10 Nights (30 page)

“I know it was stupid
of me to let it happen, Janie, but I’m determined to see these nights through,
no matter what.” Was she a fool for being willing to do whatever was asked of
her just so she could have some memories that didn’t involve her being boring
and prudish? Biting her lip hard she found herself questioning her own
decision.

“Look, honey, I’ve
already told you what I think, but this is your choice, and you’re the one
who’s going to have to deal with the consequences when it’s over. The only
thing I’m concerned with is whether you will be able to walk away at the end of
it.”

“I have to. If I don’t
walk away I think I’m going to become a person I don’t like very much.” She
wasn’t prepared to get into how Janie felt about what she was doing; she had
already heard her friend’s opinion.

“That doesn’t answer
the question, honey. It’s great that you know you have to leave, but will you
be able to?” Knowing something was bad for you didn’t mean you were willing, or
able, to stop the addiction.

“I will,” Leah said
determinedly. “It’s not a matter of if for me.” She felt tears filling her eyes
as she said it.

“You have no idea how
sorry I am for introducing you to him.” Janie hated seeing her friend in pain,
all the more so because she knew it was her fault, without her Leah would never
have met Rhett.

“Don’t say that, Janie.
No matter how this ends I’m glad I got to experience it.” She realized she
meant it, and the realization made her heart feel a little lighter, Even if she
couldn’t stick with the lifestyle, at least because of her experience with it
she knew what it meant to love, and more importantly, what it meant to feel
passion.

“Alright, you’re a
grown woman, Leah, and you know I’m here for you, no matter what you do,” Janie
said, giving her best friend a hug. “Just remember that I love you, okay, and
well, damn it, that’s it, I just love you.” She grinned and sat back.

“I love you too, Janie,
and you know what?”

“What’s that, honey?”
She waited for the answer expectantly.

“Who needs a man when I
have the best friend in the entire world?” They both laughed at her comment.

“Unless you plan on
becoming my sex slave, I think I might still need one.” Janie waggled her
eyebrows in an effort to make her friend laugh.

“Pfft, you might become
mine.” Leak stuck out her tongue childishly, enjoying being able to laugh about
things.

When David returned he
was pleased to see the two friends laughing and joking. “Okay ladies, where are
we setting up this feast?” he asked, setting down a bag full of boxes of
Chinese food and drinks.

“I’ll grab a blanket;
we can have an indoor picnic.” Janie grinned at the idea and hopped up to go
and dig one out from a box. She returned soon enough, and with David’s help
spread the blanket out on the floor.

Once the blanket was
sorted they all sat around it and David began handing around the little white
boxes and their drinks. For a while they ate in a companionable silence until
finally he spoke. “Listen, Leah, I just want you to know that I don’t think any
differently about you after yesterday. You are Janie’s best friend, and I think
you’re a great person, so I really hope you can get over any embarrassment
around me.”

It was hard not to take
his comment as genuine when she saw the loving way Janie looked at him. “I’m
going to try my best to just forget you were there, and maybe you could do the
same.”

“Did I see you
somewhere yesterday? You’ll have to refresh my memory, I don’t remember?”
Grinning he was pleased to see her smile back. He planned on spending a lot of
time with Janie, which meant getting on with her friend was important.

“Thanks, David; sorry I
was being such a prude.” She felt a little silly for getting so worked up over
the situation when it was clear he wasn’t bothered by it in the slightest.

“Don’t worry about it.
I’ve been living this lifestyle for so long that sometimes I wonder if anything
really bothers me anymore.” He gave a quick smile and then maneuvered another
mouthful of sweet and sour chicken into his mouth with his chopsticks.

“Well good, it’s
settled then.” Janie smiled. “I want my two favorite people in the world to be
best friends.”

“I’ll just think of you
as my baby sister, Leah, since I don’t have one.” David winked at Janie. He was
falling in love with her, he knew it, and was prepared to do anything to make
her happy; fortunately being friends with her best friend was a simple thing
and he had no problem with it.

“So if Rhett gives me
any trouble tonight I should call you for help?” Giving a little grin Leah
wondered how that would work out.

“Given he’s my business
partner, I think it might be best if you call Janie should you have any trouble
tonight, little sister. Of course, the chances are Janie would be of more use
to you than I would be anyway,” he said with a chuckle.

They all had a good
laugh over his answer and the rest of the lunch was much more comfortable for
Leah. It definitely relieved her mind that he didn’t think any the less of her
after what had happened. She’d known Janie would love her no matter what, but
it made her feel better that things were okay between her and David as well,
especially with the end of things fast approaching.

Once lunch was over
David left to return to the office, having done his good deed for the day, as
he described it.

Janie and Leah pottered
around for a while, exploring their new home and deciding where their things
would go, as well as listing the furniture they needed to get. When they had done
that they went out.

Their first stop was
the dorm administration offices; since they had no desire to spend another
night in their dorm rooms they returned their keys and signed out, officially
ending their time on the campus. After that they moved on to furniture
shopping.

Furniture shopping was
not something Leah had ever done before; neither had Janie for that matter, but
as always Janie had no problem with a new experience and confidently led the
way through the doors into their first furniture store.

A smile from Janie, and
a casual mention that anything they bought would be paid for on her daddy’s
credit card, secured them the enthusiastic assistance of a salesman. Like a
puppy he followed them around the store, keeping on their heels the entire way.
Whenever they stopped, he stopped, and when Janie asked him a question about
something he barked; at least that was what Leah thought in amusement.

