when you meet her." 
Rose darted her eyes at me, but she didn't say anything and a
minute later she and Lily went out to look at the horses. 
Lane, Meg and I sat around for a little longer. Then Meg went to
get ready. 
When she left, Lane said, "It's a nice thing you're doing. Do you
and this girl have a special relationship?"
"No, she's just a friend. Like I told Meg, her mother is in the
movies, but she abandoned her. She's been living with a local
family and she let it slip that she knows some Hollywood people.
The kids at school don't believe her and they've been giving her
a hard time."
"So, being with you is going to give her some credibility?"
"That, the twins and Jack Hedden should convince everyone that
she's for real."
He reached in his pocket, flipped me the keys to his car and
said, "Drive up in this. People are sure to notice the two of you
getting out of it."
I tried to object but he just said, "Don't worry, it's insured
and I need a favor."
"Sure."
"I guessed that this was going to be dressy and I know Meg
doesn't have much of a wardrobe, so I had a gown made for her. I
was going to surprise her with it earlier but I don't know if
she'll accept it."
"You had a gown made for her!!! How do you know her size and how
did you do it so fast?"
"I own some buildings in LA. One of the tenants is a couture
house. I got her sizes when I was at her apartment and they made
it for me."
"They made it for you this week? It must have cost you a
fortune!" 
He sighed before he explained, "It's been a long time since I was
this interested in someone and I may have gone a little
overboard. I've been sending her little things and this morning
she got all over my case and said she wouldn't accept anything
from me for a while. The dress is in the car. Do you think you
can talk her into wearing it?"
I shook my head and we went out to the car. There was a door in
the side of the car a little behind the passenger door. He nodded
to it and said, "It's for a golf bag."
I opened it, pulled out a long silver box with a white bow around
it and took it into the house. I tapped on her door and said,
"Hey, it's me. Are you decent?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
I stepped into the room and she was standing in the bathroom in a
housecoat, blow drying her hair."
I put the box on the bed, and the minute I did she scowled and
said, "What did he do now? I told him not to give me anything
else."
"Shut up! He's nuts about you and he's trying to show you how
much. Get mad at him later. In the meantime, open the fucking
box."
She made a bee-line for it and she gasped when she pulled out a
long white dress. Then she ran into the bathroom and slammed the
door.
Curious, I went to the door and asked, "What are you doing?"
"There's a mirror on back of the door. I'm looking at myself."
A second later she opened the door. Her eyes were wet and her
voice was trembling when she said, "Oh Pete, it's the most
beautiful dress I've ever seen."
"Good, show him how much you like it, but don't take too long.
I'm gonna get ready and pick up Denise. I'll be back at seven
thirty."
I showered, put on my suit and I was coming down from the bedroom
when I noticed one of the twins standing at the bottom of the
stairs watching me. She was wearing a pretty pink dress and when
I got close I could see it was Rose. She was also wearing make-up
and she looked older. 
When I stopped next to her she turned around slowly and asked,
"What do you think?"
"You look very pretty."
"Thanks, so do you. Is that your room up there?"
"Yes."
"I noticed there was something up there when we drove in. Can I
see it?"
"I want to go pick up Denise, maybe later."
I walked away and I was almost to the front door when I heard her
say, "I'm counting on it."
I drove the short distance to the short distance to the house
next door and when I pulled up I saw the Torres twins and Mr.
Torres standing on the porch. When I stepped out of the car, Mr.
Torres came to me, shook my hand and said, "We saw the cars pull
in earlier, and I thought I saw the Mustang."
"You did, this belongs to a friend. I thought Denise might get a
kick out of riding in it."
"I'm sure she will. C'mon in, she's still getting ready."
I started for the house and for the first time I got a good look
at the Torres twins. They had grown into two very pretty girls
and they were staring at me like they were afraid of me. I
stopped in front of them then I turned to Mr. Torres and said,
"Who are these gorgeous girls? Are they friends of Mrs. Torres?"
Mr. Torres laughed and asked, "Don't you remember Cindy and
Sandy?"
"Sure I do, they're little girls. These are young ladies, and
they're a couple of real knock-outs. Why don't you introduce
me?"
One of them stepped forward and said, "Petey it's us, I'm Sandy,
don't you recognize us?"
"Of course I do, c'mere," I grabbed her, hugged her and I was
reaching for her sister but she backed up and said, "Gee, Petey,
when did you get so big?"
I pretended to look serious and said, "I wanted to grow up big
and strong so I could marry both of you." 
