Chapter 2

Monday arrived and I wasn’t sure if it had taken too long or it had gotten here too fast. I was anxious about asking April to homecoming, even if Trey said she liked me, and a number of scenarios of what would happen when I asked her had run through my head.

I sat down to lunch and talked with April and Trey for several minutes. After some time, Trey started signaling me by raising his eyebrows and moving his head in April’s direction. I was nervous and, of course, ignored him.

After a couple of minutes of this, April finally asked, “Trey, what are you doing?”

“Uh, nothing, I’ve just got a kink in my neck that I’m trying to get out.”

“Oh. Do you want me to rub your neck and shoulders and try to get it out?” April was kind like that and so the offer didn’t surprise me although it did me make me a little jealous.

It made me a lot more jealous when Trey responded, “Yes that would be nice. Thanks, April.”

“No problem, Trey. What are friends for?” April responded as she starting rubbing his neck and shoulders.

“You better watch out or you’ll make Sarah jealous,” I said jokingly.

“Oh, you mean, his date to homecoming? Why would she be jealous? Everybody knows we’re just friends. Everybody knows I’m not interested in Trey.”

Well, she brought it up, so I suppose this was my opportunity. “Speaking of homecoming, what are you doing for it?”

“I’ve got no plans. Why do you ask?”

I decided just to go for it and ask her. “Would you like to go with me?”

She smiled for a micro-second and then her eyes narrowed and she quit massaging Trey’s neck and shoulders. “Why are you asking me, Jake?”

Uh-oh. This wasn’t in any of the scenarios that I envisioned. Why was she asking me this? What should I say? Did Sarah ask Trey the same question? I should have asked Trey about when he asked Sarah out. I didn’t know what the right answer was so I decided to play it safe. “Well, we’re good friends and I think we’ll have fun together.”

“I see.” She said in a funny voice. “I’ll have to think about it.”

Crap! What did I do wrong? Why the hell was Trey palming his face?

The rest of lunch was pretty silent and awkward and I was glad when it was finally over.

Trey grabbed my shoulder as we walked to class after lunch. “You fucked up.”

“What!? She said she would think about it.” I didn’t know what Trey expected me to say.

“Come on, man. Did that really sound like a yes?”

“Well, no, not really. What the hell, man. I thought you said she liked me,” I said defensively.

Trey rolled his eyes and shook his head at me. “You’re really an idiot for being a smart guy. She even hinted at the fact she likes you - ‘Everybody knows I’m not interested in Trey’”. He said the last part in a high voice in imitation of a female.

“So why did she want to know why I asked her out?”

“Because she saw me gesturing to you, you chickenshit, and because she wanted to make sure she wasn’t a pity date or a last resort. That you were actually asking her out because you like her - like boyfriend and girlfriend like her.”

“Oh shit.” I thought back to what I said and I winced. “I kind of did make it seem like a pity date or last resort thing didn’t I with what I said at the end?”

“Yep. And think about this, even if she ends up saying yes, which is definitely not guaranteed, you’ll be going as friends and not as actual dates and I know that’s not what you want.”

“Fuck! What do I do?” Trey was right. I was friend-zoning my own damn self.

“You know what to do.”

Yeah, I guess I did. I just didn’t want to do it. However, I decided to bite the bullet and get it over with - waiting any longer was just going to make things worse. Luckily, April’s next class was located close to mine.

“Uh, April, could I talk to you?” She had a frown on her face and seemed pissed off.

“What is it, Jake?” Yep, she definitely sounded annoyed. I really needed to fix things now before things built up to be even worse in her mind.

“Look. We are friends and I think we would have a good time together -”

“Yes, you said that before, Jake.” She cut me off. Damn, she wasn’t going to make this easy.

Well, like Trey said the other day, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’. “What I meant to say, what I should have said, was ‘April, I like you, and as more than just friends. Will you go out on a date with me to homecoming?’” There I said it. Now she knew how I felt about her. It was actually a bit of a relief to get it out.

