"Come on Rick, all you have to do is ask. The worst that can happen is that she'll say no. You can't dance if you don't ask."
"Sure Tom, that's why three girls have come up and asked you to dance. Have you ever been told no?"
"Sure I have, at least I think I have."
"If you had, you'd know it asshole. Go ahead and have fun, I'll get around to asking later, when some of the girls start getting desperate."
Of course I didn't. I watched for a few songs, then I went out for a smoke, went back in for part of a song, then left. Tom was wrong; there are worse things than being told no. The last time I asked a girl to dance she laughed at me, then she told all the other girls around her about it and they laughed too. I didn't ask anymore. I probably never would again.
While I was still at the dance I noticed something odd. Lena Stills didn't dance with anyone. This made no sense to me. Lena was a knockout. I had had a crush on her since 4th grade when I moved near the neighborhood she lived in. I used to hide in the bushes across the street from her house and watch her walk around at night. She wore baby doll pajamas to bed. I had seen them many times when she would sit in the front room of her house watching TV before bedtime. I was never able to see into her room to watch her change, but I sure wished that I could. I didn't understand why no one asked her to dance. There was no way she would refuse everyone. If she didn't want to dance, then why was she here?
I went home to my room and brooded. What was I going to do? I was 17 and a senior and I had no girlfriend and little prospect of getting one. I had a car, not a pretty muscle car but a '76 Mercury Monarch sedan. I would love to have a Camaro or Mustang, but my folks were not rich and I had to buy something I could afford by working at McDonalds. My dad refused to let me go into debt for a car, which also kept my insurance down to something I could afford. The Merc was a nice enough car, though bland, and I had gotten it cheap because it needed a muffler and water pump. Dad helped me with those, and the several other repairs needed later.
The dance I had gone home from was a holiday bash before Christmas. I had to prepare to leave as my family was going to Valparaiso to spend the week with mom's sister's family. Aunt Jean and Uncle Jason Turner switched years with us. We used to go to Grandma's for the holidays; but when she died a few years ago this situation had developed. It was only about an hour drive to see them, but somehow it rarely happened. I liked Aunt Jean and her family, especially my cousin Diane. She was the same age I was and had always been a good friend.
This year mom and Jean were determined that I learn to dance. I was to find out why that spring, but for now I had to endure the lessons; first with mom and her sister, then the final with Diane. That part I didn't mind at all. Diane was a little overweight, chunky I would say, but she sure felt good in my arms and against my body.
Back at school for the last half of the year I got my new schedule. I saw that for Chem this year I would have a lab. Mr. Smith said that we would be paired up for the class with the person standing beside us. I looked to my right and saw Susie Slidowski. Oh great, Susie Sideways. Everyone called her that because she was so shy she never looked at anyone face on, always from the side; as she was looking at me now. Mr. Smith told us to take a moment to introduce ourselves so I took the first step, "Hello Susie, or would you prefer Sue, or Susan..." When she didn't respond I continued, "or Susanna, Polyanna, Amanda, Britana, Beauty, stop me when you hear something you like."
"Susan!!" She burst out with. "And you are Ricky McReady."
She dropped her head to look at the bench in front of us. Her voice was quiet, and throaty, what is called a bedroom voice. Oh boy, I would have to get her to talk a lot. I heard nothing else from her that day as Mr. Smith gave us instructions on how we were to conduct ourselves and what would be expected of us for this course.
The rest of my course load was not much as I had most of the credits needed for graduation. English lit and computer science were my only other requirements. I was due to start a couple of classes in business management at Harrison College in the afternoons next week. The credits would transfer to college and give me a leg up. I had applied to a few colleges but had heard nothing from them yet. My problem was that without some kind of scholarship I had little hope of attending full time anywhere.
Getting Susie, I mean Susan, to talk was a monumental task. Nothing I tried ever got more that two monosyllables in response. I determined to make her laugh instead. My first success came a week later, by accident; literally. We had had a normal Indiana snow storm on Monday and someone had left their wet boots at the end of our lab table and I was running a little late. As I rounded the end of the table my left foot hit the puddle and went out, dropping me onto my butt with my legs spread wide, so wide that my pants split in the crotch. ZIP-BUMP-RIP-OWWW. As I sat there with a stunned look on my face Susan stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing. Most of the rest of the class joined her as I slowly tried to get to my feet. Unfortunately the slapstick was not done yet. My right foot hit the puddle as I was standing up and it dropped to the knee, causing my chin to encounter the lab bench popping me onto my back with my head ringing and my right foot curled under my back, ripping the knee of my pants; wrong day to wear old jeans to school. As I lay there woozy as hell the whole class broke up. The last thing I saw before I passed out was Susan's whole face, looking at me with concern. God she was beautiful.
I woke up in the nurse's office and was told that my school day was over. My mom was on her way to pick me up. The whole night I couldn't get the image of Susan's face out of my mind.
Dad and a friend of his had gone and gotten my car from the school parking lot. If they hadn't it probably wouldn't have started. I had to plug it in to a heater (light bulb under the hood) every night in the winter if it was going to start. At school the next day people kept looking at me and giggling most of the morning. By the time I walked into chem. It was getting very old. The giggles continued as I walked into the room, looking for puddles, and put my stuff under the bench to prepare for class. The shocker though was Susan; she was standing at her place crying.
"I'm sorry Ricky, instead of helping you up I stood here and laughed at you. You wouldn't have been hurt if I had helped. Please forgive me, it won't happen again."
"I sure hope not Susan; I don't think I could survive another round. Don't feel bad though, it was funny and I have been trying to get you to laugh. I just didn't realize that success would hurt so much is all. Besides, you stopped laughing when I got hurt, I saw you before I passed out. I'd do it all again to get that kind of look from you."
Again I saw her complete face as she gave me a deer in the headlights look.
"Are you good to go today Mr. McReady?" Mr. Smith asked, interrupting us.
"Yes sir, I'm sorry for disrupting class yesterday."
"It was not your fault young man. Miss Stills has something to say to you though."
I looked over to my right and Lena Stills said, "I apologize for leaving my boots in the way Ricky. I'm sorry that you got hurt by my sloppiness."
After seeing Susan's face, Lena did not awe me as much. "That's all right Lena, I shouldn't have been in such a rush. No lasting harm done."
That ended the conversations and class got underway. Susan kept glancing at me with one eye all the way through class though. I still couldn't get her to say much, but at least she was paying attention to me now.
This continued through Thursday and Friday; but then as we were leaving class on Friday Susan grabbed my sleeve and pulled me to the side of the hall, out of traffic.
"I see that you leave every day at noon, where do you go?"
Oh Ho, she was watching me; this could only be good. "I have afternoon classes at Harrison four days a week. If I didn't do that I'd have to take useless courses here. The state requires us to have a minimum number of class hours so I couldn't just go home. Why do you ask?"
"I tried to find you at lunch and you were gone. I wanted to talk to you."
Hot damn, she could say more than two words; and she wanted to talk to me. Things kept looking up. "My class doesn't start for an hour, so if you would like we could talk now. Come on, I'll buy you lunch, or as close as the cafeteria can come to it."
She nodded and took off down the hall. It was amazing how she maneuvered her way through the crowds. She slid between groups and around individuals without a stumble or pause. Trying to keep up with her I caused more that a few curses to follow me down the hall from the obstructions I was unable to avoid.
