When arrived, it didn’t take long for my spirits to lift.
“Hey, David,” I heard the sweet voice from behind me say, so I slowed down and let Tracy catch up.
We fell into step and I checked out her tight jeans, which hugged every curve. She was so delightful that her presence burned through my funk of worrying about Tami leaving.
I reached out and took her hand. She leaned in so we wouldn’t be overheard.
“You’re a bad boy. All I could think about was your cute butt.”
“How did you see my butt? I thought the connection dropped.”
“Yeah, right. You just wanted to see how horny you could make me.”
Horny was good.
“Did it work?” I asked.
“What do you think? I was waiting for you like a stalker when you got to school.”
When we got to the hall with my locker, I saw Tina waiting for me.
“Hey, save me a seat at lunch. I need to talk to Tina. We had a date last Friday and it looks like she needs to talk.”
“Wow, you’re the confident one. Aren’t you worried I’ll get jealous?”
“Tracy, you’re the most gorgeous girl in school. You have nothing to be jealous about. Now, do you want to do a little PDA so your friends have something to talk about?”
I nodded to indicate her fellow cheerleaders who were watching our every move. She actually gave a little schoolgirl giggle as she leaned in to peck me on the cheek. I was having none of that. I turned at the last second and laid a sizzling kiss on her.
“I think that’ll hold you until lunch,” I said.
As I left, her friends swarmed around her and you could hear the girl-chatter triple in volume. I had a feeling Tracy would get even at some point. I really hoped I would enjoy the revenge.
I walked away as she just stared after me. I walked up to Tina and saw she had a scowl on her face. I wasn’t in the mood for any drama, so I put on my best smile.
“Hi, Tina. What’s up?”
“What’s up with you and Tracy? Did you replace me that quickly?”
I was really in no mood for the jealous girlfriend act. She was the one that told me to move on, so I was a little short with her.
“Come again?”
She instantly saw her mistake, because she looked apologetic. I decided to cut her some slack.
“Nothing, I’m the one who broke it off. Sorry for being a bitch, but I did want to talk to you. Some of my friends are interested in going out with you,” she said.
That was the last thing I thought she would say. I think she could tell it knocked me a little off-balance because she chuckled at my expression. Did she say friends, plural, as in more than one? Why would they tell her they wanted to go out with me? Then it dawned on me: Tina had talked to them about our date. As soon as I comprehended that, my face was suddenly bright red and Tina was now laughing.
“What did you tell them?”
“From the look on your face, probably more than you wanted me to.”
Oh dear God, she surely did not share the sex stuff? How do girls read our minds? She just nodded to my unasked question, and I buried my face in my hands. Someday I’ll learn that girls give much more detail than a guy ever would. Two guys would just say something like, ‘Did you nail her?’ and the conversation would be over. Girls gave each other every shocking detail.
“You’re so cute. Don’t worry, you came off well. They’re all waiting for me to give them the go-ahead. Do you want me to give the all-clear today? Or wait a day or two?”
“Please, don’t set them loose on me today. I have too much going on, and I have a, oh I don’t know, a date with Tracy on Friday. Can you put them off until I find out what that’s all about?”
She could see the desperation in my eyes. I was sure she could have toyed with me, but she took pity.
“Sure. Just remember you promised to take me out once I turn sixteen.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
The bell sounded to indicate it was time for our first class. I dumped my book bag, grabbed what I needed and headed to class.
AT LUNCH, I FOUND LILY had waited for me and she looked concerned. I smiled at her to reassure her.
“Did I get you in the divorce?”
“You sure did,” she said, and seemed to brighten at my teasing.
I came up and gave her a hug.
“What’s bugging you? You look sad.”
“Actually, you’re bugging me. How come you didn’t ask me out?”
That brought me up short. To be honest, I hadn’t even thought about asking Lily out. It had nothing to do with how she looked. I would be comfortable having her on my arm. The problem was she was the center of so much of my recent past. I still had days where it was almost too much. I could see she was serious and she deserved a serious answer.
“That date was a practice date,” I said, and I could tell that confused her. “My brother’s been helping me out. He’s getting some help from his girlfriend, Cindy. You might have noticed some changes in me over the last few weeks. This is going to sound bad. They’ve been helping me become dateable.”
I waited for her to laugh at me. My eyes drifted to my feet in embarrassment. It did sound bad when I said it aloud.
“Hey, look at me,” she said, and made me look her in the eyes. “Tami told me what was going on. I just wanted to know why you didn’t ask me. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’d like a chance to be more than friends.”
I think my response wasn’t what she was looking for.
“How the hell does Tami know what’s going on? I never told her, and I’m pretty sure Greg and Cindy aren’t talking about this.”
She chuckled.
“You’ll have to ask her. She scares me sometimes with how she finds things out. All I know is that you, mister, better never have any real secrets, because Tami will know them before you do.”
“Lord, isn’t that the truth.”
“So back to my question: do I have a shot at a date?”
I let out a big sigh.
“Lily, I’m just starting this dating thing. I have no idea what I’m doing. Let me get this figured out before I bring you into this mess. You’re too important to me to be just one date. You’re the type of person I could get serious with.”
“Yeah, right, no idea what you’re doing. All Tina can talk about is how big you are and how much pleasure you gave her.”
I would have to kill my mom. I knew her little talk with the girls would come back and kick me in the butt. Poor Tina was no help when she went on and on about Mr. Happy. At least Lily had the grace to blush. I decided to change the subject before anyone else had an opinion on my manhood.
“Sorry, no details. Are you ready for the big time?” I asked.
She didn’t miss a beat.
“All right, I’ll bite.”
“We’re going to be sitting at the ‘cool kids’ table. It seems I’m now cool since I played well on Saturday. Are you sure you want to spend time with all those stuck-up people?”
“If you’re there, I’ll be fine.”
She was like a puppy. She only saw the best in me. I just wish I were as good a guy as she thought I was. I needed some unconditional love about now. I pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. We had grabbed our trays and picked out what to eat when Lily broached the subject that had weighed on me.
“I heard you and Tami aren’t talking. Is there anything I can do?”
Lily really is a sweet girl. She didn’t know about our talk on Sunday.
“We talked yesterday and we’re good. That was nice of you to ask.”
I didn’t think she expected that because she kind of snorted and gave me a goofy half-smile. I wiggled my eyebrows at her and she fell into step with me.
When we walked into the lunchroom, I was looking for my new cool group. Lily nudged me and pointed with her chin to where Tracy was seated. When we came up, there was only one seat next to Tracy. Tracy looked at Mona Wingman, they did that girl thing where they read each other’s mind, and Mona got up to make room for Lily and me. Tracy was a gracious hostess.