Chapter 10

“You were watching her ass! You were, I totally saw you checking out that girl’s ass!”

“Hmm ... I guess I was.” I said, turning to see who was talking to me. It was the little girl that had fascinated me since the beginning of the term. I had learned her name, but nothing else. “Is that a bad thing?”

She glowered at me. “But you’re gay, right?”

“Not last time I checked! I am sure the girls I am seeing in town would be devastated to hear that.” I joked, shaking my head.

“You are dating girls?” Nina looked angry, and I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why.

“It’s Nina, right? Nina, why would that surprise you? In fact, what made you think I was gay in the first place?” I asked her, turning in my seat to face her and ignoring the professor’s lecture.

Nina’s face was red and she was avoiding my eyes. She mumbled something that I didn’t catch.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” I prompted, earning another glare.

“I’ve never seen you with a girl, just that surfer dude. I heard you didn’t date.”

She had been checking up on me? While it was true I didn’t date at school, I had made some half-hearted attempts but getting laughed at by college girls had dampened my ardor.

“Nina, I am fourteen. Sure, I asked a couple of girls out at the beginning of the year, but my fragile male ego can only handle just so much scornful laughter. The few girls I know and consider friends treat me like a little brother. Not exactly behavior to inspire the next, great romance novel.”

“Oh ... OH!” She looked surprised, her eyes unfocused for a moment. When she looked back towards me, her eyes sharpened again and she actually smiled. It was probably the first time since the beginning of the semester that I had seen her smile and I liked it. It softened the planes of her face and seemed to light her from within.

“You have a gorgeous smile. You should do that more often.” I said, grinning at her.

Yep, that earned me another glare. It didn’t last long though, her expression turning pensive.

“Do you have another class after this?” she asked diffidently, lowering her eyes to her hands.

“Not until two. I usually go get some lunch and hang out there, work on my homework rather than going all the way back to the dorms. Want to have lunch with me?” I asked, taking a shot. I figured I would get shot down again, but I wasn’t going to give up. I had gotten together with Bev over Christmas, but it seemed like we just couldn’t get our schedules together and Aunt Lucy was not letting Bev come to the campus for any reason. Char and Linda had both started dating other guys, so they were unavailable.

“Just to talk, it’s not a date or anything.” she said quickly. “Don’t get any ideas.”

Well, it wasn’t a declaration of undying love or even temporary lust, but it was better than nothing.

It turned out that Nina was just seventeen, and something of a prodigy herself. Her father had been a trade secretary at the US Embassy in Japan for the last eight years before transferring to a new post in Spain. She had completed her high school before the move and wanted to go to college in the US.

She had been accepted at sixteen into the University of California and had chosen Santa Barbara. This was her sophomore year and she was living with her Aunt in town.

“What are you shooting for? I mean, what do you want to get your degree in?” I asked as we stood in line for our food.

“I don’t know!” she said, her shoulders slumping. “I have changed my mind three times already. I just don’t know what I want to do. I like the classes, but nothing ... nothing grabs me, you know?”

“What did you like best in high school?” I asked curiously.

“It’s different there, you know? I went to local schools and they are so intense. Math was king, and I did pretty well, and gymnastics.”

“I know what you mean. I was in school in England and the focus is different from American schools.” I said, then made a mistake. “You look like a gymnast.”

That earned me a glare. I was taken back a bit but started feeling like a heel when I saw unshed tears in her eyes. There was a story there, but she wasn’t ready to share it with someone she just met.

I changed the subject, joking around, doing impressions of various professors and telling her stories about Scott, the guy she had seen me with. She seemed to perk up a bit and even laughed at my Scott impression.

We sat down and chatted about inconsequential subjects while we ate. She seemed surprised when I told her I had a single room because of my age.

“They put me with a seventeen-year-old girl my freshman year. It sucked, big time. She was such a slut! She had a different guy every night, or it seemed like it. I think I spent more nights on the couch in the dorm lounge than I did my bed. I complained but they wouldn’t let me switch and I had no desire to stay in my room and watch her fuck another guy every night.”

