---

 

Part 34

“ROBBYN!”

There standing on our front porch, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands is Robbyn.

“Ohmygod, how did you get here? When did you get here? I can’t believe you’re here. Ohmygod!” And then Robbyn and I are hugging and crying and bouncing up and down and I just don’t want to let her go.

“Surprise! Are you surprised? I bet you are. You should just see your face. I should have had my camera ready, your look is just priceless. Ohmygod, I can’t believe that I’m finally here. I’ve been travelling for like forever. You look fantastic. My god you’ve changed so much. This is soo great, we totally surprised you didn’t we? I knew we would. Hee-hee.”

“So why aren’t you in Europe? Are your folks here too? Where are they? This is soo great; I can’t believe you’re really here. Surprised, me? Heck yeah I’m surprised. Ohmygod!”

“GIRLS!”

Robbyn and I both stop talking and turn and there’s Mom with an amused look on her face. “Lordy, don’t get two teenage girls started like that! Alex, why don’t you let Robbyn come inside?”

“Oh, OH! I’m sorry. Well come inside, come inside. So when did you get here? Why didn’t anyone tell me you were coming? Are your folks going to be here? My god you look fantastic! I love what you did to your hair: that shoulder-grazing bob you got is a total dream, I love the new color and that blouse is gorgeous. You’re going to have to let me try it on. Geeze I can’t wait to get you all caught up on what’s been happening. You just won’t believe it, you just won’t. Why are you laughing?”

And she was too. Not only her, but Mom was laughing as well.

“What’s so funny, you two?”

Robbyn points at me amid her laughter and says, “You are, you sound like me.”

I pause and think on just how I’ve been acting and I start to laugh, too, as I did sound just like her.

“Okay, you got me there, but you being here, you did, you totally surprised me so I think I have a right to babble on a bit.”

“Hey, I don’t babble.”

“Welllll, sometimes. Anyway, let me introduce you to some people.”

Laughing, I lead her into the family room where everyone is still waiting.

“Robbyn, you of course know Mom and Dad and my brothers. This is Ellen my sister and this is John and Romona Dempsey. They’re the grandparents of this little beauty and my littlest BFF, Elizabeth Morgan. Everyone, this is my very best friend, Robbyn Anderson. Ohmygod, I still can’t believe you’re here.”

After all of the introductions are made, Elizabeth starts dancing around singing, “Cake, cake, wonderful cake, it’s time for birthday cake, cake, cake.”

This gets us all laughing and Mom chimes in and says, “No cake until after dinner which we’re putting on the grill right now. Robert, why don’t you and the boys get Robbyn’s things and bring them up to the guest room.

“Alex, why don’t you grab your presents and you girls can take them up to your room. We’ll call you down in a bit for dinner.”

“Okay, Mom. Here, Elizabeth, can you carry this? Ellen, are you coming up?”

“Sure, we can look through the stuff I got you. Hee-hee.”

So we all grab some stuff and head up to my room. Once there I set Elizabeth up on my bed with some paper and crayons and she immediately gets busy creating works of art.

I turn to Robbyn and say, “Okay, you, start talking. Why are you here, not that I’m complaining mind you but where are your folks, how long are you staying, the works?”

“Hee-hee. We so got you, Alex. The look on your face was priceless. So anyway, the main reason we were doing this big trip all over Europe was ’cause daddy had conferences to go to and other doctors to consult with and yada, yada, yada. Now don’t get me wrong, at first it was a total blast, I mean London was so supercool and the shopping is to die for. I put a serious dent in daddy’s credit card there and well just about everywhere we went. Hee-hee. Stockholm is absolutely lovely and just about every place in France we went to was like, totally amazing. But after awhile the fun went out of it and I was missing you and I was missing just hanging and not at some hotel. Then all the stuff happening with you was going on and well, my mom and your mom started talking and it was decided that I’d come stay with you for the rest of the summer.”

“The rest of the summer? Are you kidding me? Ohmygod we are going to have sooo much fun! Oh, you’ve got to see this.” And I hand her my new birth certificate.

“Alexandra Olivia? That is soo pretty. Happy birthday Alexandra Olivia Conners.” And Robbyn gives me a huge hug.

