Chapter 6: Pete's Problem

I suspected Pete's honesty when I saw him and Jane together at the cafeteria during lunch the next day. They occupied a small table at the far corner so Stephanie and I didn't go over. I sat down with Stephanie and told her what happened between Macy and Pete. Stephanie said she already got the clue as she had heard about a big fight between Macy and Kim.

"What would you do if you see me kissing another girl?" I asked.

Stephanie stared at me. "Are you indicating something?" She asked in an uneasy voice.

"No, no, no. Just asking."

"Will you?" Stephanie asked.

"No."

"What if some pretty girl wants to kiss you?" Stephanie asked.

"You haven't answered my question yet."

"Answer mine first," Stephanie demanded.

"Close your eyes for five seconds."

"Why?" Stephanie asked.

"Just do it." I said as I pulled out a pen.

Stephanie hesitated for a second. She then closed her eyes. "One... Two... Three... Four... Five..." I jotted down something on a napkin while she was counting. She reopened her eyes.

"Stephanie, I've got the answer here on the napkin. Now answer my question."

"Give it to me," Stephanie reached out her hand.

"No. One at a time."

Stephanie hesitated for another moment. "I'm kind of conservative. If I found you kissing another girl, my first love would be over," she said slowly.

I smiled and pushed the napkin towards Stephanie.

Stephanie had a little smile when she saw it. "What does it mean? 'Live U'?" She asked.

I leaned forward to see the napkin despite I knew I wrote 'Love U' on it. I was in a hurry and the words were kind of scrambled. "No, it's 'Love U'," I explained.

Stephanie smiled. "Carry this with you all the time and show it to any girl who wants to kiss you. Wait..." she said, and pulled out her pen and wrote her name above my jottings. "No ambiguity now."

"Do you need to carry one yourself?" I asked. "I think it's more likely that you get requests from guys wanting to kiss you."

"No way," Stephanie said, giggling. "I don't need one. You're the only silly guy who wants to kiss me."

I wrote something on another napkin and pushed it to Stephanie. "Read this out loud."

Stephanie had a little pink on her face. "No," she said with a smile.

I saw Betty and Morris showed up behind Stephanie. "Put it away," I whispered.

"What?" Stephanie said.

"I'm beautiful and I love Juan," Betty read that note from over Stephanie's shoulder. She giggled, and continued, "Gee, who wrote this?" I felt my ears burning.

Stephanie's face turned pink. She turned around to see Betty winking at her. Morris' hands were shaking as he laughed. He almost dropped his tray. Stephanie turned to stare at me and kicked my leg under the table.

"I guess we should leave you guys alone," Betty said while winking at Morris.

"No," Stephanie said. "Sit down."

"Okay. But you have to move your chair," Betty said.

"Why?" Stephanie asked.

"Because I don't want to sit between Juan and you," Betty said.

"You can," Stephanie said. "I'm not moving unless you want to sit next to Morris."

"Well, that too," Betty said. "I want to kiss him too. Will you follow?"

"I won't kiss Morris, not even in his dreams," Stephanie said. She glanced me though the corner of her eyes and giggled.

Betty almost dropped her tray laughing. I was laughing when Morris kicked my chair. I looked up and saw him winking and jiggling his chin. I moved to the chair next to Stephanie.

"Know what I saw this morning?" Betty said after she and Morris sat down.

"What?" Stephanie and I asked together.

"I saw Macy walking hand in hand with Mr. Flirt," Betty said.

Stephanie giggled.

"Who's Mr. Flirt?" I asked.

"You don't know him," Stephanie said, turning to me. "He's a big flirt."

I told Pete that night what I heard from Betty. Pete knew who Mr. Flirt was. His expression didn't seem he was concerned though. I continued to see him with Jane in the campus. In fact whenever I saw him in the campus he was with Jane. I couldn't hold myself back.

"Are you with Jane now?" I asked Pete when he came back on Friday night.

"I don't know," Pete responded.

"You don't know? Have you kissed her?"

"Yes, I have. But that's nothing," Pete said.

"Are you going out with her tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but that's nothing," Pete said.

"What will be something?"

Pete laughed. "For me, getting into her pants. But I have no intention of that."

"She's pretty."

"You think so?" Pete asked.

"Well she's not an actress material, but I think she's pretty."

"Who's prettier? Jane or Stephanie?" Pete asked slyly.

"Of course Stephanie, but she's mine."

Pete rolled in his bed laughing.

"Is she older than you?" I asked after Pete finished laughing.

"Yep, seven months, and a year ahead in school," Pete said.

"Is that a problem?"

Pete thought for a moment. "Never thought about it."

"It's nothing."

"What's nothing?" Pete asked.

"Seven months and a year ahead in school."

"I need to take a shower," Pete gathered his stuff and went out.

Sunday night when I came back to my residence I found Pete sitting in his chair starring at the wall. I knew something was wrong. I asked him what happened.

"I could be in trouble," Pete said slowly.

"What trouble?"

"I forgot the rubber," Pete said.

"With who?"

"Her," Pete said. I knew he meant Jane.

"I thought you said you wouldn't do it with her."

"Yeah. I guess I was out of my mind," Pete said.

"How could you forget your rubber? I thought you always carry one in your wallet."

"I did," Pete sighed.

"Huh?" I was confused.

"We did it twice," Pete said.

I rolled in my bed laughing hard. I rarely had the chance to laugh at Pete. I felt great.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked after my pleasure of laughing at Pete.

"I don't know. We've to wait and see," Pete said.

"What if she gets pregnant?"

"Damn it! Don't remind me okay?" Pete said annoyingly.

"Well, Pete, do you love her?"

"I don't know," Pete said.

"Well, Pete. Think it over, because it makes a heck of a difference," I suggested.

"Okay, I will," Pete said. His expression was still very miserable.

The following Saturday after our tennis class Stephanie showed me the latest issue of the student newspaper when we were in the cafeteria. She had posted a funny story about an ESL student struggling on his research paper writing. The editorial team seldom put stories in the newspaper but they saw it as both humorous and educational. She illustrated some commonly misused words like 'lie' and 'lay' in her story and demonstrated the writing process in a lively manner. I knew she got the idea from me as well as some ESL students she met in the tutoring center. In my opinion that story was more useful to me than the textbooks I had. I knew she had been writing but she never let me read it before she posted it.

"You should write more," I said after reading it. "It's great."

"Well, I don't have enough time," Stephanie said. "Unless you will leave me alone on the Saturdays," she said, winking.

"You can write while I sit next to you watching."

"How am I supposed to write with your hands all over me?" Stephanie said.

"I was doing it under your instructions."

I got a number of pokes in my chest. "Are you telling me you don't like doing it?" she said and made up a serious look.

"Of course I like doing it. In fact I love it. In fact I want to do it now."

Stephanie kicked my legs under the table.

"Kick me once more and I will pull your sweater off," I threatened her.

Stephanie kicked me several times under the table. She leaned forward to me. "I'm daring you now," she said, with a mischievous smile on her.

"I'll do it tonight," I said.

"What if I don't have sweater on tonight?" She smiled teasingly.

I scratched my head. "Well, I think I'll put one on for you."

"Betty's not there now," Stephanie said.

"Let's go."

"No," Stephanie shook her head.

"Why?"

"Because you are taking me to the football game now," Stephanie reminded me.

"I don't mind missing a football game."

"I lied. Betty's there," Stephanie said, and smiled naughtily.

I almost wanted to jump on her right there right then. "You're killing me," I said, breathing rapidly.

"This is my revenge. You've been killing me since we met," Stephanie said, smiling cheerfully.