Chapter Four
Brock
I made my way down the crowded aisle, trying not to tramp on anyone’s foot. Towards the end there was a guy who looked like a recent football alumni, sitting with his girlfriend. The guy had to be at least two-twenty and his arms looked like the trunks of medium sized trees. His girlfriend was petite and blonde, and she was smiling at me. Why would a woman want to put me in harm’s way like that? Instead of looking directly at her as I passed, I smiled at the big guy and said, “Excuse me.” He stood up then, all six foot four of him and sucked in his gut so I could pass. He smiled back too. I guess my strategy worked.
I made my way to the concession stand thinking about Molly. I hadn’t planned on liking her so much, but it wasn’t my fault. She was so damned cute in her red sweater and little knit beret. Her poor little freckled nose was as red as her coat though, and she looked miserable. I considered putting my arm around her, just to keep her warm. But then I had thought about the hot chocolate and thought being told “No” about that would feel like less of a rejection.
The line at the concession stand was long and as I stepped behind a grandpa and his grandkids I heard a familiar voice. It was Tammy…the stalker.
“Hey Brock.”
She sidled up next to me and said, “I thought you said you hated football.”
This is what I had told her, and in my defense it’s mostly true. Tammy was a cheerleader last year. I hadn’t gotten the story about why she wasn’t on the squad again this year, but last year she used to invite me to the games every time I saw her. I tried making excuses at first, but when at last I ran out of them I had just straight up told her…I don’t like football. She had still tried to persuade me, but I had stuck with my convictions.
“Hey, Tammy. I still don’t like football. I just agreed to come with some friends.”
“Oh, are you with that girl I saw you with the other night?” She asked the question like she had some right to know. I literally went out with this girl twice. She acted like she was my ex-wife or something. Move over Glen Close, there’s a new stalker in town.
“Yes, actually. Her name’s Molly,” I said. Just the sound of her name made me smile. “She’s one of Megan’s good friends.”
“Oh,” Tammy said in that holier-than-thou way Tammy had about her. It suddenly dawned on me; Tammy didn’t like Megan, at all. Back at the beginning of the summer, after I had brushed her off more than dandruff off a black coat, she had met Jake. He’d just started here, and Tammy didn’t know that he was my roommate. They had a class together, and she set her sights on him. Jake wasn’t interested, but he’s a polite guy, so he didn’t tell her so…until he met Megan. He came to one of my shows about a week after he’d met Tammy. Megan was there with a friend, and as they say…the rest is history. He straight up told Tammy to her face about a week later that he wasn’t interested. She, of course, blamed Megan for “moving in on him,” and pretty much tried to have her blackballed from everything on campus. To Megan’s credit, she didn’t get rifled at all over it. She just kept being her sweet self and people liked her of her own accord, in spite of Tammy’s jealous protestations.
As Tammy opened her mouth once again, the guy behind me said, “I’m sorry, but weren’t you behind me?” Tammy looked embarrassed and appalled that this guy would have the audacity to call her on it. The guy suddenly became my new best friend. I mean, I actually for the first time in my life (and hopefully the last) thought about full-on kissing this guy on the mouth. Tammy looked at me, expecting me to help, so I did. I smiled at the wonderful man and said, “I think you’re right. She was behind you.” It may have been the cold, but I swear I saw smoke shoot out of her ears as she went back to her spot in the long line. By the time I got mine and Molly’s hot chocolate and turned around to head back to our seats, she had decided to turn her back on me. The cold shoulder…how refreshing, I thought with a grin.
When I got to our row this time, I didn’t even have to smile at big boy again. He not only got to his feet to allow me past, but he pulled his skinny girlfriend up with him. Molly was watching me as I approached and I handed the cocoa to her and said, “I’m sorry. The line was ridiculous.”
“That’s okay,” she said, “I stopped being able to feel my hands and feet so long ago that I wasn’t even sure how much time had passed.”
