Chapter 62

We were gathering up our things, getting ready to leave the beautiful hotel, and I went to the phone to see who left the message. But all I heard was someone breathing, then a muffled voice said, “I’m sorry, Pete,” and a hang up. Neither the voice nor the speech pattern was familiar.

Karen and I both called home. Mom said that I should come home early and stay in tonight, so that I could get ready for school tomorrow. Karen’s dad said the same thing, so we agreed that we would both be home for dinner.

We met with Herb and Sylvia, and I drove us to the private aircraft section at LAX. Sally walked up as we stepped out of the car. She looked like she had lost some weight, and looked like she was wearing makeup. I introduced her to Karen, then she grabbed a couple of bags, and we followed her to the plane. Karen wanted to see the inside, so Herb and Sylvia climbed in with her.

I was outside, helping Sally load the luggage, when she said, “Hey, Stud, how ya been?”

“I’m fine, but look at you! You look great! Is something special going on?”

She looked a little embarrassed, and she stared at the ground before she answered, “Yeah, I met someone.”

Sally has always been attractive, but she wears her hair short, and I had never seen her with makeup up until now. She says she’s bi-sexual, and I saw her with Sylvia in La Paz, but she was enthusiastic and very giving when we had sex. I was curious as to whether her ‘someone’ was a girl or guy. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to pry, so I said, “That’s terrific! Tell me about it,” instead.

“Her name is Kitty. She’ s a senior stewardess with Global.”

My question answered, I said, “So tell me about her.”

She was almost childlike with enthusiasm when she explained, “She was raised in Arizona, she’s a full-blooded Indian, and I really like her, Pete.”

Joking, I said, “Does that mean that you and I are finished?”

She grinned, stepped close to me, and ran her fingers over the front of my pants.

“Well, I think that there’s time for a quickie if your girlfriend wouldn’t mind.”

I laughed, and I was about to tease her in return, when I looked past her and saw Karen watching us from the doorway of the plane. I quickly stepped around Sally, took Karen’s hand, and helped her down the steps. She didn’t say anything, but I knew that she saw Sally touch me.

Sylvia got out of the plane and hugged me, then she said to Karen, “He’s a good one, hang on to him,” and she hugged her too. Herb shook hands with both Karen and I, then he said to me, “I have my eye on you, young man. Do well in school.”

Karen and I watched them takeoff, and stood there until the plane was out of sight, then we slowly walked back to the car. Karen snuggled close to me, and we sat quietly for a while. Karen finally said, “Is this weekend really over?”

“I know what you mean. It seems like we just left, but a lot happened, didn’t it?”

“God, yes! It’s going to take me a long time just to remember everything. Wait! I have an idea. Lets go to the camera store. They’ll take my digital camera and make prints from it.”

“Why do that? Just load the pictures on your computer.”

“Are you kidding? I want to take the pictures to school and show them to everyone. They’ll never believe me otherwise.”

We drove to the camera shop, and when Karen showed the camera to the clerk, he said, “You have over fifty pictures on here. I’ll have them ready by Friday.”

Karen screamed, “No Way! I want them today! I don’t care about the cost.”

The guy frowned and grumbled, but the dollar signs won, and he agreed to have them ready by six o’clock.

It’s still early, so we drove to the beach. It’s a school day, so the parking lot next to the water was almost deserted. The noise of the surf was soothing and the weather was warm, so we sat there for a long time watching the sailboats and the occasional surfer.

Karen finally said, “You slept with Sally, didn’t you?”

I promised myself I wouldn’t lie to Karen, so I answered, “Last summer. Does it bother you?”

“I’m actually proud that you would want to be with me after you’ve been with all those great looking girls.”

“Don’t say that, Karen! You’re pretty too, and you’re perfect for me.” I wanted to say more, but she held a finger to my lips and said, “Never mind. I want you to turn on the radio right now. We never got a chance to dance last night.”

I searched around the dial until I found a rock number, but she said, “No, something softer. I want you to hold me.” I found some quieter music, and we stepped out of the car and left the door open. We danced to that song and the next one too. Karen had her head on my chest, and I think that we both lost ourselves to the music. It was wonderful holding her that close, and I felt her shaking at the end of the second song. Alarmed, I said, “What’s the matter, Karen?”

