Chapter 10: Whack!

On the way to class I made a mental list of things I needed to do that day.

1. See instructors after class to tell them I would be absent the next day and find out what assignments would be handed out for the following Monday.

2. Swing by the brothel on the way home to drop off paychecks and let Jimmy know I would be at the hospital the next day but I would see him on Saturday. I needed him to go with me to do some estimates.

3. Call Lacy to let her know that I might get tied up at the hospital and would let her know if I had to cancel our regular Friday night date.

4. Laura had said she wanted me to take her on a date that night. I needed to think of something special to do with her.

I was in line at the cafeteria when I got the idea for our special date. Replacing the tray that I had picked up, I headed for the nearest pay phone in the outer hallway. After making a reservation at the downtown Marriott for that night I called Laura.

The phone rang twice before the machine picked up, "Jimmy's Painting Service, please leave your name and number, we'll be in touch."

She must be out someplace, I thought, wondering where she had gone. "Hi honey, pack a bag. We're going to have a special date in a room on the sixth floor at the Marriott. It has one of those big beds and there is a view from the balcony. Sound good?" Before hanging up I added, "Your loving brother."

Why had I added that? Why did I keep saying that?"

When I got back to the cafeteria the line was shorter. I ordered the Thursday lunch special, meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy which seemed adequate since I planned on taking Laura to dinner in a fancy restaurant that night.

Looking around for a place to sit I spotted a table where four guys I did not know looked like they were about to finish their lunch. I would soon have the table to myself. I wanted to make some notes on what my morning instructors had told me about their agendas.

Just as I began to write the first note about what my last instructor had told me I became aware that the sixth seat at the table was being occupied. The guy next to me made an exaggerated sigh and his buddies snickered. Looking up I stared directly into the blue eyes of the girl, the one with the car.

Without breaking our gaze, she dropped a large bag on the floor next to her chair and squared her tray on the table as she took her seat. Mesmerized was not the word for it; I was lost, lost deep within those glittering green eyes. Had they changed color? I was trying to decide if they were blue or green when she spoke.

"I've been looking for you." Her lips were moving but I was still lost, trying to see if there was an end to how deep I could peer. The guys at the table were making wild grunting sounds.

"I wanted to apologize for the other day." She had dropped her eyes to her tray of food but when she found the tall glass of iced tea she brought the straw to her lips and the eyes were back, locked to mine. One of the guys at the table made a sucking sound as if he was drawing air through a straw.

Breaking our eye-lock, I looked at the four guys who were entangled in their own hormones. I was going to tell her that I did not know the four teenagers with a need to be noticed but when I saw her slowly draw the fork from her lips I forgot what I was going to say. The four guys sighed in unison.

Looking at her plate I noticed an indention in her mashed potatoes and gravy which was the reason the fork was making the very provocative exit from her lips. Realizing she was watching me and realizing my mouth was open, I looked down at the untouched food on my plate.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"I know what I would like to eat," was mumbled by one of the boys sitting the most distant from me. I gave him a long stern look of warning. It went unnoticed.

A hint of a smile was on the girl's face when I turned back to see her buttering the roll that came with the meal. I noticed how high her forehead looked with the way her hair was combed straight back and bunched at her neck with a black cordlike ribbon. She wore a black T-shirt under a khaki jacket. I suspected she was wearing matching khaki slacks or a khaki skirt.

The meatloaf was no longer hot when I took the first bite. Feeling pressure to say something, I leaped into the first thing that entered my mind.

"What is your favorite flower?" I said, catching her off guard.

Her mouth was open just enough to see the even upper row of teeth that still had a drop of brown gravy on the edge of... it was gone, disappearing into the tip of her tongue as it darted out to capture the contrary crumb.

"Why?" She was only mildly interested, probably thinking that I was about to ask her address so I could send her flowers.

I wrote two lines on my notebook and held it up for her to read.

"My name is Randy,

I'm making a note that I need to send flowers to Laura, my sister."

"This guy is smooth," we heard one of the kids at the table say.

"Why don't you boys fuck off? Can't you see Randy and I are trying to have an adult conversation?" the girl said with the same fire in her eyes I had seen when she screamed at me in the parking lot. Turning back to me she reached for my notebook and pen.

"My name is Julita but please call me Huley," she wrote and handed the notebook back to me.

She smiled for the first time when I extended my hand across the table.

"What color is your sister's hair?" She asked a slight wrinkle in her high forehead and her eyes capturing mine to demonstrate a true interest.

"It's darker than yours but we still call it blond."

"Really? I'm surprised. Your hair is dark. You were never blond, were you?"

I gave the standard answer that Laura and I always used to explain the genes mix-up that made her hair much lighter than mine.

