"A Few Dollars More"

[TonyDeeDee]

Trey Wilkes passed the woman in the market three times, each time getting a better view of her. She was stunning, but even more than that she was familiar, though he couldn't figure out why.

He met a lot of people in his job as a purveyor of high end escorts, but he knew he would have remembered this beauty if she was connected to the business. He shrugged the feeling away and simply continued walking the aisles. But when he reached the check out, she was there again, three places ahead of him in line in a rather tense conversation with a very testy cashier.

"It ain't working," the clerk snapped, practically shoving the credit card back in the redhead's face. "Do you have another one?"

Trey looked to the little shelf before the beauty, where people used to write their checks back before markets stopped taking them. There were already three credit or debit cards sitting out before the woman, which told him she'd probably dug deep into her wallet already.

"Got cash?" the cashier was continuing, her tone showing her impatience. "Eighty-three fifty."

Shit! his brain screamed. Little Miss 6A!

The ongoing conversation about the woman's inability to pay reminded Trey of where he knew the woman: she lived in the apartment directly below him, just around the corner from the market in which they were now standing. The reason he remembered her now was because the last time he'd seen her, she was arguing with the apartment building's superintendent about her rent check bouncing again!

Trey's pimp mind was already working and, seeing that the woman was close to breaking down, he knew it was time to act. He set his own hand basket aside -- none of it was important -- and politely slipped behind the two people ahead of him in line until he was standing next to the redhead.

"There you are, honey," he said, smiling to his neighbor as he shoved two fifty dollar bills out at the cashier. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were already in line."

Trey turned his face away from the surprised clerk as she reached out for the money and whispered to the redhead, "Just go with it ... neighbor. I'll explain outside, okay?"

 

[Joycelet]

deleted

 

[Conquete]

How could this be happening again? The eternal cycle of bounced checks, overdrawn bank accounts and rejected cards continued. All she came to the store for was some groceries and a space heater, seeing as her own heating had been shut down at the beginning of the month. But instead, she had ended up with a battle.

"This one has to work, I just got it," She said, trying to be hopefully. This card wasn't even in her name. The Chase card read "Millie Peters", even though Alexandra Emerson was the woman's true name. It turned out even fake Millie had bad credit, because "transaction denied" flashed across the cash register screen.

"Lady, your wasting my time!," the register huffed under her breath, finally loosing patience.

The worst part, though, wasn't the idea of not getting her purchases. It was the embarrassment caused by the whole ordeal. A few people kept glancing her way, trying to conceal their curiosity. Yeah, I see you peeking from aisle 5, soccer mom!

Alexandra jumped a bit at the arrival of a stranger, a good looking one at that. She was shocked at the man's arrival and his words. She kept trying to place where she knew the guy from. And why was he calling her honey? Yet when he handed over the hundred dollars for her purchases, Alex found she didn't care. When she heard "neighbor", she finally figured out where she knew him from. He lived right above her and she often saw him on her way out. "Oh thanks sweetie," she exclaimed, keeping the rouse going for the cashier.

"Thank you," she whispered to him before completing the transaction. Alexandra then walked with him outside and soon they were at her beat up car. She set the bags on her trunk, before turning to him and handing over the sixteen dollars of change.

"Don't think I'm not grateful, but what the heck was that about?" She questioned, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

 

[TonyDeeDee]

"I've been there," Trey answered, lying of course. The man had come from money -- old money -- and hadn't known a single day of want in his 32 years of silver spoon in the mouth life. "I didn't want you to live the embarrassment I'd gone through."

He reached out and dropped the change into the top of the grocery bag, smiling. "A hundred dollars is easier to remember, you know...? For when you pay me back, which I have confidence you will. I wouldn't have loaned you the money -- loaned -- if I didn't have faith you could pay me back."

That, too, was a lie. Trey had a pretty good idea that the woman didn't have a penny to her name at the moment. But pointing that out wasn't going to get him laid, which was the first step to getting what he really wanted.