She looked up at me, and there were tears in her eyes. “Nothing, I’m just having a good time is all, but we have to go.”

“What about the pictures?”

“I’ll pick them up later.”

Her dad stepped out to meet us when I pulled up to her doorway. Karen ran to him, hugged him, and immediately started telling him about the trip. I grabbed her bags and followed them inside. She was breathlessly talking, but I noticed that her eyes seemed to be teary. Her dad looked at her, then he turned to me and asked, “Do you need to go, Pete?”

I nodded, “Yes, I should get home.”

He smiled, “It sounds like you two had a great time. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Thanks, Pete,” and he shook my hand.

Karen walked me to the car, then she kissed me and said, “Words fail me. Thank you for everything.” I thought that she might watch me as I drove away. She ran back to her dad and fell into his arms instead.

A lot of things were going through my head on the way home. It had been a wonderful weekend, but it was obvious that it was time that I made some decisions about the future. Karen is a great girl, and I like her for a number of reasons. It was very comfortable when I was going steady with Kristen, and I think that it would be the same with Karen, but without all the drama.

Amy had already told everyone about us meeting DeLucca and Jack Hedden when I got home, but she hadn’t talked about Lance and his guys. She winked, glanced at Erin, and said, “I thought that I’d leave that to you,” when I asked why.

Lance’s band is one of the favorites at school, and Erin screamed, and wanted to know all about him as soon as I mentioned having met him. She demanded that I stop in mid-conversation, and she jumped up and called Kelly, then she asked me to go on, and she repeated everything that I said to her. I didn’t mention the wet t-shirt contest.

I started yawning after dinner. It was barely nine o’clock when I dragged myself to my room. The light was still blinking on my answering machine, but I was too tired to check it. I noticed an envelope sticking out of my pocket when I pulled my pants off. It was the one Rocky had given me, and I opened it and looked at the picture of Karen dancing naked. It was the last thing on my mind as I fell asleep.

The alarm buzzed me awake in the morning, and I dragged myself into the shower after several failed attempts to find the snooze button. I sat down to listen to my messages once I was up and dressed. There was one from Bill, a couple of hang-ups, then one from Tess asking me to contact her after school today, and the last one was one from Molly and Alice. Molly said that she was coming to California for a photo shoot late next month, and Alice said that her character would be on a break from her soap opera, so she would be coming with her. The thought of seeing both of them again was exciting, and I couldn’t help but think about the hotel room. I wondered if Molly would be as beautiful as I remembered.

It took me a while to get my mind working after I got to school, but I felt pretty good by the time first period was over. I was in the hallway on my way to second period when a group of girls ran up and practically attacked me. Several asked if I actually owned an airplane, and some asked about Jack Hedden or Robert DeLucca, but all of them wanted to know about Lance Howard and his band, and if Karen had really spent the day with them. Karen had obviously brought the pictures to school, so I thought that I’d juice her image up a little, and I told the girls that Lance had told me in confidence that he had a crush on her, then I said that Jack Hedden had asked how serious I was about her. Most of the girls “Ooh’d and aah’d,” but one girl, an attractive blonde who I had seen around, but didn’t really know, stepped up close and asked, “So, what did you tell him?”

“About what?”

“How serious about Karen ARE you?”

I had only seen the girl a few times, I didn’t even know her name. She’s on the varsity swim team, and I saw her in the pool once, but we had never talked. She has a swimmer’s body. She’s around five foot seven, with wide shoulders, and strong looking legs. She always wears loose fitting sweaters and blouses, so I can’t tell about her body, but I noticed she had a great ass, and almost no boobs the time I saw her in the pool. Her hair is not much longer than mine is, and it looks like she doesn’t comb it, but it looks good on her. It gives her a sort of ‘Gamin’ look that reminds me a little of Desi, then I looked into her eyes for the first time. They’re brilliant green, and it was disturbing when they settled on me. She seemed to look right through me.

She said, “Well?” and I was about to answer her when Karen walked up. She saw us staring at each other, and she moved between us as put her arm around me. She asked, “What’s going on?” One of the girls said, “Pete was telling us about how both Lance and Jack Hedden were hitting on you. Is it true?” before I could answer.

