Chapter 7

Day 13, Saturday Evening

Anna straightened my collar and gave me a kiss on the cheek in front of her mother -- fooling around as though she were the doting mother instead.

More privately I had been reminded that I could have my fun out or when I got home, but not both. I didn't point out that, if she wanted to accurately play act Hailey's role, anything I got from Hailey I would have to get from her as well.

I had offers from both Ma and Doug to take me to Hailey's house and then drop me off at the club. Even Brent had offered but it then turned out the time clashed with his own plans.

I thanked them and explained that, though I would have a cab pick us up from Hailey's, the walk there would do for my exercise.

"Don't get sweaty before you even see her."

Anna was showing no signs of possessiveness tonight. She was a little smug however and though I was sure she was up to something I had no way of working out what, where, how or when it would affect me.

I was quite sure what the why would be!

Her demeanour certainly destroyed any image of her being romantically interested in me herself.

I had gone out for a little while during the afternoon to report in -- a fairly easy matter of indicating the progress code together with a brief explanation of the two girls I was dating. Behind the scenes further information would be gathered about them to ensure I didn't fall foul of some odd coincidence like the family being under witness protection or subject to an open warrant -- or worse, connected closely with the Pringle family, my primaries!

No-one cared that I had a complicated love life, nor my reasons for making it so. It was nice to be treated as a professional and an adult even though I am sure some saw me as acting like James Bond or perhaps Austin Powers.

I was a little early since I expected to have to spend at least five minutes on display. Hailey showed no sign of being affected by the earlier stresses and introduced me warmly to her family.

This time there was a younger sister, a bit of a tomboy, and I think I eased my way by talking to her about my model cars. Since she monopolised much of the conversation Hailey's parents didn't have to embarrass her by asking awkward questions to fill in the time before the cab driver knocked at the door.

"You needn't have paid for a cab. I could have dropped you off."

"Thanks. Perhaps next time. He's here now."

"Okay. Well you two enjoy yourselves."

"Thanks Daddy."

The taxi fare wasn't much since we didn't have that far to go. It dropped us off at a cheap restaurant : burgers, chicken and fries, pizza. Not fancy but food a teenager would enjoy without franchise sameness. Saturday nights also seemed popular and we had a little wait before a table came free.

"This gets packed later," Hailey advised.

I looked around. There were seats coming free at different tables but apparently that was a temporary situation. We were between movie shifts and early for the Club.

"I don't have to be home until eleven," I was advised.

"What will we find to do until then?"

Hailey blushed. "What did you find to do with Rosalee?"

Such a lovely combination of coyness and courage!

"Ah-ah! Naughty girl. You should know better."

"It's just she seemed pretty smug at soccer. Like she had a secret that made her better than the rest of us."

"Oh?" I was non-committal. Hailey wasn't going to weasel or trick any information out of me.

"If she was a boy I'd say she'd gotten lucky."

"How does a boy look?"

"Like Rosalee, Silly!"

"So I look silly now?"

"Why?"

"Because I must have gotten lucky when you agreed to come out with me."

"Now you are being silly." She tilted her head. "Do you plan on asking the whole soccer team out?"

"Individually or as a group exercise?"

"Individually of course."

"Why? Do you think I should?"

"It would piss Rosalee off."

"And not you?"

"I figure I've got as much chance with you whether it's just Rosalee or the whole team. If you like me then liking others won't change that and if you like someone better then that's likely to happen some time down the track as well."

"Sounds like you've seen it happen."

"My real mom left Dad when I was just one; she couldn't or wouldn't cope with being a parent. Mom is his second wife."

"You get on with her?"

"Oh yes. I love her and she loves us."

"Sounds like she is your real mom then."

"Is it the same for you? Having a new mother I mean. I like Mrs Jamieson."

"She's been swell. It takes a bit of getting used to. Different bed, different food, different rules. And then there's the new school and teachers. Trying to fit into groups of friends. Anna's been good -- she introduced me to some people, and to you and Rosalee of course."

"And you got to kiss the rest of the team. Maybe you should work your way through them."

"I wouldn't work my way through any group. Certainly not just so I could say I'd done it."

"So why did you pick us two? Just because we get picked up by Mrs Jamieson?"

"Well that quite naturally made you easier to approach. I had seen the others on the team but I'd met you. I guess I liked what I saw and though it was too short a time to know if we'd get on it was long enough to interest me in finding out."

"What if you decide you like us both? Won't that make it harder for you to choose one of us?"

"It could but say I was attracted to a couple of people and one was okay to be with while I found I couldn't live without the other once I got to know her. Wouldn't it be a pity if I only went out with the first one and never found out how great the second one was?"

