Pt. 11 – Friday Afternoon
I came out of the bedroom to see Melanie and Connor standing just inside the front door.
"Well, we did remember to bring the bedspread back with us, not so sure you're gonna want it back though." Melanie said with a bit of laugh.
Melanie held up the bedspread, showing the side that was on the ground. I guess protecting 13 people from the ground while fucking might have been a bit too much for it. I just laughed along with everyone else.
"Well, its sacrifice will not be forgotten, farewell my friend!" David said in a mock toast, setting off another round of laughter.
"Don't worry Josh; I'm sure the Katie will cover whatever charge they put on the bill, since she volunteered her bedspread." Cathy added.
"Hey, that's not fair. I'm pretty sure we all enjoyed the benefits of its protection, I think we should all chip in." Katie called back down. I let the friendly debate about paying for the bedspread continue while I picked up the phone and called the main office.
"Main office, how can I help you?" a familiar voice asked.
"Hi Steve, its Josh from Cabin 31. Are you going to be at the front desk for the next little bit?" I asked, there was a brief pause before he responded.
"Uh, yes, I should be here for the next 30 minutes or so before my shift ends." He said.
"Perfect, Melanie and I will be down to see you in a few minutes." I hung up the phone and returned to the friendly banter which had moved on to ways to hide the bedspread. I moved over to the front door and took the bedspread from Melanie, folding in roughly before taking Melanie's arm and leading her back out the door.
"We'll take care of it; just give us a few minutes." I called back into the house and Melanie and I headed out. On the way to the office I explained the encounter with Steve earlier in the day to Melanie.
"I knew he was a sweetheart. God, most guys would have been running up and down the street screaming about their adventures. Especially since he'd figure he'd never see any of us again. I'm glad the girls decided to invite him over tonight." Melanie responded.
"Well, we did say you and Alicia would stop by to see him today and I know Alicia and Craig already went over. I figured we could kill two birds with one stone, you get to see Steve and we ask him to replace the bedspread." I said. Melanie stopped dead in her tracks.
"Ahh! I see where you're going with this and not a chance." Was all she said. I stared at her with a confused expression on my face. "Ok, I know you don't get it, let me try to explain. And I can guarantee that the other girls will agree with me on this. I know we used our considerable charms on poor Steve to get him to overlook certain transgressions, shall we say, previously. However, that was before we realized what a nice guy Steve was. We always assumed that he was just using the situation to his advantage, finding a reason to interrupt the pretty girls and hope to get a little attention from them. Mind you, I suspect he got a lot more than he ever expected, but that doesn't change things."
"When we thought he was using us, we had no qualms about using him right back. Morally ambiguous? Sure, but that's life. Now that we realize what a good guy he is, I'm not going to use 'sex' to get him to overlook us ruining one of the bedspreads, it just wouldn't be right. I won't even get into the situational ethics of it all"
I think the look of confusion was still on my face. I kind of got what she was saying but I had so many conflicting thoughts running through my head about the situation that I just decided to not even bother trying to understand.
"Ok, I'll just settle things up and get a replacement. You can still take the opportunity to talk to Steve." I said.
"Beth has you well trained, that's for sure. I know you still don't get it but you're willing to let it go. Whatever you guys get worked out with Denise, I know she'll be lucky, and happy." Melanie said, leaning in to give me a kiss on the cheek, a sweet, chaste, kiss, the type a niece gives her uncle. It felt oddly weird after everything that's happened this week. I just nodded and smiled as we continued on to the office.
"Well, I certainly promise to do what I can to make Denise happy. Although I'm pretty sure Beth would disagree about the 'well trained' comment." I said with a chuckle, Melanie laughed and grabbed my arm as we reached the main office.
We entered the main office and Steve was behind the counter, no one else seemed to be around this time.
"Josh, Melanie, it's good to see you again. Is everything alright?" Steve asked, his voice seeming a little uncertain. That's when I realized he properly thought his luck had run out and we were uninviting him from coming over this evening. I was torn between teasing him and putting him at ease. I decided to be nice.
"Everything is fine; we're all looking forward to seeing you this evening. Hopefully you can still make it?" I asked, noticing the tension leave his expression immediately. A huge smile formed and brightened his whole face.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Too be honest, I was a little worried you were cancelling. The whole week has seemed a little too good to be true, if you know what I mean. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop." I laughed, finally getting what Melanie was saying. Here was a genuinely nice guy in an extraordinary situation and I was just basically going to pimp Melanie out to get out of paying for a soiled bedspread. Fuck, I could be a little dense at times.
"Well, even during extraordinary weeks, there is a down side." I said in mock serious tone. "We seem to have ruined one of your bedspreads," I said, holding up the item in question, "I was hoping we could get a replacement and that I could make good on the replacement cost."