Taking It Up a Notch

Suzy complied and instantly, the disposal began making a grinding sound and the water in the sink started draining out.

"Hey! Looks like you fixed it," Suzy exclaimed.

Getting up from the floor to look into the sink, Bill nodded. "Yep. Seems to work again now."

"You're so awesome. Thank you," she said, smiling.

Suzy sat back down at the table while Bill put away his hex keys and replaced the items, minus the vinegar douche, under the sink.

"So, got any more dates with anyone from the Rec Center coming up?"

"No," she said. "I have to figure out a new way to meet guys. Nothing's really worked out lately. The ones I meet online all lie about themselves. When I go out with any of them, they are never who they advertised themselves to be. And the guys I meet in person just seem to see me as a big pair of tits," pushing her breasts up with her hands as she said this.

She added, "And once they get their hands on 'em, its like, 'Mission accomplished. Now its time to move on.' They don't seem interested in getting to know me."

Bill tried not to notice her manipulating her breasts, but he could not help it. He attempted to hide this from Suzy, but betrayed himself by blushing.

"Have you thought about joining one of the clubs at school? Or doing something with others where there is a goal to work toward?" Bill wondered out loud. "It would give guys a chance to get to know you and maybe avoid all the superficial stuff."

"I don't know. Guess I have nothing to lose. I haven't had great luck so far. Denae's had better luck than me throughout college..."

Bill was not anxious to hear about Denae's dating past and was just about to interrupt her to change the subject. Before he could, she continued.

"..aside from Derek. He hit her; and not in a good way."

That got Bill's full attention. He sat down at the table with her. "What are you saying?"

Suzy got quiet and squinted her eyes. "That sorry mother fucker. She started seeing him very near the end of school last year. And I heard they talked a few times by phone over the summer. Then once everyone was back in town before school started, she had a date with him. And then the next night - the Friday before school stated - he took her over to his frat house for a party. I don't know what happened that night. She wont tell me. Never has. But anyway, she called me around eleven thirty and asked me to pick her up...about two blocks from the frat house. She was really upset. And I noticed she had a bruise on her left arm and her right wrist. I could tell she had been crying and I asked her what happened, but she wouldn't talk about it. Once we got back here, she showered and went to bed."

With anger building up inside, Bill asked, "So you don't know what happened?"

Now beginning to tear up ever so slightly, Suzy continued. "The next day was a Saturday and she skipped work and just stayed here all day. And she didn't talk much. Her phone rang a few times, but she didn't answer it. Told me it was Derek and she didn't want to talk to him ever again. Then she finally blocked his number."

Bill was still listening intently and not interrupting Suzy.

"But around seven that night, he showed up, banging on the door wanting to talk to her. She told him to go away through the door, but he kept banging. She finally opened the door without undoing the chain. But as soon as she did, he smashed the door open, breaking the chain. He started yelling at her for not answering his calls. It was obvious he had been drinking. Denae told him they were through and he got even madder. That's when that dickless bastard slapped her in her face."

Bill was now quietly seething with anger at the thought of anyone hurting Denae. "He actually hit her? What happened next.?"

"At that point, I told the son of a bitch I was going to call the cops. That stopped him. I guess he didn't want any trouble with the cops. So, he called us both cunts and left."

Suzy wiped the corners of both her eyes with her fingers and sniffled a little bit. Bill sat silently, trying not to lose his temper.

Suzy now began sobbing openly and looked over at Bill. "I still don't know what happened at that party, but I think he really hurt my girl," she said with her voice cracking.

Bill took a couple of deep breaths. Suzy tried to compose herself and got up and went into the bathroom for a couple of minutes. She soon returned and sat back down at the table with Bill.

"Denae should be home from work soon and I don't want her to think I've been crying. I don't want her to know we were talking about this. Bill, you have got to swear you wont tell her I told you any of that. She made me swear I would never tell anyone," she asked solemnly.

Bill was as touched by Suzy's concern for Denae as he was angry that someone would hurt her. He reached his hand across the table and patted Suzy's hand.

"OK. I wont bring it up. And thank you. Thank you for being a good friend to Denae and caring about her," he said.

They sat in silence for a minute or two. Finally, Bill said, "So did this guy just disappear after that? Did he give either of you any more trouble? How was Denae after that?"

Suzy cheered up a little and smiled at Bill. "Actually, Denae seemed to get past all of that pretty quick. Soon after that, she got lucky met a guy in her art class..."

Suzy got up and moved to the refrigerator, saying that she need a glass of wine. She offered to get Bill something, so he asked if beer was an option. As neither Suzy nor Denae were beer drinkers, they did not keep any around. So Bill settled for iced tea.

Denae returned from work a short time later and found them chatting over their drinks at the kitchen table.

Bill got up and hugged Denae. He held onto her for quite a few seconds; holding her as if he were trying to protect her from the world and every bad thing in it. He held her so long in fact, she secretly wondered what had gotten into him.

As Bill held her, Denae looked over at Suzy. "Suzy," she said a little exasperated. "What are you doing wearing that?"

"What?"

Bill finally released Denae from the embrace.

"Your sports bra. What are you doing? Flaunting your boobs in front of Bill?" Denae asked with a roll of her eyes.

Suzy snickered and cocked her head. "Oh. I was going to go for a run, but when the sink backed up, I had to wait for Bill."

"Uh huh? Sure." Denae replied.

Turning to Bill, Denae casually said, "Bill, I suppose by now, she's told you she's a 38 DD and that they're all real. 'Cause apparently everyone should know this."

Bill rolled his eyes, wishing he could extricate himself from the conversation.

Laughing, Suzy said, "Ah, don't worry. He never even looked. It was always full eye contact the whole time."

Turning back to Bill, Denae quipped, "Wow. That's some will power. I'm not a guy but I can't help but look."

Desperate to change the subject, Bill mentioned that the disposal was working again.

Denae reached up and kissed him. "Thanks, Bill. We really appreciate you coming to our rescue. I will make sure I repay you for this."

Bill stammered, "Oh, don't worry about it. I didn't even have to buy any parts."

Suzy snickered from her spot at the kitchen table.

Denae looked at Bill and in a tone somewhere between sarcasm and annoyance said, "Sex, Bill. I'm going to pay you with sex. You know you really need to start cluing into your girlfriend's hints."

Bill lit up. "Did you just call yourself my girlfriend?"

She nodded and kissed him again.

####