Chapter 17: The Chase Is On

Tuesday, August 27, 1985

Over breakfast, we all sat around discussing pussy.

Yes, the kind that meows, not the other kind.

Candice and Sherry weren’t allergic. It wouldn’t be their cat, but they liked the idea of there being a cat and promised to pet it. They also made it clear they wanted nothing to do with litter boxes. Apparently, Sherry had litter box duty at her house a few years ago.

We would probably rotate that, but I imagined I would do most of it. It wasn’t really that bad, I didn’t think. But, then, I was the only person in our house who had changed diapers on a regular, ongoing basis.

Odd, that. But, almost certainly, a very good thing!

I arrived outside of Hullabaloo Cafe a bit before eleven. Darla appeared a few minutes later.

My first impression was that the summer had been kind to her. Mind you, Darla was quite cute the last time I had seen her. Still, she’d had the last bit of ‘gawky teenager’ going on. Given her birthdate, though, she had been one of the youngest people in my graduating class. Some college students manage to stay gawky for years, too.

Now? She was fully and without question a young woman. Her clothing was different, too. Aside from Debate formal wear, she’d been a tomboy most of the time I’d seen her in high school. Mind you, I think tomboys can be very hot.

Still, she was trying for ‘sexy’ this afternoon, and she’d pretty much gotten there. She had on a green blouse that showed some cleavage and a knee-length gray skirt with some fairly noticeable slits on both sides. Add a fairly eye-catching necklace that seemed intended to draw attention to her cleavage, and stockings that did the same for her legs, and she was quite the package.

She wore glasses, too. That was new. If anything, they drew attention to her eyes. I’d noticed those before, but her glasses highlighted the brown in them. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but she had a few escaped strands that framed her face just right.

I took all of this as ‘upping the ante.’ Darla hadn’t dressed this way by accident. She wasn’t quite ready for me to catch her, but she was advertising her desire to be chased.

And, for many reasons, I think this was the first time I had really been ready to catch her. The woman in front of me couldn’t be ‘girl Dave.’ She was her own person. I knew that, and it was easier to see it in the woman she’d become.

“Hey!” she said, moving to hug me right away.

“Hi, Darla!” I said, hugging her warmly. “You look lovely today.”

She blushed right away. I’d expected that, but it was part of ‘chasing her.’

“Now I’m wishing I’d gotten in touch with you earlier!” she said. “I mean, earlier last year.”

I shrugged.

“We’ve got lots of time. Maybe it was the right time all around.”

“Maybe it was,” she said, giggling.

“Also ... Happy Birthday!” I said.

She blushed again.

“That’s ... I feel special. Thanks!”

“You’re welcome,” I said, handing her a card. It was a pretty simple ‘friend’ card — no ‘love’ or anything else — but it was certainly warm enough. She seemed to like it, anyway.

After she’d read it, she looked over to Hullabaloo and said, “Shall we?”

“We shall,” I said, offering my arm.

She took my hand instead, and we walked in that way.

For once, it wasn’t busy, and we went right up to Amy.

“Steve, again!” she said. “Surprise, surprise.”

“Hi, Amethyst,” I said. “This is Darla.”

“We’ve known each other for years,” Darla said. “Since ... sophomore year in high school?”

I nodded, smiling.

“Cool!” Amy said. She was fully in her ‘happy hostess’ voice, as I’d started thinking of it. “And ... Amy is fine.”

“I thought it was ‘so bourgeois,’” I said.

She laughed softly.

“You have been talking to Trev,” she said. “It is, but ... you knew me as Amy, from before this job, and Amethyst is a lot of name.”

“Amy it is, then,” I said.

We ordered sandwiches and soda, then took a table.

For the first part, we caught each other up on things. She had recognized Jess in ‘Back to the Future’ but had convinced herself it couldn’t be Jess. When I told her it was, and that I’d been to the premiere, her jaw dropped. She was envious of our trip to Europe, too, even if I tried to be fairly restrained on the details. I’d really only mentioned ‘Back to the Future’ because she brought it up and was almost certain to hear about my trip soon enough.

She went into a bit more detail about her life. Her brother Daniel was, pretty much, screwing things up at UT. That was par for the course and what I’d expected him to do. He’d positioned himself so he only needed a handful of classes to graduate. Darla expected him to fail one of those classes each semester (or thereabouts) for a while, and thus drag college out as long as possible.

Dave had disliked that, but had still been willing to admit Daniel into his circle of friends. Darla, by contrast, was having none of it. I knew from experience that Daniel was hard to say no to. He simply parsed anything other than a flat-out, in-your-face, direct ‘no’ as ‘well, if you want to, that’s fine.’

I had once compared Daniel to a happy dog. No matter how many times you tell a dog like that to go away, the dog will know, in its heart, that you love it and want it right up close with you. It would require kicking the dog to drive it away, and only mean people kick dogs.

Darla was managing it without kicking him, I was pretty sure. It was a deft trick, but she had feminine wiles we males couldn’t imagine.

