Chapter 8: Date, Interuppted

We did not, as she put it, "Hop in the sack."

She was not being serious about that anyway, and it garnered the laugh she expected to get out of me. We did, however, make out for a while, and then I sent her home. I didn't want her parents irritated at our relationship before it had barely got off the ground. We planned an honest-to-goodness date, something I hadn't had in a long time, for the next night.

Saturday morning, I awoke bright and early, and by early I mean about noon. My body was sore and stiff from the game the night before, but it wasn't overwhelming. Just something I'd have to get used to.

My houseguests, as usual, had already cleared out. My rule was if you drank at my house, you didn't leave until the next morning. My friends respected that, and planned accordingly with their parents. While their parents probably had a pretty good idea that debauchery of some sort was occurring, it seemed it was worth it to them to know their kids were safe and weren't out drinking and driving. I guess sometimes peace of mind is worth a little leniency.

I made myself an omelette, heavy on the meat and cheese, and sat down to plan the day. At two, I'd head over to the Stephens' place to work on the float. Hopefully they were progressing nicely there, and I wouldn't have too many fires to put out. I'd prefer to work on stuff that actually required my presence, instead of babysitting and refereeing, which happened far too often. I figured I would do that until around five or so, then head back here to get ready for my date. I told Roxanne I'd pick her up at six.

The date. That was the big question. It was important to me that I keep our budding relationship on as slow a build as I could manage. Roxanne was passionate, and knew what she wanted. The teenage male in me was perfectly fine with that, and would reap the benefits happily. The young man, however, that had been burned that way once before knew enough to know we should take it slow. I probably could have had her in bed the previous night, if I pressed the issue, but I didn't want to do that to her. I didn't want to do that to myself. I wasn't that kind of guy, and I didn't want to have to live with myself should I become one.

Finishing with breakfast, I hit the shower, got cleaned up and headed over to Carly's place.

When I arrived, there wasn't anyone else there, but the barn was open and unlocked. I assume one of Carly's parents had opened it up this morning. It was kept locked overnight when there was no one working on it; a few years ago there had been a few incidents of vandalism and ever since people were very wary about the security of the floats.

I parked the truck and headed in. My task today was to get the mechanics working. Our design called for a large turntable, with Elvis on one side and Frank Sinatra on the other, which would rotate by itself as the float moved. Two methods were proposed; we could use a separate motor to drive the rotation, which would require an independent power source, or, we could use the rotation of the axle to make it spin using a gear based system. The gear method was deemed the quickest, easiest, and most cost effective, so today I'd be cutting wood, stringing gears, and building the big turntable.

I'd been at it about forty five minutes, and was sprawled out on a mechanic's creeper under the trailer when a pair of feet appeared in my vision.

"I brought you some coffee." The voice said. "It's a little chilly out here today."

I rolled myself out from under the trailer to see Carly standing there holding two mugs of coffee. I stood up and took the one she offered me.

"Thanks." I said, "I appreciate it." I took a sip. It was good coffee.

"No problem." She said, as she took a seat on the trailer. "The girls are on their way. They'd planned on starting around three."

"I know. I wanted to get a jump on the mechanics before the crowd arrived. Somehow I don't think I'm gonna get a lot done once they get here."

Carly looked amused. "Whatever do you mean, Nick? Could it be that blowing the doors off of Stevenson last night in your very first football game ever might be a minor distraction? Or, could it be that little incident with Roxanne yesterday morning that everyone's been talking about?" She paused for a moment. "What's the story there, Nick? Are you two a thing now?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. Yesterday was a little weird," I replied. "We have a date tonight."

"Really?" she replied. "Well good for Roxy. That girl needs to be a little more proactive."

"If you say so," I laughed. "In my experience, she's doing just fine in that department."

The other girls started arriving then, and soon there was a hubbub of activity going. I got back down on the creeper, slid back under the trailer, and continued what I was working on. Most of the girls came by at some point and congratulated me on my performance the night before. A few of them seemed to carry subtle innuendo with them.

It was about a half hour before Roxanne arrived. I heard some of the other girls greet her arrival, and someone said, "Your man's under the trailer."

Roxanne replied, "He's not my quite man yet, girls, but you bitches best stay away."

That garnered some laughs and some catcalls. I slid out from under the trailer just as she stepped over to my location.

"You know," I said, looking up at her, "I can hear y'all under there."

"That was for them, not for you." She said. "Do I get a kiss hello?"

"Would you like one?" I asked.

"God yes, and make it good." She replied. I motioned for her to come down to my level. Taking it a step further, she dramatically straddled the creeper and sat down on my midsection, and then leaned down. I gave her a kiss, and if the whistles and cries of "Get a room, you two." were any indication, it was a good one. I was half-tempted to just roll back under the trailer and keep her there.

"How's it going under there?" she asked, when we came up for air.

