Chapter 37

Monday rolled around again and it was time to buy Prom tickets. Missy smiled when I dutifully asked, and I ponied up the money for our ticket. Unlike a previous dance I'd tried hard to forget, there was no issue whatever with Missy and I getting tickets this time around. A lot had changed in five or six months.

Prom was the topic of choice all week at lunch and even between classes. Everyone asked me to once again set up dinner the night of the Prom, but Missy spoke up quickly. "I'd actually like to invite all of you to come to my house for dinner," she said. "My mom, Tracy and I have already been planning what we would like." As everyone eagerly accepted, I very happily stepped out of the middle.

By the next Friday, I was tired of talk about Prom week and barely listened to the conversations at lunch. I was anxious to explore the future I could see unfolding in my life, and even with Missy now solidly in my life, quite frankly I was bored with high school. After a year of both school and personal drama, the day to day political crap was wearing on my nerves, and suddenly even classes I'd enjoyed were boring.

I didn't even realize that I had been allowing my irritation to show until Friday night. Missy and I were sitting together in the Bronco at a stop light when she turned to me and asked, "Do you want to tell me what's been eating at you this week, John?"

"What do you mean?"

Missy gave a bark of disbelief. "In case no one has told you, honey, you wear your emotions on your face, although you were a bit more blatant than that this week. You just about took Betty Lou's head off yesterday. It was Jesse the day before. Heck, even Carly commented. Liv laughed it off and said you needed to get laid."

I bit back a comment about hell freezing over first and just shrugged.

Something in my expression must have given me away as Missy's eyes blazed. "Don't you dare use me as an excuse, John Michael Robinson!"

I stared at her as I turned the ignition off in her driveway. Partly it was astonishment that Missy even knew my middle name, but mostly, it was that she was mad and I had no clue what was up.

"Get me down off that pedestal you've stuck me on. I'm not the ice princess, or that damned goddess you accused me of being." At my look of surprise, Missy said, "Oh, yes, Jackie told me what you said. She said you wanted her to. That's the point, however. No matter how much you may think it, I am neither a goddess on Olympus trying to isolate myself, nor a goddess for you to worship. I have loved you, and I have been a bitch to you, but that simply proves that what I am above all is just a flesh and blood woman, a woman who has been trying for over a week to get you into her pants. Every time I reach for your zipper you stop me. How much more obvious do I need to get, John? I want to get past you fondling my tits and kissing. I'm ready. I've been ready for two weeks. And all you say is don't sell my dreams short. Screw my dreams, hell, for that matter, just screw me."

I stared at her in shock. "You said you didn't want your first time to be in the back of the car," I protested weakly.

"So, there's still a lot of things we can do short of that, aren't there?"

"Well..."

"Damn it, John, you're doing it again. Get me off that fucking pedestal! I don't want to be a "good girl". I want to be your girlfriend. If I were Liv, or Mary Jo, or even Gail you wouldn't hesitate. I mean, you didn't push Liv away when she blew you in the classroom. If that had been me would you have let me?" She stared at me. "The truth, John."

I wasn't sure how to respond. I didn't think I had ever heard Missy drop the f-word, so I knew she was angry. Was she also right? Was I treating her differently than would treat Mary Jo or Liv? I turned away from her, not wanting to face her, to face the truth. When I heard her open the door and get out of the Bronco, I looked back over to the passenger side, but her door was already slamming shut. Then my door opened. Missy grabbed my hand and pulled.

"Come on, John. Momma won't be home for at least an hour."

I hesitated, and Missy dropped my hand and turned away. Then she whirled back and I could see fire in her eyes. "If that's the way you want it to be, then fine. I'm tired of being your princess. Call me when you're ready for me to be your girlfriend." With that she turned and ran to her front door.

"Missy, wait!" She paused at the door and turned back toward me. She didn't move.

I sighed and got out of the Bronco. How had things gotten this messed up? One thing I was sure of, heading home was not going to solve this problem. I strode quickly to her.

She smiled as I reached her. She took my hand in hers and led me inside.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to be here, Missy. Your mother won't be very happy if she finds us here together."

Missy turned back to me. "For once, I don't give a damn, John. If it really worries you, we don't have to do anything, but at the very least it sure as hell seems obvious that we need to talk."

"Yeah, it does. I'm sorry, Missy." The words just tumbled out of my mouth. I knew that she'd been right earlier and I didn't like it. "I guess I have been treating you like a princess. After what happened when you pushed me away, I guess I've been working hard at not upsetting you and messing things up. I guess I worked so hard at it that I managed to do just that."

Missy smiled a wry smile. "We seem to manage not to be on the same page a lot, don't we?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, we do at that." I sighed. "Honey, how about if we stop trying to do what we think the other wants, and just try to work at figuring out what we both want?"

Missy looked up at the clock. "Well, we have forty-five minutes to start working at that."