That "Love" Girl
Chapter One

By Rachel Rene


    Michael Nesmith ignored the door, and went on tuning his guitar.  After a few more moments, realizing no one else had any intention of getting it
either, he sighed and set his instrument aside.
    "Fine, Ah'll get it.  Of course, Ah'm always the one who has to get it... Don' worry 'bout poor ol' Mike..." he muttered in his Texas accent, making his way to the front door.  When he opened it up, a face with rosy cheeks smiled at him cheerfully.
    "Hi!  I'm your new neighbor, and I'm also new to this town and don't know anybody, but I saw that you guys only live a couple houses away, and
seemed like nice kids, so I wanted to take the liberty to introduce myself," she held out her hand, "Karisma."
Stunned by the sudden wave of talking, Mike blinked for a few seconds, then realized she was holding her hand out.
    "Oh...uh, Mike." he shook her hand.  "Nice ta meet ya...?"
    "Karisma," she repeated, smiling. "Karisma Love."
    "Mike Nesmith."
    "Ahem." a voice was heard behind Mike.
    "Oh, and these are my friends and roommates, Peter and Micky. Davy's off on some date pro'bly."
    Micky stepped in front of Mike and held his hand out to Karisma, "Micky Dolenz.  And it's a real pleasure meeting you Miss Love."  He raised his eyebrows, holding her hand.
    She giggled,  "May I please have my hand back?  I would let you keep it, but I'm kinda attached to it...you know, it sorta grows on ya."  Micky laughed, letting her have her hand back as requested.
    "Ya know," he said, looking at Mike, "she's funny.  We should keep 'er around."
    "I'm Pete-," Mike nudged him, "-Er Tork."
    "Hey Pete." she smiled at him, and after a few seconds, inquired, "You're a vegetarian, aren't you?"
    Everyone looked surprised at her.
    "How'd you know?"
    "I'm psychic."
    Peter blinked at her, "Really?"
    "No.  I just thought you looked like one.  Besides, I noticed your teeth aren't as worn down as people's that eat meat would've been."
    "Uh-huh..." Peter said, thinking she was beginning to act a little weird.
    Her lips curved into another grin at the perplexed faces, "I'm studying to be a sociologist."
    "Oh." Micky was getting less interested in the conversation.
    Peter still had a confused look on his face,  "So you aren't psychic?"
    "Nope, 'fraid not, babe.  I could read your palm, but it'd be kinda like cheating."
    "Huh?" Micky wondered what she meant.
    "All I'd have to do is read lines."  Micky started laughing real hard.  Everyone just looked at him.
    "Man, it wasn't that funny." Karisma said, "In fact, it wasn't funny at all."
    "Good..." Micky stopped laughing, "I didn't know how far I'd have ta go with this politeness thing."
    "Wait, wait." Peter shook his head, "So you're a...?"
    "Well, I'm taking night classes to become a sociologist."
    "A so-see-what?"
    "Sociologist.  Someone who studies the social behavior of society.  I have ta make all kinds of observations an' stuff.  But it doesn't really pay that well, and I really wanna own my own store, with all the stuff I make."
    "Oh..."
    After a few more seconds, Karisma rocked back on her heels,  "Well..."  She started to turn back around.
    "Uh, hey." She stopped.  "Maybe ya wanna come inside fer a bit.  Get ta know us... Ah mean, you are our new neighbor and all."
    "Okay, Mike," she beamed.
    They walked to the living room, and Mike motioned her to sit on the couch, but she just sat facing them on the floor.  Mike was only aware of what she was wearing once she sat down.  She was still in her pajamas, or what looked like her pajamas.  She was wearing a gauzy, long-sleeved, bright green shirt without a bra, and had gray sweats rolled up to the middle of her shins.  Her red hair was tied in a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck, still wet from a recent shower.  Mike looked at her feet and noticed she didn't have on shoes.  Instead, she was wearing fuzzy slippers, the same green as her shirt.  She wasn't wearing any makeup, and he noticed her ears weren't pierced.  She looked very natural, without trying to be pretty, which she was (of course!).
    "Ahem..." Mike cleared his throat, a little embarrassed at her attire. He blushed slightly, without realizing it, and looked around to see if the other two had noticed her clothes.  They had.
    "Do- do you know what time it is?" Micky asked Karisma.
    She smiled, "Yeah, babe.  'Bout noon."
    Micky looked at Mike, still with a confused expression.  "Then, uh, if you don't mind me askin'..." he nodded his head towards her pajamas.
    Karisma looked down, then back at the guys, still grinning.  "My jammies, right?"
    "Yeah."
    "I slept in this morning...I didn't move in till 'bout 10 last night, and I was up all night unpacking.  I was too lazy to change."
    "So you know you're still wearing them?" Peter asked.
    "Of course, silly, you don't think I walk around like this all the time do you?  I usually wear a bra at least!  I need to keep in line!"  Mike blushed even deeper, and she giggled at how surprised they looked at her response.  "What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a girl before?"  She kept on laughing, knowing exactly how awkward this must seem to them. She wasn't embarrassed at all.  "I'm sorry," she finally said.  "Do ya want me ta change?"
    "It's okay," Mike replied, "we just weren't...expecting...you to just walk around like that, that's all."
    "I do a lot of things unexpected," an evil grin crept on her face, "You'll get used to it."  She winked, her smile broadening.
    "Finally!" Micky announced, "Someone as random as me!" he smiled as he went to put his arm on her head like an armrest.  "You're a pretty groovy kid, how old're you?"
    "I'll be 19 in two months.  June 11, 1948, the day I was born."
    "And a wonderful day it was."  A British voice came from the doorway.  Karisma looked behind her, and saw a short man, about her age, walking in the door.  " 'Ello gorgeous!  I'm Davy."
    "I figured."
    He stopped from walking towards her, "Whot's that s'posed ta mean?"
    "Nothing... Hi, I'm Karisma Love."
    He looked her up and down as she got up to shake his hand, "You sure are."
    Mike cleared his throat again, "Um, Davy... Don't you have someone you need to escort home?" he hinted, trying to tell Davy to back off.
    "I don't know whot you're talking about," Davy answered defensively, "I just came back from the store."
    "Sure you did." Micky muttered.
    "Look," Davy raised a grocery bag to prove it, "See?"
    "Okay, okay.  Well, this's our new neighbor.  And she's a real nice kid. Real nice, and we wouldn't want anythang ta happen to 'er, now would we? Ah mean, anythang..." Mike glared at Davy, knowing that he would take any opportunity to get a girl.
    "All right, all right.  I was just bein' polite..." he looked back at Karisma, and smiled his most dazzling smile, his twinkling eyes staring into hers.  "Miss Love," he lifted her hand to his lips, and softly kissed it in greeting.
    She blushed a little, "Mr. Jones," she slipped her hand away from him, and secretly wiped it off on the back of her pants.
    She bit her lip, raising her eyebrows.  "Well, as groovy as this has been, I really gotta finish unpacking.  I still have some stuff ta do." She clapped her hands together.  "Nice meetin' ya, Pete, Mick, Mike...Davy." she nodded a goodbye to them all.
    The guys got up, and Mike cleared his throat (gosharoony, he does that a lot!), "Ahem.  Well, little lady, Ah-" he looked at the others, who nodded, "Ah mean, we, were wonderin; if maybe we could help ya unpack.  If ya don' mind, that is."
    Her sweet smile spread across her face again, "Thanks, I'd love ta have y'all over.  It's not that far, just a few houses."

On to Chapter Two
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