Chapter 102: Towards The Future(s)

Wednesday, June 2, 1982

Angie and I, along with Gene, Cammie, Amit, and Sue, headed off to the UH library to dig into this year’s debate topic: ‘Resolved: That the United States should significantly curtail its arms sales to other countries.’

This was the first topic that I’d argued during my first go-round. Gene and I had run a case about tightening export controls and limiting the countries to which we’d sell — a very broad covering of the topic. That hadn’t gone so well, so we’d switched mid-year to focusing on Saudi Arabia, which had gone a bit better. Other teams had focused on Thailand, Indonesia, Israel, and several other nations, and some had done a better job with across-the-board cuts than we had.

I knew from extensive experience with the topic that Noam Chomsky was going to be a key source of juicy quotes in favor of curtailing arms sales as well as fending off counter-arguments of the disasters that might loom should we curtail them. Of course, everyone else was going to figure that out immediately, too. And, beyond Chomsky, I only remembered a vague scattering of sources and arguments.

So, pretty much, I was starting over. But, this time, I was starting over with a great team, all working together, and mostly going to summer programs. I was pretty certain that would make the entire year far better from a competitive standpoint.

By the end of the day we had a bunch of target books picked out. If we could figure out a way to actually check books out, that would be wonderful. I wasn’t sure if we could, but, if some of the seniors were in Early Entry Program classes, they might well be able to.

We made it home around 4:30pm. I quickly changed, then headed out again, picking up Jasmine at her house around 5pm. She was waiting at the curb and slipped right into the car, and slid over to kiss me.

“Hi!”

“Hi, yourself!” I said, making her giggle. She smooched me again, then slid back over and put on her seat belt.

“Good day?”

“We got a lot done, but there’s so much to do. Fortunately, we’ll have a lot of time to do research over the summer. That’ll help.”

She shook her head. “I’m glad I’m just thinking of Extemp. It’s all too much!”

“Eh. You’d be just fine. But, you need to focus on what makes you happy. I’ll be trying to do a big show or two, or whatever, but I’m not going to be as focused on the Drama side as you will.”

She nodded and grinned. “Obviously, since you aren’t doing Drama for your summer program. Otherwise we’d be at the same program, probably!”

“And frustrated because of the lack of privacy.”

“Eh. There are places. Out of the way corners in libraries, deserted classrooms, whatever. Not very romantic, but ... well, sometimes, fuck romantic, gimme fucking!”

I chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun.”

“And I’m sure you will be really frustrated, unless you fuck romantic and get to fucking someone or other. Which I encourage you to do. Except, not Angie, even if you two decide it’s time. The right time for that isn’t going to be a quickie somewhere.”

“I’m pretty much certain you’re right about that! As for anything else ... we’ll see. Not going to say no, but I’m also not going to be seeking out any girls. I don’t think, anyway. Could be wrong. But I can survive a few weeks. I’ve done it before.”

“And I get all the pent-up energy when you get back, which is hardly a problem. And you probably get some juicy stories about juicy girls.”

I chuckled again. “We’ll have to find times to talk on the phone, too.”

“Expensive!”

“It’s only money. Almost six weeks without talking would suck.”

“Ugh! When you put it that way, yes, it’d suck way too much. We’ll have to find times to talk on the phone!”

“Maybe we can take another road trip the first week of August.”

“We haven’t even taken the first one and you’re planning the second?” she said, giggling.

“I find it hard to believe we won’t want a second trip.”

“Me, too. I was teasing. I’m already looking for ideas. We do need to keep it to something that’s not just ‘Hey, let’s go to San Antonio and fuck!’ For your parents’ sake, if nothing else.”

“I agree. Now, ‘Let’s go to San Antonio, spend three hours seeing a show, and then lots of hours fucking... ‘“

“Much, much better. Except we won’t say that. Not even to my parents.”

“It is a bit ... uncouth.”

“Very!”

“We could spend some time Pho King, though. If they have that there.”

“I think every large city has a Pho King. The first Vietnamese cook who realizes the pun will grab the name and get to making soup. And, speaking of ... Sue?”

I chuckled. “Good segue. I had a good time, she had a good time, we’re looking forward to having more of a good time.”

“Diplomatic. She’s hot! And I mean, more... hot. Hormonal. She’s doing all the crazy hormone stuff in much less time and with much less restraint than usual.”

