PROLOGUE:
As I've explained before, several of my stories are based in fact. Some are very close to the truth, some are loosely based on something that happened in my life, and others are pure fiction: however, the following story is completely and totally trueโso help me!
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HONEST-I DIDN'T KNOW!
It had been a little more than three years since being dumped by Tanya, my high school sweetheart. She was the girl I had planned to spend the rest of my life with. We spent the entire summer after graduation, planning our future. Then came fall and she was off to college. She wanted to be a teacher and I had no doubt she would make a great one. We said our tearful goodbyes with each of us looking forward to her return at Christmas vacation.
My interest was in photography. I had worked as the school photographer, shooting pictures for the school newspaper and yearbook. My work was actually noticed by the head photographer of the area's largest newspaper and I had an offer to join their photography staff after graduation. Of course I jumped at it.
For a while I thought I had the world by the tailโthen...
She couldn't even tell me herself. She asked her mother to break the news. Tanya, the girl of my dreams, the person for whom my life was created, met someone else and I was history.
Obviously, I took it hardโvery hard. For the next three years, although I flirted with a few girls and had an occasional date, I had no interest in another relationship.
One of the girls with whom I flirted was Debbie. She was a waitress at a little restaurant close to my apartment called Dunn's Inn. Debbie was the cutest little blond hair, blue eyed creature you'd ever want to meet, and not even the ill-fitting green uniforms the waitresses wore, could hide her perfect figure.
On top of her physical attributes, Debbie had a great sense of humor and was always upbeat, personable and fun to talk to. Quite often I'd go in for coffee after work and we'd tell each other dirty jokes for a couple hours.
All the photographers at the paper worked a swing shift. We alternated between one day and two night shifts, the latest of which was from three-thirty to eleven-thirty. That was the one I was working one evening when I stopped in to spend a little time with my favorite waitress.
"Hi, doll," I said with a grin as I sat down at the counter.
"Hi, handsome," she replied, laying my coffee down in front of me. "Off work for the night?"
"Oh yeah, unless I get called out on a fire or something; other than that I'm all yours until three-thirty tomorrow afternoon. Why, want to do wild and crazy things to my body?" I asked with a flirtatious grin.
"I've been thinking about it," she answered.
I responded with a chuckle, "Yeahโright."
She ignored my skeptical comment and continued. "I don't get off until two, though. You'll probably be asleep by then."
Now, we had, had similar conversations in the past. Of course, I always knew she was just kidding. For one thing she always had this cute little inflection in her voice when she flirted and then there was always her ever present big smile that brightened the whole room. As I looked up at her, it occurred to me that neither of those two traits were present. For just a split second I wondered if she was serious. Then reality set in.
Nah, I told myself. We've never even had a date; hell, I've never so much as bought her a cup of coffee. Besides, anyone who looked like Debbie could have any guy she wanted. Inwardly I felt foolish for allowing myself to believe her, even for a second.
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Will you be asleep by then?" she asked, keeping up the pretense.
I continued to play along. "My dear, I will be waiting with a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a very dirty mind," I joked.
"You live at Kennedy Park apartments, right?"
"Yeah," I answered.
"Here," she said, laying a napkin on the counter along with her pen. "Write down your building and apartment number."
This was starting to sound way too real to be part of our usual sexy banter. I did as she asked and gave her back the napkin.
She smiled and told me it would take her a few minutes to close out after work but she'd be there around twenty after two. I knew darn well she wasn't serious. This had to be some kind of a new game she was playing. I was sure she'd come clean before long, and with a big laugh, ask me if I really thought I was going to get laid. Unfortunately, the place was pretty busy that night so we didn't get much time to talk further. I left after about an hour of sipping coffee and steered the car toward home.
Somehow I made it to my parking lot but I didn't remember the drive. My mind had been totally preoccupied with Debbie's titillating proposal. I sat in my car for a few minutes and rehashed the whole conversation from the moment I sat down.
I know damn well she was playing with me, I told myself. There is no way I'm going to allow myself to believe she was sincere and wait up till three in the morning only to be disappointed when she didn't show. That would be naรฏve and stupid.
Of course for a twenty-one year old, healthy, hormonal, male there's always that voice that generates from deep inside; the voice of hope. Yeah, but what if... what if she WAS serious. I knew I was being a fool but my heart started to beat with anticipation and my mind envisioned that gorgeous woman standing naked in my living room.