Rex

May 11, 2007

Even though Cindy keeps telling me that Sammy is nervous about our date, I’m the one with sweaty palms and butterflies. Walking up to a huge mansion, I flashback to my first date when I was a freshman in high school, picking up Marsha Walker for the Homecoming dance. I hear voices on the other side of the door as I wait for a response after ringing the doorbell. It sounds like she still lives with her parents.

“Hi. You must be Rex,” she says with a sigh, cracking the door open. “Sorry if you heard all that.”

“I couldn’t really hear what any of it was about,” I reply with a shrug. “I love your dress.” I’m taken back by the fact that she’s wearing a flowery little sundress and sandals. Cindy had lowered my expectations to the point where I was expecting a shrew to answer the door, so this is a nice surprise.

“Do I look okay? I’m so pasty white, I probably should’ve worn pants.” She looks down seeming more than a bit self conscious.

“You look great. It’s perfect for where we’re going,” I reassure her offering her my arm. “My car is over here. I’m just finishing college, so it’s kind of a piece of shit.” I find myself feeling totally self conscious about leading her to my nineteen eighty-six Chevy Blazer that has a quarter million miles on it. Especially after seeing the house she lives in. “It was great for parking at school, I didn’t have to worry about door dings.” I laugh nervously.

“Don’t worry, I won’t judge you.” She glances toward me with puppy dog eyes. “I’m twenty-six and still live with my parents.” She rolls her big blue eyes before turning away.

“Cindy told me that you help with your mom. That’s pretty awesome actually. I don’t think I could do it,” I admit, opening the passenger door for her. “My mom would be a total pain in the ass if she was sick like that.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely not easy,” she replies, climbing into my awesome ride. I suggested that we meet somewhere downtown, but she wanted me to pick her up instead. In hindsight, I probably should have rented a limo or something. “So, Cindy said I’m your first client, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m not totally sure what I’m supposed to be doing, but I thought we would start out with a nice dinner at Palisade.”

“On the waterfront? That’s one of my favorite restaurants,” she says showing the first sign of life. “My last boyfriend thought Chick-Fil-A was a romantic place to go.”

“I have to admit I make a special trip to the one in Bellevue almost every month for a chicken sandwich and waffle fries.” She giggles before reaching over to turn up the song playing on the radio. It’s Fergie, Big Girls Don’t Cry. She immediately gets into it, her reddish brown hair swaying to the beat. Watching her, I’m not really sure why this girl has so many issues with dating. She’s pretty and she seems normal.

After splitting the seafood trio and a piece of raspberry cheesecake for dessert, we move to the bar for another cocktail. “I would like another Manhattan and a Pomegranate Mojito for my lady,” I tell the bartender, turning to her with a wink.

“You’re too good to be true,” she says, slipping her hand into mine and giving it a squeeze. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure.” I smile, feeling good that I’m accomplishing my goal of delivering the perfect boyfriend experience.

“You don’t know who I am and this whole time you haven’t even asked,” she says narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “How do you even know I’ll have the money to pay you?”

“I guess I haven’t really thought about it.” I simply assumed that I would get paid one way or another.

“My father is Martin Renshaw, the founder of ValuNet,” she informs me. ValuNet is basically the online version of Costco. He was a star receiver for UW back in the late seventies, so I know exactly who she is talking about. His picture still hangs outside the UW locker rooms. I think I’m seeing the reason why she attracts guys who are after her money.

“He was a great receiver back in college. I think he still holds a couple records.” I purposely don’t make any reference to ValueNet. I’ll pretend I don’t even know what it’s about.

“Yeah, he always credits sports with making him a great business leader,” she says, turning the conversation back to his business success. “ValuNet became a hundred-billion-dollar company even faster than Microsoft.”

“Did you have me pick you up at home so I would see that you live in a mansion?” I ask, suddenly putting it all together. “I’m pretty sure this is why you have problems with your boyfriends. You’re attracting guys based on the fact that your dad is rich and then you resent them for being attracted to it.”

