Maybe this is just another story in the big city of which there are far too many. Compared to the fame and fortune of the other eight million residents, I'm a drop of spit on the sidewalk, but it's my tale.

Back then life was five days of a crappy job and then two days of a crappy weekend. I was 27 years old, already divorced, and living in the midst of daily self-imolation. We divorced a year ago and I was finally getting sick of the depression, isolation and self pity. Not even angry anymore, I was kind of just dull and listless. No kids, no alimony, and being cut loose into the world again was supposed to a liberating moment, but as everyone knows: the truth is that you can't go back and I didn't know how to go forward.

Saturday night rolled around and no longer able to stand the four walls of boredom in my dingy apartment, I decided to troll the bars. I enjoy a good draft after work but the Saturday night meat market was not my usual idea of a good time, makes me self-conscious. Nonetheless, come midnight I found myself in another anonymous bar buying drinks for a woman who I guessed was in her mid thirties. Meg was thin, really too thin, with dirty blonde hair and a low cut blouse that gave a flash of cleavage. She smiled and, more to the point, she talked to me. It may have been meaningless banter but at the time just talking to a woman felt good again. We ended up going to her place.

"Why aren't you in bed, you little bitch," my drunken date yelled as we walked in. I peered over Meg's bony shoulder and caught a glimpse of a teenager in the hallway. Thin like her mom but with her face in the shadow, she quickly slipped into her room without saying a word and shut the door.

"Com'on," Meg slurred and my "date" led me to the other bedroom. I closed the door behind us and a weak lamp in the corner cast odd shapes across our bodies. She stripped out of her clothes without much noise and struck a pose for me. She gestured for me to take off my clothes while she climbed in the bed. Meg was so skinny that I could count her ribs but she was giving me a 'come hither' smile and spreading her legs. The room was quiet except for our breathing. All my qualms had departed a long time ago because someone wanted me.

Her breath smelled of liquor, her lips and skin were cool. She warmed me up with a deep soul kiss, while her hands stroked my neck and back. Meg then kissed down my chest with rapidfire smacks until she reached my erection. Without any prompting she sucked it into her mouth and began slobbering all over it. I moaned as the sensations traveled up my spine and I knew for sure that it had been a long time.

"Let's fuck," Meg suddenly said and she lay on her back and opened her arms to beckon me. That was fast; I hadn't really touched her yet but I was no mood to complain about the lack of foreplay. Besides I'm a guy, skipping the appetizers for the main course is supposed to a bonus, right? I felt seedy enough already.

I reached off the bed and pulled out a condom that I had stuffed in my pocket with high hopes earlier that evening. There was no way I was going to stick my most precious possession in this skank without protection.

With my little raincoat on, I pushed Meg's knees up and felt my cock slide into her pussy. Meg began moaning like every bad porno I had watched and then started telling me how big I felt and how good it was. I'm not a fool and after having my penis figuratively cut off at the root by my ex, I just tuned the theatrics out and worked on my own pleasure. I kept thrusting my hips and she kept up the banter, until I told her I was getting close. She grabbed my buns and squeezed me tight into her. That was enough encouragement for me and I let loose a load with a groan of relief while buried up to the hilt.

Witout fanfare or feeling I disengaged myself and went to the bathroom to cleanup. I stepped back into the room to retrieve my clothes.

Meg was laying to one side. She patted the bed and said, "Stay with me tonight. I don't want to sleep alone. Please?"

Groggily, I nodded and dropped my pants and shoes. I crawled in bed thinking that I was nice guy after all.

The next morning I awoke with a headache, not a bad one considering, and in an empty bed. Reaching down, I scooped up my clothes and dressed myself. I made my way to the facilities and then poked around the little apartment looking for Meg.

"She's gone," said the teenager sitting in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal.

"Gone?"

"Yeah, better check your wallet," she replied. Taking her advice, I opened up the billfold and found it empty. I must of had $150 in there still when we left the bar last night. I was silently kicking myself for being so guilible and praising myself for wearing the condom, the skank.

"She's a drug addict, you know," said the girl interrupting my thoughts. "How much did she get?" I told her and she let out a little whistle.

"That buys a lot of shit. I won't see her for a week." She said it so matter of fact that I could only stare at her face. For a mother who was an addict and all the crap that goes with it, this girl had a soft face with high cheeks and full lips. Her brown hair lay long and limp down her back and her eyes, which no one could miss, were hard, large and hazel like an owl, just staring and sizing up everything surrounding.

"How old are you," I asked curiously even though it was not my business and I didn't want to make it my business.

