Chapter 36: Two Dances, Part I

April 1978

The first week in April was more of the same. I didn’t see Pete, Melanie wouldn’t talk to me about anything except for tutoring, and Jennifer still wasn’t ready to talk. The only constant was work.

I had spoken to Anna a few times and we were having trouble arranging a date now that we didn’t have Pete and Melanie. She promised to try to find a way, but we agreed April was probably difficult. I told her I’d call her at least once a week.

I did get to play chess with Mary on Thursday at her request. She told me she was dating a Junior. They had been out a couple of times, but she hadn’t had sex with him yet. I was a bit surprised that she called him a boyfriend, but I was sure I’d get more information at some point.

April 7, 1978

Friday was the turnabout dance. Bethany had told me I should be dressed in a suit and ready to be picked up at 4:00pm sharp. I had special permission from Dad to stay out until midnight because of the dance. He had granted the same thing for the dance with Joyce later in the month.

I was sitting in the living room looking out the window at the circle drive at 4:00pm. I saw a stretch limo turn into the driveway. It stopped, and a liveried driver got out and came to the front door. This had to be a mistake.

I opened the door and he asked, “Master Steve Adams?”

“Yes.”

“Your young lady is waiting in the car.”

I called ‘goodbye’ to Dad and followed the driver out. I wasn’t sure what to do because I’d never ridden in a limo, but I remembered from TV that they opened the door for you. He did and I climbed in.

Bethany was wearing a long, conservatively-cut, pale-blue gown made from some kind of light material. Long sleeves, ankle length and high cut. No skin showing besides her hands and face. Her brunette hair was styled with curls hanging down to frame her face. She had on just a hint of makeup, including blue eye shadow that looked to be the same color as the dress. She looked absolutely stunning. I knew she had a High School Freshman cheerleader’s body - very fit, small breasts, nice curves, short, powerful legs and a very nice butt.

“Hi, Steve!”

“Hi, Bethany! This is amazing!”

“Just wait, I have a few surprises for you. Next one is this boutonnière.”

She pinned a white flower with pale blue tips to my charcoal gray suit. It matched her gown.

“Where are we going for dinner?”

“You’ll see. Just be patient. In fact, be patient about everything tonight. Let me handle it all. I know that’s hard for boys to do.”

I laughed and said, “OK.”

Bethany and I hadn’t really spoken much in school after she invited me. We didn’t travel in the same circles. She had always been nice to me. She hadn’t been captured by the usual Milford Junior High cheerleader attitude. We had shared a few classes together in eighth grade, but not during Freshman year.

“Bethany, am I allowed to ask a question?”

“Yes, but I may not answer it if you’re trying to find out more details about tonight.”

“No, I’ll be patient like you asked. I’m curious why you asked me out.”

“Well, you were always nice to me last year when I asked for help. You have a reputation as a nice guy and a mutual friend suggested I ask you.”

“Mutual friend?”

“That has to be a secret for now.”

“Mysterious.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “I checked you out, found out you really were a nice guy and decided to ask.”

“You do realize that you could have given me a sign you were interested?”

“That’s not really my way. I don’t flirt or anything like that.”

“I get it. But most guys don’t even think they have a chance with cheerleaders and so don’t bother even asking!”

“Is that how you feel?”

“Well, yeah, usually. Besides, except for you and Kathy Will, I don’t really want anything to do with the cheer squad.”

“I can see that. Kathy is my best friend on the squad, though my real best friend lives over in Goshen. I don’t like most of the squad, either. They’re too full of themselves.”

On that we were in agreement. Not that there weren’t cheerleaders that I thought had great bodies, but when they opened their mouths they became far less attractive.

She then asked, “Why did you say ‘yes’?”

“Because you asked. I always thought you were nice and I thought it would be cool to go with you. I was a little interested in you, but didn’t get any signs. I was a bit surprised when you asked, but I’m happy you did. As for cool, so far it’s exceeding expectations. I sure wasn’t expecting a limo!”

“Thanks. It’s our one formal dance. Freshmen don’t get a prom, so I talked to my dad and we set this up.”

“Very cool.”

A minute later, the driver announced that we were arriving. I looked out the window and saw that we were at a golf course.

“My dad’s Country Club,” Bethany said. “Not much golf yet, but the dining room is out of this world. Wait until you see it.”

We waited for the door to be opened and then climbed out. A man in uniform held open a door and we walked into a formal dining room that had tables as well as some more private booths that had intricate woodwork latices reaching close to the ceiling. There were perhaps a dozen or so couples at tables, and one table with adults and kids. All the men had on suits and the women nice dresses.

A very well-dressed man greeted Bethany by name and led us to one of the private booths. It was situated in a corner and had a cushioned bench that wrapped around the table. A candle in the middle of the table and two wall fixtures provided soft lighting. It was very romantic.

I waited for Bethany to sit down. I noticed the place settings were such that I was expected to slide around and sit next to her, instead of facing her. I sat down and moved to the indicated position. We were only a couple of inches apart.