Or, perhaps, she was just blunt with him in private. Even when people had been blunt with the Daniel of my first life, he had never taken any lasting offense, so Darla was probably safe enough there.

In any case, she predicted Daniel would stay at UT until the last of his friends graduated. Darla, on the other hand, wanted to graduate A&M on time and probably would. She had changed majors last spring, but it was early and not that hard to recover from.

She was still in touch with Linda, who had (perhaps not surprisingly) wound up dating one of the players on UT’s football team. The name wasn’t familiar to me. He was, apparently, a backup wide receiver. By all accounts, she was doing well. She’d asked Darla to pass along a ‘hello,’ and I sent one back.

About this point, the conversation lagged. I took that as my cue to chase, at least a bit.

“So,” I said. “If I remember things right, I think I’d said we would go out again when you were ready. So ... are you feeling ready?”

She giggled.

“This doesn’t count?”

“Nah,” I said. “A real date.”

“I...” she said. Then she drew a deep breath, nodded, and said, “I would like that. Really. When we tried to date in high school, I ... I wasn’t ready. At all.”

I nodded, not saying anything.

“It’s...” she said. She paused, bit her lower lip a second, then shook her head.

“When things went ... sideways ... with Kirk, Mom came down on me. But ... she should have, really. The whole thing was stupid. I should have listened to the girls who said Kirk was a bit of an ass, but I also should have known how to handle that.”

“So...” I said, smiling. “I think I can’t help with either of those.”

She giggled, and said, “You could pretend to be an ass?”

“I think we both know that’s not me.”

“Damn!” she said, grinning. “Okay, no. Honestly ... the thing you can help with is just ... confidence, maybe. Being with someone I trust not to be an ass will help. I really was ... am, maybe ... a tomboy. I just know how to get all gussied up, now.”

“As I said, it worked.”

She giggled a bit, somewhere between pleased and nervous.

“I’m ... so ... yeah. I like the idea of real dates.”

“We’ll find some movie that works for you, or something else. Your timetable. I think you still mostly know me, or ‘dating me,’ anyway, from high school...”

She nodded at that, grinning.

“And ... well, if you look at how things went with Jessica, maybe that’s more where I am now. There aren’t time limits, really, anymore. There are a few rules, but we’re not in any trouble there.”

“Tell me?” she said, taking my hand. It felt quite tender. Which was, really, quite good.

“I can’t date anyone who’s cheating. Even if it’s ‘just a little cheating.’ A new real dating relationship starting with someone else and I have to bow out.”

“Not happening right now,” she said, winking, “But I would tell you if that changed.”

“The next is sort of ... deep feelings? That basically hits it. Dating is going to create feelings, most likely, and that’s fine. If those feelings start becoming really strong, that’s a warning sign. On either of our parts, I mean. It doesn’t mean we have to stop, but we have to pay attention and make decisions on what is best — which is quite probably breaking up unless both of us can handle those feelings and know where the lines are. Which, I know, is the opposite of ‘normal dating’, but ... well ... I can date someone I love as a friend, but if they start approaching the place Jasmine has in my heart, or they start wanting to approach that place...”

She nodded.

“I completely get that. I really like Jasmine. Also, everyone else would clobber both of us if it got to that point!”

“Something I’ve often noted,” I said, chuckling. “After that ... well, there’s a somewhat broad rule. If I think it’s not good for you — or for me — that’s also the time to bow out. This is supposed to be about fun and friendship and good things. If it’s turning into emotional dependence, or keeping someone from dating, or whatever...”

She nodded again.

“These make a lot of sense. I mean, they’re what I thought you would do anyway, but it feels better to have them spelled out, I think.”

“We’re still learning. Things with Claire redefined parts of it.”

“How’s she, by the way?”

“She’s doing well. I’m hoping to get together with her soon. I think we’ll mostly be ‘just friends’ now. I can’t be the one for her, and she wants to find that person.”

“Which is where I am, but a semester or two behind, I think. I want to find the one for me, but I don’t think I’m ready. Right now ... well, it’s over a year and I’m still worried about another Kirk.”

“Listen to the girls around you. That’s about the best I can suggest.”

She nodded.

“Yeah. But ... building up my own self-confidence is a big deal. I really ... well. No sense digging up old stuff, but ... I was the problem, too, not just him. I’m hoping this will help me get to where I’m not the problem.”

“Happy to help with that!”

“So...” she said, checking her watch. “I think I should run.”

“I’ll see you Sunday for the party, right?”

“Definitely! And, no, that does not count as a date!”

“I never would have thought it would,” I said, chuckling.

She looked into my eyes a bit, then said, “I think the best part of this is ... well, I kinda thought I’d blown my chance with you in high school, and ... oh, heck.”

She got redder, giggled, and added, “Linda was pretty clear that I would be missing out if I didn’t take a chance if I got one.”

“Linda was a good friend for you, I think.”

“She was the best,” Darla said, much more seriously. “I need a Linda here. Louise is ... I like her plenty, but she’s not a Linda.”