dontravis.com blog post #521
Hey, I got 1,300 hits from Sweden on the 18th. That puts them in first place for this post.
****
PETEY
The rest of the day crawled by on sloths’ legs. Marco and I ate, then did some studying up in the room. He and George headed for the bar, leaving me to while away another hour. I spent it trying to figure out who my unknown admirer might be. There was one guy in Algebra Class who struck me as gay. We’d exchanged greetings once or twice, nothing more. I don’t have a problem with gays. Anyone’s free to hook up with anyone who’s receptive is the way I look at it. So I’d been casual-friendly when Frank—I think that was his name—first said “Hi.” Had that been a mistake? Had I unknowingly encouraged him?
Was Marco right about George? Probably.
The guy was hot and heavy about his girlfriend, but who knew? There was a
married guy back home that everybody figured was that way… except maybe his
wife. I’d had to say no to him three times before he was convinced I meant it. Crap,
I didn’t have the experience to handle anything like this.
Could it be Marco pulling my chain? Maybe,
but if it was him, it was one big joke with me being the butt of it. My roomie
was brash, but I don’t think he was cruel. Of course, to his mind it might not
be cruel, just a big prank.
Crap! I didn’t have any idea who it was. Could
be somebody not even on my radar screen.
****
I got to the tennis courts a quarter of an
hour early. Anxious over what was to come, I guess. The courts were lighted and
usually busy at night. This was no exception. I didn’t want to stand around, so
I selected a row in the bleachers near the top and plopped down on it. Normally,
I enjoy watching tennis games. It’s not really my sport, but I own a racket and
can wield it reasonably well. Tonight, I had a case of the roving eye, fixing
on any guy who entered the area and watching him until he disappeared. None of
them even glanced my way.
Eight o’clock arrived and passed. I always
expressed nervousness by jiggling my leg up and down when I’m sitting, and by a
quarter after the hour, I’m certain people thought I was spastic. Five minutes
later, a guy I’d never seen before sat down on the first row of the bleachers. Was
this the guy? Older than me. Probably a junior or even a senior. Decent
looking. Why didn’t he just come up and face me?
Frustrated, I stood and debated about
going down to confront the dude. Reveal himself, the note had said. Maybe that’s
what he just did. My mind made up, I started toward the guy. Before I got
there, he stood as a co-ed came off the courts and gave him a kiss on the lips.
Then they walked off together, leaving me standing there with my mouth open.
Panicked by my near-blunder, I gave up and
jogged across Central Avenue to the bar. I spotted George and two glasses of
beer at a table in the far corner. After picking up a draft for myself, I
moseyed over and took a seat at the table.
“Where’s Marco?” I asked.
“In the head. What happened?”
“Wait’ll Marco gets here. Don’t want to
chew my cabbage twice.”
About that time, my roommate arrived and
took his seat. He looked at me and arched an eyebrow. “Well?”
“No show,” I said. “And I about pulled the
boner of the year.” I told them what nearly happened, and Marco made a joke out
of it.
“So you about became the stalker instead
of the stalkee.”
“Screw you, Marco.”
We ended up having a good time and
wandered back across Central to the campus only mildly high. George lived in a
different dorm, so we said goodnight and went to our own hall. Semi-high and
happy, I took out my key to the door, and froze. Then I snatched the note
affixed to the frame. Looking over my shoulder, Marco read it aloud.
“Got unavoidably delayed. Sorry I missed
you, but I’ll make it up to you later tonight.”
I exhaled a gust of air. “Later tonight!
When, where?”
Marco shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe he’ll call.”
“He has my phone number?” I snorted again
and stormed into the room. “Why not? He knows where I live.”
Marco looked alarmed. “Hey, man, don’t get
so upset. You sound like you want to meet this dude.”
“Yeah. Meet him and have it out with him.
I’m gonna go take a shower. If my admirer shows up, don’t let him in.”
A hot shower leached some of the tension
out of me. I was drying off when Marco poked his head through the door and
handed me my cell. “You got a call. I think it’s your admirer.”
I draped the towel around my shoulders and
put the phone to my ear. “Hello.”
“Sorry I missed you earlier.”
The voice was familiar even though there
was an obvious effort to disguise it. “That’s okay. We can put an end to this now.
That way, your identity won’t be compromised.”
“Hey, man, don’t be like that.”
The “Hey, man” tickled my brain. I could
place the voice… almost.
“You there, Petey?”
“I’m here.”
“Good. Now let’s talk this over. I know
you’re interested.”
I eased over to dboor and peeked into the
other room. “How do you know?”
“You would have cut me off by now if you
weren’t.”
I spotted Marco sitting at his desk
talking on the phone. Suspicions confirmed. I whistled into the transmitter and
watched him jerk the phone away from his ear.
Barging out into the room stark naked, I
yelled at him. “Marco, you son of a bitch, what are you doing?”
His eyes swept my nakedness as he faced
me. His complexion darkened. “Pete, I… I’m sorry. It started out as a joke, or
at least, I think it did.”
Suddenly discomfited by my nakedness, I
snatched a throw pillow off the sofa and covered myself. “What do you mean, you
think?”
He punched a button on his phone, closing
the call. “Well, the first two messages were jokes. I even included me in the second
message, so you’d be sure and tell me about it.”
“And?”
“And then I got to thinking about it. Why’d
I start this thing in the first place. Had to be a reason I picked that kind
of a practical joke. I finally admitted it said more about me than about you.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I was interested in you. You know…
that way. But both of us were getting in deeper and deeper.” He waved the phone
in his hand. “So I was gonna end it with this call.”
“You’re interested in me?”
“Hell, Petey, you’re sexy as hell.”
My next words surprised even me. “Not as
sexy as you.”
His eyes widened. “Me?”
“Well… uh, yeah. I guess,” I added lamely.
“Didn’t know you were interested in me.”
“Me neither. Until now.”
“Are you saying…?”
I rubbed my eyes and realized that was the
hand holding the pillow. I tossed it aside. “Marco, I dunno what the hell I’m
saying. But well… do you keep your promises?”
“What promises.”
“About over the moon to the stars.”
That damnable grin of his slowly built on
his face. He shrugged out of his shirt and came to me.
And damned if he didn’t keep every promise
he’d made. Every blessed one of them.
****
This
story came about because I once had a college roommate that I wish had
started a flirtation with me. But if he’d taken Marco route, I was so dumb
about things, he’d have to club me in the head to make me realize it. Hey, did
I just admit that maybe he did and I missed it? Don’t think so. Never
got any surreptitious notes from him or anyone else.
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/donald.travis.982
Twitter:
@dontravis3
Don
No comments:
Post a Comment