Charlie and Clyde

We bought a newspaper and looked at the apartment ads. The old district in town was at the beginning stages of a massive renovation to bring young people back into the city. There seemed to be a lot of apartments for rent; some of the ads even said the first month was free.

After an afternoon of looking we walked up the stairs of a two-story loft. When the manager opened the door, Charlie immediately whispered, "Yes!"

The ceiling was fourteen feet high. The living room was huge and even had a gas fireplace. One bedroom was quite large and the other certainly big enough for me. There was only one bathroom—no tub but a huge shower that could hold four people at once.

Charlie told the manager, "We need cable access with high-speed lines."

The manager replied, "Already installed."

Charlie thought for a moment and said, "We need immediate occupancy but the lease will start on the first of the month."

"But that gives you ten extra free days," protested the manager.

Charlie grinned and answered, "The place is empty. It's going to be empty for the next ten days. You lose nothing."

The manager thought and countered, "You want ten days and the first month free. If you sign a year lease and pay two months in advance, it's a deal."

"Done," said Charlie.

The next few days were hectic. We gave notice on Charlie's apartment and moved her furniture using a borrowed pickup truck. Then we used the same truck to move the used furniture I had to buy for my bedroom. I was able to get a great deal on a queen-size bed and bureau. Charlie was giggling when she pointed out that I had to also buy sheets, towels and other basic things.

Charlie went to her lawyer and requested that he terminate the old LLC. She asked his advice on how to protect herself against her old partner, and finally she asked him to create a new LLC. We were very creative on the new company's name—C & C Computing Consultants.

In the early evening of the third day, Charlie and I sat exhausted on the ratty couch. She was still writing notes about things that we had to buy for the apartment, but most of the major items were already there—because Charlie already owned them from the old apartment or we because had bought them. But the list of things that had to be done was never-ending.

Charlie pointed out that we should have two phone lines in the apartment, one of which would be our dedicated business number so that we could connect a voice recorder on it, not only not to miss messages but to screen calls before we picked up the phone.

I looked at Charlie writing notes and said, "Enough. Tony's Italian restaurant is one block away. Let's eat and call it a day."

She put down her pen and looked at me. The exhaustion on her face told all. She yawned and said, "I'm tired but I'm really hungry too. Let's go."

A week later we were finally organized, phones in, legal paperwork completed, and it was time to make some money.

We put some ads into the local tech paper and even hung some signs on telephone poles for those people with home computers who had problems—without a major project we would do anything.

We debated about the yellow pages. It was awfully expensive, but the amount of market it reached was huge. We finally decided on a modest two-line, box ad that emphasized our flexibility for any size job. The new directory would come out in six months, and hopefully, by then, we would be making enough money to pay for it.

The next week we went on six home calls to solve easy problems. On one of those house calls the cord had pulled out of the speaker so there was no sound. I didn't have the nerve to charge anything, but the elderly lady insisted that I take ten dollars. Charlie teased me on being a soft touch, but told me she would have done the same thing.

While we waited for a decent size job to come our way, I was getting more comfortable having a female roommate. Charlie usually wore a light T-shirt and shorts around the apartment and at first I couldn't take my eyes off her breasts. If the T-shirt was short I could see her bare stomach. She caught me looking a few times, but just grinned.

However, if I left the damn toilet seat up, she went absolutely bonkers!

Gradually we got comfortable with each other. Many nights found each of us on our computers working the Internet for information, chatting, or catching up with our computer contacts.

On a Monday morning the business line rang. Charlie picked up the phone, "C & C Computing."

She listened for a few minutes and then asked, "When do you want to see us?"

She paused and listened for a second and answered, "We'll be there in an hour, Mr. Olsen. What is your address, and who should we ask for?"

She wrote down the information and said good-bye. She looked at me and said the person wanted us to quote on a job, and that he got our name from the manager of our first big project. She frowned and then said, "It could be decent money, but the guy was awful pushy and I'm not sure it's someone I'd like to work for even on a short-term project."

We quickly dressed. Charlie was in her best business suit. I had clean pants and shirt and wore my favorite string tie. Under a piercing stare from Charlie I broke down and put on some socks.

