Chapter 2

We pulled into the parking lot and I found a spot. I took Tina’s hand and started to lead her to the door but pulled up short. We watched other couples go in and out and then a bunch of guys and then a couple of gals. They were all older than us.

I turned to Tina. “Look at them. I can’t help but think that they all want different things and a lot of them don’t have any plan at all. And I think how lucky I am.” She smiled and waited, knowing I had more. “People see you and all they see is how hot you are, and you are hot. Smokin’ hot.”

“Okay, okay,” she said, slowing me down and then changed her mind. “What am I thinking? Keep going.”

“Red hot. No. Hotter. White hot.”

“This is nice. We don’t have to dance. We could just stay outside and you could stroke my ego.”

“That’s what guys see. They don’t see how smart and motivated you are and how you think things through...”

“Not sexy.”

“Not done. And how loyal you are to your friends. That’s pretty damned attractive.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

“Hard to imagine a life without them? I bet you don’t even remember a life without them.”

“No. That’s just it. I do. I remember how shitty life was until Fallon. Do you even know how we started?” I’d heard but not from Tina. I shook my head. “My dad, my bio, was beating on Mom. She sent me to the neighbor’s house. I was almost five. I ran next door and no one was home. Three doors down Mr. Deplanes let me in. I spent a week there while Mom recovered in the hospital and Dad went to jail. The whole week there, Fallon encouraged me. She told me it wasn’t my fault and that I should have a hope for the future because she loved me. At five, she changed my life. At five.”

“I can totally see that.”

“She didn’t stop encouraging me when Mom got out of the hospital, either. Whenever I needed it, or even today, if I’m down in any way, Fallon has been there for me. No judgment. None of that. Okay. Enough bragging about the competition,” she said, “Let’s dance.”

We got our hands stamped with a bright blue DANCE, so they would know not to serve us alcohol, and went in. It was still early and the crowd was light but everyone seemed sober and having a good time. We found a spot on the dance floor and went for it.

We’d danced for a couple of hours, taking breaks to relax and refresh. We were back out on the floor for a slow dance when Tina turned. Mrs. Bader was tapping her shoulder to cut in.

“May I, sweetheart,” she said with a smile.

“Mrs. Bader. Good to see you. I’d love to dance with you but I really don’t want to leave Tina alone.”

“And for good reason.” She motioned to her date and he made his way to us. “Call me Monica, please. Do you mind? Just one dance. Tina, this is Hector.”

How could we refuse? I danced with Mrs. Bader, Monica, while Tina danced with Hector. Two dances rather than one but it was nice to see her out and having a good time. They swapped back and I had Tina again. Monica left with Hector and a smile.

“She owes you, doesn’t she? Or at least she sees it that way. I’m not keen on additional competition, just so you know.” I had to laugh at that.

It was only ten but we’d been there since seven when Tina leaned close and said, “I’d like to go. I’d rather come here more often and dance rather than turn tonight into a marathon session and wear it out.” I nodded and led her to the door. The bouncer we’d seen before was at the door and he tipped his hat and smiled.

We got into my truck and started north. Between Karate and dancing, I’d burned a few calories but I still had energy to spare.

“We still have some time before your curfew. I’m game for whatever you want to do.”

“For someone who hadn’t been on a date until two months ago, you’ve been making up for lost time.”

“I’d say that’s true. I’m having a lot of fun but it does put a ding in the wallet.”

“I don’t have expensive tastes and you don’t need to do anything to impress me. We should try to do October on the cheap,” she said.

“I can keep November cheap. This month, I don’t mind using everything I make.”

She smiled and nodded, understanding that I wouldn’t short change her.

“Do you think I need to do anything to smooth things with your mom?”

I thought about that one. “If you do anything obvious, she’ll spot it in a minute,” I said. She knew I was right.

“We’ve been dancing at The Roadhouse twice. Do you know how to do other dances? You know. Like the Foxtrot or the Tango. I don’t even know the names of other dances. Rhumba? Is that one?”

“I think so. Aren’t the Mambo and Samba dance steps too?” I asked.

“Yeah. And Salsa and Cha Cha. But I don’t know anything about any of them. Except the Tango is supposed to be sexy.”

“What are you thinking, Tina?”

