It was like having Sherlock Holmes’ sister for a girlfriend!
“You’re pretty smart,” I said in awe, very impressed with Kristen’s deductive reasoning.
“And you’re changing the subject,” Kristen said, her eyes blazing at me.
My “little blonde Goddess” was going to find out, one way or another.
I sighed, and then told Kristen the story—the whole story—about Marla and Doreen, when I first found my tickets. I made Marla fall madly in love with me, and I took advantage of her by making her suck me inside the branches of the willow tree. This was the afternoon before I met Patty and her friends at the mall, and it all happened before I knew Kristen.
Kristen listened to my story, not asking any questions until I was finished.
“So, you were a busy little bee when you found those tickets?”
I cast my eyes down to the ground. “Yeah,” I answered, sheepishly.
“First Patrice, then this Marla. Then there was Patty, Camille, and Wendy. And then me?”
“That’s about right,” I answered.
“That isn’t right. You’ve left out somebody.”
“Huh?”
“When you told me the story about Patrice, you already knew about the tickets,” Kristen pointed out. “You found out that it would work on people and that girls would do whatever you said. You never told me how you figured out that they had these magical powers.”
I didn’t answer, but I felt myself getting redder.
“Oh, shit,” Kristen said, looking at me.
“What?” I asked, surprised at Kristen’s reaction.
“You had Merry blow you, too?” Kristen asked.
“No! Never!” I protested.
Kristen looked at me, and then nodded. “That’s right. You said that Patrice was the first one to do that to you. What happened with Merry?”
I sighed. Kristen was a fucking mind reader!
“I gave her a ticket, and she did the ‘You have one wish’ thing. I thought she was playing a game, so I tried to play along. When it appeared that she was serious, I had her undress. I didn’t make her do anything with me. I mean that!”
Kristen looked at me for a long time. “All right.”
I knew that Kristen suspected more happened with Merry, but she relented.
I felt completely humiliated and embarrassed. It was one thing for me to think myself to be a monster when I was alone in my thoughts. It was another thing to have my past behavior brought into open discussion.
Warm lips met mine; I was surprised as Kristen kissed me. This was a warmer kiss than before—one of Kristen’s patented erection specials. She giggled as she felt my reaction, even as she continued to kiss me.
As Kristen and I broke the kiss, Kristen said, “Don’t be too embarrassed, Jim. I know that you are a good person at heart. You were a kid in a candy shop. I already told you my first time was with Will.”
Will was Kristen’s brother, who was living somewhere in New England attending college.
I nodded at Kristen.
“So, I understand.”
“I guess,” I said.
Kristen kissed my cheek lightly, and then said, “We need to stop at Vaughn’s.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I need to set up my birthday gift for your sister.”
“At Vaughn’s?” I asked, following Kristen to her Camaro.
Kristen and I drove to Vaughn’s, where we ate frequently. The host recognized the two of us, and asked, “Booth for two?”
“No,” Kristen answered. “We would like to purchase some gift certificates.”
The host nodded. “In the amount?”
“The first one is a free meal for three in the name Meredith Cummings. She will be arriving here tonight with her parents. Meredith is turning fifteen on Monday.”
“I see,” answered the host.
“The second is to be a coupon for a Belly Buster dessert that she can use anytime on or after Monday.”
The host smiled. “We actually have Belly Buster coupons like that.”
“Cool. Tell her that if she wants the Belly Buster tonight, it’s on the free meal certificate. The coupon is for some other time, maybe when she brings a friend or two.”
The host said, “I’ll inform her.”
“Great. Here’s my American Express card.”
The host took the card and said, “Certainly, Miss Swift. It will be five dollars for the coupon and whatever the bill is for the meal tonight.”
Kristen smiled. “Add a twenty percent tip for whoever waits on them.”
“No problem.” The host ran the card through an imprinting device and handed the blank receipt to Kristen. She signed her name on it.
“Thank you,” Kristen said.
“Miss Swift? Would you mind if we added candles to her dessert and sang Happy Birthday?”
“I think Merry would be tickled pink!” Kristen turned to me and asked, “Jim, do you have a picture of Merry?”
Actually, I did. I took out my wallet, which had Merry’s school picture from last year in it.
Kristen smiled at the portrait, and showed it to the host. “Do you think you would recognize her? She and her parents will be arriving around six.”
The host looked at the picture and smiled. “This is Meredith Cummings?”
“Yes,” Kristen and I answered together.
The host smiled and he said, “I’ll have no problem remembering her. I’ve seen her here before. Will the two of you be dining with us tonight, also?”
“No,” Kristen answered. “Jim and I have other plans, but we’ll be seeing you very soon again.”
“Thank you, Miss Swift, and Mr. Jim.”
The two of us left. Kristen’s largess impressed me. “I hope that they don’t decide to go elsewhere,” I said.
“Not likely,” Kristen smiled. “Merry told me earlier today that she was looking forward to a Belly Buster tonight.”
I smiled and then remembered something that bothered me. “Don’t you feel worried about signing a receipt without a total on it?”
Kristen smiled. “The manager knows me, and he knows that we eat there a lot. If they try to rip me off, I might tell the police or, even worse, the newspapers. There could possibly be a lawsuit, since my father uses lawyers all the time. People in that line of work know that bad publicity could kill a restaurant overnight.”
“Oh. I didn’t think about that.”
“Actually, I don’t expect him to do anything like that. Since he knows we come in often, he’ll probably wait until I show up at the restaurant in a few days. He’ll then bring me your family’s bill, itemized. He’ll even let me put in my own tip, which will probably be more than the twenty percent that I promised because of his thoughtfulness. I’ll then total the receipt myself. The only reason I gave him my card in advance is procedure. It assures him that I genuinely intend to pay the bill, even if I were to forget about it later. It minimizes the risk to the restaurant. Even if a mistake happens and I am overcharged, I have enough money to cover it.”
“I guess,” I said.
I was learning a lot about money from just being with Kristen. “So, where are we headed now, Kris?”
Kristen smiled sweetly. “Let’s fuck!”
What answer would you expect me to give to that question?
Chapter 3—Kristen’s Request