Chapter 71: Totally Bodacious

Thursday, December 26, 1985

We were up fairly early, though there was little reason to be. We were just flying to San Jose, and our flight didn’t leave until after noon. With the time change, we would arrive a bit after two, giving us plenty of time to check into our hotel.

After some consideration, I had reserved a rental car. It probably didn’t make sense, given that our only outing was dinner with Janet and Lizzie, but I wanted to show the girls some more of my ‘old haunts.’ I suspected I would get whapped when I mentioned that, so I was waiting until I was driving before I used that phrase.

Dinner tonight was at St. Michael’s Alley, a place I had heard of but had never visited. Janet and Lizzie both loved it, and that sold it perfectly well for us.

We were on the road by nine-thirty and at our gate by eleven. Camille, Francis, Tony, and Jean were already at the gate when we arrived, so we hugged them and settled in to wait.

When they called our plane, we were all up quickly, hugging and saying goodbye. Of course, all of the goodbyes were ‘See you on the 11th!’ I had to hand it to them — I didn’t see any signs they were fibbing.

We were lucky and the plane wasn’t all that full, so Jas and I had a row and Angie and Paige had one right behind us.

Something (perhaps impending proposals) had Jas going, and she teased me several times about the ‘Mile High Club’. I pointed out that we might well have private plane rides in our future, and that seemed to calm things down.

Somewhat.

I had to agree with her: joining while on a commercial flight would be considerably more naughty. That was a plus for her, and it might be for me.

Thinking about it, it might be a plus for Darla, too. Not that we were likely to fly anywhere together soon, but still. Just teasing about it might rev her up.

Not that revving up Darla was difficult right now. For the moment, I had the keys and knew how to use them.

The San Jose airport was considerably smaller than I remembered it being. Funny how that works. We called home once we had our luggage, making sure the parents knew we were all doing well.

I made the mistake of commenting on the airport before I was driving, so three girls whapped me in one way or another. In my defense, it was true, but I was pretty sure saying the last time I was here had been in 2019 would make things worse, not better.

The car rental went smoothly, and we were on the road before three. We were staying at a Howard Johnson not far from the airport. For me, it was partly about the nostalgia value, but it was certainly a decent but inexpensive motel with a good (and convenient) breakfast. We would fly out tomorrow at ten. That should put us in Honolulu right about two, giving us plenty of time to check into our hotel, change, and hit the beach.

Angie and I had completely clammed up about where we were staying and what we were doing. The truth was, we had relatively few set plans. This was about spending time together and doing what we wanted. Building a big itinerary would just get in the way of that. We only had a few times where we needed to be in a specific place at a certain time, and nearly none of those were in Hawaii.

Well, except the airport for the flight back. That would be at ten in the morning on the 31st. That flight was on the wrong end of the time zone change, so we wouldn’t arrive at LAX until nearly six.

After we were on the road, I took us on a meandering route through parts of San Jose and Cupertino, including buildings where I’d worked at one time and even the bowling alley where I’d once been in a league.

Someone had to say it, and Angie did.

“So, these ‘old haunts’ are...?”

“Early 1990s,” I said. “I never visited the Bay Area before 1990.”

“We are trying to hold back,” Paige said, giggling.

“I actually think it’s cool,” Jas said. “We’ve already been here, so that’s two visits before the first one.”

Paige groaned and pretended to hold her head.

“It hurts! Make it stop!”

Laughing, I said, “You know ... last time...”

Jas jumped to the right conclusion.

“We never visited anywhere you lived.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Because all but one are ... connected.”

“We don’t have to,” she said.

“The thing is, I think it’s fine, now. Things are different. It’s been a year and a half,” I said.

“So ... go for it?” Angie said. “Pick up the pieces if it blows up?”

“That’s what I think,” I said.

So, I headed into Cupertino, marveling at how different everything was even from how it was in the 1990s, and found the first house my ex-wife and I had rented together. It was ... just a house. Honestly, it was special, but not in any bad way, notwithstanding that I could easily remember some serious fights that had taken place there.

I could also remember some wonderful parties and some very good times. It had been more full of love than it was full of pain. That was probably true of our entire marriage. It’s just that the pain was... painful. And there was far more of it than most people would have endured. Still, even I wouldn’t have stayed for all that time if the love had just run out, or even if it wasn’t an everyday thing. It was. Liking her was not, but loving her was.

With Jas, it would be both. I firmly believed that. That was the difference. I also loved her more. Well, either ‘more,’ or simply far more maturely. Either might be the right phrasing.

