The Loverboy

by Miel Vermeulen

  when leaving the apartment. She hadn"t felt like talking and her mom had let her off easy the week before but surely today she

  would have demanded more information. Either way see didn"t want

  to risk it. She took her shower and woke Ally up. While Ally

  took a shower she looked through her clothes for something to

  wear. The outfit had been washed but she couldn"t wear that

  again. She couldn"t find anything decent though. Just a top that

  was passable but not great by any stretch of the imagination.

  She decided to wear it with the jeans from the outfit. Then it

  would be a bit different she thought.

  The day went by in a haze again and Annie had wished her

  good luck and told her to be careful. Careful for what, she had

  thought, this is Jake we are talking about. What would she have

  to worry about? She got to the mall after school but didn"t spot

  the Porsche. It was a large parking lot that was situated all

  around the mall so it could be anywhere. When she got to the

  food court he wasn"t there. She waited anxiously for fifteen

  minutes before digging into her pocket. She found his card and

  went looking for a pay phone. Just outside the food court. She

  found the pay phones. The first one was missing the receiver.

  She moved on to the second one and picked it up. She dug into

  her pocket for change but couldn"t find any. Just then she saw

  him walking toward her. “Sorry” he said apologetically “I got stuck in a business

  meeting.”

  “I"ll make it up to you” he promised.

  “I have to be home in an hour” she said trying not to sound

  too disappointed.

  “I can take you, so we have a little time” he said with a

  sheepish smile, “if you can forgive me for being late that is.”

  Of course she could.

  “Are you busy tomorrow night?” he asked. She thought and

  remembered that her mom had told her she would be home Saturday

  night so if she wanted to hang out with Annie that would be ok.

  She shook.

  “Want to go with me to 67?” he asked.

  The 67 was a brand new club that opened a few months ago.

  It had immediately become one of the hotspots. Some of the

  richer girls in school with college boyfriends and parents that

  didn"t keep track of them had tried to go. Only a few had gotten

  in with fake ID"s and even then they had been in line for over

  an hour and a half.

  “Sure” she said with a huge smile on her face”But I don"t

  have a fake ID to get in and I hear they are very strict there”. “Don"t worry about that” he said, “Do you have a dress?”

  She shook, thinking of the dresses she had in her closet.

  She was even embarrassed to wear those to a family gathering. No

  way was she going to wear any of those to the hottest club in

  the greater metropolitan area. He grabbed her hand and before

  she could speak he dragged her to one of the fancier stores. In

  the store he approached a sales woman who looked her over with

  disapproval. He pointed at a red sparkly mini dress. The dress

  was strapless and looked amazing. The woman grabbed the dress

  and directed her to the dressing room. In the dressing room she

  put on the dress and it fit perfectly. She looked in the mirror

  and she looked amazing. This was not Kim Brown the plain girl.

  This was Kim Brown femme fatale! She walked out of the dressing

  room and both Jake and the sales woman nodded approvingly. The

  woman got some red high heel shoes that fit the dress and they

  too were a perfect fit. What where the odds? She wobbled as she

  tried to walk around and quickly stopped not to look like an

  idiot or worse and wipe out.

  “We"ll take them” Jake said not even checking the price.

  She changed back into her normal clothes and they wrapped

  up the dress and the shoes. Before she knew it they were out of

  the store again. “I"ll take you home now” he said as he led her to the

  parking lot and helped her into the car. They got back to the

  apartment with 15 minutes to spare. He leaned over and kissed

  her again. She immediately kissed him back and they made out in

  a fury of passion. When they finally came up for air she grabbed

  a piece of paper and scribbled down Annie"s address.

  “Pick me up here” she said.

  “Ok” he said grabbing the piece of paper, “I"ll be there at

  seven.”

  He kissed her again and she opened the door. She definitely

  needed another shower she thought. When she got inside she

  quickly hid the shopping bags under the bed again. Then she went

  to get Ally at Mrs. Simons place. She got Ally some dinner and

  took her shower. When she came out Ally was watching

  iCarly….again! She grabbed the phone and went into the bedroom

  and called Annie. She told Annie the whole story and asked if

  she could help out. Annie wasn"t comfortable but didn"t want to

  disappoint Kim so she agreed and they made plans. Tomorrow

  around noon she would go to Annie"s and spend the night there

  she would tell her mom. Annie"s parents were in some African

  land tending after oil business again and they would have the

  house to themselves. Jake would pick her up there at seven and drop her off there again and Annie would cover for her. It was a

  perfect plan.

  When her mom came home she asked if she could spend the

  night at Annie"s. Her mom hesitated but Kim told her that

  Annie"s parents were gone again and she would really like the

  company. Her mom had agreed and she hugged her. Everything was

  going perfectly.