We were escorted into Ted Olsen's office. It was absolutely huge with a conference table in one corner that could sit eight easily, a couch and cocktail table with comfortable chairs on either side of the couch. His desk must have cost $10,000 by the looks of it.

At his direction we sat at the conference table. He immediately took charge, "You got a nice recommendation, but are you two really any good?"

Charlie didn't back down. "Yes, we are really good, Mr. Olsen; we especially like it if the project is a challenge."

"Our damn top programmer's father had a heart attack and so he quit to help him recover. He didn't give us any warning, and he left the same day that he gave notice. He was writing the key program that ties the whole new system together. He swore it was clean, but every time we test the program, it either freezes the system or gives us bad output.

"The rest of the staff is barely competent and the key guy never hired anyone good enough to be his replacement, so we're screwed. I absolutely need the system up and running in two weeks or I miss my deadline. I never miss my deadlines, so that's why I called you.

"When can you start?"

The guy really was pushy and I was intimidated. I stammered, "If...if there isn't reasonable documentation, we won't start. It can't be done."

Olsen's face turned red with anger. "We got good documentation. The problem is that the damn program is bad. I'll pay you $10,000 if you get the damn thing running within two weeks. Two other consultants already turned me down without even looking at the mess."

Charlie interrupted, "Mr. Olsen, let Clyde and me look at the documentation for the next two or three hours and give us access to talk to your programming staff. Then we'll tell you yes or no. If the answer is no, there is no charge."

Three hours later we agreed to take the job and headed back to the office with tons of documentation and the program that wouldn't work.

We both realized that this was a pure programming problem, and right down Charlie's alley. The problem was that the guy who quit was really good, but every time he had a chance to do something simple or fancy, he chose fancy. He got so fancy the company's programming staff couldn't figure out what he was doing.

Charlie went into crash mode. It was obvious to me that this was a one-person job and I just kept my mouth shut and let her work. I went to bed at eleven; Charlie stayed up all night. By noon the next day she was exhausted and irritable. I went behind her chair and started massaging her neck and shoulders. She groaned with pleasure as I increased the pressure.

Finally, she was relaxed; her head was nodding. "Charlie, take a nap."

"I've got too much to do."

"I'll wake you up for dinner."

Very reluctantly she stood and headed for her bedroom; she was asleep in seconds. I left the apartment in the early evening and bought some take-out Chinese and brought it back. I woke her at seven. She took a quick shower and we ate.

Her eyes were clear and it was obvious the sleep had helped. She worked all night again.

The next day was a repeat. She took a seven-hour nap and worked the next fourteen hours. The third day was different. When I woke up in next morning she wasn't at her desk; she was sleeping in her bed!

She woke up at noon, showered, and came out in her T-shirt and shorts. She had a big smile on her face.

"Got it?" I asked.

"Nailed it," she beamed.

She continued, "The guy is really good, but he must have a huge ego. If the logic should take twenty lines, he had to make it work in five. When he did that enough times he created tremendous interfacing problems branching in and out of routines so many times you couldn't follow the flow. Once I had his technique down, I just had to reverse the program logic until I found the kinks. There were only three bugs, but it took me that long to find them."

"Testing? I asked.

"I'll test for the rest of the week. If things are clean we'll relax during the weekend and go see Olsen on Monday."

The first test Charlie ran didn't work. I got involved and found out that they had given us a corrupted database. I went over to the company and got some clean data. Charlie's fix worked perfectly; by Friday afternoon we knew she'd done it.

We had a relaxing Saturday and had a great meal at a new restaurant followed by a movie.

We slept late on Sunday and finally I walked into the kitchen for coffee at about eleven. Charlie was already up. We went to a local place for a big brunch and then walked to the nearby park for exercise. We got back about four o'clock.

We were on our computers when the doorbell rang; we looked at each other. It was the first time anyone had used it. Charlie walked to the door and opened it. I heard her angry tone when she said, "What the hell are you doing here?"

A man's voice answered, "Hi, Charlie. I miss you."

I thought, "Her ex partner..."

"Well I don't miss you. Good-bye."

He walked by her into the living room and spotted me for the first time. He was about six-foot and a little on the heavy side. "Who the hell are you?"

