Chapter 9

Jeff pulled into his door yard, his brother was
sitting on the porch steps enjoying the quiet night.
He grabbed his duffel bag full of his dirty clothes.

"Hey Matt." He sat down beside him.

"Hey kid. Where have you been? Not that I've been
waiting." Matt chuckled, nudging his brothers'
shoulder.

"With Kendall. We met as soon as I got home. She
brought me dinner. How have you been?" Jeff leaned
forward onto his knees, running his fingers through
his hair removing the bandana.

Matt nodded, "Can't complain. What's on your mind
Jeff? You got that look."

Jeff scratched his head, "Can't keep anything from you
huh?"

"Is it Kendall? You really like her."

"It's beyond that already Matt. I met her Sunday and
it's like while I was gone, I fell in love with her.
Sunday when we were together, I had her on my lap and
when I looked into her eyes, I felt something."

"That would be an erection."

Jeff laughed, "No you ass. I felt it here."  He held
his hand over his heart, "Then I asked her if I could
fall in love with her. But there's something in our
way. A big something called her dad. He told her I
wasn't good enough for her. That I was rift raft,
whatever the fuck that is."

"What's Kendall say?"

Jeff shrugged, "She said her father wasn't going to
tell her who to date and who not to."

"So what's the matter?"

"It's her DAD. I'm afraid he's gonna change her mind
ya know? He's got something up his sleeve, he has to.
She said all they've been doing is arguing about it
since Sunday. I don't want to lose her before I even
have her. Although, I don't want to come between them
either."

Matt fell silent as he pondered Jeff's situation, "Why
aren't you good enough?"

"She says it has to do with money and certain images
and shit. I can't figure it out. Also the fact that
her father has hand picked her future beau and it's
not me obviously. My feelings should be hurt but for
some reason, they're not. It doesn't really bother me.
All that matters is her."

"Then listen to her. As long as you two are together,
you can take on the world even the Michael Morgans of
the world." Matt slapped his brothers' shoulder,
shaking it, "Well it's late and we gotta work in the
morning. You seeing her tomorrow?"

"If her father doesn't lock her away first, I am. I
think I'll surprise her maybe meet her after class
with some flowers or something."

"You got it bad little brother." Matt shook his head.

"Yeah I do and you know what? It feels pretty damn
good. Happy dreams for me tonight."


        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Kendall crept past the dining room doors, trying to
avoid another confrontation with her father. She was
too happy to deal with him now. His business dinner
was still in full swing. The one time she was thankful
for one. All she wanted was a hot bath, finish up her
homework and to go to bed; dreaming about Jeff. She
was in a fantastic mood and the only thing that could
kill it would be her father.

She tiptoed across and was halfway up the stairs when
she heard the doors slide open."

"Kendall dear."

She closed her eyes, sighing softly, "Daddy." She
pasted on a smile as fake as her fathers, "Mr.
McAllsiter how are you?"

"Hello Kendall. My you get more and more beautiful
every time I see you."

"Thank you. You're too kind. It was nice seeing you
again. If you'll excuse me, I have a report due in the
morning and it needs my attention. Good night." She
politely excused herself and headed up the stairs.

"Kendall we need to discuss something later. I'll be
up to see you then."

She kept walking not even acknowledging his comment.
This was going to be along night indeed.


       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


He knocked softly at around ten p.m., "You're still up
good."

She looked up from her notebook. No happiness to see
him now. She used to be daddy's little girl: the apple
of his. This was the longest fight they'd ever had.

"You said we needed to talk plus I have another page
of notes to take so I had to stay up."

Michael sat on the edge of her bed, staring at his
only child; the one good thing in his life that would
remain constant. "I hate fighting with you
tinkerbell."

She smiled, "You haven't called me that in years. I
miss you. I miss who you were before the money became
the only factor in your life. When the only thing that
mattered was the three of us and our happiness."

"I'm still him."

"No you're not. If you were, you'd take the time to
meet Jeff. You wouldn't pass judgment on him just
because of his bank account. You'd take my word when I
tell you he's a good guy. A hardworking guy who adores
me and makes me happy when I'm with him. But you
haven't done any of those things. The only time you
take for me is when we have those stupid business
dinners or social gatherings. You don't ask me how my
day was. You don't even ask me how I'm doing every
day. You order me to come home. You order me to go
here or there. You tell me how to act. I've done
everything you've ever asked of me my whole life. No
questions asked. But now the one thing I want for
myself and you won't even acknowledge him."

"Kendall when you were growing up the business was
just taking off. Things were different then."

"How? Because I didn't have a mind of my own? I was
the perfect little girl who you could dress up and
show off? I was who you made me up to be. Now I'm
different and you can't accept it. That's what this is
all about. You can't order my personal life around and
that drives you crazy."

"This is a billion dollar company that your
grandfather and I have built. It has given us a chance
to be somebody. We rub elbows with the finest. We
socialize with the people in 'Forbes' magazine. Hell
we ARE in 'Forbes' magazine."

"I don't care. None of that matters to me. It doesn't
even matter to granddaddy."

"We have a certain image to uphold and so do you."

"God you keep saying that!" she raised her voice a
notch.

"You hanging out at diners with unsuitable gentlemen
is not acceptable."

She bit her lip to hold in the tears, "I'm not going
to stop seeing him. Just because it's not up to par
with your image kick."

He nodded, rising off the bed, "I see. I guess this
talk is finished then."

"I guess so." She let the tears stream down her face
after he left. She grabbed her cordless, frantically
dialing, "I know it's late but I need you granddaddy."

Chapter 10

back to Chapter 8