Chapter 3: Mandy and the Runaways

"Mandy and the Runaways"

Friday December 15th

The next day was Friday and David had a date with Mandy, the young virgin that Elizabeth had set him up with. After work, he went home, ate a snack while watching the news and then set to work.

He got the glove and pulled the pin out carefully. He used an alcohol wipe to clean the tip of the pin. He then allowed it to set and dry while he went and showered. He came out of the shower dressed in a bathrobe and dunked the pin into the SLuT9 and let it sit to dry again. He stoppered the vial and hid it in the top of his closet behind some old shoe boxes in which he stored pictures of his two daughters.

While the pin dried again, he dressed, combed his hair and brushed his teeth. With only his shoes left to put on, David sat down with the glove again. He used some small pieces of foam to pad the pin so only the very tip of the pin poked out through the leather of the glove. He had learned his lesson with Rebecca the day before. Her arm had bled and he hadn't bothered to stop the bleeding. He didn't care if she suffered, but he didn't want Mandy uncomfortable or bleeding when he took her virginity later that evening. David was still pretty sure there was enough of the pin poking through to pass through a thin piece of clothing and still break skin when needed.

He carefully folded the glove into a ball, making sure the pin was safely tucked away and put the glove in his pants pocket for use later.

At quarter to six, Dave made sure he had his wallet, keys and the glove and headed out to the car.

"Gotta find a way to make a little extra money and get myself a new car," Dave thought as he slipped in behind the wheel. He started the car and made the ten minute drive to the university.

As Dave thought more about what was going to happen tonight, he almost had to laugh. Here it was, ten days before Christmas and he was going out on a date with a good little Catholic girl. She would be going home soon for winter break and, for the first time, she would have to go to Confession and tell the priest that she'd had sex and, if things worked the way Dave hoped they would, she would have to confess she had not only had sex but that she had begged for it.

Dave pulled up in front of the dormitory and parked. He went in and asked for Amanda Schmidt. The young woman at the desk called up and told him she would be down in a few. Dave found himself a seat, watching all the pretty, young co-eds going in and out and waited.

When she stepped off the elevator, Dave was sure he had found his girl. She had long, silky brown hair that was pulled back into a single ponytail that hung down nearly to her belt. She stood only five foot four with a little round face, big brown eyes, a perfect nose that turned up just slightly at the ends and a tiny little mouth. She seemed familiar to Dave somehow. It took him a few minutes but he finally placed it. She looked like that girl on The Wonder Years, Danica McKellar.

Mandy seemed to know who he was as well. Dave guessed that Elizabeth had told her about him which was fine. It stopped the awkward moment where she sees him and realizes he's old enough to be her father. She waved to a few people as she crossed the lobby and came to stand in front of him. Dave rose to greet her.

"Are you Mandy?"

She nodded. "You're Max, right?"

He put out his hand and she took it and they shook.

"Shall we go?"

She nodded shyly. He offered his arm and she took it and he led her out of the building and out to his car.

"So, where are we going tonight?"

"Well, I was thinking dinner. After that, I leave it completely up to you."

Mandy nodded, apparently approving of his plans. He opened the car door for her. Once she was in, he shut the door and ran around to climb in behind the wheel. "Do you like Italian?"

"Doesn't everyone?" she asked, giving him a very pretty smile.

Dave started the car, backed out and pulled the car out onto the small two lane road that cut the university in half.

"So tell me about yourself? Have you been married?"

Dave hadn't thought about the fact that since this was a date, not just him giving some girl SLuT9 and taking her to bed. The girl might actually want to get to know him. Right now, she thought his name was Max. Dave had to think quickly about what to tell her. He made a decision that it was easier to tell just one lie than who knows how many. He decided to stick with the truth as much as possible.

"I was," Dave said, nodding. "She left me for another man. They're living together now. I have two kids, both girls, both of them are just a few years younger than you. Emily is seventeen and Hayley, my baby, is fifteen."

"Why are you dating someone not much older than your daughters?"

"It's Elizabeth's fault," Dave told her wanting to come up with a good story. He tried hard to remember Elizabeth's story but had little luck recalling what it was. He kicked himself for not calling Elizabeth and finding out how much Mandy already know "We met and flirted. We really hit it off but there just wasn't any chemistry. She told me she knew this really great girl she thought I would like. That was you. Without even asking me, she pulls out that pink cell phone of hers and calls you. I promise you, I had no idea what she was doing until I heard her talking to you."

