Chapter 135: Cute Guys and Bad Guys

Wednesday, June 8, 1983

We made breakfast out of various leftovers. Even so, and as I’d predicted, we had a ridiculous amount of leftovers. We had coolers and should be able to keep everything safe until we got home. I imagined a lot of sausage and hamburgers in our families’ lives for the next week.

It took us the whole morning to pack up, but we were on the road by noon. I took the shorter, more direct route home. That took us through La Grange, where we stopped at the Bon Ton, but not at the Chicken Ranch. Someday we might go by again, but not today.

I had Paige and Jas home by four-thirty, and Angie and I got home in time to join Mom and Dad for dinner. We talked about the trip, and they sounded like they genuinely liked the idea and might one day join us for something like that. I’d never seen Mom and Dad in anyplace quite that rustic, but I thought they might really enjoy it. Perhaps we’d see.

One of my long-term goals was to see them travel more than they had in my first life. Reading about vacation destinations, which they did incessantly, really is a lot of fun. Some experts say that it’s more objectively pleasurable than the trips themselves. Still, part of that is the anticipation, and if you know in the back of your mind that you’re never going to really go anywhere, it might wear thin over time.

No matter what happened with Michael or anything else, Angie and I would have still significant resources, and we’d be in a position to share. And share we definitely would.

I checked with Mikayla, and we tentatively planned to get together on Saturday. We’d definitely see each other at Janet and Lizzie’s going-away party, and we’d see each other in Evanston.

We might see each other more than once in Evanston. She was thinking of coming back up in late July. If so, that opened the door much more to ... mischief.

Mom and Dad ‘forgot’ to tell us that our grades had come in the mail until after dinner. We immediately opened them. Straight A’s, which was a relief. Just as much of a relief was that it didn’t feel like I’d dodged a bullet.

We called Jas and Paige, of course. They’d gotten straight A’s as well. Again, no surprise, just very good to have it confirmed.

Thursday, June 9, 1983

Mom and I picked up my suits in the morning. Angie and Jas tagged along, ostensibly to make sure they fit properly. I didn’t even have to try them on, though.

I picked up some new dress shirts, though, and they helped. I could put that in quotes, but the truth is, I enjoyed it. Pink is fine with me, and I’d already worn lavender and pale green before. We had fun browsing the ties, too.

We browsed the bow ties and cummerbunds, too. I wouldn’t be getting a tux until the fall, but it never hurt to shop a little.

Shopping a lot? That could hurt both one’s feet and one’s pocketbook.

We again went out with Mom, this time to Fuddruckers. She’d only been once and really enjoyed it.

Much of the conversation was about the campground trip, though it felt like it was more about trips in general. Not even our trips, but Mom sounding out ideas for trips for her and Dad. We’d never stayed anywhere like the campground in either life, but we had stayed at some smaller tourist-y motels as well as one A-frame rental cabin in Colorado.

She seemed to think it sounded fun. Perhaps my plan was already working.

Once we got home (all of us), Angie, Jas, and I left in my car. We picked up Paige and headed to the pizza place for dinner. Candice and Sherry were already waiting, greeting us with hugs and kisses (on the cheek, of course).

We headed in, grabbed a table, and a waitress came right over and took our orders.

After she’d left, Candice said, “So, what’s new?”

“We just went camping,” Paige said. “Well, not really camping, but in a cabin at a state park.”

“Really?” Sherry said. “You and Angie?”

“All four of us. It had two bedrooms,” Angie said.

“Wow!” Candice said. “Mom and Dad would not go for that!”

Sherry was shaking her head, smiling.

“It gets better,” Angie said. “We’re leaving Saturday the 18th for our family vacation.”

“Cool!” Candice said. Then she blinked. “Wait! Do you mean all of you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Mom and Dad invited Jas and Paige to come with us.”

“That is ... well. Your parents are ridiculously cool,” Sherry said. “Mine are great. So are Candy’s. But we’re not getting quite that treatment yet.”

“It surprised us, too!” I said. Everyone nodded.

“Anything else big?” Candice said.

“Our grades were good,” I said.

Everyone agreed. No surprise; this was a smart (and studious) bunch.

“We’re going to a party tomorrow,” Angie said.

“Oh?”

“I don’t know if you ever met Lizzie Vinton or Janet Collins...”

