Valentine's Day Sucks!

I walked up to Wanda's father and mother as Warren was being loaded into the cruiser and said, "I can see how the upper crust really are the people you want your daughter to associate with. I mean every family should want rapists and drug dealers in it as long as their family has enough money, right?" her father recoiled as though I had slapped him. Her mother burst into tears at what they had almost gotten their daughter into. I took Wanda in my arms kissed her long and hard, and then said good night.

Summer arrived and so did my job with the restorations. With more to put into the kitty, we ended up restoring four larger dwellings and when the work was done sold them for an extreme profit. For my investment of fifty-two thousand dollars I saw a return of two-hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars. I now had enough to go to any college I chose to attend. I also felt confident that I wanted to marry Wanda.

We spent every available moment together over that summer. If I wasn't sleeping or working I was with Wanda. I loved her more and more every day. On the days I didn't see her I was irritable and despondent.

I kept this to myself as I did with my college fund. My parents had absented themselves from my life for more than two years and I saw no reason to try to draw them into caring about me now. I spoke often with Ms. Timmons about my feelings and about my plans for after graduation. She helped Wanda and I check out colleges and scholarships. Wanda didn't need them, she had a trust that would take care of it but seeing me do it on my own had made her want to as well.

Our senior year was uneventful by comparison. After what I had done to two influential families in the community, I had earned the enmity of nearly the entire student body and most of the staff. Warren's mommy and daddy were heavy contributors until he went to jail as had been Teddy's parents. I held my 4.0 GPA and kept up on all of my schoolwork. I took the time to see Ms. Timmons almost every day. When my AP History papers began to get steadily lower grades I showed them to her and she arranged a little chat with the academic advisor, the superintendent, and a lawyer Ms. Timmons had arranged for me. I was eighteen and no longer needed my parent's permission to hire legal advisors.

The gist of the meeting was that if my grades suffered from any more sudden outbreaks of stupidity the school, the district and the school's board of governors could expect to find themselves paying me into my retirement to pay off the lawsuits. A college professor had examined my papers and given them superior grades all around for content, composition, and research. The bare C grade that they had been given was ludicrous. After that meeting, my grades were amended and my history papers were thereafter graded by the Principal, Mr. Thomason, himself a former history teacher.

When prom came around, Wanda again argued with her father about going with me. Wanda informed him that we would be attending the prom together, as well as graduation. He had a choice he could get out of her life, or he could get over his class prejudice and be happy for her. After the fiasco with Warren and seeing me defend her daughter a second time Wanda's mother had changed her mind and supported my relationship with Wanda.

We went to the prom and it wasn't until that night my parents figured out I that I was going to graduate high school this coming June. I looked at them blankly for a moment before walking out the door for my date.

Prom was made bearable by the fact that Wanda was the most spectacular looking woman in the room. Her auburn locks had been done up in a fancy twist with trailers framing her face. Her amber eyes set off the amber stone in the necklace I had given her for our birthday. Her mother had given her a pair of amber stud earrings to match as a gift for the prom. Her dress was an off the shoulder sheath style in a cloth-of-gold silk fabric. It looked absolutely amazing on her. We danced every slow dance and quite a few of the fast ones. I don't dance much but Wanda is a natural. Even so, she refused to dance with anyone but me. Her small circle of friends visited but it was awkward. They didn't want to be seen speaking with the school outcast.

We left the dance around midnight and took a cab to the after party we had planned to attend. We stayed only a short while. When several of the guests began passing around a mirror with coke on it we left. I had a suite at the Doubletree reserved. The cab dropped us off and we presented our I.D.s to the clerk showing that we were both eighteen. We went up to our room and slowly undressed each other. We made love until the early hours of dawn had come and gone. Wanda fell asleep astride me with her head cradled on my chest.

We awoke later that afternoon and made love again before I took her home. Her mother had threatened to divorce her father if he so much as raised his voice about her being out all night with me. He gave me hostile glances but said not a word to me. Why couldn't he understand that I loved his daughter?