Well, it was a relief until I heard her response. “No.”

I have to admit I was about ready to turn in my man-card right then and there and start crying, but then she continued.

“No, you can take me out on a date this week and we’ll see how things go from there.” She was smiling as she said this. By the time she was finished, I was smiling too. It wasn’t a date to homecoming, but it was a date and things sounded positive for a potential homecoming date.

“Sure, how about Friday, err, Saturday night?”

“Oh, I don’t rate higher than your poker game?” She said as another frown came over her face.

“No, no, we can do Friday night, I just -”

“It’s okay, Jake, I was just kidding. I know how important your family poker night is to you.”

“So, I’ll call you Saturday afternoon and we’ll figure out when and where?”

“Sounds good Jake.”

My parents had agreed to let me borrow the Accord with the stipulation that I bring April over some time to meet them. I thought that was putting the cart before the horse a little - who knew if April would want to go out on another date. I had to admit I had high hopes, though.

I arrived at April’s house at 4:00. We planned to see ‘The Bourne Identity’ at 5:00. It had already been out for a couple of months, so we knew we would have no problems getting seats.

I rung the doorbell and was greeted by a short, pretty black lady that looked like an older, darker version of April and a tall, muscular light-skinned black man with sharp, angular features.

“You must be Jake. I’m Henry and this is my wife, Holly.” He reached out and gave me a firm handshake.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Ah, just call us Henry and Holly. April will be down in a minute.”

“Okay, Henry.”

“April says you share a couple of classes together, Jake,” said Henry.

“Yes, we share Chemistry and English together. I first met her in Biology class last year.” I said.

“Oh, you’re taking honors classes, too, then?” asked Holly.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m taking all of the honors or advanced placement classes I can. I’m planning on going to college.”

“A man with a plan. Any idea on what you’re going to study?” Henry asked.

“I’m thinking of either computer science or computer engineering. I definitely like computers but I can’t decide if I want to go into the software or hardware side, although I already do some programming on my own.”

“Just about everything either has computers in it or is about to, so I guess you’ll have job security. I’m an accountant. So long as there is a government to tax things, I’ll definitely have job security,” Henry laughed at the last bit.

“So, what do you two have planned for the night?” asked Holly.

“We’re going to see ‘The Bourne Identity’ and then go have dinner at Calvino’s,” I said.

“That’s the movie with Matt Damon that came out a month or two ago, right?” asked Henry.

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“I really dig his flicks. Wanna dump the women at home and make it a guy’s night out?” He laughed and clapped his hand on my back.

I laughed along with him. “As much fun as I think that would be, I think April would hate me forever for dumping her on our first date.”

April had come downstairs in the last couple of minutes. “Geez, dad. It’s my first date and you’re already trying to corrupt my boyfriend.” April seemed to realize immediately she had called me her boyfriend and started to blush, but I was all smiles - who was I to complain if a beautiful woman wanted to call me her boyfriend?

“Let’s get going. I like to watch the trailers before the movie,” April said.

“It was nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. - err, Henry and Holly.”

“Nice to meet you too, Jake. Have a good time, April,” replied Holly.

We had eaten our side-salads and were just talking as we waited for our entrees to arrive. I had ordered lasagna and April had ordered fettuccine with alfredo sauce.

“I loved the movie, what did you think about it?” April asked.

“I really enjoyed it. I have to agree with your dad - Matt Damon makes good movies. I can’t wait to see what happens next. I think I may end up reading the novels. Of course, that might ruin the movies for me - usually, the movie is not as good as the book.”

“That may be true. But I think you can enjoy them as separate entities - they’re related but not the same thing. I think a book is more about using your own imagination, while a movie is kind of like taking a tour ride through someone else’s imagination and interpretation of a story.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s a good way to look at it. Of course, someone else’s imagination could still be junk.”

