Chapter 15: Friday, the Day of My First Date

Friday, April 1, 2005

The next thing I knew, I was waking up at my usual time the next morning.

#1: <I guess that answers that question.>

I can't tell you much about what I did at school on Friday, as I wasn't able to pay attention most of the time. I know the school's car came to get us at the agreed upon time, and delivered us there. I did meet Julia before first class and apologized for not calling her to say "goodnight." I'd always thought people seemed weak doing "goodnight" phone calls on TV, but now I felt the need. "It was my mom's and sisters' faults. They kept wanting to talk about my plans for our date." That was sort of true, but not really.

Julia gushed, "I've checked the weather forecast and it looks fine. I'm REALLY hoping we can walk in the garden. I'm so looking forward to getting some time alone with you. I'm glad you chose that restaurant." Julia was as excited as I was, which amazed and delighted me.

"Umm, Mom chose that one. I don't know many restaurants." I was feeling guilty over my previous dishonesty.

At lunch I was approached by an attractive, but rough-looking freshman girl, who asked, "Egg, what are your plans this weekend?"

"Ahh, I don't know, I haven't thought about it." That was true, as none of my thinking had gotten past Friday evening.

"Would you like to come for a nature walk with me on Saturday? It'll be fun, I promise."

Julia was attached to my left arm as usual. Suddenly her hands tightened into claws (ouch!) and I felt her getting up.

I felt panic. What do I say? Julia was about to do something, and I was expecting it to be bad, if not violently bad. People were listening, but if I said the wrong thing it might be me that Julia gets violent with.

I tried a very definite, "No way! I don't even know your name and I have a girlfriend." Who was now mostly out of her seat and about to step behind me so she'd have a clear run at her target.

"I'm Betty. I'm not worried about your girlfriend; I'm twice as much girl as she is. I'll show you a much better time."

It's true that Julia is probably the shortest girl in 10th grade, and it could be that Betty is "twice as much girl" as Julia - what Betty lost by not being fully twice as tall as Julia she made up for by being amply packed out in the other two directions - but I don't think that total volume is the best way to choose girlfriends. Other than for breasts of course, but this probably wasn't a good time to start eyeing Betty's breasts.

I could see bloodshed coming, but having my right arm in a sling made it almost impossible for me to stop Julia walking around behind me. Some of the spectators were even starting to laugh; a great help that was!

I yelled, "JULIA STOP!"

In the moment that she paused - and I could see it was only going to be for a moment - I gracefully (it's my middle name after all) swung both legs over the seat stood up and put my left arm all the way around her. She was as stiff as a board in my hug, and I could see that she was entirely focused on clawing Betty's eyes out. So I picked Julia up and started walking away.

So focused on Betty was she, that Julia didn't realize what I was doing for a few seconds. When she did realize, her head suddenly turned to look straight at me. Before she could say anything bad, and I knew it was going to be bad, my mouth opened and the first words that came out were, "I love you, Julia Williams."

I don't know where those words came from - I certainly hadn't planned them - but they sure had a good effect. Julia screeched with joy, wrapped her legs around me, wrapped her arms even tighter around me, and started kissing me. Then removed her lips to say, "I love you too", and immediately resumed her kissing - our first kisses!

I wasn't really enjoying them though. First, I was still in shock about what I'd said. I hadn't intended to say it, and I was very unsure whether it was true. I was thrilled beyond words to have Julia as my girlfriend, and was thoroughly enjoying all the attention and affection she was showering me with, but the "L" word was WAY too uncomfortable. Second, having a girl up in the air, with her legs and everything else wrapped around me, smothering me with kisses, was slightly in excess of the level of PDA (Public Display of Affection) tolerated by the school. The catcalls and whistles weren't helping either.

When I could get my lips back, I urged, "Get down, Julia, or we'll get in trouble."

She lowered her landing gear and I set her on her feet, but she was still glued to my arm.

