*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual behavior are at least eighteen years of age.
Disclaimers: Yes, I need an editor and no, I do not want an editor. Yes, it jumps around too much, it has too many characters to keep track of, it's too long, it's too short, it's in the wrong category, it's stupid shit and I suck.
For those of you that have not hit the backspace key, I thank you for reading my little tale.
*****
Alyssa Jordan stood behind the glass partition of the delicatessen counter and watched the clock as it crept closer and closer to nine o'clock.
The safety pin Alyssa had used to repair the torn sleeve and side seam of her Early's Grocery work blouse was digging into her side and she couldn't wait to get out of the polyester blouse.
She moved to twist her wedding band, a nervous habit she'd developed lately and then remembered, she'd somehow lost the simple band.
She always took her ring off to clean their apartment. She always put her ring in a small ceramic jar her dad had given her when they'd gone to New Orleans one year.
After she'd finished cleaning the apartment, after she'd taken her bath, Alyssa went to put her ring back on and it was gone.
She and Josh tore the apartment apart, looking for that ring, but it never did turn up. He promised her he'd buy her another one, but he had not bought her one yet.
A couple were pushing a buggy around the store. He was tall, around six feet, maybe even six one or two. She, however, was shaped quite similar to Alyssa, short and round. The man had on a tee shirt that showed a muscled torso, and snug jeans. The thighs of the jeans looked taut across his legs, and as they turned the corner, Alyssa did check out the man's tight backside.
Alyssa also glanced at the woman, dressed in hospital scrubs. The top and bottom fit snugly on the woman's chubby body, and the woman had an ample backside.
Alyssa did admired the woman's strawberry blonde hair and wondered if she'd be able to copy that reddish blonde color the next time she dyed her hair. The woman's hair reached to just above the backs of the woman's knees. It had obviously been pinned up or tied up, as there were some knots in the strands of hair. Alyssa guess that the woman's hair had been done up in a bun while the woman had been at work.
The clock now showed twenty minutes until Alyssa would clock out; she'd already prepped most of the meats and cheeses for wrapping up.
"No, no, just a meat and cheese tray, Baby," the woman said. "I ate at six and I know you ate at what? Six? Seven?"
"About six," the man agreed and glanced over his shoulder at Alyssa.
"Hi," the woman smiled brightly, green eyes twinkling.
"Hi, help you?" Alyssa smiled back.
"O.M.G, I know, you probably hear this all the time, but you look just like this doll I had when I was a kid!" the woman said.
"Kewpie doll," Alyssa agreed.
"That's it!" the woman said happily. "Like I said, you probably hear it all the time, but I swear it's true."
"Yeah, I do," Alyssa agreed.
And she did hear that all the time; she'd heard it for as long as she could remember.
She had a round face, big brown eyes and small nose and small bow tie lips in a pale face. Her cheeks were round and her chin was round as well.
"What happened to your blouse?" the woman asked, noticing the ripped blouse and the clumsy attempt to fasten the torn seams.
Alyssa's smile faded.
Her husband Joshua had demanded some money. But rent was due tomorrow and with Josh's unexplained firing from Super One Foods grocery store, Alyssa had just enough to pay the five hundred and twenty five dollars for that month's rent. Her next pay day wasn't for another two weeks and if they failed to pay the rent tomorrow, they'd be evicted before her next paycheck came in.
Alyssa's mother had told her not to move out of their trailer, not to move in with the brash, immature Joshua Jordan, but at eighteen, Alyssa knew everything, knew better than her mother.
Then, her period was late, and they'd run down to the St. Elizabeth Parish Courthouse and were married by Judge Jesse Johnson.
If her mother had objected to her daughter living with the brash, impetuous young man, she really objected to their marriage.
Alyssa's period did come a few days after their marriage but Josh had said he was fixing to ask her to marry him anyway.
Yes, Josh was impetuous, loud, and brash. But he loved the chubby eighteen year old Alyssa, told her she did not need to lose one single ounce because she was perfect. But lately, it seemed all they ever did was argue.
"No, Josh," Alyssa had said. "Remember? Rent's due tomorrow and I got..."
"Fuck the God damned rent, fat ass bitch," Josh had snarled, grabbing her by the front of her work blouse. "Two hundred, huh? Just give me two hundred fucking dollars, fucking cow."
"Josh, let me go," Alyssa had cried out.
Somehow, in the struggle, her blouse had been ripped.
And hearing her husband, the man that had sworn to love her, to cherish her say those hated words, 'fat ass bitch' and 'fucking cow' had really ripped Alyssa's heart worse than her blouse had been torn.
"Savannah, it's none of your business how her shirt got torn," the young man smiled, playfully pinching Savannah on her backside.
"Well, I know it's none of my business, Christian Michael, but I'm just nosy like that," Savannah laughed.
"Anyway, you got, oh, I don't know, a meat and cheese party tray? Already made?" Christian asked, looking through the glass at the available meats and cheeses.
"No, we make them when they're ordered; all of our party trays are fresh," Alyssa said, parroting the spiel they said to all their customers.
