Chapter 16

The next day was a lot better, and Becky and I first went to the shop so I could get more systems ready, and she had two adventures for others that she had to work on for printing. One really needed a lot of editing, but the other was simply typing everything in and printing mostly.

I had finished all the 386 systems and was working on the 286 ones. And once I finished those, I set one to the side and started on the orphan computers.

The Apple systems were actually all in working order it seems, and they had badges showing they had come from some prep school. Those came off easily as they were just metal badges and not branded, and I handed two of them off to the front where Dee and Julie cleaned them up and got tags printed. The TRS-80 also was easy, it simply had to be checked then put out for cleaning and sale, along with the C-64s. There were even three Commodore 128s, so I sent one to the front and checked and tagged the other two.

Becky got a call and told me we had to head to the new place, the power and water were about to be turned on. We got there and had just got it opened when the DWP truck pulled up. One guy went inside and did some checking, then called on a radio for the guy to turn the water on. Five minutes later he said all was fine, and then repeated for the power. As soon as it was turned on, an alarm went off.

Becky and I looked at each other and realized neither of us had the codes. She ran to use a payphone as after trying multiple breakers the guy had him turn the power back off. They were then doing the same for the gas, and I was surprised when he told me that a great many AC units this big were actually powered by natural gas!

They were starting to wrap up when Becky trotted back, piece of paper in hand. They turned on the power, and three minutes later the alarm stopped. We both thanked them, and they waved and wished us luck as they took off. Becky showed me where the alarm panel was, and the code. “00000”. We both laughed, and she said that as we got closer to the opening she would have an alarm guy come in and check everything out and set up monitoring.

“Good idea, we should probably both do that. Might even get a discount that way on insurance.” She told me we had to be at the office tomorrow at 11 to sign all the paperwork. And after that, it would officially be ours. We kissed, then started looking around again. I had her climb up on my shoulders so she could open one of the light covers upstairs and pull out one of the tubes. Becky asked if I was OK, and I ignored the slight discomfort and said I was, but I did not keep her up there as long as I would have liked. There was something rather erotic about feeling her bare thighs wrapped around my neck. And knowing only her panties were between her and the back of my neck.

She then looked at the growing list of stuff we needed. Four dozen light tubes, two dozen bulbs, a dozen floodlight bulbs for the outside, and a ton of cleaning supplies. “You know baby, you are probably going to hate my saying this, but we need to get like a regular truck. This stuff is more than our cars to haul, not enough to bother with the box truck. I think we need something in the middle, for things like this.”

I grinned and said to lock up and follow me home. We did so, and after climbing into her car we once again went to Reseda. Sadly, there was nothing there that we could use. Either small Mitsubishi and Toyota trucks, or a monster Chevy 3500 diesel truck with dual wheels in the back. But after a few calls we were told to go to a lot back in Van Nuys. “He is friend, will take care of you.” Becky gave him a hug, and off we went again.

Joe was a jovial guy, and he had three trucks, two of which fit the bill. Becky could now handle a manual transmission, but did not like using them. Finally, we settled on a 1982 Chevy that had a contractor toolbox in the back, kind of like the old paramedic truck from “Emergency!”. It actually had rather low miles, and the guy said it had come from GTE, it was part of the fleet they had retired the year before.

Becky and I talked it over, and we agreed to take it. It would be a great truck if I had to go somewhere for a job, and we would look for a trailer if we needed to haul more stuff and not mess with the big truck. After that, we stopped at the hardware store, and the truck, the cab, and the back of her car was stuffed with all the stuff we would need.

We started to haul everything in, and I took the ladder and started replacing light tubes as she started an initial cleaning. I was putting the last in the upstairs hallway when she called me to dump the trash, then I started on the offices. Then I went downstairs and hit the lights that I could reach, we would need scaffolding or something to get the really high up ones.

We worked there the rest of the day, and into the early evening. The dumpster was starting to fill up, and after we tossed out the last of the trash we hugged and we were both pleased with the progress. We got to the shop, and Dee told us to call the contractor.