“Your parents go ballroom dancing every now and then, don’t they?”

“Mostly at parties and stuff. But, yeah. Why are you asking?”

“Do you know any of those dances?”

“No. I can practically see your wheels spinning, Tina.”

“I’d like to know how.”

“Keep going.”

“Well, we could go take lessons at someplace, or maybe we could learn for free. If you wanted to, that is.”

“And you think we could get my folks to teach us?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“I bet they’d have a good time. There’s plenty of room...” I stopped.

“What? What’s wrong?” Tina asked.

“Nothing’s wrong. Mom’s right. You are dangerous.”

“What are you talking about?”

“In a good way. Dangerous in a good way. We both like to dance. You know I’m trying to save money. You think you might need to smooth things with my mom. So, we get them to teach us to ballroom dance and presto-chango, we do all of that at once. Right?” She smiled.

“And on top of that, I told you that if you tried to smooth things over with Mom, she would figure it out in a heartbeat if it was obvious and this isn’t.”

“It could work, right?” she asked.

“Probably. First, I need to wrap my head around how scary dangerous you are.” I smiled at her and extended my palm for a high five. “I do not want to ever get on your bad side. That is wicked genius.”

“Not sure you can use wicked like that. I’ll have to ask my sister, but thank you. Do you want to try it?”

“I think so. Let me play it over in my mind and see if there’s a down side that doesn’t jump out at me. They could say ‘no’. That’s the first negative I see.”

“But if we don’t ask, they can’t say yes, either.”

“Just hang on. If we can think of all the possible objections in advance, we can also figure out how to overcome them.”

She agreed and we spent the rest of the drive back to my house trying to figure out any downside to it. The upside is that we’d learn some new dance moves for free and perhaps soothe any ruffled feathers along the way. There was no real down side.

I parked and we went in. It was quiet for a Saturday night and we found my folks both in the den reading.

“Hey Mom, hey Dad. Where’s Lisa?”

“LuAnn’s. Hi, Tina. Have fun?” Mom asked. Dad lifted his drink to us without looking up.

“We did. Mrs. Bader was there; dancing and she was having fun. We like to dance,” I said.

“Good. Good exercise and fun to do, together,” Dad said, still not looking up.

“We don’t know how to do the Rumba, or Tango,” I said.

“Or the Cha Cha or Foxtrot,” Tina added.

“Or the Mamba,” I added.

“Mambo,” Dad corrected.

“Where are you going with this?” Mom asked.

“You two do, don’t you?” I asked.

Dad looked up, finally. “Yes, and...”

“Could you teach us?” I asked. Mom looked at Dad. Dad looked at Mom and then they both looked at us.

Tina asked, “Good book?”

Mom laughed. “Not that good. Do you mean now?”

I nodded and I saw Dad looking for a bookmark. “What do you say?” Dad said to Mom. She smiled and we had a deal.

Dad took charge and it was fun to watch them. “We’ll demonstrate a dance move, without music. Then, I’ll show Tina and Marie can show you, Son. Then, you two can try it. When it seems like you’ve got it, we’ll put music on and see if you still have it. How’s that sound? We’ll start with the Rhumba.”

Tina and I took our boots off and it was game on. For the next hour, we worked on the Rhumba and then a bunch of what Dad called East Coast Swing moves. When we took a break, we realized how late it was and that we were up against Tina’s curfew. I said so and Mom surprised us both.

“If you think she’s still up, I’ll call Tammy. I bet if she knows you’re with us, here, it will be okay.” She called and we got her curfew extended until two.

Tina and I grinned like idiots. We had every one of the upsides with no downside. We went back to work learning new moves. When Dad put music on, we danced. We were doing great until Tina and I saw that my parents were going way off script with extra moves they hadn’t taught us. They were having fun, we were having fun, it was free, and Mom could see what a great time I was having with Tina. Win, win.

When Tina and I left, my folks were still dancing. We continued grinning like idiots. We talked about the dance moves we’d learned the entire way to her house. When we got to the front door, I think we both realized we’d had our hands on each other as we danced all evening. But we hadn’t kissed in hours. All the dance moves went away and I held her close.

“Standing together can be better than dancing,” I said. She agreed.