Trey Wilkes' stable was in desperate need of a shapely redhead. He had at least three clients whose yearnings were for a Lucy, as they called them. He knew that landing this woman was a long shot. But Trey was a gambler, and he was willing to take the long odds if there was any chance of a winning ticket at the end of the race.

"In the meantime," he continued, glancing at the grocery bags before smiling back to her, "while you're waiting for your next paycheck, we should probably talk about the interest you're gonna have to pay for that loan."

His smile broadened knowingly. "I would take a home made dinner."

 

[Conquete]

Alexandra gradually eased down her defensive wall as she heard Trey's similar story. He surely had bounced back from his time of poorness, she thought. His clothes shouted wealth, and even his air of confidence whispered at money.

"If you've recovered so well from being broke, that gives me hope that I will too," Alex commented, somewhat cheerfully. She listened intently to him, slightly bolstered by his faith in her. "Of course I'll pay you back every penny. I get my paycheck next Friday. I'm just really thankful you did that for me. Tilly (my puppy) and I would have gone hungry tonight if it wasn't for you!"

Upon mention of interest, Alex's stomach dropped. Oh god, is he going to shoot me with a huge chunk of interest? Quickly though her spirits shot back up. At mention of dinner, she wondered if he was hitting on her. Of course he isn't, she thought, He's just helping a poor girl through hard times and trying to make her feel good about herself. In that case...

"Of course! You just bought the ingredients any way! How does chicken alfredo with garlic bread sound? Nothing to fancy, but yummy. I learned it from the chef at Roma's, the little Italian place I waitress at." She flashed him winning grin. "I actually don't even know your name. I see you all the time around the apartment, but I don't think we've ever formally met." She held out her hand, "I'm Alexandra, Alexandra Emerson."

 

[TonyDeeDee]

"Trey," he answered, stepping a bit closer to take her hand. He tried to keep his gaze on her face but failed, his eyes dropping to her wonderful cleavage for just a very brief moment. "Trey Wilkes."

His cell phone vibrated. He looked at the Caller ID, answered it, and told the person to hold a moment. He said with confidence, "Nine o'clock work for you, Alexandra...? I have an meeting I don't expect to end until eight."

He began backing away, his eyes still upon her as he gave her an appreciative stare and yet another ogle. He said with a smirk and a playful stalking tone, "I know where to find you."

He chuckled and lifted the phone to his face as he turned, not giving her any time to turn him down or alter his plan. He headed for his car pretending to talk on the phone. In reality, he'd received a text, but he needed something to end their current conversation.

 

[Conquete]

"Very nice to meet you Trey," she said, oblivious to his eyes descending over her chest. Alexandra was always too preoccupied or busy to notice guys checking her out, or maybe she just didn't view herself as sexy.

"Nine o'clock is perfect," she yelled, even though she felt as though she had no control of the time anyways. That was fine, he could call the shots for now. She giggled at the joke, "And I know where to find you if you ditch me!"

----- ----- ---- ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- ----​

Alexandra didn't realize it, but she badly wanted to impress her financial savior. Her small apartment was spotless after a few minutes, and she even put on some decent clothes. She adorned a tan scoop-necked sweater than skimmed just above the top of her ample breasts, and even made sure to wear a push-up bra and tight jeans that hugged her round and shapely ass. With a light hand, she applied mascara and some lip stain, emphasizing her large, grass green eyes and full, sensual lips. In the kitchen department, Alex was determined to prepare the most delicious and creamy pasta dish ever.

At nine, it was done. The broccoli was perfectly steamed, the noodles al dente and the chicken seared to delicousness. All was covered in flavorful and cheesy alfredo sauce, and served with a side of crunchy garlic bread. Alex had spread out the small feast on her tiny glass dining table and set the table for two. Tilly, her beagle, was poised at the door, ready to bark at any intruders.

