Chapter 112: Two Dinners

Tuesday, June 22, 1982

Cammie and I, along with Angie and Gene, wound up being our research group on our expedition to the UH library this time. Sheila was having a date day with Amit, who’d be leaving tomorrow, and Sue was busy with family stuff.

I can’t say we found that much, but we tried, and figured out several unproductive avenues. Sometimes knowing where not to look can be a good thing, too.

We left UH about 4pm and didn’t have too much trouble with traffic. I dropped off everyone but Cammie by 5:30pm.

We picked up Mel and Jasmine and headed for the mall, where we were all meeting Candice for dinner at the pizza place. By now it was our go-to meeting place. I found that amusing — considering that Candice and I had a history with it — but it didn’t trigger any bad feelings.

Candice brought Sherry, of course. She hadn’t brought her parents. By now, she was pretty much a normal teenager. We all knew there would always be little scars, little bits of poison, lurking in her mind, but they seldom bothered her anymore. That, or she was extremely good at hiding them from everyone. I knew how good she was at hiding things, but I also didn’t see any reason for her to continue to do it now.

We all ordered together, spent a little while playing video games, and talked. And talked, and talked, and talked some more. The school year, summer plans, relationships, college thoughts, and most everything else under the sun.

Since I could be open about most things by this point, Candice heard about the Dallas trip. She was a bit jealous, but not bad. Of course, we’d never have been able to take such a trip, even if she’d been perfectly fine. Erwin and Sandy would never have allowed it. I was pleased that they’d allow Candice and Sherry to openly date. My guess was still that they thought it was a ‘phase.’ It might be, of course, but I wasn’t certain.

I was pretty sure that it would be possible for Candice to date a guy again, even marry a guy, and be generally fine. He’d have to know, though. Not the specifics, but at least as much as I knew. A guy who didn’t know would be playing with fire. Some teasing that would be innocuous for nearly anyone might trigger buried emotions in Candice. And that would be a painful, awkward conversation.

A girl? A girl could potentially not know, and, even if she did, it’d likely not be quite as difficult a conversation. And, at this point, if Candice was fine with how things were with Sherry, gender might not be an issue — or it might. It’s a cliché that some girls are ‘lesbian until graduation,’ then bounce back to wanting a guy, but clichés often have some truth to them.

Lots of things could interfere. Candice might well want a traditional marriage, or the appearance of one. She might not only want kids, but also to be married to their father. And on, and on. But I certainly didn’t think it was open-and-shut either way, and I doubted Candice knew her eventual path either.

So, we laughed and talked and enjoyed the evening, and I thought about both what we’d lost, what we’d almost lost, and how very much we’d found. The truth was, Jasmine was a much better partner than Candice was or, most likely, ever would have been for me. And Sherry just might be a better partner for Candice than I was; who knows? They were clearly in love and good for each other. No more, and no less, than we’d had.

10:15pm

Angie flopped on the bed, then rolled to the side and rubbed noses. “They’re such a cute couple.”

“They are.”

“Of course, all the couples at dinner were cute.”

“You could’ve brought Gene.”

She shrugged. “He feels a tiny bit like a fifth wheel with Candice. Jasmine’s gotten over that, but that’s also different, because...”

“She’s a she.”

“Yeah. In some ways you’re harder for her to be around than any other boy, or should be, but she’s gotten past that because you both have stable relationships. If both of you were broken up at the same time, I’d watch out for her.”

“You think?”

“There’s a ... hint ... of something there. She knows it can’t work, but not all of her accepts that. It probably won’t, ever.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. I’ll keep an eye out, especially if we’re ever both single at the same time.”

“I will, too. I love seeing her. It’s special. If we’ve done nothing else good — and we have, definitely, but even if we hadn’t — seeing Candice alive and happy is huge.”

“Maybe our biggest ripple. Maybe not, but, maybe.”

“Okay. Enough patting ourselves on the back. Bedtime for me.”

“For me, too.”

“Love you!”

“Love you, too.”

Wednesday, June 23, 1982

I decided I was officially taking the day off. The night was Jasmine’s, as was tomorrow night, since after that we’d be apart for over a month, but the day? Reading, playing around on the computer, napping. Lazy, lazy, lazy. I wouldn’t have another day like it for over a month; I hadn’t had one like it in ... how long? Too long, that was for sure.

Angie came in to laugh at me but, later in the day, I noticed she wasn’t really doing anything either. I checked, and she was reading a book, earphones on her head.

It was difficult, but I refrained from saying ‘I told you so.’”

When I got to Jasmine’s to pick her up, I got a surprise. Jasmine met me outside. So did Sam.

“Hi, Steve!” Sam said, grinning, before hugging and kissing me.

I did my best to keep up with her, then said, “Hi, Sam,” after we’d come up for air for a bit.

“I’m borrowing you tonight. Jasmine says that’s fine.”

“Not all night. You have to bring him back in a bit,” Jasmine said. She looked over Sam to make sure it was okay with me. I gave her a little nod and a wink.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Sam said, giggling.

I offered my arm and Sam took it. I walked her to the car, helped her in, and then got in myself. “Where to?”

She pondered. “Surprise me? Nothing big, but ... well. You’ve done more dating than I have. Like, a lot more.”

I nodded. “Okay, I can do that.” I pondered briefly, then set off for Ninfa’s. It’d worked well for other dates, and it would likely surprise Sam.

As I drove, I glanced over to Sam, who looked both excited and nervous.

“So, how’d the end of the school year go?”

She blushed, then smiled. “I ... it was good. I got almost straight A’s, and, well, Jessica has been just awesome. Some of the other girls, too. I feel like I already know people, which is just awesome.”

“Sounds pretty awesome. I really only know Jessica. The others, only a little.”

“Well, you started at the top! But then, so did I.” She paused and bit her lip. “I know I’m not supposed to be super-super-grateful, but I still am. That was the best thing ever!”

“I’m glad of that, too. I think it’s one of those win-win things. Jessica’s happy, you’re happy, I’m happy. Everyone wins.”

“Well, except the girls at other junior highs who aren’t getting this much time,” she giggled.

“I’m sure Jessica’s got her eye on them, too, and is helping the ones who she’s most eager to have around.”

“Yeah, true enough. She talked me into going to a mini-camp at UH and my parents agreed. I can’t do the big out-of-town ones yet, but that’s okay. I wouldn’t have gotten in anyway.”

“Knock ‘em dead. I know you can.”

“You’ve never seen me cheer.”

“Yes, but if Jessica says you can, you can.”

“Okay, fine. That makes sense.”

I pulled into Ninfa’s parking lot. Sam bounced a bit. “Oh! I like this place! We’ve been here a few times.”

“But not on a date.”

She giggled. “Nope. Definitely not. I’m only here because I’m hanging out with Lexi and Jasmine. Who aren’t even hanging out together, actually.” She gave me a grin and a wink on that.