Chapter 14: Old Haunts

They decided to take the scenic route, switching to Route 13, and traveling leisurely with the soft roof folded away. Danny and Lucy had not spent much time together since the winter, with Danny being a full time student and father, and Lucy being a full time student and blossoming media personality.

Lucy had found an unlikely friend in Christina – Chris – DiBiasi, the infamous Charley’s ex-fiancée. They had met over the Winter break and become instant friends. Chris was aiming for a career in broadcasting too, and the two decided to join forces. Once a week they met, alternating between Columbus and Sandusky, and taped a 30 minutes web show for their YouTube channel, Tanner&DiBiasi. They chatted about current events, mostly things in the blogosphere, but also about political topics. They had a couple of thousand viewers already, and the feedback had been encouraging so far. Of course, a lot of their viewers came from the eastern Pennsylvania region where Lucy was already known for the Two Bucks commercials. According to what Danny had seen, Chris was the creative brain and deadpan sidekick who complemented the extroverted Lucy perfectly.

With one year to go until graduation, both girls were already fielding offers to translate their internet offering into a cable format. They were a little conflicted whether to finish their degrees or to grab the chance of hitting the cable channels. There had also been offers for Lucy alone to appear as a weather girl in cable news. Danny could not really give his friend competent advice, but he had the feeling that a year more to hone their skills and to collect material would not hurt them, while building up more following on the internet would improve their negotiation conditions. Plus, if things did not work out the way they were planned, they’d still have their degrees.

In turn, Danny gave Lucy an account of his life in the last two months, and she made the appropriate sympathetic noises, but also needled him about being a daddy at his early age and perhaps a grandfather before he was forty. She kept chattering about that and developed funny scenarios, and it became clear to Danny how much comedic talent she had. Laughing about her outrageous fantasies helped pass the time, however, and it helped him relax before they even arrived.

The rolled up in front of the house in the early afternoon and worked together to transfer the contents of the Mini into the entrance hall first, and then onward to the respective destinations, bedroom or kitchen. This was Danny’s first time in Kitty Hawk without the rest of the Westbrooks and it took him a few minutes to get used to it. Somebody – he strongly suspected Marsha – had seen to it that the kitchen was well stocked, and Danny’s usual room was ready to move in, with fresh linens on the bed and fresh towels in the bathroom he usually shared with Ashley and Lynn. They had all worked together to give him a week of rest, and once again he was grateful for his family. Another room was ready for Lucy to use, but she simply dumped her trolley case in Danny’s room.

They had a quick snack in the kitchen before they grabbed towels and a cooler with soft drinks to head for the beach. Lucy had been there the year before after their return from France, and she led the way giving Danny something to watch. She was not as tanned as the year before — not surprising, neither was Danny – but she was wearing the same yellow sundress she had worn when he first had set eyes on her on the Île de la Cité in Paris.

“You sure are a treat for sore eyes,” he remarked, making her turn and give him her trademark beaming smile.

“You like?” she asked coyly, putting an extra sway in her walk which caused the muscles on her slender back play under her flawless skin. Suddenly, Danny had other ideas than swimming and he had to correct the position of his dick in the shorts he wore.

“What’s not to like?” he asked back. “I don’t understand the guys up at OSU.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’re here with me, not with one of them.”

“Maybe that’s how I want it?”

Danny sighed. “Yeah, that. It’s great to be with you again.”

“You bet. Besides, I don’t have the time for a full-time boyfriend with all the stuff going on. You accept that. Other guys ... Well, they want my life to revolve around theirs. Not going to happen. At least not for a while, and then it has to be somebody like you.”

Lucy was her usual honest self, but Danny caught the implications. Then he shrugged. Lucy was going into the TV business one way or another. That meant moving around the country. His own plans were more nebulous, but he had responsibilities in Philly. He would not make a good partner for Lucy in the long run. She was a great girl and he should enjoy being with her, but not tie her down or make her feel guilty. He put a smile on his face.

“Fat chance! There is nobody like me,” he gave back with mock complacency.

Lucy laughed brightly. “Let’s see!”

It was not until the second day that they met Rosalind. Danny did a double take seeing her as she suddenly stood in front of them on the beach.