 

[TonyDeeDee]

(OOC: Sorry it's so long. I just couldn't stop!)

Trey had been ready for their date an hour before he was due downstairs. There had been no meeting, of course, so he could very well have suggested an earlier time. But he'd learned over the years that he got a better response from his lust targets -- meaning he got laid more on the first date -- if the alcohol that typically came with dinner was seriously hitting their system just about the same time that exhaustion from the long day was directing them toward their bed.

He flinched a bit as he knocked and was greeted by the immediate bark and short howl of the dog on the other side of the entry. He laughed, a bit embarrassed with himself, and was still smiling broadly when Alexandra opened the door. He immediately held out the bottle wine before him, then hesitated, wide eyed, as he took in her wonderfully displayed body.

"You look ... fantastic, Alex," he said with a somewhat suggestive tone. He immediately caught himself and asked, "I'm sorry, do you prefer Alexandra or...?"

She gave her answer, which he repeated back as if to ensure he knew the way of things. She invited him in, and after following her down the short hall, he stopped in the smallish living area and surveyed it with a polite smile.

"I like your place," he complimented, sounding impressed.

He wasn't, of course. It was small and lacked light bearing windows. Alexandra lived on the upper most of six floors of one bedroom, monthly rental apartments. They were cramped homes with thin walls and often bad plumbing, and Trey -- the man with the silver spoon in his mouth -- had never understood why someone would live in such a place.

Trey's home on the 7th of 12 floors wasn't a monthly rental but was a condominium that he owned, or rather bis oarents owned. Years ago, the building's owners -- his father's corporation -- had begun converting the rentals to condos one at a time. They'd tried to evict all of the rental tenants to upgrade the entire building at one time, but the Housing Department had prevented the mass eviction.

Instead they tried to drive the renters out with constant, noisy, dusty construction, beginning at the top and moving downward. Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't; and all of the time, Trey stayed away from the work so that no one would think he was connected to the construction in any way.

As he looked around, Trey realized that his condo -- which had once been two separate apartments -- was easily four times the size of Alexandra's. He didn't really need that much space, of course. It was more of a status thing.

Of course, he had paid an arm and leg for his place, despite being family, and the monthly fees were some of the highest in the City. But they gained him access to many of the amenities to which the renter types didn't have access, including the top floor gym and food top track, and the basement spa and pool.

He sniffed at the air, saying with an appreciative tone, "Smells good. Pasta...? Maybe some garlic?"

As she took over the conversation, he did a casual but thorough inspection of the apartment, walking about very slowly until he'd had a chance to inconspicuously glance into both the open bedroom and bathroom doors.

Her place was neat and tidy and had a very personal touch to it. But it was lacking in one very specific area: expensive toys. There was no expensive television, computer, or stereo, no counter tops filled with the latest gadgets, no limited edition prints on the walls. There was no way for Trey to know yet whether Alexandra was just the type who didn't go in for all that hoopla or whether, like so many people following the Great Recession, she had pawned or otherwise sold off many of her expensive toys to pay the rent and utilities.

And as far as utilities went, Trey noticed that the apartment was rather on the chilly side. In a moment when Alexandra wasn't watching, he held his hand over the natural gas wall heater. It was cold and obviously had been for at least a few days. When he arrived at the kitchen door to check up on her and dinner, he caught sight of a stack of bills that she'd tried to hide out of sight. Even piled the way they were, he could see references to Final Notice and Service Terminated on at least three of them. She was probably heating her apartment with the kitchen range now that the gas was turned off, and Trey had a good idea that that would be the next thing to go.

"Looks delicious," he said, smiling, not because of the good company and nice time that surely was ahead, but because he had found himself a beautiful, sexy woman who was likely financially destitute, and that was his favorite type of woman in the whole, entire world. "Should I open the wine?"

 

[Conquete]

(OOC: Don't worry about the long response! It was a pleasure to read, I'm just disappointed that I could respond with the same length.)

