Traces of Desire
Copyright© 2025 by Big Ed Magusson
Chapter 21
During halftime of the Bronco’s game, the phone rang. Michelle got to it first, but quickly passed it to me after saying hello.
“Mike?”
“Yeah?” I didn’t quite place the voice.
“It’s Joey. How are you doing?”
“Uh ... fine.” My mind raced. Why was Joey calling me? And then ... how? Our number was unlisted.
“Cool, cool. Good weekend?”
“Yeah...”
“Us, too. Look sorry for not calling you earlier, but Carmen and I are here in the Springs.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Since we weren’t having D&D, we decided this was a good weekend to visit my folks.”
“Okay.”
“So ... I heard you had to take the bus. You want a ride back?”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Oh, Carmen heard it from ... Denise, I think.”
I grimaced. Len was the only one in Boulder I’d told I was taking the bus, but it wasn’t hard to see how it’d gotten to Joey if Denise was in the loop.
“So ... do you want a ride?”
“Uh, yeah!” I’d have to get my bus ticket refunded, but I didn’t think that was hard. Dad would certainly like that.
“Cool. Pick you up at 6:30?”
“Yeah. But let me call you back after my dad gets home to confirm.”
“Sure. Let me give you my number.”
I grabbed a pencil and the notepad that lived by the phone and wrote it down as I was doing so, I realized I had another question.
“So, um,” I said, “how’d you get my number?”
“Um, well, I did a little looking.”
“It’s unlisted.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, well. My grammy used to be a skip tracer. I may have, uh, picked up a few things from her.”
“She was a what?”
“A skip tracer,” he repeated. “She used to trace people who skipped out on paying their bills. It’s kind of fun when you know some of the tricks. Anyway, give me a call after you talk to your dad.”
“Will do.”
We said goodbye and hung up with me wondering what other surprises Joey had up his sleeve.
Dad got home at five. The news about Auntie Betty was pretty much the same, though he was more hopeful now. He said the doctors expected her to only need another week in the hospital before she’d be discharged to a rehab facility.
“So how were things here?” he asked.
“Fine,” I said. “Michelle got home on time, but you knew that.” I had every intention of omitting what had happened before and after the dance, so before my nerves began to show, I changed the subject and told him about Joey’s offer of a ride.
“So we wasted the money for the ticket?” he grumbled.
“I think if you call them before the departure time, you can get a refund.”
He nodded and headed for the phone. A few minutes he came back and was all smiles. He congratulated me for saving him money, even though I really hadn’t done anything.
At 6:30, Joey pulled up in front of the house in an honest-to-God red Mustang convertible. I’d sworn those only existed in magazines but Joey had one. My chin dropped when I saw it.
Of course, then Carmen climbed out of the passenger seat and made the car look dowdy. She wore Jordache jeans that hugged her ass like a second skin and a flannel man’s shirt that turned her breasts into mountains. Dad had come to the door behind me and I heard him suck in his breath. I glanced back to see Michelle’s eyes were wide as well.
Why the heck hadn’t I been hanging around with Joey in high school?
I knew the answer and kicked myself. I’d thought he was too much of a nerd.
When Joey and Carmen reached the porch, I introduced them to my dad. “Joey graduated from Palmer in ‘84.”
Joey stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“‘84, eh?” Dad said as they shook.
“Yes, sir. Now a sophomore at CU.”
Michelle shifted her weight. She didn’t quite clear her throat but I got the message.
“And my sister Michelle,” I said. “She’s a senior.”
“I like what you’ve done with your hair,” Carmen said.
I blinked. I hadn’t really noticed Michelle’s hair, which hung in waves down to her shoulder. I realized she’d done it special for the dance, and me, being her brother, hadn’t noticed.
Michelle smiled. “Thanks.”
Dad nodded. “Well, I appreciate you giving Mike a ride. Can I give you some gas money?”
“Oh, no sir. We’re going back anyway, so it’s our pleasure.”
“You have trunk space for a few boxes?” I asked.
“Well, if we can put some in the back seat. Why?”
“Bringing my movie collection up.” I pointed to the cardboard boxes full of videotapes.
“Ooh,” Carmen said. “We’ll have to have a movie night sometime.”
Joey took her hand. “We need to get going.” He nodded at my dad. “We told our roommate we’d be back by eight.”
“Then we’d better get going,” I said.
“Nice meeting you, Mr. Mahoney.” Joey then picked up one of my boxes while Michelle opened the door.
Dad followed us out and openly admired Joey’s car.
Joey noticed and grinned.
“It’s a ‘65,” Joey said. “My granddad and I restored it ourselves.”
“Impressive,” Dad said. He slowly walked around it while we loaded the trunk. “Where’d you get the parts?”
“Here and there.” He turned to me. “We do need to get going.”
I nodded. He opened his trunk, which already had several boxes in it. I shifted one to the side to make room for mine and found it heavy. But if I threw my backpack in the back seat, I could make everything fit.
A few minutes later, we were on our way.
The back seat of Joey’s Mustang was actually roomier than I expected. That was really nice. It certainly beat the bus, which was far, far more uncomfortable. Joey waited until we were out of sight before he glanced back over his shoulder.
“Your dad seems nice,” he said.
“Oh, he’s great.” I paused after the words tripped off my tongue as I realized I actually meant it. Despite the fact that he was way too strict on occasion, he did a really good job of providing for her.
“It was also nice to meet your sister,” Carmen chimed in.
“Yeah,” Joey said. “I don’t remember her from school.”
I nodded. He was a senior when she’d been a freshman.
“Oh, you’d remember her,” Carmen said.
“Why is that?” he asked.
“Because she’s a cutie.” She grinned and he laughed.
I blinked. I’d made a point of never noticing whether my sister was cute or not. Except...
