Chapter 51

Mrs. Carmody eyed the group from the doorway. She could smell the cigarette smoke, but no one was holding one and there were none in evidence. The Wilson boy and the Ruiz girl were parked on a picnic table, but he was up on the table top and she was on the bench. Was her makeup mussed? Mrs. Carmody circled to check. "What's this?"

The Wilson boy said nothing; Carmela said, "Nothing. I'm fine. Good, in fact."

Mrs. Carmody glared at Chuck, but Carmela burst out, "Haven't you ever cried because you were happy?" Mrs. Carmody sighed, pursed her lips, nodded, and departed, throwing over her shoulder, "You two are on thin ice -- football, or no football." The door closed behind her.

There were chuckles and someone said, "Dude -- I mean, Carmela? No offense, but..."

Chuck replied, "Who are YOU dating, now that Cindy Simpson's taken?" That got a laugh. Cindy was there, actually, with Tyrone Baker -- and her days of holding court at school were clearly over. The furor over Cindy and Beverly and their new boyfriends wasn't EVEN over... "You want a piece of advice?" he added, "Don't pick a chick with just your eyeballs. Think about what you WANT..."

Carmela tugged his hand. "What do YOU want?"

Chuck looked down at her and puffed out a sigh. "Are we there? Are we at the place where we can be completely honest with one another? Or are we still negotiating?"

"I don't understand."

Chuck looked around. "Even this is too public. Do you want to dance some more? We can talk about this later..."

"I can't dance the way I want to dance..." Carmela held Chuck's eyes, leaving Chuck wondering, 'Is she saying what I THINK she's saying?'

"Did you bring a coat? Who did you come with?" Chuck asked.

"Yes. Isobel. Would I need money?"

"No." 'If I take her to eat, I can pay. If I take her to the club, it's free... ' "Let's go tell Isobel," Chuck suggested.

"Okay." Carmela was happy to follow him wherever he led at this point. She took his hand and followed him inside.

Isobel was at their table, talking animatedly with Rick DeMeter, a senior they both knew. "Isobel, I'm leaving with Chuck," Carmela announced.

"Oh?" Isobel didn't have to SAY anything -- her look said it all.

"Mrs. Carmody doesn't like the way we dance," Chuck interjected. "She's about to run us out anyway, so..."

"I see." Isobel turned to Carmela, "Do you need anything? Your makeup is, well..."

"I should probably fix it," Carmela replied, adding, "I got angry over the harassment." She turned to Chuck. "Will you wait?"

"Sure." Chuck settled in at the table. He and Rick passed a couple of words, but they were both preoccupied with their plans for the rest of the evening and fellow travelers, but not friends.

In the bathroom, Isobel asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Carmela replied. "Chuck is right -- Mrs. Carmody is harassing us. I want to go somewhere else. How are you doing with Rick?"

"He's nice."

"So is Chuck."

"He's very busy with his hands," Isobel observed.

"You seemed to enjoy it when you danced with him," Carmela replied blandly, re-doing her eye makeup, "I do, too. I don't get touched that much."

"He probably wants sex."

"And Rick doesn't?" Carmela laughed. "I'll come up with something."

"You won't, either!" Isobel accused. "You'll sleep with him!"

Carmela sighed. "Isobel..."

"Well? Am I right?"

"He's saying all the right things ... You make it sound like a fate worse than death!"

"They ALL say the right things!" Isobel retorted.

"No, I mean the REAL right things!" Carmela insisted. "I mean he is answering questions like he's taking me seriously, not like, 'Yeah, Baby, anything you want to hear!' I mean he wants to TALK!"

"Oh!" Isobel blinked. "Really?"

"Really!"

"Still, this is your golden treasure we're talking about," Isobel mused.

'No, it isn't, ' Carmela thought. "Golden treasures are overpriced these days. Boys want to know what they're getting into BEFORE their wedding night. Besides, I think Chuck has seen a couple. He more or less TOLD me that he's not into collecting them for sport."

Isobel cocked her head. "Then you ARE talking."

"Yes."

"Do you want your wallet? You still might need cab fare..." 'Things can still go wrong, Girlfriend... ' Isobel added to herself.

"Please?"

"Okay, what's another couple of minutes? Are you ready?"

"Ready." The girls headed straight out to Isobel's car, collected Carmela's wallet, and returned, putting up with the usual hassles at the door. The boys, fortunately, never noticed, since they'd have both been unhappy to see the pair leave the building.

