Your Favorite Girl (YFG Series) (12 page)

"Yeah.  I guess they use the jewelry store to hire potential employees for the company.
"

"How many people work here?"

"Let's see, Patton has eight teachers and seven teacher's assistants.  Brian--"

"What happened to the other assistant?" I interjected.

"She had a stroke.  She was ninety-nine years old."

"Oh, good.  I mean, you know, that she wasn't murdered."

Kate laughed.  "Oh, no, no, Level D is like a whole different world.  That's where the Favorite Girls spend their entire childhoods.  Nothing bad happens up there.  The teachers don't even know who they work for or what happens to the girls when they graduate."

The more Kate talked, the more questions I had.  But I had to take it slow.  We would have plenty of time to discuss everything about Your Favorite Girl, Inc., locked up alone together in this big room.

"So eight teachers, seven assistants . . ." I said.

"Yes, the employees," Kate said, tossing the sheet away and climbing off the bed, an almost cartoonish bounce in her boobs.  "Brian has quite a few lab assistants, a couple of scientists.  Do you want something to drink?"  She was headed for the kitchen area, tiptoeing when she reached the cold tile.

"What do you have?"

"Anything.  If we don't have it, we can order it."

"How about a soda?"

She opened the refrigerator,
and before I knew it a canned Coke was sailing through the air.  It landed softly on the bed and I scooped it up and gulped half of it down.  I didn't realize how thirsty I was--how hungry, too.

Kate must have realized how long it had been since I'd eaten.  She was busy piling food onto a big serving tray as she counted employees.

"Sean has three security guards who post up with him in the lobby when a client comes in--"

"I remember those guys."

"--and a few more to watch surveillance monitors all day.  Then there's Bob, who does nothing but present contracts for clients to sign.  Bob, the deliverymen, and a couple of janitors all answer to Clifton, if you can imagine."

"They let that guy be in charge of
people?"

"Oh yeah, Clifton supervises Level A, all expect for the jewelry store and the Showcase Hall, which are on Level A, technically, but are only accessible from Level B."

"I'm confused."

"Hang on."

Kate was coming back to the bed with the tray, upon which she'd piled fruit, a bag of tortilla chips, a jar of salsa, several different blocks of cheese, various lunchmeats, thick-sliced whole grain bread, crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and a plastic baggie that reeked of fresh, sticky marijuana.

I no longer cared about the Levels or who supervised what employees.  The sight of all this food made me so happy I thought I was going to cry.

Instead, I quickly made a sandwich with ham, turkey, and three different kinds of cheese.  It came out so big I had to smash it down before I could fit my mouth around it.

Kate watched me eat, like a child petting a puppy as it wolfed down a treat.  If she started petting me, I might even growl a little.

"Wanna smoke some weed?"

I pushed a loose piece of turkey between my lips and spoke through the wad of food in my mouth.  "Yeffs, pleath."

Kate bounced a little.  I was starting to think she couldn't help herself.  An involuntary response to excitement.

"You'll cufe."

"What?" she asked, leaning over the side of the bed, her butt stuck up in the air.  She climbed back up bringing with her a very large bong.

I swallowed my food.  "I said you're cute."

"Aww, thanks!  Is it okay that I'm naked?"

"Why would I mind?"

She shrugged and opened the baggie.  Immediately I could smell the weed's sweet aroma.  "I like being naked," she said.  "What about you?"

"Sometimes.  I get cold easily."

"Should I turn up the thermostat?"

"No, I'm fine for now."

"Sure?"  She waved the baggie in front of my face and sang her next words: "Weed is bet-ter when you're na-ked!"

I snatched it from her and held it out as she climbed onto me, and because both my hands were occupied--one with the weed, the other with my half-eaten sandwich--we both fell, Kate landing on top of me, both of us giggling.

She kissed the corner of my mouth.  "I'm glad we get to be roommates," she said.  Then she licked my cheek and jumped away before I could retaliate.

"Gross!"  I tossed the baggie at her.

"My licks aren't gross!" she said.

"When I finish my sandwich, I'm gonna lick your face off."

"After we smoke!"

"That works."

Kate packed the bowl and we took turns hitting the bong until our lungs were on fire.  When it was cashed, I flopped down on my back and closed my eyes, afraid for a moment that I'd made a mistake.  I've smoked plenty of weed in my life, but this stuff was otherworldly.  I was probably the highest I'd ever been after my first hit, and we passed it back and forth at least five times.

I expected anxiety and paranoia to come knocking any moment, but instead I felt Kate's warmth as she curled up next to me.  My body relaxed for the first time since I'd woken in that white room and I managed to forget everything
except the softness of the bed, the electricity in Kate's fingertips, starting on my thigh and running all the way up to my neck, the tickle of her kisses, the cold air touching my breast as she pulled down the strap on my dress, the touch of her wet tongue to my nipple.

Then suddenly she sprang up like a weed.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That banging sound."

I giggled.  "You want to make banging sounds?"

"I'm serious," she said, and by her tone I could tell she was.

"Maybe you're just paranoid."

"Nuh-uh, this is Brian's weed.  It has a perfect blend of THC and CBD so you don't get anxious or paranoid.  It's pure bliss.  You gotta love him for it."

"What's CBD?"

"Cannabidiol, the chemical they think might cure cancer.  Did you hear about that?  I read an article--"

She stopped and shot her head towards the shower room entrance.

I heard it this time, like one of those big sheets of metal used by sound effects people to simulate thunder.

