Chapter 60: From the Heart

May 1982, Milford, Ohio

On Saturday morning after Stephanie and I swam and ate breakfast, we picked up Bethany and Ed and did our shopping for the party. We went to K-Mart on Route 28 to get some decorations, as well as paper cups and plates and plastic silverware. Next we went to Fazio’s and bought all the groceries that we’d need. Finally, we stopped at UDF and picked up two gallons of ice cream. We headed back to my parents’ house and after we unloaded the car; I went to get Kara while Bethany, Stephanie, and Ed put everything away.

I rang the bell at Kara’s, and she answered quickly. We kissed, she said goodbye to her mom, and we got in the car to head back to my parents’ house.

“My dad actually said to say ‘hello’. He really does seem to be coming around. Maybe things will be OK tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” I said. “This is going to be a big shock to him.”

“I know,” Kara sighed. “But I can always hope. How was the party?”

“Fine. And there were no violations. It was kept strictly within couples except for the kissing during ‘Spin the Bottle’.”

“Good. I hope you enjoyed that, because it was your first and last party at Tracey’s!” she said with a smile.

“I know. It’s actually only the second time I’ve ever really played a game like that. The first one was at Kathy’s birthday party when I was a Sophomore. I’ve played a bit of ‘Truth or Dare’ since then, but usually it doesn’t last long because I can evade any dare by just answering the questions. You know me well enough that I’ll answer anything.”

“True. And you would mostly only play with people you know, and they pretty much know everything, don’t they?”

“Yep. There was one time in Chicago where we basically just did ‘truth’ and everyone answered the same question. It was funny to see Kathy find out that Kurt had actually had a threesome at band camp when he was a Junior in High School.”

“I bet! And was she upset?”

“No, of course not. She’s a close friend of mine, and that stuff doesn’t bother anyone who is a close friend. Only Pete ever has concerns, and he just keeps his mouth shut.”

“True. You’re corrupting me because I don’t find it gross or offensive anymore.”

“Well, after that little thing with Joyce, I don’t see how you could!”

“Just tuck that fantasy away in your head, Steve Adams!”

“Done!” I chuckled as we pulled into the driveway at my parents’ house.

The five of us hung out playing pool and video games until lunch, and after lunch, we began setting up for the party. I was a bit miffed that it was raining and that the forecast predicted thunderstorms for the afternoon. That meant setting up the grill in the garage once again. We were grilling burgers and hot dogs, and I’d asked Larry to pick up Famous Recipe fried chicken as well. Bethany and Stephanie prepared the burger toppings while Ed and I formed the burgers out of ground beef. Kara tried to help, but was shooed away because it was her party.

Once everything was ready, we sat in Stephanie’s room and listened to music and talked. My parents left just before 5:00pm, but not without a glare from my mom. I just smiled at her, which only seemed to make her angrier. Some day her head was going to explode! Our guests began arriving shortly after 5:00pm. Kara and I had discussed who to invite and other than Susie and Johnny, we didn’t invite anyone from her church.

By 5:30pm everyone had arrived — Joyce and Terry, Larry, Mary, Elyse, Susie and Johnny, Kathy, Pete and Melanie, and Marty and Tracey. Of course, Stephanie, Ed, and Bethany were already there. Pete and Terry manned the grill, and Bethany and Stephanie set out all the fixings and chips and made sure everyone had a soft drink. It took quite some time to satisfy the appetite of all the hungry teenagers before Pete and Terry could finally put the tongs and spatulas down and join the party.

Everyone split up between playing pool, playing video games, or sitting at the table drinking coffee or tea. About an hour after we had finished eating, we served the ice cream and the cake that Joyce had brought. There were a few gifts for Kara. Joyce and Terry gave her a sweater and matching scarf, Mary gave her a new purse, and Pete and Melanie gave her a nice leather bag that she’d be able to use for books at school in the Fall.

Kara leaned back and thanked everyone for coming and for the gifts, then took a deep breath. “I have an announcement that a few of you don’t know. I’m telling you now because tomorrow, Steve and I are going to tell my dad that I’m moving in with him when he comes back from Sweden.”

Susie gasped, “You’ll be kicked out of the church!”

“I don’t really care,” Kara said. “I’m not going to be living here, so I’ll be in a new church in Chicago.”

“Pastor Kent is going to lose his mind even worse than he did when he found out you were sleeping with Steve!” Susie declared.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass what Pastor Kent thinks,” I interjected. “He and his little bitch of a daughter can stay out of my life! If Sandy had just kept her mouth shut, the situation with Kara’s dad would never have happened. All because she freaked out about a little dancing!”