Karen shot me a quick glance, then she grinned and said, “Uhh, yeah, I guess so.”

I interrupted with, “You guess so!!! Didn’t you show them the pictures of you kissing Lance and his whole band? Why, Lance and the guys were all over you. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t come in to the party and broke things up.”

Karen got a big grin on her face, and she put both arms around me, laid her head on my chest and said, “Nothing would have happened,” then she grinned and added, “At least not with you there.” All the girls went “Ooooooo, and started giggling.

Everyone but the blonde who asked, “So, are you two officially together now, or what?” again.

The bell rang just then, and everybody seemed to be waiting for an answer. It suddenly occurred to me that we had never really discussed whether or not we were going to be exclusive, so I jokingly said, “Well, I’ve asked her to go steady, but she turned me down. I guess that she’s waiting for a better offer.”

The girls went “Ooooooo” again, but the second bell rang just then, so everyone started running to their classes. I thought about things as the day progressed, and I decided that it was time to make a commitment to her if she would have me.

The guys in my classes seemed to be ignoring me throughout the day. I tried to strike up conversations with several of them, but they pretended to be busy. Bill caught up with me on the way out after school, and said, “Wow, Man, you are the talk of school since Karen showed everybody those pictures.”

“So, what’s the deal? Is everyone pissed-off at me about something?”

“Are you kidding? They’re so jealous that they can’t stand it! She has pictures of you shooting the shit with movie stars, and others of you dressed in a tux with your arm around Kristen, who by the way, looks more beautiful than ever. But the worst one is the one of you in the box seats at a theater. The girl you’re with looks like she wants to eat you alive. Who the hell is she?”

It took me a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. It must have been the girl in the box next to me at Kristen’s second show. I don’t even remember what she looked like, and I started to explain that I didn’t know her when Karen walked up.

Bill said, “I gotta go, call me later,” and he dashed off.

Karen and I started down the steps outside of school. She was tightly holding to my arm, and she said, “You have no idea what you’ve done for my image. Almost every girl in school wants to know all about this weekend.”

A thought hit me, and I asked, “How does everyone know what happened this weekend, Karen? We just got back last night!”

She hugged me even tighter, and said, “I uhh, told some people last night, and I showed the pictures to a few people this morning.”

“A few people? It sounds like you showed it to everybody at school. Do you have them with you?”

She reached in her purse and handed me a thick stack of photos. We went to a bench in the quad and sat looking at them. Some of them were amazing. Most were of me, but there were several very clear photos of her with Vince and his guys that I guess Amy had taken. A couple were of her being kissed by Vince, and some were of her being kissed by guys in the band. I pretended to be angry and made a motion as though I was going to rip them up. She screamed and tried to grab them from me, and I had to tell her that I was just kidding. Several more were of her standing with DeLucca, and some more were of her with Jack Hedden. He had his arm on her shoulder, and it looked like he was whispering something sexy to her.

She laughed. “He was asking me if you were a good lover,” when I asked her about it.

“What did you tell him?”

“It shocked me, so I’m not sure, but I think that I told him you were great.”

Something occurred to me. I was under the impression that everyone in that room thought that I was with Kristen. I made a mental note to ask Kristen about it, then it hit me that Kristen and I were out of each other’s life, presumably forever. I might never talk with her again! It was a chilling thought, and I had to shake my head to clear it.

Karen and I looked at a few more, then I saw the one that Bill was talking about. It was the girl who was in the theater box with me. Karen’s camera has a zoom lens and the girl and I were full frame even though she was across the theater. I remembered talking to her, but through a lighting accident, the photo looked as though she was leering at me, and it looked like I was admiring her chest.

I was staring at it when Karen asked, “Are you, uhh, going to see her sometime soon?”

It surprised me! I said, “Why on earth would you say that, Karen?”

She looked uncomfortable, and she replied, “It, umm, it looked like you and her were making a date or something.”

I was surprised again, and I was about to tell her that nothing was going on when a big group of girls came up to us. It was a different group than the one’s in the hall, and one of them asked Karen, “Are these the pictures?” She nodded, and they all crowded around. I stood up and moved out of the way, but I noticed a lot of furtive glances at me as I stood there watching them. Thanks to Karen, it looks like the events of the weekend were going to be pretty good for my image as well.