“Oh, that reminds me, I’ve got something for you in one of my bags.” And she dashes out of my room, then comes right back in. “Um, where’s my room?”

Laughing, I point to across the hall.

Chuckling, Ellen says, “Your friend is a total goof. I like her and she’ll fit in here perfectly.”

“What you see with Robbyn is what you get. She’s the most genuine person you’ll ever meet.”

“Okay, I’m really dying to show you all of the new lingerie I got you. I think you’re absolutely going to loooove it.”

I open up the box with the bras and panties and start to go through it.

“Oh, Ellen, these are nice.”

“I figured you needed some special lingerie. Sometimes even if you’re the only one who knows you’re wearing it, the right kind of lingerie can make you feel just great. You won’t wear these every day, but occasionally or for special occasions you’ll want them.”

“Um, and this?” I ask, holding up what looks like black dental floss.

“That, dear sister, is a thong.”

“A thong? Hee-hee. Like I’m going to wear this? It looks awfully uncomfortable.”

“They aren’t that bad once you get used to them and you won’t show panty lines while you wear them.”

At this point, Robbyn comes back carrying two boxes. “Oooh, sexy underwear. Verrry nice. Try it on.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Why the heck not? It’s just us girls. Lemme see ya in those.”

“Yeah, sis, let me see how they look on you.”

“You guys. I can see it starting again already. Only now it’s going to be worse.”

“What are you talking about?” asks Ellen.

“Robbyn, she’s always talking me into doing things. Now I bet the two of you are going to gang up on me.”

“Hey, now there’s a thought,” says Robbyn.

Sticking my tongue out at the two of them, I begin to take my clothes off.

“Alex stuck her tongue out, Alex stuck her tongue out,” chants Elizabeth before breaking down in giggles.

Her giggles are infectious and soon all of us are giggling.

I take off the last of my clothes and Robbyn says, “Holy cow! Boy have you changed!”

“No?”

“Yes you have.”

“No, not boy. Me girl.”

“What? Oh you, you know what I mean. Geeze, your body is amazing. You need to tell me what vitamins you take, I need to get some too.”

“You don’t need them: your body is pretty spectacular, you know.”

“It’s not too bad, but yours is va va va voom.”

Blushing, I pull up the thong and boy howdy is this a new experience. Ellen is giggling at my discomfiture and Robbyn says, “You get used to it real fast, don’t worry.”

“How would you know?”

Robbyn turns her back to me and pulls the top of her jeans down a couple of inches. It’s obvious that she’s wearing a pink thong herself.

“Robbyn, since when did you start wearing a thong?”

As I put on the matching black lace bra, she replies, “For about a month now. Mom and I were shopping and I made a comment about them. My comment was much like yours, and mom ended up getting me some. I don’t wear them every day, but I do like them. Wow, sexy lady. Do a spin for us.”

Blushing, I give a quick turn. Ellen gives me a wolf whistle then says, “Oh, I know.” She then turns and opens the box with the stockings and pulls out a black pair.

“Here, put these on. You’ll need to roll them up carefully.”

As I do that, Robbyn starts to rummage around in my closet.

“What on earth are you looking for?”

“Hold on, you’ll see.”

I roll the stockings up and the difference between these and pantyhose is like night and day.

“Tada!” exclaims Robbyn as she pulls out a pair of my black heels that I haven’t worn yet–mainly because these have about a four-inch heel and I keep thinking that I’m going to break my neck in them.

“These will be perfect, put them on.”

Knowing that it’s useless to argue, I do as I’m told. Once I get them on I stand up and I’m surprised that I’m not nearly as shaky as I thought I’d be.

“Wow, sis, you look like you just fell out of a Victoria’s Secret catalog. Take a look in the mirror.”

I walk on over to the closet door and my image is startling. Wow, I do look nice.

“I feel naughty wearing all of this.”

“Alex, you’re not naughty, you’re nice,” pipes in Elizabeth.

“Thanks, sweetie.”

“Oh, oh, I know. Open my presents now.”

“Presents? More presents, yeah!” yells Elizabeth.

“Open this one first,” says Robbyn.

“Okay, squirt, help me with this,” I say to Elizabeth.

