Chapter 18: Hints and Allegations

Wednesday, August 28, 1985

Breakfast was pretty quiet. Candice joined us since Sherry was off registering for classes.

Sherry arrived back at the house just after ten. She’d missed out on the section of Legal and Social Environment of Business that the rest of us were in, but we would see her for Business Law and for martial arts.

After lunch, we all headed to the MSC. We’d already shown it to Candice and Sherry, but this turned into another tour. They wanted to see things they’d already seen and also wanted to spend a fair bit of time shopping for Aggie gear.

After all of that, they wanted to bowl with us before dinner. That turned into a lot of silly fun. Cammie and Mel were really quite good, by now, but the rest of us were a mess. I was the best of the rest of us, since I’d bowled for a while in my first life, but my skills were really rusty.

That, and I’d developed most of those skills in a body that was well over one hundred pounds heavier than I was now. My musculature was significantly different, too. That makes a huge difference!

Cammie’s pager went off just before we finished bowling. After a quick phone call, she excused herself, saying, “Maxine — she’s the one helping me learn the real estate business — has some stuff for me tonight. She’s picking me up here.”

I wasn’t sure if that was the full story, or if it was something to do with the properties Camel was buying, but either was good.

Mel gave her a hug (but no kiss, since we were very much in public), and she headed upstairs.

By the time we had dinner, it was a bit after eight.

Jas, Angie, and Paige parted with us not far from the MSC. They wanted to go to the library for a bit. Mel wanted to get home, as did Candice and Sherry.

After parting with hugs and kisses, we headed north toward the house. Mel’s hand found mine, which I found a bit amusing but quite nice.

She giggled a bit and said, “Sorry. I like holding hands.”

“No need to be sorry about that!”

It was hardly the first time Mel and I had held hands, but it certainly wasn’t common — mostly because Cammie was usually around. I liked it, no question about it.

As we got near Sbisa, Mel said, “Mind getting some dessert with me, Steve? I want to see if that Amy girl is around. You know ... she does deserve a thank you for suggesting the hair color, even if she didn’t do anything.”

“Works for me,” I said.

Candice and Sherry decided to stay outside on a bench. It was a fairly pleasant evening, and I think Sherry liked being on a campus that was safe at night.

There were still around ten people here, mostly couples. Amy waved when she saw me. Or, more likely, when she saw Mel. We both got a fair bit of staring from her as we went over to the register.

“You’re the one who stole my hair,” she said, using her near-monotone.

“You still have it,” Mel said, smiling.

“You have a point there. Do you like it?”

“I really do! I’ve wanted to do this for five years.”

“It’s good that you could,” she said. “It looks nice on you.”

Then her voice shifted to her ‘customer service’ voice, and she said, “What can I get for you?”

We ordered some cookies — enough to share. Once Amy had put those in a bag for us, we headed back out.

“She looked annoyed with you,” Mel said.

“Huh,” I said. “I didn’t catch that.”

“It was subtle. Maybe I misread something.”

“Maybe?” I said. “She was nice enough when Darla and I visited yesterday, and nice to Angie.”

“Probably just her yanking your chain, then.”

“Or yours, since you noticed it.”

“Yeah,” she said, giggling.

Candice and Sherry split off from us when we got home, going in their own entrance, while Mel and I headed in through the front door.

Cammie returned about an hour later, just after Jas, Angie, and Paige had arrived. The appraisals and inspections had come back. Everything valued out at the right amount for the mortgages Camel was trying for, but the inspections revealed some issues at each property. Candice and Maxine believed we could shave about an average of $3,000 off each of them. Much of that would wind up being put back in later as repairs, but still.

They were hoping to close on the purchases next week. Things were a bit tricky between the start of classes and the Labor Day holiday on Monday. That was not an A&M holiday, mind you — classes started on Labor Day. We’d had classes on Labor Day last year, too, so this wasn’t much of a surprise. I had no idea why the powers-that-be had decided to hold classes on Labor Day, but it seemed to be an old decision and one they weren’t interested in explaining.

Things should be fine after that, though, and Saturday the 7th was Cammie’s preferred fallback day.

Thursday, August 29, 1985

Even with the party three days away, the six of us were fully in party prep mode. We cleaned off and on all day long. Lists were made of things we needed from the stores and things we needed to do on Saturday. We wanted to go to church on Sunday, so being as ready as possible was important.

Paige again grumbled about ‘sleeping in,’ but she wasn’t serious. She wanted to go just as much as the rest of us.

Today had been Candice’s morning to get up early and try to register. She had the entire freshman class to contend with, after all.

She, Anne, and Natalie had coordinated a bit. All three of them were business majors, though they might wind up in different specializations. None of them was hitting the ground running quite as fast as we had, but they were all well ahead of the typical freshman class selection.

The thing was, none of them was doing crazy things like dual minors or dual majors. Or, at least, they weren’t yet. Things could change. Who knew if they would?

When she got home, she said she only had to change one class section. That counted as a victory, pretty much.

I took a break from party planning for my lunch with Claire, arriving outside of Hullabaloo Cafe a bit before one. Claire appeared a few minutes later, giving me a big smile and running into my arms.

“Hey!” she said.

“Hi!” I said.

“It’s really good to see you!”

“You, too!”

“Ready?” she said, nodding to the door.

“Yup. I should tell you: Amy’s working here. She said to say ‘hi.’ Also, she’s glad you didn’t die.”

Claire giggled. A lot.

“Amy! Awesome! Thinking of her in a customer service job is hilarious, but I bet she’s good at it.”

“She seems to be. I think customers like a bit of attitude, if it’s not ... you know ... overtly hostile.”

“Amy’s seldom overtly hostile. It happens, though. Mostly, she’s just deeply, existentially disappointed,” she said.

