I never looked around to see if anyone was staring at us. I didn’t want to know.
After a while we went and stood in the picture line. Josh and Courtney were in front of us.
When Josh saw us, he smiled. “Hey, how’s it going?” He turned to Courtney. “You know Bob, don’t you? And this is Cassidy Woodruff. She’s one of my sister’s little friends.” Then he laughed. “I mean my little sister’s friends. Sorry, Cassidy. I wasn’t saying that you were short.”
Short, no. But what about immature? “Right,” I said. “What would Freud say?”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t think Freud would say you’re short either. What are you, five-eight?”
“Five-seven.”
Bob lowered his voice. “Don’t ask her about her weight. She’s touchy about it.”
Now Courtney peered at me with wide eyes. “You’re not trying to lose weight, are you? Because you don’t need to.”
“I told her the same thing,” Bob said. “And she got all defensive.”
“I’m not trying to lose weight,” I said.
“You can ruin your body by dieting too much,” Courtney went on. “We learned about anorexia in health.”
“I’m not anorexic,” I insisted.
“Well, no one ever admits it.” Courtney turned to Josh. “It’s all men’s fault, you know. You expect us to be shaped like Barbie dolls.”
Josh held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’ve never said any such thing.” He turned to me. “You’re great the way you are, Cassidy. I wouldn’t change anything about you.”
I blushed. And glowed. And didn’t know what to say.
Josh didn’t wait for me to comment. He turned to Bob. “Hey, how’s your computer program going?” Then to Courtney and I, Josh explained, “Bob’s a programming wizard. He made his computer sound like Spock from Star Trek. When it shuts down it says, ‘Live long and prosper.’”
“It also does McCoy,” Bob said. “When you search for a file it says, ‘Darn it, Jim. I’m a computer, not a magician.’”
I laughed. Momentarily I forgot I was talking to Bob and asked, “How did you do that?”
He spent the rest of the time in line explaining sound cards, hertz, and RAM to me.
After the picture, Bob asked if I wanted to go to the refreshment table. “No thanks,” I said. “I’m planning on binging and purging later.”
He looked at me oddly. I’m not sure he got the humor.
I found Caitlin and Faith, and we spent a few minutes talking to them, then went to the dance floor again. After a few songs I grew hot. I hoped the soy sauce smell wasn’t permeating through my clothes. When the next slow song started, I asked, “Do you want to go outside to cool off?”
Bob nodded and we left. We went out back, down by the bleachers. A few other couples were wandering around. Silhouettes in the evening. I wondered if Chad was out here with Lisa. Then I sighed and sat down. Bob sat down next to me.
“Are you having a good time?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry about your dress.”
“It’s okay.”
“And I’m sorry about the hygiene comment in front of your parents. When I get nervous, I babble.”
It was the first thing he’d said on the whole date I could relate to. “I do the same thing.”
“You do? I’d think a pretty girl like you would never get nervous.”
“Thanks, but I babble more than I’d like to admit. Either that or I can’t think of anything to say.”
“You can get away with that, though. You don’t need to say anything to get a guy’s attention.”
Bob had been leaning down with his elbows on his knees. At this point he attempted to sit up and put his arm around me. At least that’s what I assume he was doing. Instead, his elbow caught me on the nose. A flash of pain shot through me, and I fell backward into the seat behind me.
“Sorry!” Bob jumped up and hovered over me.
I put my hand to my nose. It was bleeding.
Bob took hold of my other hand and pulled me to my feet. “Are you okay?”
I tilted my head back to try and stop my nose bleed, but it just got worse. Blood ran between my fingers and down my arm.
“Aw be awight in a minute.” I headed towards the school and Bob followed beside me, apologizing all the way. “I’m so sorry, Cassidy. I can’t believe I did that. Do you think it’s broken? I can take you to the ER if you want.”
“No, no, Aw be okay.” I was lying. I wasn’t okay. I was dripping blood across the pavement. If someone didn’t clean it off before school started on Monday, it would look like the scene of some grisly crime.
By the time we made it to the bathroom, my dress was bloody and a crowd of people had gathered around me. Caitlin gave me a wad of toilet paper to hold against my nose. Faith soaked some paper towels and swiped at my dress. One of the chaperones got ice from the kitchen, and I held it up against my nose.
When it finally stopped bleeding, I told Bob, “Maywe you’d betta tage me homb.”
Bob nodded and we left.
We ran into Chad and Lisa at the front door. He saw me and did a double take. “Are you all right?”
“Ya. Ah wiw be.”
“What happened?”
Bob cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I hit her with my elbow.”
Chad shook his head. “Trying to beat her into submission, Caveman?”
“It was dust a wittle accident,” I said.
Chad kept shaking his head. “I don’t know if you should hang around this guy. Your boyfriend is obviously a brute.” He chuckled, though I wasn’t sure what he thought was funny—the idea of Bob being a brute, the idea of Bob being my boyfriend, or just my disfigured face.
I strode out the door without looking back.
Chad called after us, “Next time, try over the head with a club. It isn’t as messy.”
There was only one good thing about coming home from a date wounded. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bob wouldn’t attempt to kiss me. On the porch I said, “Aa tink Aw’d betta go id now.” He nodded, offered one more apology, and let me go inside.
I went straight to the bathroom to survey the damage. My nose was still red, but it wasn’t misshapen. So at least it wasn’t broken.
Mom came in and saw my dress. “What did you spill this time?”
“Blood.”
She gasped, and I told her the story.
She listened to it, mouth open. “When I said your first date would be memorable, I didn’t think it would be this memorable.”
“I’m never going out on a date again.”
Mom gave me a hug and two ibuprofen tablets. I went up to bed and fell asleep, even though it was only nine thirty.
I was awakened from my sleep, and a dream in which I was being chased by six-foot-tall boxing ants, by a gentle tapping sound. I sat up in bed and looked at the clock. It was eleven forty-seven p.m. The tap came again. Something had hit my bedroom window. I pushed back the curtain and saw Josh on our front lawn. He motioned for me to come down.
I threw on a sweatshirt, some exercise pants, and my shoes. Then I tiptoed down the stairs and out of the house as quietly as I could.
Josh was still wearing his suit. He looked out of place, standing there on my lawn all dressed up.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Do you know where Elise is?”
I shook my head.
“She told my parents she was with you—a story I found hard to believe, considering I’d just seen you at the dance, and she didn’t appear to be anywhere around.” He sighed. “She’s not answering her cell phone, so I’m supposed to be here getting her. I’ve got to find her before my parents freak out and call the police. Any ideas where to look?”
I shrugged. I was still half asleep.
“Who are her other friends?” he pressed. “Where do they live?”