I’d never experienced anything like it. Of course, I was not quite fifteen, so it wasn’t as if I had been to formal dining restaurants. My parents did go to these kinds of places quite often for their dates. They had told me once about The Maisonette, a Mobil ‘Five Star’ restaurant in Cincinnati owned by one of my dad’s friends, and this seemed very similar.

The service was almost oppressive. If I took a drink of water, someone refilled my water glass. If I looked out the entrance of the booth, someone was there almost instantly asking what I needed. I shook my head.

Bethany giggled, “It takes some getting used to.”

“I could get used to being waited on hand and foot, though I don’t think my water glass needs to be filled on every sip!”

We looked at the menus. Everything looked good, and expensive. Or rather, I was sure it was, but there were no prices on the menus.

“There are no prices,” I said, not sure what that meant, other than it made me suspect that it wasn’t going to be cheap, something I’d already guessed.

“Correct. They’ll just add everything to my dad’s bill. Don’t worry about it.”

“But...”

“Don’t worry about it,” she repeated. “We wouldn’t be here if Dad wasn’t OK with it.”

I suppose she had a point, but I was a little uncomfortable. I decided that if she ordered something I liked, which from the menu looked almost certain, I’d order the same thing.

The second I set my menu down the waiter was there to take our order.

Bethany ordered lemon chicken and a salad. I said that sounded good and asked for the same. She had Thousand Island dressing and I had Bleu Cheese.

“How did he do that? Is there a waiter for every table?”

“Not quite, but if you look, you’ll see there are way more waiters and bus boys than in a normal restaurant.”

I looked around and saw she was right.

The food was out of this world. We chatted about school, the football team, the major snowstorm in February, and our families. Her dad was a CPA and worked for a major accounting firm. He traveled to Europe a lot. Her mom was an attorney. Even at fourteen I knew that meant two very, very good incomes. I guess I shouldn’t have worried about how Bethany was going to pay for everything.

For dessert we each had a slice of chocolate fudge cake that was so smooth and so sweet I can’t even imagine how it was made and what was in it. All I know is it was the best cake I’d had in my life.

“The pastry chef here is fantastic, isn’t he?” she said.

“Pastry chef? They have a guy who does nothing but bake cakes and make desserts?”

“I can see you don’t have much experience with what mom calls ‘fine dining’.”

“I don’t think Frisch’s Big Boy qualifies.”

This elicited a giggle from Bethany, “No, I don’t think so.”

When the meal was done, they handed Bethany a little leather folder and a pen. She signed the paper inside. I didn’t see what was on it, so I had no idea what this meal had just cost. She had gone all-out so far. I wondered what the rest of the night would bring.

We walked out and re-entered the limo which was waiting by the door. Someone had obviously told the driver we were almost done. I could get used to this.

“Bethany, do you do this all the time?”

“Usually we bring dad’s car and the valet brings it the same way. This is the first time I’ve done this myself. I’ve ridden in limos before with mom and dad to the airport, but never on a date.”

The driver took us to the Junior High. We weren’t the only limo, but most kids were being dropped off by their parents. Bethany handed our tickets to the teacher at the door and we walked in and turned left to the gym where our dances were held.

The dance committee had done a great job. There were streamers, flowers, and other decorations. Most walls were covered with some kind of cloth to hide the cinderblocks. A DJ was set up on the stage at the far end of the gym, since it doubled as the auditorium.

We grabbed some punch and found a table and sat down. The DJ started off with Twist and Shout by the Beatles which seemed like a pretty good choice to me. A few kids got up to dance. I was waiting for Bethany to ask me, since it was, after all, a turnabout dance.

The DJ was on a Beatles kick, it seemed. The next song was She Loves You which I thought was totally perfect for the turn-about theme. I might have played that one first if it were up to me. Still no dance request from Bethany. We just chatted with the other kids at the table. I knew all of them slightly.

As the second song finished, Mary and a Junior I assumed was her boyfriend sat down in the last two chairs.

“Hey, Mary!”

“Hey, Steve. This is Ben.”

I shook hands and said “Mary, Ben, this is Bethany.”

Mary asked “Bethany, do you mind if I dance with Steve at some point tonight? You can ask Ben if you want to dance with him.”

“Yes, of course, dance with Steve.”

I noticed that she didn’t say she’d dance with Ben. Maybe it was implied.

The third song was another perfect theme song. This time, Bethany asked me to dance. We walked to the dance area. In my head I ran through the basic dance lesson Joyce had given me in the pool and hoped I could to it. I shouldn’t have worried. Bethany put her hands on my shoulders, I put mine on her waist and we just swayed a bit to More Than a Woman by the Bee Gees. She seemed to be nervous for some reason, but I didn’t really know her well enough to be able to figure out why. Perhaps she hadn’t dated much.

The next couple of songs were faster and I just tried to mimic what I saw some of the other couples doing. Bethany had a smile on her face, so I assumed I was doing OK. I probably looked like a spastic clown, but she didn’t complain. After a couple of dances we sat down.

The pattern was the same over the next few hours - we’d dance a few songs then sit. About 20 minutes before the dance was supposed to end, Mary asked me to dance. The next song turned out to be Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are. Mary put her arms around me, put her head on my shoulder and pressed her body into me.