Queen for a Day: Part 2

“I’ve grown?” She chuckles as she steps in for a hug, one that I happily give her. “Look at you, ya man mountain!”

“Yeah, but I was always big.” I say. “Annie! I can’t believe it’s you. How long has it been?”

“Couldn’t have been too much after your graduation.” She says. “After you guys fell out with Sammy.”

“Fell out?” I scoff. “Soon as he hit to college the dude dropped Bradley and I like a bad habit.”

“Well you knew he was an asshole when you hung with him.”

“Yeah, but he was OUR asshole.” I laugh. “How is your big brother, anyway?”

“Search me.” She shrugs. “Hey, come on. Sit by the kitchen and we can catch up.” Ann leads me back to the table nearest to the swinging door that lead through to the kitchen. After pouring me a coffee and a water she quickly checks on the other table before hurrying back to sit across from me.

I sit staring at her a moment, not quite believing she was real and marveling at her transformation. The last time I saw her she was a scrawny, awkward, pimply faced fifteen year old half the size of most of the rest of her class, closer to the little girl I stood up for in elementary that first meeting than the woman she was today. Though four years my junior she’d only been two grades behind me for most of our school years thanks to her VERY driven parents. I’d lost contact with her before she ‘blossomed’, and my goodness had she ever! To say she had matured into her looks would be an understatement. Gone were the pimples and braces and thick glasses and knobby knees replaced by a flawless complexion, perfect teeth, and a lithe physique that most women would die for. Her curves weren’t buxom but sleek and elegant. And her face! Gorgeous! I never would have guessed such beauty was hiding behind those braces, blotches and spectacles.

“Last I heard about you, valedictorian?” I say as I stir cream and sugar into my coffee. “Pretty impressive.”

“As if I had a choice.” She says. “You know my Mom and Dad. I had to beat Sammy’s GPA just to be on a level playing field.”

I knew of what she spoke of. Back in the day I’d been over to Sammy’s countless times and from early on I picked up on him being the ‘golden child’ of the pair. To put it bluntly, the guy was a spoiled brat.

“How are your folks?” I ask. “I saw your Mom a year or two back but she gave me the cold shoulder.”

“Ha! I’m not surprised. You and Bradley were Sammy’s ‘hoodlum friends’.”

“He was the troublemaker!”

“You know that. I know that. Sammy knows that. But Mom and Dad sure didn’t.” She says with a wistful chuckle. “As for how they’re doing. Well, your guess is as good as mine.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It isn’t.” She sighs. “Let’s just say my life choices up until now have been…less than ideal.” She looks down at her waitress outfit and lets out a humorless laugh. “Obviously.”

“I was surprised to see you working here.”

“Not fitting of a valedictorian?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“It’s cool, David.” She smiles and leans across to pat my hand. “Hey, what can I get you?”

“Oh.” I glance toward the unopened menu. “Burger and fries would be good. I’m good with the coffee.”

“On it. Just be a sec.” She gets up and hurries into the kitchen where I hear her give my order to the cook. “Give him extra fries. He’s an old friend of mine.”

I watch her zip by to check in with the other table again. As I do I marvel again at her transformation. She’d changed in more ways than just physically. Her family was a prideful one and she’d always been a brilliant student. Her working as a server at a freeway truck stop was about the last place I ever expected her to end up.

Returning the table she pours herself a half cuppa then sits back down. “Soooo…” Her eyes hover on my wedding band. “You’re married now.”

“Yep.” I slap my gut. “Fat, happy and hitched. Livin the dream.”

“Sounds great. Sarah was it?”

“Yeah.” I say, surprised she knew my wife’s name. “That’s right. Who have you been talkin to?”

“Bradley blew through here a couple weeks back.” She says, her long middle finger slowly tracing around the rim of her mug. “We were able to catch up a bit. He said I might see you around, though he doubted it.”

“Hm.”

“He said you guys fell out a few months ago.” She tilts her head oh so slightly. “It was something to do with your wife but he didn’t go into detail.”