Alonzo and Tina were dancing again -- slow dancing, and not fooling around. Tina was there to enjoy herself and was molding herself to Alonzo and letting him lead, knowing that he could carry her if he wanted to. Alonzo was pleased; he really had no idea what he'd done, but he knew it had worked. The outlook on the sexual front wasn't clear, but 'serious girlfriend' seemed to be a lock. Sex would come later, if his luck held -- and not a lot later, either. Alonzo was a patient guy; he could wait and do it right...

But he wasn't going to have to. Alonzo had been on Tina's short list for over a year -- and he'd blown her out of the water, earlier. If they'd been at a dance club, she'd have taken both of his hands and put them on her ass and let him squeeze -- he said he liked it, and he was the FIRST to ever say so, and she was overjoyed that SOMEBODY did. Having it be him that made the comment made things perfect ... Did she want to make out? Oh, HELL yeah! What little they'd gotten in before that old harpy appeared to break them up had been Heavenly! Sherry would say things, but Sherry was a product of her upbringing -- her daddy was a serious racist. Tina wasn't totally colorblind, but Alonzo was exotic and a romantic and, well, just hot! Tina was trying like Hell to figure out where they could go to make out ... She couldn't go home and she couldn't go to Sherry's with a boy and it was a good bet that Alonzo couldn't take her home. It was going to be midnight soon, and the dance would be over...

Alonzo noticed her preoccupation. "What's up?"

"I want to be with you."

"What?"

Tina grimaced. "Not like that." 'Yes, like that, but I can't SAY that!' "You know, to kiss and stuff."

"Oh." Alonzo got a look. "I probably know a place. A nice place."

Tina smiled up at him, pleased that he would clarify things right away regarding whether he meant somewhere decent or the back seat of his car. "Really?"

"I'm pretty sure ... After this dance, let me ask somebody, but I think so."

"Okay."

"Do you want to go for a late dinner or something after the dance? The guys might be pulling something together..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. We don't HAVE to, but I thought it might be nice. When are you due home?"

"When I get there," Tina replied. "Momma will probably call me on my cell to see if I went to Sherry's to crash or what."

"Okay." Alonzo wasn't sure what Tina's mother was going to think of her being out with him, but now that he thought of it, she'd been out late with a crowd of guys before...

The dance ended and Alonzo led Tina over to the main team cluster. Everybody was there -- especially the couples who were already hooked up. "Hey, is the club open?" Alonzo asked.

"Not for the usual party," Toby replied, waving at the dance going on around them, "but the first floor is open all night for non-members and the others are basically ALWAYS open for members -- usual rules -- and I've asked for the kitchen to be open tomorrow morning for a brunch." Toby took one look at Tina, assessed her, and knew more about what was going to happen than Alonzo did. "There should be several rooms..."

Alonzo nodded. "What about food? Is anyone going anywhere for a late-night meal after this?"

Damian looked thoughtful. "That all-night diner on Newbury Street is on the way, and it's pretty big, being a chain diner..."

Mac nodded. "We could hit that place up, as an option. I know a lot of you guys are going home, but..." Several existing couples had no issues with parental discomfort -- his included, since Thursday. "Hey, Tina," he acknowledged Alonzo's date. Tina nodded back.

Frank sat back his eyes hooded. "Pa's at the club, anyway, I think -- said he might hang out with Abby." He grinned, eyeing Miriam. "We might play in the basement."

"Hey, let me know," Alonzo pressed. "I'm probably gonna take Tina to the club and hang out, but we could have a bite first. I didn't eat before the game."

Clint glanced around. "Let's plan on it." He got nods from various people close by.

"Hey, have you seen Chuck?" Alonzo asked. "I saw him with Carmela Ruiz..."

"Carmela?" Bonita blurted, surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah..." Alonzo clearly didn't see any reason to be shocked.

"He isn't going to just..." Bonita shut up. Carmela was a friend...

"I don't think so," Alonzo said judiciously. "Isn't that..." He looked off to where Carmela and Chuck were standing up from a table.

"Mi amor..." Bonita looked up at Terence.

"Uh, excuse us..." Terence got up and followed his diminutive girlfriend, who was making good time across the room despite short legs.

Bonita caught the couple halfway to the door, buttonholing Chuck directly, "Chuck, may I speak to you?"

Chuck looked down at Bonita, surprised, then took in Terence. "Sure. One moment, Carmela? I'll be right there..." But Carmela was stopped, too, of course.

"Chuck, what are your ... intentions ... toward my friend?" Bonita asked.

Chuck frowned. "We've, uh, hit it off. It's a negotiation, but I don't think you'd disapprove."

"Carmela is ... fragile. You could hurt her, if..." Bonita said hesitantly.

Chuck chewed his lip. "That isn't a surprise, actually. Maybe I ought to be clear -- I'm not planning a one-nighter."

