Part 6: Saturday

Chapter Twenty-Four - David

I had a hell of a time sleeping Friday night. In fact, I ended up waking up at 6:30 Saturday morning.

Which is a hell of a time to wake up on a Saturday!

I got out of bed, took a shower, went downstairs. I was the only one there. I knew this-Mom had to be at the store by 6:00 AM for inventory. Happens a couple times a year. So, I went downstairs and found my "Mom Note". Every time I'm going to be getting up, or getting home, and Mom knows she's not going to be there, I get a note. I left you this if you want to make breakfast, have a good day, come down to the store if you get lonely, yadda yadda yadda, love Mom. They're actually very sweet.

I didn't feel like cooking. I can. I'm actually a good cook. But I didn't feel like it, and 7 am was way too early to call Missy. So, I decided to burn off some nervous energy and take a little walk.

I ended up heading towards a diner near my house that makes fabulous omelets. I had decided I was hungry. I'd head there, eat, read the paper, and try to get my mind off of how worried I was about Missy.

As I walked towards the diner, I saw Jared and Amanda headed towards me from the other direction.

"What are you two doing up so early?" I laughed.

"I could ask you the same thing," Jared laughed back.

"Just had a restless night."

"We just woke up early," Jared said. "Well, she did. I could've slept for another three hours. She insisted on waking me up."

"Oh, you loved it and you know it," Amanda grinned.

"I don't think I want to know the details," I laughed.

We went in to the diner and sat together. I was glad they showed up-maybe I should talk things out.

We ordered our food, and then Jared said, "OK, pal, something is on your mind. Out with it."

"I'm worried about Missy," I admitted. I told them all about the events of yesterday.

"Man," Jared said, "I guess I understand her better than I did."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"You're in deep, aren't you?" he smiled.

"Pretty much," I smiled back. "Look, I was worried that the old Missy was going to come back. After the past two days, I'm not. I'm worried about her. Mom's talked to her, and thinks she's love starved. I'm beginning to agree."

"Yeah, I can see that," Amanda said. "And she really likes you. That's a bit dangerous."

"You sound like Mom," I smiled.

"Do you love her?" Jared asked.

"I don't know. I like her. I like her very much."

"Do you think you could love her?" Jared persisted.

"I don't know. What's love? I've never been in love in my life!" I said.

"Well, do you miss her when she's gone?" Amanda asked. "Do you wish she were here right now?"

"Yes, and yes. Not that I don't love you guys, but, you know," I grinned.

"Of course," Jared grinned back. "Is her happiness and well-being at least as important to you as yours is?"

"He doesn't have to answer that one, honey," Amanda said, "the evidence is under his eye. Fading, but it's still there."

We all laughed, and Jared said, "Fine. Would you do it again if you knew how it was going to turn out? Would you step in to help her even if you knew you were going to get clobbered?"

"Yes," I said.

"OK, think about some events coming up," Amanda said. "The class picnic. A bunch of us going to the beach, or Six Flags. Stuff like that. Can you see yourself going without her there?"

"Actually, now that you mention it, no. I didn't even know if I wanted to go to the class picnic. Now, I definitely do. With her."

"Say something really great happened to you," Jared asked, "a big scholarship, or your first choice college accepts you, or something. Would she be the first person you'd want to tell?"

"Depending on the type of news, maybe. Absolutely no worse than the second person."

"That's fine, I forgot how close your Mother and you are," Jared grinned. "You know that look that Natalie drew-does she ever look at you like that for real?" I nodded. "How does that make you feel?"

"Like I'm the center of the universe."

"Do you think you ever look at her like that?' Jared asked.

"Yeah, I think I might," I smiled.

"OK, and this isn't as important as some of the rest of them, but it is important," Amanda said. "Are you physically attracted to her?"

"Hell, yes!" I said. They both laughed.

"I think it's pretty established that she's probably a better person for having met you," Amanda said. "Does the reverse hold true?"

"Amanda," I smirked, "can you ever remember us having a conversation before this week when I wasn't a tongue-tied stuttering fool?" She laughed, and shook her head. "That's all her. She's so easy to talk to, and I'm so comfortable around her, that it's made talking to other people easier.

