It all started with a laugh and a "You want to date me? Me and you? You've got to be kidding" and Pauline French walked away from me laughing.
I'd had the hots for Pauline since the seventh grade, but I was kind of shy and could never get up the nerve to ask her out. It took me a while to get up the nerve to ask her and while I thought she might say no I didn't expect the response I got.
Fast forward two years to a week before senior prom. I was sitting in the school cafeteria and Pauline sat down at my table opposite me. I looked up from the notes I was reviewing and she said:
"How have you been Rob?"
"Getting along."
"I heard that you and Barb broke up. True?"
"It is."
"So who are you taking to the prom?"
"No one."
"Going stag?"
"Not going."
"Can't get a date?"
"Not trying."
"I guess you heard that Don is in the hospital."
"I have."
Don Jespers had been her steady boyfriend for the last year or so. He had been crossing a street while reading something on his cell phone when a driver paying more attention to his cell phone than his driving had hit Don and Don ended up with two broken legs.
"Don being laid up leaves me without a date for the prom. Would you like to take me?"
I'd heard through the grapevine that Pauline had been trying hard to find a date for the prom without any success. Not surprising given the senior class make up. Eighty-seven girls and seventy-two boys. By the time of Don's accident al the boys were spoken for. There wasn't any doubt in my mind that at least half of the guys would have broken their dates in order to go with Pauline if it wouldn't have totally fucked up their lives for the remainder of the school year. Pauline had to be really desperate if she had to approach me.
I looked at her smiling face and I knew what she was thinking. "He has always wanted me. No way is he going to say no." I looked her right in the eye and said:
"You want to date me? Me and you? You've got to be kidding" and I got up and walked away leaving her sitting there with a stunned look on her face.
I heard later that she went to the prom stag, but didn't go to any of the after-prom parties. I also heard that she blamed me for ruining the prom for her.
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College was not in the cards for me. My parents couldn't afford it and my grades, while decent, weren't going to get me any scholarships. When I graduated I looked around and while there were plenty of jobs available they were all low paying. Every fast food and convenience store in town was hiring, but none of them paid what I considered a living wage. So I did what many young men did and joined the Army. I thought it would teach me a trade and I could use the GI Bill to go to college when I got out.
Three years later on a Friday I stepped off the bus in my home town and was greeted by my father. On the drive home he asked me what my plans were and I told him that first on my list was to find a place to stay and find a job.
"And then when I'm settled in I'll look into taking some college classes."
"You are welcome to live with your mom and me. Your room is just the way you left it an as far as a job is concerned there is an opening in shipping and receiving where I work. I mentioned you to my boss and told him you were in Supply in the Army and he is willing to give you an interview."
My car had been parked in my parent's garage while I was away and so it was on the following Monday I followed my dad into work and was sitting in a chair in the office of Mr. Julian French.
We discussed my Army experiences that I thought might qualify for the opening in Shipping and Receiving. He told me that I had the job if I wanted it, but then asked:
How are you going to handle working for my daughter?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Simple question. How are you going to handle working for my daughter Pauline? You do remember her don't you?"
"We were classmates in high school, but I don't believe I'll have a problem working with her."
"You won't be working with her Rob; you will be working for her. She graduates next year with a degree in Business Management and then she will be moving into a management position here."
"I still don't understand why you think I might have a problem working for her."
"The boy who ruined her senior prom? The boy who ruined the memories of her senior year?"
"All I can say to that is not guilty" and then I explained to him what had happened and he got a laugh out of me repeating her own words back to her. "It was her bad luck that I had just broken up with my long term girlfriend over her breaking a date with me to date another guy and I was in no mood to have anything at all to do with girls."
"Well we might just get a look at her attitude toward you in two weeks. That is when she gets out of school for summer break. She will be coming here to work for the summer and I'm sure you will see each other. When can you start?"
"Tomorrow. What time?"
"Eight o'clock."
He stood up, offered me his hand and said "Welcome aboard. I'll walk you down to HR and you can get the paperwork out of the way."
When we got to HR I was introduced to Sherrie Graham. Sherrie was a stone fox and I made a mental note to try and get something going with her after I started work. That idea died a quick death when she handed me some papers to fill out and I saw the rings on her hand. She pointed to a desk and told me I could sit there to fill out the paperwork. The desk I sat at gave me a great view of Sherrie and I could see she was wearing high heels and heels had always been a turn on for me. It probably took me three times as long to fill out the paperwork because I kept looking over at her legs.
