Chapter 35

... of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more...

(From "In My Life,

Lennon / McCartney)

The cook swore softly as he examined the boxes and crates in Beautiful Burger's back hallway. The crate of fresh tomatoes they'd ordered wasn't there, a fact he was just discovering as the height of dinner rush was upon them.

He scurried to the big walk-in refrigerator to see if there were any left from last week's shipment, and was relieved to see several still there. He scooped them up and hustled back to his work counter. He figured if he sliced them carefully, no one would notice they were thinner than usual. There were a couple slices that had a slightly brown tinge to their color. A little extra catsup took care of that.

He quickly assembled the burgers and added the fries and side pickle. He set the plates on the ledge of the pass though window where the waitresses came to grab their tables' orders. They were scooped up quickly by the harried waitress that was serving the biggest group of the night.

The cook watched for a moment as she scurried back to the group. From the kitchen window it looked like a lot of teenage boys, with just a couple male adults. He'd read in the paper that a local high school baseball team was going to be playing for the state championship tomorrow. Perhaps this was the team?

The brief cry of "Order Up!" ended his musings. He spun the metal wheel the waiters and waitresses clipped their orders to, and grabbed the tickets as they came around to his side of the window. All thoughts of the baseball team and his solution to his tomato problem vanished, as he began preparing another set of meals as rapidly as he could.

A few miles away, Collette and Dave's parents were hosting a pre-game dinner as well. The coaches hadn't been thrilled about some players not eating with the team, the night before the big game. But it turned out the families of almost a third of the player's families made similar requests, so they decided to make the team dinner optional.

Collette and Dave's parents left it to their children to make out the guest list. When they saw the length of the list, they quickly decided to hire a caterer.

The two players were of course the guests of honor, and as they circulated among the guests, both Bobby and Dave received the endless stream of well wishes and congratulations with patient good grace.

The guests seemed to gravitate into adult and teen groups on either side of the pool. As Bobby moved among them, he couldn't help but be grateful for the affection and support he felt coming from everyone there.

He sat and talked with Julie and Porter for quite a while, and was thrilled at how happy they were together. They still seemed to be cautious about getting too serious too fast, but Bobby's intuition was that they complimented each other well. Seeing the glow in their eyes when they looked at each other put a grin on Bobby's face that was hard to take off.

On the adult side, Porter's grandmother Muriel Wilson was being treated like royalty by Barbara and Raul, as well as Ron Harris and Sandy Goodwin. They found Muriel's self deprecating humor endearing, and the love she displayed towards Julie, her adopted grandchild, made her new friends all make silent promises to themselves to look after this special lady.

Another glowing couple was Ron and Sandy, and Sandy's friends were teasing her mercilessly at how Ron leapt to his feet whenever he noticed Sandy's glass of soda was empty.

Raul and Barbara were surprised to learn that Ron was considering leaving the police force to start his own detective and protective services agency. Both he and Sandy were enthusiastic as they talked about how the demand for those types of services was always greater than what was available locally. Sandy was talking about helping Ron get up and running during her summer break, before she began her new teaching position at the high school.

Barbara was in the last month of her pregnancy, and positively glowed with maternal health and happiness. Raul and Barbara openly referred to the child as 'Gina.' Everyone but a select few assumed the proud parents knew the sex of the child from an ultrasound examination.

Patty and Morton were past 'the big fight, ' and once again were a happy couple. In the spirit of having no secrets from each other, Morton had felt obliged to tell Patty about Leticia's interest in her ass, among other attributes. Patty made it clear to Morton that she wasn't interested, which Leticia didn't know. But Patty was slowly warming to Morton's sister, and their friendship seemed to be genuinely growing as she got to know Leticia better.

However, Leticia did not have a steady boyfriend, which meant that Sammy was still a bit reserved around the younger girl that had been with her boyfriend, however briefly.

Collette and Bobby, and Sammy and Dave, had formed a group that was unconsciously drawn together this night, like many others recently. Over the last month they all came to relish the emotional bond between each of them individually. Those bonds translated into a group dynamic that had all guards down, that unquestioningly wanted the best for each other; that picked each other up from any setback or difficulty.

There was no question that they all knew Collette's going to college was going to be a severe test for Bobby and Collette's relationship. The young couple was doing their best to "seize the day," and Sammy and Dave were right there to encourage them.

Since everyone in the foursome had been in bed with everyone else (except Bobby and Dave), there was a lot of good natured sexual teasing among them. To this point however, the possibility of getting together for group fun was taking a firm back seat to nourishing Collette and Bobby's relationship.

Ironically, the state championship tomorrow was being held on the field of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. As the four teens sat recovering after stuffing themselves with gourmet food, Collette and Bobby were telling the other couple about their plan to go to go to the USC campus early the next day.