Chapter 4: Wes, Computer genius

The one good thing about Jasmine having Troy for a boyfriend, who was a senior this year, was that Janet got to ride to school with them in the morning. In the afternoon, however, she was back on the bus with the rug rats. Of course, she could have stayed after school and waited for Troy to be done with soccer to get a ride home, but she realized the school bus was where she would get most of her costumers. Truly she shouldn’t complain even though she did. 

On this day she got three giggling freshmen girls to hand over their fees with the name of their intended on a slip of paper. Unfortunately, they all picked the same unattainable senior who was already going with the head cheerleader. She had to take each one aside to figure out a compromise or at least something more tangible and not requiring the dismantling of an already established couple. This was a most important proviso. She would never be party to breaking up loving couples no matter the price.

Janet was at her wit’s end by the time she managed to get anything remotely plausible out of these silly girls.  She was certain that she would have smacked one--or more likely all of them-- if they had giggled one more time. 

"Harry Potter was right. Giggling should be outlawed," she muttered to herself after bidding the stupid girls good-bye. 

She got home and grabbed an apple before setting to work but her computer was as slow as molasses. After an hour of playing with it, trying to get it back to normal, it froze entirely. What scared her silly was a pop up that said:

GO GET THE BUG SPRAY, GO GET THE DOCTOR,

YOU HAVE A BUG, YOU HAVE A VIRUS

“No, No, No! This can’t be happening!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as she saw her files scramble into darkness.

“Janet, what’s wrong?” Jasmine asked in alarm. She had only just gotten home.

“Everything, everything is in here and now it’s gone. I can’t get it to do anything. It’s dead, I’m dead.” she moaned.

“Hmm, this is why I prefer good old-fashioned paper. We have the same classes. You can look at my notes...on paper.” Jasmine said.

“You don’t get it. I’m not talking about school stuff. This is my Yenta business, all my files everything, everybody, it’s gone! I’ll have to start all over. What in the world am I gonna do?” Janet was almost to the point of crying.

“Maybe Troy can help. He’s good with computers, at least with computer games. Want me to call him when he’s done with soccer?”

Janet's sat up straight as she remembered the smirking boy with dark eyes thickly fringed with dark curling lashes.“Oh! That computer guy. What was his name? Will...Woodruff...Warren? He’s in my English class.  Why can’t I remember his name?” she muttered to herself.

“Do you mean Wes Sebastian? He’s the best. Computer genius, he is. Everyone says so. He did the school’s website and the principle always goes to him when they have a glitch but they also always suspect him of being a hacker and breaking their codes, too. Double-edged sword when you’re that good. Total genius. It even says so on his card but what it doesn’t say on his card is how very cute he is. That curly black hair, the way his eye-lashes curl, his sexy little smirk and that killer body--”

“Hello! What about Troy?” Janet asked disgustedly as she watched her sister fantasize about this self-proclaimed computer geek.

“Oh, yeah, he’s on the soccer team with Troy and they’re really good friends. He can get Wes' number for you," Jasmine said as she rummaged in her book bag for her cell. "I never thought you’d ever need help with your computer. You’re such a wiz at it too. Weird. It’s a brand-new laptop and everything."

“Hi, Troy. Done with practice?  Uh, huh...uh, huh...yeah...uh huh...”

“Hello! I’m in trouble here!” Janet shrieked impatiently.

“Okay, okay...” Jasmine said, waving her sister back. “Troy, Janet  needs Wes Sebastian’s number. Uh, huh...uh, huh....okay....uh, huh....” 

At this point, Janet was ready to ring her sister’s neck. She glared at her telling her with violent hand gestures to finish up. 

“Okay, here he is,” she said turning to Janet and giving her the phone.

“What do I want to talk to Troy for?” Janet demanded harshly.

“Not Troy, Wes,” Jasmine replied laughing at her sister.

“Hello?” Janet said warily into the phone.

“Hello, Yenta. And how are we today? Make any fine matches lately?” Wes asked brightly.

“No, my computer crashed. How much do you charge?” she asked grudgingly.

“Sixty an hour but I can give you a discount since you’re an okay kinda girl,” he said.

“Sixty? And how long does it usually take?” she asked, trepidation running along her spine.

“Depends on the problem. It may take five minutes, it may take two hours. One can never tell,” he said. 

The enjoyment in his voice made her rankle. “So, if it only takes five minutes I should only pay you five dollars, right?” she said, hoping against hope.

 He laughed uproariously. “Good one, Yenta. Tell you what, if you can find a plumber that works that way then so will I,” he said. 

She growled nasty little words under her breath and ground her teeth together. “Sorry, didn’t quite catch that,” he replied sounding ever so amused.

“Do I have to come to you?” she asked resigned to this humiliation.

“Well, Troy said he was going to your house anyway to pick up Jasmine. They're going to dinner, so I could just follow him... unless..."

"What?" she snapped.

"We can go out with them and then I can work on your notebook ,” he suggested. 

“You can do that? You don’t think you’ll be very long with it?” Janet asked hope bubbling up inside. She might still be able to make a few matches by tonight if all went well, she thought happily.

