Chapter 19: Sunday or Fun Day?

Sunday morning I decided to put my plan in motion for giving my sister, Cara, a little treat. I had decided that I owed her a favor or two for the way she have helped me out with Leslie so I wanted to do a little something for her. I knew she would love to go to the high school Homecoming Dance even though she was only in eighth grade and I had a guy in mind to set her up with. Who knows? maybe they would hit it off.

There was a freshman named Ken Spencer that took guitar lessons from the same teacher that I used. Ken's lesson was always right before mine, so I could hear him playing when I walked in. He was really good. Much better than me actually, but that didn't bother me. Lots of people were better than me at playing the guitar. Ken and I had talked a few times about getting together to play and see if we couldn't learn something from playing with another player.

I knew from my brief conversations with him that he didn't have a girlfriend and I though he might be the kind of guy my sister would like. He was a fairly good-looking guy, but a bit shy with the ladies, so he never realized that they were interested in him. I'm sure that some of them would have been if they heard him play his guitar, because he would really impress them if they did.

I called after breakfast and asked him if he wanted to get together for a little while to play. He was interested, so we made plans for him to come over later in the morning and jam a bit. As luck would have it, my sister was going to be home and my parents were not. This made my plan of getting them together a bit easier.

I called up Leslie and told her what I was going to do. She told me that she and Mary were going to the mall to look at dresses for the dance later in the afternoon. I already knew that my friend Tom had asked Mary to go with him so it wasn't much of a surprise to find out that they were going shopping together. She giggled when I explained how I was setting Cara up and asked if she could help out. I thought about it for a minute then told her that she could. I asked her to wait until Ken was over for a little bit, then to call me. Cara would pick up the phone and find out that it was Leslie calling for me, then I would excuse myself for a few minutes and ask Cara to keep Ken company while I took the call. Damn, I'm good.

Ken showed up and we went to my room to hang out and play some guitar. Ken had a very nice Taylor 614 acoustic that sounded great. I always played my dad's old Martin D28 from the 60's. The thing that is great about acoustic guitars is that they sound better and better with age and no two sound the same. Ken's guitar and mine had very different sound qualities and I think that really enhanced the sound of us playing together.

We traded off playing some songs for each other and then started to try to play a few together. After working out a few bugs we started to sound pretty good. We would trade off playing lead and rhythm, going through different blues riffs. It was actually interesting to play with someone else because it changes the challenges of playing a bit. You really have to work on timing more. When you play alone, you can get away with some small errors in your timing, but when you play with someone else you hear those timing problems much more clearly.

We were just about to start a new song when the phone rang. I had to hide a smile because I knew what was going to happen next. As expected I heard a knock on my door and Cara called out to me through it.

"Jeff! Telephone. It's Leslie for you."

"Come in here, Cara."

The door opened and my sister poked her head around the corner and looked in before opening the door the whole way.

"It's Leslie," she repeated and held out the cordless phone for me to take from her hand.

"Thanks," I replied and took the phone from her. "I held the phone up to my ear and said, "Hey, Leslie. Hold on a sec, okay?"

I took the phone down from my ear and turned to my sister and said, "Cara, this is Ken Spencer. Ken, this is my sister, Cara."

"Nice to meet you, Cara," said Ken. "Jeff didn't tell me he was hiding a sister from me."

Cara gave a little giggle and Ken blushed a bit, probably just realizing that he was actually talking to a girl.

"I wasn't hiding her from you, Ken. In fact I need to take this call real quick, so can you keep Ken company for a few minutes, Cara?"

"Ah, sure. Yeah."

"Cool. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I walked out the door and down the hall to the family room and talked to Leslie for a few minutes. We were both laughing about the set-up. So far it was working great.

After a few minutes I hung up the phone and went back to my room to see how it was going. Cara was sitting on the bed facing Ken and they were talking. I could tell from the way they were looking at each other that they liked each other. You can always tell if you pay attention to body language.

"You guys sounded great," Cara said. "You guys should start a band or something."

Ken blushed a little at being complimented. "Thanks. I never really play in front of other people. This is the first time I have played with anyone but my teacher."

"You should play in front of people more often. You're really good."

I decided to let them know that I was back at this point. "Sorry about that, Ken. My girlfriend, Leslie, had to ask me some questions about our plans for the Homecoming Dance."

"That's okay. I understand."

"Are you going to the dance?"

"I, ah, don't think so. I don't have a date."

"That's too bad. You should go. It's a great time."

"I'll think about it."

"Okay. Cool."

"I should really let you guys get back to your guitar playing," Cara said getting up from the bed.

"It was, ah, nice talking to you, Cara. Thanks for hanging out with me while Jeff was on the phone."

"No problem. It was nice talking to you too. Have fun, guys. I'll be in my room, Jeff."

"Thanks, Cara. I'll see you later."

She closed the door on her way out and we picked our guitars back up to play again. We played for a while longer and just talked a bit.

"So, what grade is your sister in?"

"Eighth. She's very mature for her age, though. She's actually more mature than a lot of girls at school."