They both started laughing so I reached for her and with an arm
around each of them I went into the house. 
When I got inside Mr. Torres shooed them away and insisted I sit
and have a glass of wine. He said Denise would be ready in a
minute, so I asked, "Where are Desi and Della?"
"Desi and Bob are already there. Della doesn't live here anymore,
so I don't know if she and her boyfriend will be there."
I wanted to ask what was going on but he didn't look as though he
wanted to talk about it and he began to ask about the newspaper
pictures and my connection with Burgers. 
I was telling him about it when there was a voice behind me said,
"Pete!"
When I turned, Mrs. Torres was standing in a doorway, smiling.
She stepped aside and Denise stepped into the room. 
She looked wonderful. Her bright red hair was a mass of ringlets
that hung past her shoulders and she was wearing an emerald green
dress that called attention to her eyes. I don't think I'd ever
noticed her eyes before. They were deep green like her dress, and
the total look was amazing. 
I stared at her for a minute then I went to her, put my hands on
her shoulders and looked down at her. Her skin was smooth and
every trace of her skin condition was gone. She looked
wonderful.
I said, "I forgot how beautiful you are Denise, thank you for
letting me escort you tonight."
Her eyes grew wide and it looked like they were starting to well
up, but she shook herself, looked down, and in a voice so quiet I
could barely hear her she said, "Call me Denny, everyone calls me
Denny."
I looked around and both Mr. and Mrs. Torres were beaming, so I
winked at them. Then I asked Denise, "Are you ready?"
"Sure, let me get my coat."
She went to her room and I said to Mr. Torres, "Come by the
dance, I have some surprises for her."
She came back and I led her to the car.
She was amazed at the car and when I held the door for her she
slid in and began looking around like she was in some mythical
chariot. 
I drove back to Kate's and Meg and Lane were sitting in my car
waiting for us so I headed for the Grange. On the way I explained
that the car belonged to the guy following us, and she grinned
and said, "Perfect! When those people see this car, and when I
get out with you, my reputation will be made."
I smiled to myself, thinking about what was coming...

As luck would have it, the band was on a break and there were
groups of people standing out front. I drove slowly by and Denise
waggled her fingers at some people, but they were looking at the
car and I don't think they realized it was her. I was about to
park when Lane pulled alongside and motioned for me to roll down
the window. 
He grinned and said, "Do you see that big space right in front of
the entrance?"
"Sure, it's a no-parking zone, why?"
"Go-ahead and park there, nobody will bother you when you pull up
in a car like that."
So I did. I pulled right in front and when Denise reached for the
door handle I said, "Sit still, let's give them a show."
I got out, went to her side and when I opened her door I
whispered, "Give me your hand." It took her a second to realize
what I was doing then she smiled, reached out her hand to me and
slid daintily out of the car. 
She watched as I closed the door then without taking her eyes
from me she took my arm and we walked inside. 
The buzzing started immediately. I could hear people saying,
"Isn't that the guy who," and, "That's Pete Baker, what's he
doing with Denny?"
Then there was a screech and Desi came running over dragging Bob
behind her. We hugged and I held her at arms length and looked at
her. She looked great! She was a different person from the last
time I had seen. She seemed much calmer and more settled now and
I began telling her how good she looked. 
Bob was standing next to her and when without thinking, she
slipped her arm around his waist I understood why. Desi was in
love!
I was thinking what a nice-looking couple they made when someone
close to us said, "Holy shit, look at that!"
Meg and Lane were coming toward us. Meg was a vision. Her white
gown hugged her body, accentuated her full breasts and when she
moved the dress seemed to flow. She was so pretty I was
speechless for a minute. It was her that broke the silence by
saying to Denise, "Hi, I'm Meg and this is Lane."
When I finally got my voice back I introduced them to Desi and
Bob. I was about to tell her how good she looked when Meg turned
to say something to Lane. I immediately lost my voice again. The
dress was backless! Two tiny straps crossed her back and held up
the front of the dress, but her whole back was naked all the way
down to just above her butt crack. It was the sexiest dress I had
ever seen. Fortunately the band started to play and I took Denise
to the dance floor before I embarrassed myself by getting a tent
in my pants. 
Denise is a pretty good dancer and I was having fun, but I
noticed that we were getting a lot of looks, especially from the
younger crowd. Denise saw it too and was smiling constantly.
Suddenly there was a commotion. Some people had stopped dancing
and were looking toward the entrance. I could see what was
happening and I whispered to Denise, "This is for you, pretend
you know them."