“That ... would probably be something to see.”

“Maybe we’ll see it today!” she said, heading toward the door.

I held the door for her as we went in. There were only a few other customers, and most of them looked like they were finishing up.

Amy smiled when she saw Claire.

“Hey!” she said.

“Hi, Amy,” Claire said.

“How was your summer?”

“Eh?” Claire said, chuckling. “Being back with the parents was a little boring, but...”

“You and Kay are gone, right?”

Claire nodded.

“We’re at Shade Tree Apartments. Not too far, and it’s on the bus line. A two-bedroom was a bit more than the dorm, but ... eh. Space!”

“The final frontier,” Amy said in full Wednesday Addams voice.

Claire giggled.

“Indeed! How about you?”

“I’m good. Still in the dorm. It is ... fine,” Amy said, shrugging.

“It really was.”

“I have a new roommate,” Amy said. “She seems better, so far.”

Claire giggled. “Considering who you had, that’s not all that difficult.”

“Indeed,” Amy said.

She turned her head a little, gave me a nod, and said, “Thanks for coming in again.”

“We’ll probably be in here a fair bit. Most of my housemates have classes in Blocker, and we live only a short distance north of there.”

“Lucky you,” she said, back to Wednesday mode.

We ordered (sandwiches and soda, no coffee), then took a table by a window.

Catching up was fun. Mostly it was me, going over the trip. I held back parts of it, but she got the highlights: Live Aid (sans Bob and all of that), ‘Cats’, some of the family stuff in Scotland, and a general overview of where we’d been. I didn’t make it feel quite as lengthy as it had been. A month-long trip to Europe is pretty self-indulgent.

And, in the end, none of that mattered. What mattered was my mentioning the ‘Back to the Future’ premiere. As with Darla, I mentioned it only because, inevitably, one of the girls would mention it at the party on Sunday.

“You did not!” she said.

“I did. Jessica has a tiny role in it, and wound up getting a ticket for herself and a guest. She had no guest to take out there, so I wound up going.”

“That is so cool! Did you meet Michael J. Fox?”

“Actually...”

“You did not!” she said. That seemed to be the phrase of the afternoon.

“We talked for ... maybe five minutes? He and Jessica are friends. Not dating,” I said, chuckling. “If they were dating, I wouldn’t have been the guest.”

She giggled.

“Well, that makes sense. Though, if she was like you and Jasmine...”

“Nah,” I said. “Besides, Michael probably isn’t.”

“Probably!”

In a ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ sense, this was perhaps a big deal for Claire. She was now two degrees from Michael J. Fox and Robert Zemeckis, and three degrees from Steven Spielberg, after all.

Of course, she was also two degrees from Bob Geldof, Sting, and Ronald Reagan, but I wasn’t about to mention those.

Once we’d recapped our summers, Claire said, “So ... I’ve been thinking.”

“Somehow I’m not surprised.”

She giggled and smacked my hand, but it was light and playful.

“So ... the thing is ... I really want a boyfriend.”

“Which makes total sense.”

“But ... I’m also really ... well, you know.”

“I think I know,” I said.

Then I wiggled my eyebrows, which got my hand another smack.

“You do,” she said, giggling.

“So...?”

“Let’s see how the party goes. I ... well. I’m definitely where I can say sex is ‘just sex’ between us. We’re not going to fall for each other, and we’re very comfortable with each other. It doesn’t escalate anything or mean anything.”

“I can agree with all of that,” I said.

“Self-interested,” she said, grinning, “But yes. I think we’re on the same page.”

“It’ll have to be before any serious dating.”

“I agree, but I also don’t want it to be before the party. That’s silly. It’s just ... I mean, let’s say I meet a really great guy there. Wonderful! Perfect for me! It’s still going to be a date or two or three before we’re in bed, and ... honestly, doing something with you will help me not rush things. I’ve thought about it a lot and I’m pretty sure of that.”

“That does sound like a noble cause,” I said.

She chuckled.

“Anyway ... that’s where we are, I think.”

“Works for me.”

She sighed.

“I’m pretty sure we didn’t work. We were close, but ... even without the open relationship thing, it’s ... eh. This and that. Honestly, I would have trouble with you being Jessica’s guest at a premiere if we were a couple. That’s totally unfair, but ... I mean, I feel a little jealous about it now, and I’m not even in a position to feel jealous about what you do!”

“Unfair or not, if you feel it, you feel it.”

She smiled.

“Thanks! Anyway, where I was going with it was: even if we didn’t work, we did the right thing. I’m way more interested in getting out there and finding someone great than I was, and I’m also ... well, I have a much better idea of what ‘great’ means to me.”

“I’m glad. That’s mostly what the point of it all was. Well, that and...”

“Some itches getting scratched, yes,” she said, giggling.

“And messing with Kay.”

“Also a plus!”

I checked my watch and said, “I should run.”

“Me, too,” she said. “This was good. Oh, and thanks for lunch!”

I chuckled, saying, “You’re most welcome.”

When we had both gotten up, Claire looked around. Everyone was gone, except for Amy. She stepped in close and we hugged and kissed. A nice, warm kiss, one which suggested the basement was an option, but it wasn’t an option right now.

Just after we broke the kiss, and were looking into each other’s eyes for a second, a Wednesday Addams voice rang out, saying, “Now you are become cheater, destroyer of relationships.”

My gut tensed up and I felt a flare of anger.

We both turned, and Claire said, “Oh, God, girl! You are so barking up the wrong tree!’

Amy made a face.

“Count them,” she said, ticking off things on her fingers. “Very attractive blonde. Very attractive purple-haired engineer. Very cute naughty-librarian type. Now, my very cute former dorm-hall-mate. All on little dates, right here, in only a few days.”