David Cullen was standing on the sidewalk, just a couple of paces away from the house's front door. His hands were holding the bottle of Merlot with a death-grip, and he started to feel sweat forming under his palms. He wasn't sure for how long he was standing there, but it seemed his eyes picked a favorite spot on the door and just gazed at it aimlessly. He suddenly heard an eerie cry, coming from underneath him, almost sounding like a baby who stubbed his toe. He saw a small kitten, with a red coat and a white face, cuddling at his feet. The first thing to spur on his mind was "Joe Pepper".
"Shoo, kitten. This wine ain't for you."
The kitten started to run around between David's feet, creating the figure eight, over and over again. After a while it got tired and ran away.
David watched the kitten run until he became a blurry dot in the distance, and then shifted his head back to the front door.
He sighed.
He remembered the first time he was there, when he came to pick up Jolene for their first date:
He was sitting at the front sit of his Plymouth, tapping nervously at the steering wheel. He stared anxiously outside the car's window, waiting for Jolene to come out, and every couple of seconds he glanced at the rear view mirror to make sure not a single wisp of hair shifted its position. His throat was dry, making his spit feel like a pinecone every-time he tried to get it down, and his heart was thudding rapidly under his chest.
Keep it cool, David, he thought to himself. If Jolene sees you all sweaty and nervous like this, she'll ask you to stop the car and let her out before we reach the first traffic light.
The front door of the house opened and Jolene Holland stepped out.
Even at night, where there was hardly any glare coming from the street lights; Jolene was able to brighten the entire neighborhood with her presence.
David watched her as she approached his car, and her face became more and more beautiful every time she drew closer. He could see her flowing, long, hair draped over her shoulders, making her entire face shine with its yellowish tones. She wore a stunning, sleeveless, scoop neck dress with a flared skirt that ended just a couple of inches over her knees, exposing her long, beautiful legs. He couldn't believe that such a gorgeous individual was about to go on a date with him.
David met Jolene for the first time at his sister's birthday party, a couple of months earlier. At twenty years old, Jolene was just two years younger than David. They never talked during that party; it was almost unthinkable for him to approach a girl, who undoubtedly was the prettiest girl in the room, and start up a conversation.
Second time they met, a couple of weeks later, he was hanging with his buddies at a jazz-club, and they ran into his sister's gang, Jolene was one of them. This time they talked briefly, and David was a bit surprised when she told him she remembered him from the birthday party, even though he mostly sat quiet with his friends and drank beer, sometimes tapping his shoes whenever a song he liked came up. Apparently, David made somewhat of an impression on her, because a couple of days later, his sister told him that her friend, Jolene, thought he was cute.
She thought you were cute, David, he told himself, as his sweaty hands tapped on the steering wheel. Even if this all thing blows off, no one will be able to take away the fact, that she thought you were cute.
Jolene stepped inside David's Plymouth and gave him an infectious, opened lip, smile, making her teeth glister like pearls.
The smell of panic in the car was quickly overpowered by the strong fragrance escaping from Jolene's long hair. It smelled wonderful; a strong scent that reminded him of the best summers of his childhood.
"Hi," she said smiling.
"Hey," he answered back nervously.
Well, so far so good, David thought to himself.
There was an awkward moment of silence, where no one seemed to think of a proper follow up to "Hi", and they just sat there, smiling at each other, uncomfortably.
David prepared a million topics of conversation in his head, before the date, but to come up with a simple follow up to "Hi" seemed as impossible as climbing the Everest. He could see Jolene's smile widening more and more as each silent second passes, and he actually sensed her giggle, building up in her belly.
When Jolene burst out with a gale of laughter, David thought that he has never heard a sound as mesmerizing as Jolene's laugh; the sound of her voice made his heart melt like a marshmallow over a camp fire.
"Ho, I'm sorry," She said trying to hold back her giggles and wiping soft drops of tears from her eyes.
"No, that's okay," David was also laughing along with her at this point.
Eventually, she cleared her throat and regained her composure.
"So--how are ya'?" She asked. The smile never, broke away from her face.
"I'm great. Cool. How are--you looking good, tonight," David stumbled on his words.
Jolene giggled again with that infectious voice of hers, and thanked him, offering him the same compliment.
"So, your sister tells me you're a Math student. How's that like?"
"Well actually it quite interesting," David said, brushing his hair proudly with his hand. "You learn about all kinds of different qualities that numbers have that you never knew before, I mean thinking of the different fields you--" He then paused, looked at his steering wheel and then drew his stare back to Jolene. "You know what. It's not that interesting, now that I think of it..."
They both laughed together.
"Well, I'm sure it's interesting and I'm sure you're very bright, if you're studying it." She told him, with a gentle expression on her face.
"No...Well..." he mumbled quietly, his faced was washed with bashful-red color. "So, where do you want to go tonight?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Well, I'm not sure," she said," What do you think?"
"We could go, maybe, to the town beach. Get some ice-cream or something..."
"Maybe we could go DANCING!" She suddenly jumped. Her blue eyes lit up like sapphires when she said it.
Ice-cream, you idiot? David groaned in his head. This girl here is dressed like a prom queen and you want take her to DAIRY QUEEN!
But, the idea of dancing wasn't an enchanting one either; David hated dancing with a passion. As far as he could tell, God gave him two left feet and then stomped his foot on both of them.
"Sure. Sounds great," the smile faded from his face a bit, "Where do you want to go?"
