Caroline and the Greeting Card Convention

Chapter 4

Primavera is a fine dining establishment within Caesars, serving both Northern and Southern Italian specialties. An exclusive place, only open from 8-11 Fridays through Tuesdays, they had made reservations for nine, so they wouldn't have to wait too long between dinner and the show at The Comedy Stop, which began at 11:15. Del was wearing a suit. Caroline had gone shopping and had bought a tasteful, elegant, yet especially revealing dress for the occasion. When they arrived, they passed through the Garden of the Gods, a pool complex surrounding the entire restaurant. Her first time here, Caroline looked around. The décor was in a pistachio green and bright pink color scheme. Every table featured fan-back chairs. The maitre 'd showed them to a table surrounded by four fan-back chairs.

After they were seated, Del commented "Wow! You look great tonight, Caroline!"

"Why thank you, Del" she smiled. "You two-timing rat!"

Then he remarked "Doesn't this seem a little large for the two of us?"

Just then, Donna, Del's 'cousin' arrived. Caroline remarked "Oh... Did I forget to mention? I ran into Donna and was able to talk her into joining us."

"Uh-oh" thought Del, forcing a smile, as Donna seated herself to Del's right.

Right afterwards, Richard also appeared. Caroline added "Oh... I also invited Richard. We don't want to have an odd number for dinner".

"Hi Del, Caroline... Oh, you must be Del's cousin, Donna. Hi, I'm Richard Karinsky" Richard introduced himself, as he seated himself between the two women, facing Del.

After ordering, Donna started flirting with Del. Under the table, she rested her hand on Del's knee, then started playing footsie. Del, being Del, started to respond.

"Oh Del" Caroline inwardly giggled. "I knew it wouldn't be too long before 'little Del' took over... Alright Caroline! Grim up! Scowl! Here we go..."

"Oww...!" Del yelped, as Caroline gave him a swift, sharp kick under the table to his left shin. "Caroline, why did you... oh."

Embarrassed, Del whispered in Donna's ear "Donna, you'd better cool it. Normally, I'd love this, but my girlfriend's here... What are you doing here anyway?"

Donna whispered back "I'm sorry Del. I ran into Caroline and she backed me into a corner. I couldn't get out of it... And as for now, you just ooze so much charm, I can't help myself when you're around."

Flattered, Del leaned towards Donna and began to whisper back "Yeah, well..."

"Hey!" Caroline, pretending annoyance with the whispering, glared at Del, warning him of another kick. Del quickly leaned away from Donna.

Pretending to try to lower the tension, but actually wanting to make Del sweat about his relationship with his 'cousin', Caroline asked "So, how exactly are you two related?"

Del and Donna both hesitated, each waiting for the other to answer. Both, hearing no answer from the other, spoke at once. "My mother and Donna's mother are cousins" said Del, while Donna responded "My mother and Del's father are cousins".

With his usual dry wit, Richard softly rejoined "So… that explains it… inbreeding."

As Caroline giggled and Richard softly chuckled, Del politely laughed, but thought "I don't get it".

......

After dinner, Donna again started making a play for Del. She started playing footsie again, then put her hand on Del's right knee... and started moving upward...

"Oh, Mama!" Del thought, as he turned and smiled at Donna.

"Oww!" Del yelped, as Caroline gave him a second kick to the shin. "Man, this is fun!" Caroline gleefully thought, as she put on her best scowl for Del. "Alright, time for phase two" she thought, as she turned and reached out to touch Richard's hand.

The effect of that slight touch on Richard was electric. He had been thinking about their earlier kiss for hours.

Trying to look as if she were whispering sweet nothings into his ear, Caroline whispered "How do you think it's going?"

Struggling to control himself, Richard choked out "Fine".

"Get ready for more" Caroline giggled. She started playing her own game of footsie, then placed her hand on his right knee.

"God, I hope she doesn't go any higher. She's bound to notice how aroused I am" thought Richard.

Their waiter approached and asked "Dessert, anyone?"

"I think I'm ready for dessert right now. Aren't you Richard?" Then Caroline whispered in his ear "Get ready for a kiss."