In record time, the wrapping paper is a mere memory and I’m shaking the box trying to guess what it is.

“It’s heavy.”

“Open it,” say Elizabeth, Robbyn and Ellen all together.

“Okay, okay. Oh Robbyn, this is nice. A leather jacket.” Inside is a beautiful distressed black leather jacket with purple silk lining.

“Oh you shouldn’t have.”

“When Mom and I were in Stockholm, we ran across this cute little second hand shop and I couldn’t resist as they had one almost the exactly the same but in white leather. I got that one for myself. Try it on.”

I put it on and it fits perfectly.

“This is really nice, Robbyn, thank you so much.”

“Okay, now the next one, now the next one.” Robbyn is practically beside herself.

Laughing, I say to Elizabeth, “Okay, Elizabeth, last one.”

Under the small mushroom cloud generated by Elizabeth’s enthusiastic destruction of the wrapping paper, I open the box and inside is...black fur?

“What is it?” I ask Robbyn.

“Well, take it out of the box, silly.”

I do and see it’s a fur hat with a Soviet red star surrounded by a gold wreath.

“Hey, this is nice.”

“It’s called a ushanka. I got one too in white. They’re supposed to be genuine Soviet military officer hats. Not sure if they are or not but they sure look cool.”

I put it on and look back into the mirror.

“This is really nice. Thank you, Robbyn.”

“You’re welcome. Boy, you look even more exotic now.”

At that point, there’s a knock at the door and Mom sticks her head inside.

“Girls, dinner is ready.”

“Okay, Mom, we’ll be right down.”

“Nice jacket, love the hat. But you might want to put something else on. I’d rather not give your father a heart attack or get him thinking that he needs to buy a gun to chase away suitors. Besides, we have company.”

Blushing I say, “Yes, Ma’am.”

Mom gives a small chuckle and closes the door.

I quickly kick off my heels and take off the hat and jacket. I grab my jeans and pull them on and then my blouse. I button my blouse while slipping on my flats. In seconds flat I’m ready and we all head on downstairs with Elizabeth showing everyone her artwork and me walking funny ’cause I’m wearing this damned thong.

***

I’ve never worn stockings under my jeans before and it really is quite different. Not bad, but definitely different, kinda nice actually. This thong is a different story. It’s really going to take some getting used to. I keep wanting to reach back and pull it out. Unfortunately there’s nothing that I can do about it at the moment.

Ellen and Elizabeth rush on ahead and Robbyn and I are kinda lagging behind when Robbyn stops at the bottom of the stairs and turns to face me.

I’m a step higher so she’s nose to boobs.

Robbyn gives out an appreciative, “Hmm,” then says, “nice, but not what I was looking for.”

She hops up to my step, looks at me then hops up one more step and gives me a solid kiss then a hug.

“I’ve missed you so much, Alex. I’m so glad I’m here now.”

“I’ve really missed you too, Robbyn.”

“We’ve got a lot to catch up on. I for one, can’t wait.”

And with that, she gives my butt a little squeeze and my lips a quick kiss and she’s off to the kitchen giggling as she goes.

I’m left standing there on the stairs feeling a warm glowing tingle move throughout my body and with what I’m sure is a stupid expression on my face, I join Mom and Robbyn in the kitchen.

“Hey, Mom, anything I can do to help?”

“Nope, Robbyn’s helping me and you’re the birthday girl so go on outside and sit. It’s so nice out that I thought we’d eat out there.”

“Okay,” and I snag a crouton from the salad bowl on my way out. Mom gives me a playful swat and I’m out the door.

Elizabeth is showing the Dempseys her masterpieces when I join them. Apparently she’s done portraits of all of us. The twins are helping Dad at the grill and the smell of the steaks cooking is making my mouth water.

I join the Dempseys at the table and we all ooh and aah over Elizabeth’s drawings. They’re actually kinda cute.

“Looks like you have a budding artist on your hands.”

“She’s always liked drawing,” says Mrs. Dempsey. “I understand you’re a bit of an artist yourself.”

“Oh nothing great but I do enjoy it. I’d like to try my hand at sculpting sometime. That might be fun.”

