Chapter 6: Double Date

Kevin cornered me first thing Friday morning. “Dude, are you free tonight?”

“I got nothing planned, why?”

“Can you double date with me?”

“What?”

“After you cancelled Saturday, I asked Lauren if she wanted to go out instead.”

“Finally! It’s about bloody time. Where’d you find the balls?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. She was standing by her locker on her own yesterday afternoon and I just went for it.”

“Good for you. But what has this got to do with me?”

“She said she couldn’t come out Saturday ‘cause she already had plans but that she could come out tonight instead. Trouble is, her mom will only let her go out if it’s a double date with Lisa.”

Lisa and Lauren Simms were twins. I’d known them since we were all very small. Hell, I’d known most of my friends since we were very small. Kevin had had a crush on Lauren for as long as I can remember. She was the more outgoing of the two, which is probably why she attracted more male attention than her sister, even though they were identical. Lisa was more studious and dressed a little more conservatively.

“In that case, count me in.”

“Thanks, man. You’re the best. Hey, this isn’t going to cause a problem with Kelly, is it?”

“Why would it?”

“I just thought...”

“Just nothing. Go find the twins and tell them we’ll pick them up at seven. I just hope I don’t end up watching the same movie two nights running.”

Vicky let me borrow the car. I picked up Kevin at ten to seven and the twins were waiting for us in their front yard when I pulled up as the hour struck. Kevin and Lauren sat in the back, Lisa got in the front passenger seat. Kevin and Lauren were immediately lost in their own little world, staring into each other’s eyes and whispering. She seemed as excited as he did. I think the crush may have been mutual.

“You look really nice tonight,” I said to Lisa.

She smiled demurely and said, “Thanks.” Then after a pause, she added, “But not as nice as Lauren, right?”

Keeping my eyes firmly on Lisa I repeated, “You look really nice tonight.”

With a blush, she said, “Thanks.”

Kevin and Lauren only had eyes for each other throughout dinner and I doubt they saw much of the movie either. As we got back in the car afterwards, I asked, “What time do you girls have to be back?”

“Midnight,” Lisa said.

I looked at my watch. “That gives you about an hour. Want to do anything else?”

“Could we go The Rec?” Lauren asked.

The Recreation Ground was a large public garden with playing fields on the edge of town—one of the facilities set up by Liddington-Phipps when the factory opened. It was also where most of the teenagers went when they were on dates to do the things that teenagers do when they were on dates. I parked as far from the other cars as I could and switched off the engine. Kevin and Lauren were all over each other before it had even stopped ticking.

“Want to go for a walk around the lake?” I asked Lisa.

She glanced behind her, looked back at me and nodded. “Good idea.”

The boating lake was just a minute’s walk from where I’d parked and would probably take us about twenty minutes to walk around if we took our time. It was a clear night and the moon was bright, but the park was well lit and we couldn’t see any stars.

“Thank you for tonight,” Lisa said. “It was important to Lauren. She was devastated when Mom said that any first date she went on this year had to be a double date.”

“I was wondering about that. She hasn’t ever done that before, has she?”

Lisa shook her head. “She decided I wasn’t getting out enough. She thinks there’s something wrong with me for spending all my time with my nose stuck in a book.”

“She knows you’re top of the class, right?”

“Like she cares. I want to go to uni, but she thinks I should just pick some guy, settle down and reproduce. Like she did. That might be good enough for Lauren but it’s not good enough for me. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I love Lauren to bits and whatever she wants, you know?”

I nodded.

“But I want more.”

“And you’ll get it. I wish I had your smarts.”

She gave me an apprising look and then shook her head and laughed.

“What?”

“You. Trying to make out like you’re not the smartest kid in the school.”

“I’m not.”

“Like hell, you’re not! You’re so damn smart that you know not to be top of the class. It’s okay for girls to want to do well, but you guys have a rep to maintain.”

“Rep? Me?”

She slapped my arm. “You know what I mean and don’t pretend you don’t. If you did your best all the time, you’d be top of the class by miles and the stick you’d take for it from the other lads would make your life hell. So you slack off just a bit, just enough. You act all laid back and stuff, but you got straight A-stars at GCSE, right?”

I reluctantly nodded. She was right, and I knew it. Even if I didn’t want to admit it. Not even to myself.