Leslie's Admission - A New Adult Romance (Book 1) Read online

  “Bobby, look over there,” said Musher.

  They both looked across the Diner and saw Leslie. She was serving plates of food to a table full of smiling customers.

  “Isn’t that the ignorant bitch that you knocked to the floor the other day?” laughed Musher.

  “Yeah, believe it is,” replied Bobby.

  Musher giggled, “Where do they get these dumbasses?”

  “Maybe you should ask your Dad.”

  “Maybe so.”

  Shortly thereafter, their lunches were served to them. As they ate their food, Bobby kept sneaking a peek at Leslie. He dawned on him that he really hadn’t noticed her before. He watched as she walked back and forth to her assigned tables and began to like what he was seeing. Her figure was as shapely as any he’d seen in a while.

  A definite diamond in the rough, Bobby thought to himself. Before long, he found himself staring at her. She caught him once, frowned back at him and turned away.

  When their waitress returned, Bobby asked her, “Who’s that waitress over there? The one wearing the glasses.”

  “Oh, that’s Leslie Ford. She’s new here.” The waitress replied.

  “Where is she from?”

  “I have no clue, I haven’t talked to her very much.” The waitress replied walking away with their debit cards.

  As Musher was chewing on a toothpick, he directed a puzzled look at Bobby.

  “Dude, what are you doing?” asked Musher.

  “Finding out who that girl is. “

  “But she’s a geek, and she’s stupid too. Never said a word to us after the way we humiliated her in front of everybody. Is that the kind of girl you want to hang with?”

  “Who knows? Besides, I wasn’t trying to humiliate her. I was just joking around with her and she got pissed at me.”

  “I just don’t see the attraction.”

  “You don’t have to see the attraction,” said Bobby. “I can do that for myself.”

  Bobby got up and went to the Men’s Room. Musher then pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

  A female voice answered, “Hello?”

  “Tina, it’s Mush. I need you to do some research when you get a chance.”

  “About what?”

  “Leslie Ford.” replied Musher. “She’s a new student. Find out all you can about her.”

  Musher hung up and returned the cell phone to his shirt pocket. He watched Leslie stroll by as she delivered a tray of food to a nearby table.

  “We’ll just see what skeletons live in your little closet, Leslie Ford.” He chuckled to himself.

  * * * * * * *

  When the evening came along, Bobby decided to turn in early. Living hard the past few nights was beginning to take its toll. He had informed his household not to disturb him until 9AM the next morning. The great thing about having rich parents was being able to disappear in one quiet end of a mansion to clear your head.

  Another great thing about rich parents was the fact that you could live with them as long as you wanted. The only catch was that Bobby had to keep his grades up at Millard Valley State. As long as he was doing that, he had a great place to live, a sports car to drive, and a big allowance to spend every month.

  What made it simple in keeping up his end of the bargain was the fact that Bobby was reasonably intelligent, and he was taking easy classes. The result of that combination was high grades with low class attendance. How could it get any better than that?

  Bobby only needed a degree – and it didn’t really matter what kind of degree. He would eventually go to work at one of his Dad’s companies anyway. There was nothing better than taking advantage of some good old favoritism within the family business. In the end, he would come right off the street and have a staff of his own waiting to serve him and make him a star. His future was already set.

  As Bobby lay in his bed, he couldn’t help but think about Leslie at the Diner. The more he thought about her, the more he began thinking she was pretty hot. In fact, he was determined to get to know her better.

  Bobby was confident that Leslie would be delighted to know he was interested in her. After all, that was how most girls reacted when he paid any kind of attention at all to them. He smiled at the thought and dozed off to sleep while his opinion of himself escalated even further.

  * * * * * * *

  The next day, Tina Shoop arrived at work a little earlier than usual. She normally arrived at 8:30AM, but today she reported an hour sooner. The surprised look from her co-workers brought about the need for a fictional excuse from Tina.

  In many office settings, everyone’s work habits become very routine and expected. Any time a person strays off the path of that routine, it can create a disturbance that arouses shock and even suspicion. Tina knew that any hint of suspicion was a weed that must be immediately plucked from the garden of office gossip – at least in this case.

  Musher had given Tina her marching orders. She was to find out what she could about Leslie Ford. And she needed a little time when her supervisor wasn’t lurking about. Working in the school’s admissions office had its advantages, and one of those advantages was giving Tina access to all sorts of information.

  Sometimes the information she sought was well beyond her station, but Tina had learned tricks. In her time on job, she had learned to make most of the office’s vast data available to her when there was a need. And this time the need came from her boyfriend, Musher.

  Sometimes she wondered if it was really worth the trouble of having a rich influential boyfriend. If she were to get caught and lose her job, and if Musher were to dump her afterwards – Tina would be screwed in a big way – no job, no sugar daddy. That was a scenario she really didn’t want to think about at the moment.

  She logged into to the dummy account and began pecking away at the keyboard.