“Now, you’re sounding just like Cindy. She always says that I’m attracting the wrong guys into my life, but that’s bullshit. All guys are pigs.” She pulls her hand back and crosses her arms.

“You were just calling me too good to be true a few minutes ago.” I pick up my Manhattan and take a sip after the bartender sets it in front of me. “I tried to pretend that I didn’t know anything about ValuNet just to see if you would let it go. But then you started telling me how fast it grew.” I shake my head and take another sip. “Maybe it’s not my place to point out what you’re doing wrong, but it couldn’t be more obvious. You’re beautiful and I really liked you just for being you. You don’t need to use your dad for validation. In fact, that’s the worst thing you can do.” She turns away and plays with the straw in her drink. If nothing else, it appears that she’s thinking about what I’ve said.

“I’ve always hated the way I look.” She continues to look down at her drink. “My friends all get tan in the summer, I get burned. They talked me into a spray tan, I turned fucking orange. I tried to lighten my hair and it turned a totally disgusting orangish, yellow. I gave up.”

“I like your hair color and honestly it looks good against your white skin.” I remain focused on her, trying to get her to look at me. “And like I said earlier, that dress looks great on you. The colors are perfect.” Her blue eyes finally turn toward mine and she lifts her head just slightly.

“The problem is… you’re being paid to say this stuff.” Her eyes immediately fall back to her drink.

“I’m not being paid to say anything and honestly, I have no reason to lie to you. I’m not trying to get laid here and I’m certainly not interested in your dad’s money,” I reply, setting the record straight. “I’m only pointing out the obvious. You’re a beautiful woman and you don’t need to use your dad’s success as a crutch. My mom is a well known psychiatrist and my dad is one of the top surgeons in the city, but that has nothing to do with who I am. In fact, they’ll both be disappointed when they find out what I’m choosing to do with my life.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I think you’re going to be really good at it,” she says, once again sliding her hand over toward mine. “I know I have a self-esteem issue, but I don’t know how to change that. How do you decide that you’re good enough? It’s not like I’ve accomplished anything on my own. I didn’t even finish college.”

“But you’ve helped your Mom through a terrible illness,” I point out, knowing how hard that would be for me to do. “In the end, that will be much more important than any degree you could’ve earned. I just finished my degree and had absolutely no idea what to do with it. So what’s the difference?”

“Well, you seem to be pretty smart. I don’t feel very smart most of the time. I see all my old friends getting great jobs, getting married, having kids and then there’s me. I’m still living at home, taking care of my mom and every guy I date ends up being a total leech. I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I just feel like I’m stuck.”

“And I’m here to help you get unstuck,” I reply, reaching over and lifting her chin. “You have no reason to be down on yourself for how you look or what you’ve accomplished in life. What you’re doing is irreplaceable. Anyone can get married, have kids or get a job, but only you can take care of your mother in the way you’re doing it. I promise, in the end, you’ll be glad that you helped your mom.”

“Yeah, Dad insists on it,” she says, pushing the straw to her lips and taking a sip. “Mm, this is really good.” She sets it down and goes back to playing with the straw. “I know he feels guilty for working all the time, but I don’t think he can handle being at home with her. It’s too hard for him to watch her struggle.”

“And that’s why I think what you’re doing is amazing,” I reiterate, bringing a smile to her lips. We both sit in silence as we finish our cocktails, glancing around at the other patrons. “I need to use the restroom,” she says, reaching the bottom of her glass. “Then do you want to walk on the pier.”

“I’d love to,” I reply, waving to the bartender to settle up the tab. After paying, I begin walking toward the restrooms, since they are next to the exit. As I approach I see that a good looking, athletic guy has cornered her in the hallway just outside the restroom. I can’t hear what he’s saying, but based on his facial expression he’s obviously angry about something.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, slipping my arm around Sammy and coaxing her away from the guy.