"So you don't normally date girls my age?"

"I have no problem dating girls your age. To be honest, technically, this is the first date I've been on since my wife left me."

"How long ago was that?"

"Two years ago this past October."

"What about Elizabeth?"

"Elizabeth and I didn't really date. It was just that one time. We met and..." Mandy nodded, apparently understanding.

Dave turned the car into the parking lot of the restaurant and parked. "You ready?"

Mandy nodded. Dave jumped out of the car. Mandy got the door open before he got there so he couldn't open it for her. She once again took his arm and he led her into the restaurant. They were soon seated with a glass of water set before each of them.

"Okay, now it's your turn. Tell me about you?"

"You didn't tell me much about you. Just that you're divorced."

"Okay, let's see. My name is Max Bernard, I'm thirty-eight years old. Born and raised here. Married right out of high school. Never went to college. Worked at the same company for going on twenty-one years now. It's a company my uncle, my father's brother, started. I am well up in the ranks now. Partly due to my name, partly due to the fact that I've been there for twenty years. They keep offering me vice president and I keep turning it down because I don't want to be that responsible. I told you I had two girls. They live with their mother but I'm working on that. Umm..." Dave thought for a moment. "I'm divorced. My ex-wife took almost everything when she left. Forced me to sell the house and everything which is why I drive a clunker of a car and live in a rat trap of an apartment."

"If you're so high up in this company, you should be making pretty good money."

Dave nodded.

"So why not get a new house and car?"

"Because while my wife left me for another man and is living with him, she hasn't married that other man. Instead, she is continuing to collect alimony and child support from me. Between alimony, child support, and taxes, that leaves me about one quarter of my paycheck."

"Can't you get the alimony removed since she's living with another man?"

"Nope. Judge said that I had to pay until she got remarried. My lawyer tells me it's an odd thing for a judge to do but it isn't unheard of and it isn't enough to get the ruling overturned. So, I continue to pay, she continues to collect, and her boyfriend is using my money to run for the state senate."

"Your ex-wife is dating Paul Eggerston?"

"That's him. And she's not just dating him, she's living with him. I guess you pay attention to politics, huh?"

Mandy nodded. "I like politics. My ideal job is to get hired by CNN and work as a political correspondent. So, how often do you see your kids?"

"Oh I get to see them pretty regularly. Rebecca just makes it tough for me. That isn't my problem. Right now, Rebecca and I are locking horns over Christmas. I was living in this horrible little place right after we divorced and I wouldn't let the girls come over for Christmas. By last Christmas, Rebecca had moved the girls in with Paul and she told me the same thing she's telling me now, that they want to spend Christmas together as a family. Of course, it's nothing more than a big heaping, steaming pile of bull..." Dave stopped himself from finishing the sentence.

"Bullshit. You can say it. I know Elizabeth described me as a good little Catholic girl. She always does, but even us good little Catholics cuss sometimes."

"Good to know," Dave said with a smile. As hard as it was for him to believe, Dave was actually coming to like this girl. She was smart, funny and fun to be with.

"Also, you can count on not having to pay alimony for too much longer."

"Why do you say that?"

"The man has been living with a single mother for two years. People will come to think he has commitment issues if he doesn't marry her soon. Who wants a state senator that has commitment issues? No, my guess is he'll marry her, or dump her, the beginning of the year. Has to do it well ahead of the real campaign and that will be the middle of the year." Dave nodded. He had kind of figured that out for himself.

"What do you think would happen if my ex-wife was suddenly caught up in, oh let's say, a sex tape scandal?"

Mandy smiled and leaned forward. "Do you have one?"

"I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that it might incriminate me," Dave said with a smile.

"If you have one, and if it was released to the public at just the right time, say, a month or so before the elections. It could very easily hurt Eggerston's chances of winning."

"I'm not out to hurt Eggerston."

"One more thing you probably haven't thought of."

"What's that?"

"Do you know what Eggerston does for a living? What his job is?"

Dave shrugged. "I think he's an attorney of some sort."

Mandy giggled. "He's an attorney alright. Pretty good one too from what I've heard. He's the deputy district attorney for the city."

"Oh, really."