“Yeah, I can see where that would be uncomfortable once, but again and again? I think I might have done the same!” I said, shaking my head.

She blushed and leaned forward, keeping her voice low so she wasn’t overheard. “It was interesting the first time in a weird, National Geographic kind of way, but when she passed out drunk, the asshole tried to climb into bed with me! I kicked him so hard in the balls that he threw up and I ran to the RA’s room.” she said with a snort.

“I am glad I don’t have to deal with that. I like sex as much as the next guy, but I prefer to choose my dates!” I said with a laugh.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Are you really seeing girls in town?” she asked softly.

“There are a couple I date occasionally. Girls I met during my three-month purgatory in an American high school. The two I spent the most time have found other guys to date, and I don’t go there. I won’t date someone with a boyfriend.” I told her, shrugging.

“I wasn’t allowed to date when we lived in Japan, and here...” her voice trailed off. “Here, if you don’t have big boobs, no one will even look at you. I look like a twelve-year-old and the only guys who have hit on me are dirty old men who like little girls” she said bitterly.

“But you...” I stopped, almost blurting out something sure to upset her.

“What?” she snapped, glaring again. “Go ahead, say it.”

I mentally crossed my fingers and got ready to be smacked.

“You have the cutest ass in any of my classes.” I said, flinching away.

Her expression wasn’t anger though, it was shock.

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean? I think you have a very attractive rear end. Look, I can’t help it if I am a butt man. Boobs are nice, and as a guy, I look, but that is hard-wired. The nicest boobs in the world won’t draw my eye if there is even a half-way nice butt to look at and you have an unbelievably cute one.” I still wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to get slapped.

“You have been looking at my ass? Since when?” she asked, her voice rising.

I made a shushing movement, waving my hand. “Nina, please, people are staring. Look, I noticed you the first day of class. You were wearing jeans, a baggy sweatshirt almost like a dress and white sandals. You bent down to pick up a piece of paper and your sweatshirt rode up. I was mesmerized.” I told her, blushing a bit. “Ever since then, I have tried to get a seat behind you, just in case.”

She was silent, staring hard. Her face went through a half-dozen expressions before she let out an exasperated sigh and buried her face in her hands.

“Nina? Look, I am sorry if I offended you.” I said softly, touching one of her elbows lightly to get her attention.

When she finally looked up at me, there was a weird smile on her face.

“Yes.”

What? “Yes?” I asked, confused. She wasn’t making sense.

“Yes, I will eat dinner with you and yes, I want to see your dorm room.” she said quietly.

Oh? Oh! “That sounds wonderful! Um, do you have a car?” I asked hopefully.

She nodded.

“I think I would like to take you to dinner off campus. Someplace nice.” I told her. “But I don’t have a license, not old enough even for a hardship, though I hope to get one.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “Where should we meet? Where are we going to go?”

I gave her directions to my dorm, suggesting we meet at six. “You have a choice, Nina. We can get dressed up and go fancy, dinner and dancing, or we can go and get a burger and talk.”

She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. “Burger, I think. And a milkshake.” she added with a grin.

She arrived right on time, driving an almost brand-new Toyota Celica and I hopped in, admiring her wheels. Dinner was an eye opener as we ate and chatted. She had chosen an A&W drive in and we ate in the car where we could have privacy to talk.

She told me her father was from Oklahoma originally, and had been a Marine assigned to embassy security in Japan. That is where he met his wife, her mother, Ayoka. Ayoka was very much the shy, retiring, obedient wife to her husband and the perfect bride for a diplomat later in his career.

“My mother was a gymnast, and was hoping to someday being in the Olympics, but a torn Achilles tendon on a bad dismount ended her career. When I was born, as small and athletic as she was, she wanted the same for me. At three, I was already doing stretches and tumbles and by five, I was with a professional trainer five days a week.”

She paused, her eyes closed. “When I was ten, my trainer began touching me in ways I knew he shouldn’t. I told my mother and she laughed at me. ‘It is the way it has always been done, why would such a great man waste his time with ignorant girls if not? Relax daughter, you might even find it pleasurable. I did.‘ is what she told me.”

Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but her eyes were still closed and her hands, knuckles white, were gripping the steering wheel.

“I told my father. They had such a horrible fight and I heard him hit her, heard her cry out. Then my father stormed out of the house. He was gone for three days. My mother refused to speak to me, to even look at me. When he returned, he was different, somehow. I learned later that he used his position at the embassy to secretly film the man. He was arrested and imprisoned, but things never went back to the same in our house.”

“And you blame yourself?” I asked softly.

She shrugged. “I know it doesn’t make sense, that it was not my fault, but how can I not feel guilty? My mother lives as a servant to my father now, not like a wife.”

“And she is unhappy.” I guessed.

“No! That’s just it, don’t you see? She loves it. She has never been happier. She would clean his feet with her tongue if he wanted it and she loves it! How could she be like that?” Nina sounded confused and hurt.

I was getting a bad feeling about this already.

“If she is happy then be happy for her.” I said softly.

She turned to glare at me. “No fucking way.” She turned to face front again, wiping her eyes. “I’ll take you back to your dorms.” she said, reaching over to flip the window tray out onto the pavement and putting her car in gear.

The drive back was quiet. She stared straight ahead the whole time, not saying a word. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could say to make the situation better, so I sat quietly as well, writing off the evening as a bad idea.

We arrived at the dorms and I got out of her car, expecting her to back out of the parking spot and drive away as soon as I closed the door. I leaned down to thank her for spending time with me, only to see her getting out as well.

“I’d like to see your dorm, Wayne.” she said pleasantly enough. I shrugged and pointed the way.

“Follow me.”

I opened the door and flipped on the lights, letting her walk in first and then following. She stood in the middle of the room, her eyes taking everything in, then turned to look at me.

“This is way nicer than the room I had. You brought your own furniture?”

“My grandmother insisted and I wasn’t going to complain.” I told her with a grin.

“Well, if you listen to your grandmother, then maybe you aren’t a total waste. Maybe I will let you fuck me after all.” she said, smirking at me.

I am not sure if it was her tone or her attitude, but I could feel myself getting angry.

“Well,” I said, trying to keep a smile on my face. “It’s been a nice evening, but it is time for you to leave.”

She spun around, staring at me like I had two heads.

“What? I just said I might let you fuck me and you tell me to leave?” she snarled incredulously.

“That’s right. Do you want me to get the door for you?” By this time, the smile was gone.

She stepped forward and swung, her hand lashing out cobra quick, but I saw it coming and grabbed her wrist, yanking her off balance. I spun her around, pulling her wrist up between her shoulder blades and grabbing her other shoulder with my off hand, propelling her towards the door.

“LET GO OF ME YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” she screamed at the top of her voice, struggling.

I pushed her up against the wall, the released her shoulder to open the door. Once it was open, I pushed her out into the hallway and let go of her wrist.

She turned and tried to slap me again, but I just blocked it then slammed the door shut.

She started pounding on the door, screaming something unintelligible and I stood there, my back to the door, wondering what the hell had just happened! That was one messed up lady.

There were other voices in the hall now, and a heated conversation going on for several minutes before it got quiet again. Then came a gentle tap on the door.

I peeked out the peephole and saw Scott standing there, a strange expression on his face so I let him in.

“Dude ... what the hell was that all about? That chick was totally crazy!” he said, shaking his head. “I was chillin, cause Marj is studying, and I hear screaming down here. I come to check it out, you know, thinking maybe, you know, your moms is back.”

I just shook my head and made myself a drink, holding up the bottle of Jack to see if Scott wanted one too. When I handed him his, he sat down on the corner of the desk and I hopped up on the bed.

“So, what happened when you walked up?” I asked, almost dreading the answer.

He grinned and shook his head. “Dude, she said she was going to let you fuck her and you threw her out. Then she said she would show you and asked me to fuck her. You know me, dude, Marj is it for me, so when I told her I had a girl, she screamed and ran out. What the hell, dude?”

