Laurel called Yuri after reading the front page, "Yuri, do you know where your brother is?"
"No, he left yesterday and did not come home last night." He yawns into the phone and rolls over, "You do know that it is six thirty in the morning, and we usually do not get up until eight."
"YURI! Your brother is in jail! He was caught nude sunbathing at Crater Lake."
Yuri sits up, runs his right hand through his blond hair, gets out of bed and walks around the room. He was trying to picture his brother, naked on the beach and the cops pulling up to arrest him. He is frantic as he looks for his jeans in the disaster that is his room, he places the phone on speaker as he digs in with both hands to find some clean clothes to wear.
"So, if he is in jail, what do I do? How do I get him out?"
"Let me talk to my boss, I'll tell them the situation and I will meet you at the jail. Ok?"
"Ok." he responds, but then remembers that he has no idea where the jail is, "WAIT! Where is the jail?"
"Hold on, Stacy can you tell him? I am going to go talk to Bill." Stacy nods and Laurel adds, "I am giving Stacy the phone, I will go talk to Bill and then we can meet up."
"Ok, that sounds good."
"Yuri, leave your younger brothers at home. I am sure that this is em- bare- assing for your brother." She tried to stifle a giggle.
"Very funny, I am sure he is, butt.." Yuri pauses, "You and I can make his life miserable after this, and maybe he will let us alone for five minutes."
"True. Love you, see you soon."
"Love you too," Yuri replies and then ponders what he just said.
"I told her that I love her," he speaks to the walls, as if they could hear him. But he knew, he knew that he in fact did love her, and that the longer she was around, the happier he felt.
Their first date set the precedent for all others to come. She was forthright, telling her entire story, and leaving nothing out. Her parents died when she was ten, her Aunt took her, in but treated her poorly because she wasn't a boy, and how the Aunt died and left her everything. School life was tough, because her Aunt refused to buy her clothing, so she wore stuff that belonged to her male cousins and Uncle since that was all that she had.
Dating, she had said that she was lucky to have dated a few guys, but none of them did anything for her. (As in, none of them excited her or made her feel special) Except a guy she calls CC, aka Charles Calvin. She met this nerd through MITE, a company that she contracts with for some of her technology that she uses on her vehicles. She said that CC was the one that worked out how to place HELL BENT on the solar shades.
Their first kiss, damn if it wasn't electric. He can't start thinking about that right now, the way it turned him on, Jesus she is hot. Shaking his head as if to clear those thoughts away, he goes to the other part of their conversation, the one that made him really want her as his significant other.
"I am religious, despite the fact that I curse like a sailor. I pray and ask forgiveness, but there is one thing that I will not do." She looks him right in the eyes since he is sitting on the front bumper of her truck, " I will not have premarital sex."
She had said it, straight to his face, and that made him happy. So many girls that his brothers had met were promiscuous, not that that is a bad thing if you are trying to rebuild your people, but some carried diseases.
He grabbed his boots and pulled them on over his jeans, then rummaged for a shirt of any kind to put on and only found a Led Zeppelin shirt with stains all over it. It would have to do, he thought as he reached for his wallet and keys and slowly turned the doorknob. Quietly, he crept down the hall to the front door and checked to make sure that no one was behind him, then once again he slowly turned the knob and walked out into the cool morning air.