We poked around that neighborhood for a bit, and I pointed out the house my best man had purchased long after my wedding. I had seldom talked about Marcus, and I didn’t mention him that much this time, but he’d been a really close friend in graduate school and while I lived in California. We had never grown apart, really, so much as distance had dulled everything. That, and getting older.

Marcus was another one on the ‘almost certainly never’ list. Unless I went to graduate school in Computer Science at Purdue, the odds were narrow. I knew how to find him, but there was no point. We had nothing in common and no way to bond.

Never say never. If he crossed my path, I would almost certainly try to befriend him. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so. That was just too difficult. I wasn’t even close to being the person he’d met and befriended, after all. I’d already learned that lesson with Gene. We were friends, but the dynamic between us was completely unlike that in my first life. Gene was easy, too. As different as I had been from my first-life self in 1981, it paled in comparison to how different I was now from my first-life 1985 self. The differences in 1989 would be much, much wider still.

I pointed us north. We headed up to near Palo Alto, then went up Page Mill Road (already a legendary tech area) to the Stanford campus. We puttered around for about an hour before heading to St. Michael’s Alley. I knew a bit of the history of this place: once a legendary bohemian hangout with very cheap prices, quite rowdy customers, and a history of police raids and arrests (some of which were gay-related, back when Palo Alto wasn’t anywhere near as gay-friendly), it had closed for a while, then reopened as an upscale restaurant. The owner — same guy each time — had said he kept much of his clientele. They had just grown up and settled down.

Janet was in her customary pink, while Lizzie wore a forest green pantsuit. The combination worked for them. They ran over and hugged as soon as we got out of the car.

“We missed you guys!” Lizzie said, hugging me.

“We missed you, too!” I said, hugging right back.

Everyone hugged everyone before we headed in. As we were starting to go in, I spotted shiny objects. Truly, it was the season.

Angie was the first to announce it, and it came as a squeal just before the host could greet us.

“You did! OhmyGod!”

“That’s my line,” Janet said, chuckling.

“They did what ... oh!” Jas said. “I ... best wishes!”

Paige said, “Wow! Yay! So happy for you both!”

“You two deserve it,” I said. “And many, many years of happiness!”

We let the poor man seat us. He led us to a corner table for six. The place was still quirky, with interesting artwork hanging all around. Amateur, I was nearly sure, but it made the place better. More ... what it was.

“It was long since time,” Lizzie said.

“Nah,” Janet said. “It was totally the right time.”

We all chuckled a bit, though Lizzie pretended to groan.

“We are not saying, ‘I totally take you to be my wedded wife,’” Lizzie said.

“Bogus!” Janet said.

They both chuckled at that, then grinned.

“So...” Angie said. “When’s the big day?”

“It’ll be in July. The one coming up,” Janet said. “We have a venue and everything. They’re letting us hold a few dates while we figure out everything else.”

“Oh?” Paige said. “Where are you having it?”

“The Lucie Stern Community Center,” Lizzie said. “It’s this cool old building and center in town. Cheap, too. Not like we’re broke...”

“We’re definitely not broke!” Janet said, grinning. “Not rich, but fine.”

“But we want to have a nice party for our friends, not spend far too much on a fancy place, expensive caterers, and all that,” Lizzie said.

I could have given that speech. That was my first life wedding, and it was pretty much this one, too. We would undoubtedly spend more than I had in my first life, but our guest list was, at a guess, already twice as big, and we’d barely gotten started.

Of course, that was spread over two couples ... but still.

“It sounds awesome,” I said.

“We wanted to get ahead of the pack,” Lizzie said. “Or, at least, somewhat ahead of the pack.”

“Speaking of...” Paige said.

Janet made a point of staring at Paige’s finger.

“Not yet!” Paige said, giggling. “A little bird says ‘soon.’”

“Well, major best wishes in advance!” Janet said. “I assume you, too?” she added, looking at Jas.

“Uh-huh!” Jas said.

“Very cool,” Lizzie said. “You all deserve the best of happiness.”

“How about Cammie and Mel?” Janet said. “I still chuckle when I think of how I pulled the wool over Mel’s eyes! That poor girl!”

We all chuckled a bit.

“Hopefully very soon,” I said.

I got a few suspicious looks, but no one asked anything.

“I cut you off,” Janet said. “You were saying?”

“Guess who else has been bitten by the wedding bug?” Paige said.