Chapter 23: Rest and Relaxation

Saturday, September 14, 1985

The downside of being out until nearly three in the morning (by the time we’d finished talking to the other Rocky Horror fans, gotten Darla and Louise home, and changed) was that the hot tub people were arriving bright and early at eight. I bravely volunteered to let them into the backyard, but then went right back to bed. Jas and I got up at ten-thirty or so, only to find that the others weren’t up yet, either.

We made coffee and had it ready by the time Angie and Paige half-stumbled into the kitchen. We had bacon, eggs, and toast ready as well, which made them very happy and very appreciative.

Cammie and Mel were the last to arrive. They, too, were thrilled to find coffee and nourishment waiting for them.

We peeked into the backyard to find the hot tub itself was not yet over the fence. It was, at the moment, suspended from a small crane mounted on the delivery truck. They were lowering it onto a dolly to roll it over to where it needed to go.

In retrospect, perhaps we should have put the hot tub into place before building the fence. Still, they were professionals and it looked like the tub was in good hands.

We mostly ignored the installers except for the occasional peek into the back yard. Instead, we spent the day cleaning and doing some belated shopping for the Alabama game party. Neither of those took all that long, and we made sure either Cammie or I was available to help the hot tub people out, should they need direction for anything.

They didn’t. The only time they interrupted us was to show off the completed installation. They’d installed a convenient timer switch for the tub itself and a separate switch for nearby lighting. The tub itself also had lights, but having some external to it was a good idea.

They showed us how to drain it, refill it, clean it, and what chemicals to add and when. All of that was also documented in the manual, and they provided two copies of that.

We thanked them and also tipped them well. They seemed quite appreciative!

By six-thirty (about fifteen minutes before kickoff), we had a good crowd assembled for the game. Many of our friends from last year had come. That included Claire and Kay, who seemed to be doing well. Claire and I still had chemistry, but we also knew we needed to remain cautious about any further dates. ‘Just sex’ was still on the table, but we hadn’t come to any decisions thus far.

I noticed both Angie and Jas doing a bit of matchmaking, making sure Claire and Kay talked to a few of the guys we’d invited. Straight ones, obviously, but also ones who seemed like they might fit.

My job was just to sit back and let it happen. That was, really, a happy job. I had no claim on Claire, nor did I want one. I just wanted her to be happy, and meeting the right guy would make her happy.

Not much had changed otherwise. Lindsay was still lamenting her lack of dating success. Most of the GSS guys we knew were also single, though it wasn’t clear (nor was it any of my business!) if they were hooking up but not dating. Probably, to some extent? AIDS was very much a worry, but it hadn’t stopped people from hooking up in my first life and undoubtedly wasn’t doing so in this one either.

We couldn’t do much there. None of us knew any gay men at A&M who weren’t active in GSS, so matchmaking was going nowhere on that front.

Well, except for two we couldn’t mention. We might see them on TV, though.

The game itself was surprisingly close. A&M and Alabama went into the fourth quarter tied ten to ten. Alabama kicked a field goal to break the tie, but had their second field goal attempt blocked. Neither team could move the ball after that point, so it ended in a 13-10 Alabama win. It was hardly a major disappointment for me, since I hadn’t expected A&M to win, but it was a downer for everyone else.

What was not a downer was seeing Cal and Andy both on the field a few times. Andy never touched the ball but did have a couple of good blocks. Cal didn’t touch the ball, either, but he had one tackle for loss and three tackles overall. It was a good start for two redshirt freshmen in their first real game.

One of Cal’s tackles might have stopped an Alabama drive late in the game. It was hard to say, and it certainly didn’t change the outcome (or, at least, I thought it didn’t), but it was a high point.

We got to tell all of our friends ‘Hey, we know them!’ a couple of times. That was pretty cool.

I spent much of the game quietly amused about something I hadn’t shared with any of them, even the insiders. In my first life, A&M had eventually joined the Southeastern Conference and played Alabama on a regular basis.

I had no idea if that would happen in this universe, at least by default. Overall, I had thought it was a good move for A&M at the time and would support it if things were similar this time.

