• Home
  • /
  • Stories Hub
  • /
  • Loving Wives
  • /
  • Betty's Choice

Betty's Choice

123456

"All I can say Jack is that I won't wait for you. If you do it don't count on me being here when you come home."

I sat across the table from Betty and made a life changing decision. "Your choice Betty. So be it" I said and then I got up from the table and walked away leaving her sitting at the table. Twenty-four hours later I signed the papers and two days after that I was on a Greyhound and on my way to Fort Knox, Kentucky.

I remembered that I hadn't told my mom where I had left my car keys so when the bus stopped at Marysville to pick up passengers I called home to tell mom where to find them. While I had her on the phone she asked:

"Why did you leave without saying goodbye to Betty? The poor girl was over here bawling her eyes out because you just up and left."

"I didn't need to say goodbye to her. She'd already said goodbye to me. The look on her face and her tone of voice when she looked me right in the eye and said she wouldn't wait for me was as clear a goodbye as you could get."

"I'm sure you misunderstood her Jack."

"Don't think so mom. Got to go. The bus is getting ready to leave."

On the ride to Fort Knox I thought back on what had put my butt on that gray dog seat. I was an indifferent student in school. I wasn't dumb; I just didn't care for school. I saw no sense in some of what they were trying to pound into my head so I pretty much ignored it. I did just enough to hold a grade point average that allowed me to play football, baseball and basketball. I wasn't all that great at any of them, just average or maybe just a touch above average. I was good enough to be a starter on varsity and I did have my moments, but I was never at the level where I could even remotely think of the pros. Hell, I was never at the level that I could envision getting a sports scholarship. I played because I loved to play and not because I expected to get anything out of it except the pure joy of playing.

Betty Gifford and I hooked up in the tenth grade. I'd known her since the fifth, but all we had ever been was classmates who knew each other. She was a sexy looking honey and she had fueled more than one instance of self-abuse if you get my meaning, but the truth was that I figured that she was so far out of my league that I never worked up the nerve to approach her.

She was the daughter of the wealthiest man in town and I was the son of a factory foreman. Nothing wrong with being a factory foreman, it was just a case of being in wildly different social circles. Things like she did her swimming in the pool at the country club and I did my laps in the pool at the YMCA. She went out to eat with her folks at the Algonquin Club or The Empire Dinner Club. When I went out with my folks it was to the Village Inn on Wilcox or the Denny's on Perry Street. Her parents gave her a new Audi and a couple of gasoline credit cards when she got her driver's license. My parents and grandparents got together and gave me a ten year old Chevy pickup and told me I needed to get a part time job to pay for insurance, plates and gas. Socially we were the equivalent of oil and water and everyone knows that those two don't mix. I very much doubt that I ever would have approached her. We ended up together because she approached me.

It was a Thursday and I was in the school cafeteria at lunch time when Betty walked up to my table and asked me if she could join me. I of course said yes and she sat down. She cut right to the chase.

"Who are you taking to the dance tomorrow night?"

"I hadn't planned on going."

"But you were planning to go before you and Judy broke up right?"

Judy was my ex-girlfriend. We had been going together for a little over nine months. She had broken a date with me because some out of town relatives had come to visit and she needed to stay home and visit with them. I found out that she broke our date to go out with another guy and on the previous day-Wednesday-I had rather publicly called her a cheat and broke up with her and as Betty had surmised Judy was to have been my date for the dance. With Judy gone I had intended to skip the dance. I told Betty that and then she said:

"I really wanted to go to that dance, but I need a date and you are the only guy I know who isn't already spoken for."

"You need a date? What about your boyfriend? Why aren't you going with Roger?"

"I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

"The guy who caused your breakup with Judy was Roger. I treated him the same way you treated Judy."

"You really want to go to the dance with me?"

"I'm here asking aren't I?"

There is an old saying - "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" - so I just smiled and said, "I'd love to be your escort."

