I think this may be my favorite chapter to this story. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I got writing it.
Chapter 7
Ten minutes after Lyla and Bonnie left the suite, Keith stepped out of his cold shower and dried off. He tucked the towel around his hips and looked at himself in the completely clear mirror. A mirror that was clear thanks to the temperature of his shower. He was now wide awake but noticed that he had dark rings under his eyes. He really was going to have to try to get more regular sleep, especially with school starting in less than a week. He grabbed another towel from the rack and put it over his head to start drying his hair and walked back into the bedroom. He was running through his options on what to do to help make him sleepy when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a gasp. He pushed the towel down around his neck and flung his hair back out of his face. The sight that greeted him was truly unexpected and he jumped back. "Holy shit!" came out of his mouth before he could stop it. On his previously unoccupied bed sprawled a very curvy, very naked blond who looked to be in her late teens. She had an equally surprised look on her face that quickly turned to a wicked grin once she fully processed Keith's state of undress. She thought she had hit the jackpot.
Just as Keith uttered his expletive, Reuben happened to be walking past the door. He'd just returned from his job as escort and was surprised to hear the swear word coming from Keith's mouth. Surprised enough to knock on the door and ask, "Is everything alright?"
"Uh, Reuben, I think you better get in here." Keith invited still rooted to the spot on the floor that he had stopped in upon his discovery.
Another unusual sound greeted Reuben's ears before he could reach for the doorknob. It sounded suspiciously like a muffled female shriek. While Reuben contemplated this latest oddity, Keith was witness to the unnamed female rolling off the side of the bed and thudding onto the floor away from Keith and away from the door leading into the living area of the suite. This latest sound brought Reuben quickly into the room. He saw Keith standing in a towel just outside the bathroom door with a silly grin on his face while looking at the far side of the room. Reuben followed Keith's line of sight but could not see any reason for Keith to be grinning. Just before he could ask another question, he noticed that the comforter on the bed was slowly being pulled off of the bed away from them. Reuben's hairline ascended several inches at this bizarre development.
"Ummm….Reuben, I think you may want to give the young lady a couple of minutes. In the mean time, I think I'll just put some clothes on." Keith said as he grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the dresser next to him and headed back into the bathroom.
While Reuben contemplated the quickly disappearing bedding, he was quickly joined by a sleepy Laurie and Danny. "What was that noise?" Laurie asked as she yawned into her hand.
"I'm not sure, but I intend to find out in just a second." Reuben said as he finally walked around the side of the bed to find a very embarrassed but now completely covered young lady. "What the…..how did you get in here?"
"Could you please hand me my clothes?" The female asked without really looking at him.
"Hand who, her what?" Danny asked as he flew around the side of the bed to stand next to Reuben. Reuben grabbed Danny and put his hands over his eyes but not before Danny was able to figure out what was going on. A big grin spread over his face which looked quite comical considering half of his face was now covered with Reuben's hand.
Reuben left his hand over Danny's eyes as he walked him back to the door and asked Laurie to take him out into the living area. Just as they were walking out Keith came back out of the bathroom fully clothed except for bare feet and with his wet hair combed out of his eyes. "She still here?" he asked.
"Yep, and asking for her clothes. What's going on here?" Reuben looked at Keith who looked neither guilty nor embarrassed so he was pretty sure he had nothing to do with what was happening.
"I'm not really sure. I walked out of the bathroom after my shower and there she was." As Keith was talking, Reuben noticed the young lady peek her head over the side of the bed to stare adoringly at him.
"What do you mean there she was?" Reuben was still completely baffled.
"I mean, there she was. Sprawled out on the bed in all her….'natural' glory. Surprised the heck out of me." Keith started grinning all over again as he thought about his surprise visitor and how she had looked when he first realized she was there. His grin grew when the picture of her comical roll off the bed replayed through his memory. That was a picture that was going to stick with him for a while.
"Ok, Ok, I think I understand now. Why don't you go out to the other room while I get our visitor ready to leave?" Reuben shooed Keith out the door.
"I'm going to wait outside this door for 5 minutes, young lady. You best get dressed quick and make an appearance. I'll also be notifying hotel security." Reuben addressed his latest comments at the far side of the bed. The young lady had sunk fully behind the mattress once again as soon as Keith was out of eyesight. He heard a heavy sigh just as he closed the door behind him.
"Laurie, keep an eye on this door will you? Keith, stay as far away from that door as possible." Reuben instructed as he walked towards the phone.
"What about me?" Danny asked.
"You? You stay by Keith and protect him." Reuben instructed.
"From what?" Danny was really having fun now.
"I don't know. From girls." Reuben said completely frustrated with the whole situation.
"How the heck am I supposed to do that?" Danny asked another question that he knew would really bug their Manager.
