chapter 6
Larry Carter listened to Dana Drew.
He listened to Dana Drew every day, taping every show.
Religiously.
He was in love with Dana Drew. She was his perfect type. Smart, witty and beautiful. Not like his old girlfriend, The Bitch, the one who discarded him so easily. The only thing he missed about The Bitch was her height. She was a bit shorter than him, which was rare.
Larry was only five foot five.
Dana Drew had beautiful black hair. He loved the way it looked, so shiny when she combed it, so black that it seemed iridescent. It looked awesome with her full pouty lips. He dreamed of those lips and what she could do with them.
Larry had studied her face a million times. He knew every contour, every curve.
He’d go to see her at remotes so he could get pictures of her. He always hung back, not ready for Dana to see him in person, so all of his pictures of her were from a distance. It was okay, but not good enough.
He studied the best shot he got of her, the one close-up of her face he had enlarged to a life size eleven by seventeen. He could see her dark almond shaped eyes and her smile. That mouth again. Oh, that mouth. He got chills thinking of it.
Then there was her voice. She sounded so throaty, so sexy on the air. Her voice felt like home. She was his perfect woman and his best friend in the whole wide world. Larry called Dana every so often just to talk. Over time, they’d become close friends. He called her for advice when The Bitch left him. Dana reassured him that he could probably do better and that she was sure there was someone else out there for him who would make him even happier.
That’s when he knew, she loved him too.
Dana’s shift had just ended. He let her finish talking, then pressed STOP on his cassette recorder and ejected the tape. Larry carefully removed the cassette placing it down on the table. He wrote as neatly as possible on a sticky label, Dana Drew, January twelfth. He slowly lifted the label from the wax paper and lined it up so it was exactly in the middle of the cassette and placed it down. A small ridge folded up in the corner. The clean, crisp label was now imperfect.
“F*ck!” he yelled angrily. “Damn it! Damn it!”
Larry took out a razor blade from the desk drawer and began to remove the sticky label from the cassette. It came off messily. He poured some turpentine on a piece of cloth and rubbed the remaining stickiness from the plastic until it was smooth again. He then took out another label, re-wrote Dana’s name and the date of the show, and placed it on the cassette again, this time more carefully. It lay perfectly flat. Even, crisp and clean.
“Good,” he said and smiled broadly. Larry put the cassette in its case then walked over to the bookshelf in his house, placing the cassette next to Dana Drew, January eleventh. Larry had a recording of every one of Dana’s shows. Well, every one since he discovered her. When he was really lonely or horny, he’d pick out one of his favorite shows and listen to it or pleasure himself to it. Occasionally, he’d call in to talk to Dana and she’d put him on the air. Those tapes he marked with a shiny gold star.
Larry was very happy tonight. Tomorrow he was going to talk to Dana in person. He had finally lost the last few stubborn pounds and felt confident enough to meet her. It was perfect timing really. Just as he had achieved his weight goal, he heard Jonny Rock announce that Dana would be at Scully’s in Miami tomorrow, just minutes from his house. Larry knew it was more than just a coincidence, he knew it was fate.
Because he and Dana were destined to be together.
Larry shook with nervous excitement and moved into the bathroom to study himself. He had always been overweight by about fifty pounds. He lost all of it in the last three months. A huge loss due to a strict diet. Larry survived on weight loss pills, coffee and grapefruit juice, allowing himself only one real meal a week, usually a cheeseburger at Floyd’s Bistro down the street every Friday at twelve fifteen in the afternoon.
Larry looked at his naked body in the mirror, still shocked at his change in appearance. The chubby guy was now lean and trim. He worked hard for his new appearance. He was at the gym every day. His arms were extremely muscular and his chest almost looked broad, like a movie star or something. He smiled and flexed. He had accomplished what he set out to do. So far.
He peered harder in the mirror and picked up his tweezers. One stray hair poked out from his eyebrows. He plucked it with surgical precision. Now he looked good.
Larry had curly brown hair, wide set light brown eyes and surprise, surprise, high cheekbones. He never knew his face had structure, fat and flesh always covered it. He turned to see his profile. His prominent nose made him look distinguished. Dana would think so too, he was sure of that.
He moved from the bathroom to his closet, carefully removing the outfit he bought for tomorrow’s big night. He lifted the plastic that covered the black silk shirt and gray trousers. Everything was perfectly pressed, wrinkle free. Better not keep it out too long, he thought, it might get ruined. So he carefully pulled the plastic back over his outfit, then put it back in the closet. Larry slipped on a pair of white sweatpants. He had exactly twenty-four hours before he would see her. He figured he could take the time he had left to work out a bit more, tone up a bit more.
Besides, the exercise would help relieve his sexual tension.
“Oh, Dana,” he murmured, quickly grabbing his pillow, pretending it was her. Larry caressed the top of the pillowcase as he had done a million times, then kissed the sheet firmly.
Yes, Larry Carter was ready for Dana Drew.
He only hoped she was ready for him.