Author's Note:
This story has Lester's POV throughout. Chapter one involves Lester and Hal. Chapter 2 will see those two again plus a little bit of Stephanie and Ranger.
Ch 1 - The Issue
And … done! Lester Santos saved and closed two documents and a spreadsheet before shutting down his computer. He stretched his arms up then out to the sides, trying to loosen the muscles in his shoulders and upper back. Damn paperwork. He unfolded his entire 6 feet 4 inches from the chair. Once he was standing, he stretched a bit more and checked the time. Not quite 9:00 p.m. So much for his shift ending at six.
He strolled through the fifth floor control room, nodding at the guys on the night shift. He headed for the stairway and moved lightly down the stairs. It was a Thursday night so he didn't have anything planned beyond a shower, some ice cream, and video games. He exited the stairwell onto the fourth floor where the resident Rangemen were housed.
He wasn't surprised to see someone else in the hallway but he was surprised to see who it was. Hal was supposed to be on a date in … um … Newark? Edison? Lester had seen him on the monitor heading out around 7:00. Why was he walking ahead of Lester, now, heading for his apartment? Alone?
When he left, Hal was in gray dress slacks and black dress shoes. The cuffs of his slate blue button-up shirt were rolled back to mid forearm. The top two buttons of the shirt were open. On the monitor, Lester had seen the chunky diving watch that Hal favored on his left wrist and an equally chunky silver chain bracelet was on his right. Judging from the spring in his step as he headed for his vehicle, Hal was feeling as good as he looked.
If Lester remembered correctly, Hal was dining with a woman he'd met through an online dating site. They were meeting in person for the first time. Since reservations were for 8:00 p.m. and it was barely 9:00 p.m. now, Lester assumed it had not gone well. That was reinforced by Hal's head down, shoulders slumped posture, and slow gait. He was still dressed up nicely in the same outfit he had left in. That ruled out car accidents, shootings, fist fights, and the like.
Lester lengthened his stride to catch up to Hal who flinched, startled, when Lester called his name.
"Hey, man. What are you doing back already?" Lester had never seen Hal look so dejected.
"I don't know what the hell happened." Hal sounded defeated. "I just want to be alone."
"No, you don't." Lester shook his head, grabbing Hal by the upper arm. "If you sit in your apartment, you're just gonna stew about whatever it is. What you need is a beer and a friend to tell your story to." Lester knew from bitter experience that talking something out right away could be helpful. He was always willing to lend an ear to anyone that needed it.
Hal seemed reluctant but didn't protest when Lester dragged him past Hal's door to his own. Once inside, Lester took off his boots, setting them under the console table in the entryway. Next, he dumped the contents of his pockets into the bowl on the table. Hal slipped off his dress shoes, put them next to Lester's boots, and followed Lester to the kitchen.
Lester opened the fridge and grabbed two bottles, handing one to Hal. He gestured to the couch. "Let's get settled then you can tell Uncle Les all about it."
They sat on opposite ends of the black leather sofa. Each man opened his own bottle. Lester took a good swallow of the cold brew. In a very un-Hal-like move, Hal chugged back half the bottle at once. Not a good sign.
In the field, Hal was a damn good soldier. Full of confidence. Competent. Solid. Unwavering. Lester and the rest of Rangeman's Core Team had worked with him more than once on joint ops that called for SEALS. All of them would gladly have him on a team again.
Downtime Hal, however, was a big delicate teddy bear. Hurting him would be like kicking a puppy. Who does that? Apparently, this woman did. Did she stand him up? Leave him sitting there waiting? Lester knew how awful that felt. He could feel himself getting mad at the woman and had to remind himself to wait for the story.
When it didn't seem like Hal was going to talk, Lester gave a verbal nudge. "So, did she ghost you?"
Hal shook his head. "No, she showed up right on time. Looked just like her photo too. I waited at the hostess station so that we could walk to the table together. We were looking at our menus and talking a little when I noticed her left hand. She had a wedding band and engagement ring on her ring finger.
"I pointed to the rings. I was trying to be tactful. I mean, what if she was widowed and really attached to the rings but trying to move on?" Hal took another drink, just one swallow this time, then picked at the label on the bottle. "She'd never said anything remotely like that in our messages but, you know, I was trying to make sense of this oddity.
"I said, 'I see you wear your wedding rings'. She looked surprised and said of course she did. She was married. I asked her what she was doing on a date with me if she was married. And she asked why it was suddenly an issue. I said cheating on a spouse would always be an issue. And she said, 'Is that why you agreed to meet? So you could call me a cheater to my face?' And I said if I'd known I never would have agreed to meet at all."
Lester felt the pit of his stomach roil on Hal's behalf. What the fuck? Lester hated cheaters. Despised them. He'd found that most people who'd been cheated on by someone who they thought was special felt that way. From her actions and her attitude, this woman sounded like a definite puppy-kicker.
"And she got mad and walked out on me, like I'm the one who did something wrong. I mean …" Hal huffed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. "She made a big racket, stood up, flung her napkin onto the table, and then went storming out. The whole restaurant turned to watch. It was really embarrassing." Hal's face pinked up at the memory.
"I waited a few minutes to make sure she'd be out of the parking lot before I tossed a couple of twenties on the table. I tried to act like it was no big deal but the whole way through the restaurant, I could see everyone acting like they weren't watching me." He sighed then took a couple more swallows of beer. "I swear I could feel their eyes all the way to my car."