  The following morning she packed all her stuff and hid the

  dress and shoes in the bottom of her bag. She kissed her mom

  goodbye and left. Her mom had joked to her on her way out.

  “What are you going for the week?” she said pointing to the

  bag not proportionate to a one night sleep over at a friend"s

  house.

  Annoyed at the attempt at humor Kim left and headed for

  Annie"s place. She got to Annie"s at noon. Annie was still

  concerned but what could go wrong? Annie wasn"t sure but went

  along anyway. Kim showed her the dress and shoes.

  “Can you even walk on those?” Annie asked.

  “I don"t know” Kim said sheepishly.

  She put on the shoes and tried to walk through the living

  room. It was not pretty but she managed not to fall. They decided that she should keep them on to get used to them. Three

  hours later she was doing a lot better and was able to make it

  look less pathetic. She could actually pass for pretending to be

  used to the shoes if she could limit her movement on them. Her

  feet were killing her though.

  “Sit down and I"ll do your hair” Annie said.

  She didn"t have to say that twice. Kim sat down and nursed

  her sore feet. Annie left for the bathroom and came back with

  half a drugstore in hair care products. After fumbling about for

  two hours Annie managed to do something with the hair that was

  acceptable according to both. It wasn"t great but earlier

  attempts had only resulted in hysterical laughter from both of

  them. At six Kim g
ot dressed and put the shoes back on. The

  pain was back immediately but she could hide it and it was

  easier to keep her balance. When she was all ready Annie helped

  her with makeup and then they were done. Annie stepped back and

  looked at her.

  “You look amazing” she said, “I hope not too amazing” she

  added.

  That is not possible Kim thought. She wanted to look her best for him.

  Chapter 7:

  Just at that moment the doorbell rang. Kim and Annie

  startled and stood motionless.

  “Go on” Annie said, “If there is any problems give me a

  call. I have my mom"s car and can come get you.”

  Kim hugged Annie and thanked her. She opened the door and

  there he was. He looked great and his eyes lit up when he saw

  her.

  “Are you ready?” he asked and reached out her hand.

  She nodded grabbed a sweater that matched her dress that

  Annie had lent her and took his hand. It was a very mild early

  March night. It looked like spring was coming early. She was

  still chilly but she would have gone out like this in a blizzard

  if she had to. He helped her in the car and got in himself. They

  kissed and he started the car and they were on their way. She

  apologized for her hair and explained that it just hadn"t been

  cooperating today. He said it looked fine but if she wasn"t

  happy about it they could do something. “What? Was he a hair stylist too?” She thought.

  He pulled out his cell phone and looked through the

  directory. He selected a name and put the phone to his ear.

  “Hi Sergio. Are you still at the store? Can you stay a

  little longer? I have an emergency. Ok, thanks. I"ll be there in

  5 minutes. Ciao!” he said and he put the phone away.

  Five minutes later they pulled up to a salon. He helped her

  out of the car. Pain shooting through her legs the moment she

  stood up. Sergio was waiting for them.

  “I see what you mean” he said. Kim looked embarrassed.

  “Don"t worry” Sergio said, “We"ll have this fixed in a

  minute” as he led her to a chair.

  Thirty minutes later and completely surrounded by mist from

  aerosol cans he exclaimed to be done. He turned her to the

  mirror and her hair looked perfect. She had only seen hairdos

  like this on TV, it was fantastic. She thanked Sergio and he

  kissed her hand.

  “It was my pleasure” he said.

  “Send me the bill“ Jake told him as they were about to

  leave.

  They got back in the car and he said “You look beautiful!” She blushed. How did he do it? Every moment with him seemed

  magical and the strangest things could happen. They drove to the

  club and he parked across the street and they walked to the

  entrance. There was a huge line. She was about to get in line as

  he looked at her.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Isn"t this the line?” she asked confused.

  He motioned her to come and they walked past the line.

  Halfway down the line she saw Megan. Megan was one of the few

  that had made it in at school or at least claimed to have gotten

  in. She bragged about it all the time. Megan noticed her and her

  jaw dropped to the floor. Kim pretended not to notice. When they

  got to the front of the line the bouncer moved towards them. She

  startled. This was definitely the largest man she had ever seen

  and there was no fat to be seen anywhere, he was all muscle. Not

  someone you wanted to mess with. The large man extended his

  hand and she didn"t know if he was going to greet them or grab

  them. He shook Jake"s hand and said hi. They exchanged

  pleasantries and 2 minutes later they were inside with the envy

  of the line behind them piercing their backs. This guy could do

  anything she thought. Jake led her to an empty table and ordered

  some drinks, a whiskey on the rocks for him and an Appletini for

  her. “Is that ok?” he asked.

