Chapter 10

“Hey stud,” Susie called out to me as I was leaving the girls’ dorm lobby.

“What’s happening, Susie?” I answered.

“Not my business, but one of your addle brained cheerleaders is flying the coup,” she said sarcastically.

“Yeah, I heard about it tonight,” I said still confused by what had transpired with Misty. “No big deal, I’ll live.”

“Well I have some good news for you,” she said smiling. “The good-looking babe next door, you know the little rich girl cheerleader, Delta? She was all over Misty for stringing you along. She was saying all kinds of real sweet things about you. Look for her, she would be nice company.”

“That is good news,” I said giving her a hug.

“No sweat, I still owe you for clueing me in on Kenny. He’s not as fickle as his sister is. See ya later, stud,” Susie said heading back to her room.

Friday morning, no Misty or Cherry for breakfast. But Delta and Trish were there. Delta wanted me to go out with them that evening. They wanted to go into town and go to a club. When I told them that my budget couldn’t handle heavy partying, Delta told me she would talk to me after breakfast.

When we finished and I headed out, Delta grabbed my arm and pulled me around the side of the entryway of the dining hall. It was fairly private and hidden from the heavy foot traffic.

Delta turned on her million-dollar smile and held my arm, “Chuck, I know you don’t have a lot of money, and I’m not a gold digger that demands you spend everything on me. I’m lucky, my folks are pretty well off and spoil me. That’s why I have a car even though I don’t use it much. Listen, when I want to take us out, that means I’ll take care of what it costs. I won’t embarrass you about it or say anything at all. Just come with Trish and me and have fun. Wait till you meet Trish’s folks, they make mine look like paupers. Come with us, please?”

“Okay sounds good. I think I’d like to have some fun. Hope you don’t mind the face, it’s not very pretty,” I lamented.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re a guy, and guys do stuff like that all the time. I like what’s inside you not the picture on the box,” Delta said, giving me a hug.

We walked off to our classes with me thinking that women sure were strange. Half way to my class, Misty waved at me.

“What were you doing with Delta at the dining hall?” Misty asked with a cutting tone.

“Huh?” I said now really confused.

“I saw you two talking outside by the entrance, what were you two doing?” she repeated.

“Well actually she was asking me to go with her and Trish tonight,” I said.

“You’re going out with Delta?” she asked acting shocked.

“Well since I don’t have any plans tonight, it sounded like a good idea,” I said. “Look I have to get to class, I’ll talk to you at lunch.”

Misty sputtered a couple of times then just stood there while I walked off to class. Wonder what that was about.

At lunch Delta was there but not Misty. Delta said that she wanted us to leave right after practice and go out to eat first. She said reservations had already been made and that it was a little dressy, so I might want to wear a coat and tie. When I started to object, Delta just wagged her finger at me and said, “Don’t be that way. This is my treat. It will be fun.”

On my way to my last class of the day, I saw Misty and Cherry walking with some guy I didn’t know. They were both hanging on him pretty tight. That must be the new person of interest.

When I came out of my last class and was on the way to practice, Misty and Cherry hailed me. “Chuck, why don’t you go out with Cherry tonight?” Misty said.

I was a little peeved so I said, “Would it be a double date with you and your new guy?”

“What do you mean my new guy,” she said huffily.

“You know, the guy you have a date with tonight. You know the one you had plans for tonight? “I said then had an inspiration, “You know Misty, the guy that you had breakfast with today and the guy you two had lunch with just a little while ago.”

“Are you spying on me now?” she said.

“No Misty, it was just a good guess,” I said with sadness in my voice. “I saw you with a guy walking out of the central dining hall and just figured that’s where you had been. Look, I don’t know what you want with me, but I’ve always been up front and straight with you. I don’t like to play games. If you think you have something that you want, go get it, but don’t act as if you can keep me on the side for whenever you may want to play with me. I get to play too.”

