Chapter One
I had watched the other students in my American Literature class file out of the classroom before walking up to Mrs. Tammy Billings' desk to await whatever she had asked me to stay after for. I could easily see the latest chapter of the romance novel I was writing sitting in front of her, and I naturally assumed that the coming discussion would have something to do with that. Once she had finished writing down some things in a chart, she placed the chart in one of her desk drawers and then looked up at me.
"Steven, how old are you?" she asked.
"I just turned eighteen last month," I replied.
"Good," she said. "Would you be interested in sharing a cup of coffee with me after school? I'd really enjoy discussing your novel with you in a more relaxed environment."
Wow, I thought to myself. This thirty-seven-year-old brunette beauty with her attractive, shoulder-length hair and deep brown eyes had just asked me to join her for coffee so that we could discuss a romance novel I was writing in which she was the woman I had secretly based the older female character on. My heart was alive with excitement at the possibilities that had just suddenly presented themselves to me.
"I would like that very much," I replied. "Where would you like to meet?"
"Do you know where the Lexington Diner is?"
"Sure."
"I'll meet you there right after school then?"
"Absolutely."
Not only could I not help staring at this amazingly beautiful woman, but I also couldn't possibly have failed to notice the way she was looking at me. It made my stomach feel as though some unseen hand had reached in and was tying it into one giant knot that was getting increasingly tighter with each passing second.
"Well you should go to your next class," she said, "and I'll see you after school."
"Okay," I replied.
Although I found it quite difficult to turn away from her, I walked out of the room and down the hall with the feeling of being in love as an overwhelming presence inside me. But there was also a worry that she was going to meet me just to talk, with no possibility of romance being in our future; however, my mind kept zeroing in on the way she had been looking at me as a hopeful sign that my worry was unjustified. I would find out soon enough, but the wait would be agonizing as the time seemed to creep by so slowly.
When the end of the school day finally did arrive, I wasted no time in getting what I needed from the locker and walking briskly out to the student parking lot where the truck my dad had bought for me was waiting to take me to Tammy. The thought occurred to me as I was approaching the truck that I had not told her I had a vehicle and didn't use the bus to get home. We all knew she drove a red corvette with a license plate that read "TAMSTOY." But how had she known I would be able to get to her without a ride?
Normally I enjoyed listening to various kinds of upbeat music on my drive home, but that day my mind was so awash in thoughts of the lovely woman I was about to meet casually at the diner that music simply didn't appeal to me right then. I made the drive with only the several scenarios I imagined becoming reality to entertain me until I pulled my truck into the parking space alongside where her car was parked. Upon getting out and looking at our two vehicles, I found myself somewhat impressed by how they looked together. Her sporty red car next to my black Dodge Ram, for some reason, gave me a heightened feeling of confidence as I entered the diner and saw her sitting in a booth located in a noticeably empty area.
"Hi Mrs. Billings," I said as I got to the booth and sat down across from her.
"Steven," she said with a smile, "as long as we're not in school, it's okay to call me Tammy."
"Okay, Tammy," I said, also with a smile.
The different venue we found ourselves in seemed to only make the knot in my stomach more apparent than ever, and this was only aided by my awareness of me sitting in the same booth with a woman whose physical beauty had already cracked my heart open, allowing oceans of desire to flow out uncontrollably. In the beginning of the school year I had looked on Tammy as all teenage boys might. She was beautiful and attractive but probably off-limits, and so I had also paid attention to other girls my own age, several of whom I had dated and broken up with already. But now I doubted that I would ever look at another female again if this worked out the way I so desperately wanted it to, though I knew that for that to happen, I would really have to be careful, yet cunning.
"I know I asked you to have coffee with me," she said, "but I'm a little hungry. Would you mind if we ordered something?"
"No, I'm hungry, too," I said, suddenly very thankful that I had followed my dad's advice and saved more money than I spent. I felt instinctively for my wallet because I knew that I had more than enough to cover whatever I ordered, and this was important because I didn't want her having to pay for both of us.
It was Tammy's suggestion that we order a twenty-piece plate of hot wings to share, and so after ordering that, as well as our beverages, I found myself even more hopeful because of the fact that rather than eating two separate lunches, we would instead be eating the same thing from one plate. Although I tended to be a skeptical person at times, this just had to be yet another sign that perhaps I did have a future with her after all. I decided to test this feeling by floating a question that wouldn't be too obvious and yet would have to reveal something in the way of my being right or wrong.
"May I ask you something?" I said.
"What is it?" she replied.
"When you invited me here earlier, you didn't ask me if I needed a ride or if I had one of my own? That tends to make me think that it was either an oversight on your part, or you knew that I did have a ride."
Tammy smiled. "Let's put it this way," she said. "I knew that when you got here you'd be in a big, black truck."
"You saw me in it before then?" I asked.
Tammy nodded.
The waitress came over with our drinks and sat them on the table. "Your wings will be out in a few minutes," she said before walking away.
