Chapter 137

Megan said, “I talked with Nell about Lori and her problems. She thinks that you’d be good for her.”

“Why?”

“Well, Lori has a crush on you in the first place.”

“No, she doesn’t!”

“She sure does. You were all we talked about after you left. Maybe she’s not in love, but she’s definitely in lust. She came right out and said that she’d jump your bones in a minute if you’d let her.”

“Well, I’m not going to and that’s not negotiable.”

“Nell said that you would say that, and that’s why you’re going to be good for Lori. She needs someone to say no to her once in a while, and the place we’re going to is also going to be good for her.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The Sagebrush Cantina is very popular and some of the kids who she knows are bound to be there. It’s going to change the way people look at her when they see that she’s with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“She has a bad reputation, but yours is that you’re a good guy, and being seen with you will change some people’s perception of her.”

‘Why do I have such a good reputation?”

“The girls you’ve gone out with all say great things about you. I first heard about you in the lunchroom at school. Alice Stanfield and her friend, Molly, were sitting at the table next to me and the table behind them was full of girls. They kept staring at Alice and Molly, and it was obvious that they were talking about them. One of them finally came over and asked Molly why no one ever saw her with a guy from school. Molly ignored her, but Alice jumped in and told her that she was dating you when she asked again. That did it. The entire table came over and started asking Molly about you. Molly kept ignoring them, but they kept it up until Molly said to ask Alice because she had dated you as well, and they started pestering her about you. Alice admitted that she had gone out with you and that you were a great guy and fun to be with.”

They all wanted to know more, but the bell rang. You were dating Kristen Albertini the next time that I heard about you. Every guy in school was jealous that you had dated two of the best looking girls at school, then you started dating Karen Gilroy and nobody could figure out why. She’s pretty, but not even close to those other girls, but you did and you suddenly became a God when she told everyone how you flew her to Vegas in your own plane and how the people in the hotel treated you.”

“Well, that didn’t work out very well; she left right after that.”

“I know and she told me why. You were too much for her and she knew it.”

“She told you that?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why didn’t she talk to me about it if she felt that way?”

“She knew that you’d talk her out of it if she did, and she knew that she’d end up with a broken heart down the road.”

“I don’t get it, why would she think that?”

Megan sighed, then she frowned and continued, “Because she’s just a regular girl and knew that it wouldn’t last.”

I shook my head in confusion and asked, “What the heck does that mean?”

“It means that it’s hard for a regular girl to be with you. You’re already famous and it’s going to get worse. You need to be with girls who are special. You need girls like Kristen or the ones who you’re going to meet as you get even more popular. Those are girls who aren’t afraid of people with your kind of goals.”

“You really think so?”

“I sure do. That’s why Karen left and why Cindy doesn’t pressure you to be with her.”

“That’s not true; Cindy doesn’t really want to be with me.”

“Of course, she does, she’s crazy about you, but she doesn’t want to really go after you because she’s afraid of holding you back. Both Nell and I frankly think that she’s making a mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nell likes Cindy a lot. She thinks that she’s brilliant and she’d like to see you two together.”

“Is that what you think?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Why not?”

“I like Cindy. She’s pretty, but she’s not spectacular like Kristen or Molly, and I don’t know if you’d be satisfied with that.”

“I would if I felt that way about her. I would have been satisfied with Karen if she hadn’t left, and she wasn’t spectacular.”

“Well, that was then and this is now. You weren’t so famous then.”

I was about to argue with her when my cell phone rang. Megan waggled her fingers at me and left the room when I reached for it.

It was Cindy calling and asking what time I would pick her up in the morning, so I said that I would call Brandy and get back to her.

Brandy answered with a cheerful, “Hi, Lover, what’s up?” when I called her.

“What time do you want me to drop Cindy at the store?”

“Can you bring her to my house instead of the store and get her here around eight o’clock, I’d like her to meet and spend some time with Della before we head to work.”

“No problem. How is Della doing?”

“She’s going to be fine. I’m going to put her in my Beverly Hills store, do you want to say hello?”

I said yes, and Della sounded good when she said, “Hi, Pete, how are you?”

“I’m fine. You sure sound cheerful.”

“Well, I’m not. Brandy is being mean to me.”

“What, how?”

“She gets me up at the crack of dawn and makes me run around the block a million times, and she feeds me bird seed and water when I get home.”

Brandy was obviously listening and I heard her say, “Don’t listen to her, Pete, she eats like a damn horse. I may have to get a side job just to feed her.”

I chuckled and continued to Della, “It sounds like you’re doing okay.”

“I am, Pete. Brandy is great. I haven’t felt this good in a long time.”

“Good, I’ll see you in the morning when I drop Cindy off.”

I called Cindy after I hung up, and said that I would pick her up at seven thirty tomorrow.

Cindy was quiet at first when I picked her up. I thought that she was excited about shopping for clothes and about coming with me for the events, but she eventually did start talking, and the more she talked the more I realized that she was nervous about something else, so I pulled the car over a block away from the house and said, “Okay, what’s going on.”

She sat looking at me for a long minute then she said, “My life has been wonderful since I met you and it’s about to get even better, Pete. Nell has told me that she has big things in store for me. I believe her and I’m really excited.” She stopped for a minute then it seemed like she made up her mind about something.

She looked hard at me and continued, “I’ve made some decisions. I’m going to be spending a lot of time with you for the rest of the summer, and I want you to know something. I’m going to have as much fun as I possibly can and I have to warn you that I’m going to jump your bones every chance I get.”

Surprised, I asked, “And you’ve told Nell about this?”

“She’s the one who suggested it. She insisted as a matter of fact. She said that I couldn’t go unless I promised that I would.”

“And I have no choice in the matter?”

“Nope, none.”

I grinned and said, “So I’ll be like your sex slave while were traveling together, eh?”

She grinned back and said, “Yup!”

“What if you meet some cute guys while we’re away?”

She grinned, “Well, I may do them too if you’re not keeping me satisfied.”

Laughing, I pulled her to me and kissed her on top of the head, then added, “I guess that I better do my best, I don’t want you wandering off with strangers.”

She sounded more serious when she continued with, “You know me better than that, and there’s more. I’m going to study my ass off when I go back to school in the fall, and I’m damn well going to be the person who Nell thinks I can be.

The girls came out to meet us when we pulled in front of Brandy’s house. I was expecting things to be a little tense at the beginning because of my relationship with the three of them, but they seemed to get along fine, so I decided to leave before things changed, and I waved goodbye.

I thought the trip to the tailor was just to pick up my clothes, but I ended up being there for over two hours. One of Manny’s workmen spent a long time making minor adjustments to things while Manny hovered in the background.

Manny was a hoot. He was going on nonstop about how I should marry Brandy and immediately knock her up between answering phone calls and yelling instructions to people. It wasn’t until after the third time that I told him that she and I were only friends that he relented.

He then began telling me about his cousin, Moishe, who had a daughter named Rebecca who he was positive I would instantly fall in love with. He said that unlike that skinny blonde, Brandy, she was ‘zaftig’ and that it was something that I should definitely look for in a woman.