Chapter 18

Paul moved to Gainesville early. Alice was going to visit her parents and he wanted to be nearer to her home in Inglis if she needed him. She left her belongings at his house when she went home on Tuesday. She returned on Thursday in good spirits. Some of which had to do with the improvement in climate with her parents and some with the fact that Barb was back.

Jane's father and Paul helped Jane move in early Friday afternoon. The rest of the day was spent hunting down teachers and trying to get assignments for the first week. Arthur showed up on Saturday. All five went to watch the football practice that afternoon.

Paul could recognize Steve by his walk but not by his attitude. On the field he was a madman. He didn't tackle players, he punished them. He was fast and he was nasty.

That afternoon, after practice, Steve came over to the house.

"Are you going to be here tonight?" Steve asked.

"Unless you put us in the hospital." Paul didn't doubt that he could do it.

"I'll bring over my new girlfriend. Try to act like normal humans."

The group served hamburgers grilled in the back yard, with chips and beer. Steve brought his new girlfriend and a friend of hers that might be interested in Arthur. Ann Smith, Steve's girlfriend, was the archetypical girlfriend for Steve - a pretty full-figured blond. Her friend, Caroline Smith (no relation), was a small slight cute girl with red hair and freckles. A good match for Arthur if she could take a joke.

With Paul, Jane, Alice, and Barb in attendance, the living room was crowded. Jane felt more at home than she had all summer. Her new friends were here. Her friends from high school didn't seem to have goals. The people in this room were like she was, they had plans; they were going somewhere. We may not be grown up yet but we are working on it.

"Ann, what's your major?" She asked over the TV and other conversations. Ann was alone, abandoned by Steve while he took over at the grill.

"English Literature and yours?"

What do you know, Steve's girlfriend can read! "Physics."

"That's hard, you must be smart."

I think I like her. "Thanks, but compared to Paul we're all stupid."

"Steve said Paul was really smart."

"Paul is scary smart. I thought I was smart until I met him. It has taken some getting used to."

"If you're majoring in physics you have to be smart."

"You must be too if you're studying literature. Any time you want to make him feel stupid just talk about literature or language. I'm sure you know more than either Paul or I do."

"I'd better go find Steve, I don't want him to forget who he came with."

"Not much chance of that. The rest of us are close friends, we won't poach your boyfriend."

"Jane, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, but I don't know if I'll answer."

"Was Alice one of the girls that they expelled for a day?"

"Yes, the University said it was a mistake." Where is she going with this?

"Jane, it doesn't look like a mistake to me. The way Alice and what's the other girl's name?"

"Barbara."

"Yeah. The way they look at each other would explain why they won't poach Steve."

"What do you mean?"

"Alright, I see that you're a good friend of theirs. I just wanted to know because my room mate would like to meet them." Ann went outside to find Steve.

Well, I'll be go to Hell.

Paul was talking to Arthur and Caroline in the living room. Caroline was standing close to Arthur, her hands were at her sides, she bumped him when she laughed, and Arthur must be stupid. Hold her hand you fool, Jane thought.

She got Paul's neck within range to kiss by pulling him to the side. After kissing him she whispered, "I just had the strangest conversation with Ann, I'll tell you about it later." Most of the awkwardness between Paul and Jane was gone. They were still being a little too nice to each other. Jane was trying to hide the disappointment that she wouldn't see Italy and Paul was trying not to feel too guilty, but they were trying. Jane would cry when he was gone, but at least she was with him now. At least I'm with him now and he treats me like his girlfriend. That's more than I deserve after this summer.

Jane let go of Paul and spoke to Arthur, "Arthur will you help me get something out of the car?"

Arthur looked at her and looked at Paul. Paul shrugged his shoulders so Arthur followed Jane outside.

"What do you need me to get?" he asked.

"Some brains."

"What?"

"What does Caroline have to do to get you to put your arm around her, beg?"

"If she stands like this," Jane said as she crossed her arms and leaned away from Arthur, "leave her alone. If she stands like this," she continued as she imitated Caroline, "put your arm around her. Now go back inside and do what she says." Having saved Caroline, Jane went to find Alice.

"Steve, do you want a beer?"

"Yeah."

"Ann?"

