Chapter 4 - A Date?

Leslie was in the middle of lunch rush when Jamie walked in the door, since Burger King was the only fast food restaurant on the base, unless you were pretty fluent in German it was hard to eat out any were else. It was also, the most popular hangout of the high school students, so it could get really busy at times, so busy that Leslie often went without a break for the first several hours of her shift. Jamie took his place at the end of the line and waited for Leslie to finish with the customers in front of him.

Leslie hadn't even noticed that Jamie was there, she was that focused on her job and getting each of the customer’s orders right. “What can I get for you today? She said as she finished with the customer directly in front of Jamie, the words died on her lips as she looked up and noticed who was standing there.
“Oh, hi. How are you?” she said, he looked twice as handsome in the daylight as he had in the dark last night. She hadn't really noticed how deep blue his eyes were.
“I told myself to wait for super but I just couldn't help myself and had to stop by before I went in to work!” Jamie broke into her thoughts, Leslie blinked back to reality.

“You like Whoppers that much?” she joked, not completely caught off guard, but slightly flushed at the implied complement, then it dawned on her “You didn't get in any trouble for letting me use the phone, did you?” she asked he eyes wide and fearful.

“Oh, no” Jamie was quick to reassure her, “I'm not in trouble, just a little hungry” he teased.

“Oh, I'm so sorry, what would you like?”

Jamie wanted to say a kiss but knew that would be wrong, besides he didn't want to scare her away, so he ordered a basic Whopper Meal Deal.

“Would you like to make that a King size?” Leslie asked, she was in her element now and determined to remember her job, “It's just another customer” she tried to tell herself, but that didn't stop her heart from racing or keep her hands from shaking as she typed in his order.

“Sure, why not?” Jamie said with a grin.

“Will that be for here or to go?” she asked.

“For here”

Leslie reached under the counter and pulled out a king size cup and placed it on his tray with his receipt and then turned around and grabbed his sandwich and fries and placed them on his tray as well.“There you go” she said with a smile “Have a good day”

“Thanks. You too.” James responded trying desperately to think of something to say. “Do you go to church anywhere?” he finally asked.

“Actually, I go home for the weekends and attend my dad's church.” Leslie answered, as she turned her attention to the next customer in line. She was actually quite pleased that he had asked her that question because it proved two things; one, he was a churchgoer and two, he was interested in her, at least she hoped that's what it meant. She only wished she wasn't so busy and could give a better answer.

Jamie took his food and headed to a booth “See ya later” he said and winked at Leslie “I might come back in when it slows down and get me some desert”

Jamie settled into a booth that faced the register and watched Leslie as she swiftly took orders from the customers, there were a couple of times he noticed that she was getting flustered but she managed well. She was a little blond tornado and she had stolen his heart. He watched her until he had to go to work, as he left he caught her eye “See you tomorrow.” he called and waved over his shoulder.
Leslie wasn't able to take her break for a couple more hours in fact it was almost 10 before she clocked out and ordered herself a sandwich for supper and headed back to the break room.

“Leslie, can I see you for a minute?” Michelle, Leslie's boss called as she passed the office.

“Sure,” Leslie said “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, everything is fine, I just wanted to ask you a few questions?” Michelle said
“I was wondering if you would be interested in some more hours? Stacy's dad is getting transferred back to the States and I'm having a time getting someone to cover her shifts”

“Well, what hours are they?” Leslie asked

“I have everything filled except for, Saturday 6-close and Monday 6am to noon, I know this is out of your regular schedule, but if you can work something out I would appreciate it. I don't need you to start for a couple of weeks yet, but I do need to know soon.”

“I will talk to my folks when I go home this weekend and see what we can come up with.” Leslie said as she stood and headed to the break room to eat before they needed her up front. Leslie was relieved when she saw that no one else was in the break room and that the conversation with Michelle had only taken 5 minutes. That meant she had 25 minutes to eat her sandwich and read in peace. She picked up her book and lost herself in the story of “The Princess” written by one of her favorite authors Lori Wick.

