Jennifer did sing for us and she wasn't bad. I told her to shower and dress and I drove her home. I told her she was to give her husband the most incredible night of sex he'd ever gotten and that I would know if she didn't. I had no idea how I would know, but she didn't ask. It was as if she'd given up thinking on her own.
The next morning I picked her up again, and drove her to the airport. I'd told her earlier to leave a detailed letter for her husband explaining how she knew it would hurt but she had to leave. She was very sorry. I felt bad for her husband but I didn't think he would ever be really happy with her.
She didn't take many clothes with her. I made it plain that she was to go to the address I'd given her and she was to put her life in the hands of the man who lived there. The man was a promoter I knew. He worked with a lot of bands. He would train her and it would be hard work. I made no promises but if she had enough talent, she would be successful. I told her what else was involved. I told her she'd probably have to suck a lot of dick. It did not deter her.
At the airport, in a matter of fact tone of voice, she offered to blow me again. I let her. She'd never be as good as Alexis but she was getting better. I came in her mouth and she licked me clean and got out of the van and never looked back.
She might make it, at that.
I drove back to the motel and the cop was waiting in the parking lot. He looked a little flustered. He wanted to know where Alexis was. I told him I didn't know. I thought he was going to attack me. I didn't tell him that Alexis was with Kyle. She seemed to really like Kyle.
I walked back to my room and I had a visitor. I was jolted. I hadn't seen Laura since I'd left and she was the last person I ever expected to see waiting outside my room. My feelings were a little confused. She was my first love. With her, my fantasies had been more about being married and white picket fences and children and less about sexual gymnastics. The rest of the cheerleaders had been my fantasy playthings but Laura was the girl I put on the pedestal.
She hadn't changed. Her hair was still the same soft brown, although a little shorter. Her figure was still the same and she showed it off in a pair of form fitting jeans and a green sweater top. I had once dreamed that I would come home rich and famous and Laura would throw herself prostrate at my feet. Well, I was rich and famous and here was Laura but suddenly it seemed as if time stood still and I was still the awkward, pimply faced teenage boy who had stupidly blurted out that he loved her loud enough for her friends to hear and giggle.
"Hello, Bobby," she said, and she shook my hand and her fingers felt surprisingly strong and cool.
There were a hundred things I wanted to say to her, to ask her, but instead I mumbled some inane "glad to see you, " and "how are you," and then silence because I could not think of anything else to say.
"Are we going to stand out here talking, or will you invite me in?" she asked.
I couldn't invite her in, not with what had gone in the room the night before. I knew she would know as soon as she opened the door and she would be disgusted.
"How about some coffee in the restaurant?" I asked.
She nodded and we walked next door to the little restaurant that was part of the motel. We sat in a back booth and ordered coffee and I spent a long time just looking at her. She didn't seem to mind. I asked about her parents and she told me they had moved to Florida. She told me about her children. I told her about being on the road and living in Los Angeles. We seemed to run out of things to talk about and then the rest of the band showed up, along with Alexis.
I wasn't happy to see them. To be honest, I could have stayed in that booth with Laura for hours.
They crowded into our booth and into the booth adjoining. Alexis and Laura greeted each other coolly. Kyle greeted Laura as if he had known her all his life, grabbing her around the shoulders and kissing her on the cheek. The rest of them flirted outrageously with her and she flirted back. I was surprised that she did, and she didn't seem to mind the bold comments about her figure and her hair. In fact, she seemed much more relaxed than when she had just been sitting talking to me.
I felt a couple of twinges of jealousy.
Alexis saw it in my face and, as we were leaving the restaurant, leaned over and whispered to me, "do one, do us all."
It made me angry. I knew my anger was unfair. I had not given Alexis choice and it was our rule but I couldn't help think Laura was different. I thought I was going to attack Kyle, as we walked back through the parking area, and he leaned over and casually patted Laura on the bottom as if she were already his possession. And I noticed Laura didn't try to move away from him.
As I said already, women liked Kyle.
Fortunately, Laura had to leave for another appointment or I'm not sure what might have happened. I had to go in my room and take a long shower and even then I still felt an unfair rage against everyone, especially Laura for not behaving like I wanted her to behave.