Paul pulled Steve off to the side when he returned with the beer. "Steve, I don't know how long you've been dating Ann but I like her. If the two of you want to use my room while I'm gone, I'll tell you it's OK, because you would have anyway. However, there're new rules. Bring your own sheets and leave my clean sheets on the bed when you finish. Capisce?"

"What?"

"Do you understand or am I going to have to rub you out?"

"God you're weird."

Later that night, Jane told Paul, Alice, and Barb about her conversation with Ann. Paul thought it was funny, Barb not so much.

Rome wasn't just another city; it was special, like Athens. The three students took a day to get their internal clocks reset in Rome. Maybe part of the experience was jet lag but nonetheless it was special. To sit in the Coliseum and imagine that thousands of years ago others sat here, as you watch re-enactments of naval battles or gladiators battling to the death, it got inside your head. The Sistine Chapel, the fountains - Rome was different. The citizens were tolerant of Paul's attempts to speak their language. They appreciated the fact that he had tried to learn it.

The next morning Paul, Alice, and Barb boarded a train for Milan. Once they were on the train, Paul asked Barbara if he could talk to Alice alone for a few minutes. She didn't like it, but she walked back to the dinning car where she bought a bottle of wine.

"You know that I have money and you know that I can make as much money as I want. So I don't want you to say you can't take it when I give you money to go shopping. Tell Barb whatever you need to tell her. Just remember that this money is not important to me. The two of you need clothes to go to a formal party and to semi-formal lunches and dinners. Have fun. I'll be working so I won't spend much time with you. I hate to shop so please, do it when I'm busy." Paul gave her $1400 dollars worth of Traveler's Cheques.

Barb returned with a bottle of wine. "What are we going to do tomorrow?" Barb asked.

"We're going shopping," Alice waved the Cheques in front of her.

"I'll drink to that," said Barb.

"It will be easier to adjust to the time difference if you don't drink," Paul suggested.

"Fuck you," they replied, but with a smile.

"Barb, when are you going to let me see your boobs?

Paul was tired. He was tired of traveling. He was tired of parties. He was tired of lunches and dinners. He was tired of races. He wanted to go home and stay home. He wanted to be in his bed. Racing was getting old. The girls were having fun, but he was tired of airplane flights and train rides. It was about time to retire from racing. He would talk to Mr. Chinetti and Mr. Ferrari. I guess I'd better ask Jane about it first. She might like it. But all the races were beginning to run together for Paul. This wasn't his life's work, this was more like a kid's dream. He hadn't thought like a kid the first time and he had made up for it with a vengeance this time. He was going to keep doing some of it. He was going to be just a college student.

The Ferrari team had entered four cars in the Italian Grand Prix. All four had qualified and they had finished 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th. In Italy, kids dream of being drivers like Americans dream of playing in the Major Leagues. The country went nuts. Now the three Americans were flying to London to catch a plane across the Atlantic.

Paul arrived in Gainesville in the early hours of the morning. Jane was in his bed. He undressed down to his shorts and slid under the covers next to her.

"Are you awake?" he spoke softly.

"Yeah, when did you get back? I missed you."

"I missed you too Jane. Just a couple of minutes ago, I realized that the world seems like a better place when you're near."

She turned over and put a leg across him. "It's the same for me. It just feels right. To be here with you. With our friends. This is where I belong. Not in Lake Wales."

"Jane, racing has been fun, but it's starting to get old. Would it bother you if I stopped going to races in Europe?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I thought you wanted to go."

"I do, Paul. I want to go to Europe with you. Will you take me sometime when there isn't a race? When we can do whatever we want?"

"Anytime."

"Good." She rested her head on him and fell back asleep.

It was the second week of school and they were one week behind. Paul and Jane studied at the library. Alice and Barb studied at the house. It wasn't a euphemism, they wanted a place to study where they could sit close to each other and not get expelled. Paul was catching up quickly; he had most of his required non-science, non-mathematics courses out of the way. So he did not have really hard courses to take. He took Geology, Quantum Mechanics, Differential Equations, Linear Equations, and a silly Geography course. Geology was a subject that he had never studied before and found that he enjoyed it. It was a hard science like physics and chemistry and its pieces were easy to hang onto the framework he had assembled in his mind for the other two subjects. Three of the courses he could sleep through and still make an A, another that was fun, and one that was silly.