During my first year of college, my best friend from high school and I were roommates. At the end of the academic year, we both headed back to our hometown to work and earn some money. Steve had caddied for years at the most exclusive country club in town and wanted to go back there for the connections, the outdoors, and the money. I was less directed and had no idea what I wanted to do. Times were tight and I couldn't find much interesting, so I went to work delivering pizzas.
Since my job involved working mostly evenings and nights, while Steve caddied all day, we didn't get to see much of each other. I don't know what did more to kill our plan of a summer of wild parties: our schedules or living with our parents to save money.
One Saturday afternoon in June I stopped over at Steve's house, actually it was a duplex. He had taken the day off and we were going to go catch a movie before I had to go to work that night. Steve's parents were divorced and he was living with his mom, Angela. She was just eighteen herself when she had Steve, a few years later her husband left her and she had raised Steve and his younger brother Eric by herself although her ex-husband was still around and took Eric on the weekends. Throughout high school I had always had something of a crush on Angela. It's not that she had a perfect body or anything, she was just so much younger than everyone else's parents I knew that she seemed more like someone my own age. I don't know that many other people would have found her attractive except for her dirty blonde hair and large chest because she definitely had a few extra pounds, but she carried herself confidently and with a subtle eroticism that captivated me.
When I arrived, Angela met me at the door. "Hi, Tom. Steve's running late as usual. He's just up in the shower. He should be ready in a few minutes if you want to wait inside."
"Thanks," I said and went into the living room where Angela sat with me while he waited. After exchanging pleasantries, I asked Angela how her summer was going. "Great," she said. "Did Steve tell you? Now that he's gone off to college I have a lot more time so I've been taking some classes. I want to graduate from college before I'm hoping that by the time Eric is ready for college I can be in a better position to help out financially."
"Wow, that's great!" I said. "What kind of classes have you been taking?"
"Well, I'm working on getting my program's fine arts requirement out of the way this summer by taking a class on drawing the human form. Hey...stay there, I'll be right back!"
She darted off and returned with a sketch pad and some charcoal. "Let me sketch your profile," she said.
"Alright," I said and sat staring at the wall while she sat across the room from me and drew. A few minutes later she announced she was done. Just then, Steve came downstairs and we left for our movie.
* * *
As the summer passed, Steve and I hadn't been able to do much together at all. So, a few weeks later, we both planned to take a day off and spend it at an amusement park. I went to pick up Steve bright and early one hot and humid morning and knocked on the door.
Angela answered. "I'm sorry, Tom. The president of the country club called this morning and asked Steve to caddy for him and offered him a lot of money. He didn't feel like he could say no. Why don't you come inside for a few minutes before you turn around and drive home." As I went inside, a blast of cool air from the air conditioning greeted me. I sat down on a couch in the living room. "I'm really sorry. You must be pretty disappointed."
"Well, our schedules really haven't worked out all summer. That's okay, we'll see plenty of each other back at school this fall. How have you been?"
"Not bad. Work's keeping me busy, then my class too."
"How's that been?"
"Better," she frowned. She didn't have the glow of excitement that she did just a few weeks ago. "I've been struggling with the class, and I don't really have the time to work with the models on my own. Actually, I'm kind of worried I'm not going to pass."