I sat down and as I did, her arm brushed against mine. Okay, the fact of the matter was that her wool coat sleeve brushed against my leather jacket sleeve. It still gave me a little thrill, and since it was cheap, I’ll take it. “What did I miss?” I asked her.
Without missing a beat she said, “The quarterback ran a Statue of Liberty play and the running back went for an eighty-five yard touchdown.”
“Really?” I said.
“No,” she said with a grin, “I don’t have any idea what I even just said.”
I laughed, “Wow, you sounded so convincing.”
“I am looking forward to the half-time show,” she said, sipping her cocoa.
“Why? Who’s playing?” I asked her.
“Oh, I don’t know, I just have to pee.”
This girl is something else. I was now not only surprised that I came to a football game, but I was also surprised that I was so happy about it. I’m sure I must look like an idiot, sitting here with a grin on my face that looked like I’d slept with a coat hanger in my mouth the night before. But, I couldn’t stop smiling and she made me not even care about that.
I pretended that I had to pee too, just so I could walk with her to the bathrooms. I waited outside for her, and since the women’s restroom line looked as bad as the concession stand, I was in for a long wait. As I leaned up against the brick wall next to the bathrooms, I saw a guy I used to play set with in a club the summer before last.
“Hey! Brock! How the hell are you man?”
“I’m doing well Joe. How are you?”
“I’m fantastic man. I’ve wanted to get a hold of you, but I lost your number. It’s amazing I ran into you like this! I’m playing at Aqua and I need a good vocalist. Well, my band has a trial run at Aqua and if it goes well, we’ll be officially offered the gig. Are you available?” Aqua was a new night club in town, and it was turning out to be a really popular one. Even if I wasn’t available I would have said yes.
“Hell yes, I’m available. When?”
Joe laughed, “We start next weekend. I was going to have a listen to a female singer that my keyboard guy recommended on Tuesday, and then we’ll probably jam together on Wednesday. The wife sings too but she doesn’t want to commit to it every weekend. I know you’re going to school man, but it will all be in the evening. I know you’re good, if I like the girl maybe we can work out a schedule if we get the full gig.”
I was ecstatic. If it had been during the day, I was ready to quit school. Not really, but hell yes! I was going to be singing at the hottest club in town. “Where are you getting together?”
Joe handed me a card with an address on it. “It’s a storage garage; my brother-in-law owns it. It keeps us from getting kicked out of our neighborhood, so the wife likes me to run practices there.”
A voice cut in from out of nowhere, “You got that right. Last time he practiced in the garage I think three people called the cops.” It was his wife Lyndie. I always liked her. She and Joe had gotten married young. They weren’t even thirty yet and had already been married ten years and had a couple of kids.
“Maybe it wasn’t the volume they were complaining about…if you know what I mean,” I said with a laugh.
“Hey boy, watch yourself if you want to play with me.” Joe barked, but with a grin.
I said hello officially to Lyndie and we chatted for a few minutes before they left to go back to their seats. I must have still been grinning when Molly came back out because she looked around and said, “What is so dang funny? You’re always grinning like the Cheshire Cat.”
I wanted to hug someone I was so excited, and I really wanted it to be her. I didn’t go there though, not yet. I didn’t want to scare her away already. Instead, I told her about Joe and the club.
“Wow, that’s great,” she said, seeming genuinely happy for me. “Aqua is supposed to be a really fun place.”
“I went there the night they opened. It’s nice. They didn’t have a very good band though,” I said. I couldn’t help grinning again, thinking about me and my guitar on the stage.
“I’m happy for you,” she said. “Will you do me a favor?” she asked as we got close to our bleachers.
“Sure,” Anything….
“Will you tell Megan I’m going to take off now? I’m just too cold to enjoy this.”
“Okay…didn’t you ride with them though?”
“Yeah, it’s not that far though, just a few blocks. I can walk.”