"Shit, man. That sucks." Lester truly sympathized. The only thing worse than a bad date was a public spectacle. Both were a blow to any guy's confidence but at least one of those was private. "Was there anything in her messages or her profile that would have hinted at a husband?"
"No." Hal shrugged. "I mean, the profile was short and to the point. Age and gender, and the distance from Newark she was willing to travel. She has a Master's Degree in business and doesn't like basketball. I was intrigued by the Master's Degree. You know me – I like a good conversation. Well, if it's with the right person and the right subject."
Another swig from the bottle and he continued. "I'm not all that big on basketball myself so that didn't matter. Now if she didn't like hockey, that'd be a different matter altogether." Hal attempted a smile but grimaced instead. "A lot of the women on the site really don't like basketball at all but some of them like Lord of the Rings. You know what a big fan of that I am. Maybe next time I'll message one of them."
Lester's brain had gotten stuck on basketball. That was an oddly specific thing to show up on multiple profiles. Why not sports in general? Or list other sports individually? Why just basketball? And why was it always negative?
Curious, Lester asked Hal to point out that information in her profile. Hal set the bottle between his knees and took out his phone. He quickly brought up the app and the page he wanted. He showed it to Lester.
Hal was right. The profile was short. Not much in there to get confused about. Maybe. What if those acronyms didn't mean what he and Hal thought they did? After all, Hal was new to online dating, and Lester was still doing a catch and release program out in the wilds of the New Jersey club scene. He had a bad feeling about this. Using his own phone, Lester searched for online dating acronyms then looked for MBA and BB.
Uh-oh.
"There's a lot of nurses who work at drug treatment facilities," Hal continued. "Oh! Some of them enjoy fixing things. Like this one." He scrolled a bit then tapped the screen a couple of times. "See? She's 'into field-level repair'. A woman who can take care of her home or vehicle maintenance herself is kind of hot." Hal's smile was small as if he was embarrassed to admit that.
Lester might not be completely familiar with all the online acronyms, but he was certain that whatever FLR stood for, it wasn't Field-Level Repair. That was a military status for vehicle and equipment repair. It didn't seem likely that a civilian would casually use that. He looked that up next. Yeah. Definitely not that.
"Show me one of those nurses."
"See?" Hal pulled up another profile and pointed to the acronyms. "Drug Treatment Facility, Registered Nurse."
Okay, those he already knew. Lester paused. How best to put this? "Hal, buddy, I think you and that website are speaking two different languages."
"What do you mean?' Hal nearly inverted the bottle getting the last drops of beer, then set it back in his lap.
Lester took a deep breath, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. "DTF stands for Down To Fuck and RN means Right Now. That right there is a woman looking for some hot loving and nothing else and the sooner she gets it the better."
"What?" Hal's eyes opened wide and the pale pink blush that had finally faded returned to cover his cheeks.
Reading from his phone, Lester continued. "MBA isn't a degree. It means she's married but available. And it's not basketball that the ladies are so dead set against, but barebacking. You know, sex without a condom?"
Hal managed to look simultaneously confused, embarrassed, and horrified. His blush intensified to a deep rose color and moisture popped up along his forehead.
"And while you night be thinking of field-level repairs from your stint in the motor pool in the Navy, in this context FLR stands for Female Led Relationship. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Whatever works for a couple is their business.
"Hell, I know at least two guys who are happy to let their wives handle things. They said that active duty and deployment was stressful enough and that having a wife who liked to take care of everything else was a blessing." He made a mental note to call Brian and Felix this weekend. It had been too long since they'd all been in touch.
"But if … Why would … Who … Isn't …" Hal stuttered his way through the beginning of several different questions then sighed. "I thought this site was for dating. If all I wanted was sex I'd just hit the clubs."
Lester nodded. Hal might be quiet and a little nervous in person, but he was good looking and came off as sweet and sincere which, to be fair, he really was. Lester had seen him score time and again.
"I gotcha. And it can be used to find a special person. First you gotta learn the lingo." Lester checked his phone again. "You said that the Lord of the Rings was fairly popular, right?"
Hal nodded.
"I bet they left out the 'o' and put LTR instead, right?"
Hal nodded again.
"That's what you're looking for." He turned his phone to show Hal the screen. "It stands for Long Term Relationship. Stick with those. Avoid the DTFs and MBAs and for God's sake, learn the acronyms."
"I will. I swear." Hal put his hands up and then made a face. "I better find out what I did wrong in my profile. I've gotten a handful of angry messages because my profile says I'm not in the FFA anymore. I bet that doesn't stand for Future Farmers of America."
Lester scrolled. "Fat Female Admirer." He was puzzled. "That's not bad. Well, except for using the word fat. That's harsh. Who doesn't love a curvy woman? Some of the best times I've had were with ladies on the robust side of voluptuous. Why would you get nasty grams for that?"
Hal groaned. He showed Lester his profile page, pointing out the phrase with FFA in it.
"...heavily involved with FFA in high school, but once I joined the military I quickly left all that behind for better, more exciting things…"
Lester sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Ouch. Yeah. I get where they're coming from. Just spell out the full name of the organization and you should be okay. And put a picture on there. Let the ladies see that handsome face and they'll be flocking to you in no time."
~ ~ To Be Continued ~ ~
End Note
I had to look up all the acronyms and holy cow, y'all! It really is a whole language on its own.