Several more girls joined the group, and they were all laughing and commenting about the pictures when they suddenly started screaming. I looked over to see what was happening, and Karen was showing them her tattoo. I was trying to figure a way to sneak away when I noticed some commotion on the other side of the quad. Three or four guys appeared to be teasing some girls. It looked that the girls were the Devon sisters, so I went over to see what was going on. The guys were very young looking when I got closer, probably freshmen. They were taunting the girls and calling them names. I walked up to them and asked, “What’s going on, Guys?”

Things suddenly got quiet. One of them, a skinny, pimply-faced kid who appeared to be the head of the group, looked like he was going to make a smart remark, but he wasn’t sure who’s side I was on. I’m a lot bigger then he is, so he stared at me for a minute before he said, “These little cunts think they’re hot shit just because they’re on TV.”

I gave him a big friendly grin, and I went over and put my arm around his neck, then I beckoned for his buddies to join us. I squeezed the little guy’s neck when we all got close, and said, “TV or not, those are nice girls and they don’t deserve shit from you guys. You are all going to apologize to them right now or you’re going to answer to me.”

I think the little guy I had hold of was going to say something, but one of the guys said, “You’re Pete Baker, aren’t you?”

He said, “Cool it, Guys. It’s Pete Baker from the football team,” when I nodded. It struck me funny. I had just come back from Las Vegas. I had been associating with some of the most famous people in the world, but I was just a guy from the football team back here. I don’t know if it was because I was on the team, or that I’m a foot taller and fifty pounds heavier than any of these guys, but they all started apologizing to me. I said, “Not to me, Guys. Talk to the girls.”

I suddenly got an idea. I had heard that the girls had been picked on by some of the kids before. It was easy to understand. They were on TV, they were cute, and they were wealthy, so I thought that I’d try something.

I dragged them over to the girls, and said, “These guys want to apologize for teasing you, Girls. They are so sorry that they have decided to make it up to you by being your personal bodyguards. They have offered to watch over you both. They’ll either take care of it themselves if anyone gives you a problem, or report the problem to me.”

Rose Devon whispered something to her sister, then she stepped forward and asked, “Is that true, Guys?”

The pimply-faced kid looked at his buddies. This was obviously a new idea to them, and they began enthusiastically nodding after a few seconds, so he said, “Yeah, we can do that.”

I stepped in front of him and glared down at him. He started to back up a little and I said, “Hey! She’s offering to let you guys watch over her and her sister. This is a big responsibility. We’ll get someone else to do it if you’re not going to be more excited about it than that.” They all started talking at once, apologizing, and pleading with me to let them handle it. Everybody finally agreed, and the girls each grabbed one of my arms and we walked off, leaving the guys scratching their heads and talking to each other.

We were only a few feet away, when Rose said, “I don’t believe it! You turned those guys around like a real pro.”

I grinned, “Hey, you have your own personal posse now. Quit complaining.”

“We’re not complaining. You gave those guys a purpose in life. They’ll watch over us like jealous lovers. I don’t know why I didn’t think of recruiting some guys like them before now. Where did you learn to do stuff like that?”

I winked at her and replied, “I just know guys. We sometimes get stupid when we’re around really cute girls.”

She stopped in her tracks and said, “There! You did it again! You always seem to know the right thing to say. What’s the deal? Are you a con man or something?”

Her sister, Lily, suddenly jumped up on me, threw her arms around my neck, and kissed me on the cheek, then with a big smile, she said, “It doesn’t matter, Rose. He’s our kind of con man. Why don’t we take him home and show him how grateful we can be.”

Rose cried, “Stop it, Lily,” but she was grinning as she said it.

I wondered for a fleeting moment what it would be like to have sex with such tiny girls. I couldn’t imagine how anything would fit. My thoughts were interrupted when a voice behind us said, “Hey, Pete, why don’t you fool around with someone your own size?”

I turned around, and standing with her hands on her hips, was the blonde from the hallway. One eyebrow was raised, and she had a confrontational look on her face, so I answered, “Are you volunteering for the job?”