"It's
Clifton," Kate said, climbing off the bed.

"
Clifton?  Where?"

"In the walls.  He sneaks in here to fuck me.  I can't figure out how he gets in."  She sounded frustrated and panicky.  I jumped off the bed and followed her to the kitchen, where she opened a cabinet and took out a small vial.  "I leave the Libido Drug sitting out and
I hide.  Sometimes he takes it, sits on the floor masturbating until it hurts and then he leaves.  But sometimes he finds me.  Come on."

She pulled me along, first setting the vial on the counter near the shower room entrance and then crossing the room to a large closet.

We hid in the back behind two stacks of boxes.  Kate must have spent a lot of time in this hiding spot.  She'd put down pillows and blankets to make it more comfortable, and she even kept a bag with snacks, weed, a few bottles of water, and a small can of pepper spray.

"He usually only comes on Friday and Saturday night.  I stay up all night and wait.  If I fall asleep, he gets me.  But he's never found me in this spot.  We just have to whisper, and when we hear him in the room, we have to be completely silent."

"Are you sure he won't find us?"

"Not if we're quiet.  He's too impatient.  He never looks hard enough.  He can't resist taking the drug.  Then he beats himself off so hard he bruises himself and storms off."

"You can't find where he gets in."

"I've looked everywhere," she said, her voice raising to normal volume, then tampering back down to a whisper.  "It's what I do when I'm bored.  I know he's coming from the shower room, but where is beyond me."

"Have you told Patton?"

"No."

"Why not?  I think we should tell him."

"Don't, please.  Wouldn't you rather us find it ourselves?  If
Clifton can sneak into my room, he's probably tunneled all through this building.  There's no telling where it goes."

I felt the slightes
t twinge of hope.  Escape.  It might be possible after all.  Something to hold onto, at least, something to occupy my mind, lest it wander off and never return.

"Kaaate."

Clifton was in the room, his voice so loud I thought he must be in the closet doorway.  Kate peeked in the crack between two boxes, then let me have a look.

The closet door stood wide open
and I could see the head of the bed and the shower room entrance, where Clifton stood completely naked, soaking wet, steam whirling from his hairy, splotchy skin.

"Where ye at, Kate?
  Time for Clifton, baby.  Patton said ain't nobody to touch the new girl, but he didn't say nothin' 'bout
yooou
."

He was getting closer, and yet my fear had diminished.  Patton had given me immunity to
Clifton, if Clifton possessed the will power to obey orders.

Kate was staring me down, fuming.  I started to worry her snorting would give us away.

As soon as I reached out to touch her arm, she whispered, "He lets them fuck me every way you can imagine and I can't even get him to kiss me.  What makes you so special?"

"I
. . . don't know."

I wasn't convinced Patton thought I was special, more so that Kate's unrealistic expectations made her paranoid and jealous.  I've gone through that before.  I think every girl has.  But just because Patton had no interest in Kate didn't mean he would waste a thought on me.

The crack between the boxes darkened, and I could hear Clifton's labored breathing just on the other side.

"Come on out, Kate, or else I'm gonna piss on all your stuff."

Kate gritted her teeth and shook her head.

"Last chance!"

─The Showcase Hall─

WE MANAGED to stay hidden until three in the morning, when Clifton finally gave up on flogging himself and slumped back into the corridor from which he had emerged.

When we were certain the room was clear, Kate
crept out first to hunt down a second can of pepper spray, and then together we tiptoed through the damp, echoing hall into the shower room.

I welcomed the warmth of the room, but the
thick steam made searching for Clifton more terrifying.

Luckily, he was nowhere to be found.  We swept every room twice, and Kate even swam around in the Jacuzzi pool to make sure he wasn't hiding there.

"I think we're safe to go to sleep," she said, wringing her hair as she stepped out of the water.

"What if he comes back?"

"He never does.  Not that you'd have to worry."

She'd been acting distant since learning that Patton
had forbidden anyone to touch me, and it carried over into the morning, when we awoke holding each other.  The moment she opened her eyes, she jerked away from me and got out of bed.

"Are you mad at me about something?"

"No.  About what?"

That was how the morning went.  She hardly spoke unless I asked a question, and her answers were short and snappy.

We spent the first half hour cleaning up all the places where Clifton had urinated.

"How often does this happen?"

"This was the first time."

"We have to find where he gets in."

"I know."

After cleanup, we both showered and Kate dialed three numbers on the phone and ordered breakfast.  Thirty minutes later, a guy no older than eighteen wheeled in a cart
steaming with bacon, sausage, ham, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes on the top rack; fruit, biscuits, English muffins, syrup, cheese, jelly, and assorted condiments on the middle rack.  Enough to feed at least ten people.

The boy was cute and he seemed nice enough.  It was obvious to me how excited he was to be working for this company, jittery at the prospect of getting to see a tit.

It didn't help that Kate basically petted him like a puppy until he was gone, even brushing his crotch a couple of times in a way that could be construed as accidental.

She sent him away aroused and I could tell she knew what she was doing when she wheeled the cart to the sofa with a huge grin on her face.
  She seemed, for the moment, freed from anger.

We ate, and Kate told me about her daily torture of Pete.

"He wants me so bad."

"Have you
done anything?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because," she said slowly, "I don't want Patton to think I'm a slut.  His brothers . . . I have no choice about th
at.  That's just the way it is.  Not even Patton can control that."  She glanced at me, then turned away.  "I think he's just waiting for things to settle down."