MILKSOP Chapter 14

Alice was a Pretty Girl
courtesy photobucket.com

 As the week went by, Archie continued to eat lunch with Nan, Agnes and May.

But now there was another girl joining them whose name was Alice.

Archie thought this could get out of hand if it keeps going.

Alice just came right out with it and asked if any of the girls he was eating lunch with, was Archie's girlfriend.

 

They began to giggle and said, “No, he's all yours if you want him!”

As he left the cafeteria Alice followed him and he thought, “I don't want to hurt Alice's feelings, but I need to tell her I am too busy to go steady with anyone.” 

When he told her, she said, “No problem, we can work it out so don't be concerned.”

He then tried to think of some other way to discourage her.  He thought, “I'll tell her I don't have feelings for her,” and when he did, she said, "You will in time."

And that was the way it was. Alice had an answer for his every objection.

Then it struck him, “I haven't even looked at her, and that is to say really looked her over. I avoided doing that for I didn't want her to see me staring at her and think I was that interested in her.”

After their conversation she left, and started talking to some of her friends and this gave him a chance to really check her out.

What he saw was a girl with a pretty face, and you could tell she was female but she was somewhat thin-ish. She was still young but he figured she would catch up to the other girls in time.

What worried him was she seemed to be serious about having a fellow, and he was the one she had her eye on, at least for the present.

 
He didn't dare to talk to Nan and the other girls about this for that would be too much of a temptation for them to tease and to make fun of him.

He decided to talk to his Aunt about his problem and she said, “Alice will probably out grow you so just be friendly (not too friendly) and don't worry about it.”

That made sense to him, because of his limited amount of time to socialize; she will soon get tired of me.

 

That put his mind at ease for the time being, but after six months she was more into him than ever.

The school year was nearly over and it was time to prepare for the summer.

Thankfully Alice got a summer job and was going to be busy with work.

The broker Archie knew had offered him a summer job, and he was excited to see just how the business functioned.

 

Shortly after arriving at the firm, he found out that his job was not what he expected.

He was a “Gofer,” when anyone wanted something he was sent for it. But in the midst of doing his job, little by little he began to see how things worked.

There were times he was sent down to the market floor, and he was able to mingle with the buyers, and observe how each worked.

By summers end he felt he had chosen the right course for his life, but he wasn't sure just what he wanted to do within the market's structure.

Alice knew his schedule better than he did, and she managed to plan things so they had time to do things together. During the summer she filled out a little, and he felt better about that.

Guys in the past would look at them, and he could tell that they wouldn't have taken her out.

By now she was dressing to attract attention, and was getting longer looks from the guys. On the one hand he didn't like guys being interested in his date but otherwise it didn't really matter.

He was glad school was starting again for he hadn't seen Nan and the other girls much during the summer.   

 

To be Continued