"I like yellow long stemmed roses but she might like something white, does she like white?"

"How did you know that? Most of her clothes are white," I exclaimed.

We were talking between taking bites of meatloaf and potatoes. I buttered my roll and when I lifted it to my mouth Huley did the same, tormenting the boys by taking a small bite and holding it between her lips before slowly sucking it into her mouth.

We paid no attention to the antics of the four teenagers as we compared class schedules and study times. Without divulging our ages, we gave each another strong hints by providing some background. I told her that I was a veteran of nearly four years in the Air Force while Huley said that she had transferred to the local school after having a dreadful first year at an Ivy League school.

We walked out together, leaving unfinished meatloaf on our plates and the four boys joking about what they had just witnessed at the table.

"Carnations," she said. She was, indeed, wearing a matching khaki skirt, above the knees.

I thanked Huley for her advice as we parted. As I watched her walk away something triggered a chill to go up my spine. The blond hair and long brown legs were a strange combination. Could her name be Julita Pettersen? She turned and caught me watching. She returned my wave but not my smile.

There was not enough time before class to order the flowers.

By the time I got home Laura was in frenzy. She was wearing the college T-shirt and pants I had given her. She had not packed.

"What's wrong," I asked, seeing that she had been crying. I reached out to her but she wouldn't come to me.

"I didn't pick up," she said sniffling.

"You didn't pick up?" I said, puzzled.

Laura walked to her bedroom where the answering machine was located next to the bedside telephone on the floor and pressed the play button.

. "Hi honey, pack a bag. We're going to have a special date in a room on the sixth floor at the Marriott. It has one of those big beds and there is a view from the balcony. Sound good? Your loving brother."

Hearing the message I had left at lunchtime kept me puzzled.

"Lacy was here, she heard it. We were having lunch. I sat there like a dummy and didn't pick up the phone," Laura said bursting into tears.

"So?" I didn't see what she was finding so damaging about the message.

"She didn't hear the end. She ran out of the house crying."

I got to Laura before she could move away from me. We toppled onto the bed and I tried to console her but she tried to wiggle away.

"Listen," I had pinned her down, smothering her wet face with kisses. "Listen to me, I'll call her, it's not your fault. I can straighten this out."

"I'm so sorry Randy. It was awful; she got so mad and said she had known all along that you were not my brother. You've lost her and it's my fault."

"I'll call her and say that she didn't hear the entire message. Stop worrying about it."

"I'll admit that I was a little jealous but I didn't mean to break you up," Laura was still sniffling.

I laughed. "You were jealous? What were you jealous of? You're my number one, don't you know that?" I stroked her hair and her back, feeling how tight her body was.

"Am I still your second piece of ass?" She was beginning to move her hands over my back.

"That too. You're my number one and my second piece of ass."

"I wish I could be your first piece of ass. I wish I could be your every piece of ass but that can't be, can it?"

I kissed her. "Go wash your face while I call Lacy. Let's get going."

It was after six P M when we headed toward the city. I had emptied Laura's case and repacked it with a set of her underwear, two pair of my shorts, socks and a spare flannel shirt.

I had been unable to talk with Lacy. According to her sister she was not at home.

"I didn't pack your long nightgown," I said to Laura when the bellhop left us in the room. We went out on the balcony to watch the sunset. Laura stood near me, her face was scrubbed and she had stopped crying. No more had been mentioned about Lacy and the way she had reacted to hearing my phone message.

"Thank you for making this a special date," Laura was not looking at me. She held my hand and gazed at the skyline.

"We need to get you a dress to wear," I said, thinking of where to take her for dinner.

"Let's not do that. You know what I would like to do?" She looked at me, wanting me to agree to whatever it was she was going to say.

"Aren't you getting hungry?" I had not told her about my lunch with Huley and leaving half of my food uneaten.

"Let's grab something someplace where we don't have to dress up, then we'll go window shopping, okay?" She squeezed my hand and looked into my eyes. I squeezed back to give her an affirmative.

We must have looked out of place in the corner café. I was wearing the sport coat Laura had bought for me on one of our R & Rs and she wore my flannel shirt over the T-shirt and pants that I had bought for her. I ate gluttonously while Laura had a hamburger with a glass of milk. When the bill was presented she patted the pocket of the shirt and smiled. I smiled back and reached for my wallet, knowing that it had been her way of reminding me of our first weekend together when she had planted a 100 dollar bill in the inside pocket of my sports coat. Patting her pocket was the same signal she had given me back then.

We walked around the city hand in hand. The stores had not closed yet but we did not go inside. I let her lead me from store window to store window, watching her excitement when she pointed to displays and looking my way to see if I was paying attention.