When I finally did finish she walked me down to Shipping and Receiving and introduced me to Greg Tillman. Greg was the manager of S&R and Mr. French had already told him about me. He offered me his hand and as I shook it he said:
"You come highly recommended."
"Oh?"
"I've known your dad for years. He told me you would be coming in to apply. Mr. French said you will be starting tomorrow?"
I nodded a yes and he said "Let me show you where to punch in and where the locker room is. We have a pretty decent cafeteria if you don't want to pack a lunch. After showing me where the time clock and locker room where he told me he would see me the next morning.
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I was there at a quarter to eight and Greg took me through the shipping and receiving area and introduced me to my co-workers. Then he took me into his office and introduced me to Tina the S&R clerk.
The work wasn't that much different than what I did in the Army and I fell into the daily routine fairly quickly. Once I found out what my work schedule would be I drove over to the college and enrolled. I would be going for a degree in Business Management. With the online classes and correspondence courses I taken while on my tour of duty I figured I'd be able to start as a sophomore. I was a bit surprised when I found out that if I took three classes during the summer session I could start the fall classes as a junior. I immediately signed up for the three that would start in two weeks.
When I left the service I had thirty days leave coming and I took it as a payout. That, with what I'd saved, gave me more than enough to move into an apartment which I did over my parent's strenuous objections. But I had lost my virginity in Germany and on short leaves to France, England and Spain I'd managed to score enough to convince me I wanted more. Bringing ladies to my parent's house just wasn't going to fly so I had to have my own place. I found a place about mid-point between work and school and moved in.
Once moved in it was time to go looking. I knew the places I wanted to go. They were the places I'd wanted to go to before I joined the Army, but couldn't because I wasn't old enough. The kids I'd gone to school with had wanted to go to them also and I thought maybe I could find some of them there.
The Alhambra Lounge was the first place I tried. It was a Friday night and they had a band so I thought the place would jumping, but it wasn't even half full when I got there. I didn't see anyone I knew so I took a seat at the bar and waited to see if anyone I knew would come in. I'd been there maybe fifteen minutes when I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard an "Excuse me?" I turned and found Tina, the S&R clerk from work standing there.
"Are you waiting for someone?"
"No I'm not. Why would you ask me something like that?"
"I'm here with my girlfriend Sara and her boyfriend. My date was a no show and if you are not waiting for someone maybe you could join us and be my dance partner."
"I can do that" I said and got up and followed her to their table where I was introduced to her friend Sara and Sara's boyfriend Josh. We sat and made small talk until the band was set up. I learned that Josh was a welder at our plant and Sara was a para-legal at a local law firm. The band's first number was "Nights in White Satin" and I asked Tina to dance. As we moved out onto the floor and I took her in my arms she said:
"You do know from now on that this is our song right?"
"Why is that?"
"This is the first song we've danced to."
"Hopefully it won't be the last."
"That's up to you."
I hoped that meant what I thought it did because I would most definitely like to see her again.
After several drinks and dances we decided to call it a night. Tina had ridden with Sara and Josh, but I offered her a ride home and she said yes. On the drive to her place I asked her for a date and she said yes. I asked her what she would like to do and she said:
"Dinner and dancing, but at a different place. I'd like to go to the Red Horse Inn for country western dancing."
I walked her to her door and she thanked me for stepping in and being her dance partner and then she kissed me on the cheek.
I picked her up at five and we had dinner at the Black Eyed Pea. We arrived at the Red Horse just as the band was setting up and were lucky to get a table just off of the dance floor.
"I'd learned some country dances off post when I was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas so I wasn't a total stranger to country, but I didn't know even half of the line dances played there that night. Tina got several laughs out of my attempts to stay with her during some of them. My two-step, waltz and western swing were good enough, but I was going to need to take some line dance lessons if we were going to do this again.
I did see a few of my high school classmates there and we were able to push a couple of tables together. I introduced Tina to them and she danced with a few of the guys and I danced with a few of the girls. I found out from Nancy Wilde that they had free dance lessons at the Red Horse. Line dances on Wednesday and partners dancing on Thursdays. I also got a "Call me" from Nancy and Harlina Collins. Stan North invited me to a party at his house on the next Friday and I also received several invitations to get together for drinks and catching up on what had happened after high school.
When I took Tina home I got a kiss on the cheek and a "See you at work on Monday." I decided to wait until then to ask her for another date.
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Monday I was sitting in the company cafeteria with Tina at lunch time when what I hoped wouldn't happen happened.