"Clyde."

"I mean what the hell are you doing here?"

Charlie was pissed. "Clyde's sharing the place with me and he's my business partner. And he's a damn good DB man as opposed to you!"

He flushed and blurted, "What the fuck kind of name is Clyde?"

I didn't know what to say. I hate confrontations and fighting, and was never very good with a quick answer when verbally assaulted.

Not waiting for an answer, he turned back to face Charlie.

"I came over to see if you wanted to get together again, and take up where we left off, but I can see that you got desperate, so forget it."

Charlie yelled, "You son-of-a-bitch. Get out of here."

He smirked and said, "I'll leave as soon as you write a check for my share of the money."

Charlie's face was ashen. "You walked out on the job. Clyde did all the work."

"It doesn't matter Charlie. I'm a fifty percent partner in the LLC and I get fifty percent of the profits. So get out your checkbook."

With Charlie and her ex going at it, I had time to think. I stuttered, "The...the original LLC has been terminated. It's no longer a legal entity."

He swiveled to face me and yelled, "But it still has obligations to its creditors and partners. Just because you killed it doesn't let you walk away with my money."

My interruption had given Charlie time to think. She said calmly, "For three weeks in a row I put an ad in the business journal that anyone with any claims against the LLC should contact me. Once a week went by after the third ad, any claim against the LLC stopped. The third week ended ten days ago; you're out of luck."

I knew she was bluffing a little—her lawyer had said that both sides had a good argument.

"That's bullshit," he yelled.

Charlie walked to her desk and picked up a card. "Here's my lawyer's card. If you want to sue me, go for it.

"But you asshole, if you do sue me, my guess is it will cost you at least $5,000...I can afford it, can you?"

Charlie gave him the card and then lifted the phone. "Should I call 911 or are you leaving?"

I could tell he was steaming. He yelled, "You're a fucked up cunt. You're so pissed at your father that you have a personality of a turd...and you can't fuck worth a shit."

He turned and left the apartment, slamming the door.

Charlie stood, holding the phone. She was in shock and then she started crying. It wasn't a few tears on her face but a no-holds-barred breakdown. I quickly walked over to her and sat her down on the couch. She put her face on my chest and sobbed; her chest was heaving and she could barely breathe as she wailed.

For thirty minutes I held her. After the first ten minutes she just quietly sobbed. Her head was on my chest and I stroked her back. I could sympathize with her. She was mad, and she was embarrassed and humiliated that it happened in front of me. I guessed the mention of her father was a big part of it.

Finally she pulled away from me and said, "Thank you for being there for me."

"We're partners, Charlie."

She gave me a wan smile and tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"Will you give your partner a kiss?" she asked.

Without thinking I leaned over and kissed her. Her lips were soft and moist and I could feel the moisture of her tears on her cheeks. I had kissed a lot of girls...well maybe two or three, and this kiss was something else. I didn't want the kiss to end and, apparently, neither did Charlie.

I continued to kiss her lips and then her neck and forehead. She was clinging to me and every time our lips met, the pressure was greater. At one point her tongue pressed into my lips and I opened my mouth to be attacked by her tongue. It was fantastic!

I kept rubbing her back and then I touched the side of her breasts; I could feel her bra straps. My cock was throbbing and I was aroused. My hands finally cupped her breasts through her T-shirt. I felt her nipples grow hard with my teasing. We kissed again with even greater intensity.

I knew it was wrong. Her guard was down from the encounter with her ex-partner. I was embarrassed that I had lost control and taken advantage of her emotional trauma. I took my hands from her breasts. My cock went limp and I pulled away from her.

"I'm sorry, Charlie. I got carried away. I'm really sorry.

She looked at me sadly and said, "Clyde, unless a girl says 'no', she's probably saying 'yes.' "

I stared at her blankly. She sadly smiled, kissed me on the forehead and went to her bedroom.

I sat on the couch for an hour trying to figure out what just happened.

Chapter 2

We walked into Olsen's office on Monday morning. He escorted us to the conference table and we all sat down.

"What progress have you made? Is it too much for you?" he asked.

"No, Mr. Olsen," said Charlie. "We're done and everything seems to work."

