Marilyn's a Working Girl
Keywords: Marilyn's, Girl, Working, a,
1 2 3 4 Next
Jeffrey saw Leese flinch at the word "regrettable", "She didn't mean that the way it sounded."
Leese shrugged, "Well I know I was a mistake. Two fifteen year olds don't plan on having a kid. Usually...I mean, there are those out of control teens on Maury and..."
"Well, anyway..." Jeffrey interrupted, "I'm not concerned about what the truth may do to my career. I just wanna..." he trailed off, his eyes sort of lowering to the floor. Leese noticed Rita place her hand on his arm.
"What do you want?" Leese asked earnestly.
He shrugged, "I don't know."
They sat there for a little while in an awkward silence until Rita said, "I think there are things you guys want to say that you're not saying..."
Leese leaned forward touching her elbows to her knees, "I...I don't know what to say. I mean I knew I was his kid. I told you guys, you didn't believe me but now that you do know, what else is there to say?"
Jeffrey looked up at Leese and then sniffed leaning back. His facial expression had changed some. It was more, closed.
"I'm not trying to exploit you guys or strong arm my way into your family. I know I'm not a part of that. So, pretty much..."
"Once you get on your feet with the program you're on your way?" he asked.
She shrugged and then nodded.
"Okay then," he said standing up. "Okay."
When he left the room, Rita still sat there and Leese was confused as hell.
Rita sighed and played in her hair as she crossed her legs, "Geez."
"What's wrong?" Leese asked.
"He was trying to reach out to you Leese."
She frowned, "What?"
"There are certain things he can't say..."
"Well how am I supposed to know what he's saying if he doesn't say it? It's not like I know him the way you do. I just met him. Literally."
"Yeah he just met you. And he's taken into his home and invested his time and his name to make sure you make something of yourself."
"But..." Leese was totally confused, why did they seem pissed of at her? "I don't what else to say to show you how much I appreciate what you're doing. I thought I was saying all the right things...he's offended?"
"You keep saying that all you want is to get through the program and nothing else."
"What else am I supposed to say?" Leese shook her head, "I'm confused...I really am..."
"He wants to know if you...like him. Or like us. Or even want to be associated with us. He wants you to." Rita said staring her straight in the eyes, "he really does."
Leese was floored. When she first came here, they didn't want her anywhere near them, and now there was this. Throughout it all, her position always stayed the same. It was a good defensive system.
"I like him. I really like the girls. And, when you're not cursing me out, you're nice."
Rita smiled.
"But the only reason I say what I say is because I don't want you to think I'm trying to take advantage or that I'm desperate for a family. I had no idea any of you wanted me to like you."
"Well," Rita said, "You're absolutely right. I would say the same thing if I didn't know where I stood. And you didn't."
"All he had to do was say..."
"It's hard for him to say things."
"He thinks it's easy for me?" Leese motioned to herself.
Rita laughed, "You "must" be his daughter." She said, "You are just like him."
Leese tried not to show how nice and irritating she thought that sounded.
Later on, Leese found Jeffrey in the backyard. He sat on the patio with a beer, his back to the house.
"Hey," Leese said.
He turned his head, "'Sup." He turned back around and stared at the large green expanse at the yard at twilight. For a few moments they were both quiet, and Leese was about to go back into the house, deflated when he said. "You want a beer? You're old enough right?"
She smiled, "Sure." She walked over and grabbed a beer from the six pack and sat down next to him. There were few stars out tonight as they stared out into the night sky.
"I'm thinking about putting a pool back here." Jeffrey said. "Hot tub too...something like that. Rita and the kids would like that."
"Sounds nice." Leese said taking a swig of beer. She was never a beer drinker but it tasted good when it was really cold.
"Or maybe I'll add on to the house. I can do it myself I think."
"I thought you had all the room you needed."
He gave her a wistful look and said, "You never really know."
After a few moments Leese said, "I'd help you with it."
"Oh yeah?" he looked at her, surprised.
"I did some construction in jail. Learned some things. Even the things I don't know I can figure out."
He looked at her, not considering her a really masculine sort of girl but not overly feminine either. She sat cross legged, Indian style on the picnic table, cradling the cold glass bottle he had offered her, looking almost like a kid sitting down in front of the TV more than a buddy having a beer, or like someone who's done construction in jail—or even someone who's been in jail. He couldn't exactly figure her out. But she was sincere, that's what he knew for sure.
"Okay. Then that means you gotta stick around until it's done. No half-assing it."
