Chapter 57: A Second Date

Tuesday, January 22, 1985

After we got home, Jas called Southwestern Bell to add a second and third line. The third was nominally a business line, though we weren’t going to deduct it. It made sense to call the second upstairs line the ‘business line’ and route it to the business’s answering machine. Cammie could use it in building her ‘real estate queen’ business, presumably. We could also send anything from the property manager to it.

While checking the Houston paper for any more news about the referendum (there wasn’t anything of note), I came across an announcement about U2 playing the Summit on February 27th. I hadn’t been a huge U2 fan at this point during my first life, but that might have simply meant I was late to the party.

We talked it over at dinner. Cammie and Mel opted out pretty early, which didn’t surprise me. That was a Wednesday night, after all. It was the first time we’d looked at a midweek show. I checked Dallas and Austin, but the Dallas show was Monday and the Austin show was Tuesday. Neither was ‘better,’ and they were longer drives. There was no San Antonio show (which didn’t surprise me — San Antonio was often passed over).

Paige clearly wanted to be in. She twisted Angie’s arm until Ang was in, too. Honestly, I think Angie wanted to go all along. She just wanted to mess with Paige.

Meanwhile, Jas was enthusiastic, but I think my wanting to go was a big part of that.

With that set, I planned to get tickets for the four of us. We’d leave right after classes and drive back that evening. None of us would struggle all that hard with a single short night of sleep!

We called Candice and Sherry. They said they’d think about it, but neither was enough of a U2 fan to commit to it. And, of course, being mid-week, it was a ‘school night’ for Candice. Even at eighteen, as a high-performing senior, rules were rules in the Matthews household. That was probably a good thing. The days of Candice needing a lot of structure were probably gone, but it was still comforting, as much to Erwin and Sandy as Candice.

Letting go of their ‘little girl’ was going to be tough, but at least they knew she was ready to fly.

Wednesday, January 23, 1985

As Cammie and I were walking home, Craig and Robert, our fundamentalist neighbors, were headed the other way.

“Houston voted the right way this time!” Craig said.

“We knew they wouldn’t stand for giving special rights to gays,” Robert said.

“What special rights would those be?” Cammie said, using her overly-sweet tone.

“All you have to do is say you’re gay and you can’t be fired or even disciplined. Straight people can be fired whenever anyone wants. It should be the same for everyone,” Craig said.

I sighed, then said, “Look, we’re never going to agree, but you could at least get your facts straight.”

“Yes,” Cammie said. “After all, bearing false witness is very un-Godly.”

“That’s what it said!” Craig said.

“It’s not,” I said. “The ordinance didn’t prevent firing for cause, discipline following the usual rules, and everything else. People couldn’t be fired simply for being gay, that’s all. Some sort of performance issue would have to be documented before they could be fired.”

“Yeah, no,” Robert said. “It made them un-fireable.”

I shook my head, sighed, and said, “It didn’t. It’s really easy to verify that. Look, if it had, I’d be opposed to it, too. Gay people don’t want special rights. They just want to be treated like everyone else. And, before you say it, if you show me some straight person being fired because they’re straight, I’ll stand beside you and protest that. Who you love shouldn’t be a factor in your job.”

Craig shook his head, and said, “That’s not what the law said!”

“Go look it up,” I said. “Do your research. Don’t just believe what people tell you. If you won’t listen to me, listen to someone like Martin Luther. If he’d ‘just believed’ what the Catholic Church leadership told him, where would the entire Protestant church be? You’re college students! Go, research, learn things!”

“We know what it said,” Robert said, but I was pretty sure his heart wasn’t in it.

“Look, we’re not going to change your mind,” I said. “And we don’t want to! Believe what you want to believe. But, when we’re talking about a voting issue, make sure you know what you’re voting for and against.”

“You do the same,” Craig said.

“We will,” Cammie said. “We do.”

“Always,” I said.

They walked away, but after a few steps, Craig said, “Go with God!”

“You as well!” Cammie said.

Once we were around the corner, Cammie said, “Well, wasn’t that fun?”

“Could’ve been worse.”

“Honestly ... yeah. You’re right. It could have,” she said. “Still ... I could do with better neighbors.”

“If we can’t take it from those three, we’re going to really have trouble down the road,” I said.

“True enough!” she said, sighing. “Stealing your phrase, ‘God must love fools.’”

“‘He made so many of them,’” I said, nodding.

Once we actually got home, there was a voicemail waiting. We were surprised, and pleased, to find out it was from Megan. It’d been a while, and it was good to hear her voice.