The fact we were sitting together indicated Hailey had already decided that it was better to share me with Rosalee and have a chance of getting me rather than conceding the field to Rosalee without a fight. How far I could push that was another matter; either could decide I wasn't worth having.

"I asked you out to find out more about you and we've been talking more about Rosalee so maybe I can use her to move the conversation back your way. You both go to school together. Where's that?"

Hailey didn't mind moving back into "normal" date territory.

"Yes we do. It's the Convent of Our Lady of Sorrows."

"So you're planning to become a nun?"

"No! They're just our teachers."

"Mixed?"

"The teachers? Oh, the school. It hasn't been except in the lower years but numbers have been dropping and the boys aren't being sent to the state school or being bussed right across town any more as they get older. Our year still is girls-only."

"Do you like it? Or maybe, which subjects do you like most?"

Never under any circumstances ask yes/no questions on a date! I argued with myself that I was an assassin, not an interrogator.

"History, Biology, Italian."

"Ah! Ciao ba-by!"

"That means goodbye and it would be 'bambina' if you really meant baby."

"Oops. But I thought 'bambino' was baby?"

"I'm not a boy."

"Would you believe I hadn't noticed?"

"Do you want me to say ciao?"

"No. Okay, I admit I have suspected you might not be a boy."

Hailey stood, pretending to leave the table.

"Okay! I'm glad you don't look anything like a boy."

"Once more with feeling."

"Hailey, you are gorgeous. Your face is lovely, your body -- at least how I imagine it looks from what I can piece together -- is stunning. You are 100% girl and I am excited that you have consented to go out with me tonight. Please don't spoil it by leaving early."

"Oh well -- that's better, adequate in fact but your imagining me is a little creepy. I'll let you think about it and you can try again later and see if you can improve."

We were grinning when our meal appeared -- a good size belly-filling pizza with absolutely no topping likely to offend a person you were dating for the first time. No garlic, no anchovies, not even pepperoni! Oh well, at least the pastry bore no resemblance to cardboard.

It was harder to talk and eat but we didn't need to bolt our food down. I asked what history she liked and found she had a preference for the early South American cultures and how they fared under the Conquistadors and the colonists who followed.

I acknowledged an interest in the Empire of Alexander the Great and how it disintegrated on his death; how the middle east was a crossroads trampled over by each conquering army in turn. Our history was taught from the framework of the countries of Western Europe when it even strayed outside the continental USA. It was nice to find a kindred spirit who took her reading outside the prescribed curriculum.

We got away from school topics -- hell it was the weekend! Naturally Hailey's musical tastes and mine differed; one wouldn't expect them to be the same unless one of us was trying to cosy up to the other. Finding we could explain why we did or didn't like a particular song or band was cosy enough for both of us. We were comfortable in each other's presence without the need to impress. Neither of us mentioned Nina Simone.

It was what you wanted to feel on a date. I hadn't really had many. I didn't have the money when I was living with my mother and once the experts found my "adjustments" in the burned out wreckage of my father's car, well, I was too busy to go out other than as part of my training. I could get on with almost anyone but tonight I was as me as I could be -- or perhaps as "Roger".

Since we were going clubbing I asked if Hailey liked to dance. I hoped it wasn't her raison d'être. (My French is better than my Italian, which wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had pretended.)

I had more work to do and I couldn't do that if I was continually stuck out on a dance floor but likewise I didn't want us sitting around all the time.

"I don't mind, but I'm not very good."

"How about slow numbers?"

Disco might have got people doing aerobics together under strobe lights but, when you were with someone you were eager for, a slow shuffle in dim shadows with your bodies pressed together so you didn't have to imagine the lumps and bumps was absolutely divine.

Our grandparents might not have considered it dancing but they did the same thing as far as their rules allowed. We might not know a Foxtrot from a Waltz but then we didn't bother with the Twist either. We knew a tit from a cock though and in that we shared an unspoken link with the past.

It turned out Hailey was quite okay with slow numbers.

Dinner over, we made our way to the Sharp Angle club. That's how the name appeared in neon above the entrance. The longest two sides of a narrow triangle in blue with the words gradually diminishing in red, top to bottom.

There was an age restriction -- twenty five and under -- but management kept an eye on those over about twenty. Any lechers were asked to leave and not allowed back. Those who were younger got a little more leeway since the venue was intended for them and a nice earner it must have been.

