The Short Lover Boy – Episode 2
~THE SHORT LOVER BOY~
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By: Authoress Sharon~ Ronnie✨✨
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~unedited~
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~CHAPTER TWO~
~THE WOMAN~
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~BECKY’S POV~
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It was a perfect fall afternoon. The sun was shining, the cool wind had turned warm, and the kids were out playing all around the neighborhood. There was only
one place for a healthy Eleven year old girl could be on a day like this, and that’s
exactly where Alice and I were headed.
*
“I love the mall,” she said as we pushed open the doors and walked inside. “It’s got everything you’d ever want under one roof – clothes, makeup, VCRs and boys.” *
Her name was Alice Biddle. Mine was Becky Davidson and we were best friends,
even though we weren’t very much alike. I came from a happy, middle – class
home In suburbia, where I lived with two loving parents, a parakeet and a cocker
spaniel. My family went to church on Sundays and really did eat white bread.
Alice’s home was was the two bedroom apartment her mother had rented after
getting divorced, and the place was strewn with clothing and diet drink cans. Mrs
Biddle worked as a secretary during the week and a caterer’s assistant on
weekends. It was a very different world from mine, which was part of what
attracted me to Alice.
*
“You talk about boys like they’re something you can put in a bag and take home,”
I told her.
*
“I wish I could.”
*
“That’s what I like about you, Alice. The last of the great romantics.”
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“What does romance have to do with it?” She said.
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“I want a guy who’s rich and good looking. The rest can be taught.”
*
She stopped at the window of a lingerie store and m, sighing, gazed wistfully at a mannequin. It was wearing a bra, something Alice had no need of. *
“Don’t worry,” I said, “there are more important things in life.”
*
“Yeah? Name two. Besides, Becky Davidson, you’re not allowed to talk about it. Your chest is almost as big as my mother’s.” *
“I just got an early start, that’s all.”
She laughed. “An early start? You’ve passed every other girl in the sixth grade and most of the ones in junior high, too.” *
Alice pulled me back a step from the window so she could study our reflections. “Look at us – Becky and the beast. You’re five feet six, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a figure that would make grown men cry.” *
“Alice -”
*
“I, on the other hand, have freckles and a mouthful of metal. I’m four feet eight
and disappear when I turn sideways.”
*
“You’re very pretty,” I said.
*
“Warped taste. It’s your only shortcoming.”
*
I had to laugh. I did a lot of that when I was around Alice. We’d met on the first
day of sixth grade, when we sat next to each other and discovered we were both
new to the school. Alice told a joke to help me over my nervousness, and we’d
been laughing together ever since.
*
“Admit it, Becky,” said Alice as we made our way down the mall. “You’re
interested in boys as I am.”
*
“Maybe so. But that not because of money and good looks.”
*
“Come on, I’ve seen you making cow eyes at Mr Lawrence, just like every other
girl in class.”
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“Okay, he is good looking,” I said. “But he has lots of other wonderful qualities.”
*
“Such as?”
*
“He’s kind and gentle. And he’s a good listener. When you’re talking to him, you
know he really cares.”
*
“I can go to my priest for that,” she said.
*
“You talk tough, Alice, but you can’t fool me. Deep down you’re looking for
love, just like everybody else.”
*
She froze in her tracks, her eyes as big as saucers. It reminded me of the way our dog Beaulah acts when she’s spotted a bird. *
“There he is,” said Alice in hushes tones.
*
I followed her gaze to the part of the mall known as the food park, where you can buy every thing from cookies to hot dogs on a stick. Sitting around one of the tables was a group of boys.
*
“There who is?” I asked.
*
“Don’t stare!”
*
“Alice, you’re the one who’s staring!”
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“I am?” She tore her gaze away and turned so her back was to the boys. “The one in the Letterman’s jacket with the incredibly
sexy blond hair. I know his name – its Kevin Reynolds.”
*
“In the black jeans and loafers?”
*
“That’s him. He goes to Brentwood prep. My mom helped cater a party at his
house last week.”
*
He was about five feet eight, with a relaxed, easy manner. He had a great smile, which he used a lot, and Alice had been right about the hair. *
“He is handsome,” I said. “Isn’t he a little old though?”
*
“Fourteen. That’s perfect. In ten years he’ll be twenty four and you’ll be twenty
one.”
*
“I’ll be twenty one? What’s That supposed to mean?”
*
“Look, Becky, its obvious I don’t have a chance sigh Kevin. But you are perfect
for him.”
*
“Can we just leave?” I said.
*
No, we need to get closer. Let’s go buy a Coke.” she grabbed my arm and guided me toward the snack stand. I started to resist, then glanced over at Kevin Reynolds and changed my mind.
*
“Okay, I’m coming,” I said, watching him out of the corner of my eye.
*
We bought our drinks, and I started to sit down at the nearest table closer to the boys.
*
“Alice!” I whispered. She just kept going. I swallowed hard and followed her to a table perhaps twenty feet away from Kevin Reynolds and his friends.
*
“Try to keep your voice down,” said Alice as we took our seats. “And whatever you do, don’t look at him.”
*
“This is crazy.”
*
“Ssh! I’m trying to hear what they’re saying.”
*
Just then a woman with a stroller sat down at a table near us, and the baby started to cry.
*
“Oh, great,” said Alice. She scooted her chair away from the Baby and towards Kevin’s table.
*
“I can’t hear a thing. How about you? You’re closer.”
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“I’m just sipping my drink, minding my own business.”
