Chapter 10: Brad

The fact that she keeps rejecting me is making me more determined than ever to make her mine, or at least to get her to go out with me again.

I think back to a girl I used to know in school and how she always used to give me the cold shoulder. I was tempted to give up on her, but decided to give it one last try and one day, after school, I went over to her house and simply knocked on her front door until she finally got tired of the noise and opened up for me. I told her that I really liked her and that I believed we were right for each other. Just like that. My words seemed to stun her at first, but then it was as if she slowly started melting right in front of my very eyes. That girl ended up going out with me and the experience became a point of reference for me ever after, reminding me just how important it is not to give up on your dreams and not to let go of a girl if you really want her.

“My dearest Jenny, I’m not quite ready to let go of this thing just yet and I do believe I can make you change your mind,” I muttered to myself as I finished my breakfast, consisting of black coffee and some toast.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that I’m going to need someone to help me figure this out. I start calling some of my buddies from the motorcycle club, but all of them are still away on the road trip and I know they never take their cell phones with them when they go out on the highway like that. I finally locate one of the guys at home, a jovial man by the name of Trevor Whitehead. Trevor is a happily married man and he often skips out on road trips to spend some time at home with his wife. He’s quite happy to take some time off to chat with me and we arrange to meet at a local restaurant for coffee.

“Hi buddy, what is it that you want to discuss with me,” Trevor says when we sit down at our table. He is about forty years of age, slightly overweight and balding; the kind of guy everyone wants to have as a friend. He’s always smiling and you can tell by the way he walks and talks that he is a really happy man.

“I would appreciate it if you can give me some advice… I’ve been trying to get close to this girl and she keeps pushing me away… I get the feeling that I need to find a different way of approaching her,” I say and look at Trevor expectantly. Being happily married, he didn’t take part in the orgy at the mansion with Jenny and my other friends, so he has no idea who the girl is that I’m talking about.

“Ah, girl troubles!” Trevor says and throws his head back with laughter, “I’m so glad I no longer have to deal with that kind of stuff”

“Are you serious? Don’t you ever miss the excitement of the chase and the feeling of adrenaline rushing through your veins when you set your sights on a new woman?” I ask curiously.

“Nope, I can honestly tell you that I never miss any of those things. My wife and I are best friends and I wouldn’t trade my relationship with her for all the hussies in the world,” he says with great conviction.

“Okay, if you say so… I just find it hard to believe that a man can ever settle down with just one woman and be happy for the rest of his life,” I say.

“Don’t worry buddy, one day you will find the right girl and when you get together with her you’ll never look back again,” Trevor says and I find myself hoping that he is right. To be perfectly honest, I’m getting slightly tired of seeing a different girl every week and I just wish Jenny would give me a chance to prove to her that we can be good together.

“I really hope you’re right! Maybe that’s why I’m hoping you can give me some advice on how to get close to this girl I told you about… perhaps she could be the one,” I say and look at Trevor expectantly for some great advice.

“Okay, here it goes. I’m not entirely certain if this will help you, but I’ll tell you what happened when I started dating my wife. She didn’t like the fact that I was a biker and I realized that I would have to compromise a little if I wanted to be with her. I found out that she really loves going to the opera and, as much as I balked at the idea of sitting down and listening to some fat Italians singing on the stage, I decided to give it a try and started going to the opera with her. She appreciated it so much that I was prepared to go out of my way to do something she enjoyed that she gave me some space to do my biking and in the end everything worked out just fine.”

“Okay, that makes sense to me… so what you’re saying is that I should try to find a way of approaching this girl with something she enjoys herself?”

“Exactly. Stop trying to draw her into your way of doing things and try to figure out a way of approaching her from an angle which is more familiar to her… something which she won’t expect from a guy like you.”

Trevor and I finish our coffee and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for his advice. We say goodbye and I decide to go home and regroup. Although Trevor’s advice is actually pretty vague, I get the feeling that his suggestions might come in handy and, if nothing else, it gets me thinking of some alternative ways of approaching Jenny, rather than simply banging my head against her emotional barriers and praying she will eventually let me in.

After getting back home, I get something to eat and sit down on the sofa to think some more about Trevor’s advice. It finally becomes crystal clear to me that I need a brand new approach… that it would make no sense for me to keep calling her or showing up out of the blue at her office, unannounced. If I continue that way I’m certain to simply get more of the same rejection I’ve already suffered at her hands, so I spend some time racking my brains for a new approach. I can’t quite think of anything, so I decide to take a look at Jenny’s website on the Internet again. I go through every page carefully and then, finally, my eye catches a little piece of information which I think might end up being helpful. On the very last webpage, underneath the message box which can be used to contact Jenny’s magazine, I see another name. Stacy Donovan, marketing and advertising.

I think back to the first time I’d visited Jenny at her office and can still recall the other girl I saw there. I suddenly realize that this must’ve been Stacy and that she also works at the magazine with Jenny. I think about it for a while longer and then realize that this might be my golden opportunity. Stacy seemed quite nice the first time I met her and I get the feeling that I might be able to talk to her. Perhaps she can speak to Jenny for me and convince her that I’m not such a bad guy after all.

Having decided that the best way forward is to go and speak to Stacy at Jenny’s Travels, I get dressed and take a ride on my Harley to the part of town where the magazine is situated. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do if Jenny confronts me and tells me I should leave, but fortune favors the brave so I just forge right ahead and walk in unannounced, as has become my habit by now.