The kids had incomes their parents would have only fantasised about at their age. They couldn't spend it on alcohol and drugs were stamped out as far as humanly possible but the entrance charge (unfairly but practically skewed in favour of the girls) easily covered the DJ and the bouncers while a dash of flavour in a splash of soda water turned a very few cents of mixer into a couple of dollars worth of profit. Add similarly inflated chips and nuts -- not expensive enough to stop it being "uncool" to BYO however. A few snacks and the chance to have your request scheduled to be played for a couple of dollars, or perhaps an embarrassing Happy Birthday at a special time for a little more, and the owners of the only "adult" entertainment for older teens were doing very well.

There were a few of my other friends there already and we sat with them. Space was going to be at a premium as more of us arrived but Hailey had no objection to sharing my lap both to be closer to me (and to let any bitches around know I was taken) and to make it easier to hear ourselves over the already throbbing music.

The room was lit mainly by three large screens which showed the video hits or by a laser light show when there was only music playing. A projector in the ceiling slowly painted the walls with a kaleidoscope of coloured shapes that kept the room dark enough for young lovers to fool around a little but light enough for management to see and to stop the lovers going too far.

Like the Pool Hall owners, Management here also had to satisfy the parents!

I don't know about the others but I had already spotted Management's little secret. They had some pretty nice low light gear mounted around the place. I would have liked to have seen their control room. The images might have been green but I'm betting an occasional blow job or finger fuck would keep the security guards watching the screens alert and interested. They might even occasionally catch someone selling pills.

Hailey draped her arm around my neck and that meant her breast rested against the side of my head. I put my arm around her waist with my hand just making contact with the underside of her bra. We were playing a private game of Chicken or perhaps Dare.

How far could we go before the other cried foul or how far before we couldn't protest accident or outright innocence?

It was a teenage thing and the beauty was we both knew the other wasn't likely to raise any objections if it was kept a private matter. If we had been against a wall I might have been able to slide my hand down the back of Hailey's panties and bugger her with my finger but, if it meant people would adversely notice, then resting my hand on the top of her thigh might have her asking to be taken home. Well we might not actually take things to either extreme perhaps but the examples embodied the general principles.

There was some awkwardness as people greeted us. I was grateful that they had made an effort to remember my date's name and Hailey hardly bristled at being called "Rosalee" or, once, "Rosa".

My classmates and friends looked puzzled when I re-introduced her as Hailey and more than one started to say something along the lines of "But I was sure you said she was..."

Hailey just smiled at them, realising it wasn't their fault. In fact she had no doubts whatever whose fault it was.

I got her out onto the dance floor!

We moved around together for a while, touching fingers to palms as we kept each other company in our little patch of floor. It wasn't holding hands; nothing that secure or subject to comment this early -- but it was contact.

The music changed and I tightened my hold, pulling Hailey gently towards me so my arms found their way around her waist while she rested her hands on my shoulders with her arms bent between us.

It had been too noisy to hear while we danced before but now I could put my lips next to her ear and try to apologise for the identity mix ups.

"It's all right," she semi-shouted back, "but I've been getting some funny looks."

"You should see the ones they're giving me."

"Should I tell the girls that you're built like an elephant's trunk? I bet if I tell just one everyone here will know in under five minutes."

"How do you know I'm not?"

That broke Hailey up and I had to hold her while she kept giggling.

"I'm sorry," she eventually sobbed. "It's just I kept visualising it."

"You are imagining my penis!?"

"What! You've never imagined what I look like without this dress on?"

That was right -- try to give a compliment and get your earlier comments used against you!

"That particular dress? No, never. Your soccer gear though. Actually, now you've got me thinking about it, I wonder ... Do you every play shirts and skins? Hmm, even better. Two teams of sexy young ladies with only armbands to tell the teams apart. Maybe dark and light shoes to make it easier."

"Or big boobs and flat chests. Would that be enough difference for you?"

I looked at Hailey. "That's not a bad idea. Can I leave it for you to organise for next Saturday?"

Hailey's fingers dug into my shoulders.

"Okay, I'll behave, even though I do think you could charge your spectators and make plenty of money. Girls running down the pitch..." I bounced my head. "K'dung, K'dung, K'dung!"

"You said you'd behave."

"I didn't say I'd behave properly."

"True."

Hailey was contemplative for a few seconds then she pulled me over to a less inhabited part of the room where we could yell with a little more privacy.

"Is that all you really think about?"

"No. I could be silly and talk about nice juicy butts but really those sort of things just get our attention. A girl who has nothing else would get boring, well eventually. You've got plenty to make guys sit up and look and much more to keep them interested."

"You sure? They haven't been knocking down my door."

"You've been too secluded in your nunnery perhaps. If Anna hadn't dragged me out to soccer where would we have met? At the mall maybe. Would you have been alone or with your family? Perhaps with some of your girlfriends?"