"Okay. I'm sorry." Bonita backed off.

"You were concerned for your friend. I'm glad she has friends who worry," Chuck replied.

"We're talkin' about going to that all-night diner on Newbury after this," Terence noted.

"Yeah? Is the club open?" Chuck asked.

"All night. You'll have to stay on the first floor..." Terence noted. "Second floor, usual member rules."

"Yeah? Okay."

"Oh, yeah -- gonna be a brunch in the morning for the all-nighters," Terence added. "We'll probably do the club, but we'll be upstairs."

"So, first floor is... ?" Chuck asked for confirmation.

"Clothes. No mask. Should be plenty of open rooms on the first floor, since most everyone on the team is a member," Terence replied.

"Bonita..." Carmela had run out of patience and was approaching the trio, wondering what they were up to and how it would impact her upcoming conversation with Chuck.

"It's okay," Bonita replied, "I'm sorry I stopped you."

"I'm not," Chuck replied. The conversation had opened up some options. "We'll probably see you at the diner." He turned and took Carmela's hand.

"What was that?" Carmela asked.

"You have good friends. Bonita worries," Chuck replied. "There's a get-together after the dance we may want to go to."

"Okay." That wasn't everything, she figured, but maybe it didn't matter.

Chuck led her to the coat check and on outside. "For now, I think we can do my car," he told her, "since we're just talking."

"Okay." Carmela followed Chuck's lead. Chuck led her out to his car and seated her and got into the driver's seat -- but made no move to go anywhere. "So where were we?"

"We were talking about negotiating -- and being honest with one another." Somehow, it seemed more ominous now.

"Yeah." Chuck nodded. "You were asking me what I wanted. I'm not sure I even know. I know I like you..."

"You do?"

"Sure."

"I'm not sure why I'm here. I looked at myself in the mirror in the bathroom and nothing has changed..." Carmela mused.

"Okay, you're wondering why I stuck myself in front of you tonight."

"Yes."

"Guys like to dance, too, you know."

"Isobel likes to dance..." Carmela ventured.

"Yes, she does -- and I gave her a shot. But there was no ... chemistry. I like the way you feel..."

"I feel like something large," Carmela replied, "An elephant, maybe."

"You're a lot softer than an elephant," Chuck replied, grinning, "but you're not ... squishy, I guess. You don't seem to mind being touched..."

'I CRAVE it!' she thought, 'Can I say that? No.' She compromised with, "It doesn't happen much."

Chuck grinned some more. "Nobody rushes out to feel me up, either. Guys don't get that."

"I'm ... big..." Carmela ventured.

"You wouldn't be the first big girl I ever went out with," Chuck replied.

"Oh? Who else... ?"

"I would want to ask her before I told anyone, but there is one."

"I'm not beautiful."

"You're not ugly, either."

Carmela dropped back to punt. "You said you must know what you want..."

Chuck sighed. "I used to date a girl who was decorative. She thought that was enough. I didn't. Lately, I've had my nose rubbed in the fact again and again that there are other things -- looks aren't the whole enchilada."

"So, what other things... ?"

"We're still negotiating, so I can't just come out with some of them, but a real interest in me would be a start. Some caring. I don't think I ever really kissed that other girl -- she just hung herself off me and pretended to be interested -- in public. In private, I might as well have been made of cardboard." He decided it was time to press back. "What about you?"

Carmela shrugged. "There is the mistress and the girlfriend and the estupido who is less than either of the others. I would prefer not to be the estupido."

"Can you elaborate?" Chuck was confused.

"The mistress is clandestine, but she is well-treated and receives gifts. In the end, perhaps, it is mostly sex. The girlfriend is acknowledged and seen and out in the open. The estupido is hidden and told lies and is only there for the sex," Carmela explained.

"Um. Okay, we're looking at girlfriend, here," Chuck grunted.

"We haven't talked about the sex," Carmela insisted.

"I'd been trying to avoid it," Chuck rasped. "Okay, you first."

"No." Carmela folded her arms. "YOU first!"

Chuck sighed, eyeing her. "Okay, I'm a guy. The sex is going to be important. If that doesn't work, the rest of it probably won't, either."

Carmela eyed him. "When? How much?"

"If I'm negotiating, I'd say whenever I want it, starting tonight -- but that's just the starting point. I know I won't get that."

"You might -- if I get what I want," Carmela retorted, eyeing him.

Chuck eyed her in surprise. "What DO you want?"

"I want the relationship," Carmela replied. "It is more than the sex. The girlfriend sometimes has the sex and sometimes has the relationship -- and sometimes she has both. I would like both. I want to be able to say, 'This is my man. I am his woman' -- and not worry that you might not think so."