“I think that girl needs a good, hard fucking, that’s what I think!” Mary said. “That will loosen her up!”

“I can’t think of someone I’m less interested in, so don’t look at me!” I chuckled.

“Don’t worry about her, Steve,” Kara said. “Her little game was exposed and got her nowhere in the end. She’s not going to get Josh away from Mary, and I’m certainly not going to be with Lucas!”

“What?!” Mary gasped in shock.

“Sandy wanted Josh,” I said. “And Lucas wanted Kara. So her little game was to try to get me out of the way. She was supremely pissed that Josh was going to Sweden, but she couldn’t find a scheme to stop that because Josh’s parents were completely behind him going. So Sandy’s first move was against me. It almost worked, too, until Kara’s mom intervened.”

“Wow! She better stay away from Josh or I will make absolutely sure that she regrets it for the rest of her very short life!” Mary said vehemently.

“Are you kidding? After you, what woman could get Josh’s attention?” I teased.

“It didn’t work on you, Steve Adams!” she pouted, then winked.

“You never really tried, Mary!” I protested. “You liked fooling around, but you and I were never going to be a couple.”

“True,” Mary replied with a smile. “Kara is a very lucky girl.”

“Yes, and Josh is a lucky guy!” I responded.

Mary got up and sat on my lap.

“Permission to kiss your boyfriend, please?” she asked Kara.

Kara smiled and nodded. Mary gave me a soft, sexy French kiss, her tongue exploring my mouth and twirling around mine.

“Give Josh a kiss just like that one for me,” she smirked as she got off my lap.

“I’ll tell you what — I’ll kiss one of our mutual friends and she can kiss Josh. I am NOT swapping spit with Josh Richards, no matter how good a friend he is!” I grinned.

“Chicken!” Elyse teased.

“Careful Miss Clarke! Remember, you have to share an apartment with Kara and me in the Fall!”

“All the more reason to tease you guys!” she retorted.

“How are things with Warren?” I asked.

“We talked this morning. We won’t see each other until August when we head back to school.” She answered and then turned her head. “Kathy, are you and Kurt seeing each other over the Summer?”

“Yep!” she said brightly. “He’s coming here in July to meet my parents and then I’m going to meet his in two weeks.”

“That sounds serious, Kathy!” Bethany said.

“It is. How about you and Gene? Are you going to see him?”

“I’m not sure,” Bethany said. “We’ve talked about trying to get together, but I’m not sure it’ll work out to see him. It’s only a few months. We’ll be back in Madison in mid-August. We talk almost every day. I can’t imagine what our phone bills are going to look like!”

“You don’t sound as serious as Kathy,” Stephanie observed.

“No, not yet. I’m taking things a bit slower than she is. I’m sure that you understand why,” Bethany said, looking at me.

“There’s no rush, Bethany,” Mary said. “You have three more years of school.”

“Has anyone heard from Jennifer recently?” Mary asked.

“I talk to her every few weeks,” I said, “and I know that Bethany talks to her occasionally, and Larry does, and I’m sure Stephanie does. She’s doing OK. She had all A’s and B’s and has made some friends. She hit a rough patch with Jocelyn and they broke up, but she’s doing OK.”

“You’re going to see Josh in Sweden?” Susie asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “The first few days I’ll be visiting the Anderbergs in southern Sweden, and I’ll see my friend Pia. Then I’ll be going to Gothenburg and I’ll see Josh as well as see my class graduate. I’ll be there for about two weeks. Then I’ll be in Stockholm to see the Anderssons. Then when I get back, I’ll come get Kara and we’ll go to Chicago. We’re going to see Jennifer, and then my ice-dancing friends, Katt and Mikael, are coming to visit.”

“Sounds like a busy Summer,” Larry said. “What are you doing while Steve’s away, Kara?”

“Relaxing!” Kara replied. “And missing Snuggle Bear, of course.”

Laughter erupted from our friends at Kara’s use of my nickname.

“Gee, thanks, Honey!” I deadpanned.

“How’s school going, Larry?” I asked.

“Pretty good. Pre-med is just lots of science, especially biology and chemistry. I’m pretty good at those. I’m playing competitive chess, too.”

“And his Elo is climbing,” Mary said, sounding annoyed. “It’s almost 2200 now. He’s damn near unbeatable!”

“No ‘strip chess’ with Larry?” I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

“‘Strip chess’?” Kara asked.