"Probably with Mom or my friends."

"So I'm alone. Can't very easily crash a group of girls to talk to you, and certainly not a family outing. And if I'm with others it's still no good while your Mom's around and I'd have to brave my friends as well as yours. A rather daunting task."

"You'd do it."

"Thanks. Maybe. The problem is you don't carry a sign saying 'I'm taken' or 'I'm available'. If I try to talk to you with the guys watching and you say 'not interested' bang goes my cred whatever the reason."

In fact my "cred" only mattered where it affected my job and in this case I would have built just as much cover by trying and being rejected as by getting a date. It had simply worked out easier to get the dates.

Hailey got a boost from my explanation though; she had a better understanding of why the boys her own age (much more conscious of the pressure of their peers perhaps) had failed to make the first move.

Of course, making her aware that I thought she was worth more interest also made her more determined that I was worth fighting over -- figuratively speaking I hoped! Getting the balance just right was not easy and I felt I would definitely be learning from my mistakes.

We danced again for a while then headed back to the others with our arms around each other's waist. Hailey didn't need any further reassurance and just wanted to remain close to me.

Mark and Kyra were there, Mark not paying Hailey any attention -- he'd met Rosalee -- but Kyra raised her eyes and came closer to be introduced.

"Hailey, this is Kyra and over there is her brother Mark. Kyra, Hailey."

"Hi Hailey. I see you managed to get him onto the dance floor. That's a major achievement with these guys; they don't mind the music but we girls often have to get out there together."

"I'm sorry," I kidded, "I'm new and didn't realise there were rules."

Kyra punched my arm playfully.

Hailey took an immediate liking to Kyra. If I had pointed out the difficulties in asking a stranger out, I had omitted the problems of being brought into a group dynamic where everyone knew each other but you. If you were politely ignored while people had their own private conversations you soon felt isolated.

"I'm heading to the ladies; want to come?"

Hailey looked at me.

"I'll be here."

She smiled at me and followed Kyra to a spot where I'm quite sure neither of them needed to go. A couple of the other girls accompanied them and it seemed Hailey would find herself accepted. What Kyra would be asking or saying about me though...

Mark came over. "Something about your date looks different."

"Dress?"

"Of course the dress! Maybe how she has her hair."

"It is a little longer than last night."

"Longer, yeah that would be ... Huh? How?"

"It's a different girl Mark! Last night was Rosalee, tonight it's Hailey. I did mention it on Wednesday."

"It's still hard to believe that you've only been here what, two weeks, and have dates with two different girls!"

I observed those around us carefully. "You could do it too. Look around. There are any number of girls hoping some guy will show an interest in her. If he's half decent she's likely to give him a chance. She won't expect it to mean anything at all on just a casual meeting like this and if you don't actually end up asking for a date the most she's likely to do is figure she's not your type."

"You're sure?"

"Trust me. Grab one of the other guys if you want back up. Simon looks okay tonight. Find a pair of girls you think look lonely and start out by saying to the one you want, 'My friend and I were wondering if you and your friend would like to dance.' That way she's not suddenly leaving her friend all alone and isn't ending up alone with just you if she decides she wants to bail."

"Sounds fair."

"Then go to it my man!"

Mark gave a grin and went to collar Simon.

I went to where they had left Pete and Trev behind.

"What gives?"

"Mark is on the prowl. It seems Kyra figures we guys don't show enough interest in the dance floor and I've set a bad example. Sorry guys. Why hasn't one of you asked Kyra out there?"

There were some rapidly traded looks.

"You haven't heard?" Pete must have drawn the short straw.

"About what?"

Pete looked around. "Mark and Kyra's old man. He's mixed up in something -- I don't even want to know what..."

"I heard Mafia," chimed in Trev.

"Colombian drug cartel," countered Phil from behind him making Trev jump.

"Whatever. I guess nobody wants to find out how Kyra's father feels about just anyone dating his daughter."

"So you take turns to ask her. How do you think he will feel that no-one takes an interest in her?"

I could see I had confused them. Now they had to consider which was the lesser of two evils.

The girls' club came back and Kyra gave me a weird smile. What had Hailey been saying?

Hailey cuddled up to me -- which I didn't mind -- and hinted it was time to dance again. As we headed back to the gyrating crowd I heard a voice behind me.

"Kyra, would you like to dance?"

I think Kyra might have been even more surprised at finding herself on the dance floor with a guy than at finding her brother next to her with a girl who was obviously interested in him. She clearly thought I had something to do with both incidents and after a couple of dances somehow indicated to Hailey that she wanted to cut in -- a concept more in tune with her grandparents.