Michelle wasn’t completely naked. She had a towel wrapped around her head. But nothing covering her full breasts, curvy hips, or dark, curly pubes.
She froze and her chin dropped as she stared at me. “What are you—?”
“It’s twelve-thirty.” I sheepishly lowered my eyes, but that didn’t help. They locked on her full areolae and puffy nipples.
Michelle covered her breasts with her arms.
I came out of my daydream to realize Carmen had been talking to me. I shook myself and tried to catch up on what she’d said.
“ ... and I didn’t know you were a photographer,” she said.
“Well, not really,” I replied.
“Mmm...,” Joey said, “you took some really good shots for the yearbook.”
“Well ... I don’t know...”
“That one of the girl’s basketball game was incredible!” He turned to Carmen. “He got this picture of the contested winning shot, just when the ball left the player’s hand. You could see the determination in her face.”
“Eh ... I got lucky.”
Luck favors the prepared mind.”
“So are you still doing it?” Carmen asked.
“Doing what?” I asked.
“Taking pictures.”
“Well, not much. I don’t have a camera.”
“You don’t?”
“He used the school’s,” Joey said.
“Oh,” she said. “How much do cameras cost?”
“Not that much,” Joey said at the same time I said, “A lot.”
We paused briefly.
“Yeah...,” he said, “the professional ones are pretty expensive.”
“Not to mention film development,” I added. “I used to only get a couple of good shots on each roll.”
“Which is pretty normal,” Joey added.
“Oh,” Carmen said. “Too bad.”
“Oh?” Joey perked up. “Are you still thinking about modeling?”
“Mmm, sort of. I’m not sure I’m pretty enough.”
Both Joey and I instantly scoffed.
“You totally are,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“But I don’t look anything like the women in Vogue.”
She was right, but that didn’t matter. The women in Vogue were stick thin and Carmen was all curves.
“No one looks like that,” Joey said.
“Britt does.”
He chuckled. “Maybe. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re beautiful.”
“Definitely model quality,” I added.
“Mmm...,” Carmen said. “You guys are flattering me.”
“It ain’t flattery if it’s true,” Joey said.
She turned her head and smiled at him. She caught me smiling out of the corner of her eye and grinned my way before turning to face forward in her seat once again.
“So, Mike,” she said, “I bet you took some really good pictures of your girlfriend.” There was a hint of tease in her voice.
“Mmm ... she didn’t really like it.”
“Even glamour shots?”
“Especially glamour shots.” I brooded about that. I’d have loved to take some sexy pictures of her.
“That’s too bad.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now.”
“Oh?” Her demeanor cooled. “Did you guys break up?”
“Yeah. Before school started.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Eh,” I said. “It’s okay now. One of those things, you know?”
“I imagine we need to find you a girlfriend.”
I could hear the lilt in her voice. “Nah. You don’t have to do that.”
“Mmm ... we’ll see.”
We arrived at the dorm and Joey parked in the loading zone and flipped on his hazards. He grabbed one box of tapes while I grabbed the other one and Carmen took my backpack. When we reached the room, Len was in his chair in front of an open textbook. He swiveled around and grinned when he saw the box in my arms. I set it down on my desk and scooted to the side so Joey could set the other on my chair.
“Hey, Carmen!” Len said as he stood. “Joey!”
“Len!” She smiled broadly at him. “How are you doing?”
“Great!” he replied. “How are you?”
“Wonderful,” she replied. “We just got back from visiting Joey’s family.”
He looked at Joey and then at me. “Oh. You gave Mike a ride.”
“Yeah,” Joey said. “A little birdie told me he had to take the bus.”
“Or two little birdies,” Carmen said with a smirk.
Ah. Len had told Denise and Debbie and they’d told Joey and Carmen. I wasn’t too happy about how the rumor mill worked, but ... I had gotten a ride.
“So,” Len asked, “Good visit?”
“Yeah,” Carmen replied. “Joey’s family’s really sweet.”
Joey beamed.
Len’s gaze fell on the boxes.
“My movie collection,” I explained.
“I figured,” he said.
“So...,” Carmen said after a quick look at her boyfriend, “we were thinking we should have a dinner party.”
“Yeah,” Joey said when he saw our raised eyebrows. “My mom got all new china and gave us the old stuff.”
Ah. That’s what was in the trunk. But then I blinked when I played back what he’d said. “Gave us?”
Carmen looked at me briefly before turning to Len. “So, are you interested?”
“Sure!” Len said. “Sounds fun. I’m a pretty good cook. Could I help?”
“Ooh,” Carmen said. “Definitely.”
“How about we,” Len gestured at me, “fix dessert?”
“Cool,” Joey said. “Does Friday work?”
“Does for me.” Len looked at me and I nodded.
“Great!” Joey said. “Sounds like a plan.”
Joey and Carmen hadn’t even reached the stairs before Len turned to me and clapped his hands. “Show me what you got.” He nodded at the videotape boxes.
“A lot,” I said, “but I should warn you, most of these are taped off of cable.”
“That’s fine. A lot of mine are from discount bins.”
I nodded. Some people just did not appreciate the classics and were all too willing to practically give them away. Lucky for me.
He opened the first box and started running his finger down the tapes while mouthing the titles.
“I don’t know where we’re going to put all these,” I said as I watched.
“We’ll get some shelves.”
I grimaced. “How about some milk crates and boards?”
“Oh, yeah. Even better. Hey! You’ve got Bridge on the River Kwai!”
“Yeah. I’ve got The Ladykillers too.” I was particularly proud of that one.
“Ah. I haven’t seen that one yet.”
“Oh, are you in for a treat!”
He chuckled and then moved onto the second box. I waited until he was done.
“So what’d I miss?” I asked.
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