The news was even better. Calvin, as expected, would be here on Saturday with the UH basketball team to play A&M. Even better, Megan was coming up to join him. She’d ditched out of Memorial’s trip to Bellaire’s tournament to come up here. Spring was a bad time for her and Debate, anyway, what with girls’ basketball. She was a serious contender for a college scholarship somewhere, after all. Not that she would need it — she was a serious contender for an academic scholarship, too, plus her parents could certainly afford college — but she wanted to play college ball if she could.

We called back and confirmed we would be there. Fortunately, this was an afternoon game. An evening game would’ve been a problem since we had a ‘Broadway’ show (“‘night, Mother”) in the evening.

Friday, January 25, 1985

Southwestern Bell sent out a technician to hook up the second and third lines. Fortunately, I was able to meet him without anyone missing any classes, though it took a bunch of extra walking.

He was complimentary of the updated wiring we’d had put in. The whole thing took him less than ten minutes, which included testing the new lines.

Less fighting over the phone would be a good thing!

Relationships are complicated. Open relationships are probably more complicated, but also richer. In both, communication is key. For guys, another thing that’s key is figuring out when to defer to the women in your life. There’s a simple set of rules for this, and I’ve seen it quoted many times. Rule Number One says: ‘The woman is always right.’ Rule Number Two says: ‘In case the woman is wrong, see Rule Number One.’

This is not true, but it’s a cliché and (as in many clichés), there’s a core of truth there. One needs to know when to ignore the rules and consider the consequences of doing so. Still, sometimes one has to. Jas was wrong about pushing for more in the summer of 1982, for instance. Her reasons for pushing were complicated and entirely understandable, but she was wrong.

My ex-wife was wrong about a lot of things, and I can honestly say I didn’t cause the vast majority of them. Some, of course. Everyone makes mistakes.

All of this is to say: those are good rules to live by in general. I need a reason to balk at them.

Thus, when Jas said, “We’ve got some interesting plans tonight,” I figured there would be no reason to balk, notwithstanding that I had, apparently, not been consulted on said plans.

“What’s up, honey?” I said, putting down the textbook I was reading and looking at her.

“Well...” she said, drawing it out, “Remember when Jess visited?”

“Yes,” I said, chuckling.

“Angie and Paige kinda liked ... you know ... getting back out there.”

“Good,” I said, having some guess where this might be heading. It wasn’t entirely subtle, after all.

She sat in my lap and said, “Since you and Angie are...”

“Off the table?”

“‘Off the table’ for now, yeah. Right?”

“Right. That would be a big change. It could happen, no doubt about it, but it’s not something we would just, you know, casually plan on.”

She giggled and nodded, then said, “So! Since you two aren’t doing anything — for now, at least — and since we don’t want to leave Angie alone for the night...”

I chuckled.

“I see where this is going.”

“And?”

“A date with Paige seems nice.”

She giggled, and said, “Good! ‘Cuz a date with Angie sounds good to me.”

“Also good.”

“This isn’t about Becca, in case you were worried.”

I shook my head.

“I was pretty sure it wasn’t. Other people aren’t ‘off the table,’ either. Heck, Becca’s not completely off the table on my end. It’s just...”

“No connection.”

“Exactly,” I said. “No connection.”

“I’m in no hurry to hunt Becca down. There are more interesting options.”

“Should I know?”

“No!” she said, giggling and grinning. “Definitely not!”

“Then I’m fine with not knowing.”

“Speaking of knowing: Cammie and Mel...?”

She gave me a wink.

“They know, or at least they ... yeah, fine. They know. We’re not sneaking around and pretending people are in the ‘correct’ bedroom or anything.”

“So I’m actually sleeping with Paige? That’ll be new.”

“And fun, I think.”

“Me, too!” I said. After a pause, I added, “You know...”

“That’s a short list? The girls you’ve slept with?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “And that’s fine, but sleeping together is also cool, now that we can.”

“This bed or the guest room bed?”

She bit her lip, then said, “This bed. For now, anyway. I’m ... halfway conflicted?”

“Any conflicted...” I started, but she shook her head.

“No,” she said. “I think I phrased that wrong. I’m not sure Mama and Papa ever did that, but ... they’re not us, and we’re not them. What works for them doesn’t work for us, and the opposite can be true, too. If I’m not upset with you sleeping with Paige — and I’m not! Not at all! — then there’s no reason to be upset about which bed you do it in. A bed is a bed.”

“It’s our bed,” I said.