  She nodded happily not to have to figure out herself what

  she wanted to drink. The drinks came and she hesitantly took a

  sip, it was very powerful and sour. She had never had anything

  stronger then a glass of wine at a family event, but it was

  good. She sipped every now and then and took in the atmosphere.

  The place was packed, loud and everybody looked fabulous. It was

  surreal. She never saw people walk around looking like this and

  here everybody did. The interior was stylish and modern. It was

  a little dark but the light from the dance floor was enough to

  see in the bar area.

  “Do you want to dance?” he asked.

  She shook “Maybe later.”

  She was happy to be sitting again and wondered how women

  wore these all day looking at her shoes. They chatted and

  kissed. Then after a while they danced a bit. He had asked again

  at a slow song and she had jumped to that. That she could

  survive. After the song they sat down again. Many times someone

  would stop by to say hi to Jake. It seemed like he knew

  everybody and everybody wanted to be his friend. They all

  introduced themselves and made her feel right at home. How was

  this possible? At school she couldn"t get accepted in any of the clicks made up of adolescent twerps and here she felt accepted

  in between all these amazing people. As the night went on she

  sipped slowly on her drinks and was starting to notice the

  effects of the alcohol so she slowed down. They chatted a lot

  and danced as much as her poor feet could handle. It was

  wonderful. She wished the night would never end.

  After a while they decided it had been enough. They got

  outside and found the car. The clock on the dashboard showed

  01:00 AM. It hadn"t seemed like they had been in there for five

  hours. They drove to the lake front, got out and walked along

  the lake front holding hands. After five minutes she stopped and

  took her shoes off. They walked on hand in hand and her shoes in

  the other hand. It felt good to have the shoes off, but it felt

  even better walking there with him. They walked along the lake

  front for a half hour or so. Chatting, gazing over Lake Michigan

  and sometimes stopping for a quick kiss. They got back to the

  car and drove off. He stopped downtown by an apartment building.

  “This is where I live” he pointed to a building with luxury

  apartments, “Do you want to see it?”

  She gulped and thought. She could care less to see it but

  she wanted to be with him. She nodded with hesitation and they

  left the car and went in the building. The elevator was quick

  and took them up to the 20th floor. “Not the penthouse yet” he joked pointing to the 21st floor.

  “Maybe next year” he grinned.

  He opened the door to the apartment and they stepped

  inside. It was gorgeous. It wasn"t necessarily huge but more

  spacious. Almost everything was in one room. Kitchen and living

  room blended together. Not like her place where it was clearly

  out of need, this was design. Furniture was modern steel frame

  with black leather and in the middle of the apartment was a

  staircase le
ading up to an open loft where the bedroom was. It

  was clearly a place for people without kids. He directed her to

  the couch and she sat down and he walked to the kitchen and came

  back with 2 glasses of wine. They were wide glasses with long

  narrow stems. Even the glasses were thought about, she realized.

  She took a sip and put it down. It felt warm and comfortable.

  He grabbed her feet and took her shoes off and began massaging

  them. Could this get any better?

  “I have something for you” he said.

  He handed her a cell phone. It"s nothing fancy he claimed,

  just a prepaid phone. He wanted to be able to get a hold of her,

  he explained. Just let him know if the balance was running low

  and he would put more on it. She opened the flip phone and

  noticed the time on the screen. 03:05AM Annie must be worried sick. She thanked him for the phone and excused herself. She

  needed to call her friend so she wouldn"t be worried.

  “Use your new phone” he said smiling.

  Kim walked to the window overlooking the sleeping city. She

  dialed Annie"s number whom immediately answered.

  “Hello?” Annie sounded stressed.

  “Hi” Kim said.

  “Where are you?!?” Annie yelled, “I"ve been worried sick.

  It"s past 3AM.”

  She sounded like she pictured her mom would have.

  “I"m with Jake. I"m fine.” She said.

  “When are you going to be back?” Annie demanded to know.

  She thought. At that moment Jake kissed her neck and

  whispered “I would like you to stay” in her free ear so Annie

  couldn"t hear.

  She didn"t know what to say. Surely that wouldn"t be a good

  idea.

  Before she realized it she heard herself say “I"m going to

  stay here tonight” and Annie gasped at the other end of the

  line. “Are you sure that"s a good idea?” Annie asked.

  “Yeah, cover for me. Please!” she pleaded.

  “Ok” Annie said reluctantly.

  “Thanks, I"ll be there in the morning” Kim said and hung up

  the phone.

  He unzipped her dress from behind and it fell to the

  ground. For a split second she thought about catching it but she

  had already made up her mind. She wanted this. He picked her up

  while she wore nothing but her panties and carried her up to the

  loft. The stood a king size bed with satin sheets and he laid