Reuben ignored him and picked up the phone. He placed a call to security who said they would send someone right up. As he hung up, he ran a hand over his face. How was he going to explain this to Shirley? And, he'd have to, he knew that. There was no way possible that the kids wouldn't tell her about this one. Keith would probably keep it a secret but Laurie and Danny would definitely share this story in all its sordid details.
Just as Reuben ran his hand down his face for a second time, Keith's bedroom door opened to admit a very pretty blond girl who was thankfully fully clothed though in such a way that little was left to the imagination. She had started this night bent on seduction and her outfit would have gone a long way in assisting her. Danny's eyes widened in awe and even Laurie did a double take on the girl's brazen attire. Her heavily made up eyes immediately found Keith on the far side of the room perched on the back of the couch and she sighed heavily again. Reuben couldn't tell if the sigh was the loss of her golden opportunity or just plain worship. Her face clearly displayed that she was completely infatuated with the young heartthrob. Keith wasn't helping matters by staring at her and grinning.
"Keith, knock it off." Reuben snapped.
"What? What am I doing?" He asked innocently but the grin stayed firmly in place.
"That. Stop that." Reuben's comments just caused Keith's grin to grow.
Laurie and Danny were starting to see the humor in this whole incident and they too had grins firmly in place noticing Reuben's frustration level grow with each passing second.
"Oh no, young lady. Freeze." Reuben was the only one who noticed that the girl was trying to inconspicuously make her way towards Keith. After all, she hadn't bribed a hotel employee with her last twenty dollars just to have her whole plan go up in smoke. She planned on getting her 'memory' that would have to sustain her through what she was sure was going to be a very mundane adult life. Besides, all of her girlfriends knew she was doing this and she was definitely going to have a 'true' story to tell them that had some kick to it. Seeing Keith in just a towel was a really good start, but she had planned for a whole lot more. Something along the lines of Keith losing that towel and joining her in bed had a good ring to it.
Just then the elevator dinged and the door opened to admit a tired looking security guard. While Reuben's attention was pulled away from her, the girl saw her chance. She kicked off her high heeled sandals for additional speed and launched herself across the room. Danny saw her coming but even with Reuben's command still fresh in his mind decided that his health was more important than protecting Keith from the girl and stepped quickly out of the way.
Keith didn't notice her coming until the last second so was not able to avoid her. She crashed into him sending him backwards over the couch and onto the floor with 100 pounds of lush female landing squarely on top of him. He was momentarily knocked breathless and she took her opportunity to kiss him to within an inch of his life. And, considering that Keith was fighting for breath to begin with he was pretty sure it wouldn't take her long. He was just about to cry 'uncle' when she was bodily lifted from him by the security guard.
Keith lay there trying to regain his breath. As soon as he did he started to laugh. He couldn't help it. The whole scene was just too ridiculous. Once Keith started laughing Laurie and Danny joined in very quickly. They too saw how hysterical the whole thing had been. Reuben just stood there with his mouth hanging open. He would never understand how young people thought.
The girl who still had no name was now almost hysterical. She'd been foiled again. She cried even harder when she realized that Keith was still just laying there. As if waiting for her to come back. She was inconsolable which made the security guard feel completely helpless.
Laurie tried very hard to still her laughter hoping to help out but it took her several times at speaking before it wasn't spoiled by laughing. Keith too was trying valiantly to still his laughter and sit up. After several more minutes, they finally subsided.
"Thank God!" Reuben said. "Now maybe we can find out what is going on around here."
"Right. Let's find out what's going on." At least Keith wasn't laughing anymore as he finally rose to his feet. However, he still wore that maddening grin.
As he made a movement as if to walk over to the girl, Reuben planted himself firmly between them and put his hand on Keith's chest. "No way. You stay far away from her."
"Reuben I was just going to try and stop her from crying so we can get some answers out of her." Keith tried walking around him.
"Keith, Reuben's right. You going over by her won't help. Let me try." Laurie offered.
Keith nodded and said, "Go ahead. I'm really curious as to how she got up here." And when, he added under his breath. He sure hoped she hadn't been spying on him and Lyla.
Laurie approached the guard and the sobbing girl and put her arm around her. "Hush, now. It's not that bad. You'll make yourself sick. Besides, my brother is definitely not worth all of these tears."
Danny walked over to try to help. "She's right you know. In fact, I can't think of anyone less worthy of your tears."
"Hey!" That statement finally wiped the grin off of Keith's face. "No need to insult me."
"Shhh…It's working." Reuben shushed him.
"Well that's flattering. She goes through a….well I'm not sure what she went through to get up here. But then she hears I'm not worth tears and she cheers right up." Keith mumbled to himself.
