My name is Kathy. I'm 23 years old and I'm a pretty innocent girl. I mean, I dated a few boys and I had a couple of boyfriends, but I only slept with 3 guys so far. I never tried anything crazy.. sexually. Like I said: I'm an innocent girl.
That changed drastically one Wednesday about a month ago. It all started because my landlord was giving me a hard time. I'm studying arts, so I don't really have a lot of money. I do have a job on the side, but that's not making a lot of cash.
So I called my brother Pete. He's 33 and ever since our parents passed away, he was kind of looking out after me, always helping me out, slipping me fifty bucks here, a hundred bucks there, so I knew I could count on him. I don't know how he could afford it, he's just a police officer, but somehow, apparently, he could, because he was giving me money every time we saw each other. But when he answered the phone that day, he sounded stressed.
“Hey Kathy, what's up?”
“Hey. Not much. Listen, where are you at the moment?”
He's my brother, so I knew I didn't have to beat around the bush.
“Uhm.. I'm at the Blue Lagoon Motel.”
“Huh? What are you doing there?”
“I've got a room here.. actually. Look, Kathy, I'm pretty busy right now, what's up?”
I didn't really understand why my brother would get a room in such a cheap motel, but I had other problems to focus on.
“I have to pay the rent tomorrow and I'm 80 bucks short. Can you help me out again? I promise, I'll pay you back.”
“Yeah of course, sis, you know I...”
I cut him off.
“Thanks a lot. What's your room number? I'm coming over right now to...”
This time he cut me off.
“Look, Kathy, now is not a good time. Don't come over here. I'll come to your place tomorrow morning and bring you the money.”
“But I'm just 10 minutes away and..”
“Listen, I'm leaving here in thirty minutes, I'm sorry but I can't meet up with you at the moment, I'm getting you the money tomorrow. Don't worry. I'm sorry, but I gotta go. Bye.”
He hung up. I didn't even get a chance to respond. I looked at at my cell to check the time, then I looked at the stool in front of me. I grabbed my leather jacket, that was draped over the backrest of the stool. I was wearing a tight pair of dark blue jeans and a black tank top, so I was already dressed. I put on my leather jacket and took a quick look in the mirror. I was wearing my dark brown hair to a pony in the front and my slightly curled hair falling down over my shoulders. Ten seconds later, I was out the door.
I knew I could be at the motel in less than 15 minutes, which would give me enough time to catch up with Pete, maybe ask him what he was doing at the Blue Lagoon before he had to leave and that way he didn't have to come to my place the day after.
Eight and a half minutes later I was standing on the parking lot of the Blue Lagoon Motel. Of course I didn't know the room number, so I headed to the reception.
It was just a small office and everything looked pretty cheap. Behind the counter there was a boy, who looked like he was 16 years old. He was probably 18 or 19, but he looked like he had never grown a beard in his life.
“Oh. Hello. What... How... How can I help you?”
His voice was pretty shaky and he was stuttering right away. I don't consider myself “hot”, but it was nice that I obviously had an effect on him.
“Yeah. I'm looking for my brother. He has a room here.”
“Of course. What's your... uhm.. his name?”
“Pete Mitchell.”
The boy looked at me for 20 more seconds and smiled nervously. I didn't want to be rude, but I was thinking: “come, come, we don't have all day.”
Finally, he was looking down, checking a piece of paper in front of him. His finger was moving from the top to the bottom. I could see that there were only five names on the list anyway, but when he reached the bottom of the page, he started from the top again.
“I'm sorry, there's no Pete Mitchell. Are you sure you got the right Motel?”
“Yeah. I just talked to him.”
The young boy was looking to the left and looking to a door that was opened just an inch.
“Is he by himself?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“There's only one guy who rented a room here by himself. We have two couples and two old ladies. So... Room 20.”
“Oh. Thanks. That's very...”
He pointed to the parking lot.
“Up the white stairs...right there... the opposite house...”
I smiled at him and left the office.
As I was standing in front of room 20, I was trying to look through the window. I didn't really understand why the little boy didn't find Pete's name. Maybe he made a mistake. Anyway.. the curtains were closed so I couldn't look into the room. I hesitated for a moment, but then I knocked on the door.
A second later Pete opened the door. He looked surprised and he kind of looked like he was expecting somebody else.
“Kathy. What are you doing here? I told you don't come here. I told you I'll get you the money tomorrow.”
He closed the door behind us. The room was pretty small. There was a bed and a TV, but not much else. Everything looked really cheap.
“I didn't want you to go through any trouble tomorrow. And by the way: I could ask you the same thing... what are you doing here?”
Pete was looking quite different from the last time I saw him. He was wearing a cheap-looking white T-shirt and a pair of old jeans. He had a beard and it looked like he hadn't shaved since the last time I saw him a week before that.
Pete tried to explain himself: “Look I had to...”
All of a sudden there was a loud knock on the door. Pete froze. He looked at me, but he didn't say anything. He looked like he was trying to figure something out.
“Fuck.”
Another knock on the door.
Pete looked at the door, then he looked over to the small bathroom and then back at me.
“Fuck.”
“What is it?”
“Listen.. Don't say anything.. Don't do anything.. I'm...”
A third knock on the door.
Pete turned around and opened the door. A huge bald guy came into the room and Pete closed the door behind him. Pete and the huge guy shook hands.
“Do you have the money?”
“Yes.”
“And the coke?”
“Yes.”
I was confused. The money and the coke? It looked like that was all the guy cared about... at first. Then he turned to me.
“Who are you?”
I felt like I was struck by lightning. Right in front of me was this huge bald guy, with an ugly tattoo on his left shoulder, who was here because of “the money and the coke”. I couldn't answer. But after a couple of seconds, I said:
“I'm...”
But Pete cut me off.
“Nobody man, just some entertainment. Can we go now?”