We kissed one of her smoldering kisses that would stay with me for hours. At two, the porch light flicked off and on again, letting us know the night was over. We stepped inside. I thanked Mrs. Wells for the extra curfew time and apologized for calling so late. She told us Saturdays were their one night to stay up late and they used it. I told Tina I had pools to do the next day. She was going to tutor the other Musketeers in Geometry at my house at three. We agreed to figure out our afternoon then.

As I left, I heard her mom tell Tina that I seemed nice. Definitely a good day, all the way around. When I got home, my folks were still dancing. I went in and watched them for a while. They were having a good time and demonstrated a bunch of moves they hadn’t had time to teach us, finishing with a Tango. Dad dipped Mom, tried to kiss her while she was dipped and they both ended up laughing on the floor. That’s when I left.

I wasn’t up as early as I liked. I hate starting late. It leads to rushing, making mistakes, frustration and all that. I was hoping to get fifteen pools done and still get home by three and that would take some hustle. I knocked out all my pools but I didn’t get home until after three and the girls already had Geometry homework spread out on the kitchen table. Tina tutored while the other three tried to hang on. It had seemed easy to me a year before but there’s no telling with math. Easy for one and hard for another.

I’d skipped lunch and was starving. I made two egg salad sandwiches, grabbed some chips and a big glass of water. Before I went outside, I gave Tina a kiss. LuAnn pouted so I gave her a peck. Fallon pouted so I gave her a peck. Lisa pouted and I went outside to eat. I heard them all ribbing Lisa as I walked away. Mom was working in her little flower garden. I put my feet up and enjoyed a bit of relaxation as I ate.

When Mom saw me, she finished up and joined me, stealing my pickle and some chips. From where she sat, she could look past me into the kitchen and see the girls. I knew she was going to talk with me and I knew she was weighing it all out first. I thought she might be going to grill me about Tina but she didn’t.

“That was a hit last night, Buddy. Your dad and I had a good time.”

“So did we. Might want to give Dad a little safety talk about the Tango, though.”

She laughed. “Glad we were at home when he did that.”

“It sort of looked like he lost a drinking game when he did that.”

“Nope. No alcohol was used. None was necessary. In case you hadn’t noticed, your dad is about the most un-self-conscious person you’ll ever meet. Tina picked up on the moves pretty quickly. Did you two have fun at The Roadhouse?”

“Definitely. I think we could do that regularly. But I like what I’m learning from you, too. I don’t even know if there’s a place to go ballroom dancing around here.”

“Shaw’s up in in Yorba Linda is good. It might be in Fullerton. They have specialty nights and they rotate so it’s not always the same on a Friday or Saturday night. Your dad’s birthday is coming up by the way and he could use a couple of new records. Big band would be good. Just an idea.”

“Like who? I don’t even know who big bands were.”

“Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and Count Basie come to mind. Artie Shaw. I think there’s a connection between Artie Shaw and the place up in Fullerton. Nephew or something. You’d recognize the music if you heard it. We have some but your dad’s collection could use a serious update.”

“That solves that problem. I’ll pick up a couple for him. Who do you like?”

“I guess I’ve always like Artie Shaw. He was a clarinetist and I’m sure you’d recognize Begin the Beguine.”

“Do you know who Etta James is?”

“My dad loved Etta James. Different genre. Why do you ask?”

“When Fallon and I were at Artie’s before her piano demo, she was singing and it was amazing. I asked Artie who she sounded like and he said, Etta James.”

“Fallon? Our little Fallon sounded like Etta James? That’s hard to believe.”

“Artie seemed like the kind of guy who would know. Do we have any of her records?”

“Probably.” She thought about it for a minute but didn’t say anything more.

“I’ll talk to Tina but I bet she wouldn’t mind another lesson or two. That was fun.”

“We had fun, too. Until your dad dumped me. Wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t landed on me. What do you have planned for when they get done?”

“Don’t know yet. What’s for dinner?”

“Ah. Is that going to be a factor?”

“Could be.”

“We were up late last night, and thanks to you I don’t feel much like cooking. Chinese take-out is beginning to sound pretty good.”

“I’ll fly if you’ll buy,” I said.

“You’ll fly? Who did you get that from?”

“Randy’s dad says it but the other way around. It’s his way of getting Randy to make the run to the restaurant.”