  “Leslie Ford ...“ she mumbled to herself. “Let’s see what your story is …”

  * * * * * * *

  Leslie once again found herself hurrying along to class. As much as she loved attending college, she had to admit that these first few weeks were really getting to be a grind.

  When she factored in the hours spent in her classes, followed by the hours spent studying, and then add in the hours spent working at the Diner – it was taking a toll on her.

  The good news was that she had survived the first round of exams with flying colors. This was pleasing because those first exams often set the tone of the semester.

  Even though professors would never admit it, those first exams also established the impressions and expectation levels they had of each student for the rest of the way. Sometimes a bad impression is hard to change.

  Leslie was hoping things would settle down and relax for the next few weeks. Perhaps she was still trying to get acclimated to college life in general. Satisfied with those two thoughts, she hurried down the sidewalk to her next class.

  “Hey, pretty lady!” a familiar voice rang out.

  To Leslie’s astonishment, she looked up to see a grinning Bobby Black standing in front of her.

  “What do you want. “ Leslie grunted.

  “I wanted to talk to you, Leslie.”

  “I don’t think so!”

  “Why not?”

  “Maybe it has something to do with how rude you were to me a few weeks ago.” reminded Leslie.

  “C’mon. That was an honest accident, and I was just cutting up with you.”

  “The way you and your little sidekick ridiculed me wasn’t much of an accident. In fact, I’d say that was rather deliberate!”

  “Ok. We teased you a little, but we didn’t mean anything by it. I’m always teasing my friends.”

  “Good Lord, how do you treat your enemies?”

  “I think this has just been a terrible misunderstanding. If you could … “

  “Get out of my damn way!” demanded Leslie as she pushed past him. “I need to get to class.”

  Bobby sighed and stood the
re watching Leslie walk down the sidewalk. He smiled and shook his head as he watched her.

  She’s going to be a tough nut to crack, he thought to himself.

 

  Chapter 3

  “It’s amazing how Bobby approached you like that.” said Holly.

  “I know; can you believe that?” replied Leslie.

  “What really pissed me off was just how he thought I was going to overlook everything on a whim.”

  Holly laughed, “The nerve of some people!”

  “I wonder why he became interested in me like that – all of a sudden.”

  “Rachel had mentioned a few days ago that Bobby was asking about you in the diner once.”

  “Rachel?”

  “You know, the blonde girl who has the cute little boy. She works the breakfast crowd mostly.”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “I didn’t mention it to you because I thought it’d only piss you off.”

  “Well, you were probably right about that.”

  “Do you realize how many girls in this town would’ve given anything to have Bobby Black show an interest in them like that?”

  “Yeah, lucky me!”

  They both laughed.

  * * * * * * *

  Musher was starting to get aggravated with Tina. He had given her a simple assignment and had not heard anything from her. How hard could it be finding poop on someone anyway?

  He picked up the phone and dialed.

  “Damn Tina, what the hell?” Musher asked. “Haven’t you found anything yet?”

  “Look Mush, I told you that there’s not much out there about Leslie Ford.”

  “What do you mean there’s not much out there? Everybody has skeletons!”

  “Well, I haven’t found hers yet. But there is something that may be of interest to you. Will you be there for the next few minutes.”

  “Yeah, come on over.”

  In about twenty minutes, Tina was knocking on the door.

  “What do you have?” asked Musher.

  She gave him a folder.

  Musher made a few faces as he reviewed the contents.

  “Is this for real?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned.” He said. “But I need something more than this. Something that will get her scholarship rescinded.”

  “I have question. Why do you give a shit about her scholarship anyway?”

  “Because Bobby is getting the hots for her and I need to put an end to that notion. If I make the scholarship go away, then I make her go away.”

  “Why do you care who Bobby dates?”

  “Are you that damn dense? Bobby has nothing in common with that bitch. She’ll just twist his mind around.”

  “But .. “

  “Don’t ‘but’ me, find me some information that I can use.”

  Musher knew that as long as he kept pushing Tina’s buttons and kept her on the defensive, she would be harmless. The last thing Musher wanted was for Tina to learn the real story. No one must ever discover that.

  Right on cue, Tina sighed and stomped out of the room and left.

  * * * * * * *

  Leslie came home after a late afternoon at the library and discovered that she had the place to herself. Her classes were done for the day, Holly was working late, and she was off for the evening.

  This was one of those rare times when a person gets to spend time doing anything they want. Whenever life is trucking along at ninety miles an hour and then all of a sudden you get a time of peace and quiet, it can be disconcerting.

  The problem is that people never prepare for times like this and never know what to do with themselves when they occur. What’s ironic is that such times can be the very pot at the end of life’s rainbow for many people, but they never ever learn exactly how to take advantage of them.

  Many people choose to do as Leslie had done on this evening – which was simply to ponder their thoughts. This can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Leslie wasn’t sure at the moment whether her thoughts would be one way or the other. It remained to be seen.

  What puzzled her were two things.