Misty had confusion and hurt on her face, but Cherry’s face said it all. She was red-faced, looking down, embarrassed at being caught trying to play both ends.

“Have a good time tonight, Misty. I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast or whenever. See ya,” I said then went off to practice.

Freaking women. They sure can mess with your head.

I actually got to play during practice. I did some batting practice, but that was about it. No games till Monday, but we had practice scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday.

Back at the dorm, I shined my shoes and cleaned up getting ready for the date with Delta. My suit still fit well, and my white shirt was clean and pressed, so I was ready. As I walked past Misty’s dorm, Susie came out and hollered for me to come in a second. When I got to the door, she met me with a red rose with some paper around the bottom. Susie gave me the rose and a kiss on the cheek and said, “Good luck catching that babe; she is nice.”

I walked to her dorm and told the desk attendant whom I was there for. When Delta came out of the elevator, I almost dropped the rose. She was stunning in a simple black dress with spaghetti straps holding it up. The loose bodice seemed to float over her nice chest. She was wearing some really tall high heels, making us almost eye to chin instead of me towering over her.

When I extended my hand with the rose she actually gasped. She gave a huge grin then said she would be right back. She went into the elevator and disappeared. The other girls in the lobby were all standing there staring at me. I guess that was a good move. I had to remember to thank Susie.

When Delta came back out of the elevator, she gave me a hug but didn’t kiss me, as she was all made up with crimson lipstick and all. She had put on a black lace shawl over her shoulders in the event it was chilly out.

We walked out of the Dorm, and she headed toward the street. At that split second a black Cadillac limousine pulled up to the curb. The driver jumped out and opened the door for us. Delta got in then scooted over in the seat.

Seeing my surprised expression, Delta asked, “You okay?”

“Just awestruck, I’ve never been in a limousine before. It’s pretty neat,” I said with big grin.

Delta held onto my arm while we chatted all the way to the restaurant. Again the driver held the door for me so I got out then gave a hand to Delta and offered her my arm as we went to Maitre D’s desk.

Delta whispered in my ear, “Just tell them the reservation is for Charles Johnson.”

When I gave the information to the head guy, he led us to a secluded table with curtains separating us from foot traffic. It gave the illusion of total privacy. A waiter showed up and said our refreshments would be served with the appropriate foods as they were delivered. Since we were not given menus I was surprised when they delivered a plate of funny looking things with shells. Another waiter came and poured some white looking wine.

“Eat up Chuck, those will be good for you,” Delta said.

“Um, Delta, what are they,” I asked a little bashful about being ignorant of the food.

“The little ones are snails. I just love those. The big ones, you should know what they are, they are oysters,” she said.

“Okay, they do look familiar now. The way we eat them is to have a bunch chilled after soaking them for a couple days then we shuck them and eat them out in the yard so we don’t make a mess,” I said.

Next we were served a salad that was tossed next to the table before being scooped onto a plate. With this we were poured a different kind of white wine.

Delta was having a great time watching my face each time we were served. She could tell I had not witnessed this type of service before.

For our main courses, Delta was served something interesting looking with a good smelling sauce on top. She said it was veal Marsala. They poured her a light pink wine.

The waiter brought me a huge steak, steaming hot, along with a baked potato. The wine guy poured me a large wineglass of red wine.

This was the first good steak I had had since I left home. It was tender and juicy, the way I liked it. Who ever ordered for me did it perfectly.

After our delicious meal, they brought a gooey looking cherry desert that was very odd looking but very good. Neither one of us could eat that much of it but it was very delicious.

When we left, we didn’t pay anything or sign anything; we just left, strange. The limo drove up when we came out the door then drove us to a neighboring country club. An attendant opened the limo door for us, and again, I helped Delta out. We went in, and again, I was told to tell them the reservations were for Charles Johnson.

This time when I told the guy at the little front desk my name, he smiled very big and asked us to follow him. We walked into a very lavish looking lounge with a restaurant, and were led to a table that had Trish and an older couple sitting there.