"Well, pal," Jared said, "I don't know if you're in love, but you're on the expressway headed there."

"I see your point," I said, "but it's all so confusing."

"Let me make it simpler, then," Amanda said. "You know what Jared does? If it's a good day, he shows up and makes it a great day. If it's a so-so day, he makes it a very good day. And if it's the worst day I've had in a month-he makes it bearable."

I thought about that, and grinned. "Yeah. Thanks, guys. You've been a big help."

"Don't mention it," Jared said. "You know what, honey? We should become relationship counselors."

"Just eat your omelet," Amanda grinned at him.

We ate, and chatted for a while, then we all went home. I decided it was late enough to call Missy.

"H'lo?" I heard murmured at the other end of the line. Whoops, maybe I was wrong about it being late enough.

"I'm sorry, Missy, did I wake you?"

"Dave!" she said with remarkable enthusiasm. "Well, no, I'm kinda awake."

"Do you want me to call back later?"

"No, I'm awake enough to talk. Mostly."

"I was worried about you."

"Well, it didn't go particularly well. Anyhow, I know I'm making you dinner later, but can I see you sooner than that?"

"Sure, I'd like that," I said.

"About two hours?"

"Great."

Chapter Twenty-Five - Missy

Well, at least I had that to look forward to.

I got up, showered, put some clothes on, and went downstairs. This, I wasn't looking forward to.

I went and fixed some tea and toast, and headed towards the dining room. Dad was there.

"Good morning, Melissa."

"Morning. Where's Mom?"

"She needed to do some set up for that dance of hers that we're going to this evening." Good. They were still going. "I have something to say to you," he said. "You are still my responsibility. Despite what else you might think, I do not shirk my responsibilities. You will stay in this house, and complete high school. After that, I expect you to go to college-which, since I consider education a responsibility for children, will be paid for. Then I expect you to go make something of yourself. This is non-negotiable. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"I will not have any daughter of mine being a runaway."

I sighed to myself. "Fine," was all I said.

"How much of that outburst was from Ellie Kirkland?" he asked in a tone of disgust.

"None of it," I said. "That's been building up for some time."

"Your mother basically doesn't want to talk to you. You hurt her very badly last night."

"She's incapable of being hurt," I said. Dad just looked at me. "She's not hurt. She's offended. She's probably mad. She's most likely scandalized. I'd like to hope she's even feeling a bit guilty, but I know that's too much to hope for. Hurt, she is not."

"One of these days you'll have children, and you'll see it's not as easy as you think," he pontificated.

Ah, yes, the same old platitudes. "Well, Dad, I certainly plan to be very careful. I certainly don't plan on having any kids by mistake that I really don't want and will resent for the rest of their lives," I said. That was a stab in the dark, but one I had always suspected-and the look in Dad's eyes told me I was right on.

All he said was, "That's probably a good plan." Then he got up and started heading out of the dining room.

"You're never going to say it, are you?" I said with a sigh.

His back to me, he stopped and said, "Maybe someday, but you'll have to earn it."

"I didn't think love was something that had to be earned, especially a parent to a child."

He turned to me then. "Melissa, everything in life needs to be earned. You might want to start realizing that." Then he left.

And I realized-what a sad, pathetic way to live your life.

I got out of there, and headed to David's. I was, at least, liked there. I knocked on his door. He was happy to see me. And if you don't think I needed that right about now! I stepped into his house, and he grabbed me and kissed me. Nothing earth-shaking, but warm and sweet and very nice.

"What happened last night?" he asked me, leading me over to the couch.

"Well, I had a little-well, it was kind of a nervous breakdown. I lost it. Even shattered one of my mother's prized expensive vases all over the wall. It started yesterday afternoon." I told him the whole thing. By the end, he was holding me.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Well, I'm dealing. I'm glad you're here, though-that makes it better."

"I'm glad," he said. "You know what? I always felt, you know, that I was missing something, because I didn't have a Dad. But at least I have Mom. Who tells me she loves me thirty-eight times a day," he grinned.

