"Ugh," I sighed under my breathe as I massaged the back of my neck to try to get some relief.
A warm hand settled on my neck and I dropped my hand onto my desk.
"How long have you been doing searches today beautiful?" Les asked as he continued to rub the soreness from my neck.
"I don't know, what time is it?" I asked as I bent my neck and placed my forehead on the coolness of my desk.
"1700." Les stated while still giving me a glorious neck massage.
"Real people time," I mumbled.
"It's 5 o'clock," Les laughed.
"I've been doing searches since 8am, frickin' Rodriguez," I grumbled while sitting up.
Les dropped his hand and leaned up against my desk with his legs crossed at the ankles. He crossed his well muscled, will tanned, arms across his broad chest and grinned at me. "You wanna grab some dinner together?"
"That sounds great, I'm starved."
"You ready now or do you need to finish that search?"
"I'm ready now," I stated while shutting down my computer and grabbing my purse from my desk drawer.
"Great," Les responded while placing his arm around my shoulders as we headed towards the elevator.
I leaned my head onto Lester's t-shirt clad shoulder while we rode the elevator down to the garage and went over the past couple of months in my mind. Joe and I had broken up for good and I heard through the grapevine that he had started dating someone new a few weeks ago. Ric had gone to the Miami Rangeman to finish up some business there. We had talked a couple of times since he has been gone and things are going well for him. He plans to come home sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Lester and I have become pretty close. We have become good friends. We have dinner together 3 – 4 times a week and sometimes we hang out on his couch and watch a movie. Even though I think Lester is a very attractive man, he knows that I'm not looking for anything right now and neither is he.
The elevator doors dinged open and Les guided me towards his black Ford pickup truck. "How does Chinese sound?" Les asked as we both clicked our seatbelts into place.
"Sounds like a plan." I laughed.
"You wanna eat it there or have a picnic on my couch?"
"A picnic on your couch sounds like a great idea." I stated while I leaned my head back against the leather seat of the truck.
LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS
"Beautiful, Steph, wake up." Lester whispered. "Come on beautiful, let's go eat dinner."
"Hmmm?" I questioned as I opened my sleepy eyes.
"You fell asleep. But, don't worry, I got all of your favorites. Orange chicken, fried rice, chow mein, and broccoli beef."
"Mmmm, my hero." I laughed as I stepped out of the truck and onto the hard concrete floor of the parking garage.
I followed behind Lester as he walked to his apartment on the fourth floor. As we entered his apartment I couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" Lester asked while turning to stare at me with his hazel eyes.
"You are such a boy." I stated while letting my eyes wander over the empty pizza boxes on the coffee table, the empty beer and water bottles strewn across the apartment, and of course the dirty clothes that didn't quite make it to the hamper.
"Yep, and damn proud of it," he laughed while getting paper plates from the kitchen along with a couple cold beers.
"I'm just gonna use the restroom while you get dinner ready, at least I know Ella cleans that," I joked and Lester playfully threw a pillow from the couch at my head.
When I came out of the bathroom Les had laid our dinner out on the coffee table and had the t.v. remote in his hand.
"Anything good on," I asked while fixing myself a plate and sitting down next to Les on the couch.
"Yeah, Die Hard."
"Mmm," I responded while taking my first bite of chow mein. I didn't really care what was on, I was enjoying my dinner far too much. I washed the last bite of fried rice down with my last sip of beer and leaned back into the soft couch.
"Come here," Les said while reaching out his right arm towards me.
I scooted closer to Les and he placed his arm around me.
"Thanks for being such a good friend," I whispered while leaning in to give Les a kiss on the cheek.
"Your welcome," Les answered while giving me a kiss on the top of my head.
"Les?"
"Hmmm?"
"Can I stay the night?" I asked while yawning at the same time.
"Mmmm."
"Mmmm," I responded to his mmm and snuggled closer into his warmth while drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS
I had woken up on Lester's couch this morning, alone. I figured he was already at work or at the gym. I came home to take a shower and to feed Rex. I am now back at Rangeman for another exciting day of searches.
As I entered the Rangeman building this morning I saw Tank and Bobby whispering together and when I said, "Good morning," they both responded with, "uh, hi." Then they both just walked off.
"Weird," I mumbled go myself as I continued on my way to my desk.
As I approached my desk I saw Hal was waiting for me. "Hi," I said while putting my purse in my desk drawer.
"Uh, hey Steph. "Um, I just wanted to let you know that Ranger is due back tonight around 7 and that he gave us strict orders not to bother him because he just wants to go straight to his apartment and rest."
"Okay Hal." "I got it, I won't bother him."
"Um, okay Steph, see you around," and Hal walked off.
"Why is everybody acting so weird?" I whispered to myself. "That's fine, I'll just be sure to leave here well before 7," I whispered to myself.
I settled into my long, boring day of searches and at 6 p.m. I stood, stretched, grabbed my purse, and headed for the elevator. "Wouldn't want to bother the all powerful Ranger," I mumbled to myself still not understanding why everybody was acting so strangely today.
On my way to the elevator I decided to stop by the communication room to say bye to the poor guys stuck on camera duty.
"Hey Manny and Zero," I said while shutting the door to the office behind me.
