Sometimes Dreams Come True

"Let me ask you this, Rick," he smiled, "Who lives your life, you or your Sensei?"

"I live my own life, sir," I clearly let him know, my blood pressure beginning to rise, "But that has nothing to do with this."

"Relax," he said, "Nobody's gonna hurt you here, kid. I was just making you an offer, and if you can't do it, then I respect that. But I would like you to give it some serious thought though."

By this time I was thoroughly pissed off, but as opposed to showing my hand right then, I kept an ace in the hole when I simply rose from my seat, firmly holding onto Kate, and then we made a polite exit, with a promise from Spicolli that we would be hearing from him soon..."

~~~~~~

"I don't know, Rick," Kate warily said, as we drove beck to the dorm, "I've got a bad feeling about that guy. What's his name, Frank Spicolli?"

"Yeah, that was it," I told her, "And I've got a bad feeling about him, too..."

~~~~~~

As Kate and I drove back to the dorms, I had a sneaking suspicion that we had just spoken with the man who was responsible for the murder of Eddie Ross. Granted, Eddie might've been a jerk and all, but no matter who, or how he was, he most certainly didn't deserve to die the way he did.

I didn't want to alarm anyone either, but I knew that I had to speak to Sandy, Kate's Mom, at the first given opportunity. The reason behind wanting to see her was because of the fact that she was an attorney; and I was more than certain that she would be able to obtain the information that I wanted to know.

~~~~~~

THE NEXT MORNING

SUNDAY 8:30 AM

"Hi, my sweeties," Sandy tenderly smiled, getting up and hugging us both the minute we walked into the kitchen, "I hope you two are hungry this morning, because I fixed something really special for breakfast."

"Let me take a guess," I grinned, sniffing the air, "It smells like you've been cooking French toast in here; am I right?"

"Gorgeous and smart," Sandy giggled, kissing my cheek, "Now you really need to hang on to him, Katie-girl."

"Come on, Mom," Katie irately replied, "If I've asked you once, I've asked you a hundred damn times to please stop calling me Katie-Girl...okay?"

"You listen to me, and you listen well, young lady," Roger suddenly replied, in a rather heated tome of voice, "You're my daughter, and I love you like there's no tomorrow, but you will not talk to your mother like that again. Do you understand me?"

"I'm not a little girl anymore," Katie curtly replied, and then with tears beginning to run down her face, she ran down the hall to her room, slamming the door behind her; and leaving me standing there with the proverbial egg on my face.

"Uh, excuse me," I began, "What should I..."

"You sit down here and eat," Sandy sweetly interrupted me, taking me by the hand, "Come on, Rick, honey. Katie's showing her ass at the moment, but she'll get over it soon enough. She never stays angry for too long.....so; please sit down and eat baby."

~~~~~~

Sandy, Roger and I were sitting at the table, and I had just begun to eat, when suddenly I felt a pair of soft arms gently snaking their way around my neck; as I heard Kate tell me, "I'm sorry for being such a bitch in front of you, Rick, sweetie."

"Don't worry about it, my love," I good naturedly smiled, leaning over and kissing her lips, as she took the seat next to me at the table, "If we're going to be married, I may as well start getting used to it, huh?"

Roger had been drinking from his coffee cup and I thought for a moment that he'd burned his lip on the hot coffee from the way he began to suddenly act. However, he was merely laughing at what I'd told Kate, who, while also grinning at what I'd just said to her, also looked at her father and wryly told him, "I hope you burned your lips, smart ass."

"Lighten up, baby girl," Sandy giggled, "You have to admit...that was funny as hell. Way to go, Rick; you're already learning how to handle our Katie."

"Yeah, yeah," Kate playfully rebutted, "He knows what side of the bread that the butter is on, where our relationship is concerned...isn't that right, Rick?"

"Don't get me in on this," I grinned, "This is between you and your Mom; and I learned a long time ago to never step into the middle of an argument between two women...especially a mother and her daughter."

"Good for you, Rick," Roger laughed, then looking at Sandy, he said, "See, I knew he was a smart guy."

