Chapter 48: Playing Around

Monday, November 8, 1982

Practice, practice, practice. That’s what Steffie drilled into us, both in class and after school. We’d have after-school practices every day this week, and one of her ‘dress rehearsals’ Thursday.

Everyone seemed pretty much ready, in my opinion. We had this. Now we just needed to perform it the way we could.

Meg went over tournament options in class. We’d all seen these for weeks, but it was getting to the time to decide.

Our first choice was Jersey Village, November 19-20. The other choice was Sharpstown, December 3-4. There would very likely be a football game opposite Jersey Village — that would be the Area championship, in the Astrodome. If we made it to Regionals, that’d be opposite Sharpstown, and it might well be in the ‘Dome, too, depending on which opponent we drew.

So, Sharpstown was the safer choice — if you cared about football — and Jersey Village was the optimistic choice. Most of us were unsure which we wanted. As tournaments, they were probably equally mediocre. No one wanted to skip both, and most likely no one would attend both, not with the sign-up limits.

Decisions, decisions...

My phone rang around seven-thirty, just as I was finishing up some homework. I picked up, curious.

“Steve!”

“Candice!”

“Long time no speak! Too long!”

Angie poked her head in the room, figured it out, and scooted off to her room. A second later I heard the phone pick up.

“Candice!”

“Angie! I missed you!”

“Sorry,” Angie said. “We’ve been busy, but ... we should’ve called.”

“It’s okay,” Candice said. “How are things?”

“Um ... busy,” I said. “We just got back from Atlanta. Good trip — and we did well — but tiring. And then we had rehearsals today.”

“How’s that going?” Candice said. “Still this weekend?”

“Still this weekend,” Angie said. “It’s going pretty well. Steve’s got it easy, though.”

“Angie took a harder role,” I said. “I took one that suits me, though. I get to be the most physical of the guys.”

“And you are fairly physical,” Candice said, giggling a bit.

“I am! Not like the football players I know, but ... still.”

“Andy was big!”

“He’s bigger now, and Cal is even bigger than that.”

“I don’t much know Cal, but he sounds cool,” Candice said.

“He’s quite cool,” Angie said. “You’d like him, even if he is a guy.”

Candice giggled. “I like guys, mostly, now. I just can’t ... you know. Relationships are still a ways away.”

“Speaking of...” I said.

“Sherry is awesome, thank you for asking. My parents and I had a big discussion about her a couple of weeks ago and cleared the air. I can’t say they’re totally thrilled, but they’re ... accepting. I mean, the horse is out the barn door and far away by now, just saying. But still, they could’ve demanded that we leave the door open or something, and they’re not. I don’t know if we’re ... you know ... a couple for the ages or anything. Maybe, maybe not. But if I wind up with a girl, Mom and Dad say they’ll be okay with that, no drama, no ... excommunication or anything.”

“Yay for understanding parents,” Angie said.

“Makes the world a much better place,” I said.

“I think they feel guilty over it happening at all,” Candice said. “Which is silly. Everyone who knew was hiding it. Duh!”

“School and everything going well?”

“I’m kicking butt as always,” she said, giggling. “No surprise there. My only real annoyance is that all of y’all will be off to college and I’ll be stuck at Duschene for another year. But, it’s a nice place, and losing that year was the right decision. And I really don’t want to try to catch up or something. I do not need that much stress!”

“Yeah, that sounds like a bad decision,” Angie said. “And I mean that from experience. I lost a year, too, remember.”

“Well ... yeah, but you’re just back at the ‘right’ grade for you now,” Candice said. “I am more than I’m not, though.”

“How’s that work with Sherry?” I said.

“Um ... we ... don’t know,” Candice said. “We have a year and a half to figure it out. She’s making noises about going to Rice or UH, which would let us stay together. But she has some other schools on her list, and I don’t know if we’d be okay with a year apart. Maybe?”

“I...” I made myself stop. Saying ‘I know people who did that’ would be accurate — and wrong, for current me. I faked a cough, then started over. “I’ve heard of people who’ve made that work pretty well, but ... yeah. It can be tough.”

“We’ll see. If we’re still in the right place in a year, it’ll work out. If we’re not ... then we’ll see.”

“I hope it works,” Angie said. “But, then, I like her, and I’m all romantic and stuff.”

“So ... Gene?” Candice said, sounding teasing.

“Um ... yeah. Most likely not.”

“Jasmine?”

“I hope, yes,” I said.

“Well, then, I hope yes, too,” Candice said. “I like her. And, I mean, I like her for you.”

“Thanks, honey.”

“And ... I’d better let you go, with you having a play this weekend and all!”

“Probably so,” Angie said. “I’ve got a bunch of homework still to do.”

“As do I,” I said. “We’ll see you...?”

“Planning on Saturday,” Candice said. “But since we’re just buying tickets there and not expecting a sell-out, it could be any day.”

“We might sell more tickets than expected,” Angie said.

“Oh?” Candice said.

“Charles — Charles Ryan, maybe you know him, he’s a senior, though — got us a bunch of publicity,” Angie said, chuckling.

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” Candice said.

“He took ‘Harvey’ — someone in a six-foot-tall rabbit suit, that is — as his date to the Halloween dance. Totally broke the rules, but even Higgins didn’t bust him. Nor Hannity. Not with the play coming up. Well, that, and seriously — a six-foot-tall rabbit? Even if it was a guy in there — even if it was Charles’ boyfriend, and I’m nearly certain he’s single right now — c’mon. There’s nothing romantic about that. Sure, it violated the mask rule, but again — c’mon. Harmless fun!”