At this point plates are being delivered and everyone starts to get settled.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my Dad is a genius when it comes to cooking on the barbeque and today was no exception. The steaks were de-lish as was everything else.

As a testament to just how good everything was, there was hardly any conversation going on until the dishes were being cleared away.

About the only thing said was Dad asking me, “Alex, are you okay? You’re squirming an awful lot in your chair.”

Blushing, I say, “I’m fine.”

Ellen and Robbyn start to giggle and when I look up, Mom has a knowing smile on her face.

Oh gods, can I blush any more?

After we’re all done and while Ellen and the twins are clearing the dishes, Mr. Dempsey asks me, “Alex, have you given any thought to what you’re going to do with your new-found fame?”

“Me, famous? I don’t think so, sir.”

“Oh you are. Were you aware that you have over seventy-five million hits on YouTube? And the count is growing.”

“I had no idea it was so high.”

“Do you mind if I give you my thoughts?”

“Not at all, sir.”

“Good,” says Mrs. Dempsey, “He’d give them to you anyway.”

“Very funny. But seriously, Alex, the way I see it you have one of two choices. First you can do nothing and wait everything out and eventually the public will forget about you. I don’t think that will be very easy to do, however. You’re the type of person that draws attention and draws events to happen.

“The second thing you can do is to take advantage of the situation. The benefit to this is you’ll define events instead of reacting to them this way, and in the process you could make yourself a bit of money to boot.”

“Wow, sir, I haven’t even thought about any of that. I guess that I’ve just been hoping that it will all just go away.”

“I know you have. I want to ask you something. I’ve already mentioned this to your parents but I wanted to bring it to you directly.”

“Yes, sir?”

“As you know, my wife’s and my business is publishing. As publishers, we have a whole host of advertisers, some of them that we deal with on a continual basis.

One of these advertisers has contacted me to see if you would be interested in a business proposition. They’d like to use you in one of their commercials.”

“What!?” I was stunned.

“That would be soo cool, Alex,” says Robbyn.

“They’ve seen your video and think that they could use not only your talents, but your obvious commercial looks to help sell their product. They have asked me if I could put them in touch with you. Romona and I have talked to your parents about this but they feel the choice is yours. I agree.”

“Um, sir, who is this? Who wants to talk with me?”

“The person who contacted me is Alfred Julian. He’s the marketing director for Nike.”

“Nike? As in the shoes, that Nike?”

“That’s the one. They want you for at least one of their ‘Just do it’ television spots.”

“Ohmygod, Alex, you have to do it!” exclaims Robbyn.

“I think I need to think about this a bit. Is that okay, sir?”

“More than okay, Alex. I know this is quite a bit to throw at you but it could be a very good opportunity for you. Discuss it with your parents and if I can give you any advice, I’ll be more than happy to do so.”

I was completely stunned that anyone, much less a big company like Nike would want to use me in a commercial. I was so preoccupied that I missed the beginning of Happy Birthday being sung.

Breaking out of my reverie, I look up to see Ellen and the twins coming out with a candle-lit birthday cake.

Elizabeth is hopping up and down in her chair saying, “Birthday cake, birthday cake, yeah!”

So after having Elizabeth help me blow out the candles, we all have some cake; Elizabeth ends up wearing a good portion of hers.

After finishing the cake and getting everything cleaned up, including Elizabeth, we settle in the family room.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey?”

“Yes, Alex?”

“Have you two seen the YouTube video?”

Mrs. Dempsey says, “To be perfectly honest, I’m afraid we haven’t, just the little that has been on the news.”

“Well, I have the full video from my Parkour run here if you’d like to see it. I’d kinda like to get your opinion on whether or not you think I could actually do a commercial.”

“We’d love to see it,” says Mr. Dempsey.

So I get up and grab the CD and load the film.

“Now keep in mind that this is just the raw footage of the run. Monkey, the guy who took the film, is editing it all together–apparently with some enhancements.” That last part I make with a glare at Ellen. She sticks her tongue out at me in return.

We all sit through the scenes with me providing commentary on what all is going on.

When it’s done Mrs. Dempsey says, “I nearly had a heart-attack at that last bit.”