“Or I can give you a ride?” I said.
“On your Harley? Um…thank you but I don’t think so.”
“Have you ever been on one?” I asked her. I would love to feel her sitting behind me on Suzie.
“No, I’ve never been on any motorcycle, actually. A scooter…or Vespa, I guess it was called, once.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing,” I told her honestly.
“Maybe another time, when it’s not so cold and dark?”
“It’s a date,” I told her, excited just at the sound of it. “I’ll walk you home tonight.”
“But…um, that’s really not necessary,” she said.
“I’m sure it’s not,” I told her. “But I’d like to…if you don’t mind.”
“Okay,” she said, resigned. I went and told Jake and Megan. Megan pointed her finger at me and said, “Be good.” Jake then pointed his at me and said, “Be great,” with a lecherous grin that earned him Megan’s elbow in his gut.
Molly was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. As we passed Suzie on the way out, she asked me.
“Will it be okay here?”
I glanced at Suzie. She looked so sexy with the moonlight bouncing off her wheels. But she would be okay, and I told Molly so.
“She?” she said with a grin.
“Yes, her name is Suzie,” I told her. I knew girls didn’t get it. They didn’t name their vehicles, but my dad and I had named every one we had ever had.
Molly leaned close then, and I almost couldn’t catch my breath. Her hair smelled like some kind of flower, and her breath smelled like chocolate as she said, “You don’t think she’ll get jealous and run me over, do you?”
I walked her back to her dorm, thinking that I couldn’t believe that anyone, cute girl or otherwise could have talked me into leaving Suzie at the football game and walking. We walked fast because it was so cold. I wanted to grab her hand, but I just wasn’t getting the vibe from her that it would be okay…yet.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” I asked her when we were about halfway back.
“I have to work,” she said.
“Cool. Where do you work?”
“At the campus coffee shop,” she said, “I’m studying to become head barista.”
“I hear that’s a tough title to snag,” I said, hoping it sounded less dorky to her than it did to my own ears.
She smiled. I guess it didn’t sound too bad. “You have to see me operate the machine,” she said. “Then you’ll know I have it in the bag.”
“What time to you get off?” I asked her.
“I work ten to six tomorrow.”
“So what are you doing after work?” I asked. Just ask her out all ready. Jeez, you act like it’s your first time. You’ve asked out like a thousand girls. Why is this one so different?
“I-Um, I don’t know,” she said. Okay now, don’t ask another stupid question…just ask her if she wants to go out with you.
“I was wondering if you wanted to maybe have dinner or something.”
She stopped walking and looked at me. That’s a bad sign, right? She can say yes while she’s walking, but for a no, a person really needs to stop. Damn, it’s cold out here. My nose is frozen, and parts way south aren’t doing much better. Come on, Molly. Say yes, that’ll warm me up.
“I really don’t think it’s a good idea Brock, but thank you,” she said. So…is she thinking dinner is not a good idea or a movie, or going out with me? Should I ask her, or will that just make me look desperate and stupid?
“Oh, okay,” was what I said. Profound, huh? I tried to keep a neutral facial expression too. I really didn’t want her to think I was desperate. She started walking again, for a minute, and then she stopped and said, “I’m sorry Brock. It’s not you at all. I’m just not looking to date anyone right now.”
“Oh, okay,” I said again. Hey, it worked the first time. We made it the rest of the way to her dorms in silence. I was crushed. I had envisioned asking her out, her saying yes and me…going in for the kiss at the end of the date. I looked at her now with her full, pretty, red lips and thought that maybe I’d never get to kiss her after all.
She turned to me and said, “Brock, thank you so much for walking me home. I’m sorry you have to walk all the way back now. It’s so cold.”
“It’s okay. You have a good night.”
What else could I say? I walked back to the football stadium, and I climbed onto the back of the only woman who truly ever loved me, Suzie. The ride home was cold, but by that time I was numb and I didn’t care.