“Hey, Danny! God, it’s good to see you again!”

The cute redhead of days past had indeed blossomed, he found. Gone were the goofy glasses and the pigtails. Her hair was wavy now and cut fashionably short. She still did not sport hoo-has like her sisters, but there was no mistaking her for a little girl either.

“Hey, Rosalind! Ashley told me I might see you here. How’s life treating you? Oh, sorry. Lucy, this is Rosalind. You heard of her from Ashley. Rosalind, this is my best buddy, Lucy Tanner.”

Lucy stuck out her hand. “Hey, nice to meet you!”

Rosalind accepted it while the wheels were turning behind her eyes. “Hey! I think I know you! You and your friend, aren’t you on YouTube? Tanner & DiBiasi?”

Lucy beamed and nodded. “You’re a viewer?”

“Oh, yeah. Me’n my friends watch it together every week. How come you and Danny are friends?”

“We met in Paris, can you believe that? Anyway, I had just been dumped by my boyfriend, but we had planned that trip to Paris, and I still had my ticket. So I...”

Danny tuned Lucy out for a bit. He knew the story after all. Instead, he gave Rosalind another good look. Attending U of M must have been good for her. She exuded self confidence now, but the quirky little smile that he had liked was still there. Her pale skinned legs were toned now, and her bearing had changed too. She must have been working out a bit. He refocused on the girls’ conversation since Rosalind had started her story of how they met.

“ ... but Mom was like some Nazi prison guard and never let us meet anywhere alone. God, it pissed me off big time. She was like, ‘I know guys like him. He may look nice, but he’ll want only one thing from you. Once you give it to him, he’ll be gone, just like your father!’ I got so mad at her, I refused coming here for two summers. I got internships instead, all over the country, so she couldn’t hover over me all the time. I got laid, I got drunk, I did all the shit she’d warned me about.”

“Got it out of your system, huh?” Lucy said sympathetically.

“Damn right I did! And I didn’t get pregnant, I didn’t catch AIDS, and I got great references from my internships. I even got a fellowship at College Park and my father sends me some money to make ends meet. Of course, Mom is steaming because he cut her own payments back by the same amount he’s paying for my upkeep. I don’t care.”

“But you still can get your mom’s beach house?” Danny butted in.

Rosalind shook her head. “No way. I’m renting a double room with two girls from College Park. They’re a bit boy-crazy and not really my friends, but at least I can do what I want. We trade off who has to sleep on the sofa.”

“You like college?”

“What’s not to like? Nobody gives me shit for getting good grades, I can go out with people, and I don’t have to dress like a dork anymore. So, what’s your story, Danny?”

“Danny’s a daddy now!” Lucy ratted him out. Seeing Rosalind’s look, she laughed. “Not with me, he’s not. Let’s say he had a one night stand on prom night that went tits-up. He and the girl worked it out, and they share the load, but no easy college days for Danny. In fact, he was so frazzled, we all conspired to have him spend a week here. Hell, even Helen – that’s his little girl’s mother — conspired with us. He’s a great dad, and this week is his reward, well, this week and me,” she ended giggling.

“I know already. Ashley told me. See? My mother was wrong again. You take care of your little girl and her mother. According to Mom, you’d have made for Antarctica to shirk your responsibilities.”

Danny sighed. “Yeah, well, I cannot complain. Helen and I worked things out and Larissa is ... has been a little angel most of the time. Only, she’s been teething for the last weeks, and it wore me out to be honest.”

“That bad, huh?” Rosalind said sympathetically. “God, I cannot even imagine having a baby. I’m not sure I could handle it.”

Danny smiled. “That’s the good thing. You have no choice and you have to learn.”

“How come you’re not with the mother, Helen?”

Danny shrugged. “I guess I’m not what she wants. She just wanted me to pop her cherry. We’re sort of friends now, or rather partners, mostly for Larissa’s sake.”

“That’s weird, but if it works...” Rosalind shrugged. “Listen, guys, my friends won’t be up for another three hours and I don’t know anybody else. You think...”

“Sure, join us,” Lucy smiled. “It’s not like I’m going to ravish Danny right here on the beach.”

“Umh, I thought you were ... friends?”