The rest of her shift was a breeze and Sandy was on time when she got off, Leslie was actually a little disappointed when she saw her pull up cause it meant that there was no excuse to stop by and chat with Jamie. She was pleasantly surprised when Stacy turned toward the South Lexington check point instead of the usual route home.

“I ordered pizza tonight cause I don't feel like cooking so we're got to run over to Domino's to pick it up” Sandy said by way of explanation.

When they arrived at the check point, Jamie was his usual, cheerful self, though he too had wished that Leslie's ride would be late as well.

“Looks like everything is in order here. You ladies have a nice weekend.” He winked and handed the paperwork back to Sandy.

“Did you see that? Oh, my gosh! He is sooo cute!” Victoria drooled from the backseat “Did you see him wink at me? I just know he likes me. He was looking right at me.”

Leslie took a deep breath, “Yeah, right!” she thought “he saw you through the tinted glass and winked right at you.” Being around Victoria could be so draining sometimes. Out loud she said “Hey, sorry, tuts. I saw him first, plus he's closer to my age.”

“How do you know?” Victoria pouted; Sandy looked sternly at Leslie who grinned
“Aw, you can have him, but I get Mr. Darcy! He's all the man I need!”
The girls had been staying up the last several nights trying to finish a new video series, Jane Austin's Pride & Prejudiced, staring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, they both were enthralled with the romance of the period and Mr. Darcy's English accent and melancholy demeanor.

“Oh, we just have to finish that movie tonight!” Victoria gushed “I can't wait to find out what happens.”

“We'll see!” Sandy interjected “I need Leslie to help with the cleaning tonight.”

“Aw Mom, I want to watch the movie.” Victoria whined “cleaning will take all night!”

“That's ok Victoria.” Leslie answered as she turned and smiled at Victoria “If you help me clean, we could make some cookies to munch on while we watch the movie tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Victoria grimaced.

“Sorry, girls, but I'm going to need your help grading papers tomorrow, Leslie. And you'll have your own school work to do, Victoria. Maybe tomorrow night you can watch the movie” Sandy told the girls apologetically.

“Not fair! Why should I have to wait to watch my movie because Leslie has to clean?”Victoria complained.

“Victoria, that is not nice!” Sandy scolded “You don't have to help clean, but you won't watch the movie until Leslie can watch it with you”

Victoria grimaced cleaning was not something she liked doing. “Something she apparently got from her mother.” Leslie though, when she entered the house; dishes covered the sink, counter, and kitchen table, and in the living room piles upon piles of laundry waiting to be folded.

Sighing, Leslie removed her coat and shoes at the door, picked up her shoes and carried them to her room. She laid her purse and uniform cap on her bed and hurried back downstairs to get started on the cleaning. As she passed the upstairs entertainment room she heard the video playing and knew that Victoria was watching the movie, in spite of her mom's command not to. Leslie knew there would be no help from Victoria tonight and since Sandy probably wouldn't make it upstairs tonight, she would again get away with her disobedience.

Leslie was frustrated as she started on the dishes, would she ever know a place where she was wanted for more than her ability to clean dirty dishes and wipe snotty noses. It was no different here than it was at home, except she was able to escape to her job every afternoon. And now there was Jamie, Leslie smiled to herself, she wondered what he meant by his comments this afternoon. To be able to clean his dishes and fold his laundry and take care of him, that would be fun. Her imagination took over and she imagined what it would be like to be married to Jamie and how he would hold her and tease her as they did their chores together. Four hours later, the dishes were washed and the clothes folded and stacked neatly in their respective baskets, Leslie quietly climbed the stairs to her room, the rest of the family had gone to bed hours ago. As she entered her room she realized that was another thing that was different here than at home; she did have her own room, well it was actually more like a small closet, but it was especially nice just to have a space to call her own. She reached for her purse and realized she hadn't put her passport back in but left it on the bed with her hat, as she picked it up she noticed a piece of paper slipping from the pages, she opened it up and there was a phone-number and next to it was written “Call me if you need anything, Jamie”. She slipped it into her wallet and sighed, Jamie was a really nice guy, definitely the knight in shining armor type of guy, and she was the princess stuck in the castle complete with the evil “step-mother” and “step-sisters”. If only there was a way around Sandy's silly “no boyfriends” rule. “Well, true love always finds a way” she thought to herself as she grabbed her book and snuggled under the blanket, to try and finish her book before she fell asleep. Tomorrow was Saturday she would be headed home and she knew it wouldn't be a relaxing trip, since she had to bring up the subject of working Saturdays.

