“Mom, no,” Alan said, an apologetic look toward his date. “Please, we really have to go.”
“And they will take professional pictures of us at the dance,” Rachel Hayes said. It was one of just a handful of statements that had left her lips since her arrival ten minutes earlier. “You’ll be able to buy as many as you want.”
“But they won’t have the flower garden in them, now will they,” Kelly said and quickly ushered the couple out the front door toward the flower garden that Jimmy and Alan had slaved over in the predawn hours of Mother’s Day as a surprise.
Jimmy watched from the doorway as his mother took several more pictures of Alan and Rachel, her statements that attempted to encourage smiles making the two even more glum. Eventually she stopped and told the two to have a good time.
Though he couldn’t tell for sure, Jimmy thought he saw a look of relief spread across Alan’s face as the two headed toward Rachel’s car, one which she had insisted Alan drive since it was a Lincoln and much nicer than the car he and Jimmy had planned on driving.
Kelly Hawthorn came back into the entryway, watched for a moment as Alan opened the passenger door for Rachel, and said, “I don’t like her.”
“How come?” Jimmy asked. He noticed his tie was crooked and started to fix it in the mirror, but only managed to make it worse.
“She’s a stuck up little brat. ‘They will have professional pictures at the prom that you can buy.’ No shit Sherlock.”
Jimmy laughed.
“And she acted all superior to us, especially with all that ‘let’s take my daddy’s car because it’s nicer and more formal’ crap,” Kelly added.
“I think you just don’t like it that Alan is going to the prom with a senior even though they are only two years apart.”
Kelly didn’t reply to that and instead asked, “When are you picking up Tina?”
Jimmy looked at the clock on the wall and said, “In a few minutes.” He looked at the camera. “And no, I won’t be bringing her by for pictures.”
“Oh, come on, I promise I won’t go crazy.” She looked at the back of the camera. “Besides, I don’t even have much film left anyway so you have nothing to worry about.”
“You know Alan and I bought you that camera for Christmas,” Jimmy said. “So I know it doesn’t take film.”
“Well, the disk is almost full.”
“Nice try.” He looked at the clock again. “I better head out.”
“Okay, fine. But I want to meet her one of these days. You promise.”
“I promise.”
Jimmy gave his mother a hug.
“Have fun, but be careful.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Jimmy headed out to the car.
Less than five minutes later he was pulling into Tina’s driveway, his eyes surprised to see Tina waiting for him by the front door rather than inside out of the heat.
She started toward the car.
He quickly stepped out so he could be a gentleman and open the passenger door for her.
“Jimmy, the brake!” Tina cried.
At the same time his foot was knocked out from under him as he tried to step onto the shifting pavement, and without much thought he jerked his hand toward the gear shift and threw the car into park.
Protests rang out from the engine as the car bounced to a halt.
“Whoa,” he said while standing up, his hand touching his head.
“Are you okay?” Tina asked.
“Um, yeah.” He shook his head and then rubbed his leg which had been twisted pretty badly, but wasn’t hurt. “I’ve never done that before.” He slowly started around the car. “Here, let me get the door for you.”
Tina cautiously sat herself into the car.
Jimmy closed the door and started back around, the words you stupid idiot echoing inside his head.
Neither spoke for a moment.
“You okay?” Tina asked again.
“Yeah,” Jimmy said, though his heart was racing. “I still can’t believe I did that.”
“I’ve done it before too,” she confessed. “It’s like your brain just skips a step for no reason.”
Jimmy nodded.
“Of course I didn’t get back in and stop the car.”
“Really? What’d you do?”
“Watched in horror as my dad’s car smashed two bikes and then hit the tool bench in the back of the garage.”
“Oh no.”
“It was really bad and then when my dad came outside I burst into tears.”
“Did you get in trouble?”
“No, he was just glad I didn’t get hurt and said the shock of what happened was probably enough to make it so I never made the mistake again.”
“I wonder if your mother would have been as forgiving as him had I smashed into the garage?”
“Ha, she’d try to have you thrown in jail for reckless engagement and destruction of property.”
“And they would probably convict you of being an accessory since it was mostly your fault.”
“My fault!” Tina cried. “What?”
“Well, if you weren’t so breathtakingly beautiful I wouldn’t have been distracted, and would have remembered how to drive.”
“Wow, that is… so unbelievably lame.”
“Yeah, well, I see you smiling over there. And believe me, it’s true. The moment I saw you standing there and saw how beautiful you were my mind went blank.”
Tina blushed. “You’re sweet.”
“I really am,” Jimmy said and then leaned over and kissed her.
“Modest too,” Tina said once the kiss was finished.
The two laughed.
“Okay, let’s hope I didn’t kill the engine by shifting it to PARK so quickly,” Jimmy said while shifting the car into REVERSE.
“Fingers crossed,” Tina said.
The car backed out of the driveway without any trouble and soon the two were heading toward the school.
“Aren’t we going by your house first?” Tina asked.
“What?”
“Alan texted me just before you got here and said your Mother wanted to take pictures of us.”
Deputy Paul Widgeon had been placed on the far corner of the parking lot, his vehicle backed into the rear at an angle so he could see everything that happened from his corner to the rear of the gymnasium where the dance was taking place. His presence there was to be a deterrent against someone grabbing a girl, but in all actuality he had a feeling he would be a bigger deterrent against teens who wanted some private ‘feel each other up and maybe start the process of bringing a new life into this world’ time. The fact that he had lost his virginity during his prom about twenty yards from where he was now sitting wasn’t lost on him and actually brought a smile to his face. Her name had been Ellie. He wondered what had happened to her. The two had broken up when he informed her he was joining the military. Apparently she had been of the opinion that turning the other cheek after September 11, 2001 was more appropriate than attacking the terrorist camps.
Was it worth it? he asked himself.
No answer arrived.
He pushed the thoughts away and once again focused on the parking lot, his mind wondering what the sheriff was doing right now.
Across the parking lot a group of young men awkwardly escorted their dates into the school, their tuxes too formal for their age and giving the impression that they were trying to pull a fast one.
The pictures didn’t really take all that long, yet were still annoying because his mother just kept insisting on different shots while also bringing up tons of different subjects in an attempt to get to know Tina, whom she had never met before. After that they then had to go inside and talk to his father because he too wanted to meet Tina. By the time it was finally over Jimmy felt like going to bed and hadn’t even arrived at the dance yet. Thankfully the idea of being there with Tina kept him from allowing the exhaustion to overwhelm him and soon the two were standing in line at the school, waiting for their tickets to be verified.