I tried, "I haven't had a chance to eat my lunch yet and I'm hungry. Can we go back to our table please?"

I looked back at our table, and Betty was still standing there watching us. Even after seeing our PDA she was still waiting. I added "stupid" to my already low opinion of her.

I walked back to the table. I think Julia had forgotten about Betty, as all Julia did was hold my left arm in both of her hands, and stare into my eyes as we walked. I'm surprised she didn't trip over, but we got to our seat.

As soon as we were close enough I addressed Betty, "Go away stupid girl. I wouldn't go out with you if you were the last girl on Earth."

That probably wasn't strictly true, as she was pretty enough and - I couldn't help noticing - well stacked, but the situation seemed to call for a strong statement.

#3: <The bird on your arm is better than the two-sized one in the bush.>

We laughed out loud at that, but rather than making me seem strange - as it normally did - this time it made our put-down of Betty seem even cooler.

"Your loss then." Betty turned and sashayed away, waving her not-inconsiderable ass. Offering me a last-chance inducement perhaps.

We sat down in our original seats, Julia, still hanging on to my arm fiercely.

#3: <I hope she lets go of it soon, I need it to eat, and I'm hungry.>

Julia leaned forward and whispered, "The only doubt about tonight, is how often you're going to get lucky."

I blushed, and after a few seconds, I took a risk in whispering back, "My Dad gave me some rubbers last night."

"Bring them ALL! I've already gotten a box for you too."

That certainly made things clear! Her previous comments about "getting lucky" and "making it easy" had been exciting but indefinite, so I hadn't been sure what they meant even after spending hours fantasizing about them. "Bring all your rubbers" had just the right amount of ambiguity: none at all! My virginity was on death row, with only a few hours of life left. It was going to get a last meal, but it wasn't going to be lodging any last minute appeals (you can probably tell that I was frazzled again).

#1: <She's already got a box of rubbers for us! I've never heard of a guy getting it as easy as this.>

#4: <Yeah, we're VERY lucky!>

From what I could remember of Julia's attitude to the guys in our common classes this year, she hadn't shown much, if any, romantic interest in them. She'd been flirted with sometimes because every girl is, even the small-titted ones like Julia, but I couldn't recall noticing anything ever come of it. I'd certainly not seen her behave as determinedly in a relationship as she's doing with me these days. From what I'd noticed before, she was generally polite to guys - except when she was ordering them around - and romantically uninterested. Her behavior with me was a complete turnaround. In my opinion, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving and desperate guy.

I thought I'd try a little trick, and I successfully made my stomach rumble. Julia took the hint and relaxed her grip on my arm.

I quickly took the opportunity and started eating, making a little time to say, "Good, I need to keep my strength up," which earned me a laugh from her.

I presume various other things happened that day, but I didn't notice. At least I wasn't so distracted that I missed the car ride home. I did miss seeing Julia off at the bike rack though as she'd told me she was leaving school early that day, "to get ready for our date." We had plenty of rubbers but apparently she needed to get something else ready.

I had an early dinner while the family tried to tease me, but most of their comments just washed over me. My euphoria couldn't be dented.

Then I started getting ready: showering, dressing and fantasizing. The females checked and double-check that everything was as it should be: that my clothes were clean and neat, no dust or stray hairs marred my perfection, etc.

They all commented on how handsome I looked. When I made the effort to really look at myself in the mirror, I was surprised that they weren't exaggerating as much as I'd thought. My pimples had been clearing up for the last couple of months and were now about two-thirds gone. I had filled out some more, so I was now slim rather than skinny. My clothes weren't a formal suit, but they matched well especially after Mom had added one of Dad's ties. My face even seemed a little more angular and masculine than I'd noticed before. The only trouble was my sling. Mom had changed it for a more subdued color, but nothing could be done beyond that.

Carol said I was "A dish," which was laying it on too thick but the sisterly loyalty pleased me.