After I had moved to San Francisco I had lost touch with David. Now David had been a very supportive friend in my high school years who had seen me through my parents divorce and then he had helped me get into college. My job at the bank had really cut me off from my friends and even my family to some extent so it was a surprise to him when I called him to ask for help after so long.
I had made the mistake of my life when a customer had started grabbing at me one day and I slapped him...hard. No one saw him grab me but it seemed that everyone saw me slap him. I made a desperate attempt to keep my job but ultimately found myself out on the street crying my eyes out wondering what would happen next. After a day or so to grieve the loss of my perfect job I dropped resumes at every bank in town and figured I would have a new job in no time. But no one called. As it turned out, my old boss was one step ahead of me and he had called every HR department in town and told them that I was on the way and what had happened. The bastard.
Rent in San Francisco isn't cheap and I only lasted a month before the money ran out and I had the landlord at my door demanding the rent. My father had passed away a few years before and my mom was not much better off than I was so there was not going to be any help from the family. I don't know why I called David, but I did.
"No problem," he said, "I'll be down tomorrow and we'll get this fixed, okay? No worries!"
At that point I felt that he was the best friend I'd ever had!
It was late that Friday night when he showed up and decided to take me out for a nice dinner with a few drinks. It was really a pleasant time getting reacquainted with this man who had more or less been my mentor at one time. And here he was to rescue me again. The evening ended up nicely and he took me home where I invited him in for a cup of coffee before it would be time for him to leave. As the coffee was perking up I took the time to go change out of my dress into a comfy robe and my slippers. We really had a nice time reminiscing and chatting for the next couple of hours until it started to get late.
He changed my whole world right after I told him that I needed to go to bed.
"Well," he hesitated a bit, "I guess we need to talk about the money, don't we?"
"David, I really appreciate your giving me this money..."
He held up his hand.
"Hannah, I'm not giving you anything."
"I don't get it," I couldn't believe he would drive all the way down here just to flake out on me, "I thought you were going to help me?"
He stepped closer to me and leaned in and said in an almost demonic voice, "You'll have to earn it."
"I don't get it? What do you mean I'll have to earn it? What do you want, David?"
He sat down on my futon couch with a plop.
"I've watched you grow up from a little girl into a beautiful young woman and all that time I invested thousands of dollars into you and you forgot all about me right after you left town. All that time I was so in love with you and you never saw it and I tried to be the gentleman and now you call me up and all you need is my money. Fine. Money I got and money you'll have."
He cleared his throat.
"But I get something in return..."
He just let it hang there. I knew in my heart what it was, but I was afraid to ask.
"Wha...wh.." I couldn't make myself ask the question. Fear gripped my heart wondering if this could be true. If I said no to him then I would be so hopelessly lost and if I said yes, then would I be any better?
"You're asking me for almost seven thousand dollars and you think that I want nothing in return? Unless you want to live in your car or unless you have another friend with seven large sitting around then you'll be having my company for the weekend. Starting now."
He hadn't said it yet, maybe it was something else or maybe he was kidding with me and trying to teach me some sort of lesson.
"Okay, I..."
"Good!" he jumped up and was out the door in a flash and I guess I figure he would come back with the money and then leave. He came back with a suitcase which he took right into the bedroom and set it up on the dresser.
"David, I'm a little confused here. What do you think is going on here?"
He chuckled and smiled and took my face in his hands as he looked into my eyes.
"After all of these years of waiting, I am going to make love to you tonight and then make love to you all weekend long and then I'll hand you a big fat envelope of money on Monday morning."