Four

“SO, HOW MANY DATES you got tonight?” Howard asked as he soaped up my face. I only do this when I’m going out for something special and tonight was a concert at the zoo.

“Well, let me see,” I said. “There’s the wives, Melody and Lissa, and our girlfriend Kate.”

“When are you going to marry her?” Donna asked as she watched, waiting for her chance to get her hands on my hair.

“Kate’s special. She probably won’t want to join the partnership until we’re out of school,” I said. “We’re working on her, though.”

“Okay, so the four of you?” Howard asked.

“Well, then there’s our girlfriends, Allison, Bree, Wendy, and Whitney,” I said.

“So, each of you in the central four has a girlfriend?” Donna asked.

“Well, Wendy is Kate’s girlfriend. Bree is Melody’s girlfriend. Allison and Whitney are both kind of Lissa’s girlfriends. She’s insatiable.”

“And yours?”

“Oh, I’m just along for the ride.”

“What a bullshitter,” Howard laughed. The last time I was in, he was sure I’d lost all my girlfriends.

“Howard, look at this,” Donna said softly as she finished using that vacuum thing on my neck. Right on time, Melody, Kate and Lissa walked into the barbershop. Allison, Wendy, Bree, and Whitney were following right behind.

“Holy Mother of God!” Howard said. “Whatever that kid’s got, I want me some of it.”

“In your dreams, Howard. In your dreams,” Donna said. “What are you doing tonight, anyway, big guy?”

I handed the money to Donna as my girlfriends stepped up one at a time to get a kiss and feel my baby-smooth cheeks. We left the barbershop in a group and I saw Donna wrap an arm around Howard.

It was a different dynamic at the zoo than it was when we were here last summer. Last summer it had been our first date with Kate and the four of us were so head-over-heels in love that I was swept away by the environment and did a new and colorful sketch that would start me on the way to painting things other than reclining nudes. This time, I didn’t pull out a sketchbook at all, but we were caught up in the torch and twang of K.D. Lang as we ate a down-home picnic of fried chicken, potato salad, and soft drinks. Being the upright male amidst seven glorious, sexily-clad ladies, made me the obvious envy of a lot of guys and several gals. Kisses were shared liberally among us. We held hands and joined a crowd two-stepping around the edge before collapsing on our blanket in a Gordian knot of arms and legs.

“Attention, everyone!” Kate said as she stood naked at the foot of the bed. That was enough to get the attention of the other seven of us in bed. Wait, where’s Wendy? “You all might not know it, but the Fourth of July is an important holiday for more reasons than Independence Day. The Fourth is also the official anniversary of Tony, Melody, and Lissa. They were blessed by a minister in Nebraska. So, I think we should wish them all a happy anniversary.”

Wendy walked in the door with a little cake and a candle glowing in the middle. We had a raucous celebration after the three of us blew out the candle. I didn’t know people blew out candles on an anniversary cake, but we did. We all ate cake and then there was a little game of find the crumbs, played with tongues. I don’t think there were any cake crumbs in some of the places I found tongues. We went to sleep a happy and exhausted crew.

For two weeks, life was routine. Up early, breakfast, and read to the boys. Studio all morning, working beside Kate.

About two o’clock, I went to the club with Lissa, Whitney, and Allie. We warmed up, played hard, and Lissa criticized everything we did. In a good way, of course. It seemed like the better we played, the more little things she had for us to work on. I spent one afternoon five feet from the wall returning balls I couldn’t see coming. I got hit in the face so many times my left cheek was black and blue. By the end of the session I could hear the ball coming and move to where I needed to be.

We were as ready as we were ever going to be and John arranged an invitational at the club. He kept it small, inviting top players from the area to participate in the round-robin tournament. Allison and I did well. Neither of us lost a match, even though we’d managed to get some incredible players to come to the tournament. I came off the court after my first match and saw Karl Higgendorfer warming up. I hadn’t seen him since our surprise match-up before Nationals.

“How’d you get into this tournament?” I asked as we shook hands.