"Bullshit."

"No, sir."

We gave him the new program and left. We met the next morning.

"It works," he said.

Charlie just grinned.

"I'll have a check cut before you leave."

Charlie and I had talked about the fee. In our own way we both agreed. Charlie said, "Mr. Olsen, it wasn't that difficult and it only took three days. Our fee is $5,000."

He stared at us, utterly surprised. "Bullshit.

"Don't you realize that business doesn't work that way?"

Charlie smiled at him, "Our business works that way."

He was stunned. Finally, he asked, "Who should I make the check out to?"

Charlie said, "Charlene Cartwright."

He stared at Charlie for five seconds and then left the room. Five minutes later he came back.

"The check is for $7,500; I don't want any arguments.

"Are you Ben Cartwright's daughter?"

Charlie blushed, "Yes, do you know my father?"

His face turned pensive and then he said, "We used to be good friends, but I was a tough businessman and so was he, and we clashed. I haven't talked to him in twenty years. When you see him, tell him I said 'hello.' "

Charlie nodded.

Olsen asked, "What will you do now?"

"The next phone call," Charlie replied.

He sat there in thought without talking for thirty seconds or longer. We didn't know what to do. Then he quietly said, "You two are so young, so absolutely naïve, so vulnerable. I hope your company is successful. I think you'll do fine. Just remember most of the fun is in trying to get to the top; once you're there, it's not nearly as much fun.

"Do you two have an accountant?"

Charlie answered, "We haven't worried about it."

He grinned, "A distant nephew just started his own company. He's completely naïve, just like you two. Here's his card. You might want to talk to him."

He escorted us out of his office and at the elevator he gently kissed Charlie on her forehead.

We were both quiet driving home. I thought how sad it was that an obviously very successful man was jealous of us. I looked at Charlie. "Promise me we'll never go down that road."

She knew exactly what I was saying. She moved closer to me and grabbed my arm and then rested her head on my shoulder. Nothing was said the rest of the way home.

When we walked into the apartment I thought we would sit on the couch. Instead, Charlie took my hand and pulled me into her bedroom. We faced each other, and then she came into my arms and we kissed. A soft kiss turned hard and then passionate.

She took my hands and put them on her breasts and looked at me. "Take my clothes off, Clyde."

I was nervous as I unbuttoned her blouse and removed it. I fumbled with the clasp to her bra, but finally got it open and saw her breasts. They jutted out from her chest without sagging; they were beautiful. I lightly rubbed her nipples and they became hard.

I hesitated, but she insisted, "All my clothes."

When I pulled her panties down and she stepped out of them, I smelled her musky odor and saw her trimmed pussy for the first time. I stood up and we kissed. My hands went to her ass and pulled her against my groin. I was very aroused, but also very nervous. I'd never seen a naked woman except in pictures.

We broke the kiss and she smiled at me as she removed my shirt and then my other clothes. As she pulled my shorts down, my cock sprang up, released from the confining clothes. She took my cock gently in her hands and stroked it up and down slowly. I almost came.

She pulled me and we fell into bed. For a long time we just kissed as she let me explore her body. As my finger traced her labia lips, which were now partially open, I could feel her moisture. She gasped when I touched and then rubbed what I thought was her clit.

She pulled me on top of her and as we continued to kiss, my cock was rubbing against her slit, but it couldn't find her opening. Finally her hands softly took my cock and guided it to the right spot as she whispered, "Push."

I pushed as my cock slid into her completely. I could feel her vagina walls, wet and warm, clutching me. The feeling was wonderful but overwhelming. I pulled out slightly and pushed in again. Twice more going faster I repeated the motion and then I violently came. With each spasm I could feel my sperm spurting into her. When done, I collapsed next to her.

It was only then that I realized that I had completely forgotten about Charlie and her needs. I was mortified that my action was so self-centered. Blushing with embarrassment I stammered, "Charlie, I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself from coming; I feel like a shit not thinking about you."

She lifted my head so we were looking at each other. I could see tears in her eyes, but a smile full of tenderness. "The first time was for you Clyde, not me. I think I might be falling a little in love with you and wanted you to know it.