Chapter 25

It was a few minutes into Friday, April 3^rd, 1981.

College students are somewhat nocturnal (which was why getting up early for Western Civ was such a hardship). So it wasn't unusual at all for Wes and me to be up when our phone rang just past midnight. Wes was closest, and his eyes lit up when he answered it.

"Well hello, gorgeous!"

But his smile was short lived.

"You alright?" he asked. Then his eyes swung over to me, a puzzled look on his face.

"Yeah, he's here. Sure." He gave a shrug as he held the phone out to me. To my questioning look, he covered the mouthpiece and said softly, "Kendall."

"Hi there."

"Randy?"

"Yeah, kiddo, what's going on? You've got Wes all worried here."

"Oh ... tell him I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she replied, sounding distracted. "So ... are you doing anything?"

"Right now? No."

"Me neither, and I'm feeling ... restless. Can I talk to you?"

"Uh, sure," I said. When she didn't respond I realized she wasn't referring to a phone conversation.

"Uh ... you mean... ?"

"Can you come over?"

I instinctively felt a need to be careful.

"This is Randy, not Wes, you know. He'd be happy to come see you."

"Tempting, but no," she replied, and I could picture her smile in my mind. "It's nothing like that."

Whatever that means, I thought.

"I don't know, Kendall. Is that ... is that a good idea?"

She didn't reply, and I could picture her not smiling in my mind...

"Okay, I'm on my way."

"Thank you," she said and promptly hung up.

Wes and I shared puzzled looks as I threw on a sweatshirt.

"Let me know if you need help," he said with a hopeful grin. I nodded on my way out the door.

The door opened at my knock, and Kendall was already retreating to sit on the edge of her bed as I stepped inside. The main overhead light was off. What light there was came from the small reading lamps on the two desks near the windows.

When she saw me hesitating she patted the bed next to her, and I felt my guard instinctively going up. As I sat by her in the half light, I thought that her eyes might be a little puffy. She gave me a peck on the cheek with lips soft and warm, and interlaced one hand's fingers with mine in a soft joining.

I gave her a bemused smile. "You said you're feeling... 'restless'?"

She smiled somewhat self-consciously. "Well, yes, in a way."

"And what way is that?"

"I'm finding that ... I miss spending time with you."

"We see each other every day."

"That's true. Would you like some hot chocolate?"

"Pardon?"

"Would you like some hot chocolate?" she replied, repeating her non sequitur. "I remember you saying once that you liked it."

"Uh ... on ski trips, maybe."

"Really? I guess I didn't remember that part. I'll have to pay closer attention."

She got up and retrieved a coffee cup and a green steel Stanley thermos from the shelf over her desk. She handed me the cup before unscrewing the top of the thermos. She carefully poured steaming hot chocolate into the cup, looking up into my eyes a couple times as she poured. It was clear that she was trying to please me ... almost submissively so.

The time it took to serve the hot chocolate gave me a moment to catch my breath. Her saying she didn't "spend time" with me ... I looked up to the bookshelf space where Paul's picture was placed ... it was missing.

Then I noticed something about my beverage ... it had an aroma of...

She smiled indulgently. "At least I remembered you like schnapps in your hot chocolate."

This was too weird.

"Kendall, what's going on?"

"Always so serious..."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do. But you still don't need to be so serious."

I decided to not reply, simply raising an eyebrow at her instead. Her playful look faded a bit.

"Okay ... I wanted to talk to see if you still felt the same way about us."

"Umm ... all right."

I left it at that, until I knew more about why she was asking. I could tell she was working herself up to go on.

"I still feel the same way. I still want to be with you, Randy."

I stared at her, trying to figure out what brought this on...

"I suppose ... I still feel the same way." I gestured to her bookcase. "I see you've taken Paul's picture down again. Has something happened?"

She looked away from me for a moment.

"No ... not yet," she said softly. "But I wanted to know, if something did happen ... would you still want to be with me?"

"And by 'something happening, ' you mean that you'll tell Paul about me?"

"Yes."

I looked at her searchingly. "Is Paul still coming to UT?"

"Yes."