The Line (19 page)

“So?!” Lucy couldn’t hold the question in any longer; the words practically burst out of her.

Sam and Jerm looked away from each other and Lucy continued, talking to both boys, but her body language was definitely speaking to Sam, “I think the least you could do is tell me what the hell you two were doing back at the restaurant.”

After an eternity, Sam replied, “What happened back there is between me and Jerm and doesn’t involve you.”

Before Lucy could respond, at that moment a nurse stepped into the triage area and asked, “Jeremiah Stanford?”

The Forrest Hills drumline captain got up to follow the nurse, but not before saying pointedly, “Sam, she deserves to hear the truth.”

Lucy and Sam watched as Jerm walked back into the ER and were quiet again. Suddenly, Lucy felt like she didn’t really know the guy sitting next to her. Had she missed something? Was this fight some sort of one time occasion? Who was the guy who had been wrestling at the restaurant? She asked, “Well, Sam? Are you going to tell me the truth?”

“I’m not too proud about what happened this evening, Luce.”

“So, you’re not going to tell me?”

“There’s nothing to tell. I already told you about Jerm and I’s past.”

“And punching each other was your way to resolve that?!” Lucy stood up, and looked directly at the Sam, “I thought you were a bit more mature than that.”

“This coming from the girl who lied about who she was? A bit hypocritical, aren’t we?”

Lucy’s mouth opened and closed a few times, and she finally answered, “Listen, I’m going to this dance one way or another. Who knows? Maybe Nevada’s there…”

Without bothering to wait for whatever answer her date had, Lucy ran off in the direction of where Mandy had gone. Sam got up and was running after his date when a nurse stepped in his path and said firmly, “Young man, we should get a look at that mouth of yours.”

“But I—”

“Young man, you really need to follow me.”

Sam could only watch desperately as Lucy disappeared through the door.

Mandy was outside and finishing up her call with Gina, “Okay, no, I promise, there is no reason to come here. I’ll call you soon. Have fun with Jonathan!”

Lucy stood in front of Mandy, incredulous tears running down her face. Mandy reached out to hug her friend, and asked, “Did you get any answers out of them?”

The bass drummer shook her head and, sitting glumly on a nearby bench, and said, “No, and I’m beginning to think Sam isn’t the guy I originally thought he was.”

“Don’t say that now – there’s too much drama. Give him a chance.”

The young woman wiped away the last of her frustrated tears and said, “I’m sorry, Mandy, I just pictured this night going so differently. I finally meet this great guy and then…well, maybe I should have continued dating Nevada. None of this would have happened if I had just stayed with him.”

“Well, Luce that’s partly true, but I saw you with Sam tonight and you guys are good together.”

“I guess…”

The girls sat in silence for a moment. Finally, Lucy took a deep breath and asked, “Do you know why they started hating each other?”

Mandy, no stranger to the opposite sex, nodded and answered, “In not so many words. I mean, Jerm hasn’t come out plainly to say it was a ‘she,’ but that’s the only thing it could be. They’re so much alike, they should be best friends, not enemies.”

“Your powers of observation will continue to amaze me.”

“Thank you, Ms. Karate.”

“You know what?” Lucy dusted herself off and stood up.

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to go ahead and enjoy our Homecoming. I'll completely understand if you'd rather stay here and wait for your boyfriend. But I think I'd have a much better time if you came with me.”

Mandy thought a moment and answered, “You know what?”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll go, but only if you promise me I can crash South’s Homecoming next week.”

“Why would you want to that?”

“The way I figure it, we kind of are only getting half a night here…”

“Okay,” Lucy tentatively agreed, “But what if Sam doesn’t want to take me anymore?”

“He will.”

“Promise?”

“Yes! Lucy, you worry too much. Couples fight – it happens.”

Knowing Mandy had much more relationship experience than she did, Lucy swallowed and said, “I certainly hope you’re right. So, do you want to go in and try and find Jerm to tell him we're leaving?”

Mandy shook her head and answered, “Actually, I just saw Jerm’s parents pull up. I’d rather not be there to see his mom treat my boyfriend like he’s a five year old. I’ll send him a text and bring him some soup or something tomorrow.”

“Understandable.”

“But what about you? Don't you want to tell Sam we’re leaving?”

“No. Until he's ready to tell me what the hell was going on earlier tonight, I have nothing to say to him.”

“Probably best then, in that mood.”

Lucy tapped her heeled feet on the pavement and said, “Well, as our only ride has abandoned us, I guess all we need now is a Fairy Godmother.”

“Lucy? Mandy? Is that you?”

The pair jumped, then turned around and were surprised to see Katie. Katie King was a driver for a local transportation company and a regular at the pizza place the past summer. The woman had befriended Mandy and Lucy during some of the long slow afternoons at the restaurant and drove just about everything out there. Mandy and Lucy had seen her pull up in anything from a Lincoln town car to a huge motorcoach. Their friend was tiny, so it was funny to see her behind the wheel of so many huge vehicles. Tonight wasn’t different; Katie was walking over from a Hummer stretch limo.

“Hey Katie, how’s it going?” Mandy asked.

“Good. Great to see both of you in something other than flour and red gingham,” the driver commented, referring to their old uniforms.

Lucy asked the obvious question, “What are you doing here? Did someone in your limo get hurt? Are you okay?”

Katie rolled her eyes and answered, “High schoolers. No offense gals, but some kids don’t know how to handle themselves.”

Mandy smiled and said, “Well, you can include our dates in that mess.”

“Is that so?”

Lucy, starting to see the random humor in her night so far, said, “Mine is bleeding from the mouth, and hers can only see out of one eye.”