“And Paige is our friend. And you’re my boyfriend, and I want you to enjoy yourself. Not that you wouldn’t enjoy yourself in the basement,” she said, giggling, “But then Angie and I would have the same issue, which I guess means we’d be in the basement, too. Now imagine all four of us coming up from the basement and Cammie and Mel staring at us while they’re cooking breakfast, with us still in whatever we wore to bed. We’d have to pack just to fool around!”

I chuckled and said, “You’ve thought this through.”

She shook her head.

“Nah, I really haven’t,” she said. “Just thinking it through now. It’s fine. I did think through one other thing, though.”

“Oh?”

“The rule about ... um...”

Her eyes sparkled and she giggled a bit, saying, “‘Covering up.’”

I nodded.

“Relaxed, for tonight. She’s safe — doubly so, like I am. As is Angie, not that that matters anytime soon.”

She paused, then added, with a grin, “Probably!”

I chuckled a bit and nodded.

She said, “We all talked about that a while back. Pretty much all the girls wanted to know what I was using, ‘cuz ... you know ... three years, no kids.”

“Not sure that applies to our other couples, though,” I said, grinning.

“Stuff could happen. Good stuff or ... bad stuff,” she said, with a bit of a look at that last part.

Then she added, “Why let it? Plus, you know, much better periods! Yay!”

“Makes sense,” I said. “I’m ... good with that.”

“It’s better, right? It is for me!”

“Definitely better, but it’s really only better if it’s something everyone is comfortable with.”

“Everyone’s comfortable. Very comfortable.”

“Then it’s better!”

She giggled and nodded.

“So, is there a plan?” I said.

“Dinner. You pick for you and Paige, and Angie picks for the two of us. That’s what we decided. Next time Paige picks and I pick. That assumes there’s a next time,” she said, giggling, “But I think it’s likely.”

I nodded.

“Makes sense.”

“Nothing big. Well ... or, whatever. Maybe something big. The dinner’s not the point, but fun dinners with people we love are fun.”

“Got it!” I said.

“Lobster is definitely not required,” she said with a wink.

“For all of its reputation as an aphrodisiac, lobster has been involved in a surprisingly small number of my assignations,” I said.

“Vocabulary points!” she said, giggling.

Then she leaned up and kissed me.

“This is going to be fun!” she said, grinning.

“I think so, too!”

“Go! Get changed!”

I did. What I had on was fine, but not date-worthy, and Paige deserved ‘date-worthy.’ A nice button-down (green, this time) and black slacks were much nicer.

Cammie was in the living room when I came out. She looked me up and down, then gave me a little smirk.

“I almost feel left out,” she said. Then she grinned and said, “Almost! It’s obviously not for Mel and me. Knowing you would, if I wanted, is more than enough.”

“Happily,” I said. “But...”

“Yeah. If I ever change my mind, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Nah. Mel.”

“True!” she said, grinning.

“Then probably Jas.”

“Also ... true,” she said, this time more thoughtfully.

“I’m good with fourth,” I said.

“That was three.”

“Nah. You would be the first.”

She giggled.

“Fine! Go sweep Paige off her feet!”

“Will do!”

“She’s in her room. Angie is not, in case you were wondering.”

“Thanks!” I said.

I headed upstairs and knocked. If we were doing this, we were doing it right, and that starts with asking.

“Come in!” Paige called.

I did, and said, “I was wondering if...”

That’s all I got out, because she covered my lips with a kiss. Not a polite little kiss, either, but an all-out full-speed-ahead making-out sort of kiss.

After a bit, she broke it and said, “Yes. Also, dinner!”

I chuckled and said, “Thank you for the pleasure of your company, Miss Seiler.”

She’d dressed up a bit, too, wearing a very nice light blue dress which worked well for her. Of course, it’d been a while since I’d seen her in anything that didn’t work well for her, but this was a nice ‘date’ outfit.

She giggled, wiggled her eyebrows at my ‘checking her out,’ and took my arm when I offered it.

We headed out to my car together, not talking. Both of us waved to Cammie on our way out.

“Have fun!” she said.

“More when we get back!” Paige said.

“Not listening!” Cammie said.

“You’ll be too busy with Mel to be listening,” Paige said.

A couch pillow hit her on the back as we went out the door. Paige chucked it back, grinning.

Without much time to plan, I wound up taking us to Swensen’s, which offered sandwiches, burgers, and ice cream. We’d eaten there once a while back and it seemed like a good fit.

The first part of the date was a strange mix of casual and awkward. We knew each other well, of course, much more so than most people going on a ‘second date’ (which, nominally, this might be). At the same time, it’d been a long time since our first date.