Chapter 86: Shopping, Dating, and Dinners

Saturday, February 4, 1984

Jas and I spent a while figuring out what we wanted to do. There were no movies out there that we wanted to see. That was about to change: ‘Footloose’, ‘This is Spinal Tap’, and ‘Blame it on Rio’ would be out within a month, and ‘Police Academy’ and ‘Romancing the Stone’ within two. Those weren’t even the only ones I could remember from my first go-round, just the most notable.

We probably wouldn’t see them all, but some of them we definitely would. Angie had already said she would frown on anyone who didn’t like ‘Footloose’ or ‘Spinal Tap’. I was safe there, at least.

Jasmine came up with shopping, but not just any shopping. No, this was very specific shopping, and something I’d wanted to do anyway. It also involved both Mom and Camille, which made it extra-special.

The shopping in question was formal wear for Prom. As you might expect, my part was limited. I got to try on four different tuxes, with several tie and cummerbund combinations, before we all (yes, me too!) agreed on the one we liked most. That one we were buying. I was almost certainly done with any significant growth (though, based on history, my feet might not ever entirely stop growing) and a tux purchased now might last me for decades. There are always excuses to wear one if one is looking.

After that, I was unceremoniously kicked out and sent to the car. Fortunately, I’d brought a book, and also the weather was mild. I sat and read for nearly two hours before the ladies returned.

I had no idea what the dress was, but I was assured that it was spectacular and that all eyes would be upon us. It was somewhat of a surprise that it wasn’t going to be an ao dai or the like, but we’d have plenty of opportunities for Jasmine to wear one of those, too.

For one thing, cruises were really starting to hit their stride in terms of what I’d remembered them being. I’d enjoyed them before, and would certainly enjoy them more traveling with Jasmine. After all, the very first fight of my marriage (and first threat to fly home and get a divorce) occurred on board a cruise ship less than thirty-six hours after the wedding.

Angie would be on board (literally!) and I suspected Paige would be, too.

After our formal wear adventure, the ladies decreed that The Galleria would be our next destination. I had no real problem with that, either. Shopping there was somewhat of a hike, but it was fun, too.

Along the way, we wound up in a jewelry store, where Mom and Camille had Jasmine looking at all sorts of things. Including, in a not-very-subtle bit of manipulation, engagement rings. I suspected our engagement ring might not come from a jewelry store, but rather from Grandmother, but who knew?

It did give me ideas on what Jasmine particularly liked, as well as some hints on an eighteenth-birthday present. That might have been Mom and Camille’s plan all along. Serious jewelry might have been overdoing it at Christmas; it would not be overdoing it for Jasmine’s birthday, given that everyone involved knew I had the means to buy serious jewelry. Only Jasmine knew my means were even more than the moms thought.

Somehow or another, Jas and I got talked into ice skating while the moms watched. She’d never been, and I’d never skated at The Galleria. As far as Mom knew, I’d never ice skated at all. It’d been years since I roller skated in this life, longer since I’d done so in my previous life, and a long time since I’d ice skated or rollerbladed.

It turned out that, for me, it was like the proverbial ‘riding a bike.’ Once I adjusted to the frame I had now, and the fact that my knees and ankles mostly did what I wanted instead of what they wanted (though I’d have to build up muscle tone in my ankles if I was going to do this regularly!), I was able to quickly pick up some confidence. Judging from her laughter, Jas did better than she expected, too. Her dance and balance practice undoubtedly helped.

It couldn’t last, of course. I managed to catch the toe pick without meaning to and sent myself sprawling. Fortunately, my first ice skating lesson ever had consisted of ‘how to fall on ice’ (we spent an entire class falling, getting up, and then falling), and I landed just fine without injuring myself.

Jas was concerned, but I got up before she was able to reach me.

“That looked like a nasty fall!” she said.

“Eh. Ice is slippery. Just don’t try to catch yourself with your hands. That’s how you injure yourself.”

“And you learned that...?”

I chuckled. “In 1989.”

“Caught you!” she said, grinning, then took off.

I followed, of course.

Mom and Camille were both impressed that we’d managed to do more than cling to the edges. Not that we’d done anything complicated — I could never skate backward nor do crossovers very well, so there was no temptation to try — but just getting out towards the middle of the rink and skating loops was pretty good for beginners. Given that the last time I’d been on ice was more years ago than I’d been alive (yes, that’s an awkward phrase), I think I counted as a beginner. Jas certainly did.

Rollerblades either didn’t exist yet or were, at least, not widely available commercially, but when they did appear, I could see taking up inline skating. It seemed like a fun way to commute around a college campus, plus it was good exercise. I’d just be religious about ankle, knee, and head protection. Crashes on pavement were much less forgiving than those on ice, and obstructions and uneven surfaces were much more common, too.