I shook my head, starting to feel a little afraid for her. She was an emotional wreck and not telling what she might get up to tonight.

“She’s got issues. She came in here tonight, saying some odd stuff, acted like she was doing me some big favor by maybe, possibly, having sex with me. It just ... it pissed me off so I told her to leave. She tried to hit me twice!” I told him

He just grinned. “Chicks are crazy man. Gotta find one cool like Marj, then ride the wave.”

I just rolled my eyes.

The rest of the evening was just chatting, listening to music and me drinking more than was good for me. When Marjorie showed up two hours later, she found us laughing and more than a little drunk.

“Marj, your boyfriend used a surfing ana ... alan ... anagal ... he called you a bodacious wave.” I said, busting up laughing. Scott was howling and Marjorie just looked confused.

“It’s a school night, why are you two drunk?” she asked, scowling.

“Ah, you see, therein lies the rub. Yon surfing varlet was simply helping me drown my sorrows. He’s a righteous dude.” I said, busting up again.

She just shook her head and turned to Scott.

“Babe, he had some girl problems, crazy chick all yelling and screaming. I was just hanging, you know? Little dude needed some bro support.” he said, giving her a big wink.

Marjorie tried to hide her smirk, grabbing his arm and pulling him up off the floor.

“You did your good deed, now it is water, aspirin and bed for you.” she said sternly. “Get. I’ll take over.”

“Okay, babe.” Scott said agreeably, winking at me as he grabbed her ass in passing.

Marjorie just rolled her eyes and turned to me after Scott stumbled out.

“You are too young to be getting drunk on campus.” she said sternly.

“Well, you are entirely too beautiful to try and pull off the whole stern mother bit, so we are even.” I said, smiling brightly. “Now, if you would be so kind as to give me a good night kiss, mommy dearest, I will take my aspirin and hate myself in the morning without your asssssisst ... your help.”

And I did. Well, hate is a strong word. I definitely regretting over-indulging, but I refused to feel sorry for myself. I did my morning workout, only puking twice, and got to class on time.

Thursday at class, I was wary. I got there early, choosing a seat at the rear of the lecture hall and watched the other students arrive. Nina came in about five minutes before the class started, hanging on the arm of another male student. She paused by my seat long enough for her to be absolutely sure that I was aware she was ignoring me, then chose a seat as far away from me as possible.

If I hadn’t been afraid she would do something embarrassing, I might have actually laughed. That was some serious high school level dramatics and I congratulated myself on escaping mostly unscathed.

Over the next three weeks, each day she came to class it was with a different guy. The first guy she had walked in with was now sitting on my side of the room, the second and third were sitting surprisingly far away as well. I felt bad for her but was guessing that she would have to work it out on her own.

Still, this whole episode brought home the loneliness I had been feeling. With Char and Linda dating my only outlet had been Bev, but this past weekend, Bev told me about a boy she had dated who asked her to go steady too.

None of the girls at school would give me the time of day, socially, because of my age, so my only outlet was my hand and that was depressing.

The custody case was finally settled, with full custody going to my father and mom’s visitation rights were strictly controlled. She could come and see me here, but there was no requirement for me to go there. Even if she came, her visitation would be chaperoned by someone from the state.

The fallout from this was Aunt Lucy telling me that my other grandparents had told her I was not welcome in their homes either. It honestly was not a big loss, but it still bothered me.

My fifteenth birthday turned out to be a lot better than I had hoped. Not in gifts, but in lifting my mood. Liesl had even come up from San Diego for the weekend to help me celebrate.

Dad had already agreed, with Grandpa’s help and a letter from the school, that I could get my hardship license after this birthday, so it was with great joy that I opened a small present from his father to find a set of Dodge keys. When I looked up and met Dad’s eyes, I could tell my father was trying not to look too smug, which made me smile even bigger.

“So ... Dad. Thanks for the keys! But what do they fit?”

“Hmmm ... maybe you should figure that out on your own, college boy.” Dad teased, causing Grandpa to laugh and Grandma to scowl at both of them.