"Sure," she said, "All I have is my word...and now you have it." They locked eyes for a moment. Jeffrey couldn't resist smiling. Her hair reminded him of Izzy's wild mane.
"So you're really my kid huh?"
She didn't answer, she just took another swig of beer as he chuckled. "Twenty-three years ago, I was just a fifteen year old knucklehead. Who knew I had the power to create someone else? I wasn't even thinking that way."
"Well if you thought about it too much I wouldn't be here." She shrugged, "'Course that's not necessarily a good thing."
"It's always good to be alive Elise." When he said her name it was like a blast from the past." His tone of voice sounded like the way her own mother used to call her name when she was being serious or was angry with her.
"So who's been giving you this hard time in training?" Jeffrey asked.
"Oh man," she snickered, "Let me tell you something. She is a pain in the "ass"."
+ + + + + +
The next day Rita and Jeffrey delicately explained the situation to the girls. It was quite confusing for them as neither of them could even fathom that their parents had a life before they were born, and also that as a teenager, a mere child, Jeffrey "created someone else". It literally blew their minds. Jeffrey and Rita also explained that what Jeffrey did had really bad consequences that caused a rough life for Leese and her mother, so this in itself was a quagmire for the girls. Their sheltered little world had been somewhat augmented, though not exactly destroyed. And the girl whom they were told was a friend of daddy's was actually daddy's "other" daughter. Their sister. In the weeks following their discovery they looked at Leese with new eyes now.
She was popular with Izzy who kept asking things about Leese's mother, however Chrissy was a little bit more shy around her now. Withdrawn even. It made Leese feel bad, but she didn't even know how to talk to the girl.
Aside from all that her training was brutal. Floretta Perróne had assembled a gaggle of girl haters to snicker and tease Leese passive aggressively every day she was in class. Whispering, dirty looks, eye rolling, hard brushes and bumps against her when one of them passed her. Leese never formally finished high school and she'd gotten her GED when she was sixteen. She had no idea about high school culture, but she bet that this was close to it.
Plus her classes were hard. She liked the English and grammar classes, but everything thing else was hard to grasp. She could feel herself slipping, and she had no idea of what to do. She didn't want to tell anyone how hard things were, but it was getting harder to hide.
"What's wrong with you?" Jeffrey asked her when he saw her bloodshot eyes one morning as she got into the car with him.
"Tired." She said under her breath.
By the time lunch came around, she was zombie like just going through the motions. Wicks appeared out of nowhere, like he usually did, in his fatigues. He nudged her shoulder as she waited outside under the overhang of the building. It was drizzling.
"Hey," she said turning around.
"Whoa..." he said, "Who pissed in your Wheaties?"
"What?" She asked, getting tired of his little 'cereal & urine' analogies.
"You look upset."
"Tired is all."
"Don't get stressed out," he said opening a large black umbrella. He grabbed her elbow and led her beneath, ushering them both to his truck.
"Where to today Sergeant?" She said as she buckled her seat belt.
"You eat sushi?"
She made a face at him.
"Guess not. I guess we're off to Wings Wings Wings."
"How do you stay in shape with all the stuff you eat everyday Wicks?" Leese smirked shaking her head, "I never met a person who liked to eat as much as you."
"What about you? Look at your body? Yet you eat with me everyday."
She looked out of the window for a minute, momentarily embarrassed at what she believed was a sudo-compliment. "My body's not that great."
He looked over at her as he pulled on to the highway, "Better than a lot of people's. It's all that exercise and stuff. You can afford to eat."
"I'd be happy with a bologna sandwich if it meant not eating The Slop everyday."
"No one wants to eat "The Slop"..." he laughed at the nickname everyone gave the daily fare at the base's cafeteria. "But seriously, if you'd be happy with a bologna sandwich why don't you just bring one everyday?"
"Well," she said, "It's not like you would let me. You're always too ashamed to go to Lil' Fat Petey's Ribhouse by yourself."
He laughed, "There is no Lil' Fat Petey's Ribhouse...is there?"
She snickered and then they both started laughing hard.
"But seriously," she said, "It's the one time in the day where I get to just hang out. No pressure."
"So you have fun when you're with me? Is that what you're saying?"
She looked at him from the corner of her eye, "I guess."
He smiled. "I knew you liked me."
"No!" She said quickly misunderstanding what he meant.
1 2 3 4 Next
Keywords: Marilyn's, Girl, Working, a,