Becky gave him a call, and gave me a big thumbs-up and said we would meet him there at 2. “He said he will take it, total price will be $58,000, give or take. Still a lot less than we thought, and that will include servicing the vault door and some other things like landscaping.”

Dee had already left, and Becky invited Julie to join us for dinner. Becky told me she wanted our usual dinner, and I asked Julie if she wanted chicken, pork, or beef. With all three orders Julie followed Becky to our place as I got a chicken and two beef bowls.

When I got home, they both had wine coolers in hand already, and Julie looked skeptical at dinner. Becky showed her how to stir the items together, and she said she liked it after a few bites. Julie thanked us again for giving her a chance, and Becky just waived it off. “Pete considers you a friend, as does Mandy, Holly, and Dee. That’s good enough for me. It just never ceases to amaze me how many of his friends are girls.”

“Oh, that should be obvious Becky. Look at him. He is nice looking, he treats us like princesses, and he does not take shit from guys at all. I know in school I loved being around him. It’s funny, even when we first met I had big boobies, and he would just glance at them then move on. Most guys would stare, and try to find any excuse to touch them. Nope, it was me he liked. Kimmie, Peggy, Linda, Mandy, Holly, we were like his posse and harem back then. He basically could have had any one of us he wanted, but he never really tried.”

“Oh come on now, it was not like that Julie, you are exaggerating.”

“Nope, not at all. Kimmie told me she was both disappointed and relieved that you never took her cherry before she left. I know I was no longer cherry by then, but if I had been as interested in girls as Linda was I would have had a shot also.” I shot a look at Becky, and she stared at me, and held up two fingers.

“Ah, Julie, maybe we should change to another topic. You have had a bit much to drink on an empty stomach I think.”

She smiled and leaned back. “Actually not Pete. Two is nothing for me, I had a major in farm studies and a minor in drinking when I was in college. I’m just gonna tell you some things that nobody else likely has.” She turned and smiled at Becky, and rested her hand on the back of Becky’s. “If you want me to stop at any time, you tell me Becky. Or leave the room, but I have some things to say that Pete here needs to know.” They looked into each other’s eyes, and Becky nodded.

“First of all, realize that I was Linda’s friend, as in her best friend since we were like six and she was mine. We were in fifth grade when Kimmie joined us, and she could barely even speak English then. And we did everything together before you. Well, at least as we did things together, not with each other.” She giggled and took another drink.

“Yea, I know my image. Big tits, blonde hair, not very bright. Well, the latter is kinda true. I did try to become a vet, but I just don’t have the smarts. Becky, I was kinda without a goal before he told me about his fucking rabbits! That got me into thinking, and I liked the idea of being a vet. I joined the 4-H myself, raised guinea pigs. But the point is, I know Pete has questions about Linda. And what I hate to say is, many are probably true. Refill?”

Becky looked at me and nodded, and I went and poured myself a glass of whiskey, and brought coolers for each of the ladies. But before I handed Julie hers, I asked for her car keys. She looked at me sharply, and Becky nodded. “Julie, one rule we have here is no drinking and driving. If I give this to you, you have to give me your keys and you are spending the night. Your choice, but we will not have you getting hurt if we can stop it.” She opened her purse and handed them to me, then stood and kissed my cheek.

“This is why we all loved him, he has always been like this big brother for us. But a big brother many of us wanted to boink. Oh, but yeah, I know I’m not real bright, but am not a dummy either. Just average I guess. Pete, do you know when Linda started drinking?”

“Oh, 16? 17? And that was not really drinking, that was like a beer or two sometimes with me.”

“Oh Pete, try 13. I know because we both started giving handjobs to guys at that time. You know that Peters guy? College kid, he was living there in her building when you two started dating? Well, he was her supplier you might say. A handjob for a pint of vodka. We both started at quite literally the same time, our first guys manually was maybe five feet from each other. Me, I tended more towards boyfriends so never got her rep, Lin, she wanted any dick she could get in her hand. Sometimes we even went to the Castle together to try and get picked up. Well, she thought it would be cool to have Kimmie join us. I did also, so I decided to try a game at a sleepover, saying we should practice kissing. Of course, Lin and I had kissed a lot of guys by then, and more. But Kimmie still had not even kissed a guy.”