Both of them immediately perked up. Obviously, the names had come to their attention.

“ ... but they’re having a going-away party tomorrow night.”

“Never met them,” Candice said.

“But we saw them in the paper!” Sherry said. Then she pointed at me. “Along with you, I might add!”

“I was happy to help,” I said, grinning a bit.

“That was amazing!” Sherry said. “I mean, at Duschene we’d be kicked out on the spot. Do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars, and we’ll send your stuff from your locker. It’s actually fine if you’re quiet about it — some teachers know about plenty of couples — but make a point of it and you’re out on your ass.”

I shrugged. “It’s a religious school. They’ve got every right to do that. Public schools shouldn’t.”

“Still! You’d think the first would’ve been in ... I don’t know ... San Francisco or New York or something,” Candice said. “Not Memorial!”

“The first was apparently in South Dakota, and then Fricke v. Lynch was Rhode Island,” I said.

“I thought they said it was the first?” Sherry said.

“It was the first where no one had a court case or threatened violence or anything, and people just got back to dancing,” Angie said. “At least, as far as we know it was, and apparently the media agrees, or couldn’t find any counterexamples.”

“It’s really cool,” Candice said.

“Totally,” Sherry said.

We all chuckled.

“What?” Sherry said.

“Janet is a California girl, and plays the ‘Valley Girl’ stereotype often. ‘Totally’ is one of her favorite words,” Paige said. “I’m a fan myself. Totally!”

Angie rolled her eyes, then giggled.

We fell into a discussion about classes and of college. Sherry seemed set on the University of Houston for her freshman year. Then the plan was either for Candice to join her or for Sherry to transfer if they both liked another school better. In the meantime, they’d see each other quite often. Sandy and Erwin were already on board with this.

It grated on me that the whole thing was technically illegal, and doubly so. Lesbian conduct was illegal, and the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ laws didn’t apply to same-sex couples. The whole thing stunk. I wasn’t going to raise that here, though. It’d just bring everyone down, and prosecutions were exceedingly rare, so they were almost certainly safe.

After dinner, we decided to check out the movies. All the couples held hands, which made me happy.

We’d seen ‘Return of the Jedi’, of course, though Sherry and Candice hadn’t. They were already planning to, though. We decided on ‘WarGames’. The girls thought it sounded ominous, but all of them agreed that Matthew Broderick was cute. It wasn’t my favorite Matthew Broderick film (I was a fan of ‘Ladyhawke’, and ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ was a classic — plus there was his voice work in ‘The Lion King’ to be considered), but I’d always liked it, and was able to pitch it as more interesting than it sounded, citing reviews that liked it. I hadn’t actually read any, but that hardly mattered.

Angie defended it, too, and so we wound up seeing it.

It held up ... fairly well. I thought so, anyway. It was very much a thing of its time. Before too long, the idea of a curious A.I. in control of nuclear weapons deciding not to use them would be supplanted by homicidal A.I.s which annihilated most of humanity in one way or another, or perhaps simply enslaved them. For now, though, it worked both as an anti-nuclear and pro-A.I. movie, and I could go with that.

That, and Matthew Broderick was cute, as noted. As little as I can read guys that way, even I knew he was unquestionably cute. Not my cup of tea, but ... cute.

We walked the mall a bit after it finished, window-shopping at closed stores, and then decided to go home. Candice and Sherry had a curfew, and the rest of us might as well get home, too.

We parted with more hugs and kisses. I dropped the girls off, then headed home, where Angie and I headed to bed (separately, this time).

Friday, June 10, 1983

We spent much of the day doing very little. The only productive part of the day was spending an hour on the phone with Cammie and brainstorming cases. We’d be going to the library next week to see what we could dig up in advance of Northwestern.

Angie and I left at five, picked up Jas and Paige, and had tacos at Rico’s. Yes, Janet and Lizzie would have snacks, but none of us wanted to arrive hungry.

We arrived just after seven, about ten minutes after the official starting time. Lizzie’s mother opened the door.

“Hello! I’m Kay, Lizzie’s mother.”

“Steve Marshall, and this is my sister, Angie, and my girlfriend, Jasmine...”

“ ... and my girlfriend, Paige,” Angie said, smiling.

Kay smiled a little more. “I recognized you, of course. Thank you for being Lizzie’s friend. And Janet’s, too, of course.”