“Don’t know for sure but it can’t be any worse than what I’ve been dealing with all week. There’s a nasty bug going around but I’ve got the antidote. So, what do you say? Should I come over?” he asked calmly.

“Yeah, sounds good,” she said and handed the phone back to Jasmine who watched her sister with interest.

“Hello? Oh, hi, Wes...uh, huh...yes...uh, huh...okay. We’ll be ready. Bye,” she said sweetly and dropped the cell back into her bag. She then grabbed her sister by the arm.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Janet protested.

“They’ll be here soon and I’m already hungry so...let’s get dressed,” Jasmine insisted still dragging her sister up the stairs.

“And what do you call this? Sheep skin? I’m dressed.”

“Jeans and a sweater just won’t do. Troy’s taking me to a great place by the pier and we have to dress nicely or they won’t treat us well because we’re kids. Appearance is everything,” Jasmine said, much to her sister’s annoyance.

“Then maybe I should just stay home. You can go with Troy-boy and Wes can fix my lap top. Everyone’s happy,” Janet said. 

Jasmine totally ignored her and shoved her twin into the room. After forcing her down onto the bed, Jasmine went to the closet and pulled out four dresses.

“Chose one,” she commanded as she showed each one in turn.

“Oh, I don’t care. Whichever one says ‘fix my computer’ the quickest. This is gonna cost me sixty an hour,” Janet whined. In truth, the money was nothing to her. She usually had that as pocket change by the end of a good matchmaker day. She just wanted the laptop fixed, the faster the better.

 They were dressed and ready by the time the guys came around. They were dressed rather well, much to Janet’s surprise.

 “Where’s the funeral?” she said by way of greeting when they both walked to the door grinning broadly.

“Why do you say funeral? It could just as easily be a wedding,” Wes commented as he offered his arm to her. Instead of her taking his arm she handed him the lap top. “All business, I see,” he said with a wry twist of the mouth.

“What else is there?” she asked rolling her eyes to the heavens as she walked to the car.  Wes opened the door for her further surprising her. 

“Uh, thanks,” she said frowning slightly.

“You’ll have to excuse my sister. She’s not used to people being nice to her. She can be rather ...difficult,” Jasmine stated bracingly. She gave Troy a little kiss and then got into the front seat.

“Actually, the word is abrasive, but you didn’t hear that from me,” Troy said in a hushed voice. 

Wes laughed and jumped into the back with Janet.

she looked at him hopefully. “Well? Aren’t you gonna start now? Time’s a-wasting,” she almost shouted.

“Janet, you can’t expect a man to work on an empty stomach. Let him have some food first,” Troy chided. “All those soccer drills make you hungry.”

“Yeah, but I’m the one paying good money for his expertise. How the heck do you justify sixty dollars an hour?” Janet asked.

“I told you, whatever the market will bear. Words to live by, in the business world, anyway.” Wes countered with his typical smirk.

Janet noticed that it did look sexy. She wondered why that was. It must be because Jasmine described it that way.

“I refuse to listen to business talk all night long so talk about something else or I’ll kick you out of the car,” Jasmine grumbled. 

This, however, wasn’t a threat to Janet. She would like it very much if she got to go home. She turned to Wes to see if she could actually get her sister to do as she threatened.

“So, tell me, Wes, this computer wiz title, did you come up with that all by yourself or did mommy help?” she asked snidely.

“That’s computer genius and though Mommy has been dead for three years, yes, in fact she was the first to call me that. She thought I was special but then don’t all mothers?” he answered, his tone even and his eyes direct. with some satisfaction he saw horror creep into Janet’s face.

“Oh...I’m so sorry...I didn’t know...I’m...really sorry,” she stammered stupidly. She felt like kicking herself.

“No worries. You weren’t the drunk driver that killed her,” he said calmly.

“When is your next soccer game, Troy?” Jasmine asked loudly in an obvious effort to change the subject. it wasn't, however, obvious enough for Troy.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Monday at Orianco. Are you this forgetful about everything or just my games?” Troy asked sounding decidedly hurt.

“I’m sure Jasmine has better things to occupy her brain then when and where our games are,” Wes said casually.

“No, really she doesn’t. She lives for this guy,” Janet told him in a conspiratorial whisper.

He smiled at her saying,   “Well, isn’t he lucky?”

“Luck had nothing to do with it. This pairing is courtesy of Janet, the Yenta,” she declared. Suddenly she narrowed her eyes at him. “You know, instead of paying you I can offer my matchmaking services in exchange for you fixing my lap top. The barter system. I can find you the girl of your dreams,” she said in a sing-song sort of voice.

“That would mean you would need to find me six girls,” he retorted.

“Excuse me? How do you figure that?” she asked bewildered.

“You only charge ten and I charge sixty. You do the math,” he countered.

She smiled sweetly at him. “That was before you gave me the idea to charge on a sliding scale. You, my friend, are at the top. You have to pay the big bucks.”

“Well, she can be taught! Good for me,” he said, just as they arrived at the restaurant.

 Janet didn’t quite know what that meant.