Chapter 4

Saturday night, Chet picked up Lori before heading to Rhonda's house.

He had always liked Lori's parents, and they liked him in return. That would explain their not asking why he was there and not Tommy, Lori's current boyfriend. Or why he came to their door in his baseball uniform; and their daughter came down the stairs in her cheerleader outfit.

Lori surprised him by settling into the seat next to him on the bench seat of his old pickup. He couldn't help but admire the long legs that stretched out from under her short cheerleading skirt.

"That's not a regulation length skirt, is it?" he asked, willingly his voice to be whimsical. He gestured with unconscious familiarity, remembering wistfully of the firmness of her bare thigh. "Not that I'm complaining."

She smiled and picked up his hand, interlocking her fingers with his. His heart lurched.

"Just keep your eyes on the road, horn dog. It's my freshman skirt, and I've sort of outgrown it. But my other ones were ... in the laundry."

"Well thank God for dirty laundry!"

She smoothed down the skirts' hem. "Even if it's not a real date, I thought giving Jimmy a little thrill is the least I can do to thank him for saving my ass."

She surprised him by leaning against him. He surprised himself by reflexively raising his arm to accommodate her, looping it around her shoulders. She cleared her throat.

"I've missed you, Chet."

He wasn't sure what to make of that. "Well that's, uh, sweet of you to say."

Sensing frowned at his trepidation. She shook her head and leaned away a bit, looking out the passenger side window. When she spoke he could barely hear her. "This wasn't the plan."

"What?"

He could feel her tense up, saw her chin lift. "I'm breaking up with Tommy."

He blinked in surprise. "Oh. I hadn't heard that."

"That's okay; neither has Tommy."

"What?" he said again and she chuckled.

"I know you didn't approve when I started going out with him again. Not that it was any of your business," she added sharply He remained silent, so she pressed on, the words coming faster.

"Every kiss-ass in school wants to be 'friends' with the head cheerleader and star football player couple, looking for their moment in the sun or whatever. It's great for Tommy; he's got nothing better to do than hang out and hold court - no plans to ever do anything else, I've realized ... I'm tired of all the phonies. I'm going to tell him tomorrow."

She picked up his arm and lifted it off her shoulders and back over her head while turning to tuck her feet underneath her. She dropped his hand onto her knee then interlocked her hands behind his bicep, resting her head on his shoulder.

"And you," she said reproachfully.

He understood the unfinished rebuke. "Lori..."

She didn't respond.

They were quiet for a while as they drove through town. He recognized her pensive expression, and waited for her to re-start the conversation. When she did, her voice was cautious.

"Chet, could you tell me how it happened? I mean, you were always so shy with girls, so how..."

"That's part of it, I guess."