Contemporaneous by Corbin Chapter 16 ******************** "Strength and honor are her clothing: and she shall rejoice in time to come." -The Bible ********** My father is the Service Manager for a Motorcycle / ATV / Watercraft (little boy adrenaline junky) Store. While in High School (and some in College) I spent some time working behind the Parts Counter to earn a few extra bucks. Beats the hell out of retail, and department stores...or so I thought. I was hoping it would be easy street and I could get allot spare reading/studying time in, but that was rarely the case. Guys were always in there, packs of them, something I used to poke fun of. I'd be sitting at my terminal, reading a textbook when I would look up and there would be like six or seven guys standing there from my school, or just from the area. That always killed me, there are like two or three other part reps behind the counter, why come bug me? Yeah...yeah...I know why...I'm just bitching as usual. "You guys always travel in packs?" I would smirk and close my book. "You been riding this summer Corbin?" I would always get asked. You see, my father had bought me a 2002 Kawi KX125, but I rarely rode it. It was fun the first summer but just not my thing. I would just shake my head 'no'. I never did girly stuff (mainly because I don't usually pal around in large packs of girls), and I kind of avoided the ultra feminine route with the jobs I took and the sports I played. These choices always put me in frequent contact with 'Cool' guys in the area, who were always involved in the 'cool' sports and activities, like motor cross, watercraft and other outdoor activities. The hilarious thing was this, most of these guys were rugged, athletic, good looking and pursued by most of my female peers. Yet, here they were, always coming into store to buy stuff for their ski's, bikes, ATV's...you name it. All I had to do is sit at my station and they came swarming around. That made me real popular with the other girls (NOT!). I bet some of you gentle readers are fairly bright...so here is a pop-quiz: After I am done helping some guy and I ask "Is there anything else I can get for you?", What response am I likely to get; a.) 'Just your phone number' b.) 'A date would be nice' c.) 'Dinner and a movie' If you picked any of the above you got the answer right. See, that's wasn't so hard, I hope it didn't overtax your brains. :-) Young...old....you name it, but the older guys were much bolder with asking me out. One mouthy brunette girl came tagging along with her boyfriend and a few of his friends one day. She's cutting me these looks all the while I am sitting there looking up parts for the guys until some guys start asking me to go riding that weekend, when I decline 'Ms. Mouth' speaks up; "I guess blondes don't really have more fun." "Actually...." I say, while still typing, "....blondes are more fun. That's why your boyfriend and his buddies always come asking me to hang out with them." A few muffled laughs later and she is fit to be tied. "Dream on you muscle head jock. At least I got a boyfriend." Well, now her boyfriend is asking her to cool-it. I stand up to get the receipt which is getting spit out from the printer behind me and now she gets a good look at my height and build. She must be 5' 2" max, so my 5' 11" frame kind of towers over her, and she's getting a bit more quiet. I hand the receipt to the guy on my right as I smile, thanking him for the purchase. I look at the girl, while giving my best customer service smile, "We'll there be anything else." She just gives me this eat shit look, but I can tell she's biting her tongue. I brace my hands against the counter top making sure they get a good look at the muscles running up the length of my arms. I normally despise showing off, but now seemed like a good time as any. I was biting my tongue real hard because I didn't want to get fired by my Dad, of all people. Maybe next time I'll tell about one of the first times I went riding, I was getting the hang of things on some pretty rough terrain and ended up beating the crap out of some guy because he was razzing my riding skills in front of everyone, which I can take....be he kept going and going and going and going.....I had him eating dirt after I got done with him. ********** Sometimes I can't believe my eyes. I'm reading this article about how to help women break their men of bad habits. The list includes: 1.) Leaving the toilet seat up. 2.) Drooling over the Victoria's Secret catalog. 3.) Driving like a maniac. 4.) His inability to focus on anything else (i.e., you) when a game is on. 5.) Burping the alphabet (and other bad manners). 6.) His insistence on wearing his favorite ratty T-shirt to any and all social events. 7.) Leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen sink (and other cleaning issues). Okay, first of all, you have to break the man, not the habit. Once he's put in his place, the habits will also disappear. Dealing with the habit itself is a waste of time. But maybe the bigger problem is that if you're a woman who dates one of these fools, then not only is he a LOSER, but so are YOU! Thus I suppose you deserve each other. I then tossed the magazine in the trash. ********** During the trip to the beach house, there was not much talk. The windows were down, the wind in our hair, the sun was shining and the temperature had risen to the upper nineties. I was nodding off in the passenger seat until I felt a faint nudge on my firm shoulder, "Where almost there!" Sharon sat up excited as I blinked awake, a few clouds had rolled in but I could tell we were close, traffic started to pick up. At every turn, stoplight, street