Ted Lowe finished the last of his Big Mac, sipped the last mouthful of Coke and sighed. "I hate my life," He complained to the woman with whom he was having lunch.
Suzette March looked across the booth at him. "Okay Teddy, I'll bite. Why do you hate your life?"
"Because I'm in love with my best friend and that complicates things."
Suzette's baby-blue eyes went wide with shock. "Teddy, are you coming out to me, you're gay?" Then, Suzette's eyes went even wider and she looked at him in shock. "Hold on a minute --
I'm
your best friend!"
Ted nodded, it was true, they'd been best friends since Grade One when a bully was picking on Suzette and Ted took a punch for defending her. Her family lived two houses down and from that night on, if Ted wasn't eating at Suzette's house and enjoying her mom's wonderful cooking, she was at his teasing Ted's 2 older brothers. Even at a young age, no one got the upper hand with Suzette. Her warm, loving family embraced him as a family member and his mother adored Suzette as the daughter she never had.
"So you're telling me now that you're in love with me?" Suzette said, putting down her fries. "When did you figure this out?"
"10th Grade," He grinned sheepishly.
"You were in love with me in 10th Grade?" Suzette asked, taking a drink of her Diet Coke.
"Oh no, I was in love with you by 3rd Grade," He chuckled. "It just took me until 10th Grade to be sure. Every day you'd walk by in your cheerleader uniform and my heart would go
thumpthumpthump.
"
Suzette sighed. "Those were just hormones."
Ted shook his head. "That's what I thought until my Mom set me straight. She told me flat-out `Teddy, you're in love with that girl and if you don't tell her, someday you're going to lose her' and she was right," Ted confessed.
Suzette was having a hard to processing all of this, especially now. She was to be married in July and Ted was supposed to do a reading at the wedding. "Why are you telling me all of this now, Ted?"
"Because I hate the guy you're marrying. He's rich and successful and that's fine, but he treats you like a goal, another acquisition. I don't want you living in a house with him, having his kids. We've been together all our lives Suzette -- we have the same goals. That's
our
house you picture in your mind and those are
our
kids I see growing up in that house, surrounded by love. I am not letting him take you away from me, not without one helluva fight."
Her pretty blue eyes looked into the man she had known -- and loved -- for so long. She had to ask herself, was she in love with him? Was he right, had she been blind? One way or another, she had to find out.
"Ask me on a date," She told him calmly.
"Huh? A date?"
"Yes. Not like this where we're hanging out together and don't you dare throw money at me and think that will impress me. Take me on a real date, somewhere that I will remember when I'm old. If you can do that, then maybe you're right."
"When do we go on this date?"
"Why not tonight? If you've waited this long to tell me, you shouldn't have to wait any longer. David is teaching a late class so I won't see him for a few days. I'll go home and get dolled up; you put on something nice and pick me up at 7. Nothing flashy -- no tuxes, no limo -- I want our first real date to mean something," Suzette insisted.
Ted looked at her and nodded, his mind going a mile a minute. He knew that he had to make this work and that he had to make her see that they were meant for each other. He didn't need to plan a thing as he had been planning this night for most of his life.
He showed up at 7:01 and was almost afraid that she would be angry he was late. He should have known better, Suzette didn't have a temper. She was always so calm and sweet, she let others take care of her because they wanted to. It was one of the things that Ted couldn't stand about rich, entitled David -- he didn't see that you
cherished
someone like Suzette; you took care of her and protected her from all the evils of the world.
She frowned when she saw the limo, but he explained. "We're going to drink a bit tonight and I didn't want anything to happen to either of us. It didn't cost me much because the guy who owns the rental place owes me a big favor."
"Oh, what's that?" Suzette asked, a slight frown still on her lovely face.
"I once took out his sister," Ted told her. He saw her frown vanish and she broke out into giggles.
"Okay, I'll let you get away with it this time," She smiled as he escorted her to the car. "You look very handsome, I've always liked that suit on you."
"You look beautiful, but you always do," Ted complimented her. He meant every word of it, she was sunshine in human form, sweet and delicious. The black dress she wore was short, but not scandalously so and she had on heels. He knew the way she looked tonight would be ingrained in his memory for years to come and that he would someday tell their grandchildren about it.
"Where are we going?" She asked him, but he kept silent. He hoped she would appreciate this. Suzette was puzzled, as they drove for nearly 2 hours and it was almost dark. When they reached their destination, she gasped.
It was a lovely restaurant she had not been to in years, near the beach and intimate and friendly. It was called the Duck Café and her parents had brought her here a number of times as a child and several times since. She had loved to walk in the beach and play in the sand and then they would go for dinner and finish their evening with a late swim before coming home. Time had gone by and she had not been to the Café in years.
She spun around and looked at him and there were tears in her bright, blue eyes. "You remembered this, I can't believe you remembered." She said with a slight choke in her voice.
"Are you kidding?" Ted smiled, taking her hand. "I remember everything about you. I remember that silly crush you had on Mr. Smith in the 4th Grade. I remember your first kiss with Gil Hocking out behind the portables later that year. I remember the time you got really sick in 7th Grade and were out for almost 4 months, they were afraid you were going to have to stay behind a year," Ted told her.
Suzette smiled and remembered that as well. "I do remember that. You brought me my homework every day and helped me do it, even if I was weak. My parents thought it was so special, such a nice thing to do," Suzette told him, squeezing his hand. "Why did you do that?"
"Are you kidding me? There was no way I was going to let
my
girl be away from me, not a chance," He grinned as they walked towards the café.
"Your girl," Suzette sighed. "We've been together a long time, haven't we?"
"Yup," Ted chuckled. "I bet you don't know it, but I gave Bill Burnett $10 to change seats with me that year," He told her.
"You did not," She laughed out loud.
"I did too," Ted smiled. "He said `$10 so you can sit next to some dopey girl?' I would have paid him twice that much, I never wanted you out of my sight."
"You're scoring points, I'll admit that," Suzette said as he opened the door and let her in. Suzette's face broke into the widest smile he had ever seen on her, obviously this place was the site of some very happy memories for her. It did look inviting and cozy, nicely lit, spacious and yet intimate. A very friendly-looking man came up to greet them and when he saw Suzette, his face broke into as big a grin as the one on her face.
"I cannot believe my eyes!" He smiled, hugging Suzette. "Miss Suzette, it is you, oh, it is so good to see you! Caroline, Marie, come see -- it is Miss Suzette back to visit with us!"
"Hello Jean, it's so good to be back," Suzette's face was stained with tears. Two attractive women came out of the kitchen, one who was likely around the same age as Suzette's mother, but still with strong, handsome features. The other was a younger woman, a bit older than Suzette and with the elegance of a fashion model.
"It's so good to see you, Miss Suzette, your parents, they are so bad not bringing you here in so long," The older woman, who was identified as Caroline said as she hugged her.
"It's wonderful to have you back, don't you dare lose touch with us again," Marie told her. The attractive brunette turned her attention to Ted. "Who is this gorgeous creature, is he your young man?"
"That's Ted, you remember me telling you about Ted when we used to play on the beach?" Suzette smiled at her old friend. "No, he's not my fiancé."
"Oh, so he's single?" Marie flirted.
Ted leaned close to Marie. "Not if I have anything to say about it," He indicated Suzette, who was talking to Marie's parents happily.