"I'm a senior in high school," she answered while evading the answer, "I ain't a whore, a druggie, or a gangbanger. I've got good grades, I'm clean, and I gonna get out of this hellhole." She took a breath, and so did I.

Old enought to take care of herself in my book. "Well," I concluded, "Gotta go."

Her eyes locked onto mine and pinned me. "Why don't you sit and eat some breakfast. I swear the bowls are clean because I wash the dishes. You look like a nice guy and I'm sorry that mom stole your money. Let me feed you at least."

She took a pause. "By the way, my name is not 'little bitch, ' it's Katy."

There was nothing to eat in my house and my dishes were definitely not clean; so despite the sinking feeling that I was a gulible sap again, I sat. The date on the milk carton hadn't expired yet and I took that as a good sign.

After eating, I gave my thanks for breakfast and got up to leave. "Please, don't go. You're not anything like the other guys she brings home and I need someone to stay."

"I'll, I'll make it worth your while," she spoke in a soft voice and the pleading underneath was unmistakable.

I was not going to be swayed so I stood up to go and Katy arose with me. As I made my way to the door, she blocked my path and I didn't have the heart to push her out of my way. Her hands went for my pants and she fished my cock out of my boxers. Before I could react, I wasn't moving that fast anyway, she was down on her knees and using her tongue, she guided my dick into her mouth.

My cock came to attention immediately even though I didn't want it to do that and Katy latched onto it with a vengeance. Butthead that I am, I didn't stop her. She did not seem particularly adept but she made up for it with energy. With her tongue dancing underneath and her hand massaging my exposed dick, My hips rocking to the beat of her hand. With my butt cheeks flexing to her rhythm, I felt the familiar tingle deep in my groin and a morning load rose to the top. I managed to whimper out a a cry of warning just as my cock spurt into her throat and then on her lips and face.

"Oh, shit," said Katy with a startled look on her face, "I did that."

"Yes you did," I said with a forced laugh realizing that I was in deep shit. Thnking frantically I spit out, "Look, just because you gave me a blowjob does not mean there's contract between us, or that I promised to come back."

"I know. But, there is plenty more if you will come back," she suggested with her best used car pitch.

Tucking my equipment away, I backpedaled and sought a quick exit. Door in hand, I told Katy that I would think about it and would get back to her. I walked out the door refusing to look at her in the face. Feeling confused and a little ashamed as if I had just taken advantage of her, I stalked down the steps to the pavement.

The hours ticked by as I walked the streets debating her sweet offer. She may be legal but compared to me, she was just a kid; on the other hand, she had no one else and I was, apparently, her only hope. Making it worse was the fact that I was all alone and had no one or nobody. Finally I came to a course of action with which I could live and not feel guilty, because the bottom line was that I was lonely and adrift.

I knocked on Katy's door and her face alighted with hope when she saw my face. I walked in calmly and shut the door behind me smelling boxed Mac & Cheese in the air. My stomach growled and she cocked her head and gave me a smirk.

"Here's the deal," I began, "First, what happened this morning should not have. Second, I will spend the night here until your mom returns but no more 'anything' between us. And you cook dinner for us. Fair?"

She beamed me a huge smile and hugged me hard, then backed off and told me "sorry." With that we sat down for dinner. After that, ahem, gourmet meal, I figured that I would be buying some food for two as well. Getting up from the table I searched around the apartment and could not find the TV. "Where's the idiot box?" I called out to the kitchen.

"Mom hocked it a month ago."

"Well, what do you do at night?" Katy shrugged her shoulders and told me she read a book or studied for school. Her answer left me feeling like a neanderthal because she didn't seem to even miss the television. Her life sucked and she studied. My life hit the skids and I drank beer and stared at commericals with self pity.

Truth of the matter was I did have several certifications to study for that would qualify me for better positions and pay, but life had sucked all initiative out of me. They had been hanging over my head for so long that even the boss had stopped mentioning them. We have a word for people like me around this city: "schmuck."

So we started a routine. I would walk in the door after work and ask if Meg had returned, and Katy would say "no" and serve me dinner. Then we would clean-up the dinner mess and sit down to study. Afterward I would go to Meg's bedroom and Katy went to hers. On Saturdays we washed the clothes.

All was not nearly so routine as I make it appear. I would sit and stare at Katy's figure and imagine her breasts beneath her clothes. They sat up on their own even when Katy did not wear a bra and I could tell when she wasn't wearing one. When she stood at the sink washing the dishes, I could stare without distraction at her hair going down her back and at her butt. She looked a little scrawny but day by day, she began to look pretty; I began to see the natural beauty underneath the stress, and would daydream.