We had a great time even though Roger and Judy both came to the dance stag and spent the evening shooting nasty glances at Betty and me. They didn't dance together; not even once and they seemed to stay as far away from each other as possible. It amused the hell out of Betty and me. When I walked Betty to her door she thanked me for taking her, told me that she'd had a great time and then kissed me on the cheek. I was on cloud nine as I walked back to my car.

I considered the night a gift from the Gods, but I still felt that Betty was way out of my league so when I woke up Saturday morning I got on with my life.

A week went by and then on Friday I was again in the cafeteria when Betty walked up to my table and sat down. Once again she cut right to the chase.

"Why haven't you called me?"

"Why would I call you?"

"Are you saying that you didn't enjoy our date the night of the dance?"

"Of course not. I had a wonderful time."

"The why haven't you called me for a follow up date?"

If she could be blunt and to the point so could I. "I didn't realize that you expected me to. I figured that the only reason that we got together for that night was because you needed someone to take you to the dance and I was the only one available. In fact, as I remember it. Your exact words were "I need a date and you are the only guy I know who isn't already spoken for." I figured that all I was was a means to an end. It never occurred to me that you might expect more out of it."

"When a girl gives a guy a goodnight kiss after thanking him for a good time she expects to be asked out again. What are you doing tonight?"

"No plans."

"Pick me up at six."

I picked her up that night at six and began a relationship that lasted through graduation and up to the night she said that she wouldn't wait for me.

As in any relationship there are ups and downs, but the ups more than outweighed the downs. Betty was three months older than I was and her birthday gift to me on my eighteenth birthday was her virginity and less that twenty-four hours later she was talking marriage as soon as she graduated from college. Hey! I was all for it, but I knew it wouldn't work.

For one thing instead of going to the small college in our home town she was going to college out of state and the college was nine hundred miles away. It was far enough away that coming home for weekends was pretty much out of the question. Likely we would see each other on holidays and other breaks. Add in the fact that there was no way on God's green Earth that a girl like Betty wasn't going to be constantly hit on and it was inevitable that she would date and quite possibly meet someone more to her liking than Jack Baily.

And certainly more to the liking of her parents. I shouldn't have put it that way. I think her mother liked me, but her father on our first meeting left no doubt that he considered me totally unsuitable for his daughter. And to be honest with myself, I sometimes thought that was my biggest draw where Betty was concerned. That she was with me to spite him. Frankly, even though I would have loved to have one, I saw no future for Betty and me.

Graduation came and it meant summer vacation for Betty before leaving for college, but for me it meant find a full-time job and start my life as an adult. I found out that there were a ton of jobs available for a recent high school graduate. Unfortunately they were all low paying dead-end jobs. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's and at least fifteen gasoline station/convenience store clerk jobs.

After three weeks of looking and finding nothing of substance I was having lunch with my Uncle Bob and bemoaning my lack of being able to find anything with even a remote future when he said:

"Why don't you join the Army? You could learn a trade and take advantage of their educational benefits. Who knows? You might even like it enough to make it a career."

That very afternoon I talked to an Army recruiter and he explained to me what the Army could do or me and what my choices were. I thanked him for his time and then left his office to think about it. I talked it over with my dad (he was a veteran) and after talking to him and thinking long and hard on it I decided to do it.

I had a date with Betty the next day and after the movie we went to the Village Inn for pie and coffee. I laid it all out for her. "My job prospects suck and I don't see how I can make enough to support us when we get married." I explained what the Army could do for me.

"You are basically going to be gone for the next four years anyway. By the time you graduate my enlistment will be over and I'll come home hopefully in shape to find a decent job that can support us."

"But we won't see each other for three years."

"Sure we will. I'll get thirty days of leave every year and I'll be able to get other time off. I can get three day passes and they have something they call 'delay enroute' that gives you extra time to get from one post to another. I figure that we will see as much of each other as we would if I went to work at Burger King and waited for you to come home on an occasional weekend or on school breaks. But if I did that I'd be no farther ahead and still wouldn't be able to support us as a married couple."

"Have your dad get you on at the factory."

"He can't. Things are slow there right now and there may even be layoffs coming soon."

"Well I don't like it Jack. I don't want you to do it."