In no time at all they
had purchased a beige butter soft leather three piece suite, a pair of double
beds, wardrobes, chests of drawer and numerous other items. Leah couldn’t
believe how much her friend was buying, or the size of the bill she was racking
up to go on our father’s credit card, but Janie just laughed off her concerns,
saying they needed all of it.

After what seemed like
hours, at least to Leah, Janie finally declared that they had the bare
essentials necessary to make the condo livable. Leah was surprised when her
friend blithely assured the salesman who had spent the afternoon following them
around that they would be back, once they had settled all their newly acquired
furniture in place and knew just what they were missing to make the condo a
home. As far as Leah was concerned they had all the furniture they could need,
and more.

When the final bill was
tallied up Leah was shocked, she couldn’t believe how casually her friend had
spent more than five thousand dollars on her father’s credit card. She insisted
on paying for her share of the bill, since a third of the furniture was for her
bedroom, and she had the money Rhett had put into her bank account. Janie
declined though, asserting that since her father was all but forcing her to
take the condo, he could pay for it to be furnished, and he could definitely
afford to do so.

With everything paid
for, and delivery arranged for the following day, the earliest the store could
get it to them, Leah and Janie left. Leah thought they were going to head home,
since they had bought the furniture they went out for, but as was often the
case when she went anywhere with her friend, what she thought was completely
wrong.

From the furniture
store Janie dragged her friend into an electronics emporium, insisting that it
was all well and good for them to have beds to sleep in, and stuff to sit on,
but without entertainment they would be bored out of their minds.

The technique Janie had
employed in the previous store worked just as well there and they soon had a
salesman following them around, giving them advice on the best things to spend
their money on.

Leah’s shock at the
money her friend spent in the previous store was eclipsed by the size of the
bill in the electronics emporium.

Three televisions, one
huge 3D one for the living room, with a top of the line sound system, and two
smaller ones for the bedrooms, Blu-ray players, stereos, a microwave, and a
fridge-freezer all combined to run up a bill that was almost double what the
furniture had cost.

Janie tried to buy her
friend a new laptop, to replace the tired one she was stuck with, but that was
where Leah drew the line. Though she couldn’t stop her friend buying the rest
of what she picked out, Leah did refuse to let her pay for the laptop, instead
she paid for it out of the money Rhett had given her, accepting that it was a
good idea to get one just then while she had the opportunity.

Janie paid the bill
without giving the final total a second glance, and then arranged for
everything to be delivered the next day. As she pointed out to Leah on their
way out, Leah had the box containing her new laptop tucked under her arm, there
was no point worrying about the stuff they’d bought until the next day since
neither of them was planning on spending the night at the condo.

She was going to be
spending the night with David, while Leah was going to be at Rhett’s.

Arriving home Leah
immediately opened the box and took out the laptop she’d bought. It was the
first new laptop she’d ever owned, never having had the money to buy new
before, and her fingers itched to try it out. Trying out the display model was
one thing, but it wasn’t the same as turning on her own and really trying it
out without the limitations the store imposed on what a person could do.

“Hey, hon,” Janie had
to try several times to get her friend’s attention, “shouldn’t you be getting
ready if you’re going to Rhett’s tonight?” she asked after a little over an
hour, during which time her friend had been glued to her new laptop, checking
out the installed programs and surfing the net on the superfast broadband that
was available in the condo.

“Oh crap!” Leah
exclaimed when she saw the time. “You’re right, dammit.” Hurriedly shutting
down the laptop she got to her feet and put the computer on the breakfast bar
in the kitchen, the only place she could think of that would keep it off the
floor for the time being.

Dragging the boxes
marked as having clothing into her bedroom Leah began hunting for something to
wear. Once again she had no idea what Rhett had planned for them; nonetheless she
wanted to look her best, whatever was going to happen.

“Oh bother!” Leah’s cry
brought Janie to the door of her friend’s bedroom. “What’s the matter?” she
asked.

“Huh?” Leah looked
round from where she was rooting through a box, surprised to see her friend.

“I asked what’s the matter,”
Jane said. “I heard you ‘oh bothering’ from my room. And what’s with the mess?”
She looked around at the clothes Leah had dug out of the box and discarded on
the floor.

“They’re all wrinkled,”
Leah told her, waving an arm at the clothes surrounding her.

“That’s no surprise if
you’re just throwing them on the floor. You can’t treat clothes like that and
expect them to stay neat.”

Leah scowled at her
friend. “They were wrinkled before I took them out of the box.”

“But I thought you went
to such pains to ensure everything was packed neatly. That’s why it took us
nearly four hours to sort out your room.”

“I did, but they’re
still wrinkled!” Leah wailed in despair. “I can’t go to Rhett’s in a wrinkled
dress, he won’t like that.”

Janie chose not to
comment on that, instead she gave the only advice she had. “Just pick the least
wrinkled outfit you have. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

After going through the
entire box Leah was reluctantly forced to go with Janie’s advice, unfortunately
the least wrinkled halfway decent outfit she could find was a white cotton
sports dress with a red pattern. It was a long way from the stylish outfits
Rhett had bought her, and he clearly preferred, but at least she wouldn’t feel
like a rumpled mess wearing it.

Hanging the dress on
the back of the door to her en-suite bathroom Leah got herself ready. She
showered quickly, and then did her hair and applied makeup, deciding to go with
a simple ponytail and only a trace of makeup, to avoid looking out of place
with her dress.

The underwear she
pulled on was sexy, but by the time she had finished with her makeup and had
pulled on her dress Leah felt she looked anything but. The white Converse she
pulled out a box matched her dress well, but did little to lift her appearance
beyond the realms of cute.