"Uh, huh," Kate clucked, "Sometimes I think he's a little too smart...especially when it comes to certain things..."

~~~~~~

That afternoon, Kate and I were in my dorm room studying when my telephone rang.

"Hello," I replied into the receiver, "This is Rick."

"Rick, it's Mike," he groaned, "I'm at the East Towne Mall...there's trouble and I need your help."

After finding out where he was, and that he'd gone into a record store for safety's sake, I told him, "I want you to stay right where you are...I'll be there in a few minutes," and then I was up and gone, while Kate stayed there to keep Sara, who was more than likely worried to death, company.

~~~~~~

I walked into the mall a ways from where Mike was in order to assess what kind, as well as if there was any danger. When I arrived at the record store, I saw three very big guys, jocks, the three of them also football players from my college, standing at the entrance to the record store, waiting for Mike to come out.

"HEY," I shouted at them, making them turn their heads in my direction, "Does it make you feel like bad asses, ganging up on someone smaller than you?"

"Mind your own business, asshole," the biggest one of them growled, "This doesn't concern you."

"But that's my room mate you guys are messing with," I politely warned them, "And I'm trying to be as nice as I can be about this when I tell you to back off, or suffer the consequences."

"Consequences," the same guy laughed, "What consequences?"

"The consequences of getting your ass beaten because of your own stupidity," I smiled, "I'm not asking, I'm telling the three of you to let Mike come out of the record store and we'll be on our way, no muss, no fuss. Otherwise, you're going to be sorry."

"Bullshit," he spat, and tried to rush me. I simply side stepped him, introducing his nose to the right side of my left foot as he passed me by, stopping him dead in his tracks; where he fell back on his ass, holding his nose and whining like the punk he was.

"Fuck you, asshole," one of the others hatefully said, "Why don't you stand toe-to-toe with me, dickhead? I'll fuck you up."

"No problem," I laughed, squaring off with him, "It's your funeral, dickless," and the moment he was within reach, I made certain that he hit the floor, out cold, after having been a not so willing recipient of an extremely hard, spinning wheel kick to the right side of his jaw, which guaranteed that he would have a great big black eye the next day.

"What about you?" I asked the guy that was still remaining, "Do you feel like being stupid?"

Instead, he turned and walked away, leaving his cohorts in the floor to fend for themselves once they woke up, and were alert.

~~~~~~

Chapter Nine

"You wanna tell me what the hell happened back there?" I asked, Mike, once we were in my car, headed back to the dorms, "You scared the shit outta me, dude."

"I didn't start it, Rick, I swear," Mike told me, "That real big guy got mad because I bought the last copy of the new Led Zeppelin album. They tried to take it away from me, and the dude behind the counter at the record store told them that he'd call the cops if they started any trouble in the store. That's why they were waiting for me to come out...thanks for helping me out back there, brother. I didn't know who else to call."

"Don't worry, Mike," I told him, patting him on the shoulder, "You did the right thing..."

~~~~~~

"Are you guys, okay?" Kate fearfully asked, "Mike, are you alright?"

"I'm okay," he said, as both Kate and Sara breathed a huge sigh of relief, "But only because Rick came to my rescue."

After telling the girls what had happened, Sara leaned over and gently kissed me on the cheek, and said, "Thank you for saving my boyfriend, Rick; you're a good guy."