“Sounds like a deal to me. I haven’t seen much of Randy this summer.”

“Gee, I wonder why not, Mom.”

“I guess Randy must seem pretty boring, these days.”

“You know what’s cool, Mom?”

“Tell.”

“They are all in there working together. I was afraid that by dating them I’d put a strain on their relationship. But yesterday, Tina said something I hadn’t even thought of before. She said I wasn’t going to get rid of any of them. She said if I married her, I’d get Fallon, too because they were best friends and that wasn’t going to change. I’m pretty sure there’d be no smoochin’ but I’d still have her for a friend, too. Plus, LuAnn is Lisa’s best friend and Lisa’s not going anywhere. She said the relationships would change no matter what, but I needed to get used to the idea that they would always be in my life, one way or another.”

“She does tend to think things through, doesn’t she?”

“I’ll say.”

She saw that I was getting ready to leave and she put a hand on my arm to stop me. “Do yourself a favor, buddy. Don’t listen to Etta James.” I know I must have looked mystified. “She sings some blues that will tear you up. Definitely don’t even mention it to Fallon. If she chooses to sing something and she sounds like Etta James that’s fine. Don’t start it, though.”

“Okay. Now I’m really curious, but it seems like maybe I should just trust you on this.”

“You should just trust me on this. Big band music, country music, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence whoever they are. Just no Etta James.”

“Okay. The song Fallon was singing when Artie said that she sounded like Etta James was ‘All Along the Watchtower’ and that’s a Jimi Hendrix song so maybe she doesn’t even know.”

“Oh, she knows. You can bet Artie told her. Bob Dylan wrote the song, by the way. But I like the Jimi Hendrix version too. Let’s shoot for dinner at six, okay? Call it in and I’ll give you some cash.” I nodded and went to check on the girls. What I really wanted to do was go to my dad’s record collection and figure out why I was supposed to stay away from Etta James.

I walked back into the kitchen. Tina had just explained a formula and the girls were busy trying to apply it. She stood and we held each other in the middle of the kitchen.

“Hey you,” she said, quietly.

“Hey you,” I cleverly replied, but in a deeply philosophical way. I’d always had a fondness for the existentialists. “We’re going to order Chinese and I’ll pick it up for dinner at six and I have a plan for after that.”

“Really?” she asked with that wonderful eyebrow thing she did. I nodded and licked my lips. Flirting with Tina was fun because whenever we did, either one of us could take it up a notch or back down without warning. With LuAnn there was never a back down. With Fallon it seemed just as playful but I think we needed to take it to the next level to get the same degree of smolder, if that makes any sense at all.

I kissed her lightly and we backed it off. I pulled out a take-out menu from The Golden Wok and asked for input. I called it in, adding egg rolls and sweet and spicy soup and told Mom the amount. Tina told me they’d be done before I got back and would have the table cleaned and set. I think she was anxious to eat and leave – time to see what I had planned.

After a good meal, the opportunity to brush, gargle and gargle again, I told my folks I’d be home by eleven and we were off.

“Where to, Stud?”

I turned left on Arlington and snuck a peek at Tina. She couldn’t figure it out. I pulled around to the back side of Maud B. Davis Junior High, even with the athletic field, and killed the engine and lights. She still hadn’t figured it out. I walked around to open her door, then pulled two blankets from behind her seat and a travel pack of Kleenex from the glove box.

“These aren’t going to be enough. The ground is hard. What are you thinking?”

I was thinking that since Davis Junior High had started tacking track and field seriously, they had bought some new equipment. We walked the length of the runway to the pole vault landing pad.

“I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this before. The landing pad is three feet high. Soft enough, I think.”

I shook any residual sand out of a blanket, then spread it out on the pad. I helped Tina up, then climbed up after her. I watched her look around but the nearest house was at least a hundred yards away and on the other side of a fence. It was very dark. It was very, very private and there wasn’t much chance that we’d be bothered.

We lay on our backs and slid close together. I slid my arm under her and listened. “I do a couple of pools on the street nearest us. The Elkhorns have one of the nosiest neighbors in the world. If she saw the headlights of my truck, she might just call the police.”

“It’s okay to be here, though, right?”

“Yeah, but if cops pull up, I want to be dressed,” I said and I could see her smiling, even though it was pitch black.