"See, we just bought a house; this is our first night in our new house," Savannah bubbled.
"And I'm sure she really cares," Christian smiled.
"Oh shut up and go get us some cham pag nee or something," Savannah laughed happily.
"Tray for how many?" Alyssa asked, unable to keep the smile from forming on her round face.
"Two, oh, three? I don't know, you doing anything after you get out of here?" Savannah asked
"Huh?" Alyssa asked. "No, no, just going on home."
Because of the fight with Josh, she'd walked the nearly two miles from the apartment to Early's.
Their cell phones had been disconnected; Josh claimed he didn't know why, swore on his mother's grave that he'd paid the PC Nation bill. Whether that was true or not, they didn't have cell phone service. So Alyssa had no way to call him, to ask him to come get her.
And Alyssa was loathe to admit to her mother that her mother had been right. She did not want to call her mother, ask for a ride home. She did not want to admit that they didn't have cell phones at present, borrow the money to pay the bill, and the reconnect fees that PC Nation would charge to restore service.
So, unless Josh was waiting outside for her, or Tommy Collins, the disgusting, perverted manager of Early's Grocery Store would agree to give her a ride home, Alyssa was looking at a two mile walk home. In the dark.
"Oh, you have to come! You have to see our new house!" Savannah begged.
"Okay, they had some St. Elizabeth's champagne and I got us some St. Elizabeth's rum," Christian said as he put the two bottles into the cart.
"Tell her, Christian, tell her she has to come see our new house," Savannah ordered.
"Oh, okay," the man smiled and read Alyssa's name tag. "Miss Alyssa, my wife says you have to come see our new house."
Alyssa thought about it for a millisecond, then shrugged.
"So, party tray for three?" Alyssa decided and quickly made the tray.
"Crackers on Aisle five; I like the Keebler Elf ones,"she said and slid the plastic wrap over the Styrofoam plate.
"Oh, I like them too!" Savannah agreed. "Baby, go get them, all right?"
Christian pushed the buggy away. Savannah smiled happily at Alyssa.
"So, you want to follow us or...?" she asked.
"No car," Alyssa admitted.
"Oh, okay, we'll wait; we're in the Tundra, the white one," Savannah said. "Let me catch up with him before he gets the wrong crackers."
The couple picked up a few more items any new house needs, including a six pack of toilet paper, then paid for the groceries.
"So, want to tell me why we're having our first guest at our new house?" Christian smiled as he helped his wife into the large truck.
"She's gorgeous!" Savannah whispered.
"Yeah, almost as gorgeous as you," Christian agreed and jogged around to the driver's side of the truck.
At nine o'clock, Alyssa hurriedly put all the meat and the cheeses into the cooler, then clocked out and scampered outside.
She looked around, already having spotted the large white truck, but there was no sign of Joshua Jordan. Despite her heavy heart, Alyssa put a smile on her face and trotted to the truck.
"Hi! That didn't take long," Savannah said as Christian opened the rear door of the truck.
"Yeah, I'd already done most of it," Alyssa admitted.
She did not ask herself if it was safe, being with a couple she'd never met, never seen before tonight. She didn't ask herself if it was wise to go with an unknown couple, to an unknown location. She didn't even wonder if she should have them drive her to the apartment first, see if Josh wanted to join them.
"The hell with him," she thought. "Call me a fucking cow? Screw him."
"By the way, I just love your hair," Savannah said.
"Thanks," Alyssa said, tugging on her short cap of blonde. "Do it myself."
"Would love to just cut all of this off, but my husband says that would be grounds for divorce," Savannah said.
"And here we are," Christian said, pulling up to a small home nestled among other small homes on the border of Bender and DeGarde Louisiana.
Alyssa admired the neat lawn, the freshly painted garage door, and the freshly painted front door of the modest wooden structure.
"Twelve Twenty Arrow Road," Savannah all but screamed as Christian swung open the house's door.
"Come on in," Christian smiled happily.
"Uh, ahem," Savannah said, not budging from the door stoop.
"What?" Christian asked.
"Uh, supposed carry me over the threshold?" Savannah suggested.
"Honey, I've been moving furniture all flipping day long," Christian complained, but scooped his wife up into his arms and dutifully carried her into the house.
Alyssa was about to follow the laughing couple when suddenly Christian was back onto the small porch.
"Whoa!" Alyssa protested as this man, a total stranger, scooped her into his arms and carried her over the threshold.
"There," Christian said to his wife, putting Alyssa down in their living room. "Happy?"
"Come on; let me show you the house," Savannah bubbled, grabbing Alyssa's hand.
Alyssa admired the front bedroom, the twin bed and low dresser, and the sewing machine in the corner.
"That work?" she asked, indicating the sewing machine.
"Yes; I did all the curtains," Savannah said.
The hall bathroom was just a pedestal sink, small commode, and a claw foot tub.
"I cannot wait to take a bubble bath in that," Savannah admitted, putting an arm around Alyssa's chubby waist.