And, this time, I might be one of those ‘Big Money Ags’ who were in on decisions like that. That might be very amusing, one day, even if only a few people could ever know why I was so amused by the whole thing.

After all, who puts a ‘Texas Ex’ (aka UT alum) in the circle of A&M insiders?

The universe, apparently, or at least it seemed on track to do so.

The weather felt as if it was influenced by the game. Just as the game ended, a thunderstorm rolled into town, thus preventing us from actually using the new hot tub. I’m not sure if anyone would have, but we weren’t going to have anyone sitting in water while an active lightning storm was in progress. That seemed like asking for trouble!

Instead, we hung out, told stories, played games, and got to know each other a bit better. Darla told some amusing stories about most of us from the many debate trips we’d taken together. That had me thinking, even as I laughed along with her. Dave, at this point in his life, would never have been comfortable doing that. He would have gone, and enjoyed himself well enough, but he would have been a wallflower, listening but seldom contributing.

Darla, though, was a product of the past two years. She’d been around a large number of highly verbal, highly social people, and it had very much contributed to the woman she was now. Not everyone had that happen — Bree, for instance, was still fairly quiet and reserved — but Darla certainly had.

In a way, I wished I could tell Darla about Dave. If anyone deserved to know, she did. But that was just wishful thinking. Darla wasn’t an insider and was unlikely to ever be an insider. Telling people wasn’t just sharing a cool story, it was inviting them into one of the biggest secrets anywhere, one with some danger and which put a significant burden on those who knew. If there wasn’t a good reason to tell, the better choice was not to.

We also drank. It was a college party, after all! Most people didn’t drink a lot, but we wound up with two people (John from GSS and Ryan from the biology brigade) in no condition to drive. One of the other guests offered to take Ryan home, and I drove John back to the Commons area along with Darla and Louise.

John was doing well enough to be fine walking off from the car, which left me with Darla and Louise. I walked them to the Commons lobby, holding an umbrella over the two of them (while getting pretty wet myself). Louise thanked me for the party, then scooted off just a few steps.

Darla grinned.

“Not a date,” she said, winking.

“Definitely,” I said.

“But...” she said, raising an eyebrow.

I stepped in and gave her a nice, fairly reserved goodnight kiss.

“But,” I said, grinning.

She giggled, hugged me, then turned and grinned at Louise, who had pretended not to see the kiss but caught the grin right away.

“Night!” they both called.

“Night!” I called back.

They headed off to Krueger, while I drove back to the house.

When I got home, a few stragglers were still there. Candice and Sherry, in particular, had wound up deep in conversation with Lindsay. I imagined they had some interesting things to share. If Candice said much about me, I would probably get teased about it by Lindsay, but it was hardly a secret that Candice and I had dated long ago. I didn’t know if Lindsay knew that, but plenty of people did.

I joined in the clean-up efforts, which were pretty limited. Our friends were, generally, the sort of people who cleaned up after themselves without being asked. There was the occasional abandoned drink, bowl of chips, or whatever, but it took little time to get everything thrown out.

After that, Jas and I said goodnight and headed off to bed. The few people still up (which also included Angie and some of her math militia) were welcome to stay up as long as they wanted. I was pretty sure at least one person who lived here would stay up until everyone who didn’t live here had left.

Jas and I took little time to get ready for bed, and pretty much just snuggled up and went to sleep. It was well after midnight, after all, and we had been up very late yesterday.

We did briefly discuss giving the hot tub a try tomorrow, though, weather permitting.

Sunday, September 15, 1985

That ‘church was church’ was testament to how quickly we’d settled into the routine. If we were good with getting up and going the morning after hosting a party that went quite late, we would probably remain good with it.

Even Paige seemed happy to be here and eager to go. That might be unfair, but I’d always seen her as the most likely one to balk. Still, I think she realized we all needed some sort of ongoing spiritual practice in our lives. It wasn’t going to come from most traditional organized religions, us being the people we were, but Unitarian Universalism was a good start toward building one.