In South Lake Tahoe lived Nick. Nick is a six foot two inch man with a square build. He looked like he would do well on a football team, which he was in high school. Nick moved to Tahoe because he was told that it was a nice place to live. He moved there from a small town in Arizona. The money he spent to move was for an apartment that he hated and the moving of his things. He got a job in Harrah's Casino as a Slot Auditor just before the purchase of the Harvey's properties. Six months later he lost the apartment and moved into a weekly rent motel right on Stateline Avenue.
About a month later he started dating the daughter of the manager. The relationship went nowhere, but he met and got to know the management family. They loved him. After the mutual break up with the daughter, she moved away and they offered the assistant manager position she had to him. It allowed him to pay a hundred less per week or two hundred less from payday to payday.
His job at Harrah's was done on four days for ten hours a day, so he was able to cover the office one day and still have two day to do errands and relax. Besides covering the office while the family went out and did things wasn't very hard. Most of the time was spent watching TV.
At Harrah's the audit department was divided into two parts, gaming and non-gaming. In the gaming side of things there were two parts, slots with keno and all other gaming: table games, cage, and poker. There were a few in the non-gaming, too many that Nick didn't pay attention to all of them. The ones he knew were hotel and comp. Part of the reason he knew those parts was that he had friends in both.
One in particular he talked to almost daily. She worked in Comp audit. Her name was Sasha. Nick and Sasha enjoyed each other's company, but never dated. The top of her head was at the bottom of his nose. She was a mother of one. Her son's father was an ass to her so she broke up with him.
Her strawberry blonde hair fell to just below her shoulders if she ever let it down from the ponytail she always wore. She was having trouble losing the baby weight, especially in the stomach and hips. If he had to guess at her measurements, he would have said 34B-28-38.
One day in late July, while he was visiting the family after work at Harrah's, the family asked if he could cover the office for a whole weekend in mid September. He said he would check into it, since they were asking so they could go out of town for a special anniversary. With much finagling and trading of days he was able to get the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of that weekend off. He was going to have to work seven days straight afterwards and two days before.
The last two days of work at Harrah's, before he was to take up residence in the manager's abode for the weekend, he complained a little, to anyone who would listen, about how boring working the office was going to be. The weather was great, but it was early in the school year so there weren't going to be that many people coming into town.
Just before leaving for the day on Thursday, Sasha told Nick that she would stop by to help pass the time, by hanging out with him. That made him perk up as he walked to the office. The family was going to be leaving that night to drive to Pahrump, NV.
"Hey, Nick, everything's ready," said the mother. "The bedroom's locked so you'll have to sleep and shower in number seven."
"The same room where I had to go when the hot water was off across the street?"
"Yep." She gave him a kiss on the cheek as she passed him to join the rest of the family in the rented van. "Have fun and don't get into any trouble." He just smiled and waved as they left, then he went to watch TV.
That evening he didn't even sell a room and didn't see anyone in the office. At eleven, when the office was supposed to close, he locked up and went to room number seven. The room was the largest of all the rooms with two queen beds in the main room, another queen bed in a smaller separate room, and an undersized bathroom with toilet, small sink and counter, and tight shower stall. He crawled into bed after undressing and was asleep quickly.
Seven in the morning was tough for him to do when he had to go to work at Harrah's, but it was even harder when he knew that he wasn't going to see anyone until at least five that afternoon. He shuffled around cleaning himself, then opening the office. He plopped on the couch the family had in the living room behind the office and turned on the TV. Half an hour later he was asleep, but not too deep. He woke at around ten feeling a whole lot better.
Shortly after waking the 'maid' for the motel came into the office to get into the laundry room at the back of the building. Nick ran back there and opened the door, then returned to the living room. He checked the office before sitting down. Standing at the counter was Sasha. She had her hair down and was wearing a loose teal t-shirt, he couldn't see what she was wearing blow because of the counter.
"Hi, Nick." She smiled and hit the bell on the counter to mess with him.
"Sasha, how are you doing?" He smiled and entered the office. Only then did he notice that she was standing a little taller. She never wore heels to the office, so he was pleasantly surprised that she was wearing them now.
"Doing great. I'm here. Just like I promised." She grinned and continued, "So am I allowed back there?"
"Sure," he said and moved to the low door to pull it open. He moved behind the counter and waved her through. She stepped behind the counter and pushed the door closed as he took her in. Sasha was wearing a knee length skirt slightly darker than the shirt and her heels were the exact color of the shirt.
"Nice outfit," he complimented. "Nothing like mine." He waved at his Star Wars t-shirt and denim shorts. She glanced at him and smirked. He ushered her into the living area. She sat in the big chair that matched the couch as Nick said, "Would you like something to drink?"
"Not at the moment, thank you." He nodded then dropped onto the couch. "How is this done?"
"How is what done?"
"Running the office."
"Oh, that's easy. We sit here until a guest comes in to rent a room then we rent the room. The room rates are listed on the counter out there," he waved to the door to the office, "and we either run the card or take the cash. Most of the guests will pay with card, but there is a drawer of money in there."
She sat back, kicking her shoes off and said, "Cool. I want to try once, just because I'm here." He shrugged, as his way of saying he didn't care. "What do we do now though?" She was toying with the neckline of the shirt.
"Hang out and watch TV or maybe a movie. Are you sure you don't want something to drink?"
"Any beer?"
"Not here, but I do have some in my place across the street."
"Oh. Then I'll take some water."
"I can run across and get some. No problem. Meant to do it last night, anyway." He hopped up and said, "I'll just lock the door and post the back in twenty sign, then go get it."
"What if I want to get out of the building while you're gone?"
"Just follow me and I'll show you a way out. If you want to leave that is." He grinned at her and headed down the only hallway in the manager's living area. She shrugged and followed, grabbing her keys on the way. He pointed to a door on the right and said, "The bathroom is through this door and to the right." They continued straight for a couple more feet, through a lockable door, then descended a flight of ten stairs. At the bottom was the laundry room. The 'maid' was not there.
They exited, he turned left and she right. He ran off to get the beer taking the stairs to his place two at a time. He was acting like a kid in a candy store. Just the thought that he was going to hang out with a woman that he was crushing on was almost overwhelming.
Nick started crushing on Sasha just after she told him that she and her kid's father had broken up. He had created a CD that was all love songs and left it on her desk on one of the days he worked and she didn't. He spent a lot more time talking with her. He had liked her before, thought she was attractive and maybe fantasized about her, but it wasn't until after the news did he start pushing into her life more.
Once they met up with a few other friends and did karaoke. Another time one of the casinos was opening a new restaurant and gave all the employees a free meal there prior to it opening to the public. Nick and Sasha were supposed to have gone with a few others from the audit department, but it ended up being just the two of them. They enjoyed the restaurant and each other's company.
In his fridge was two cases of aluminum cans, one of beer and the other of Dew. He grabbed the case of beer and a couple movies that he meant to grab before going to the office the night before. He ran back to the laundry room. Sasha wasn't there, but he figured he was going to be gone longer than her. He entered and went to the kitchen. The beer went into the fridge then he went to the living room. Sasha wasn't there, either. That confused him. He reasoned it out while he opened the office again.
As he stepped back into the living room, he heard the door outside the bathroom open and close. He sat down and started channel surfing while waiting to see whether that was her leaving the room to come back out or did she just go in there. It in fact was her leaving the bathroom. The sound of a heel hitting the uncarpeted kitchen floor was the first thing that told him that.