As June approached, I got in touch with Harry and put one hundred thousand dollars to work in the renovation business. Harry found five large properties and gathered the crews to do the work. Two of the restorations would not be finished before school started but they would be complete before the first semester was over. Even so, my bank balance topped three hundred thousand dollars before the start of school in the fall with an additional one hundred and fifty thousand anticipated before the end of September, not including my initial investment. I never really thought about it much. Harry's CPA handled the money so that my tax liability was minimal. My tuition and fees would be paid directly from the bank. All I had to do now was say where to pay them.

Once we got our acceptance letters from U of M Columbia, we arranged for the fall quarter. I knew my father. I packed and was ready to spread the good news. We went to Wanda's house first.

Wanda and I had decided to attend U of M Columbia University School of Information Science and Learning Technologies. They had the programs for computer sciences we both wanted and with our grades, it would be no problem. Wanda's parents were ecstatic over her choice and the fact that she had been accepted when we told them; mine on the other hand were less than enthused.

My father's response was, "Your going to Torrington University for Business Administration, not Columbia. I've already enrolled you and signed you up for the courses."

Wanda had gripped my shoulders to try to help me keep calm. I had had it. After nearly three years of living by myself, my father thought he had the right to tell me where I was going to college and what I was going to take. He had never even discussed college with me. "No father as a matter of fact I'm not going to Torrington University. I am going to Columbia, I am going for Information Technology and I will be attending classes in the fall. If you want to go to Torrington feel free."

My father laughed, "I won't pay for it. You'll go where I tell you to go, by God and like it mister! I'm not paying for Columbia."

I cut him off, "Who asked you to?"

My question stumped him. "HUH?"

My mother asked, "What do you mean?"

I looked at my father. "Do you realize father that I haven't cashed an allowance check in the last two years? You never even noticed. You and mom never noticed that I had my walk-in closet converted into a kitchenette two years ago. Did you ever wonder why the grocery bills went down? I've been paying my own way since the day you told me 'It's none of my concern!' dad." I was angry now.

"I begged for either of you to listen to me and got told that I have no place in this family. Problems in this family were 'none of my concern'. I snorted in derision, "Family? What joke! When was the last time all three of us shared a meal father? Mother? I can tell you, on my birthday of my sophomore year. Now after two, almost three years you think you get to decide where I'll go to get my education, what education I'll get, and if I don't like it you'll cut the funding? Go ahead father. My plans never for an instant factored in a dime of your money. I have nearly a half a million dollars at my disposal to go where I choose for college. I picked Columbia so Wanda could come home and visit with her mom when she wants. That and they have one of the best computer sciences programs in the country. Wanda is graduating Valedictorian. I'm graduating magna cum luade one one-hundredths of a point behind her. I'm sure I can find scholarship money for us if I needed it. But I don't."

My mother and fathers jaws dropped open, "Half a million…?" "Where the hell did you get that kind of money?" The perplexed look on their faces would have been funny if they weren't my parents. "You haven't been dealing drugs have you?" That was the final insult. No matter how the rest of this conversation went I was out of this house tonight.

"No father, I didn't deal drugs for it. I got it the real old fashioned way, I worked for it. I made twelve grand at my first summer job. You might remember you refused to take it for my tuition. My next summer job I invested it and renovated a property. I pocketed forty grand plus my investment. I've done the same every summer since I could work going bigger and more profitable every year. I've spent only what I needed to, to get by. I have enough in the trust I set up to pay tuition and living expenses while I go to college anywhere in the country. I've already reserved and put the deposit on our apartment." They looked at Wanda, "Yes I said our apartment. We'll be living together in a nice three bedroom. She'll have her own room if she wants, but I'd prefer she kept me company." I gave her hand a squeeze, "I love her and if she would have said yes I'd have married her already but she wants to wait till were out of college." I looked at my father as he exploded.

"You'll damned well do what I tell you while you're under my roof mister…!" That was the part I had been waiting on.