"There, that's better. Why don't you sit down here?" Laurie led the girl to one of the bar stools in front of the wet bar and handed her several tissues from the nearby box. The girl's pretty face was liberally streaked with mascara. "Ok, now tell me what's going on here."
It was like the flood gates opened. Once she started talking she didn't stop until the whole story spilled out.
"Well, my friend Rachel dared me to sneak into Keith's room and, of course, I had to take her up on it. After all, it was a double dog dare. And besides, it wasn't like I didn't find the idea really appealing. He's the cutest guy in the whole wide world, we all agreed." This last comment brought the grin back to Keith's face and made Danny roll his eyes rather dramatically. "In fact, after some discussion I had to remind Rachel that I was the one who'd been dared because she wanted to sneak up here too. So, anyway, I bribed one of the bellmen to let me up here and I waited in the master bedroom until he came back to the suite. I've been here since around 8:00 or so, I guess. I heard you and Danny come back but no Keith. So I waited some more. Then he comes back with two girls and…."
"Wait a second. He came to the room with two girls?" Danny couldn't help but interrupt on that one.
"Well, he wasn't with both of them, the other one was older and with him." She motioned at Reuben and then continued. "After he" motioning at Reuben again, "left with both girls I saw Keith go into the other room that wasn't occupied. I snuck in, took my clothes off and that's where he found me. But then HE," motioning at Reuben again, "came along and ruined the whole thing. Now what in the world am I supposed to tell Rachel?" She trailed off with a heavy sigh.
"What was the name of the bellman you bribed?" The security guard finally piped up. To this point he had just been an avid listener.
"I didn't get a name." She said.
"What did he look like?" He tried again to identify the problem.
"He was tall, had blond hair, blue eyes and a really wimpy mustache." She described her accomplice.
"That would be Hank. Don't worry Mr. Kincaid. By morning this will all be handled. By the way, young lady, what's your name? We'll need to call your parents." The security guard's words sent the young lady back into hysterics.
The security guard guided the hysterical girl onto the elevator and told Reuben he'd give him an update when he had one.
As the doors closed, Reuben muttered, "What else? Nothing has gone as expected on this whole vacation. And, just what has been a vacation about this whole trip anyway? Just another nail in my coffin; the one that Shirley is sure to bury me in come tomorrow. I wonder who'll write my eulogy."
They all stared at their manager as he continued to mumble until Danny asked, "Mr. Kincaid, are you alright?"
"What?" Reuben appeared to come out of some sort of trance. "Yeah, sure kid, I'm fine. How about you, are you all fine?"
"Sure we are." Laurie assured him as she looked at him as if he weren't all there.
"Well, then let's all get some sleep. It's, wow, it's 3:00 am. Another thing for your mother to be upset at me for. Alright, that's it. Everyone off to bed." Reuben started shooing them towards their rooms.
Despite everything, they all slept very deeply and far into the morning.
xoxo
Keith had called Lyla from bed and they talked for about a half an hour before Keith figured he better get moving as his Mom and Chris and Tracy would be arriving in a little over an hour. "I'll call you later – after everything's been settled. We'll make plans for tonight. How does that sound?"
"Lovely. I'll talk to you later." Lyla rang off and figured she had several hours to kill before she'd hear from Keith again. She called Bonnie and they made plans to go shopping for a few hours.
They were just cleaning up after another room service meal when the elevator door opened to admit a frazzled looking Shirley with the two youngest Partridges. "What in the world is going on around here? There is an absolutely crazy crowd out front chanting Keith's name. We almost got trampled once some of them realized who we were. It's only thanks to a quick thinking group of security people that we're even here all in one piece." She paused for a breath but continued when everyone just looked at her with slightly guilty looks on their face. "Alright, spit it out."
When no one offered up any information willingly, she turned to Danny, "Danny, start talking."
She knew he was her best bet. He loved to get other people in trouble. And, if she wasn't missing her bet, the three oldest occupants of the room were all very guilty of something. She just wasn't sure what that something was.
Danny proceeded to tell her the whole story of Kip's performance requirements and how the night went. He left out big chunks of information, but it was a very long story and he was pretty sure he had hit the high points.
Shirley moved her eyes from person to person and finally lighted on Reuben, "That's a pretty big piece of information you left out when you told me about Kip's expectations. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Reuben had been squirming since she'd walked in. He made a concerted effort now to draw himself up and put the best possible spin on the situation that he could. "Well, the good news is that Kip has agreed to produce your next album."
"So, the ends justify the means?" Shirley asked with a raised brow.
"Yes?" Reuben answered questioningly. He continued quickly when he saw Shirley about to explode. "Seriously, Shirley. Look at them. They're all fine. Not a scratch on them. Physically and emotionally whole. In fact, Keith is a stronger performer for everything he's been through and Laurie is too. Danny was never put in an iffy situation, not once."
