Good Friends

"Elliot is probably the nicest guy I've ever met," said Sally, as she walked through the plant with Kathy. This was part 2 of Mark's plan. They walked back to the office the long way.

"He sure is quiet, though," said Kathy. "But you're right he is nice and he's cute too."

"He thinks the same thing about you," said Sally.

"I don't see that at all," said Kathy. "He never said a word to me the whole time. He spoke to you and of course he spoke to this friend."

"Honey, Elliot didn't speak to me for nearly a year. He's probably the shyest guy you'll ever meet. If it did turn out that you liked him, I'm warning you, you'll have to do a lot of the work. But you'd never have to worry about the things that happened to you in Philadelphia, happening with him," said Sally. She stopped walking because they were right behind Elliot's office.

"Damn that Sally is hot," said Mark to Elliot. Sally who was around the corner with Kathy stuck her finger over her lip for silence as they listened to the men's conversation.

"I don't think there's another woman in this plant who's as hot as Sally," said Mark. "It's a damned shamed she's married." Mark was talking loudly and Elliot, still floating on his Kathy cloud hadn't said a word.

"Do you agree with me El?" asked Mark.

"Well, not really," said Elliot.

"What?" asked Mark in mock surprise. "Who is there around here that's more attractive."

"Mark, we're friends right?" asked Elliot.

"Best friends," said Mark. "Like Fred and Barney."

"So you won't tell anyone I said this, right?" asked Elliot.

"Never in this life," said Mark, knowing that Sally and Kathy were right around the corner listening. At least he hoped they were.

"Well," said Elliot. "Sally is nice. But she can't hold a candle to Kathy. I think that Kathy is probably the most beautiful woman in the entire world. She's prettier than anyone on TV or in the movies. Her hair, her body, and those incredible eyes, she's perfect. Even her voice. When she talks it's like an angel singing."

"Elliot!" said Mark. "Why didn't you tell her any of that or say anything to her at lunch?"

"Why the hell would someone like that ever want to talk to me?" asked Elliot. Mark just laughed.

"See ya later El, Are we bowling tonight?" asked Mark.

"Of course, wouldn't miss it," said Elliot.

Around the corner, it was all that Sally could do to keep Kathy from running around the corner and talking to Elliot.

"Where are you going dummy?" she said. "We can't let him know that you eavesdropped on his conversation. That's just rude."

"So!" snapped Kathy. "I don't see a problem. He likes me. I like him. I guess I should have been more honest with you Sally. Ever since he helped me out last night when I was stranded, I've known that I wanted to get to know Elliot. I didn't know his name or anything until lunch today. But I knew where he works and I even went there this morning to try to talk to him."

"But..." began Sally. She was worried this whole thing was getting away from her. If Kathy came on too strong, Elliot would bolt.

"Look Kathy, in relationships, men have a lot of the advantages. Just this once you've got some advanced knowledge that we got through pure luck. You know already how he feels about you and what kind of guy he is. But I don't think you should push too hard. Elliot is really shy, if you come on too strong, you'll lose him."

Kathy nodded. As they'd sat across from each other at lunch, she'd taken a serious look at Elliot Carson. He was really handsome but didn't seem to know it. She could tell that if he'd give her a chance that they could be very good together, but he hadn't so much as looked at her. In fact she'd come away from the lunch with the distinct impression that he didn't like her. But now that she'd heard what he really thought of her, it was like her heart just opened up. She wanted to talk to him so badly it hurt, but Sally was right about most of the things that she'd said.

Kathy simply wasn't what she appeared to be. She looked as if she was a demure and gentle, lady-like person. Once you got past the surface though, Kathy was a bulldog. Once she got something in her head, you almost had to kill her to get it loose.

Kathy had reviewed her conversation with Sally. She had to admit that Sally was probably right about how shy Elliot was. Kathy thought back about her past. She'd only been in love once before. She'd had fallen head over heels for a man who turned out to be totally wrong for her.

To be truthful, her friends and family had warned her from the beginning that he was trouble, but the bulldog in her wouldn't let go.