"You're Mom's a sweetheart," I told him. "Where is she?"

"At the store where she works. They're doing inventory today, she's been there since six. She works at Veychold's Boutique."

"I love Veychold's," I said. "They have so much cool stuff in there. Most of it wouldn't look good on me, but I love looking at it."

"Oh, feh. Tons of stuff in there would look great on you. Look, what do you want to do today?"

"You know what? It's a great day for a walk. Why don't we go downtown? We can stroll through the park, maybe get something to eat, check out the stores."

"That's a great idea. Let's do it," he agreed. We went into my car and drove downtown. We parked and headed towards the town park first. We just started walking, holding hands.

"I love this place," I told him.

"Yeah, I always have, too." We walked for a bit down one of the paths, and then he said, "Listen. I was wondering. Would you like to go out?"

"I think we are out, silly," I giggled, not getting it.

He stopped, and turned to me. "No, I meant, go out with me. You know, be my girlfriend."

I felt my jaw drop. I couldn't help it. This was the last thing I expected now. "Really?" I managed to squeak out.

"Yeah, really," he grinned at me.

"YES!" I shouted, and launched myself at him, and started kissing him on the cheek. "Yes!" I said again. Then I kind of realized where we were-in the middle of the park. I also realized I was definitely overdoing it.

"I'm sorry," I said stepping away from him, "was that too enthusiastic?" I couldn't stop grinning though.

"I didn't mind," he grinned back.

"You just took me by surprise, is all," I told him. "I thought that maybe if we started dating, you might ask me that in, oh, a month or two."

"You're obviously not upset I jumped the gun on you," he said, still smiling at me.

"Obviously not." I was just beaming. We started walking again.

"I had trouble sleeping last night. I got up real early. I decided to walk down to the diner near my house to get some breakfast. When I got there, I ran into Jared and Amanda. We had a nice talk."

"They got up early, too, I take it."

"Well, Amanda did. She woke up Jared. They often spend the night together, at Jared's, especially on weekends."

"Oh. But she woke Jared up? That's not nice."

He cracked up laughing. "I don't think he was complaining. If I know Amanda-and I do-she woke him up with a blowjob."

"Ah," I giggled.

"Anyhow, I met them at the diner and we had a nice talk. It cleared a lot of things up in my mind. So, I figured, why wait around? I wanted to do this. It feels right."

I think I sighed a little bit. "Yeah, it feels right to me, too."

Chapter Twenty-Six - David

I couldn't believe how happy she was!

I take that back. I could believe it. And, you know what? I was just as happy. It's funny-I had been so worried about her that it didn't hit me until about 15 minutes after I had asked her. I have a girlfriend! ME!

It must have shown on my face, because she looked at me and said, "What's up?"

"It just kind of hit me," I grinned at her. "I actually had the nerve to ask a girl to go out with me."

She let out a little musical little tinkle of a laugh, and wrapped her arm around mine. "Now you know how why I reacted the way I did that I actually got asked out!"

"Oh, I thought it was because it was me that asked you out," I teased.

"It was, silly," she laughed. "But I think my disbelief was increased that it was anyone. Though if it was anyone else, I wouldn't have said yes."

We ended up getting some lunch, then walked down the main shopping area along Westport Ave. "Hey, let's go say hi to Mom," I said, as we approached Veychold's.

"OK," she grinned.

We walked in and Mom was obviously counting something for inventory. So, me being the brat I am, I walked up behind her and intoned, "seven, sixteen, eighty-three, two..."

She turned around, mad, but then realized who it was. "You brat! Hi, honey. Hello, Melissa. What are you two doing?"

"Walking the town," I said. "It was a good day for it. Later, she's cooking me dinner."

"Vat is dis? You messing your Mama's counting up?" I looked behind me, and there was Mom's boss, the owner of the boutique, Miriam Veychold. Miriam was a little old Jewish woman with a thick Yiddish accent-which was amusing, considering she'd lived in Westport for years. She was like the grandmother I didn't have. I loved her to pieces.