*
The baby stopped for a second, and I heard Kevin’s voice. I couldn’t understand
what he was saying, but I did make out the word ‘girl’. I leaned back in my chair,
hoping to catch the rest. There was a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my
stomach as I felt the chair balance for a moment on the two back legs, then slowly
move past the point of no return.
*
“Becky, you’ve got a funny look on your face,”
*
“Whoaooaargh,” I replied.
*
I kicked my legs and pinwheeled my arms. There was a crash, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the linoleum with my legs in the air and a large Coke resting upside down on the lap of my jeans.
I suppose I should have been grateful not to have hit my head on the floor, but that’s not what I was worried about. I pushed the hair back from my eyes and stole a glance at Kevin Reynolds, praying that somehow he hadn’t noticed.
He and his entire group rose to give me a standing ovation, complete with whistles and stomps and whoops of approval. *
Then Alice was beside me. “Becky, are you okay?”
*
“I’m dying a slow, painful death,” I said. “Other than that, I’m fine.”
*
We decided to leave, since I didn’t feel like spending the afternoon explaining to
people why my pants were soaked.
*
“You’re Pretty quiet,” said Alice as we walked home.
*
“I’m thinking of joining a monastery,” I said.
“I don’t think they take girls.”
*
“Okay then, the circus. I’d make a great clown.”
*
“I’m sorry, Becky. It was my fault for dragging you over to the food park.”
*
“That’s true.”
*
“Hey,” She protested, “you’re not supposed to say that.”
*
“Okay, it was ninety percent your fault. The other ten was mine for agreeing to
go.”
*
“That’s better. I guess.”
*
“You know,” I said, “you can make it up to me.”
*
“How?”
*
“Do whatever I ask for the next twenty five years.” I pointed at a shop across the
street.
*
“For starters, I’ll take a frozen yogurt with everything on it.”
*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
By Monday, I was back in school and feeling better. I’d been relieved to see that my mishap hadn’t made the evening news. No one on the street had burst out laughing when they saw me. And i found that no matter how famous I might have become at Brentwood prep, the kids at Sunny slope Elementary were less interested in me than in what the cafeteria was serving for lunch.
As a matte
r of fact, it happened to be frankfurters and beans. Alice, sitting beside me, took one look at her plate and pushed it away. *
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I don’t eat anything with the word further in it.”
*
“The stuff’s really not so bad,” I said, trying a bite.
*
Anyway, I heard the preservatives are good for your complexion.”
*
“I’d rather look at boys.”
*
I did a quick check of the vicinity and was pleased to see that none of the boys
was over five and a half feet tall or wore a Letterman’s jacket. This was a group I
could deal with.
*
“I can’t believe the way Darryl Cunningham rolls up the cuffs on his pants,” said
Alice.
*
“What is he, a lumberjack? And look at Kenny Singleton. Somebody should Tell him you don’t wear purple and yellow unless you’re the Easter Bunny.” *
“I like Kenny Singleton. He’s so sweet.”
*
“The kid’s warped. I heard he sleeps with big bird.”
*
“Look,” I said , “there’s Matt Yaslavsky. He’s got a great smile, doesn’t he?”
*
“Sure, if you like the glint of Metal.”
*
“Plenty of kids have braces, including you.”
*
“My point exactly. Besides, when they tighten them, it affects your Brain. I speak
from personal experience.”
*
“Alice,” I said, “you do this all the time. You say you’re going to watch boys, then you manage to find something wrong with all of them.” *
“Not all. Just the ones in Elementary school.”
*
“I hate to break the news, Alice, but you and I aren’t exactly doing postgraduate
work.”
*
She sighed and shook her head. “Becky, Becky, Becky. Let me explain
something to you. In every kid’s life there comes a time when the hormones kick in
and the body starts changing shape.
*
“I know all about that stuff. I’m a living example.”
*
“The changes happen around the fifth grade, Right? Okay, the third grade in your
case.”
*
“Right,” I said.
*
“Wrong! Or at least half wrong. Sure, girls change in the fifth grade, but for boys, it doesn’t happen until the seventh grade or so. In other words, there’s a critical two year gap in which girls are women and boys are shrimps.”
*
“Thank you, Dr Biddle.”
*
“The sex gap, i call it.”
*
“You mean there isn’t one boy in the whole sixth grade that you like?”
*
She thought about it for a minute. “Okay, Philip krasner’s kind of cute.”
*
“I thought you didn’t like shrimps.”
*
“There are exceptions to every rule. His father owns a steel company.”
*
I took another bite of my frankfurters and beans, and ice continued to scan the area
for boys.
*
“Get a load of this,” she said. “Some kid’s wearing a Coat and a tie.”
*
I looked up, and sure enough, across the cafeteria was a boy with a pinstripe suit.
He was barely four feet tall, with dark hair, rosy cheeks, and a cocky grin.
*
“Hey,” snorted Alice, he’s got on tennis shoes. And check out his friend.”
*
The boy in the suit was standing with his arms crossed, looking around the place
as if he owned it. Every once In a while he would get a funny, secret look on his
face and say something out of the corner of his mouth, like a gangster in an old
movie. His friend, a skinny kid with a caved in chest, would nod excitedly and
write in his notebook.
*
“I wonder what they’re doing,” I said.
*
The boy turned toward us, and his eyes get kind of wide.
*
“I don’t know,” said Alice with a smirk, “but right now, they’re looking straight at
you.”
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~~TBC~~
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