"Oh, hey Steph, how's it goin', "Zero asked while looking up at me.
"I'm just headed home and wanted to stop by and say hi and bye," I said
"Oh shit," Manny mumbled while looking at one of the small t.v.'s in the room."
"What's up?" Zero asked while turning back towards Manny.
I moved towards the camera to see what was going on. I suddenly understood why the guys wanted to make sure I wasn't there when Ranger came back tonight. I was looking at feed from the parking garage camera where Ranger was making out with a woman. Her hands were roaming all over his body and with their lips still fused together in a hot kiss I saw Ranger point his key fob at the cameras to jumble them.
I felt like my feet were superglued to the floor. I simply could not move.
"Steph, Steph," Manny and Zero were both calling my name and waving their hands in front of my face.
"What?" "Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'm just gonna go home now, yeah, see you guys in the morning."
I stepped out of the communications office and immediately began talking to myself, "Why, am I upset, of course he can see other women, we don't have a relationship. This is just silly." I moved to step on the elevator, "Wait, can't go to the parking garage cause Ric is there with his new girlfriend, that's no good." "I really have to stop talking to myself."
I stepped into the stairwell instead and after thinking for all of 2 seconds I headed towards Lester's apartment. We have been spending so much time together that we had exchanged keys a few weeks ago---thank goodness.
As I stepped into Lester's apartment I was happy that he was not home. I needed absolute quiet right now. I also suddenly felt extremely tired. I threw my purse on the couch and kicked my shoes off. I entered Les's bedroom and slid my jeans and bra off. I went into Les's closet and grabbed one of his t-shirts, I threw off my own shirt and slid into his. I slid into Lester's bed again thinking how lucky I am because I know that Ella puts fresh sheets on all the boys beds once a week.
I then proceeded to cry myself to sleep.
LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS
"Steph, baby, wake up," Les whispered while gently shaking me.
"Baby, what's wrong?" "Are you hurt?"
"I'm not hurt Les, I'm okay." I opened my eyes to find Lester intently starting at me. It was dark outside and the only light in the room was a small bedside lamp that Les must have turned on.
"Why were you crying?" Les asked while standing up from the bed. He walked into the bathroom and returned with a cold, damp washcloth.
"Oh, it's silly really. I just…..I just…."
"Oh fuck," Les stated while scrubbing his hands down his face. He sat with his head hung."
"What?" I asked, confused.
We sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Oh, oh, you know too. Everybody knew but me," I whispered while standing up from the bed.
"Steph," Les said while grabbing my arm. "I….please….just tell me what to do, what can I do?"
The look in his eyes was haunted, I have never seen him look like this.
"Hold me?" I whispered. "Please."
Lester stood and stripped out of his pants and shirt until he was clad in a pair of flannel boxers. He clicked the bedside lamp off and slid into bed. I lay down and slid my body up against Les. We lay facing each other. Lester ran his fingers gently across my face and moved his hand to the middle of my back. He gently massaged my back for a few minutes and then pulled my snuggly against him. I nestled my face into the crook of his shoulder and his neck and for the second time in one day I cried myself to sleep.
LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS
I woke up slowly and as my eyes opened I could feel how swollen my face was from crying so much yesterday. I gently moved Lester's arm from where it lay across my waist and went to use the bathroom and wash my face. The cool water felt good on my face and I used Lester's hair brush so that I didn't look too scary.
I moved from the bathroom to the kitchen where I started brewing a pot of coffee. As I clicked the switch on I felt a warm body press itself to me and two strong arms wrap themselves around me.
"Morning," Lester mumbled while placing a kiss on top of my head.
"Morning," I responded while turning to face him. "Thanks for last night. I really had not right to be so upset. It's not like Ric and I have any sort of relationship. Thanks for being there for me anyways."
Les smiled with his eyes and gave me a very thorough hug.
After Les and I had our coffee I put on my clothes from yesterday and Les took a quick shower and got dressed. He told me he wanted to take me to my apartment so I could take a shower and then he was treating me to breakfast. I was not going to say no to that offer.
Les came out of his bedroom with his dirty blond hair all wet and spiky and dressed in dark blue jeans and an olive t-shirt. "Um, Les, you look great and all but that is not Rangeman attire."
Lest grinned, "Taking the day off, and so are you." "I cleared it with Tank this morning, he's still in charge while Ranger is offline."
"Cool," I mumbled.
"Now, now, none of that beautiful. We are going to have a funtabulous day."
I grinned, "Funtabulous huh?"
"Yes, funtabulous. Now get your butt in gear cause we're out of here."
We both laughed as we walked out of Lester's apartment and towards the elevator. Les put his arm around me and as the elevator doors dinged open in the parking garage I again felt like my feet were superglued to the floor. I'm just happy Lester was there to give me a little push towards his truck.
Because, there, standing in front of Ric's turbo were Ric and the same woman from yesterday. They were making out and the women was wearing one of Ric's shirts.
Les and I were almost to his truck when Ric looked up. We locked eyes and the woman turned to look at me.
"Who is that," I heard the woman ask Ric.
"Nobody." was his answer.
Les managed to get me into his truck while I could not manage to pull my eyes away from Ric and this new woman. Les pulled out of the garage and drove towards my apartment.