“Best friends,” Lucy clarified. “With occasional benefits. This week is all about the benefits. We both need to wind down a bit. Does that tick you off?”

The new Rosalind was able to laugh. “Hell, a little. Danny here is definitely a loose end I would have liked to tie up. But no sweat, I can handle it. Besides, sitting here with Lucy Tanner will boost my coolness factor in College Park. Can I take a selfie with you?”

Lucy chuckled. “Why not? My very first fan selfie. Chris will grump about that for days.”

Danny was shaking his head. “You girls are kinda weird, you know?”

It was Lucy’s turn to shrug. “What can I say, I’m an extrovert.”

“That I know already, but Rosalind worries me. She used to be this shy wall flower, and now she’s this cool chick.”

Rosalind beamed. “Cool chick! I like that! Well, let me spread out my towel and then one of you has to put sunscreen on my back.”

Lucy laughed brightly. “Oh, yeah, let’s tease Danny! You know, when we were at that beach near Cap d’Agde, we were all in our buff, and poor Danny had to lie on his stomach all the time.”

“What if I don’t put the sunscreen on Rosalind?” Danny asked.

“Then I’ll put it on. Same difference,” Lucy laughed. “Maybe that’ll work even better. You up for that, Rosalind? Oh, can I just call you Lindy?”

“You’re one wicked girl, Lucy. But okay to both.”

With that, the newly christened Lindy plopped down on her stomach and immediately loosened the strings of her bikini top. Not to be outdone, Lucy straddled her thighs and set to work, rubbing the milky lotion into the exposed back.

Danny had to readjust his dick and balls under the shorts and lay on his side, watching the sights. Lindy began to purr under Lucy’s ministrations who spent an inordinate amount of time rubbing her shoulders, her spine, and lastly the small of her back with her thumbs straying under the bikini bottoms a few times. By the time Lucy scooted down to tend to Lindy’s thighs and calves, he was rock-hard and a wet spot showed on his shorts. Fortunately, a family of four with two small kids was plodding towards them, the husband loaded down with folding chairs and an ice box, the mother schlepping two huge bags with towels.

“Girls, better stop the show. There’s people coming,” Danny warned.

“Damn! This was just getting good,” Lindy giggled while Lucy lifted her leg over her to lie back on her towel. For a brief moment, Danny saw that her bikini bottom had a damp spot between her legs.

“Oh, boy! You liked that too?” he grinned at Lucy.

With her darker complexion and in the bright sunlight her blush was not easy to see, but it was there.

“Pot, meet kettle!” Lindy giggled. “Danny made a mess too!”

Lucy looked at her two companions. “Well, sounds like the flue calling pot and kettle black. I could see that you liked it too.”

“Okay, so we all got a bit hot and bothered. What’s the harm?” Lindy asked, getting shrugs from Danny and Lucy. “Thought so. By the way, are you guys staying at your father’s beach house, Danny?”

“Yeah. I’m in good standing with all the parental units,” Danny grinned. “Plus, they all like Lucy. Hell, even Helen likes her, and Lucy tore her a new one when they first met.”

“She’s a bit of a spoiled princess and I had to give her an attitude adjustment for Danny’s benefit. She was running roughshod over him.”

“Lucy’s not shy at all to let you know her mind,” Danny grinned.

Lindy shrugged. “Getting it out in the open. Works for me.”

For a while the three lay silently, soaking up the rays of the morning sun, but soon, Lindy got up for a dip in the ocean. Danny and Lucy stayed behind, although Danny would have sworn that Lucy’s first impulse was to run after Lindy. Instead, she pushed her sunglasses up and looked at Danny.

“Should we?”

“Huh?”

“Should we offer?”

“Offer what?” Danny was clueless and Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Offer her a room in the house, dummy! She’s sleeping on a sofa while her roomies are getting laid. Didn’t you listen?”

Danny was sheepish. “Sorry, I sort of tuned you out. Didn’t she say they alternate?”

Lucy shook her head. “That seems to be the agreement, but those two nymphomaniacs have guys over every night. Lindy’s not into threesomes with them. I mean, having two people rutting on each other an arm length away isn’t cool, so she’s taking the sofa.”