She took a drink, then continued. “Well we all kissed, and we said it was strange but fun. Just for like two minutes, no tongue, just kissing each other and then giggling like 13 year old girls. Well, a week or so later we tried again, and Lin tried to stick her tongue in my mouth! I don’t do girls, never have. I pushed it out, but saw that when she kissed Kimmie she did again, and they both seemed to like it. We tried to get Kimmie to go out looking for guys with us, but she never would. Well, the rest of that school year it was either the three of us together skating or something, or if I was single she and I would try to meet some guys. The Oz, that playground in the park near the Fashion Center? That was our usual hook-up spot. Take a couple of guys there, after they spent some money at the arcade and dinner, then push down their pants and with our hands we went to town. But I made sure none of the guys when I was there went to our school. I liked the prep school boys, they tended to have more money.”

She looked at Becky. “Yes, we were both kind of sluts even then. If Lin was the ‘Handjob Queen’, I was the ‘Handjob Crown Princess’. Pete, her and I talked one night right before you came along. And even then, she had lost count at over a hundred different guys. Me, I think I was around twenty, maybe. I was pickier and often had a boyfriend for a month or so at least. Lin, it would be a guy on say Tuesday, another on Friday, and another on Saturday. And sometimes two or three in a day. And Mitch Peters, for vodka. And no, she did not stop after meeting you, and before she found you again. She had me promise to keep it a secret after you two hooked up. She did slow down to once a week, but she did not stop until you and her were together a few months. But by then she did stop because she wanted to be with you.”

“Julie, did Linda ever really love me?”

She sighed and nodded, then shook her head. “Honestly, I think there is something broken in her. I think she loved you, as much as she could love any one person. We were both Latchkey Kids, taking care of ourselves by the time we were ten because we had single moms that worked. My dad left when I was two, her dad was put in jail when she was around five. We lived in a not bad area, but not that good either. Getting $5 to go see a movie and get a drink and candy was a lot of money to us. She was a bit mean even then though. Oh, she did not like to hurt people, she was not a bully. But she liked to embarrass guys. One of her games was to jack a guy off, and make him cum on his clothes. Then everybody would know he had been doing something he should not have been doing, most likely by himself. I would see her go behind that windmill in the golf course, and ten minutes later they would come out and he would have cum on the leg of his pants. Things like that.”

She looked at me. “The night we all met was like that. She actually said she hated how smug and arrogant you looked, and that you did not belong there. She was hoping I think to embarrass you and make you leave. To show that ‘fake cowboys’ did not belong at our rink. And honestly, I think if you did not have a car that might have been the only time. She told me all about it the next day, how nice you were, you had a car, how you made her cum, that your car had a roomy back seat, that you had a nice cock, and how nice it was in the back of your truck instead of how she normally did it.”

I sighed, and she reached over and squeezed my hand. “So yes, I think she loved you, as much as she could. But Lin covets things. A nice car, a nice place to live, all the toys she always wanted. And being with you she got to have them. Sorry, but if you were just another schlub from our area she would have yanked your willie a few times, then just moved on. But you took her skating all the time, movies, Magic Mountain, those conventions. Lin even tried to get me to go sometimes. But I was single, and I was not willing to pay her price to attend.”

“Wait, her price? Those were always my rooms. Why would she be charging you anything, Julie?”

She shook her head, and Becky reached over and squeezed my hand. “Baby, I don’t think she means money.” And Julie nodded, opening her two fingers into a peace sign, then moving them in front of her mouth and licking the webbing in between.