sign I felt the anticipation build within me, why was I getting so excited? I guess everyone gets that feeling of anticipation that something great is about to happen, and that was the feeling that I had. Combine that with the now thick humidity, visions of sand, surf, tan bodies and sweat over the next seven days, you get the picture I think. I perked up even more as the house started to come into view, it was at the end of a cul-de-sac, a short boardwalk made it's way up to the dunes, and beyond that the Atlantic Ocean. Sharon kept grinning and pointing at the house with excitement, as if the first five times she pointed weren't enough. A bit eerie at first, walking into such a big house with three levels to explore. The odd layout made sense after awhile, when on the first floor you look for the kitchen...but no, now we are on the second floor and still no kitchen. We climb the stairs and are greeted by this great room with a magnificent cathedral ceiling. To the left was this enormous kitchen with large windows on every wall. The view, from anywhere in the room was amazing and although a short dune separated the house from the beach, we were high enough up to have an incredible ocean view. I felt Sharon's arm rest over my shoulder and then she was standing to my left. My left hand came around Sharon's waist and we enjoyed the moment just a bit longer. "Let's go on to the deck." I suggested. "Let's" Sharon smiled. And what a deck it was, wrapping around the entire third floor. We stood in the glow of the late afternoon sun, leaning against the railing and watched as people had their fill of sun and sand, heading home. ********** After lunch I was able to snag one of my other girlfriends staying with us, Jenn, and walked into Duck to scout some places to eat for dinner and maybe hit a few surf shops (although I chuckle at that, surf in Duck? More like a giant lake). It's always interesting to go into the local shops, the guys that try to act all cool and laid back with that joe-surfer attitude while hitting on you. (Like the time a few years back when some guy behind the checkout counter asked if I had a chance to see "Pearl" when they were in town. HUH? Who the hell is 'Pearl'? I asked with a puzzled look. 'Pearl Jam' he said with an amused smile. "Oh, I'm not fluent in the language of cool-abbreviated-lingo." I replied.) The heat and humidity had not let up, so we were good and drenched with sweat by the time we started walking back. "Thanks Corbin." Jenn said, patting me on the back, "This was a great idea, getting all hot and sweaty, trekking up and down the road here." "Suck it up wimp." I said with a smile. "but fine lets take a break?" I pointed to a Cafe and Raw bar nestled in a tiny shopping strip. "Yeah, at least it will get us out of the heat." Jenn was right about that, the cool air in the restaurant was nice and we sat at the bar. Although lunch time had come and gone, the place was still full, there wasn't much to brag about, it was a nice little place with your typical beach type decorations and such, some slow moving overhead fans did an adequate job of circulating the air and of course the bar had some TV's tuned into the usual sports news. "Hey, mind if I ask some nosey questions?" Jenn taps me on the wrist with her straw and I know where this is going. "Fire away." I say and raise a knowing eyebrow at her. "So who came onto who first?" Jenn was now giving me this gossipy, curious smile she gets as she leans over to sip on her diet coke. "Nikki hit on me." I said and did my best to keep from grinning like some idiot. "How did that go over? I mean, were you both sober and were you offended when she made a pass at you?" Jenn asked. She seemed really interested, or maybe it was just nosey gossip, but either way I didn't mind sharing a few things with her. Might as well get used to it, it wont be the last barrage of questions I ever have to face. "Yes we were both totally sober and no I was not offended, just freaked out, we both were afraid of what the impact on our friendship would have." As with any occasion, whenever I try to have an in-depth conversation I get interrupted. I am looking to my right, talking with Jenn when I sense someone is standing to my left, very close to my left. Now I am getting Irritated! "Hold on Jenn." I sigh and twist my head to the left, and the second I glance over this guy begins speaking to me... "Can we buy you girls a drink?" Oh what the hell! Can't I sit down and have a minutes peace!! I casually leaned back in my chair and didn't even crack a smile, "Thanks, but were just hanging out and chatting, maybe some other time." Thankfully Jenn just looked away, not giving him the time of day. I really was more annoyed then anything. When we left the restaurant my mood perked up tremendously as I realized that it wouldn't be that long before Nikki would be here. We text messaged back and forth several times and talked later that night. ********** The idea to go out to dinner was scrapped because the girls had invited some guys over to dinner at the house, dinner as in ordering pizza. Such a healthy selection of food! *Yuck* Well, I don't mind pizza all that much, it's just that it always tastes like I am chewing on a big wad of dough, that's all, as my mind begins processing the calorie intake. I had a small slice and then had some fruit and some left over baked chicken. I cannot stress how eating small portions is so important, don't buy into these bullshit news articles that there are FAT genes or a FAT virus going around, the responsibility resides with YOU AND YOU ALONE! Eat less and exercise more, it's as easy as it gets. **********