Mary laughed, “One of Jennifer’s more brilliant ideas. She thought of it to put opponents off their game at chess meets and then, well, she used it on your ‘Snuggle Bear’ to get him into bed.”

“I haven’t heard this story!” Joyce said.

“Me either,” Kara said.

Mary told them how it started with Becky at the Indian Hill meet. At the mention of Becky’s name, Kara, Bethany, and Stephanie all frowned, but kept quiet. Mary related how our game had gone and mentioned that I’d played with several other people, but thankfully she didn’t mention Erin, Cindy, or Anna. Naming names just wasn’t a good thing, though everyone here knew about my original relationship with Becky.

“This is what we should do at every party,” Bethany said. “Swap ‘Steve stories’!”

I sighed theatrically, “Maybe not!”

“Oh, you love it, Steve,” Bethany giggled. “Besides, almost everyone here pretty much knows everything about you. Let us have our fun!”

“Do as you will, Bethany!” I chuckled.

For the next half-hour, everyone in the room told their favorite ‘Steve story’. Kara was all ears, hearing things from my past that she didn’t know. It was fun, actually, because none of it was meant in a mean way. And it really did show how far I’d come.

“I’m getting the impression that except for me, and your little sister, of course, you’ve been with every single girl in this room at least once,” Susie said.

“I can’t answer that, Susie,” I said.

“No, but we can,” Mary said. “Yes.”

“Yes,” Bethany said, giggling.

“Yes,” Melanie smirked.

“Yes,” Joyce said.

“Oh, God, yes!” Tracey said, licking her lips.

“Yes,” Kathy added with a small smile.

“Yep,” Elyse said.

“And you all know I have!” Kara said, smiling.

“Hey, Johnny, mind if I join the club?” Susie said with a smirk.

Johnny, smiling, looked at me and winked, “Of course not! Why would I mind?”

Susie, because of how she was sitting, couldn’t see the wink, but I could, as could Larry, who was sitting next to me,

Susie turned to him in shock as a collective gasp went up.

“Really?” she gasped.

“You know I just want you to be happy!” he said.

Then, with a sweep of his arm, he turned to the rest of the girls, “Now, which one of you wants to go first with me? After all, I have a LOT of catching up to do with Steve. Kara? Tracey?”

They were still in shock when I just couldn’t take it anymore and I doubled over, laughing.

“The looks on your faces are priceless!” Larry guffawed.

“And yes, I do very much mind!” Johnny laughed. “Besides, I thought it was a secret that you and I were sleeping together!”

“Not from this crowd! Kara’s known for ages, even before she started going with Steve.”

“Kara, I think your friend Susie is going to fit right in!” Mary said with a laugh.

“You can’t hang around Steve without being pulled into his world,” Kara said. “If you aren’t open-minded, you will be by the time he gets done with you! Just look at me! If you told me at the start of Junior year that by the end of High School I would be naked in the sauna with guys, that I would no longer be a virgin, and that I would have done all the other stuff I have done, I’d have told you that you were nuts. But Snuggle Bear was assigned as my lab partner and everything changed!”

“Good luck, Kara,” Stephanie said, with a twinkle in her eye. “I’ve had to live with him for over fifteen years!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Elyse said, “it hasn’t been so bad living in the same apartment for a year. I could have had a crazy roommate in the dorms, like Bethany did.”

“Pam really calmed down after the first semester. We’re rooming together again next year,” Bethany said. “But that first semester? It was bad news.”

“Isn’t Pam another ‘friend’ of yours, Steve?” Melanie asked, emphasizing ‘friend’.

“Yes, Melanie. I met her in Sweden when we were both on the exchange program. She lived just outside of Stockholm and I was on the opposite coast in Gothenburg. We saw each other a few times at YFU gatherings.”

“How well did you know her?” Mary asked with a knowing smile.

“Oh shush!” Bethany giggled. “Pam is a charming young lady!”

“Who charmed the pants off Steve?” Kara whispered, not too softly.

“OK! OK! This is going too far!” Kathy interrupted, unsuccessfully trying to stop her own giggles. “We’ve had our fun teasing Steve,” she continued, now looking at us. “We all know he has a history with a lot of girls, and of treating them wonderfully.”

“Amen! Hallelujah!” Melanie, Mary and Tracey chorused, to more giggles.

“SHUSH!” Kathy repeated, sternly. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, In...” and she looked at Kara questioningly.

“Forty-one,” Kara answered.

“Thank you. In forty-one days, Kara and Steve are moving to Chicago to be together, and we’ll all have pleasant — very pleasant — memories of our dear friend.”

Kara blushed and brushed away a tear.