While it didn’t mend fences it was good to hear that my old friend wasn’t blabbing about what happened back in November. The situation with Bradley was complicated. In a way he hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Back in November I had given my extremely sexually repressed wife total freedom along with my blessing to sow her wild oats for one calendar month. And boy did she! Of her many adventures during that life changing month one of the wildest was her putting herself into bondage on our bed at a time that she knew Bradley was due to stop by. When he showed up and saw the box of condoms she’d specifically left for him he quickly put two and two together and took his turn with her. I could have stopped things before it had gotten that far but in the zealous grip of my fetish I dithered until the deed had already been done. After that things between Bradley and I weren’t the same. He knew he’d cucked me and he knew that I knew. He never said anything too bad or too crude, which was kind of a miracle for a rough talking guy like him, but the little quips and looks proved to be too much for me. Our friendship just couldn’t work with him thinking he was superior to me.

Though Sarah enjoyed the extreme kinkiness of their tryst and the feel of his fat, bent cock in the moment it was one of our few regrets about that wild November, and definitely the biggest. It educated us on the fact that this lifestyle we were dabbling with had ramifications. Despite the consequences we still had some fun with it as the infamous ‘November 22nd’ had become something of a running joke between Sarah and I about how wild she could really get when she wanted to.

“It was just male ego shit.” I say. “Sarah was just the spark.”

“Well it’s too bad.” She says. “You guys always made me laugh.”

As she says this long ignored memories bubble to the surface and the sound of her snorty giggles coming from the doorway of Sammy’s living room echo in my mind. She used to hide and watch the three of us playing video games or hanging out. She rarely joined us, Sammy wouldn’t let her, and she was really quiet even when she did. But when we were there she was our little shadow. Ann and I were never what you’d call friends, more like friendly acquaintances, though after the circumstances of our first meeting she was always under my protection until the day I graduated.

We chat about frivolities and folks we used to know for a few minutes until the ding of my order being ready draws her away. She returns quickly with my burger and mountain of fries then scuttles off to settle the bill with the other table. By the time she returned we were the only ones left in these wee hours.

“Everything good?” She asks, taking her seat.

“Great.” I swallow. “Just what I wanted.”

“Big man, big appetite.” She chuckles.

“Yeah.” I say, my voice a bit grim now. While there was absolutely nothing wrong with waiting tables it did sadden my heart a little to see someone who’d had such a bright future end up here. I couldn’t help but think of that hooker I saw back at the last station. Isolated from her family as she was, was such a path possible for Annie? “So, if you don’t mind me askin, you’ve had a rough go of it it sounds like?”

She stares at me a few seconds with those dark bottomless eyes before letting out a long breath, her slender shoulders sagging. “You could say that. All of it self-inflicted.”

“Damn.” I say.

“I dunno what happened.” She says. “After graduation I just… let loose. I just couldn’t live up to my parent’s expectations. And once I decided I didn’t care anymore, well…I REALLY didn’t care anymore.” She leans back in her chair with her gaze focused on the wall above me as she looked back over her life. “Dropped out of Uni. Booze. Parties. Shoplifting. Worse. I’ve done a stint.”

“Prison? You!? No way.”

“Grand theft auto.” She says. “Among a string of other theft charges. I had some sticky fingers. Always did, even when I was little, but I got reckless with it. I saw something I wanted and I nabbed it. It’s not so cute when you’re older and it’s not just candy bars you're snatching.”

“Woah.”

“Yeah. Believe it or not. I wasn’t the sweet innocent girl you thought I was. Those bullies you used to beat up sometimes had good reason to be angry.” Her eyes slowly come down to meet mine. “But I’ve grown. I’ve changed. I’ve learned to make it on my own. Though heaven knows I could have used my old guardian angel a time or two.”

I offer my hand and after a hesitation she takes it. Wrapping my big mitt around her slim hand I lean in. “I am sorry to hear it, Annie. But I’m glad you learned something from it all.”

“Yeah, well, life happens.” She says. “All you can do is pick yourself up and try again, right?”

“That’s right, Annie. You can’t give up.”

“You haven’t changed.” She says. “You’re still that nice guy you always were.”

“I try.” I grin.

“That’s good. This job is me not giving up.” She looks around the diner. “Picking myself up again. A fresh start. A few months in the joint was just the wake-up call I needed. It may have been the best thing to happen to me. I’m taking some classes at the community college and I’ve got another part-time thing at the school. I’m staying too busy to get into trouble now.” She lets go of my hand and pats it. “But listen to me drone on about myself. So you’re driving. You’re married. No kids yet I hear.”

“We’re working on it.” I say. “And yeah, driving nights. Weekends with Sarah. Paying off the house. Life is pretty damn good right now.”

“I’m happy for you, David.” She says softly. “It sounds like a dream.”

Part 3