"FINE! I'm not under you're roof." I pulled out my cell phone and hit speed dial. "Mr. Morrison, Brock Champlain here, do you still have that furnished… You do? Great I'll be by within the hour to get the keys and sign the lease. Yes… I'll be attending Columbia in the fall. Thank you; you have a good day too." I turned to look at my parents. "There now, see wasn't that easy? I've already packed and loaded my car so I'll be saying good bye."

My mother looked at me puzzled and asked in a quiet voice, "When did you get a cell phone?"

Wanda gaped at her and said, "I bought it for him for his birthday two years ago!" I took her hand as I stood.

I looked at my father, "Don't make any threats about not coming back, dad. You needn't worry. You chucked me out of your life when it would have mattered, now it doesn't matter at all. I hope you and mom will actually talk to each other but I expect you haven't got anything to say to one another after so long. You can't use me as the excuse for the long hours anymore. Or being the reason you'll keep the second jobs. I'm keeping my email address so you can drop me a line if you aren't too busy. Of course you have been too busy for the last three years. If you decide you want to be a part of my life all you have to do is ask. " With that, I turned and walked from my parent's home. It was the last time I saw that house.

Wanda and I went to U of M Columbia and did well in the courses. Mom and dad divorced later that year using the no fault procedures for Missouri. I didn't hear about it until after it was over from one of Wanda's friends. Wanda and I were exhausted but we still managed to spend a little time with one another. The course load was heavy and with all of our AP courses, we were starting as sophomores. Still we progressed quickly. I bought a top of the line computer system and two laptops, one for each of us. We had most of the same classes and shared the love of computers. Sex with her was fantastic. We learned and grew together.

Things were going great, I thought, until the end of the last quarter. She had a trip to the hospital near the end of the quarter when she had a hypoglycemic episode. I was worried and took care of her but things went back to normal after about two weeks. I asked her to marry me and set a date for after our graduation. She never answered me. We had been at Columbia for three and a half years, were at the top of our class. The head hunters had been knocking on our door for the last three months offering six figure salaries. But suddenly, this quarter, our schedules didn't line-up. I didn't understand that. Our classes were the same but for some reason every course we had, was now in an opposing time slot. My classes were almost all morning, hers all evening. I had no classes Saturday, she had a full days load. Wednesday she was off and I had classes from eight till eight. At first, I wrote it off as screw-ups in the Admin offices. When I went to check on it though, I found that Wanda had requested the changes in her schedule herself. I had begun to wonder, "What was going on?" I told myself 'You are being paranoid.'

She had always spent at least one night a week in her own room. I missed her those nights. I couldn't sleep well when she wasn't there. Suddenly it wasn't one night a week; it was two or three nights a week. Our sex life dropped to nothing. I chalked it up to stress and too many late class hours. Still, I thought, it was just one quarter. We can make it through this. Then the derision started. It never bothered me to be called a 'techno-geek' or 'tech-weenie' before, because I like computers. I also couldn't give two shits for what most people thought of me. But when Wanda started throwing these around about me, it did hurt. It hurt a lot. She wasn't playful when she said it, she was harsh.

It was driving me nuts. She wouldn't talk to me. I couldn't see that I had done anything wrong except ask her to marry me. It all fell apart when my professor and I both came down with the flu. I got up and went to my eight a.m. class only to find it posted that he was out with the flu and would make up class next week in our weekly lab session. This was a two-hour block and I decided that I would just go home and rest. It would also mean time alone with my darling Wanda.

I pulled up to our apartment to find no spaces available. We had no neighbors in the two apartments above us so it didn't make any sense to me that the lot was full. I parked around the corner and walked back to our building through the snow. As I came by my bedroom window, I heard someone shout "I'mmmm Commmming!" I stumbled and sat down hard on the slushy curb. I knew what I had heard. It was a man's voice announcing his ejaculation. Coming from my bedroom window. I was outside so it wasn't me. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the home number. After five rings, I was getting ready to hang up and go inside when Wanda answered. "Hello?" She hadn't looked at the caller ID and was severely winded.

