“Dude, I only see four tonight. We’ll have to go find me a couple more,” I teased him.
Last year Laurie and Bud had talked about me going home with four girls.
“That I want to see,” he said, which seemed to irritate his sister.
I could tell because she hit him in the chest. It sounded like it hurt.
“You okay?” I asked.
He just grinned at me. Somehow, since I was picking up all four girls, I was paying for dinner. I was fine with that because I needed to blow off some steam anyway. Then I looked at the prices and saw it was very reasonable. I would just write it off as a business expense because Sandy was with me. You have to keep the boss happy!
We went to one of the resorts to go dancing. Their club looked out over the town, and you could see the Christmas lights twinkling. Inside, the club wasn’t big, but it had a good-sized dance floor. The music was fun, so I anticipated we’d have a good time.
“This is a great place to meet people,” Bud told me so the girls couldn’t hear us.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“They’re on vacation, and figure they’ll never see you again.”
I looked his sister up and down.
“Is that so?” I asked.
“Good luck. Laurie knows all about guys like you,” he shot back.
A fun song came on, and the girls pulled me onto the dance floor. Bud was put in charge of guarding the table. Joanna cut me from the herd when a slow song came on. Sandy winked at me as she went back to the table.
“I see someone has learned some moves since last year,” Joanna teased me.
“Are you dating anyone?” I asked, to change the subject.
“I met a guy at college. Bob’s a junior studying engineering. I think I might like him more than a little.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know; I’m just getting to know him, so we’ll see. I can only hope for the best.”
“How does he compare to the hunky village idiot you were dating in high school?” I asked.
She chuckled when I reminded her of last year.
“He’s not as cute, but his IQ is about double. At least we can have a conversation about something other than hunting or snowboarding.”
Joanna’s ex had decided they needed a break because so many girls wanted him. He thought he should give them a chance, so she’d asked for the same freedom. The only catch was she had to find someone better than him. Sandy had stepped in to teach the poor guy a lesson. She arranged for me to hang out with Joanna. It had been funny to see the reaction of her classmates when we danced. It sounded like she had moved on just fine.
I danced with the four girls until ten, when Sandy took me home. Bud had to take up the slack when I left. It looked like Olivia was interested in him by the way she was flirting. Both Sandy and Bud seemed to be happy with how it was working out.
On the way home, we got to talking.
“How’s Devin doing? Has he found a girlfriend?” I asked.
“Not yet. I think he’s finally over Lana. He thought he had found the one, with her.”
Lana had turned out not to have a faithful bone in her body. Devin was better off finding out before they got married. I still felt bad that I’d been involved in that discovery. There was a lull in the conversation, so Sandy changed topics.
“You know, Devin thinks the world of you. I think he acts like you’re the little brother he never had. He still talks about the kiss you put on Adrienne in Chicago,” she said with a smile. “He even brags about you testing the jet water board and just about killing yourself. Devin’s really interested to see what girl has finally caught your eye.”
“I think I might like Nancy a lot. She’s older and lives too far away for me to see her more than a couple of times a year right now. I wanted her to come out for a couple of weeks to see if there might be something there. I guess I like her enough to find out.”
“Where did you meet her?” Sandy asked.
“I went to a football camp at the University of Kentucky. One of my friends was our camp counselor and was rushing a fraternity. They had a party while we were there, and I tried to pick her up. She turned me down cold. I think her rejection made me want her even more. I like how she keeps me on my toes and is more mature about things. We just take it as it comes, and try to keep the friendship alive while we figure out if we’re right for each other.
“My biggest concern is she’s four years ahead of me. I’ll enter college as she starts law school. We’d have to overcome a lot of obstacles to make it work long-term, but I’m willing to try. I think she just might be worth it.”
“What about Kara?” Sandy asked.
I sometimes forget girls read us better than we think.
“If Kara wasn’t a full-time model, I’d be going out with her right now. If she told me she’d be home at least one week a month, we’d see how we fit together.”
“Whatever happened to the country-western girl, the one who wrote the songs about you?”
“Eve? She went to Nashville and signed with Stone Mountain Records. I’ve only talked to her twice since she left. We’re on shaky ground because the last song was supposed to be about our breakup, but it wasn’t based on reality.”
“That sucks. What about Tami?” she asked.
“Tami’s the one girl I’d give it all up for. She got a fellowship to study in the UK for the year. Right before she left we had a falling-out and we hadn’t talked for nearly three months. Since around the Thanksgiving time frame, we’ve talked three times. She’s my best friend, and I miss her a lot. My biggest concern is her moving on without me. She’s found herself new friends, and even a love interest,” I confessed.
“Any other love interests?” she asked.
“Well, I’m dating a few girls right now, nothing too serious. I do really like a couple of girls, but they’ve gone off to college. If Tami falls through, and they haven’t found Mr. Wonderful by the time we get out of college, I’ll be looking them up,” I said with a chuckle.
“What about me?” Sandy asked.
“I consider you a friend. I hope I’ve never misled you about how much you mean to me. If we weren’t tied up doing business together, I’d think hard about more. I think you’re going to make some guy very happy. If we ever get to that point, I’d be honored to go out with you. I just think, for now, we make better friends,” I said, a little worried.
“No, you’ve struck the perfect balance of being a close friend and just enough of a flirt to be fun. My friends are all jealous I hang out with you. They’ll flip when they find out Adrienne’s at the ranch. You know Bud would be camped out in the bunkhouse if he knew.”
I just laughed. I sometimes forgot Adrienne was such a household name. The more I got to know her, the more I thought of her as my friend and mentor. I guess it would be as if Hannah Minacci was hanging out at the ranch. I’d be starstruck until I found out she was just a person and not the fantasy I had built up in my head.
Speaking of fantasies, I needed to start working on getting her to be my prom date for this year. I would put Lily to work on making my dream come true.
Saturday December 20
WE HIT THE STUDIO AND did more catalog and Internet work in the morning. This time, Kara and I were doing the shoot together. We had a natural chemistry already, but with Adrienne’s coaching, we took it to another level. When we saw the pictures at lunch, everyone knew we had something special happening.
Bev called Devin, and their marketing guy, and ran some ideas by them. They didn’t want to lose what we had going on today. You could just feel our affinity for each other, and you wanted to be a part of the fun we were having. The best part for me was it wasn’t faked.
In the afternoon, Adrienne joined us. The shots of just Kara and Adrienne were picking up on their new friendship. Adrienne was a bad girl because she got me revved up. Ever since I could masturbate, she’d been the center of many of my sessions. She knew sexy! After all, you don’t get to where she was without knowing what turns men and women on. The evil woman was teaching Kara!