“That price Pete. She tried to get me to go a few times, said we would all have fun if I went. But I ain’t into girls at all. Oh, I have nothing against it. But it’s just not for me at all, no interest. It was kinda nice when you two hooked up with Kimmie, took that pressure off of me because she finally had a kitty to lick and it was not mine. Then Kimmie and her had that fight, then she graduated early, and went back east for College. And she was right back at trying it with me again. I finally told her that if every time she wanted to see me it was to try and sleep with me, to get lost.” She finished the cooler, then looked at me and smiled. “Thank you sir, may I have another?”

I chuckled. “Julie, you like to play the bimbo. But nobody who comes up with a Dickens quote like that when half in the bag is a complete airhead.” I brought her and Becky another though.

“Well, I knew when you left it was doomed between you two. If she had found another girlfriend like Kimmie who was stable, things might not have gone so bad. But the only girls like that we knew that she would have been interested in were her sister, and Peggy. I think she was already starting to hang out with other guys again when Melissa came along. I know Lin had a crush on Holly, and Melissa was like Holly but more so. And she was older, had money, and her own place. She also started her on drugs. She invited me over a few times to toke up, but I don’t do that shit. She told me Melissa was her new girlfriend, then later that she was a stripper, and then doing porn.”

She shook her head. “The moment she told me she wished she was 18 so she could strip for money, I knew it was over. Stripping would lead to lap dances, which would lead to more. Lin has like no ability to control herself. Give her a drink, give her a drug, give her a cock or titty, and she just goes for it. And I do not think she is even aware of that, to be honest. Did she love you, I think yes. But her love is only for about as long as you are around. Even Kimmie told me before she left she was glad, Lin’s sex drive was really getting to her.” She then picked up the beef bowl and had some more.

“I still see her sometimes, I ran into her at the Panorama Mall maybe three months ago. She lives near there with her girlfriend. She actually looked better, more like her old self. Those huge implants were gone, and she had gained back weight. We had lunch, and she told me she was finally off crack, and had been off all drugs for over six months. But she was now working exclusively with this one guy doing videos as nobody else wanted to hire her. She had met her girlfriend on a shoot, and she invited me to come meet her, she was doing a video that day. I told her maybe another time, and she gave me her number. I just threw it away.”

“Well, maybe her girlfriend will keep her more grounded,” Becky said.

“Naw, she does porn also. She even told me about her new ‘Handjob Queen’ series, and asked if I wanted in on it as we used to kinda double date back in the day. I told her no thanks, I wanted to keep my amateur status. That was before you got hurt, and she even told me about how she tried to get you back. Pete, you fucking shocked the hell out of her! She told me you had changed, you were rude and cut her off, and would not let her talk. She said it was like you were a different person, as ‘Her Pete’ would never have done that.”

“Julie, by then I had learned almost everything about her. Carlos, Melissa, her stripping, doing porn, even the prostitution. And even the last months I thought we were together she kept getting more and more distant. By then I was talking with Mandy more than Linda. She was either not there, or a few minutes after I called she was taking off to go somewhere. Towards the end, I even sent her a nice silk robe. With a note saying we had to try and keep things together.”

Then I told her about the “perfect storm”. Her almost dismissal of the robe, wrecking the truck, my dad reading me the police report where she had reported Carlos as her “boyfriend” and me being “a friend in the military”, then the rings without a note.

“Oh Pete, I actually know about that. She sent those a few days before the accident I think. Said she wrote a letter admitting some things she did, and hoping you would forgive her and return them and tell her to put them back on. But she was tripping on Ecstasy and forgot to put it inside the envelope. She told me she was mad because outside your house she tried to give it to you but you kept cutting her off and would not give her the chance.”

“Well, by then it was over forever. Let’s see. A few weeks after I got the rings, I went into my room. My roomie then really loved his porn. As in two or three tapes a week, he would also trade with other guys. And well, I heard a voice saying the things Linda used to say, in her voice. And I looked at the screen, it was a blonde Linda, with two guys at once. I saw a few others, one where she was wearing the silk robe I had sent her, another which according to the title was her first movie. Right after she turned 18, having sex with who I now know was Melissa.”