Kathy had met James at a revival meeting of all places. Her family had always been actively involved in the church, so every summer, any and all revivals that were held in or near her town were on the schedule. Her father and mother both believed that hearing "the word," delivered by different men of God, heightened the flavor of God's message for man.

Going to the revivals gave them a chance to hear many different ministers and socialize with other people who shared their beliefs. They had even changed churches once or twice after hearing a charismatic orator with a different approach or a friendlier manner.

At one of these meetings, Kathy had met James Henderson. He was a young pastor and as mentioned, Kathy fell head over heels in love with him. He didn't have a church of his own, but he helped out as the assistant pastor at a church that wasn't very far from her home.

Kathy switched churches immediately. Her parents objected at first, but then decided that it was more important that she go to church period, than which church she attended.

Seeing James at church soon led to seeing James after church. Before Kathy knew it she was dating the charismatic young man and the rumors started.

It soon turned out that the rumors were true. James was already married and had children with his wife. Kathy's parents forbade her to see him. But it was like putting out a fire with gasoline. James told Kathy a tragic tale about having to marry a woman he didn't love because it was the right thing to do, since she was carrying his child. He swore to her that he was in the process of getting a divorce and would soon be free to be with her.

He even got her an apartment so they could be together. Kathy soon found out that James, besides being a liar, was a heavy drinker. He was also violent when he got drunk. He often took his anger out on her but was very apologetic when he sobered up. He explained to her that his violent outbursts were only because he was so emotional, especially about her. He also told her that since she was always with him, it was only natural that she'd experience them with him. It was all part of the sharing process that lovers went through. If she wanted to take the good, she had to also take the bad.

As James explained it to her, that was what was meant by, "for better or for worse."

To Kathy, it seemed like James was hinting that he wanted to marry her. Actually James had come up with his "take the good and take the bad," line after watching an old episode of, "The facts of life."

Kathy had been a virgin when they got together even though she was 22 when they met. Kathy's family had placed a high importance on going to her marriage bed a virgin, so all through college she'd held onto to her innocence only to lose it to a man who turned out not to be worthy of the gift she gave him.

After a few months, news that the young minister was carrying on an affair somehow got out. The pastor of his church demanded that he cease the affair at once. James lied and said that he'd already done so. He attributed the affair to his youthful inexperience at dealing with the adulation that some women have for young ministers. Kathy was painted as a church groupie who had seduced the poor young man.

James assured the minister and the deacons that he had nothing to do with her any longer and tried to stay away from her. Kathy was told that she was no longer welcome at the church.

James, of course, told Kathy a completely different story to keep her around. Kathy found herself isolated from both her friends and family. James became the only person in her life.

James, on the other hand, began to blame Kathy for his failure to advance further in the church hierarchy. It got to the point where he had his family, that he doted on in public, playing the dutiful husband and father and then in private he had Kathy as his own private whore. He never took her out in public and only went to visit her after dark.

He also took out all of his frustrations on her by often using her as a punching bag when he got drunk. Then tragedy struck when Kathy discovered that she was pregnant. There was no way that he could sweep this under the rug any further. Kathy decided that it was time he either got the divorce he'd been promising her or let her go.

She told him about the baby and he told her that he needed to pray on it, to decide what to do. When she didn't hear from him for over two weeks, Kathy took matters into her own hands. She went to see him at the church. Though she wasn't allowed in, she did get to see James with his wife and children. His wife was nowhere near the monster he'd always claimed. She saw him hug and kiss his wife with a tenderness he'd never displayed towards her and her heart broke. She realized that she'd been fooled all along. Her parents and friends had been right the whole time.

It got worse. That night after church was over James was dismissed from the church. He left the church in a rage and got drunker than he'd ever been. He came to Kathy's apartment and though he had a key, kicked the door in. Then he turned his fury on the pregnant young woman. He left her bloody and unconscious on the floor of the apartment. Only the intervention of a nosy neighbor who called the police had saved her.

It was touch and go, but Kathy survived, her baby didn't. James was sent to prison for murdering his own child and for assault and battery with intent to do great bodily harm against Kathy. She got out of the hospital after a lengthy stay, to find that her family had paid her medical expenses but wanted nothing to do with her. Her grandmother gave Kathy enough money to start her life fresh somewhere else.