  The first thing was why in the world would Bobby Black be saying ugly hurtful things to her on one day, and then all of a sudden become interested in getting to know her the next day? Leslie just couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around this notion.

  And to make things worse, she was the type of person who needed time and reason to forgive any wrongs done to her. Especially if those wrongs were public and humiliating.

  Going from anger to friendliness with Bobby was something that seemed foreign to her sense of reason. Her logic train just wasn’t able to compute such a thing.

  The second thing that puzzled Leslie was why she even gave a shit about the matter. In the past, she always said her piece and moved on.

  Just like how she’d dealt with Dwight Moreland in high school that time. Dwight kept aggravating her to go out with him. It wasn’t that she disliked Dwight; she just wasn’t interested in him romantically. Dwight was unable to accept this and wouldn’t leave things alone.

  He made the mistake of pushing the issue in the school cafeteria one day in front of everybody. Some people seem to think that using peer pressure can often times swing the scales in their favor. What they fail to realize is that it can also backfire in a huge way.

  Leslie put Dwight in his place that day and could have sworn that she heard a balloon burst when she pierced that male ego of his. Dwight gave her no more trouble after that. In fact, he came nowhere near her.

  She chuckled at that memory, but also realized that it left a bad stain too. It demonstrated to everyone just how unavailable Leslie was to relationships – rather than someone who was simply tired of being hounded by a guy in which she had no interest.

  It never failed, any time Leslie ventured down that path in her mind that pertained to love and dating, she was reminded of how defective she felt. And how ignorant she was when it came to matters of the heart. It was as if she had missed one of life’s most important classes, a class that everyone else attended but her.

  Leslie jumped into the shower. As she cleaned herself, her loneliness brought about a dull feeling of sadness and despair that began to flow across her body. Although it was a familiar feeling, it was one that she could never get used to having.

  She rushed to get in bed before Holly got home. She just didn’t feel much like talking to anyone this evening.

 

  * * * * * * *

  Rick Musher had just finished taking an exam in his Ancient History class. He was irritated because it meant that he had to attend class for a change. When he was a freshman, he could simply pay someone to go take the exam for him. This was because the classes were huge and no one would notice.

  But now that he was a junior, the classes were small. And since he was the son of a Dean, he was also recognizable – at least among the staff and faculty. Therefore, he had no choice but to show up himself to take his exams and that sucked.

  These days, he relied on Tina and her magic to get into the school’s computer system. She would always find the exams and their answers for him ahead of time.

  Bobby had wondered why he seduced Tina into his life. Musher knew what he was doing. Tina would get him through college. And the good news was that he only had to put up with her for another year or so.

  Musher couldn’t wait to dump Tina and be a free man again. This was especially true given the way she was screwing up the last assignment he’d given her. Good grief! How hard can it be looking up dirt on somebody anyway?

  Musher and his cousin Bobby had been inseparable since about the third grade. They both came from rich families, they were both intelligent, and they both loved to misbehave and cut-up. Because of their parents’ wealth and influence, they had been given a wide berth all through school.

  Musher valued his relationship with Bobby more than any other in his life. In fact, he wa
s downright possessive of Bobby. He felt that Bobby was too soft and naïve for his own good and needed to be looked after.

  He could never figure out why Bobby had such a big blind spot when it came to dealing with others.

  Musher’s favorite rap song started playing in bursts.

  “Hello?” said Musher, answering his phone.

  “What’s up home boy?” asked Bobby.

  “Not much. What’s going on?”

  “Did you hear about that get together that Jason is putting together at Lake Maynard?”

  “I heard something about that. What do you know about it?”

  “Supposedly, he’s renting out that big cabin and the pavilion at the back end like he did back in June. This time he’s ordering up five kegs. And get this, he is hiring out the Scotch Kings to play for the crowd.”

  “Wow, that’s sweet! Those dudes are beyond good!”

  “Definitely. Jason’s really out done himself this time.”

  “Bobby, would you like for me to get some more of that white hash? I believe Lanny has some more left.”

  “Could you? That would be unbelievable!”

  “Consider it done.”

  “Of course, we’ll probably have to consume it in private since we won’t know the party levels of everybody attending. You have to admit, five kegs equal a lot of people.”

  “This is true.”

  “Are you going to bring Tina?”

  “I wasn’t planning on it. Why do you ask?”

  “Mush, she’ll hear about the party and she’ll know we will be there. How are you going to explain that to her?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”

  “Dude, you’ll just piss her off again. Then she’ll follow us around for weeks after the party – making a scene like she always does. Why don’t you just bring her?”

  “I guess I could.”

  “I am going to ask Leslie Ford to come with us.”

  “What? Bobby, are you crazy? What makes you think that nerdy bitch would come to a party like that?”

  “You don’t know that!” said Bobby. “And quit calling her a bitch.”

  “Bobby, you have nothing in common with this girl. How in the world will you have any fun with her?”

  “You don’t know that either. Neither of us have any clue what she likes.”

  “Maybe so.” replied Musher. “But I do know one thing.”

  “What’s that?”