The Short Lover Boy – Episode 5
~THE SHORT LOVER BOY~
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By: Authoress Sharon ~Ronnie✨✨
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unedited
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~CHAPTER FIVE~
~THE DANCE~
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~SAMMY’S POV~
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“What’s your secret, Nickie?” I ask my brother.
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He’s driving me over to Becky’s house to pick her up for the dance. I figure as long as I’ve got his undivided attention, I might as well get a few tips on women. .
He laughs. “What do you care, Sammy? You’re just a kid.”
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“Hey, I’m going on a date, aren’t I? And I ask you, is this a kid’s outfit?” I
happen to be wearing a spiffy tuxedo. I pull out a pair of shades and casually slip
them on.
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He grins and shakes his head. “You’re something else, you know it?”
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“So tell me the secret, Nickie. Give it to me straight.”. He runs his finger through
his hair. I check out the way he does it and make a note to practice in front of the
mirror.
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Okay there’s a lot of things,” he says. “You dress sharp. You talk civilized, which means never swearing. You tell women how good they look, even if they don’t. But the most important thing is, they’ve got to know who’s boss. Now, they’ll throw you a little test every once in a while, like nagging or begging you for this or that. You’ve got to nip that in the bud. Sometimes you’ve got to be firm. Tell them what you want, and let them know you mean it.”
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“Is that what you do with Cindy?” I ask. He’s been seeing a lot of her since the phone call.
“That’s what I do with all of them.”
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When we turn onto Becky’s Street, I check my pocket to make sure i have the address. We’re going to need it because it’s the craziest street I’ve ever seen. All the houses look alike. They’re sort of a light brown color with the same roof and door and windows. In front of all of them there’s a dwarf tree with a few tiny branches.
We find Becky’s number and pull into the driveway. Nick waits in the car while I walk up the front steps and knock. When the door opens, I’m standing face to face with a vision of beauty, by which I mean Becky Davidson.
She’s got on this long dress that looks like something you’d see in a magazine. It’s a shiny white color, almost like it glows. It comes up to her neck, where she’s wearing some light blue beads. Her hair is piled on top of her head, and there’s a blue ribbon holding it together. Her cheeks are pink. So are her lips. She looks incredible.
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“Come on in, Sammy,” she says.
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I float inside like I’m on a cloud. Behind Becky there’s a man and a woman who I figure are her parents. Her mother has the same smile as Becky. Her dad seems kind of nervous. He’s staring at me like I’m a creature from Mars. .
“Sammy Carducci?” He says.
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I nod. “You must be Mr Davidson.” I hold out my hand, and he leans down and
shakes it. I turn to Mrs Davidson.”
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“And this must be your lovely bride.
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Something about that seems funny to her, which is fine. I like people to be
happy.
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“Do you want to come Sit down for a minute, Sammy?” She says as we shake
hands.
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“Geez, Mr Davidson, that sounds swell, but my brother’s waiting out in the car.”
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“Maybe we should get going, Mom,” says Becky.
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“Oh, I almost forgot, Becky,” I say. “I brought something for you.” I pull a box
from behind my back and open it up. It’s a corsage, which is a special kind of
flower that girls wear at dances.
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“Sammy, it’s beautiful,” says Becky. “You didn’t have to do this.”
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“Yes, I did. My brother said so. He knows all about this stuff.” I take the corsage out of the box. “He told me I’m supposed to pin if on your dress.” .
I try, but it’s hard to see very much because I’m still wearing my shades. Plus
Becky’s so tall that I’m having trouble looking up that high. For a minute I think of
pinning the corsage down by her waist, where everything’s in full view, but then I
decide that would look dumb. Next I start worrying that no matter where I put it, i
might accidentally stock her with the pin. I kind of circle around the front of
Becky, trying to decide what to do.
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Mrs Davidson, who’s got her hand over her mouth,
coughs and says, “would you like me to do it for you?”
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“Maybe so,” I tell her. “I don’t want to injure your daughter.”
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She pins the corsage up by Becky’s shoulder and we talk for a few minutes; then
Becky and I head for the car. When Nick sees us coming, he stares at Becky. I can
tell he’s impressed. I guess he figured she’d be some mousy little kid with pintails.
He figured wrong. I open the back door and we climb in. I introduce Nick as our
chauffeur. I get a big laugh out of that one, but Nick doesn’t think it’s so funny. As
we drive to school, Nick keeps looking at Becky in the rear view mirror.
Meanwhile, I keep her entertained with some of my typical charming
Conversation. I feel like a king, only my throne is the back seat of Nick’s Grand
Am.
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“Thank you, James,” I tell Nick when we pull into the school parking lot. “We won’t be needing the car for the next few hours.” .
“Lucky thing,” he says, “because it’s not available. I’ll be back at ten.”
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As we get out, I consider slipping him a fiver but I decide not to. Instead, I give him a thumbs up. He burns rubber out of the parking lot.
When we walk into the school gym, I can hardly believe it’s the same place where Mr Hoolihan tries to teach us wrestling. There’s a sign saying WELCOME, SIXTH GRADERS! At the front of the gym is a cassette deck with a couple of big speakers, and some geeky kid is fiddling with the dials. I can tell he’s a member of the audiovisual squad.
There’s music playing, but no one is dancing. The girls are standing against one wall, and the boys are over against the other one. They’re huddled together in groups, trying to look cool. Every few seconds, they look toward the other wall, then go back to talking. Everybody’s all dressed up for the occasion. Even Bubba
Branley and Lois Friedman, the two grungiest kids In Mrs McNulty’s class look like they took a bath.
I spot Gus with the boys. I kind of nod to him but just keep walking. Becky sees her friend Alice and wave. I look around for a place where we can talk and notice ten or so people who are actually on dates like Becky and me. We decide to go
stand with them. On the way over, people seem to stop what they’re doing and stare
at us.