Mr. Dempsey says, “Alex, this was the raw footage?”

“Yes, sir.”

“No editing and all of that was you? No wires, fancy trick photography or anything?”

“No, sir, I mean yes, sir. What I mean is no, there was no editing and I didn’t use any wires or trick photography. That was all me doing everything.”

“Amazing. Would it be possible for me to get a copy of that? I’d like to show it to Alfred–that is if you decide you’d like to see him. I don’t think he fully realizes your abilities and that footage could get you top dollar for doing the commercial.”

“Sure, I can burn a copy for you before you leave.”

“Thank you.”

“Um, so you guys really think I could do this?” I look at Mom, Dad and the Dempseys.

Dad says, “I’m sure you could, but only if it’s something that you want to do.”

“Honey, your Father’s right. You have the type of presence that I think would do well. I know you don’t like being the center of attention or being around crowds, but you’d never tell by looking at you. If you want to give it a shot, then your Father and I will support you,” says Mom.

“That’s just it, Mom. One part of me thinks that this would be so cool to do, you know? But at the same time the thought scares the bejeebees out of me. You’re right, I don’t like crowds and I don’t like being the center of attention, but the thought of someone like Nike wanting to use me in a commercial is wild. I mean, who wouldn’t want to do that? I just don’t know.”

“Alex, dear,” says Mrs. Dempsey, “I’ve been a part of many a commercial shoot. They really try to keep the numbers on set to a minimum and everyone is very professional. Also, as a minor, you’d have someone from your family with you on set all of the time. That might help. It’s something to think about at least.

“Also, think about this: you come across very well on camera. You have the look that people want to sell their products. This is more than you just being an attractive girl, there are thousands of pretty girls out there, but you have the ‘look’–that special ‘it’ that is often talked about but never properly described.

“I’m not just telling you this to be nice, it’s my business to know what sells and what doesn’t. If you wanted to do commercials or go into modeling, you could do very well my dear.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Dempsey. Let me go burn a copy of this CD while I think on it.”

I grab the CD and head up to my room. Robbyn, who looks like she’s just about to explode, follows me up. When we get to my room, she practically does.

“Ohmygod, Alex, you’re going to be a star! You’re going to do it aren’t you? Say you’re going to do it. This will be soo cool, tell me you’re going to do this.”

“I don’t know, Robbyn. I’d like to; you’re right, it would be very cool, I just don’t know if I could handle doing it, though. The thought kinda scares me–no let me be honest: it scares the living crap out of me.”

“Hmm, okay then, I can see that. Think on this, though, you were scared when I got you to wear a skirt and we went to the movies, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, you know I was.”

“But you did it, and before long you were no longer scared, in fact you were having fun, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, but this is different.”

“I don’t see how, but even if it is, you’ll never know until you try. I also bet that if you don’t do this, you’ll be kicking yourself about this forever.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Didn’t you know?”

“What?”

“I’m always right. I thought you would have figured that out by now. You’re kinda slow, aren’t you?”

My response is to grab her and begin tickling her. Robbyn is really, really ticklish.

“Enough! Enough!” Robbyn gasps a couple of minutes later, “Your CD is done.”

I stop and look down at her. I still have her pinned and am sitting across her hips. We’re both breathing heavily and she’s flushed and I see the laughter sparkling in her eyes. Looking at her, I get a funny feeling and impulsively I lean down and kiss her quickly on the lips, then hop up, grab the CD and all but run from the room.

I pause at the bottom of the stairs to catch my breath and compose myself. What on earth is going on with me? I feel...I don’t know what it is. It’s like I’m excited but not quite, happy but that isn’t it either. My stomach is fluttering and my heart is racing, like I’ve just done a major Parkour run.

I take a few deep breaths and things calm down a bit and I now think I can face people again. One more deep breath and I go back into the family room.

“Here you go, Mr. Dempsey,” and I hand him the CD. “Um, and I think you can let that Mr. Julian guy know that I’ll talk with him. I mean, I still don’t know if this is something I can do, but I’ll at least listen to what he has to say. He can call Mom or Dad to set things up. Is that okay?”