“That’s true, but that would be the case if the movie was based on a pre-existing novel or not,” April replied.

“So, I agree with your tastes in movies so far, but how do you feel about sci-fi?”

“Love it. Wish there was more. Doesn’t matter if it’s hardcore science fiction or the lighter stuff,” April said.

“Star Wars or Star Trek?” I asked.

“There’s no ‘or’. I can’t imagine a world without both. I have to admit the first Star Trek movie isn’t very good, but I’ll still watch it.”

“I agree on all accounts. I think ‘Wrath of Khan’ is my favorite Star Trek movie,” I said. ‘Wrath of Khan’ may even be one of my favorite movies, regardless of movie universe or genre - I had seen the movie several times.

“That’s definitely the best one. I know the odd-numbered movies are supposed to be bad, but aside from the first one, I like them.”

“I’ll tell you a secret - I like them too. Okay, the original trilogy or the new Star Wars movies?” I asked.

“Well, so far, I’d have to say the original trilogy. It may not be completely fair to compare them though since we’ve seen the entire original trilogy and have only seen the first two movies of this trilogy. But I would have to say the story isn’t as solid, the characters are flatter and I think the acting is not as good. I think the special effects are pretty good though. It’s a bit jarring at times though because some things seem more advanced than the original trilogy which is supposed to take place later in time,” April replied

“Yep, I guess we can’t say for sure until the last movie comes out, but I can’t see this trilogy ending up being nearly as good as the first one. It almost seems like when George Lucas was constrained by budget and technology that he was forced to be more creative which caused him to make better movies.”

Dinner arrived and as we ate I contemplated our date. I was enjoying my conversation with April. Sure I got to talk her almost every day in school, but that was just a few minutes here and there with other people around interjecting themselves into the conversations. Things seemed to be clicking between us. I wondered if most first dates went this well.

I decided to be brave and stick my neck out a bit. “You know - I like what you said earlier.”

“Oh? What part, Jake?”

“Back at your house. When you called me your boyfriend.”

“Uh ... well...” April seemed at a loss for your words.

“I’d like it if I could call you my girlfriend.” It was our first date, but we had known each other for a while. I don’t know - maybe it was moving too fast but it seemed right.

“I’d like that too. Are you asking me out? Like as a steady boyfriend?”

“Yeah, I guess I am. Will you be my girlfriend, April? I know it’s just our first date but I like you and I have for a long time. And it’s not like this was a blind date. We’ve known each other and hung out together at school since last year.”

“I’d love to. I’ve never had a boyfriend before. How does this work?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t dated before. I guess we just do what we’re both comfortable with,” I said. I had no idea what I was doing, but I’d be happy to learn my way with April.

“I think I’d like that.”

We got back to her house around 9:30 and I walked with her up to the front porch of her house.

“I really enjoyed myself, tonight.”

“I did too.”

I wasn’t sure what to do. Things had been going so smoothly before but now I was at a loss.

“Jake, we already decided we’re going out together,” said April.

“Yeah?” I replied wondering where she was going with this.

“It means you can kiss me good night, Jake”

“Oh. Oh!”

I started to give April a quick peck on the lips, but she had other ideas in mind and pulled me to her and lengthened the kiss. It was first real kiss and I was truly savoring it. I felt myself starting to respond to her and knew she had to feel it and tried to pull my hips away from her, but, she pulled me tighter to her and we held the kiss for several seconds.

“That was nice. Good night, Jake,” April said as we separated.

“Good night, April.” I was on cloud nine as I walked back to my car.

Life was good. I was going out with April and I was starting to do better at poker. I guess in one sense, poker and dating were similar to me. They were things I wanted to do well at but was new at. At least there were books on poker. Of course, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were books on dating. That seemed like a more subjective and personal topic than poker so I wondered how good of advice you could really get from a book on dating.

I planned on putting my newly learned skills in poker into practice tonight. The usual crew was already here and the poker chips were being passed out.