"I have to do it Betts. It is the only way I can see getting what I need to give us any kind of a future."

"All I can say Jack is that I won't wait for you. If you do it don't count on me being here when you come home."

Once she said that I figured that even if I stayed there wasn't much of a future for us anyway. I mean; what the hell!? The girl who claimed she loved me so much she couldn't live without me could just flat out tell me not to count on her waiting for me?

Sure showed a hell of a lot of love there!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I got off the bus and followed the signs that told recruits where to go and two hours later I and six others were in a truck and on our way to Fort Knox.

I was in pretty good shape from the sports I'd played so the physical part of training was a breeze for me. Where I didn't shine was in all the testing that was done to see where I would be the best fit in the Army's scheme of things. I should have paid a little more time attention in school to things I had decided would be a waste of time in real life.

Initial testing showed the Army that (at least to their way of thinking) I wasn't suitable for any of the combat arms and I was placed in an eight week basic training program instead of the sixteen week program that would be followed by the AIT (Advanced Infantry Training) course. To make a long story short I ended up in the Quartermaster's.

I had a ten day delay in route when I left Knox for Fort Lee in Virginia. I of course went home to visit. Mom told me that I should give Betty a call since I was home, but I told her that I didn't need to inflict that much pain on myself.

I spent the first two days at home with my parents, but on the third day I went out to see if I could meet up with some old friends. I did hook up with a few and since it was Saturday night we decided to go to the dance at the VFW. Their Saturday dance was open to anyone who could pay the twenty dollar cover and they usually had pretty decent bands. The cover was waived for unescorted ladies so there were usually plenty of girls to dance with.

As you might have probably guessed by now one of the first girls I saw when I got there was Betty. I was surprised to see her there because I had expected that she would be up at school. I found out later that she was on a semester break. She was out on the dance floor with Norm Taylor. It figured. Taylor was an asshole and I could never stand him. We'd even come to blows a time or two. The last time was when he tried to move in on Betty when she was dating me. I don't believe that Betty saw me come in. If she did I'm sure that she noticed the look of disgust on my face.

My group found an empty tale and we sat down and started to scope out the place for girls. I saw several that I knew. One of them was Nancy Neubert and she saw me and waved. I waved back and decided to ask her to dance when the next tune started. The song playing ended and I saw Betty and Taylor walk hand in hand to a booth against the north wall. They sat down and held hands on the table. Well she had at least ben up front and truthful when she said she wouldn't wait.

The next tune was a waltz and I got up and went over to Nancy and asked her if she would like to rip the light fantastic with me and she said yes. It was on our second turn around the floor when we went past Betty's booth and she looked up, our eyes met and her face lost all color, and then we were past the booth. Nancy hadn't seen the look on Betty's face, but she did notice that I ignored Betty. I didn't give Betty a smile when she looked up and saw me like you normally would with friends.

Nancy said "I heard that you broke up with Betty, but no one seems to know why. No one seems to know if it is just a tiff that you will get over and get back together or not."

"We won't be getting back together."

"Good. Maybe now I'll have a chance."

"A chance? Why in the hell would you want a chance with me?"

"Don't sell yourself short Jack. A lot of girls would like a chance with you. You never noticed because you were so wrapped up in Betty."

I didn't know what to say to that so I didn't say anything.

"I'm a girl who goes after what she wants Jack. There is an empty table over there" and she pointed to it. "I'll leave my group if you want to leave yours."

Jack be nimble - Jack be quick. Jack jumped at it.

We spent the next two hours dancing, talking and sipping our drinks. From where we were sitting I could see Betty and she could see could see Nancy and me. I noticed that when she wasn't out dancing with asswipe she as looking our way. I don't know if Taylor knew it or not since his back was to us.

Nancy and I had just finished a two-step and after walking her back to our table I left her to go to the men's room. After taking care of business I walked out into the hall and found Betty standing there waiting for me. As was her usual habit she went right at it.

"Why haven't you called me? Why didn't you let me know you were home?"

"Why would I bother? You told me that you weren't going to wait and I notice that you were at least honest about it, but with Taylor? The guy I stomped because he called you a bitch?"