“Fine, that’s fine. I’ll be sure to tell him. Now as much as I hate to do this, I’m afraid that we must be going. This has been a very enjoyable day for us, thank you for including us in your celebration.”

“Oh thank you for being here and for the chance to meet with Elizabeth. She’s such a doll.”

“Well she’s certainly taken with you right away and as soon as I hear something about the ‘Tonight Show’ tickets, I’ll let you and your parents know. Now speaking of Elizabeth, where did she go?”

Mom says, “I believe that she and Ellen went off together.”

“I’ll get her, Mom.” And I run back upstairs.

Back in my room, Robbyn is gone. I quickly go through my pile of stuffed animals until I find Beau’s little twin. It’s a bear that looks just like Beau but is a lot smaller. I had gotten him years ago and just never made a connection with him. Hopefully Elizabeth will like him.

I run down to the basement and there’s Ellen and Elizabeth.

“Alex, look at me, I can sew!”

Ellen has Elizabeth on her lap at the sewing machine working on something.

“Wow, I see that. You need to finish up ’cause your grandparents need to get going now.”

“I don’t want to go! I want to stay here with you and Aunt Ellen.”

I cock an eyebrow at Ellen as if to say, “Aunt?” She just shrugs her shoulders at me.

“Oh, honey, this isn’t goodbye, you can come and visit and you can always call. It’s just, you need to go home now.”

Ellen says, “Here, honey, we’re almost done. Just finish this little bit. That’s it.

“Now, let’s turn this right side out and see how it fits.”

“Hey, you made a dress. Say, that’s kinda cute.”

Elizabeth and Ellen have made a cute little jumper. It is white with big pink roses all over it and it has a pink lace ribbon around the waist.

Elizabeth quickly squirms out of Ellen’s lap and is soon out of her dress. She eagerly grabs her new jumper and slips it on. Ellen turns her around and ties the ribbon behind her and spins her back.

“Well,” says Ellen, “you need to wear a blouse with it but you did a great job sewing that.”

“Ellen, I couldn’t agree more. Elizabeth, that is great work.”

Elizabeth’s entire face is lit up by her smile.

“Okay, sweetie, let’s go on upstairs and show your grandparents,” says Ellen.

Elizabeth grabs both of our hands and off we go.

Once upstairs, she lets go and runs over to Mrs. Dempsey.

“Granma, Granma, look what I made!”

“Why, dear heart, that’s lovely. You say you made that?”

“Yes, Aunt Ellen helped me.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I let her call me that, ma’am.”

“Not at all, dear, I’m so glad you all are getting along so well. Elizabeth honey, do you have everything? We need to get going.”

“But I don’t want to go. I want to stay here.” Elizabeth then runs over and grabs me around my legs.

Kneeling down, I pull Elizabeth on my lap. “Hey there, kiddo, this isn’t goodbye.”

“It isn’t?”

“No, honey, this is just ‘until we meet again’. We’ll see each other again before you know it and you know you can always call me. I have a nifty new phone and you can call me anytime. If I can’t answer it, I’ll call you back just as soon as I can. Okay?”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I promise. Here, this is for you.” I hand her the small bear.

“He looks just like your bear.”

“Yep, they’re related and now he’s yours.”

“Thank you, Alex,” and she wraps her arms around my neck.

“You’re welcome, honey, you be sure to call me, okay?”

“I will.”

Standing, we walk over to the Dempseys. “Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey, thank you again for coming. I’ve really enjoyed you and Elizabeth being here today. I hope you can visit again.”

Mr. Dempsey takes my hand and Mrs. Dempsey gives me a hug. She says, “It was our pleasure, my dear. Thank you again for all you have done for us. We’ll see each other again soon.”

“Yes, thank you again, Alex,” says Mr. Dempsey as they walk out the door. Elizabeth is waving back to me with her new little bear.

Dad walks them out to their car and when the door closes I find that I’m crying a bit. I look over at Mom and she opens her arms and soon is giving me a hug.

“What’s the matter, honey?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s because they’re really nice people and Elizabeth is such a nice little girl. I’m going to miss them.”

“We’ll see them again, honey, don’t worry. Now why don’t you go see if you can’t find Robbyn. She needs to give her folks a call.”

“Okay, Mom.”