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“Check it out,” I whisper to Becky. “They can’t believe how great we look.”
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For some reason, she laughs. It’s a terrific laugh, not high and piercing at all. She takes my arm and kind of pats it as we walk.” .
“Isn’t this exciting?” She says.
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“Yeah, I guess it sort of is.”
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“I’m glad you asked me to come with you, Sammy.”
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“No problem,” I tell her.
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As we cross the floor, there’s a loud clunk and a whine on the PA system, and Mrs
McNulty’s voice comes on.
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“Attention, please,” she says in that singsongy voice of hers. “We’re now serving
punch and cookies at the front table.”
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The place goes nuts. Everybody who was trying to figure out what to do with themselves charges the table and begins stuffing their face. In other words, the whole sixth grade. They might not know how to dance, but they sure can eat.
Becky looks at me and shrugs. “I guess we might as well go over there.” .
“Sure,” I say. “I’ll treat you to a cookie.”
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When we get in line, Alice is right behind us. She starts talking to Becky but ignores me. Fine. The two of them drift a little ways away, and just about that time His walks up to me. He’s wearing one of those clip On bow ties and a sport coat that comes halfway down to his knees. “Wow, you look great!” He says. .
“You look all right yourself.”
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I wink at him and jerk my head over in Alice’s direction, hoping he’ll catch my
drift. He just grins. I do it again.
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“Is something wrong with your neck?” He asks me.
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“Fine, Fine,” I say out loud. Then I whisper, “what are you waiting for? Here’s your chance to practice your moves with women. Look who’s over there.” .
“Becky? I thought she was with you,” Gus whispers.
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“I’m talking about her friend Alice.”
“She hates me,” says Gus. “When we were in the library, she called me a creep.”
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“Women are always saying things
like that. Usually it means they like you.”
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“Really?”
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“This is your big chance, Gus.”
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He takes a deep breath, then starts to edge over Alice. Every once in a while he glances back to see whether he’s doing okay, and I nod. Finally he plants himself a few feet away from her.
He gives her the Eye.
Alice doesn’t notice at first and just keeps chattering away to Becky. Then she spots Gus. She tries to ignore him but finally she sees he’s not going to stop.
So she gives him the Eye right back.
Actually, it’s not the Eye. It’s more like a high powered laser beam that destroys everything in it’s path. Gus throws me a panicked look. I decide it’s time to step in. .
I move over to where Becky and Alice are talking. “So, how’s it going?”
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“Call off your friend, Carducci,” says Alice.
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“It’s okay, Alice,” says Becky.
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I position Gus so he’s standing next to Alice. The right side of his face is twitching, and I notice one end of his clip on bow tie has come loose, so the tie is dangling down the front of his shirt. I reach over and clip it back in place. .
“I don’t think you two have officially met,” I say.
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“Gus Gaffeny, this is lovely Miss Biddle.
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” Give me a break,” says Alice. Gus throws her a sickly smile.
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Just then the line moves, and it’s our turn in front of front of the refreshment table.
While Gus, Alice, and Becky grab cookies, I hand them paper cups full of punch. I
hold my cup in the air.
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I’d like to propose a toast,” I say. “To Becky Davidson, the most beautiful woman
in the whole sixth grade.”
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Becky grins. Alice rolls her eyes. Alice, Gus, and I touch our cups together and
take a gulp of punch.
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“And here’s another toast,” I say. “To Sunny slope Elementary and all the
teachers, librarians, playground monitors, crossing guards, janitors, PTA members
-”
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“Keep the line moving!” Somebody calls out behind us.
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“Hey, do you mind?” I shout back.
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“Maybe we should move on,” says Becky.
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I decide to forget the toast, since I’m not sure where I was going with it anyway.
The four of us find a spot near the end if the table and munch our cookies for a few
minutes. Nobody says much.
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“Look,” says Becky when she finishes her punch, “some people are dancing.”
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Sure enough, there’s a group in the middle of the floor, bouncing around in time
to the music.
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“Want to go out there? ” I ask her.
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She nods, and I offer her my arm. For the next ten minutes we give a textbook demonstration of fast dancing. Becky looks sensational. I try out a couple of new moves I’ve been practicing in front of the mirror. Then the music slows down, and I step in close the way Nick showed me. But the closer I get, the more I can see I’ve got a problem.
I’m shorter than Becky, which means my eyes aren’t quite even with her eyes.
They’re not even with her chin, either. You might say they fall a bit lower.
For a while I glance to one side or the other, but that doesn’t work too well. Then I try staring at the floor. The top of my head bumps against her and I jump back. Finally, I look right up to her face, which seems okay because she’s smiling at me. I smile back, but after a few minutes my neck starts to ache. By the time the song ends, I feel like I’ve been sitting in the front row of the movies.
The rest of the night goes by so fast I can hardly believe it. We eat some cookies. We watch Gus try to give Alice the Eye a few more times. Becky and I talk to Mr Lawrence, and she manages to get through the conversation without giggling once.
We check out a rumor that sissy Krenman and Wayne Hotchkiss were seen making out behind the stairs, which turns out to be Sissy Krenman and Clara Hotchkiss, Wayne’s sister, playing Crazy Eights.
Then, fist thing you know, Mrs McNulty starts flashing the lights to let
everybody know the dance is over.
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” I had Fun,” says Becky when I drop her off at her doorstep.
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“Me too,” I tell her.
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She pulls the key from her purse and unlocks the door, then takes a step inside. She stops for a second, and before I know what’s hi
t me, she leans down and gives me a peck on the cheek. Then she’s gone.
Who needs Nick to drive me home? I can fly.
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TBC
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