“I’m glad they were sensible,” Candice said, giggling. “That sounds hilarious! And awesome!”

“Charles is a really good guy,” I said. “And he makes a great Elwood P. Dowd.”

“And if he hit on you?” Candice asked, a smirk in her voice.

“He has. I said ‘no’, and we’re still friends.”

“Every interested guy in Drama has hit on big brother,” Angie said, chuckling. “He handles it well. Surprisingly well, even knowing him.”

“Eh,” I said. “I mean, I can hardly fault someone for asking politely. It’s flattering. It’s not my thing, but it’s not because I think it’s bad, just ... not a turn-on.”

“But Sherry... “ Candice said.

“Is taken, and therefore off-limits,” I said.

“Not for fantasies!”

I chuckled. “I may have occasionally ... pondered ... but, nah. I’ve got enough fantasy material to last me a while.”

“He does,” Angie said. “I mean, Jessica alone...”

“I have fantasies about Jessica!” Candice said. “Heck, Sherry has fantasies about her, from just seeing her once! She’s on both of our lists.”

“She’s seeing other people now,” I said. “As she should be.”

“She can see me anytime,” Candice said.

“And, with that ... bye for now!” I said. “I still have to do homework, and I have the information necessary to visualize that.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you?” Angie said.

“Because she didn’t wa...”

“Consider yourself whapped,” they both said. Then giggled.

“So noted,” I said, and hung up.

Angie turned up a few minutes later.

“That was fun,” she said.

“It was. She seems to be doing well.”

“Yeah. It’ll be good to see her this weekend, even if it’s just for a few minutes.”

“It will, and good to see Sherry, too. I’m glad Candice is being up-front with her parents. And, more importantly, that they’re being okay. I don’t need to worry about another friend being sent off for ‘conversion therapy.’”

“Ugh! I ... just no. Especially with Candice.”

“Definitely.”

I made it to eight before the phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Steve!”

“Hi, Jess. How’re you?”

“I’m ... good. Thankfully.”

“What’s up?”

“Plan A. I’m assuming you heard about the game.”

“I did. That was Plan A?”

“That was fallout from Plan A. A certain standout player seemed a bit distracted and rattled. Hopefully he fixes it, as in right now. The timing is awkward, obviously. If not, Plan B would involve a bit of Grah.”

“Gah!”

She giggled. “Fine, I deserved that. The person in question was informed there’d be no more cheerleaders until he learned to plausibly fake being a gentleman.”

“That ... seems entirely fair, actually.”

“I think so. Some of the girls needed a bit of prodding. Star player is star player, even if he’s trashing girls’ reputations and being a jerk.”

“Which is one reason why jerks continue to be jerks.”

She sighed. “Honestly? All the drama with ... um ... you-know-who is why. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. Oh, this is a bit more, but old Jessica would’ve shrugged it off. I can’t fix things there. X is still too scared to actually go nuclear, unless we have to. But I can take a stand here. I’ll be really sorry if it fucks up the season, but ... the other you-know-who has his own reasons to pull it together. More of them, now, if he doesn’t want to be best friends with his hand until college.”

“Yeah. I hope he pulls it together.”

“I almost waited, but ... well. The whole principle is that you shouldn’t get special treatment just because you win games. Or ... fine. Some special treatment. You shouldn’t get to be a jerk and screw people over just because you win games. Like I said, old Jessica would’ve shrugged that off. I’m ... I can’t thank you enough for...”

“I didn’t do it, Jess. Oh, we talked a lot, but you get the credit. I just get credit for believing in you.”

“That’s a lot. I wasn’t really believing in me,” she said, sighing again.

“So ... what next?”

“Lamar.”

We both chuckled a bit at that.

“Seriously. Yeah, it’s Bi-District, but there’s no way Lamar beats us unless he’s totally off his game. If he is, Grah can still win that one, unless he’s totally off his game, too. Lamar’s good, but we’re just plain better.”

“So ... pull it together, win, and maybe things go back to normal.”

She chuckled a little. “Well, no. It’s more ... promise to pull it together and be a gentleman. Or fake it. Then pull it together on the field. Then we’ll see. I don’t care if he loses to Lamar if he manages to get his act together, at least for him, but we need wins for the others.”

“Got it. You know that, if you need help — anytime — just ask.”

“That means a lot.”

“On the other guy?” I said.

“He’s quiet. Too quiet? I don’t think so. He’ll be more of a thing once football season is over, probably. Hopefully. I can use the break for now. Too many jerks at one time!”

“Same. When you need help, just say.”

“I will. And, Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for being my friend. Thank you so much for being my friend.”

“Thank you for being my friend. We’re a good team. Just, not a great romantic pairing. And you deserve that, too.”

“I have a very high bar set, now.”

“Which you should. You deserve that.”

She sighed. “Thanks. And ... love you, friend.”

“Love you, friend.”

9:45pm

Angie came in and flopped on the bed. I marked my page, then rubbed noses.

“Second call was...?”

“Jess.”

“Figured. How’s she?”

“Plotting.”

“The game?” Angie said.

“Yeah. That was Plan A in operation.”

“I’m still almost surprised she didn’t wait. Or try something earlier. Bi-District is riskier.”