"Yes, he is a good guy," Kate lovingly smiled, climbing into my lap and quickly kissing my lips, "Why do you think I love him so much?"

~~~~~~

Later that afternoon, Kate and I were sitting in my room watching a movie on the television when I heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in," I loudly said, "It's open."

When I saw the starting quarterback, and also one of the two captains of our college's football team, Chance Lawton, walking through my door, I immediately jumped off of my bed and took a defensive stance directly between him and Kate.

"What do you want?" I brusquely asked, "Don't make me hurt you, too, asshole."

"Easy...please," he quietly replied, holding his hands up with his palms open, slowly backing away; "I'm not here to make trouble, Rick. I come in peace, man, I swear to God," and by this time he had his back against the door.

"Look, I'm sorry," I smiled, relaxing my posture, "Please, come in and sit down. I don't want any trouble either, Chance."

"I thought that maybe you and I could talk, Rick," he offered, "I'm trying to extend the first olive branch, asking if you'll please take the time to listen to what I have to say...I have a proposal."

"Okay," I politely replied, "I'm listening."

"How about this," he asked, "How about the next time you have a problem with one of my players, you come to me instead of beating their asses...even though I have no doubt that they each deserved it...well, except for Eddie Ross, but we tried to warn him to stay away from Frank Spicolli, and he wouldn't listen."

"Are you trying to tell me that Frank Spicolli is responsible for Eddie's death?" I suddenly asked, a terrible feeling beginning to rise up from within me.

"Everyone knows that Frank Spicolli is responsible, even the cops," Chance regretfully replied, "But they never have any solid evidence to make any arrests so; those scumbags always seem to go free."

"Excuse me for asking," I said, "But how deep was Eddie in with Frank Spicolli?"

"He was making money on Eddie every time we won," Chance began, "Then when Eddie's career got ended in a fight, with you, from what I understand, Frank Spicolli had no more use for him so; he had him killed...but like I just said, there was never any proof of it."

"Bullshit," I quietly protested, "What about Eddie's body...isn't that proof enough? Besides, Police Detective, Virgil Andrews came to visit me and asked me some questions about the altercation I had with Eddie Ross that ended his career. When I asked him why he wanted to know these things, that was when he told me that Eddie's body had been found floating face down in the river. He told us that his hands had been tied behind his back, and someone had shot him in the head twice, with a small caliber weapon, a twenty-two pistol according to the ballistics report...he said it looked like a professional hit, too."

"Yeah, we got told the same thing," Chance sadly replied, "But because they said that they lacked the evidence, the cops won't launch an investigation into Eddie's death...something's wrong, Rick...I can feel it."

"What do you wanna bet that someone's being paid off somewhere?" I kidded, "It wouldn't surprise me one bit."

"Hmm," Chance knowingly grinned, as he stood up, "That gives me an idea," and then he was about to leave until he turned to me smiling, extending his hand in friendship and asked, "So, things are square between you and me then?"

"Yeah, they are," I smiled, returning his handshake, "Just keep your guys away from me and mine, and also tell them to act civil to other people around here as well and there won't be any problems. But I've got to tell you right now, Chance, I hate bullies, and if any of your guys start acting like that to anyone on this campus, I'll take care of it my way. Are we clear on this?"

"Crystal clear, I promise," Chance grinned, "You take care, brother," and then he was gone...

~~~~~~

"Well," Kate knowingly smiled, after Chance had gone and we were alone again, "I guess you could say that that went well, huh?"

"I think so," I smiled, curling up with her on the bed, spooning in behind her, "Maybe some of those apes might even learn a thing or two about how to treat people for a change."

"I know," Kate breathed, leaning on her back as she lay in front of me, "Kiss me, my handsome boyfr...ooppss, I mean, my beautiful fiancée."

"You'd better get it right," I gently smiled, softly kissing her lips, "I love you, Kate."

"Mmm," she purred, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and pulling my body down on top of hers, "I love you, too, baby...I'll always love you, Rick..."

~~~~~~

I didn't want Chance to think that I was trying to act like some kind of bad ass, but I meant what I said about bullies. It's a well known fact that a lot of the bullying of students on a college campus usually starts with the jocks. They can't help it, they don't know any better. I mean, after all, that's how Eddie Ross and I first met to begin with. He was trying to bully some poor kid who was simply being nice by helping Kate with her homework.

Kate later told me that that same kid who was helping her with her homework had a crush on her, but Kate, God love her heart, didn't want to hurt the boy's feelings by rejecting him. So; she introduced him to one of her female friends, whom, by the way, liked smart guys like him, and now those two are dating.

When she told me about that, I realized right then that my Kate was as special as she was/is beautiful...and that I'd also be the biggest fool in the world if I let her get away from me. But like I've already said, Kate is my heart; and a man just can't live without his heart, now can he?"

~~~~~~

EVANS' BARBEQUE PIT

THAT EVENING

8:30 PM

Kate had called me at my dorm room to tell me that she'd been given the rest of the night off, and that when she went to get into her car to come home, she saw that her left rear tire was flat, hence the reason I was there, thankfully.

Roger served not only beer and wine at "The Pit" but there was also a small bar at the rear of the place where people could sit and have cocktails if they wished. Everything was legal, and thus far, there had never been any trouble. Well, as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever, because I hadn't been in the restaurant for more then five minutes when I heard a loud, wall shaking, "BOOM" coming from the back, in the bar, followed by a woman's blood curdling scream.

"What the hell was that?" Kate asked, almost jumping on top of me when she heard the loud noise.

"I don't know," I replied, as I began to carefully approach the bar's entrance, "But please stay back in case there's trouble."