Reuben's comments drew Shirley's eyes back to her kids who were all standing closely together around the table they had just shared a meal. She looked them over closely and could see no ill effects from their latest adventure. In fact, she could see a sparkle in their eyes as if they had just shared a very exciting and thoroughly satisfying adventure.
"You're truly all ok?" She asked them.
"Mom, we're fine." Laurie assured her.
"Sure Mom, we're great!" Keith added. "And, wait 'til you meet and talk with Kip. You'll be impressed Mom. We'll sell more records than you could ever imagine."
These comments seemed to mollify her fears and she finally headed over and hugged and kissed each one of her 'babies'. If she hugged each of them longer than she ever had before no one mentioned it.
After pulling back from Keith, she glanced over to see a very pretty and unfamiliar pair of shoes lying haphazardly on the floor. "Whose shoes are those?"
As four sets of eyes glanced at the mystery girl's shoes that had been forgotten by everyone as she was taken out of the suite last night, a heavy silence filled the room.
"Well, Mom, why don't you come and sit down. There are parts of the story that Danny missed in the first telling." Laurie grabbed her mom's arm and started to lead her over to the sofa. "It really is quite the story. Wouldn't you say so, Keith?"
"Yeah, quite the story alright. You should definitely sit down though. It's pretty long." Keith grabbed her other arm and her two eldest children led Shirley to the sofa to sit her down for the telling.
Shirley's eyes proceeded to widen in shock, darken in anger and glow with pride at different times during the course of the telling of their adventure. Keith, Laurie and Danny took turns relaying parts of the story, each one breaking in when they felt an important detail was missed by the current story teller. After Shirley listened quietly, her eyes finally crinkled in laughter as the story concluded with the almost farcical events of the previous nights ending. She knew that certain parts were glossed over in deference to Chris and Tracy's presence but she was sure that by the end of the telling she had the majority of the facts. She'd have Laurie fill her in completely when they had some time alone.
"Oh my!" Shirley finally said after she was able to still her laughter. "I almost wish I hadn't missed parts of that. Other parts I'm glad I did miss. However, Mr. Randall has some explaining to do – minors in his dance club. What was he thinking? And, you Reuben, what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that Keith would have never forgiven me if I didn't let him talk to John Lennon for more than 5 minutes. Come on, Shirley, be honest. You'd have done the same thing." And, after Shirley's expression didn't change, "Right?"
Eventually Shirley had to ruefully admit, "You're probably right. In fact, I would have loved the opportunity to meet John Lennon myself. Was Yoko along?"
xoxo
After the group discussion continued for several more minutes amid much laughter at Danny's unique way of telling stories and Reuben's often offended reaction to his version, Shirley finally asked the pertinent question that everyone had been avoiding for more than a day. "How in the world are we supposed to enjoy our vacation with that crowd outside?"
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that myself." Reuben admitted. "I guess we have to find somewhere else to go. Somewhere obviously more private."
As Reuben finished his comments the phone rang. Danny jumped up to answer it with "Hello. Partridge Funny Farm. If you're crazy enough, we have room for you...Oh, Mr. Randall…..Yes, my Mom has arrived……Sure let me put her on"
"Oh Danny." Shirley lightly rebuked him as she grabbed the phone. "Hello, Mr. Randall……Yes, I'd love to speak to you…..In our suite would be best considering the crowd…..15 minutes it is."
The conversation, though Reuben was very unsure of its outcome considering Shirley's previous anger, went exceptionally well. Kip quickly won Shirley over. It didn't hurt that he praised the talent of Keith and Laurie in such glowing terms that she was soon flushed with parental pride. It was gratifying to hear someone else think as highly of her children as she did.
Kip also won Shirley's respect by bringing up the family's vacation situation and offering a solution. He had a very nice home in Naples that would be unoccupied for the remainder of the week as he traveled for business. He would fly them over on his private jet, introduce them to the house staff and then leave on his business trip. He'd return on Saturday morning to fly them back to Miami to catch their flight home.
The plans were deemed perfect by everyone but Keith who knew he wouldn't be able to spend any time with Lyla if he wasn't in Miami. But, he was also smart enough to realize that he wasn't really going to be able to spend time with her as he wouldn't be able to leave the room so long as that crowd remained. He was between a rock and a hard place on this one. So, Naples it was.
He called her room before they left but she wasn't back from her shopping trip with Bonnie yet. He didn't want to leave a message telling anyone where he was going, so he asked Reuben to relay a message through Bonnie for him. He didn't like the impersonal feeling it gave, but he had no choice as they were leaving immediately for the airport.