“You got me for a little bit last week, Jake, but I’m going to get you tonight,” said Grandpa Jim.

“You came out ahead for the first time last week, didn’t you?” asked Grandpa Ted.

“Yeah, I came out ahead about 4 bucks last week.”

“Ah, you guys take this game so seriously. I just like to hang out with friends. I don’t even know how much I won or lost last week,” said Phil.

“You lost 11 dollars last week,” said Christy, Phil’s long-time girlfriend.

“Yeah, of course, you would know,” replied Phil.

“The women always know about the money,” laughed my dad. “Oh, I play cards for fun, too. After all, it’s just for a few bucks. But I admit I’m competitive and try to win at it,” said my Dad.

“First Ace deals,” I said as I handed out a single card to each person.

We had been playing cards for a couple of hours and my stack had gone up and down but it had gone more up then down and I was sitting on about 7 dollars.

I was on the button and I dealt myself:

9♠10♠

Sam was first to act and limped in for 2 cents. The rest of the table called until it got to me. I announced a raise, “!0 cents”.

“Re-raise. Make it a quarter,” said Grandpa Jim from the small blind.

Grandpa Ted thought about it for a few seconds, said “What the hell”, and threw in his chips. Surprisingly the rest of the table called as did I. Somebody was going to win a decent pot.

The flop came:

8♥2♠J♠

Grandpa Jim came out firing. “Two dollars,” he said. It was a large bet - the current size of the pot. Everybody folded until it came to me. There were two draws on the boards, as I knew since I held both of them. It could be possible Grandpa Jim was trying to charge the draws or just build a big pot but I didn’t think so. Grandpa Jim didn’t seem to think about pot odds or implied odds so I don’t think he was charging draws. Also, his big pre-flop raises tended to be big pocket pairs or something like AK, AQ or possibly KQ, so this board seemed to miss most of his range of cards. Plus, I felt like if he had 3 Jacks that he would be slow-playing his set and would be trying to keep people in the pot with a much smaller bet.

I decided I was going for it. Even though I felt that Grandpa Jim probably only had a high card, his card was probably higher than my high card. But I felt like I could make him fold it. “I’m all in,” I said. I put in the two dollars into the pot and left out the rest of my remaining chips so Grandpa Jim could judge out much he had left to call. Even If I was wrong and he called and had something like AJ, I had 15 outs so I had, roughly, a 60 percent chance of improving to the winning hand.

Grandpa Jim seemed to be taken by surprise by my announcement. “What do you have? Do you have trips?” he asked me.

I kept my shut and stared straight ahead. There was a very good chance I was favored, especially since it didn’t sound like he had a set, but it wouldn’t be by much so I really wanted him just to fold.

Grandpa Jim drummed his fingers and thought about it for a while. “I don’t think you have shit. I call.”

Well, here we go.

I turned over my hand and showed

9♠10♠

“I knew you didn’t have anything,” said my grandpa.

Grandpa Jim turned over his card and showed

A♥A♦

It was a stronger hand than I thought he probably had but it was in the range of cards that I thought he could have.

“Jake’s favored to win,” my dad said.

“How do you figure? I got Aces and he’s got ten high,” Grandpa Jim said.

“He’s got an open-ended straight and flush draw. It makes him a slight favorite - like 60 to 40, probably even a little less than that.”

I burned a card and flipped one over. The board was now

8♥2♠J♠4♥

“Who’s favored now?” asked Grandpa Jim.

“You are now. He’s only got about a 30 percent chance of winning now,” said my dad.

Well, damn! My bluff hadn’t worked and things weren’t looking good for me.

I dealt the last card and the board was

8♥2♠J♠4♥A♠

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

“It figures. I improve to trips, but you still win with a flush. Count out your chips for me.”

That ended up being the biggest hand of the night for me, but I got a few more winning hands and I ended up $15.27 for the night.