It was 7 o'clock Sunday Evening when Leslie arrived back at the Holland's, her trip home had been exhausting, as usual, she had fought all weekend with her dad. This time, trying to convince him to let her look for her own apartment, he still wasn't convinced. Leslie was sure he just couldn't handle the fact that she would be on her own and not needing him anymore. At 19 she didn't really need his permission to do it, but she would really like to have it anyway, it seemed like she had spent most of her life trying to gain his approval and no matter what she did she could never succeed in gaining it. She had managed to tell him that she had to work at least some Saturdays over the next few weeks, she had decided that it was easier to just tell him she had to and that would save her from having to argue her side. She didn't want to answer a lot of questions from Victoria, so when she saw the young girl lounging in front of the TV she waved briefly and headed for the stairs. Victoria waved back and then jumped up.

“Leslie,” she called, Leslie sighed and turned she'd never get any peace and quiet now, “someone from your work called said it was important that you call her back, I think her name was Michelle.”

“Thanks” Leslie said “I'll call her.” and picked up the phone to discourage any further conversation, she smiled when Victoria headed back into the living room without a word. Leslie dialed the number for Burger King after talking to Michelle and telling her that she could work Saturdays and that Mondays were still uncertain but she would get back to her on that and getting her schedule for the week. She hung up and was going to head for the stairs when she thought of Jamie, after only a moment’s hesitation she picked up the receiver and dialed his number, he answered at the first ring. Leslie nearly dropped the phone at the sound of his voice, hesitant as to what to say, now that she had him on the line “ah...hi, this is Leslie”

“Hey, girl what's up?” Jamie asked, excitement tingeing his voice “How'd your trip home go?”

“Not so good...” Leslie said “I don't know what I expected though.” she paused “To be honest I don't even know why I called you.”

Jamie laughed “That's fine! I wasn't doing anything anyway.” he said “would you like for me to come and pick you up, we could grab a bite to eat and talk.”

“I guess I could” Leslie said, wondering all the while, what on earth she was getting herself into.

“See you in about 30 minutes?” Jamie asked

“Yeah, I'll meet you at the Schwetzingen Bahnhof” she replied

“Ok, see ya in a bit” Jamie said as he hung up.

Leslie took her suitcase to her room and when she came back down she announced casually “Michelle said there is meeting tonight that I have to attend. She's coming to pick me up here in a few minutes. I don't know how late I'll be, but she'll give me a ride home as well, so I'll see you all later tonight” Leslie grabbed her purse and jacket and walked out the door. The short 5 minute walk to the train station helped to relieve some stress from her body, and by the time Jamie arrived she was quite relaxed.

“So where would you like to go?” he asked as he walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.

“Umm, the Gaststaete here at the Bahnhof is supposed to be pretty good,” she said with a smile “want to try it?”

“Sure” Jamie said “I haven't really got a chance to try the local cuisine.” he leaned in and whispered “I'm always afraid that I'll order something weird like squid”

Leslie laughed “That's not really likely since very few places in Germany sell squid”

They walked to the Gaststaete and went inside Leslie spoke to the waitress in German and asked for a table for two. They were shown to a table and given menus which Leslie poured over and tried to translate for Jamie. They both got to giggling at the funny way the some of the words came out in direct translation. In the end they ordered Bratwurst and SauerKraut. James prayed for the food when it arrived then he asked “So, what went wrong this weekend?”