She had a confused look on her face when Rose yelled, "Denise,
where are you?"
I raised my hand so they could see us and the twins ran over and
made a big production of hugging Denise and telling her how much
they missed her. 
Denise was blown away. The twins have been making movies and
appearing on TV since they were babies, so every person in the
place knew who they were and we soon had a crowd around us. 
I had asked them to dress differently so I could tell them apart
and they had. Their dresses were identical, but Rose's was pink
and Lily's was pale blue. 
There was so much confusion the band had quit playing. The twins
were standing on each side of Denise and they each had an arm
around her when Lily said, "Hey Denise, there's some good looking
guys here. Why don't you introduce us to a couple so we can
dance?"
A bunch of hands shot up, but Denise seemed to be looking around.
Finally she spotted someone and said, "Dale; is Phil with you?"
A couple young guys stepped out of the crowd. One had a shock of
red hair and was wearing horn-rimmed glasses. The other one was
nice looking blond guy. Neither one was very tall, which made it
perfect for the girls. Lily ran to the blond guy, grabbed him by
the arm and said, "This one's mine, somebody get the band going."
Rose went to the other one and as the crowd started to break up
the band began playing.
It was a slow number and as Denise and I resumed dancing she put
her head on my shoulder and whispered, "Thanks Pete. I don't know
how you did it but it's wonderful."
"You're welcome. That Dale guy, is he the one you talked about?"
"Uh-huh."
"Humph.., you deserve better."
She smiled, "Well, you're not around and it's slim-Pickens out
here."
When I chuckled, she continued, "But he's really nice and
probably the smartest kid in school. I think I'll give him
another chance. Maybe this summer I can get him to grow a pair of
balls."
I was laughing when the band started a louder, faster number so
we concentrated on dancing.  
A few minutes later Rose danced by with another boy and I saw the
red-headed kid standing at the side of the room watching us. So I
danced us over to him and when I got close I turned Denise's back
to him then I crooked a finger at him and pointed to her. It took
him a second to catch on, then he asked to cut in. Startled,
Denise looked at me, but when I backed away she began dancing
with him. 
I was headed toward the bar to get a soda when I saw Lane and
Meg. They second he saw me Lane motioned me over and over the
noise of the band he shouted, "Would you please dance with her,
if I step on her feet one more time I'm afraid I'll break
something."
We both laughed and Meg and I began dancing. She was so pretty I
couldn't keep my eyes off her and when the next number was a slow
one I pulled her close and said, "You look wonderful."
"So I'm okay for an older woman, eh?"
"I'm not kidding Meg; you're the most gorgeous girl here."
"Thanks Pete, It's the beautiful dress."
"The dress is great but the girl in it makes it beautiful. Lane's
a lucky guy. He hit a home run with the dress and with you."
She looked flustered so I was quiet for the rest of the song.
When it stopped she led me to a table where Lane and Rose were
sitting. 
There were two guys talking to Rose. They were asking her to
dance and she was flirting with them. I interrupted with,
"Where's Lily?"
Rose answered, "Last I saw she was dancing with that boy she met.
I'm sure she's around here somewhere."
I decided to go get a soda and see if I could find her. On the
way to the bar I spotted her and some guy I hadn't seen before,
standing by an exit. They were standing close together and as I
was watching them the boy kissed her. She seemed surprised, but
when he said something to her, she nodded and he slipped out the
door. As soon as he left some other guys came over and began to
talk to her, but she kept glancing at the door. Finally I saw her
point in the direction of the ladies room and she walked toward
it. I had a feeling something was up so I walked that direction.
I was actually closer to the bathroom than she was so I held back
a little. It was a good thing I had because I lost her in the
crowd and when I saw her again she was headed for the back door.
I hurried after her and I got outside just as she was getting in
a car.
I barked, "Lily, wait!"
She stopped and the guy yelled, "What the fuck do you want?"
I took a step toward him and growled, "I want you to shut up
before I kick your ass. Stay where you are, I need to talk to
Lily."
Lily came over to me and started to argue with me. 
I said, "Stop it," and low enough that the guy couldn't hear me I
said, "Lily, I want your promise that you won't leave. I want you
where I can find you and I want you to be able to find me if you
need me."
"Why would I need you?"
"You just met this guy and you don't know a thing about him. He
could be a good guy or he could be an asshole."
"He seems like a nice guy."
"He may be. If he is he won't mind waiting for a little while.