"I go where you go, Rick," she impatiently replied, "After all, this is my family's place to begin with, okay baby?"

"Okay," I said, "But stay behind me, please?"

"Oh, hell yeah," she laughed, "That's the safest place in the whole world to be as far as I'm concerned..."

~~~~~~

"I said, get up, asshole," I heard someone sneer as I approached the bar entranceway. I very slowly leaned around the door jamb to see a man lying in the floor, bleeding from his nose and mouth. He was laying among the pieces of what appeared to be a shattered table, hence the reason for the loud noise.

However, there was a man standing over him, holding what looked like a short piece of two inch, by four inch, piece of lumber in his hand. He hadn't seen me yet, and as I looked closer, I could see blood, presumably belonging to the man lying in the floor, all over the end of the piece of lumber he was wielding. And after quietly telling Kate to go call the Police, which, she did, I walked into the bar.

"Hey, brother," I politely said, to the man holding the lumber, "You need to give me that piece of lumber that you're holding, and you need to do it right now, please."

"Fuck you, kid," the man laughed, turning around to look at me, "If you want this lumber, then you're gonna have to come and take it, asshole."

"Look, man," I told him, slowly drawing closer to him, "I'm trying to be nice here, I really am. But, if you want to do this the hard way...then I can accommodate you there, too," and with that said, I wasted no time in delivering a quick, hard, round house kick the left side of his head, not only making him drop the piece of lumber he was holding, but also making him drop like a fly, end of story.

"You again," I heard from behind me, "You need to come and work for us, kid."

I turned around to find the same SWAT Team commander that had responded back when the two idiots tried to rob "The Pit". I learned that his name was Captain Zachary Miller, and he was his group's SWAT Team Leader, and had been for five years.

"Hey, Zach," I grinned, "What's been going on with you, man?"

"I'd rather you tell me what's been going on here first," he laughed, "Then we can sit down and visit with one another."

"All I did was disarm a drunk idiot," I chuckled, "You'll have to ask the bartender what happened before I got here."

~~~~~~

Once all the commotion had died down, and everything was back to normal, Zach found out from Christy, the bartender, that the man who was holding the piece of two by four had gotten mad at the man lying in the floor for accidentally bumping into him and making him spill his drink. When he offered to buy him a replacement, the man smashed the other man and his table against the wall, picking up the piece of two by four after ripping it from the underside of the table, and then began hitting the man who was still lying in the floor unconscious.

"Well, hell," Zach laughed, "I guess we'd better call two ambulances instead of one, thanks to my buddy, Rick, here," and then he patted me on the shoulder and added, "I was serious about you coming to work for us."

"Let me finish college first," I smiled, "Maybe we can talk about it then..."

~~~~~~

"What am I gonna do with you, boy?" Roger grinned, after the police left. Then he wrapped his big arms around me in a giant bear hug and said, "That makes twice that you've saved someone's ass here. Thank you, Rick, and I mean that from the bottom of my old heart, son," and then he released me, wiping the tears from his eyes as he did.

"You're going to be a member of my family before too much longer, Roger," I gratefully smiled, "I'll always be here for, you and Sandy, as well as my Kate...I hope you know that."

"We sure do, baby boy," Sandy sniffled, giving me a gentle, sweet kiss on the cheek, near my lips, "And we love you so much, too, sweetheart."

"I know ya'll do," I tenderly replied, as I gently returned Sandy's hug, "And I love you guys with all of my heart, too."

However, the moment Sandy released me from the hug, Kate was back in my arms, refusing to let go...ever; just as I would love her...forever...

~~~~~~

When Kate and I got back to our dorm room, she took my hand and pulled me into the middle of the room, Then she sweetly wrapped her arms around my waist, lying her head on my chest as she smiled and tenderly said, "I've never loved anyone the way I love you; and I've never been loved the way that you love me, baby."

"I'll always love you, Kate, my love, "I quietly replied, gently kissing her lips, "And that's something you can always count on, too."

Suddenly I heard a knock, accompanied by a now familiar voice, Chance Lawton's, asking permission to come into our room.

"It's open," I grinned, "Come on in, bro."

"Hey, Rick," he widely grinned, as he stepped into our room accompanied by an extremely pretty girl who I didn't know, "I wanted you two to meet my girlfriend, her name is Lisa Carlson."