“Well, the thing is, I know what you two told me. But I don’t think she is stalking you. At the last lunch we had, she told me she was really into 12 step. She said it saved her life, and she was trying to follow all of them. She was already trying to change, she said she was now starting to write and direct, and hoped to stop doing porn soon. No more drugs, and I do believe her there. But also to try and make amends to those she hurt. Dee, Mandy, and both of you told me about the night at the theater. And to be honest, that is not like the Linda I know anymore, that is like a scared Linda who was trying to do something she never had before. And I bet it was to apologize.”

I looked at Becky, then at Julie. “Well, that would be unlike her. Linda rarely apologized for anything. She simply explained how things were not like they had seemed.”

“I know. But at that lunch, she spent a lot of time apologizing to me. For how she treated me, how she had tried to use me, and I did promise I would tell you that if I got the chance. That was before I started working for you so I had no expectation of ever actually doing it. But I will say this, if you do run into her again, do not be quite so quick to judge her. She has been living in hell for the last three or four years. A hell of her own making I admit, she told me some. The drugs, the orgies, the prostitution, which I think she still does by the way. She even lost almost everything but her clothes, a box of personal things, and her computer after she got up with some psycho that tried to make her a slave. Then the guy who saved her from that got AIDS and died. I admit I do not like the ‘new Linda’, but she does seem to be trying to change. I am not saying to forgive her, but do not be so quick to judge until you hear her out is all.”

I looked at Becky, and she nodded. “Julie, can I ask you a few things? I can have Pete leave if you want.”

“Go ahead, ain’t many secrets with us I don’t think.”

“I take it you never slept with him?”

“With Pete? Oh hell no! Oh, I do not mean it like that. I sometimes teased Linda later that if I had the idea to run into him at the rink instead of her I would have been happy getting his dick. I had a bit of a crush on you back then, we all did. But for me, it was because you treated me like a person, not walking titties with blonde hair. But to answer your question, no. We kissed a few times, but I don’t think he ever even slipped me the tongue. I remember he patted my bottom a few times, but it was more like you would pat a puppy than trying to grope my bottom.”

She looked at both of us. “But Lin had offered him to me a few times, as I said. All I would have had to do was sleep with her also. If I had not had to sleep with her also though, I would have done it. Honestly? If I have to guess, I would say she is really a lesbian, to be honest. She fucks guys for money, for a place to live, things like that. And she likes dick. But since Carlos and Pete before him, I do not think she has ever really had a boyfriend. This is just a guess, but I think she really likes cock, but loves girls. And in what she is doing, she gets both. Cock when she wants a cock, and a girlfriend at the same time. Heck, she had even told me that she had offered Peter two different girls, and he turned both of them down.”

Becky looked at me, and I nodded. “Oh, I fooled around with Kimmie, and Kim also. I told you our rules, I did almost everything with them, but I would not fuck them. I swore only with Linda, and I meant it.”

“So you never really had two girls at once then,” Julie said. I almost agreed, then stopped. And I saw both girls looking at me.

“OK, no names, this is only between us. But yes, I have made love to two different gals at the same time. It was a one-time thing, and they did nothing to each other other than kiss a bit. No, it was not Kim or Kimmie, and please do not ask Julie.” I saw Becky turn and smile at me, and I smiled back.

“Fair enough, but I have a good idea. I will just say if I am right, I love both of them so much that I would never hurt either of them and leave it at that. Excuse me a minute, I gotta pee.”

She slipped to the bathroom, and Becky gave me a long soft kiss. “Mandy and Holly?” she softly asked, and I nodded. “One time, right before I went back to Japan. We knew then it would never be repeated.”

She nodded, “I always suspected, and understand why you did not tell me. I am not jealous, that was then and this is now. And I have you now, not them.” We kissed again, and I nodded as I heard the toilet flush.

She sat back down and finished her dinner, and when she asked for another cooler Becky shook her head no. “Finish that, and in another few minutes or so you can have another. I will not have you being sick or having too much alcohol.” Julie smiled and nodded.