Remember who you are, Lily. There were a lot of people watching
you and your sister tonight. I'm sure that I'm not the only one
that saw you and him together and I'm sure someone saw you leave
just now. This may be a small town but you guys are known
everywhere and word travels. C'mon back and dance some more, you
can bring him back to the house later. I promise I won't
interfere."
"If we go to the house you won't try to stop me from anything?"
"I don't care what you do at the house. Fuck your brains out if
you want to. I promised your mom I would keep my eye on you and
your sister but I'm not the sex police. I feel responsible for
you while you're up here with me and I want to make sure I'm
around if you need me."
She looked up at me with a smile and said, "I guess I've been
hanging around the entertainment industry too long. I didn't
realize chivalry was still alive. Okay 'Daddy', I'll go back
inside, but I'm gonna keep studly over there with me, I may want
to play bump and tickle with him later."
She went over to talk to the guy in the car and I went back
inside.
I was on my way to our table when I saw some familiar faces.
Sitting at a large table with some people I didn't know, was
Richard Fell the bank manager and his wife Nicole. I immediately
thought about the time I'd spent with her and Clair in Kate's big
bed. I thought about saying hello, but not knowing what else to
say, I avoided their table and went to ours. There was quite a
crowd around it. Some of the younger people were talking with
Rose and Denise. Most of the older men and some of the women were
staring at Meg. 
She had one hand on top of Lane's arm and she was sitting very
erect, as though she was holding court. One of the men would say
something to her and she would smile sweetly and answer in
measured tones. This was not the Meg I know. It was obvious she
was having a good time and it was fun watching her. 
I stood a short distance away, with one eye on the exit. When I
saw Lily come in and head toward our table I went there and said,
"Denise, can I pull you away from your admirers long enough to
dance with me?"
 She stood up and on out way to the dance floor she hugged me and
whispered, "Oh Petey, this has been wonderful. People are talking
to me that haven't said a word to me since I came to Cantil.
Thank you sooo much."
I whispered back, "You ain't seen nothin yet."
She gave me a puzzled look, but by that time we were on the dance
floor and the band was playing a lively number. When that one
finished they went into a slower one and the band leader began
singing. I pulled Denise close to me. I was thinking about what a
change there had been from the rough-talking bratty girl I'd
first met to the pretty girl I was holding in my arms when there
was a gasp from the crowd and two figures ran into the room and
jumped up on the stage. The band stopped playing and people in
the crowd started saying. "Oh my God it's Rocketman," and "Look
who's with him!"
Jack Hedden and Justin seemed to be looking for something.
Finally Jack took the microphone from the band leader and asked,
"Has anybody seen Pete Baker?"
People began looking at me so I raised my hand. As soon as I did,
Jack turned to Justin and said, "See, I told you she was with
him."
I barely had time to whisper, "Play along with them," when Justin
yelled, "Denise," and he ran over to us, grabbed Denise around
the waist and began swinging her around. Jack was right behind
him and he took Denise away from Justin, gave her a big hug and
said, "Everyone at the studio has been asking about you, where
the heck have you been?"
"I-I've been here, I, uhh,"
He interrupted, "Pete, let me borrow her for a while, we have to
catch up on old times," and he began dragging her toward the
door. 
A bunch of us followed them and parked out front was one of those
mile-long limousines. It had the name of the studio on the side.
He pushed her into it, Justin got in too and Jack yelled to me,
I'll call you later," and they drove off.
People started going back inside and when I spotted Mr. and Mrs.
Torres by the edge of the crowd. They came to me and Mrs. Torres
asked, "Will she be okay?"
"She'll be fine. They'll take her out for some ice cream and
bring her back in about an hour." 
They were both grinning when I went back inside. 
The band had taken a break so I sat with Lane and Meg. The twins
were surrounded by people including the guy who'd kissed Lily,
but she didn't seem to be interested in him anymore. Instead she
kept talking to the blond guy named Phil. A few minutes later
Rose joined her and she asked him to sit with us. He seemed like
a nice guy and when the girls started teasing him about his blond
hair he began to blush. As soon as he did the girls renewed their
attack and started on his dimples. Pretty soon he was a wreck but
I could tell he was enjoying it. 
I needed to use the bathroom so I went to the hallway but when I
got there it was crowded so I got in line. While I was waiting
the band must have come back because I heard the band leader say,
"Well, it's been an exciting evening and it seems it's not over
yet. We have a surprise guest who has agreed to do a song for
us," 
A second later the band started in on the opening bars of
Stardust. 

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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