Leslie rolled her eyes “A better question would be what went right, that would take less time to tell.”

“I've got all the time in the world” Jamie replied, looking deep into her eyes as he reached across the table and took her hand in his. Leslie never could figure out what did it whether it was the look, his touch, or the tone of his voice, but something caused Leslie to break down and between sobs the whole story came out. How her dad wouldn't let her look for her own place and how she had hoped living with the Hollands would provide her with a little breathing room but instead they were treating her with less respect than her own family “I know they mean well but I want a chance to prove that I can survive on my own and I don't need someone looking over my shoulder all the time!” she concluded in frustration.

Jamie smiled, she was definitely the most beautiful girl he had ever met. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, but he didn't, he remained calm and said “Well, since you're over 18 you don't have to have to have anyone's permission to get your own place. So what if you were to get your own place and just don't tell anyone till you've been on your own for a while, then they couldn't say anything cause you would have proved that you can do it both to them and to yourself.”

“I have thought of that ...” Leslie said “I've got a few more hours at Burger King, and I'm saving most of my money... I could try that, I guess I could look around and see what an apartment would cost me. But, I still don’t know… anyway, enough about me, what did you do this weekend?”

“Well, I did what I always do, work, eat, sleep, and play basketball with the guys.” Jamie said and then without really thinking he asked “So, do you have a boyfriend?”

The question caught Leslie completely off guard and she nearly choked on her drink of water “Ah, no, I don't have a boyfriend,” Leslie answered as she grabbed her napkin and wiped her mouth. “The Holland's don't want me to have a boyfriend while I'm living with them. I don't think they trust me. Just another reason I need to move out.” she said with a grin, “Why do you want to know?”

“Well, I was going to ask if you would consider going out with me, but I don't want to get you in trouble.”

Leslie smiled “Oh,” not really knowing what to say to that.

“We could just be friends for awhile and get to know each other.”

“Right, they didn't say I couldn't be friends with boys, just I couldn't have a boyfriend.”

James winked at her, “And if we decide we want to get serious and be “boyfriend and girlfriend” you could move in with me.” he finished with a grin.

Leslie's shocked face said it all. “Just Kidding” Jamie quickly reassured her. “So, would you like to go see a movie on Friday? As friends, of course. The guys and I were going to go see 'The Pirates of the Caribbean'”

“Sorry, I can't, I have to work Friday”

Jamie laughed, “So do I. We're going to the afternoon showing, could you maybe come with us before you go in to work?”

“I guess, I could see if Sandy would drop me off early.”

“That would work, or I could meet you here and drop you off at work when we're done.”

“Ok, that would actually be better, I could tell Sandy that Michelle is sending someone to get me cause she needs me to come in earlier. Actually, do you think you could do me a favor, Michelle wants’ me to work the morning shift on Mondays, if I paid you for gas would you mind coming to get me and take me into work I have to be there at 6 am.”

“That would work for me, I don't work Sunday nights so I would be able to get over here in time.” Jamie said and then he looked at his watch “Oh, my gosh, it's almost 11 o'clock, I better get you home, before you get in trouble!”

They laughed together, Jamie paid the tab and they walked hand in hand to his truck. When Jamie dropped her off, he brushed a kiss on her cheek. “What time do you work tomorrow?” he whispered

“1 to close” Leslie answered with a giggle

“I'll come in around 6:30 and have supper with you, ok?” Jamie said “Now, you get in there and get some sleep. Sweet Dreams!” He opened the door for her and waited till she had let herself in, then he waved to her and drove off.

Leslie was surprised that the house was completely quiet and everyone seemed to be asleep, so she tiptoed up the stairs and slipped into her room as she got ready for bed she remembered the feel of his lips on her cheek and her hand in his, she wondered what it would feel like to have his arms around her and feel his lips on hers. And with a smile on her face she drifted off to sleep.