To say that life had been unfair to her, was an understatement. No one seemed to care that Kathy had been an innocent young woman who was taken advantage of and abused by a charismatic man in the church. People only saw the whore who brought down a young man of God in the beginning of his career. When they remembered the fire with which he spoke, they thought only of the awesome potential that he'd thrown away to spend time between the thighs of a Jezebel.

The blot against Kathy's entire family was serious as well. They thought they had no other choice but to disassociate themselves with her. So Kathy took the money her grandmother had offered and moved away.

During her whole life, no one had ever though that Kathy was anything special. Even James had never complimented her unless he was trying to get between her legs. But now she'd found someone who thought that she was beautiful and special. Perhaps her luck had changed and things would go her way for once. She smiled and thought that maybe running out of gas had been luck in disguise.

As she typed away that afternoon, Kathy found herself making more mistakes than usual. She had trouble focusing on what she was doing.

Finally the clock was merciful and moved to quitting time. As Kathy got ready to leave, the thought of going back to her small apartment alone again weighed heavily on her. She punched her card and walked to her car in the parking lot. She walked past her car and over to Elliot's Red Mustang. She put her purse on the hood and sat down and waited. She'd been reading a terrible paperback novel and she pulled it out of her purse and began to read it.

Finally about a half hour after she'd left the building, Elliot came out of the building and started for his car. She saw the mixture of emotions on his face as he saw her. She thought at first that he was going to run back inside the building. But he realized that she'd seen him. She got down off of his car and waited for him to get there.

"Hi Elliot," she said smiling. "I never got a chance to thank you for helping me the other night."

"Uhm, you're welcome," he said, looking down.

"Elliot, I enjoyed having lunch with you today," she smiled again. She noticed that he didn't answer. She thought that maybe he didn't know what to say, so she decided to just go for it.

"Elliot, forgive me if I'm being too forward," she said. "But I get the feeling that you're really shy, so I'm going to have to do this myself. I've been working at this plant for almost three weeks now. I've been hit on a few times and even asked out three times but I've only met one man I wanted to get to know." She noticed his face sadden as she said it.

"Do you need me to introduce you to someone?" he asked.

"Yeah, I need you to introduce me to that Elliot guy," she smirked.

"Me?" he said excitedly. The pure excitement in his voice, was contagious and Kathy found herself wanting more of what he was making her feel. She'd been worried about what she was doing but everything about it just felt right, Fuck Sally.

"Yeah you..." she said taking a step closer to him. "...Unless, there's already a woman in your life."

"Nope there's no one," he said. "Well there was once. But that was a long time ago. We met in school and..."

Kathy just smiled as he gushed. For some reason he was trying to tell her his whole life story in one sentence. "Elliot, we have plenty of time, to get to know each other and I want to hear it all, but you have to slow down. And maybe this isn't the time or the place," she laughed.

Elliot frowned. "Sorry," he said. "I was just..."

"Elliot, you have nothing to be sorry about," she smiled. "You're just excited and whether you know it or not, that makes me feel really good. Can we...?"

Before Kathy could finish her sentence Sally and Mark showed up looking worried. Sally looked at Elliot and then back at Kathy. She wondered if Kathy had already pushed Elliot too far and fucked things up. She elbowed Mark who started talking.

"So what are the two of you doing?" asked Mark.

"Just talking," said Elliot. He looked as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't.

"Maybe later this week we could all get together and do something?" said Sally.

"Yeah, MAYBE?" said Kathy. "Elliot and I were just about to go and do something NOW, weren't we?"

Elliot nodded and smiled. "But El, what about the bowling league?" asked Mark.

"Well..." said Elliot. He was torn between his duty to his friends and Kathy. Just before Kathy won the conflict in his mind, she spoke up.

"How about if I come and watch you," she said. "I'd love to see you compete. Maybe we could get something to eat after that?"

"That would be perfect," said Elliot.

"Kathy, why don't I follow you to your apartment? We can drop off your car there? You and I can drive to the bowling alley together. I'd like to see this too," said Sally.

