Chapter 1: "The Invitation"

My name is Celeste Johnson and I guess you could say my story beings in the present but actually, it really doesn't. If that's confusing, then I'm not surprised because it probably is. I'll try to clear that up later but for now, I'll start the most recent events.

First, let me tell you what I look like. I'm 5'10" tall and weigh about 165 pounds. I have short, curly auburn hair and brown eyes. My figure is 38-26-36 and my body is covered, except where I have bikini lines, with a deep rich tan. A friend of mine once said I looked very much like the famous actress Lucy Lawless; but, in her words, "With better tits!" Personally, I'm not so sure about that.

Anyway, I had been flirting with Jeremy Bennett for months trying to get him to respond, but he just never did. Probably because at the time he was just too scared to. It took me a while before I figured out that besides just a plain lack of confidence, he was simply too inexperienced with women to take the bait. But, I always liked a challenge and I'm not one to give up. I was driving us both back to work after lunch when I hit him with it.

"Come on Jeremy, it'll be fun!" I told him.

"You've been saying for months how you wished you had a few friends. Well, now's your chance! Go with me to the party." I added, batting my eyelashes as I did.

He fidgeted and said uncomfortably, "But I won't know anybody there."

"That's the whole point. Now's your chance to meet some new people. And as far as not knowing anyone there goes, I'll be there. Who knows? You might even meet the girl of your dreams there." I told him.

I could see the pained look of hesitation on his face and could tell he was struggling with it, "I don't know Celeste, I don't do well around other people."

I found out later that I was right too! The idea of having to 'pretend' to be the boyfriend of the one woman in his life he had ever met that was the very embodiment of the girl of his dreams seemed like cruel torture to him.

My woman's intuition told me that he would do it anyway.

"If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for me." I pleaded. "One of the girls I used to go to high school with will be there. She was so mean to me back then. If I showed up without a date she'd never let me live it down and it would be like high school all over again. I'm really stuck; I can't back out now. You'd be doing me a really big favor. You're the only male friend I have that I can trust enough to play along with me on this. All you have to do is pretend to be my date for the night. You can do that can't you?" I said reassuringly.

I new he would enjoy hearing me tell him that he was my friend and I could tell from the look on his face that it must have warmed his heart to hear it. Even so, I think at the time Jeremy was trying not to allow himself to get his hopes up. I suspect that he thought that a beautiful woman like me would never want anything to do with a man like him ... a NERD, FREAK, GEEK!

He didn't disappoint me, "Okay. What time do you want me to pick you up?"

"No, you're doing me a favor; the least I could do is drive. I'll play chauffeur tonight. You tell me where you live and I'll be there at 7:00 P.M." I insisted, smiling.

Even though the party didn't start until 8:00, something told me that I might need to arrive early incase I had to give him some last minute wardrobe advice. But there was another reason I wanted to be early.

Despite the fact that he talked to me more than anyone else, Jeremy didn't talk about much and he almost never started a conversation himself. So you can imagine my surprise when he started talking to me about how things were going with his house. Apparently, he was almost finished whatever it was he had been working on and the closer he got to completing, the more excited he became.

Seeing him animated so was quite a new, and to tell you the truth, enjoyable experience for me. So naturally, this provided me with the perfect opportunity to see what was so special about that house of his. It would also give me a chance to see how the man I had lunch with every day but knew very little about really lived!