Caroline kissed Richard, but was not prepared for the response. Richard had been stewing over their last kiss for hours, about how he hadn't responded. Over and over in his mind, he had been thinking about what he would do if he got a second chance.

"Mmm… Wow…!" a surprised Caroline thought. "Mmm… Richard…?! This is Richard…?! What's going on…? Mmm… Oh, he must just be trying to make it look good, I know he doesn't care for Del. Mmm… I don't care what the reason is, this feels great! I'm goin' for some tongue!"

Del told the waiter, who was watching the scene "Uhh... no dessert, thanks. And please, just charge the meal to my room, okay?" The waiter nodded as he left.

Del thought "Man, this is getting out of hand. I thought Caroline was just trying to get back at me for Donna, with the closest man around. But now… I'm not so sure. I'd better do something, quick!"

Del turned to Donna "Hey cousin, it's been great seeing you again. But..." Del pulled out an envelope from his inside coat pocket "... Caroline and I have to go to the Tropicana. We have these tickets to see Seinfeld's act. It's less than a couple of miles away, but it starts pretty soon, so we'd better be going."

Caroline smiled mischievously "Man, phase three is gonna be even easier than I thought." After Donna's agreement to go along with her plan, instead of getting a third ticket to see Seinfeld for Richard, she had planned to go with Richard instead of with Del. "I was gonna demand the tickets from Del. But now..."

Caroline snatched the envelope that Del was showing to Donna. "Del... you haven't seen your cousin in such a long time. And you two seem to be getting along so well together. 'Cousins' seem to do that in your family. Why don't you spend more time with her? Richard can accompany me to The Comedy Stop. You don't mind, do you Richard?"

"Uh... no. I like Seinfeld" Richard responded.

"Good. It's settled" smiled Caroline.

Del looked at Caroline, turned to Donna, then back to Caroline and sighed. "Alright. Let's go."

As they left, Caroline purposely put her arm in Richard's. "Man" she thought. "I know Richard has a tight ass. I never noticed before what nice biceps he has."

******

Caroline and Richard were seated at a table at The Comedy Stop in the Tropicana hotel. It had the atmosphere of an intimate lounge, conducive to interaction between performer and audience. Both Caroline and Richard detested the fact the 11:15 show was a 'smoking' performance, but it couldn't be helped. The earlier 'non-smoking' performance had conflicted with their dinner reservations. Three comedians appeared in every show and Jerry Seinfeld was the headliner that night. Being the headliner, he was scheduled to appear last. Caroline and Richard were conversing prior to the first comedian's appearance.

"Caroline, I want to thank you for inviting me to watch Seinfeld perform. I really enjoy his humor."

"You're welcome, Richard. Besides" Caroline giggled, "Del paid for our tickets… Richard, if you don't mind me asking,… Besides sarcasm, your sense of humor, seems a bit, uh…"

"Nonexistent?"

"Well, I was going to say 'underdeveloped', but yeah… Anyway, I'm surprised that you enjoy stand up comedy, it seems so unlike you."

"Well Caroline, 'enjoy' might be a bit strong… let's just say I developed a taste for it when I was younger, due to uh… circumstances."

When Caroline raised a questioning eyebrow at him, Richard replied "I don't care to talk about it."

"Okay Richard, I don't want to pry." On those words, Richard gagged slightly, 'cause he knew that Caroline loved to pry into other people's business. Caroline scanned the back of the room, then quickly snapped her head forward and whispered to Richard "Richard! Eyes front! I just saw Del in the back of the room." Phase three of Caroline's plan was in operation. Making Del jealous in the restaurant, she planned to have him follow them to The Comedy Stop, to spy on herself and Richard. Just in case Del didn't think of it, she would have Donna subtly 'suggest' it. "Great!" Caroline thought. "Del may be unsure if we were acting in the restaurant, but now he'll think he's seeing the 'real' story – hah!"

"Okay Richard, we're up. Don't forget – this time we want to act more natural, as if we're two people who care for each other, out to enjoy a show. Not the 'in your face' stuff we showed Del in the restaurant." "Although" thought Caroline "I have to admit – I really enjoyed that."