Katie looked strangely at the pair, so, with the bizarre idea that just popped into her head, Lucy rushed ahead, “Anyway, how long do you have to stay here?”

“I don’t know, at least a few more hours. They booked the limo for at least a five hour minimum.”

Mandy looked at Lucy, who smiled. The bass drummer asked, “Can you give us a lift over to the school? It’s not that far.”

Katie considered for a moment, then walked back towards the giant vehicle and called out, “For my favorite pizza girls – anything!”

Twenty minutes later, Mandy and Lucy pulled up to Forrest Hills high school. Although it wasn’t the entrance she originally planned on, the bass drummer wasn’t going to complain. En route, they had already called ahead to warn Gina of their arrival. The majorette, social butterfly that she was, had gathered many of their friends from the marching band to greet the pair. Hopping out of the eighteen person limo, among the pictures, Lucy and Mandy found Jonathan and Gina in the crowd. Jonathan, gallant gentleman that he was, took the Guard member on one arm and his date on the other and escorted them inside. Letting them walk ahead, Lucy decided to blend in with the crowd and let them go. As the extended limo pulled away, the bass drummer sat down tiredly outside the gym, wondering how smart it was to even attend the dance.

“Hey.”

Lucy looked up and was very surprised to see Nevada standing in front of her. He wasn’t wearing anything special, but somehow managed to make her heart beat faster in his black leather motorcycle jacket, white t-shirt, and dark jeans. Lucy glanced cautiously around to see if he was alone. He was.

“Can I have a seat?”

Not able to trust her voice, she nodded and the cymbal player sat down next to her. Finally, Lucy blurted out, “Why are you here?”

Affecting a sarcastic tone, he replied, “After my original date ended things with me, I decided I needed something to put on my college application.”

Lucy was surprised at his response. Although she had avoided the topic, she had assumed her would be here with a date. Furthermore, responsibility wasn’t exactly Nevada’s middle name. Curious, she asked, “And how would you do that exactly?”

Nevada unclipped his nametag and passed it to Lucy, who read it aloud, “Nevada Petersen: Photography Assistant.”

“That would be me.”

Handing the flimsy nametag back, she commented, “So go ahead.”

“Go ahead and what?”

“Go ahead and do what you came over here to do.”

“And what would that be?”

“I don’t know, ‘I told you so.’ ‘Where is your date?’ ‘Why are you here by yourself?’”

Nevada was quiet a minute, then he said, “You know, I heard what happened tonight, and it kind of seems like punishment enough.”

“You’re right.” Lucy got up and started pacing as she continued, “What was I thinking? It looked so simple on paper. Buy a dress. Go out to eat. Dance and have a good time.”

“Well, you definitely got the ‘buy dress’ part right,” Nevada was grinning and looking appreciatively at said dress. The heat in his eyes was definitely pushing all thoughts of Sam out of Lucy’s head. He continued, “Plus, I told you a long time ago. I wanted to see what you looked like dressed up. Consider it a matter of curiosity.”

“Now that you’ve seen me, I guess you’re free to go then. Mystery solved.”

“I guess so,” Nevada said and got up.

Lucy ran her pashmina through her hands and announced, “I’m going to try and find a ride home.”

“Not before you dance you’re not.”

“Is that so?”

“Orders from the Photography Assistant himself. That dress is required to see the inside of a high school gym.”

Neglecting to listen to her screaming conscience, Lucy answered, “I guess I can’t argue with authority, can I?”

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: LAST DANCE

Lucy tried to ignore her intensely guilty feelings as she followed Nevada into the school. Deep down, she knew somehow this situation would somehow get back to Sam and no matter what he did; dancing with Nevada wasn’t really a good way of patching up things between them.

Still, if he had really wanted to be here tonight, wouldn’t he have at least tried to follow me? How about a call? Or a text message?

Speaking of, have you even bothered to check your phone? Maybe he has tried to contact you.

Lucy was about to reach into her purse for her phone when she felt Nevada’s hand slip around her own.

You need to stop this! Turn around and walk away from the ginger.

Lucy tried to convince herself she hadn’t technically done anything that could count as cheating as she allowed Nevada to lead her out onto the dance floor.

Sam was pacing frantically around the hospital. His mouth had been cleaned up (no stitches, one big warning), but while he had been in the ER, he hadn’t been allowed to use his cell phone and even worse, the doctors had called his parents, who had arrived as he walked out of the ER.

“Samuel Benton Powell!”

With those words, Sam knew there wasn’t a chance of him going anywhere near Forrest Hills high school that evening. His mom had bellowed loud enough so the entire waiting room could hear. Sam was attempting to move his family outside and thus avoid further major public humiliation when a woman walked towards them and said forcefully, “You must be the punk who blinded my son!”

To put it mildly, Sam’s mom, Beth, didn’t take too kindly towards strangers who walked up and started accusing her son of assault. Crossing her arms, she asked, “And just who the hell are you?”

At that moment, Jerm walked out into the waiting area. Like Sam, he still had his suit on – a bit rumpled and bloody – only Jerm’s outfit was completed by a black eye patch placed jauntily over his left eye. As soon as both sets of parents saw Jerm, chaos ensued. Beth and Jerm’s mom, Julie, started yelling at each other, with their husbands desperately trying to hold them back. The young men glared at each other, then looked at their parents, silently agreeing on a momentary truce, and snuck outside while their mothers raged on.

“Look, Jerm…”

Touching his eye patch, Jerm commented, “You should feel bad.”

“You earned it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?! What do you mean I earned it?! If anything, you earned it.” Sam was frustrated with the entire evening, and had no trouble letting anger from two summers ago boil over, “First of all, do I need to remind you that you took the first swing? Was that your plan the entire time? Make nice in front of your Line, and then take a shot at me?”