The Hornometer
by Mudak
- part 13 -
Samantha wrestled with telling Caitlyn everything she learned from Mike. Fortunately, by the time Samantha returned home from the Slippery When Wet nightclub, Caitlyn was already asleep and she therefore wouldn’t need to worry about it until morning.
She was awakened by Caitlyn shaking her out of a sound sleep. “Sammi! Samantha! I need to know... Did you find out anything yesterday? You were gone a while and I got tired waiting for you.”
“Caitlyn?!? What... where? What time is it?”
“3:30. I had to get up, saw your car outside, and...”
“It’s not even light out, Caitlyn. Jesus! This can wait until morning.”
“No it can’t! You don’t understand, do you? I’m a wreck over Jason. I’m a fucking wreck.”
“Oh, all right...” Samantha yawned deeply, rubbed her eyes, and, with some difficulty, sat up in bed.
“Did you talk to Mike yesterday?”
“Yeah.” Samantha felt no need to apologize for being this inarticulate.
“And?”
Samantha gave a long pause, trying to figure out how best to say what she wanted to say. In her sleep-deprived state, she sighed and groggily spoke. “Before I say ... before I tell you anything, do you promise to go back to bed after I tell you?”
“What?”
“Promise me!”
Caitlyn grunted and said, “Oh, all right. I promise.”
“Good. Now, um, Jason, he.. He knows you work at the club.”
“What? Who told him? If someone told him, don’t you think he should’ve taken it up with me? I mean—”
“Nobody told him. He saw you. And, well, I guess he didn’t like what he saw.”
“What? When? How? I’ve got to call him!” Caitlyn turned and started back into her bedroom.
Samantha stood up quickly and grabbed her wrist. “You promised you’d go back to bed. Wake him up and he might never talk to you again. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you just now.”
“I ... But I, I mean he...” Caitlyn started to cry.
Samantha hugged her sister. “We’ll get through this. If Jason...”
“D-don’t say ‘if he doesn’t like it, I don’t need him,’ please?”
“I won’t say it. But you do.. You need to talk to him about it.”
“I want to, Sammi. But he won’t call me back.”
“Maybe Mike’ll, you know, talk to him and tell him how much you need to work this out.”
“Did... did you ask him to?”
“Well, sorta.”
Caitlyn sighed and said, “I... I’m going back to bed.” She wanted to tell someone, anyone, that her original decision to become a stripper was partially curiosity, partially sensuality, and partially because she knew that Jason owed money to George Erasmus and she agreed to help pay him back. Samantha didn’t know this and, for some reason, it felt wrong to tell her.
She tossed and turned throughout the night, never actually falling back asleep.