Caroline scooched her chair closer to Richard's. Caroline gave a quick head gesture, Richard put his arm around her, and she snuggled in close. "I don't have to act" thought Richard. "Who'd of thought – certainly not me, even yesterday – that I – I – I like Caroline?" With his arm, he brought Caroline in closer.

Caroline looked up and grinned at Richard. "Are you comfortable?" she asked. Richard nodded. "This feels nice" thought Caroline. "Richard has a nice body. And back in the restaurant, that kiss…?"

Del tried to be as inconspicuous as he could in the intimate space, sitting as far away from Caroline and Richard as possible, hiding most of his face with his hand. As Del 'secretly' spied on the two lovebirds, he thought "Oh man! Well, at least they're not kissing. But in some ways, this is even worse! I gotta do something!" Del hurried out to the lobby to place a phone call to Caesars' concierge. "I hope this works" he thought.

******

The hotel elevator reached the floor of Caroline, Richard, and Del's rooms. Caroline and Richard got off and stopped by her door.

"Well Richard, I want to thank you. You did a really great job."

"Caroline, any time you want to pay someone to eat at a great restaurant, then go out and see one of America's top comics, just give me a call" he quipped. "Actually, the best part for me was, I think it actually caused Del some pain."

"I hope so… I had to practice those kicks!" Caroline grinned. They gazed at each other awkwardly, then Caroline added "Well, thanks again, Richard. I'll see you at the booth tomorrow."

Richard turned to go, as Caroline inserted her key card in her door. As she opened it, she gasped and shouted "Richard, come here! You have to see this!"

Richard entered Caroline's room just behind her and beheld red roses strewn in several locations throughout the room. "Look!" cried Caroline. "There's a card with the roses on the bed!" She opened it and read

"Care,

Can you ever forgive me for being such an idiot?

Please, let's make up tomorrow.

Love,

          Del"

Caroline fairly glowed. "This is so sweet!" Then she triumphantly threw her arms up in the air. "Yes!! My plan actually worked! C'mon, Richard, let's celebrate!"

Richard was actually somewhat disappointed. "Oh, I don't know Caroline…"

"Oh, c'mon! One toast. Get a bottle of champagne out of the mini-bar and open it. I'll get some glasses."

"Oh, alright" Richard muttered. Richard got the champagne out and inserted the corkscrew. But when he popped the cork, champagne gushed all over his suit and Caroline's dress. "Oh, damn!" Richard swore.

"Oh, Richard. I can see you don't have much experience with champagne" Caroline giggled. "It's no big deal." She went to the closet, fished out two complimentary bathrobes provided by the hotel, and tossed one to Richard. "Here. Go take a shower. We're on the same floor, you can walk to your room in this robe. And throw your wet clothes out the bathroom door before you turn on the water. I'll call down for the hotel to pick up a rush dry cleaning job. Cassidy Greetings will pay. Our clothes'll be ready before the convention ends tomorrow."

"Okay" Richard replied, as he entered Caroline's bathroom.

Later, Richard was showering, having already thrown out his clothes. Caroline had also undressed, wearing just the robe. As Caroline waited, she looked around the room, still amazed by the roses. Then she heard a knock on the door. Unlike at her loft, she had locked and chained it – she had heard stories about hotels. Caroline opened the door a crack and saw a bellhop.

"I'm from the hotel, ma'am. You have a rush dry cleaning job?"

"Yes, just a second." She picked up the plastic bags provided for hotel laundry, unchained the door, and handed them to the bellhop. "Now, I've marked on the ticket that we will have already checked out by the time these are ready and that they should be delivered to the front desk. We'll pick them up before we leave the convention tomorrow. And here" Caroline said, as she handed the bellhop a tip.

"Thank you, ma'am" the bellhop said as he departed.

"'Ma'am'. I don't know that I like that. Makes me feel old" thought Caroline as she rechained the door.

A few seconds later, Caroline heard another knock on the door. "Must be the bellhop. He probably forgot something." Caroline opened the door a crack.

"Del!"