“Who’s this?” he asks, splitting his glare between the two of us.

“I’m her date,” I reply on her behalf. “Who the hell are you?”

“Her boyfriend,” he instantly spouts, but the look on his face tells me it’s bullshit.

“Ex-boyfriend,” Sammy counters, giving him a push.

“You’re the one who dropped her for not being promiscuous enough?” I ask, taking a step forward.

“Whatever. She never wanted to do anything fun.” He too takes a step forward, so now we’re face to face. “What the fuck do you care?”

“I care, because guys like you give the rest of us a bad name. Women like Sammy here start to think that we’re all douche bags,” I reply, pulling Sammy close. “We’re leaving now. You have a good night.”

I’ve caught him off guard, but he looks around obviously in search of his buddies. It’s time to make a quick exit, before I end up with another broken neck. Luckily, my Blazer is parked close to the back door, so we can make a break for it. “Come here,” she says, tugging at my hand as we exit the building. She pulls me away from the parking lot and in the direction of the marina. “Dad has a slip out here,” she adds to clarify things. I was wondering why we would want to run out onto the dock when there is a potential conflict brewing.

“Your Ex doesn’t know about this?” I ask, still feeling a little vulnerable from my weakened state.

“No. He never wanted to take me here for dinner, so I never mentioned it.” She squeezes my hand harder as we run toward the main dock. “I honestly can’t believe I ran into him here. He actually said he wanted to check it out, since I always said how much I like it. Loser.”

“I thought it was great, until you ran into him.” We both focus on where we are running as we go out onto the dock and head toward the larger yachts. “Seriously? Is this one his?” I ask, heading toward one that has to be longer than a football field.

“No. That’s Paul Allen’s,” she replies breathlessly, referring to the original co-founder of Microsoft. “That one,” she adds, pulling me onto a side dock toward another gorgeous yacht that’s about a third of the size. “Dad’s going to upgrade to a big one when he retires.”

“Actually, this one is cool as hell,” I reply, loving the large tinted windows and rear decks.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” she says with a smirk. “The inside is amazing.” She punches a code into a keypad that allows us to gain access.

“Isn’t there any staff?” I ask, amazed that a multimillion dollar yacht like this would sit unattended.

“It just came out of drydock on Monday. The staff doesn’t come onboard until the week before Memorial day. Come on, I’ll show you around. There’s no food onboard, but Dad never cleans out the bar.” She leads me through a doorway and into a big open room that is a combination dining room and bar.

“This is amazing! It’s bigger than my apartment,” I tell her, feeling even more embarrassed about picking her up in my old Blazer. “I can’t believe Cindy didn’t tell me anything about who you were.”

“I told her not to. I wanted to keep it a secret, but as you can tell I really suck at keeping secrets,” she says, rolling her eyes. “But I figure since you’re not a real boyfriend, it doesn’t really matter. Does it?”

“No. This is cool as hell, but if you were just a normal broke girl it wouldn’t make a difference either. I think you’re great, even without all of this.” I lift her chin, looking into those crystal blue eyes. “You’re beautiful, fun to be with and all of this is just a totally cool bonus.”

“If only this was real,” she replies with a sigh. “You’re sexy as fuck. But do you know how to make a dirty Sapphire martini?”

“Of course.” I lean in, giving her a sensuous kiss before pulling back and making my way behind the bar. “Do you like it dirty or filthy?”

“Dirty normally, but tonight I’m willing to give filthy a try.” Her eyes sparkle as she pulls up a seat at the bar, watching my every move.

This night is amazing so far, considering this is my first time out. She really warmed up after that little encounter with her ex. In hindsight, standing up to him was probably the best thing I could’ve done for her. I’m sure he’s wondering who the hell I am and I’ll bet he’s wishing he would’ve kicked my ass. As for me, I’m glad it worked out exactly the way it did. I have a strong feeling this is about to turn into my first five-hundred-dollar night.