Mandy nodded. "You don't get the connection, do you?" She leaned forward, almost completely over the table giving Dave a nice look down her shirt. "My guess, he knows, and probably plays golf, with almost every judge in this city."

"Including the judge who sat on my divorce?"

"Exactly. You got screwed all the way around."

Their meals came and they ate as they discussed less stressful topics. She told him quite a bit about herself including that she was eighteen years old, was born and raised in the northern part of the state, had come down to go to college, majoring in communications and journalism with an eye towards TV news broadcasting.

After dinner, the two sat and finished their drinks for a few minutes and then got up and headed back to the car. Once again Dave opened the car door for her and held her hand as she got in. He then ran around and got in behind the wheel. "Okay," Dave said, once behind the wheel. "I told you that once we had dinner, the rest of the date was up to you. So now I'm leaving it up to you. Where to?"

She opened her mouth, shut it again, her brow furrowed and then said, "You choose."

Dave smiled at her, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot.

"So where are we going?"

"I'm choosing, remember?"

"What? So I don't get to know?"

"Not until we get there."

"Fine."

She turned to the passenger side window and watched the city go by as he drove. For a moment he worried she was truly mad at him but he could see the slight smile on her face reflected in the window.

"Doesn't matter how much you pout, although you are cute when you do it, I'm still not going to tell you where we're going. I have two teenaged daughters. Pouting doesn't work on me."

"Drat!" She said, snapping her fingers. "Foiled again. How about pleading, does that work?"

Dave shook his head. "Only if it comes with sexual favors."

"Foiled at every turn."

Dave continued to drive until they reached a park. He pulled in and parked the car. He jumped out of the car and went and opened her door for her.

As she stepped out, Mandy smiled at him. "I'm learning," she said, talking about giving him the chance to open her door for her. They both laughed.

Dave took her arm and they began walking down one of the well-lit paths through the park continuing to talk and laugh.

"You know, I had other plans for tonight. I didn't expect this date to go so well."

"Do you wanna take me home? If you have something else to do."

"You misunderstand, Mandy. The plans were for you. I had some ideas about what we would do and such but I don't want to do those things anymore."

"Because I'm so sweet and cute?"

Dave thought about this for a moment. "Yeah. Exactly for that reason."

"What did you have planned?"

"I don't think I wanna talk about that."

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Mandy spoke again.

"Tell me the plans, Max. Please? I really wanna know."

Dave stopped and turned to her. He looked down at her and into her eyes for a long moment, then bent down and gently kissed her on the lips. She didn't resist in any way. "Let's discuss something else." Dave turned, took her hand again and started walking.

"Can you give me some idea of what these plans included?"

"I'd rather not," Dave said, not looking at her.

"You wanna know what I think?" Dave nodded but still didn't look at her. "I think you were thinking of trying to seduce me. Trying to get into the panties of the good little Catholic girl. I think Elizabeth knew exactly what you were going to do and I think that's why she called me."

"Why would your friend do that to you?"

Mandy guffawed. "Who ever said Elizabeth was a friend? She's more like a friend of a friend. We know each other. We've even hung out together on occasion. But we don't run in the same circles. Elizabeth is a..." Mandy considered her words before speaking. "She's a party girl, I guess. She likes a good time. Sees lots of guys. Sleeps with most of them. She has never come out and said anything flat out about me being Catholic and all but she's hinted that she doesn't like it. She thinks I should ... relax. Enjoy myself more."

"And you don't?"

"I was raised to be this way. My mother was the same way. So are my little sisters. I don't see anything wrong with the way I choose to lead my life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging Elizabeth. I have never tried to convince anyone, no matter who they were or how they lived, that their way was wrong and my way was right. Elizabeth has no such qualms though. Numerous times, as I said, she has hinted that I should chill, relax, party-hardy and all that. I imagine she thinks I have a steel rod running up the length of my spine. That's part of the reason I don't consider her a friend. I took this date expecting you to be exactly that kind of man. I don't think it's you though. Just things you've said. The way you've treated me. I think this is new to you. I don't think you're that type of person. You yourself said you hadn't dated in two years. I think you were looking for a conquest and I was, excuse the pun, virgin territory. Who could resist, right? But now that you've met me, found me sweet, charming, funny, cute and all that, you can't bring yourself to do it."