Chapter 137: Helping With a Mistake

Wednesday, June 15, 1983

I picked up the gang around ten. Instead of looking for a restaurant for lunch, we picked up Antone’s po-boys on the way to Rice. We’d sit outside in the beautiful tree-lined quad and have them at lunchtime.

The Rice library was a grand old building. It just felt like a college library in a way that more modern buildings didn’t, notwithstanding that they might be great libraries in their own right.

We made ourselves at home and found plenty of interesting things to add to our collection. It wasn’t so much that Rice had more material than UH, or even different material (though that happened, from time to time), as simply that it was a good place to continue our work without getting burned out with any one library.

We worked until five. Then, by popular request, we headed to Bangkok Thai. Several of the group hadn’t had Thai food before and needed to be warned that, when they said it was hot, it was hot. Others appreciated the intensity.

After dinner, we browsed the used book and record stores, joked about going to the adult movie theater, said goodbye for the summer to Megan, Calvin, and Anne, and then headed home. Gene was the only one in the car who wouldn’t be at Northwestern, so I dropped him off first and we all said goodbye.

With any luck, he wouldn’t have his father’s funeral in his near future.

Tomorrow was up in the air. I figured everyone would want Friday for themselves to get ready for the trip. Since we’d all be seeing each other on the trip, we didn’t need any last-minute get-togethers before it.

Thursday, June 16, 1983

My phone rang while I was looking at evidence.

“Hello?” I said.

“Steve!”

“Darla! I thought you were out of town.”

“We just got back.”

“How was your trip?”

“Good,” she said. “Um ... I meant to call Angie, really. I could call back...?”

“We share a line. I’ll get her to pick up.”

“Thanks!”

I headed over to Angie’s room and told her Darla was on the phone. She picked up, and I went back and hung up, then got back to the papers I was working on.

About half an hour later, Angie came in and waved at me. “She’s a little messed up. Not that you’ll hear all of it. Unless you do, I guess. Girl stuff, either way. Anyway, go ahead and pick up.”

“Thanks.”

I picked up.

“Darla?”

“Hey!”

I heard Angie’s phone hang up.

“So...” she said. “I’d like to get together, if we can.”

“I can get together tonight, or maybe tomorrow night.”

“Tonight would be good. Meet at the mall at five?”

“That works for me.”

“Great!” she said. “I’ll see you there.”

“Looking forward to it,” I said.

I hung up and shook my head.

Angie came in. “So?”

“We’re meeting at the mall at five.”

“Hope it’s fun.”

“Me, too! Anything I should know?”

Angie hesitated. “I ... I’m not really sure what she needs, exactly. I mean, I am, but not what she’ll ask you for. Sorry — I don’t mean to be mysterious, but she asked me not to share, so...”

“I get it. It’s fine, of course.”

“I think she’ll share with you, but I’m not sure.”

“We’ll be fine either way.”

“Yeah. You will.”

I went back to Debate work for most of the day. It wasn’t a bad way to pass the time, and having our notes and evidence in order would help at Northwestern. If I could get enough done, maybe one of Dad’s customers could do a rush copying job for me tomorrow.

Around four-thirty I changed into a green polo and khaki pants, told Mom I was meeting a friend at the mall, then headed off. I had no idea if this was a date, or a problem, or ... well. Whatever it might be.

When I got there, I waited about five minutes at the food court, then went over to greet Darla as she came in the door. We hugged, and then she gave me a kiss on the cheek, which surprised me just a bit.

“So,” I said. “What are we doing?”

“Dinner? And talking?”

“That works for me. Where?”

“The food court is fine by me.”

I chuckled. “Works for me, too.”

We browsed a bit, then both decided on burgers, sharing fries and onion rings. They weren’t busy, so we just waited on the food. Darla picked a table away from everyone else.

“Let’s eat first,” she said, “and wait on bigger stuff.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding.

We still talked a bit, but it was ‘How was your vacation?’ and ‘Where are you going for yours?’ and the like. Minor things. I caught her up on Lizzie and Janet, since she’d missed the party. She was shocked that someone had actually tried to attack them and happy that it hadn’t worked.

After we’d finished, with her munching the last onion ring, she said, “So ... I guess ... the place to start is that I made a mistake with Kirk.”

That didn’t sound good at all. “Tell me what you mean?”

She sighed. “He’s a jerk. I mean, he came on nice, and he charmed my mom and dad enough that they let him take me to Sadie Hawkins and a couple of other dates, but ... well. The only thing that really helped was us being so busy. Not that I’m nearly as busy as you or Angie, but still, it delayed the dates. He wanted us to date more, but I couldn’t, or maybe my subconscious was telling me not to,” she said, kinda rushing through the whole thing.

I nodded. “Tell me about it?”

“Um ... first ... look. I don’t want you to go hit him, or get someone else to. I know you could.”

“I’ve only hit one guy, and ... that situation was complicated.”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “I’ve heard about it. Anyway ... it’s the usual story. He was a little handsy on the second date, and a little more on the third, and ... well. Linda knew we weren’t working, and I knew it, but I let him take me on one more, and ... um ... so. He yelled at me when I ... wouldn’t ... and then told me he’d ... well ... I guess I can’t say cheated, but almost ... with another girl. And now I hear he put up graffiti about me.”

“Which does make me want to smack him. That happened to Angie. I mean, the graffiti, not the cheating.”

“Yeah. That’s why I talked to her. Anyway, the thing is ... if it gets back to my mom, she’ll probably ground me for life.”

“You do know that never really happens?”

She giggled a bit. “Okay, no, but ... it’d be bad, and I don’t need that. I really don’t.”

“To be honest...” I said. “I’m a guy, so my first, second, and third thoughts are all more direct than you want.”

That got a much heartier laugh.

I went on, “What you need is indirect and effective, and I think I can help there. That is, if you want my help. Another problem with being a guy is that often we try to help when the girl only wanted to talk.”

She nodded. “I’ve noticed that! No, in this case, help is appreciated.”

“I need to call someone and make sure it’ll work. There’s some chance I might not have a quick response.”

“I can wait for now. Mom can’t ground me if she hears about it while I’m at Kansas. In fact, if she hears about it then, I might escape.”

“I’ll consider that an option.”

She sighed. “Mostly I did just want a sympathetic ear. That ... and, um ... I wanted to see if you’d still consider another date?”

“Always, but not before Northwestern, except ... this is maybe a third of one?”

“If we went shopping, it’d be at least half a date!”

“Then shopping it is, if you want.”

“You were crazy enough to propose it! No girl’s going to say no to that.”

We shopped for about an hour, after which I begged off to use the phone. By luck I got Jessica’s parents, and by further luck she was home.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jess. It’s Steve.”