"Hi, Miriam. Yes, I'm messing her up. Isn't that my job?"

"You shtinker," she grinned. "Vat brings you here on such a nice day?"

"We're out walking, stopped in to say hi. Missy, this is Miriam, she owns the shop. Miriam, this is my girlfriend, Missy."

"Ah! Zo you finally find nice girl, eh?" Miriam said. "Nice to meet you," she said to Missy.

And, yes, Mom caught it. "Girlfriend?" she said with a grin.

"As of about an hour ago," I grinned back.

"Congratulations!" We chatted for a bit, and I noticed Missy wandering around. She was looking at an outfit.

"I like that," I said.

"I like it, too, but I could never wear it."

"Sure you could," I argued. It was more revealing than the stuff she normally wore, but I thought it'd look great on her. It was a short sleeve purple shirt, drawn in at the waist, and a bit short at the hem, with a hip-hugger flared grey skirt.

"There's no way."

"Does you girlfriend like zis, David?" It was Miriam.

"Yeah, but she thinks it won't look good on her."

"Nonsense. Go try it on."

"But..." Missy tried.

"Go try it on!" You don't argue with Miriam, I found that out years ago. Missy shrugged, found one her size, and went into the dressing room. After a few minutes, she came out, very tentatively. I don't know why. She looked great. I told her so.

"My stomach's showing!"

"Only a little, and it that outfit, it's supposed to."

"You really think this looks good on me?" she asked.

"Vat, are you nuts?" Miriam spoke up. "You look gorchuss." Mom agreed.

She stood there, still looking tentative, when I took matters into my own hands. I took the tee-shirt and baggy shorts she had been wearing out of her hands, and told Miriam. "Bag these." Then I grabbed a scissors, went over to Missy, and cut the tags off of the outfit. I handed them to Miriam and said, "OK, ring these up." Then I reached for my wallet.

"What are you doing?" Missy asked.

"Buying that for you. It's the only way I'm going to convince you how awesome you look in it. Besides which," I grinned, "I get the employee discount." Miriam rang it up for me, and I paid, before Missy even knew what hit her. "Come on," I said, "let's go walking."

She looked down at herself, shrugged, and said, "OK." We walked out of the store hand-in-hand after saying goodbye to Miriam and Mom.

"I can't believe you bought this. I can't believe you talked me into wearing it!"

"You look great in it. Trust me, OK?"

"It's so tight. And I'm not used to so much of my belly and legs showing."

"I know," I said. "But you wanted it, didn't you?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "I just worry that I look like a fat girl trying to be skinny."

"You don't," I said. "Trust me."

As we wandered through town, we ran into a number of friends. Every single one of them told her how much they liked her new outfit. Score one for me! The only problem I was having was that I found that outfit on her, well, sexy. Very sexy. And the happier she got wearing it, the sexier she got.

I was wearing shorts. They weren't particularly loose. And after the umpteenth compliment she got on the new outfit, she hugged me. "Thank you so much. You're such a sweetie for doing this for me." There was no doubt in my mind she felt it when she hugged me.

She giggled, and looked down at the bulge in my shorts. "Is that for me?"

"It's a sexy outfit," I said.

"You've seen me naked all week, though!"

"Er, well," I stuttered, "did you notice that this kind of happened a lot while you were around?"

"Well, I thought that was just from being in The Program."

"Not completely," I admitted. "When you were around, pretty much not at all." She just beamed at me.

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Missy

We were walking through town, and I felt like I was walking on air. I couldn't believe he had asked me out. And then he bought me this outfit! And said it looked good on me! And, the startling thing is, he wasn't the only one. Look, my belly has a bulge. And it was showing! David said, "Missy, it's a little bulge. And it's cute." I decided to stop obsessing and take his word for it. Hell, I had been naked for a week, hadn't I?

And, OK, I admit it-the fact that the top was low-cut and very tight on my boobs did make me feel sexy.

And it made him hard. Unbelievable. I made him hard. Suddenly, a thought went through my head. I suddenly remembered that I had gotten the shot yesterday morning. And, no matter how hard I tried, that thought would not go away.