The four of us did some more window shopping until we reached a lingerie store, at which point I was ordered to find something to do for half an hour. This, again, might have been a worry. Jasmine’s mom, Jasmine, and my mom were together in a lingerie store! There was so much potentially wrong with this picture!

But, well ... whatever made Mom and Camille happy was both good and no business of mine, and if they felt like Jasmine might want something special, I certainly wasn’t going to stand in the way.

I met up with them after the specified half an hour. They had a couple of bags they didn’t have before, and Mom might have blushed just a trifle when she saw me. I suspected Angie’s ears were safe tonight, though — both because she’d be home late and because this had every hallmark of a Valentine’s-related setup.

Most likely, if it happened, it’d be next Friday, not Valentine’s Day itself, since Valentine’s Day was a work and school night, but who knew? I didn’t expect Angie or me to be home until late that night, but then we wouldn’t be home until late next Friday either, not with the dance going until ten and having some incentive to not go right home.

Once we were done with shopping, Mom decided she wanted to go home and have dinner with Dad (‘He’ll starve if I don’t feed him!’ — which might have been true), so we headed off. I dropped Mom at home, stopping in just long enough for Jasmine and Camille to say hello, and then headed for Jasmine’s house.

Camille invited me to dinner, and I happily accepted. After dinner, I hung out with Camille and Francis for a bit, and then Jasmine dragged me off to her room (not that it took a lot of dragging) to ‘Talk about some things.’

The initial conversation seemed to involve only a few specific words repeated with increasing urgency, but that sort of talking is a lot of fun, so we had another conversation just like it after a bit of rest.

After that, we were both pretty much done, and snuggled up.

She giggled. “It’s kinda funny that this even worked, really, I suppose. It’s not like Mama and Papa were opposed, before, but they’d have given me a lot more grief over it not all that long ago.”

“Growing up,” I said.

She grinned. “A week and a day!”

“Can’t wait,” I said.

“How did it feel for you?” she said.

“Honestly ... at first, it was a lot of to-do over nothing, I think, for me, in my other life. I really wasn’t waiting with bated breath for eighteen to hit during my first life. It was a milestone, but that’s about it. It’ll be much more meaningful this time, when there are things that it’s hard to do when you’re underage.”

“That makes sense. I feel like we’re all held back, but I wouldn’t think that if we weren’t trying to get going and do all of these things. And I think about how annoying it is to wait, but then I think ‘We’ll be adults for decades, and we only get to be kids for a fairly short period of time.’”

“It’s that old saying: ‘Youth is wasted on the young.’”

She giggled. “I think I agree. You, Laura, and Angie are really the only people who’ve tested that, though.”

“As far as we know, anyway. There could be plenty more out there, or none, and we may never know. The presumption is that anyone like us will be obvious because of their investing skill and wealth, but some people might not care, or it might manifest in some other way, like political power. If someone wanted to, and knew what the trends will be and what might play well and what events might happen, they could perhaps become President by playing their cards right.”

“Unless they broke something and that caused some event they were counting on not to happen.”

I nodded. “Or unless someone else broke something, or unless this world wasn’t their world in a way that mattered. Still, I could see someone who got a second chance thinking ‘If I did this, and then that, and then a bunch of other things, I could wind up a strong candidate for President.’ In that case, they might not look like business people — even if they’d been business people — but rather politicians.”

“Or writers or singers or whatever.”

“If anyone shows up singing songs or writing books that I know, or that are substantially similar to ones that I know, then ... I’ll know something.”

“Unless...” she said, grinning, “... they are the rightful author, and the author in your world was having a second chance and stole the books or songs or whatever from someone else, while the right person is authoring them here!”

“And, with that, my head hurts, as Jane often puts it.”

“Think anyone else has bedtime conversations like this?”

“Besides Ang and Paige?” I asked. “Hopefully not! Laura, one day, but as far as I know she’s still celibate. Not that I would know if she wasn’t.”

“I’m pretty sure she is, too. I get why. She’s got issues and, until last summer, had no one to talk to. She still doesn’t have anyone like Jane. I think she’ll be fine, but it’s a work in progress.”

“Which sucks, but there’s nothing we can do beyond what we’re doing.”

“That’s a lot, though,” she said. “It’s huge for her to know you and Angie are out there and not the horrible people she remembers. We talked a fair bit. It’s a big deal for her to be able to talk to someone ‘from here,’ which is much more the point now, rather than me reassuring her that you’re not pulling some long con. Which, really, was her first worry, even though she knew it was just paranoia.”

“Just because you’re paranoid...”

“ ... doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you!” she said, grinning. “I know!”

“I should probably get home.”

“Angie and Paige will be out for hours yet.”

“Yeah, but I should still get home. I don’t want your parents to be out to get me!” I said.

“Now that’s paranoid. The only way Mama and Papa want to get you is into the family!”

“As long as I don’t get you in a family way.”