"Yeah. She seems like she is."

"She actually helped me out when Leslie and I were having problems. She was very understanding and quite helpful."

"That's really cool. Not too many little sisters are like that."

"Yeah, I agree. She's going to be a freshman next year and it will be nice to have her in school with me."

"Does she have a boyfriend?"

"No. She's probably too mature for the guys in the Middle School. She looks and acts older than they do, so I don't think she's all that interested in them."

"Really? So she likes older guys?"

"I think so. She's never come out and said it, but she just has more in common with them. You guys seemed to be comfortable talking to each other, right?"

"Yeah. I guess we were. I'm usually a stammering idiot with the girls, but for some reason I was okay with her. Every time I talk to a pretty girl I get all nervous and can't relax. You know what I mean?"

"Yep. I can sympathize. So you're saying that you don't think Cara is pretty then?" I was just prompting him to admit he liked her.

"No, that's not what I meant. Actually she's pretty hot, if you don't mind my saying so. I know she's your sister and all, so I don't want you to get offended by that comment."

"I'm not offended," I laughed. "Even though she's my sister I can still look at her and see that she's very pretty. She's going to have all kinds of guys asking her out next year, I'm sure."

"I bet," he replied looking somewhat dismayed about that.

"If you like her, why don't you ask her to Homecoming?"

"Really? You think I should?"

"Why not? What do you have to lose? If she says yes, then you get to go to the dance with someone you like to hang out with and by your own admission find attractive. If she says no then you have lost nothing. Personally, I think she would say yes."

"She's not in high school yet. Won't people think that's weird, taking someone from Middle School?"

"Maybe, but if you look at her she doesn't look younger than you and she'd be all dressed up and have makeup on. I bet no one would say a thing. You guys are only a grade apart and she's actually one of the older kids in her year."

"Hmm. Maybe I should ask her."

"Go for it, man."

He took a deep breath, steeling himself. "Where is her room?"

"Across the hall to the left."

"Okay. Wish me luck."

"Good luck."

He walked out and I heard him knock on her door, then go in after she answered. I waited a few minutes just playing around with my guitar to kill the time. After a few minutes he came back in with a smile on his face.

"Well?"

"She said she would love to, but she has to check with your mom first."

"Oh yeah. I never even thought of that. She really hasn't dated yet, so who knows what my mom will say."

"Do you think she'll let her go?"

"I don't know. We'll see. Did you give her your number so she can call you after she asks?"

"Yeah. I'll call her anyway just to talk, even if she can't go with me."

"That's cool."

We played for a bit longer, then had some lunch before he had to go home. I thought he was a pretty good guy and I had the feeling that he could be trusted with my sister.

Not too long after he left, my parents came home. I didn't even get the chance to talk to Cara about getting asked to the dance before they got home, so I was interested in seeing how my sister presented the whole idea.

I followed Cara into the kitchen where she confronted my mother with the situation.

"Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I need to ask you something."

"What is it, honey?"

"I... ah... wanted to see if it would be okay with you if I went to a school dance."

"I didn't know that you had one coming up?"

"Well, it is actually the Homecoming Dance at the High School."

"What? You can't go to the High School dances this year. You don't go there yet."

"Actually I can go because I got asked to the dance by someone that goes there."

"What? When did this happen?"

"This morning. Jeff had his friend, Ken, over to play some guitar and we started talking. One thing lead to another and then he asked me to go with him."

"You can't go out with one of your brother's friends. They're too old for you. Sorry dear. It's just out of the question."

Just as she said this my dad walked in.

"What's out of the question?" he asked.

"Cara wants to go the Homecoming Dance at the High School with one of Jeffrey's friends. I told her it wasn't a good idea because he'stoo old for her."

"I'm afraid I have to agree, sweetie. Jeff's friends are too old for you."

"But he's not that much older than me. Ken's only a freshman and I'm pretty old for my grade. He's probably less than a year older than me."

"I still don't know, honey. You aren't in high school yet and you aren't dating yet."

"Aw, Mom! Come on! Ken is really cute and he asked me to go with him. It's just a dance."

"I don't know. I'm not sure it is appropriate. How were you going to get there? Does he drive?"

"I don't know. We didn't get that far with the discussion. I knew I would have to ask you first."

I figured this would be a good time to jump in and help Cara out.

"Actually, I doubt Ken can drive since he is only a freshman," I said. "I don't know what Ken's plans were for that night, but I'm taking Leslie, so I could give them a ride if that is what you are worried about."

"You don't mind your little sister tagging along to a dance that you're taking your girlfriend to?" Mom asked.

"No. It's no big deal. I don't have to hold her hand all night long. I am just offering to drive them if you let Cara go. At least this way you know she will get there and back safely."

My sister smiled at me hopefully and then watched my mother for a reaction.

"Why don't you let your mother and I talk about this for a few minutes and we'll let you know what we decide?" my Dad chimed in.

"Okay. I'll be in my room," Cara replied.

I followed her to her room and sat on her bed while my parents had their little talk.