“Got an invitation from the Ice Queen. Can’t refuse to appear when the queen summons,” he laughed.

“How are classes going?”

“Tiring. I’m only taking an extra day to come out here to play and then it’s back to the grind on Monday. They don’t give med students a break,” he said. I remembered my time at the med school here in Seattle sketching the dissection of a cadaver with a shudder.

“Hey. Anybody special in your life?” I asked.

“No time. Why?”

“Just wanted to know before I set you up tonight,” I laughed. I ran to my locker and called Amanda. Yeah, she guessed she could come over to watch a match and go to dinner tonight if I could promise dancing and drumming. Well, little lies.

Karl and I met again in the last match of the day and we were both at the top of our game. We both dropped into our zones so easily that it was a joy to play. The match was tight and I took the last game by two points. We were both damned proud.

“Karl, we’re headed to our favorite restaurant tonight and you are coming with us,” I said in the locker room.

“Um ... I wouldn’t dream of saying no, but I’ve got to ask you. Do you know that gorgeous brunette with the electric blue eyes that came to watch the last match? You know you wouldn’t have won if I hadn’t been thinking about her,” he said.

“Ah. My strategy worked,” I said. “She’s your date tonight.”

“She’s what?”

“She doesn’t know it yet, though, so please don’t blow it as soon as you meet her, okay, Doc?” I laughed.

“Tell me about her,” he demanded.

“Senior, pre-med, beautiful, and sharp as a scalpel. That’s all you need to know before I introduce you.”

“Uh, Tony?” Amanda said as she approached me in the restaurant.

“Geez. I invite you out and you don’t even talk to me. What’s up?”

“As if you didn’t know, you ass. I just wanted to tell you I won’t make it for drumming and dancing tonight.”

“Oh, well that’s too bad. I’m glad you could join us for dinner.”

Amanda plopped down wiggling between Kate and me.

“Is he for real, Tony?” she asked. “I know you planned this, but I’m not sure I’m ready for anything serious. He’s just so nice.”

“He’s a good guy, Amanda. I don’t know if he’s right for you, but I just knew that you’d like to get to know each other. He’s a couple of years ahead, but that could be advantageous, too. And you’re on opposite coasts for the next year. You can’t get so involved that you neglect your studies,” I said. “If you like him, enjoy the company. If you don’t, come over and do some drumming.”

Amanda glanced over to see Karl in an intense conversation with Allison. She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss.

“I miss studying with you, Tony,” she said. “Thanks for watching out for me.”

The three teens stood nervously at the foot of our bed. Melody, Kate, Lissa, and I had just gotten out of the hot tub and crawled into bed. It was about the first time this summer that it had just been the four of us, with Allison in a rehearsal, Wendy working, and Bree and Whitney in a meeting with Coach Jacobson. We’d barely crawled into bed when there was a knock at the door and three naked teens entered the room.

I just assumed they wanted to use the hot tub, but they came to the foot of the bed to address us.

“It looks like you’ve adopted the family uniform,” Kate laughed.

“Well, it’s just us,” Sunday ventured. “I mean, none of your ... um ... girlfriends are here.”

“Even if they were, it would be okay,” I said. “What’s up? You want to use the tub?”

They looked at each other and Willow and Rainbow nodded toward Sunday to continue.

“Tony. Everybody. We didn’t realize you had such a busy summer coming up when we asked to come and stay with you,” she said. “I guess none of us knew when we talked about it. But we never meant to be an extra burden to you. And with all of you leaving, we don’t want to impose. We were thinking that if you wanted us to, you could drop us off at the train station tomorrow and we’ll go back to Oregon, or something.” I was shocked.

“Are you tired of your big adventure?” Kate asked softly. “Had enough of the city and ready to go back to live on the commune again.”

“No!” Willow said. His mouth worked some more, but no other words came out.

“We love it here,” Rainbow supplied. “None of us want to leave, but you’ll all be gone.”

“Oh dear,” Lissa said. “I didn’t think. I assumed you’d love the opportunity to be independent. I didn’t think that you’d feel abandoned.”