"Pretty good. I think I have the drive mechanism just about finished down here. I still have to cut the hole and run the belts topside, and then I can start on the turntable."

"Is there anything I can help with?" she asked.

"Uh, not really. I'm not going to be under here that much longer." Then I thought for a moment. "What would you like to do tonight? Do you have any preferences?"

She sat back for a moment and pondered my question. "I want to do something fun," she said. "No movies."

"What about bowling?" I asked. There were a number of nearby bowling alleys to choose from, and we wouldn't have to drive all over town to do it.

"That sounds fun. Are we going to eat too?"

"Sure," I said. "If you want, we can eat first, and then do cosmic bowling later. If you can stay out, that is. I don't know what your curfew is."

"I don't think that will be a problem," she replied. "You're still picking me up, right?"

"Sure. That ok?"

"Yes. I'd just like to show my mother that I can date a nice boy and I'm not making it up. Dad wants to talk to you too."

I rolled my eyes in mock indignation. "Already? Geez."

She laughed. "It's not that. My dad raised three football players. He and mom were at the game last night. He thinks you're the second coming right now."

"OK." I said. "I will come in and talk to your dad."

She leaned down and gave me one more kiss, a short peck on the lips. "Thank you. Now I need to go help the girls."

She got up and headed off to join her friends, and I slid back under the trailer.

I was on my way home later when my cel phone rang. I hit the hands free button on my steering wheel.

"Hello."

"Nick, its Roxanne."

"Miss me already?" I replied. We'd both left the Stephens' place not ten minutes ago.

"You know it," she replied with a smile in her voice. "I have a problem." The smile was gone.

"Okay. What is it?"

"I called Kara when I left to find out why she wasn't there today." Uh-oh, I thought to myself. "She's having a bit of a hard time, and when I told her we were going out tonight she broke down in tears."

"Okay." I remained neutral until I found out what the right position to take was. I didn't date much, but I wasn't stupid.

"Can we take her with us? I think she needs to get out of the house."

"Well, yeah, that's okay," I replied, "But if she lost it just hearing about our date, is actually going on it with us really going to help any? Kind of sounds like rubbing her face in it."

"I see your point." Roxanne said. "Do you know anyone else to invite? Maybe if she's not a third wheel she won't feel as bad."

I considered for a moment. "Let me make some calls. No promises though. It's kind of short notice."

"Thank you, Nick. I appreciate it," she replied.

"Don't tell her anything until I call you back though, okay?"

"Okay. I'll talk to you later."

"All right. Bye."

"Bye." And with that she hung up.

I thought for two seconds, then hit the number one speed dial on my cel.

"'Sup, honkey?" came Scott's voice over the speaker.

"What are you doing tonight?" I asked.

"Shit, I don't know. Dicking around probably." He said.

"Feel like letting me call in a marker?" I asked.

"Depends on what it is." He replied. No, it didn't.

"Roxanne's friend is tagging along on our date tonight. I need a wingman."

"I see. So this is that marker you're calling in."

"Yes, one of them. God knows I have enough." I replied. Scott owed me a lot of them.

"Which friend?" he asked.

"Kara Van Pelfry."

"The brunette, with the... ?"

"Yes, that one." I said, cutting him off. I could almost hear him gesturing with his hands through the phone. "She's rebounding, though. I'd appreciate it if you didn't use that to your advantage this particular night."

"Oh, I see, set me up and then knock me down."

"Is that a deal breaker?" I asked.

"Of course not. Where, what, when?"

"Figure around seven-ish. Dinner, restaurant to be determined, and then bowling. I'll pick her up. You can meet us at the restaurant."

"Okay, I can handle that. Later."

"Later." I disconnected.

I called Roxanne back as I pulled into my driveway.

"Did you find someone?" I smiled at her greeting; it meant she already had me programmed in to her phone.

"Yeah, it's all set," I said. "Scott will meet us at the restaurant."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said, happily. "I'll call Kara back and let her know."

"Tell her we'll pick her up," I said.

"I will. I'll see you in a little while."

"Okay." We disconnected and I headed into the house to get ready.

I pulled into the driveway of the Marshall house, showered and shaved, at about ten to seven. I knocked on the door, and a moment later, Roxanne's dad opened the door.

"Nick! It's good to see you again." He said boisterously. He held out his hand to shake mine, which I took, and he clapped me on the back with the other hand as he let me into the house.

"That was a hell of a performance last night. Hell ... of ... a ... performance. That was really your first game?"

"Yes sir." I replied, amused at his excitement.

"Well it sure as hell didn't look like it."

"I think we caught them unawares, and they were unprepared for the sudden appearance of a passing game," I said, trying to downplay my role. "I doubt we'll have it that easy next Friday now that the big secret is out."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll do just fine," he said. "You guys beat the state champs like a rented mule. The rest of the division was supposed to be looking up at them."

"That's true," I agreed, "But I firmly believe in 'any given Sunday'. Or Friday, in our case."