We had practice at lunchtime in the old high school where we were going to have the reunion on Saturday night. Practice did not go well. I was surrounded by ghosts of the past and I was still irritated at myself for my reaction over Laura's visit. The rest of the band didn't know why I was so irritable but Alexis did. She waited until after the first rehearsal and met me in the hallway.
'You've got to lighten up," she said.
"Alexis," I said.
"No, know what's wrong with you. You still think that butter wouldn't melt in Laura's mouth, but she's a normal flesh and blood woman like every other woman. Just relax and think of her that way and you'll be okay."
"Leave me alone, Alexis."
The rest of the rehearsal time did not improve and finally the band had enough of me. Alexis said she would give them the grand tour, and I think they were happy when I said I would walk back to the motel. It wasn't that far and I needed the air and time to get my thinking straight. They all piled into the van and took off and I started the walk.
I was not out of the parking area before a blue BMW pulled in. The woman who got out took a long time getting out. I think it was mostly for show and she had a lot to show. She was slim but with firm, shapely breasts and long, beautiful legs. She wore a skirt and jacket that was unbuttoned just enough to show something frilly underneath. She had long red hair and green eyes and she was drop dead gorgeous.
"Hello, Bobby," she said. "I was hoping we'd get a chance to talk."
"Hello, Elsie," I said.
She was the hottest thing in our high school. She was head cheerleader, homecoming queen, and every boy's fantasy. Oddly, enough Elsie was one of those that I seldom fantasized about. She just acted like she knew she was better than everybody else. I wondered what it would take to knock the complacent smile off her face.
"So are you out here by yourself?" Elsie asked. "Do you want a ride?"
"Sure," I said.
I got into her car. She made sure that she was showing just the right amount of leg as she started the car. Perhaps I was being unfair to her because I was still irritated but she still seemed the same manipulative bitch she had been in high school.
I remembered a rumour about her that nobody could ever prove. It seems in high school she had been falling behind in one of her courses, with cheerleading practice and all the clubs she belonged too, and she really needed at least a high B in the course. It seems she made a deal with the teacher to service him for the B. It was one of those ugly stories told about popular girls that nobody really believed and yet I did believe her capable of such a thing.
She didn't take me to the motel. I didn't expect her too. Instead she turned onto a side road and I found myself sitting in front of the old Compton Mansion. It was a really ugly place that had belonged to one of the families that had owned one of the mills. The builder had no taste. It looked like something out of a gothic horror movie and should have been torn down long ago.
"I hope you don't mind," Elsie said, lying to me with those big green eyes. "I have to pick up something here. Maybe you'd like to come in and look around? It's really something inside."
I shrugged and followed her. I didn't know what she had in mind but I willing to play out here scenario. Inside the house was even uglier than the outside. She gave me the full tour and I noticed she was really good at accidentally brushing herself against me or giving herself an extra wiggle as she walked up the stairs. It was all tease and it probably worked with a lot of men. It only irritated me more that she thought she could play this kind of teasing game.
When I didn't show any interest all in the house, she started getting a little more desperate and she was brushing against me more. Finally, we had seen the entire house and I told her I was ready to go back to the motel.
"Don't you love this place, Bobby," she said breathlessly. "Just think how it could be fixed up. And I could come over and help."
It was an obvious offer to sweeten the deal, and one she would never follow through on once the papers were signed. I was right. She was the same manipulative bitch she had been in high school and I started to wonder just how greedy she was.
"How much commission do you get from a sale like this, Elsie," I said.
Her face hardened. She didn't like the direction the conversation was going. She started giving this spiel about how it wasn't about the money but her love of people and real estate and I shook my head and laughed.
"That's a crock, Elsie," I said. "It's about the money. How much?"
I could see her calculating things in her mind and then she shrugged. She stopped with the teasing as she realized she wasn't going to make a sale. "I think probably close to thirty five thousand dollars on this one," she said finally. "That's what I'm hoping for. I got the office to make me a deal. A much bigger percentage if I sell this piece of crap house."