The dog's howl signaled her guest's arrival. "Shush Tilly," Alexandra urged the beagle as she jumped up from the small recliner and opened the door. The man's handsome smile was contagious, and a grin soon brightened her own face, followed by a rosy blush at his compliment.

"Thank you, you look rather dashing yourself! And don't worry, Alex is perfectly fine. I hated my mother for giving me a boy's name when I was young, but I have finally gotten over that injustice," she replied back with a chuckle. The dashing comment had been true. Trey had caused her pulse to jump the moment she opened the door. He was devastatingly good looking and well-dressed. Even more attractive was the sureness in which he spoke and moved. Lost in her thoughts, Alexandra finally realized she was blocking the entrance to her small apartment. "Sorry, I'm not used to company! Come in, come in." Her nervousness showed. It had been a long time since she'd had sex, and even longer since the young woman had had a boy friend. What was it, two years since her last relationship? Seven months since her last good lay?

But wait, wait, why are you so nervous? Alex asked herself. It's not like this is a date or anything. For god's sake, he's just trying to help a poor girl out. Why would a successful and good looking man waste any time entertaining the idea of a relationship with you? Don't kid yourself into thinking he's interested in you. The internal struggle was put on hold when Trey offered a second compliment.

"Thank you. It isn't much, and is quite tiny, but its all I need," she responded good-naturedly. It hadn't ever been opulently furnished, Alex had been broke for 3 years now. Things had been going good for the young woman until it all came crashing down. At twenty years old she had been enrolled in a prestigious, but expensive, university and doing very well. Then her mother, Rebecca, had gotten sick. The breast cancer came on quickly and Alexandra soon dropped out of school to be the caretaker of her mom. The hospital bills and chemo treatments had been expensive and insurance hadn't covered all of it. Before long, Rebecca's retirement fund was all used up. With no siblings or willing relatives, Alex started drawing from her own bank account to pay for her mother's treatments. Once her own funds ran out, Alexandra began taking out loans, determined to get her mother healthy. Yet health never found Rebecca Emerson, and after 10 months of fighting, she lost her battle. It had been tough for Alex, the worst day of her life was when her mother passed. She couldn't get re-admitted into college, and couldn't afford in anyways. Since then, she took of various jobs, most recently 3 different waitressing jobs. Half of all her checks went to pay off the still standing medical debts, and another quarter went to pay off school loans. At 23, Alexandra figured she'd be 40 before she got rid of her debt. Alex never brought up her past, always hating any pity she got. The young woman wanted so badly to be self-sufficient and independent, but all it resulted in were red-notices and cancelled services.

Her mood lightened when Trey spoke of the food, "Yes, the recipe calls for tons of garlic. Tony, one of the cooks at the place where I waitress, taught me the most delicious recipe for chicken alfredo. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. And definitely open the wine," She said, pulling two glasses from the cupboard and setting them upon the table. It had been so long since she'd had a good drink.

"Thank you so much for bringing wine, you really didn't have to," she commented, but still took a sip after he poured some of it into her glass. It wasn't cheap wine either. It was so lush and intense on her tongue, and just mildly sweet. She let out a small noise of satisfaction. Blushing, she spoke up,

"Dig in," she urged, hoping he'd enjoy the pasta she had served on his plate. "Thank you again for paying for my groceries. I will be sure to pay you back every penny. When do you need it by?" She questioned, before taking a bite of her pasta.

 

[TonyDeeDee]

Trey sipped at his wine, studying Alex over the rim of the glass. When it came to talking about money with a woman he hoped would someday make him money, there was a very fine line between being gentlemanly and charity and being conspicuously inappropriate.

He postponed answering her question by filling his mouth a bite of pasta. It was delicious, there was no doubt about that but he needed her to know just how delicious to walk that fine line about money. A feigned expression of pleased surprise filled his face, followed by a sound of obvious approval and a nod off his head, as he said, "Wow this is ... this is amazing."