Fortunately Jenny doesn’t seem to be there. Perhaps she’s on a mission somewhere to go and get information for an article, so I just walk right past her office to the door at the end of the corridor. I figure that this must be where Stacy’s office is located and when I get to the end of the corridor door and peer in I realized that I’m in luck.

“Hello! I’m sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering if I could have a word with you,” I say and Stacy looks up with a pleasant enough smile. I already know what her name is, but I pretend to be in the dark when she speaks to me.

“You’re the same guy who was here the other day… Brad isn’t it?” she says and I nod my head.

“Yes, that’s me!” I say with a big smile.

“Hi, my name is Stacy,” she says with a big grin of her own, “just how can I help you Brad?”

“Well, I was actually looking for Jenny… But now that I’m talking to you, I was wondering if you would be able to help me,” I say, apprehensively.

“No problem, why don’t I go and make us some coffee and then we can have a talk,” she says and I’m quite surprised at just how helpful she seems to be. Stacy is a really pretty girl and if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m already obsessed with Jenny, I might have turned on the charms and tried to get inside her pants.

She makes us some strong coffee and we go and sit in the boardroom. I take some time to explain to her how I know Jenny from somewhere else, but she doesn’t seem to be too interested in that part of my story, so I cut it short.

“The point I’m trying to make is, I would really like to get to know Jenny a bit better, but she keeps cutting off every time I ask her out… Is there absolutely anything you can do to help me in my quest?” I say with my most honest face.

“I shouldn’t really be telling you this, but it’s for her own good so I’m going to share a bit of personal information about Jenny with you,” Stacy says and I feel my heart beating faster inside my chest with excitement, “Jenny was very close to her father before he passed away and I’m afraid she keeps comparing every guy she meets to her dad… I guess I don’t have to tell you that they always fall short and this is probably part of the reason why you’re not having any success with her.”

I think about Stacy’s words for a moment and, even though I’m no psychologist, I can easily understand how a thing like that might be an incredible stumbling block for a guy like me to overcome.

“Okay, I think I catch your drift, but what exactly would you suggest I do about this obstacle in my way to your best friends heart?” I ask, slightly puzzled.

“I’m not too sure… although I can tell you that her father used to play guitar to her when she was a little girl and she has always loved the sound of guitar music,” Stacy says.

We spend some more time talking about my problem and I truly appreciate the way Stacy seems to be on board with my quest. She tells me how close she and Jenny have always been and how she’s never actually seen Jenny with a steady boyfriend in her entire life, even though Jenny always had a score of guys chasing her.

“Thank you so much for talking to me. It means a lot more to me than you can ever imagine!” I say and finally get up to leave after I’ve picked Stacy’s brains for every last bit of information that can be of assistance to me.

“No problem Brad! I really hope that you can manage to find a way past the walls my best friend has built around her heart… It will be for her own good,” Stacy says and shakes my hand before walking outside with me. Jenny is still nowhere in sight and Stacy promises that she won’t mention our talk to her best friend.

“Thank you so much, I owe you big time,” I say with a grin before waving Stacy goodbye and getting on the back of my Harley. I drive home, feeling like there is hope again for me and Jenny to get together after all. I now know exactly what the next step for me is going to be. I think back to the advice my good friend Trevor has given me and realize that I now have a golden opportunity in front of me to do the exact kind of thing he suggested. I can come to Jenny from a different angle and find a way of really entertaining her, which will probably truly impresses her at the same time.

Come hell or high water, I’m going to get a guitar somewhere and ask someone to teach me how to play it!

I make my way towards a local music shop and take some time to look at all the various guitars they have there. A shop assistant walks up to me and helps me pick out a nice guitar. I ask him about the easiest way to learn how to play it and he directs me to a local music teacher, not too far away from his shop. I thank the guy and pay for the guitar before carefully putting it in a protective hard case and setting off on the back of my Harley towards the music shop he’s told me about.

I have to wait for a while before I can see the music teacher, but when he finally comes out I can see that we are going to get along just fine. He’s got some tattoos on his forearms and he looks like the kind of guy who might enjoy becoming a member of my motorcycle club himself. He tells me that he has a spot open and we go inside the practice area where he shows me how to hold the guitar and press the basic chords. I discover that I actually have quite a knack for this and it’s not long before I’m able to play three basic chords on the guitar. My strumming is still a bit uneven, but I get the feeling that I’ll be able to get the hang of this very quickly. The guy tells me that he used to play in a band and assures me that there’s nothing like playing a guitar to get inside a girl’s pants. I thank him for the lesson and make arrangements to come and see him again during the week, after I’ve had some time to practice everything he’s taught me.

I drive home excitedly and Rawlins, my trusty Butler, looks quite impressed by the fact that I carry a guitar into the house.

“Good heavens sir, have you decided to become a musician now?” he asks with an incredulous expression of his on his face.

“Why not my good man?!” I exclaim, “we only live once and I have decided that it would be nice to be able to serenade the woman of my dreams!”

“What a splendid idea Sir!” Rawlins says and takes the Harley’s keys from me to go and park it in the garage. I rush inside, sit down on the couch and start practicing the chords which the guy at the music school has taught me. I suddenly realize that I never asked Stacy exactly what kind of music Jenny likes, but decide that me being able to play the guitar will be enough of a way to impress her without necessarily playing a song she specifically knows. I start practicing the song which my music teacher has taught me how to play, a little ditty from the seventies called ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’. It’s not long before I can play the chords and sing the tune at the same time.

I look up and see old Rawlins standing in the doorway, looking at me with great admiration.

“That actually sounds very good sir,” he says and his compliment spurs me on to practice even harder.