Everyone at the party got in on the teasing and I just shook my head. “Okay, but if I can miraculously make them fit the Cuda, you are not going to be happy.” I told him, laughing at his threatening look and shaking finger.

He put his arm around my shoulders and led me out to the garage. I am not sure where he put the Yenko, but sitting in its place was a yellow, Cuda convertible with white leather interior. On the hood, was a massive bow at least three feet across.

I was star struck. I had told him that if I had a single dream car, it would be this, the car I remembered and fell in love with watching a show still a decade or more in the future, Nash Bridges.

“Dad, you have no idea...” I said, staring at the car across the garage.

“I think I do. I saw you drooling over mine often enough.” he said gleefully.

“Wait, where is the Yenko. Please, please tell me you didn’t!” I turned to him in horror. The Yenko Nova was just about the most collectible and expensive car in his collection.

“What?” Dad asked, confused for a second, then his eyes went wide. “Hell no, I didn’t! It’s at the Fifth St shop, locked in a bay. Are you insane?” Dad asked, laughing at my expression.

“No, but you scared the pants off of me. So ... tell me about this beautiful car.” I said, walking forward and running a finger down the front quarter panel.

“It’s a repop, of course, since, as far as I can tell, they never made a yellow and white hemi with a shaker, but it’s what you described to me last year, as close as I can remember.” Dad said proudly, pulling the safety pins and popping the hood.

“It’s a 426, but with the supercharger and a few go fast goodies, I pulled 575hp, 590ftlbs on the dyno. Posi rear end, of course, upgraded four-wheel disc. The interior is all aftermarket but the hood and scoop are from a sixpack car that got wrecked. Wider rear wheels, but the aftermarket wheels are by the same manufacturer. Hooks up and rides real nice, son, real nice.”

I turned and threw my arms around him, lifting him from the ground and spinning him around. The laughter of the rest of the group was music to my ears.

“Wayne, you can play later. You have more gifts to open and a cake to cut.” Grandma Jessen called, shaking her head at her men and their obsession with cars.

Liesl surprised him with five Albums on cassette. She had gone through my records collection and picked one she knew I loved, getting me cassette tapes for the stereo in my new car.

Grandma and Grandpa’s gift to me was a real surprise. Grandpa had taken the uninvested million and a half he had left from the World Series bet after following me in the stock market and invested in real estate. In fact, he had purchased an apartment complex about five miles from the University and was in the process of taking it upscale. What they gave me was a set of keys that would, in about a year, open the doors to the new penthouse apartment that would take the entire top floor of the building.

“Wayne, I know this is a surprise, but I have already been offered almost twice what I have in the place and even keeping the penthouse, I will have made $750,000 on the deal.” Grandpa told me, showing me that old dogs can certainly teach a young pup a thing or two. I hadn’t even considered the real estate market as an investment! I should have known better! There would be a massive real estate bubble lasting until around 2010 before it crashed.

“I feel kind of stupid not thinking about real estate, Grandpa.” I said, shaking my head.

“Well, it’s not like we are making any more of it so it tends to be a good investment.” he told me, tongue in cheek.

In fact, as the 21st century rolled around, they actually were making more of it. In Dubai, they would build entire communities on man-made islands. Still, his point was as valid now as it would be then, real estate could be a gold mine.

When the party wound down, I got hugs and kisses on the cheek from the twins and Alison when they left. They were all dating now and Alison, at least, displayed some regret that she couldn’t stay.

After her friends left, Liesl pulled me aside to tell me that her best friend in San Diego had an older sister that would be starting at UCSB in the summer session. She had told them about Wayne and offered him as a guide for the girl.

“She’s a hot one too, Wayne. Five eight, a hundred and ten pounds and stacked. You won’t mind playing guide, will you?” Liesl asked with a grin.

I guess my face must have shown something because she frowned when I didn’t answer.

“What, Wayne? Not interested in a sexy blonde? You having girl troubles you haven’t told me about?” she asked, moving to sit next to me.