"Hi honey, how are you? You sound winded." She paused for a second and I knew my suspicions were right.

"Oh I was just working out. You know my workout tapes; I've been slacking off a little lately." I winced at the lie. The VCR had "eaten" that tape two days ago and I hadn't replaced it yet, nor had I mentioned it to her, as I hadn't seen her when we weren't fighting. There was no hurry after all.

"Oh. Ok. I wanted to see if you wanted to meet me for lunch, I've got nearly an hour to kill and would love to spend some time with you." As I lied to her tears began to run down my face.

"Are you crying?" She asked. I got up and moved away from the line of sight of the windows. The last thing I saw was a man's wedding ring on the curtain as he moved it to see out of the window.

"No I'm not crying. My sinuses are running like a faucet. That's all. They broke lose while I was dialing you and haven't let up that's all." She must have believed the lie as she went on to explain she couldn't meet me as she was having lunch with her faculty adviser. Another lie! Her faculty adviser and mine shared offices and she had gone into labor early in the day yesterday. Everyone who was attending classes had heard about the surprise twins yesterday in the admin building. Therefore, she hadn't gone to class yesterday evening either. Her last class ended at eight and she had come home about nine-thirty saying she was in the lab. She was also too tired to sleep with me. Again. She also slept in her own room. Again.

I moved back to my car and got my digital camera. I put in the blank one-gig memory card and returned to the front of the building. I waited outside and across the street in the hedgerow and as they emerged one by one, I took pictures. Zoom lenses are a wonderful thing. They get you up close and personal with out actually being in sight. There were seven in all, and each one got a kiss. Not a peck on the cheek. However, a kiss full on the lips. Those I caught on video, using the camera's video clip function. I caught all of them on video, her in her blue silk negligee, nipples erect and visible, as she showed them out the door with their tongues inspecting her tonsils.

As the last one left, I turned and threw up my breakfast. I waited, as she finally emerged apparently dressed for the first time today. I ran to my room. It reeked of sex; the soiled sheets rumpled as they were, were still on the bed, my bed. Now I knew why she had insisted on the king sized bed. I packed all of her things and threw them into her room. I tilted the bed up on edge and slid it across the hall to her room as well. I took my cell phone and connected it to my laptop. I transferred all of the data from it to my laptop then pulled the SIM chip from it and reset it to factory defaults completely erasing the memory. I threw the useless phone onto the bed. I packed the camera away and put the memory card in my laptop bag.

I used the house line to call and cancel service to my cell phone and to request a new number for the house. I then called my doctor and made an appointment for later that afternoon. I called the maintenance man and had a shiny new 'pick-proof' lock installed on my bedroom door while I watched. Two hundred dollars ensured that I had the only keys. He informed me, "You look like shit Brock, you need to see a doctor." I smiled and told him of my appointment.

I locked up and left. I went to the bank, took half of our joint accounts, and put the money into my trust account; I had my name removed from the joint accounts. I'd have drained the accounts but I wasn't sure that was legal as she had added monies from her trust to it off and on. I went to the Mattress Shop and arranged delivery of a new twin-size box spring and mattress set and the accompanying frame and linens. The old bed had been a king size but I wouldn't sleep on it ever again for the transfer access codes to the U.S. Treasury.

I led the truck to the apartment and waited while they set up the bed. I locked up again and drove to my doctor's office. I had just signed in and removed Wanda as emergency contact when the lights went out. The nightmares were bad enough the first time around I don't care to relive them now.

I came to lying on a bed in a sterile white room. I looked around and noticed all sorts of medical apparatus. Shit I didn't die. I thought to myself. A few minutes later and a nurse with a very pinched look on her face came in and said, "Awake are we? Well, I'll just go get the doctor." She flounced out and took her attitude with her. I looked out the window and noticed it was dark out. I looked around and found a clock on the wall. Nine o'clock.