"I'll go over with Elliot," said Kathy. "I love his car. Besides shouldn't you go home first or at least call your HUSBAND?"

Sally was suddenly afraid for Elliot. Kathy was setting her claws into him and she didn't seem like she'd let up. Sally would have to have a talk with the woman tomorrow. But for now, Elliot was on his own.

Elliot bowled well, but not as well as he usually did. He was in luck though, because his team still won. Elliot didn't care. He barely remembered the games. He was so busy concentrating on Kathy. He didn't even sit with his teammates. He started out sitting next to Mark but as he saw Kathy sitting near Sally in the spectator's area he gravitated there and finally ended up sitting with her. After the third time that he had to be called to take his turn, both his team mates and the members of the opposing team, who all knew Elliot, voted to let Kathy sit in the area around the lanes.

Elliot spent the rest of the evening staring into Kathy's eyes and talking to her. When Sally finally left, she knew she'd created a monster. She'd either made Elliot the happiest man in the world or the most miserable. Only time would tell.

At about 9:30 Elliot and Kathy left the bowling alley. Elliot carried his bowling bag in one hand and his other hand held Kathy's hand. He was deliriously happy.

"Would you still like to go and get something to eat?" asked Elliot. "I know you have to be up to get to work tomorrow."

Kathy just smiled at him. Earlier in the evening she'd been trying to get to know Elliot. She'd already been burned once and she was very cautious. But as she looked into Elliot's eyes, she knew that he wasn't anything like James had been. She got the feeling that this man would die before he ever hurt her. And his interest in her wasn't fueled by lust. She'd gotten used to that too. She could tell when James was just telling her what she wanted to hear because he wanted to fuck her. She didn't sense that from Elliot at all. She got the idea that he just genuinely wanted to spend time with her, and it was contagious. She was tired of being alone.

"I'm starving," she said.

"Where would you like to go?" he asked.

"Elliot, I'm the one who's new here," she said. "Surprise me. Take me to an Elliot place."

He smiled and walked her back to his car. They went to a Deli that wasn't very far from the plant. They ordered sandwiches that even Kathy had to admit looked great. She expected him to hustle her to a seat in the back of the crowded restaurant but he surprised her by leaving. He took her instead to a hill that over looked the lake. They sat on soft grass and ate their food and laughed and looked up at the sky. They talked for what seemed like only a few minutes. Kathy was shocked when she looked at her watch and discovered that it was after midnight.

"I'm sorry," said Elliot. "The time just got away from me. I was having such a good time that I didn't think. I'll take you back to your car, now."

"Elliot, what are you sorry about?" asked Kathy. "I'm a grown woman and I do have a watch on. I was having a great time too. This is the best first date I've ever had."

"This was a date?" asked Elliot.

"What did you think it was?" asked Kathy. "Elliot, before you take me back, we have to clear something up. First, I had a great time tonight. I loved every second of it. I like you, a lot. I really hope that you like me even half as much. I'd really like it if we did this again. I know that you're very shy, but you are the man here. If you want us to do this again, you're going to have to cowboy up and ask me. I can pretty much promise you that I'll probably say yes, but you're still going to have to ask me."

The next day was fraught with near disaster for the fledgling romance. First, Sally had a long talk with Kathy about her intentions toward Elliot. She was worried that Kathy might not be the right woman for Elliot after all.

"If I'd know you were such a shark, I never would have introduced you to him," said Sally. "He's a really nice guy and I don't want to see him hurt."

"Sally, I have no intention of hurting Elliot," said Kathy. "I like him just as much as you do, probably more. After last night, I hope that he and I are permanent."

Sally was smiling from ear to ear and nodding her head. "Good luck," she said.

After that had passed, an even worse debacle occurred. Elliot had been thinking about Kathy all day. Just before lunch he'd worked up the courage to go and ask her to lunch. He walked into the office she shared with the other women and his heart nearly came up his throat. One of the salesmen who worked with Mark was sitting on the edge of Kathy's desk, leaning over her. He was one of those smooth talking guys, who like Mark had been through a number of the secretaries.