Trey took another bite, then the third, and finally answered her in a way he hoped wouldn't offend Alex. "I'll tell you what. I don't know whether you were thinking of this as a first date ... or just as a friendly get together of neighbors. But if we were to consider this a first date, I would have been taking you out on the town and spending far more money then you spent making this unbelievable meal. So, if you think about it ... I actually owe you, not the other way around."

He stuffed another fork full of pasta into his mouth keeping his gaze on Alex's eyes. When he'd finished the mouthful he said, "So...What if we just call it even?"

 

[Conquete]

Trey's response to the food caused Alexandra to beam with pleasure. The expression gradually changed to one of curiosity as her neighbor continued speaking. Did he really want this to be a date?

"I don't want to owe you anything... I haven't dated in forever, work and stuff keeps me busy." She responded, unsure of herself. To soothe her nerves, the nerves that Trey's presence seemed to rile up, Alexandra took a long drink of wine and emptied her glass. Finally, she bolstered up some courage.

"Can I ask you an honest question? Do you really want this to be a date? I understand if you are just trying to be kind to your poor neighbor, but you don't have to pretend to like me or find me attractive if you don't." She spoke truthfully and unaccusingly, allowing him a way out if he wanted it. Her green eyes darted up to lock onto his. "If you really do want this to be a date though, we can call it even."

Alexandra badly wanted him to say yes, that he did want this to be a date. But she wasn't going to get her hopes up just yet. Trey was a handsome and successful man, and today's events proved what a big heart he had.

If only she knew how wrong she was...

 

[TonyDeeDee]

"I understand if you are just trying to be kind to your poor neighbor," Alexandra told Trey, "but you don't have to pretend to like me or find me attractive if you don't."

Trey's lips widened in an amused smile. Attractive...? he brain asked. He couldn't believe that she was speaking honestly, and yet she was. All he could think was You're one of the sexiest women I've ever met.

"If you really do want this to be a date though, we can call it even."

Trey's smile widened even further, as he leaned forward in his chair, held his wine glass close enough so that she could tap hers gently to his, and said, "Then a date it is ... and even we are."



Dinner was wonderful. The food was fantastic, the company even better.

Trey quizzed Alexandra on her life and background, and while she told him a great deal -- sometimes with bouts of laughter from one or both of them -- he could tell she was holding back a great deal at the same time. She was guarded, which wasn't actually surprising to Trey: they'd only met just today, she didn't know him for Adam, and at well past 11pm, he was still in her home on a first date.

And every time Alexandra tried to quiz Trey about his own life, he gave a very vague start to an answer then skillfully turned the subject back to her instead. By the time dinner was obviously over, the sum total of what she'd learned from Trey was that his 27th birthday was next week; that he'd grown up San Francisco, where his parents still lived; that he had an MBA from Stanford; and that he'd purchased the condo a floor above her with the proceeds from selling a small tech firm to Google a few years earlier.

He could tell that Alexandra wasn't happy with the small amount of personal information he'd been willing to cough up, but she was a pleasant hostess and didn't push him too hard for more. He wondered how happy she wouldn't have been to find out that he'd actually turned 32 last month, that he'd grown up in Seattle, that his parents lived just down the block in another of their corporation's holdings, that he hadn't even finished his first year of college before being expelled, that his parents had purchased the condo for him to get him the hell out of their own house, and that the closest he'd ever gotten to computer technology was downloading applications on his Android Tablet.

"Can we sit...?" Trey asked, eying the couch in the small apartment's all-to-near living space.

He stood without waiting for her response, snatched up both of their glasses and their second bottle -- a cheaper wine she'd had hidden in the back of her fridge already opened -- and went in to sit on the couch. He sat practically in the middle of it, leaving her with a choice: sit in one of the nearby chairs, or sit intimately close to Trey.