"It is just a date Jack. There isn't anything going on with us."

"From the way you were dancing with him when I came in and the way you are holding hands in your booth you sure couldn't prove that by me. Whatever. I've got to get back to my date."

"She isn't your date. She got here hours before you did."

"That was then; this is now."

I started walking away from her and she said "Call me Jack? Please?"

"Maybe" I said over my shoulder and "Maybe not" I said to myself. As I walked back to Nancy I was thinking that it was clear that Betty wanted to mend fences, but it was equally clear to me that she wasn't going to sit around while I was gone and I saw no reason to set myself up for failure if you take my meaning.

When I sat down at the table Nancy said "I saw Betty head you off. Is she trying to cut in on my action?"

"Your action?"

"I already told you baby; I go after what I want and I want you."

I've always been honest with myself and I knew that I was nothing all that special so Nancy's interest in me didn't make sense to me, but she was a sexy girl and I wasn't brain dead so of course I was going to ride with it. We spent another half hour dancing and then they announced last call so we got up to leave. As we headed out together I happened to see the look on Betty's face. She was not a happy camper.

We stopped at the Waffle House for coffee and an early breakfast. We made a date for the next day and then I drove her home. I received a very nice kiss when I walked her to her door and I drove home in a pretty good mood.

My date with Nancy was dinner and a movie followed by pie and coffee at the Village Inn after the show. We talked and Nancy wanted to know why Betty and I were no longer a couple. I told her why and then explained my thinking. I didn't expect her response.

"What did you expect Jack? She's young and she isn't ready to live like a nun. She is going to want to go out and have fun and for girls our age that fun is naturally going to include boys."

"Answer me this Nance. What were you doing last night?"

"Out having fun."

"Yeah, but with who?"

"You know who Jack; you went to school with all of us."

"So you went out with Carol, Bev and Liz to have fun. You do it often?"

"Once a week and usually on the weekend."

"It seemed to me that the three of them had a good time. They were out on the dance floor most of the night."

"So?"

"So you managed to have a fun night without being on a date with guys. You telling me that Betty couldn't have done the same for the amount of time we would be apart? Keep in mind that even if I stayed here instead of joining up we would be apart for most of the next four years anyway what with her being at school nine hundred miles away.

"I'm not stupid Nance. I know she is going to want to date, go out and have fun, but you can do that without getting into a serious relationship. She said that she wouldn't wait for me, but she expected me to wait for her while she was off to school for four years. I would get an occasional weekend, get to see her over the holidays and maybe part of her summer break. Is that any different for her waiting for me to come home on leave or on a three or four day pass?

"Bottom line is that she said she wouldn't wait for me and she didn't. I'm not even gone three months and I walk into the VFW and find her with her head buried in Taylor's shoulder and his hands all over her ass so don't tell me I was wrong to break up with her."

"I guess I can see both sides here, but be honest with me Jack. I know that you and Betty were getting it on and once people our age get a taste of sex we want more and more of it. Do you really think that Betty could go cold turkey for four years? Could you?"

"Other people have done it. My grandmother managed to while Gramps was off fighting in World War Two. My mother managed when dad went to Vietnam. The point I'm trying to make here is that she wouldn't have to go without for four years. She would only have to go without while we were apart. Again, beating a dead horse, if I had of stayed home I would have had to go without while she was away at school. It would have sucked, but I would have done it and if she was really wanting to be mine she could have done it too while she was away at school. Whatever. It is a dead issue as far as I'm concerned. She made her choice and I've moved on."

"I can't say that I'm unhappy about it because it gives me a chance. I guess the next question I have is do I have a chance?"

123456
  • Index
  • /
  • Home
  • /
  • Stories Hub
  • /
  • Loving Wives
  • /
  • Betty's Choice

All contents © Copyright 1996-2023. Literotica is a registered trademark.

Desktop versionT.O.S.PrivacyReport a ProblemSupport

Version ⁨1.0.2+795cd7d.adb84bd⁩

We are testing a new version of this page. It was made in 18 milliseconds