“Thank you, Becky. You know, in the last few weeks I have really come to respect both of you. Pete is so much more serious now, but with all he went through I am not surprised there. You, you are like a rock Becky. Dee has told me how the two of you made that shop, and all the other things you two do. Pete was always driven, and now he really has a gal that is the same way. Lin, she was never driven, she just moved where the current was easiest. For years that was with Pete. Now, I think it is wherever she is on her back for long enough to make a few more hundred dollars. Me, I admit I am a bit of a slut, but my best friend really became a whore.”

At that Becky got her another cooler, and said it was the last one for the night. Topics turned more general after that, and she asked if I wanted her to tell me if she ran into Linda again. “I do go up to the Panorama mall sometimes, there is a Mexican market up there that has great meat.”

I sighed, and nodded. “Only generalities though. I do wish her well, but I don’t really want to be around her anymore. It is like once I realized it, I understood how she had been manipulating me for years. And I don’t want her doing that again.”

“Well, I think she’s scared of you, to be honest. And Mandy probably terrifies her now.”

Becky sat up at that. “Wait, Mandy? Her little sister?”

Julie looked at both of us and nodded. “Both her and Dee told me what happened after the theater. You had already left, and I guess neither one told you. After you both left, Mandy saw go to the bar and have a few drinks. She then stepped away and leaned against a wall. Well, Mandy went up and slapped the shit out of her. Several times. Mandy told me she had called her a whore, and to never go near her again. Dee told me that Linda did not even respond, she did not even try to defend herself. She put her hands behind her back, and let Mandy slap and swear at her and said nothing. Dee said she was crying when another girl came up and took her away.”

I looked at Becky, and she shook her head. “Pete, can you do me a favor? When your dad moves, send the guns with him. I think we don’t need them, but I will talk to Dee and Mandy first.” Julie was looking at both of us, her eyes wide. “Yes Julie, after that night Pete went out and bought some guns. We both thought she was stalking him at the time. Then later we found out she was one of around a hundred or so girls that some actor hired to make the guys look good. He was a war vet, and played tough guys in movies. He just wanted to see pretty girls on the arms of the single guys. I bet that is all it was. She was just another girl hired to be eye candy, and it just happened to be there.”

I nodded. “It does match up. Both times that night she only said she wanted to talk to me. And each time she seemed quiet, and almost afraid. Julie, we both know her ‘little girl’ look, she wore it that night. But looking back, I bet it was not an act then, it was real. OK, I will not drop the order. But Becky, can we both agree to not enforce it if we run into her again, and at least try and hear her out? If that is all it is and she feels like she has to try and make amends, so long as that is all it is we let her?”

Becky nodded, and I gave her a big hug. I whispered into her ear, and she nodded. “OK, Julie. Do not hunt her down or anything, but if you see her ask her to send me a note through you if she wishes. We will see then. I can never forgive her for what she did. But if she believes she needs to make amends to help herself, I can provide her the chance to help herself. In fact, you said she had the letter she wrote with the rings that day she came to visit me? Tell her to do that. Write a note, and keep it in her purse. If she sees either of us, just come up, hand it to us, then leave. Neither of us will tell the police, she will be safe so long as that is all she does.”

Julie came over and hugged both of us. “That is all anybody can ask. She is not really a friend anymore. But like you, I do hope she gets better. Maybe someday my old friend can return. And thank you for everything. The job, being my friends, and listening to what I had to say. And no Becky, as I said Pete was never my lover. But if I was willing to do Linda he could have been. You are lucky to have him.”

I headed to bed as Becky got a blanket and pillow out of the closet and settled Julie down to sleep on the couch. She joined me about 15 minutes later, and put on a long T and slipped into bed next to me. “She’s really drunk, but she also said something I think she had to get off her chest for a while now.”

“Yeah Becky, I get that feeling also. I guess back in school she felt trapped, Linda’s friend, and also wanting me to know the truth. I knew she was lying about before me, but good god, over a hundred different guys before we even met? That is like one every three days for a year. Not even counting repeats, which it seems she was willing to do also. And she told me she started a few months before we met, not over a year before. I think much of tonight was Julie wanting to clear the air between us.”