She paused. “Okay, that came out wrong. I don’t mean she’s less restrained, I mean ... most girls are afraid of sex. Getting pregnant, or what their friends will say, what the boy might do to her reputation, maybe whether it’s wrong to experiment with a girl, all that. And then, also, they don’t have a nice, comfortable place to go. Sue’s got none of those concerns. There’s nothing in her way but herself, and combined with the hormones ... well, it’s rough, but it could be worse, if she didn’t have the outlet.”

I nodded. “She seemed fine when we went off for our nap. Eager, but not crazy or anything.”

“We did ... blow off a lot of steam.” She giggled. “Quite a lot.”

“I figured you did.”

“And ... how about your other girlfriend?” She grinned.

“Things are going well. I think it’s good that we have an ending date. Jessica needs to figure out what she wants. Besides me, which we agree she can’t have, and wouldn’t want if she got it.”

Jasmine nodded. “Yeah. Because, if she got you, she’d be waiting for you to stray. Not that you’re straying now. But you would be if she got you.”

“Exactly. Plus, she’s ... she’s calculating, manipulative, all that. But not in a mean way. She doesn’t want to harm anyone else, just enhance her own position.”

“I find myself liking her more and more, which is cool, and unexpected. I mean, I never disliked her, but she was just ... in her own world.”

“She’s a cool person. I think ... I’m sure ... there are still surprises there. We may be even closer friends once we’re past our ending date if her eventual boyfriend can handle her having a close male friend. Which ... who knows?”

“I have to say, I’d be more than happy to get closer to her.” She grinned and licked her lips.

“Could happen. Who knows?”

“It’s great masturbation fantasy fodder, anyway!”

“We could skip dinner...”

She giggled. “You are not on that much of a hair trigger. Dinner first.”

“I am hungry...” I licked my lips.

“Down, boy! For now!”

I pulled up to Pho King, parking. We went in, and I ordered my usual large soup. “Angie’s fine with your sloppy seconds, obviously.”

“I’d never call you that.”

She grinned. “Oops. That does fit! Hoist by my own petard!”

We sat and held hands across the table. “I love you, you know.”

“I love you, too.”

She sighed. “I can’t wait until our trip. Under two weeks! I am so looking forward to getting to spend all day and night together. Part of me wants to slap myself for becoming such a sappy romantic girly-girl!”

“I’m not sure what’s wrong with that, but then I’m a sappy romantic, too.”

“But not a girly-girl.” She grinned.

“Well, no.”

We made eyes at each other for a bit until our soup was ready, then sat and ate, discussing the Debate topic, summer plans, what the School Board might do, and other relatively small talk. I packed up the leftovers and we headed for the car.

When we got to Jasmine’s, I said a quick hello to Camille — I was almost entirely past the point of being nervous about her being there — and we took off for Jasmine’s room, where we did very little talking for an hour and a half.

Tired, sweaty, and snuggling happily, Jasmine looked up at me, her head on my shoulder. She bit her lip, then nodded slightly. “Okay. So. I’m going to ask. What are you thinking, college-wise, right now? It’s ... well. Two years. We might both change our minds next year, but...”

“But if we’re nowhere close, it’s a red flag.”

“Yeah.” She looked nervous.

“I’m not sure.” She started to speak, but I went on. “No, I’m not dodging it. First, almost certainly nothing like, say, Ivy League. If you were dead set on it, I might change my mind, or consider something close.” That got a blush. “In Texas? I’m really unsure about UT. It’s a great school but ... something. I don’t know. Something bothers me. Maybe A&M, maybe Rice. Probably nothing else in-state.”

She nodded. “Out of state?”

“My first out-of-state leanings would be Northwestern, Illinois, Michigan, places like that. My dad went to Michigan. I’ve hung around Northwestern a bit and, of course, maybe summer next year. That’ll be a good test.” She nodded again. “Stanford, maybe Berkeley, out west. I’m not a big fan of the LA area. I know you’ll be out there, though, and you might fall in love with it. If so ... we’ll see. USC is good, and there’s nothing wrong with UCLA. I’m just not a fan of the area. Sure, Disneyland is great, but I can always visit.”

She giggled and nodded. “My list isn’t that different, which is a relief! No Ivies. I just can’t see myself there. UT looks good, but if something’s bothering you ... well, we can think that through together. I’m not sure about A&M. I’d have to go visit and see what I think. Rice is Rice. It’s great. It’s also close to home, but then I’d love visiting my parents. It’d be weird living here with most of my friends moved away, though. But, then, wherever it is, they won’t be there, either, and I’ll make new friends. All those Midwestern schools are good. Rutgers is supposed to be good for Drama, but ... am I really going to do that as a career? I’d love to, but it’s a tough slog to make it. Everything’s open right now. I need to figure out what I want to major in.”