Chapter 5

Alex awoke the next morning snuggled in her familiar bed, but as she reluctantly pried her eyes open that sense of familiarity faded as quickly as the dust motes falling through the sunrays that managed to sneak in the Venetian blinds. Oh yeah, another day in Cali, she thought. No, no she quickly rebuked herself – the first day of the rest of your life- gotta think positive like those annoying self help calendars always directed.

Let's go through the to-do list, she mused, bunching the pillows behind her head. I should get back to Skip about ordering those wheels, since Teddy at Cadillac Wheels had paid her fare to California to do just that. "Alex Boylan – Saleswoman" she snickered aloud. No, that wasn't what she had wanted to be when she grew up. Of course she hadn't figured that the first day of her grown up life was going to pop up so quickly. But here it was and the need to make some money to support that life wasn't going to wait for more careful consideration. So, what was she good at? She squirmed in her bed and flashed back to other times spent there. Alex smiled and thought yeah there's that but it's illegal to charge. How bout music? Barkeeping? These were the things that she had been exposed to growing up. "Alex Boylan – Rock Star" "Alex Boylan- Serving Wench?" Too much to think about before coffee, she decided, heading out to the kitchen.

Looking through the back screen door Alex was shocked to see a blond head pop out of her empty pool, only to glide right back out of sight. "What the hell?" she blurted out.

"Well good morning sleepyhead. What's for breakfast?" leered a wet-suit clad Jay, taking in Alex's baby-doll pajama clad figure.

"What are doing in my backyard, in my pool, in my pool with no water, yet with your hair all soaking wet, first thing in the morning, in that plastic suit, just, just what?" Alex sputtered as each degree of absurdity hit her.

"Whoa, way too many questions to answer. Let's just say I so enjoyed our little dinner date last night so much that I decided to pick it up with breakfast, since you didn't have the good sense to invite me to spend the night." Jay said strolling nonchalantly towards the back door. "And if you look as good out of that nightgown as you do in it, we wasted one night of our lives."

Alex, realizing how underdressed she was, put her hand out in a stop motion. "Stay right there, I'm going to get changed."

"See, I knew you'd want me to stay" Jay said admiring her retreating assets through the screen door. "Don't change on my account."

Alex came back into the kitchen a few minutes later dressed in shorts and a CBGB's tee shirt, although thinking about the look on Jay's face she kinda wished she had a turtle neck or maybe even a burka. "Look, I'm from New York, I'm used to finding pigeons, not drowned rats outside my door first thing in the morning. What are you doing here?" Alex asked, opening the door nonetheless.

"You were so anxious to go out to dinner with Stacy last night, you didn't give me a chance to check out your pool-which is gnarly by the way." said Jay making himself comfortable at the kitchen table. "The boyz are gonna love riding it."

"You ride skateboards in empty pools?" Alex asked.

"With these new wheels, we'll be surfin' the hell out of the pools" he said with a look of great anticipation.

"And actual surfing-on water-that would explain the wet hair and plastic clothes?" asked Alex trying to make sense of it all still without benefit of caffeine.

"Uh-huh" Jay agreed, sounding like he was explaining life to a four year old. "You see we start out surfing early- before dawn-when the waves are good. After they blow out, we switch to skating- schoolyards mostly- but pools whenever we can. And there not plastic clothes it's called a wet suit-to keep you warm in the water. It's all good."

Alex noticed that when Jay was talking about something close to his heart, other than trying to get in someone's pants, he was really kind of engaging, not to mention his genuine smile lit up his face. "Do you want some coffee?" she ventured.

"Sure, and some eggs would be great" Jay said without thinking. "Anyways, Skip was surfing the cove this morning and he was saying he has to talk to you about ordering more urethane wheels. I told him since I was coming over; I'd pass along the message."

"First off, there aren't going to be any eggs-this restaurant hasn't quite opened for business yet, and secondly, you told Skip you'd be coming over? Don't you think it might have been a good idea to tell me you were coming over?" Alex stopped fixing coffee and stared at Jay waiting for an answer.

Jay rested his elbow on the table and put his chin on his hand, making an effort to look like he was pondering a difficult question. "Well, I guess if I had told you I was coming- ya would've had a chance to pick up some eggs, but then again, you would've changed out of that fine little nightie, wouldn't you have?" Jay winked. "So, all in all I think it's better I just came over for our little chat. And ya know, oddly, Stacy said "you're going where?" to me in that same tone of voice that you just used. Is that coffee ready?" Jay said looking very happy with his troublemaking.

Alex tried to keep her chin from dropping right down into the coffee pot. She had to give Jay one thing he certainly wasn't boring. While she was trying to formulate any kind of response to this new information, the door bell buzzed. She jumped from the sound, but Jay, being naturally athletic or maybe just hyperactive, jumped towards the front door.

"I got it." Jay called heading for her front door. "Hey, Stace, imagine meeting you here" Jay smiled as he opened the front door.