Читать книгу Intertwined - Myrna G. Raines - Страница 3

“It’s late, we gotta get on home. It’s late, we’ve been gone too long.” Ricky Nelson blared from the radio in the white ’60 model Chevy as Darian Wilks drove down the main drag, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music. In the other hand he held a Pall Mall, blowing the smoke out the open window so his daddy wouldn’t know he’d been smoking, especially in the car. The Bel Air was his dad’s pride and joy and with the car being new, Darian figured he’d be in more trouble for the foul smell from the cigarette than he would be for smoking. Daniel Wilks had been at the dealership when the hauler had unloaded this particular model and bought it on the spot.

Creeping along, as it was a Saturday night and the cars cruising in front of him were bumper to bumper, his smoky grey eyes darted from left to right, looking for someone he knew, or maybe someone he wanted to know. It is gettin’ late, Ricky, he thought. Gonna have to be headin’ home myself pretty soon. But not yet. Home was the last place any seventeen year old boy wanted to go.

Most of the cruisers were like him, looking for a girl, or in the case of the girls, looking for a guy. Strange, that very few hooked up, although they spent the entire evening attempting to find someone of the opposite sex to have a good time with. Flirting was about the most they did, either whistling at the girls or yelling crude remarks, as teenage boys are prone to do. Some girls yelled back, some acted coy, and then they were past, and most of the time you didn’t see them again for the rest of the night. Except for the pushy girls. The ones who hung out the windows of the car, their tight sweaters showing their ample assets and not caring who saw them. It seemed you saw the pushy ones over and over again and that was not the type of girl Darian was searching for. Not that he wasn’t like any other red blooded American boy and sure wouldn’t turn down the chance for a one night stand. But Dari wanted something more. He was all about seeking a sweet, wholesome girl. Someone he could go out with, not just take down by the river for a makeout session. For that, any of those girls would do, and that type of girl wouldn’t care who knew it.

His eyes were drawn to a car he’d never seen before that passed him on the opposite side of the street, with four girls in the big Mercury. The girls grinned at him, openly flirting. Some of them he’d seen, went to school with anyway. Two had pony tails, one had her hair teased up, and then there was the driver whose long blonde hair lay straight. He could hardly see her face, as she looked neither left nor right and he wondered that she wasn’t as flirty as the others. Her eyes stared straight ahead. Maybe she’d just got her license or something, and didn’t trust her control over the car just yet.

He came to the corner, trying to find a place to turn and head back the other way, curious as to the girl in the driver’s seat of the blue and white Merc, and why she was out cruising if she wasn’t like all the other girls, and boy watching. You’d have thought when the girls had started yelling at him, she would at least have turned her head to see who they were yelling at. It seemed to take forever to find a place to get turned around, but he finally found an alley that wasn’t blocked. When he got back into the line of traffic heading in the opposite direction, he was several car lengths behind the light blue Mercury he’d seen with the cute girls.

“Hey, Dari!” a familiar voice called to him from the sidewalk. “Wait up!”

Oh, hell! Butch. He’d never catch the Mercury now! But he stopped in the middle of the street with horns blaring behind him and a lot of complaining. A few deep voices yelled, “Damn it!Get the lead out!” But he wasn’t about to pull over. He’d never get a chance to get back into traffic if he did, but he couldn’t leave Butch standing on the sidewalk looking like an idiot. Butch was his buddy, his best pal. He’d tried to find him earlier to come downtown with him, but hadn’t had any success.

Hurriedly slipping his stocky frame into the front seat beside Darian, with a “Damn, Dari, I thought you weren’t gonna stop” they slowly took off. With sandy blond hair cut short in a buzz, Butch wore his maroon school jacket just like Dari’s with South High written across the back, and ‘Butch’ embroidered on the left front, although his name was really Michael. Half the people he knew didn’t even know his name. He’d gone by Butch most of his life.

“Where ya goin’? I saw ya pass by a few minutes ago, but Jeff was tellin’ me about him and Daisy, givin’ me a play by play, and I sure didn’t want ta miss it. Ya gotta hear what she did! Ready?” And he hesitated, giving Dari time to answer, which he didn‘t. Dari knew that Butch was brimming with the gossip, and would tell him whether he wanted to hear it or not. “Old Daisy stripped down to the waist, right in front of him and Grabber. Jeff said he just about shit and Grabber was ready to grab her, all right.”

Glancing sideways at Butch, Dari stated in a nonchalant voice, “And I bet she never took her bra off. Butch, Daisy ain’t nothin’ but a tease. When is Jeff gonna wake up and see that? He just keeps goin’ back for more. Hopin’, I guess.”

“Old Jeff’ll get in her pants sooner or later, you can bet your bottom dollar on it. Accordin’ to him, she just keeps gettin’ braver and braver every time he’s over at her house. Man, I wish I could find me a girl that’d put out. Just for me, I mean. Not like some of these girls that would put out for any guy.”

“Pays to be choosy, Butch,” Darian told him, “or you just might end up with the clap or maybe even bein’ a daddy. I don’t want no skag, either, but I’d like to have a steady girl. Since me and Julie broke up, I ain’t had a real girlfriend.”

“Hell, she did ya wrong, man. Who woulda thunk it? Goin’ for that senior over you? Dari, you know how girls are. If a senior looks at ’em, they’re gonna go for ’em.”Butch stuck his head out the window. “Hey Bill, ya old faggot!”he yelled out to one of their buddies standing on the sidewalk. Bill broke away from the guys he was talking to and tried to get to Butch to smack him one, but couldn’t quite make it. Butch did pull his head in the window pretty fast, though, laughing like a goofball.

“Can ya see that blue Merc up there with the white top?” Darian pointed through the windshield as if Butch would know which car it was with three or four others between them. “I’ve been followin’ it. The girl drivin’ looks pretty darned good. I ain’t never seen her before, I don’t think. She’s got long blonde hair, but I couldn’t see her face. She ain’t lookin’, that’s for sure, but her friends are. They were sure lookin’ when they went by me goin’ the other way. We catch up with ’em and we just might get lucky, man! But with my luck, the driver’s probably engaged to somebody that goes to college. Nice lookin’ Merc she’s drivin’. I ain’t seen it around before tonight.”

Speesburg was a small town, located in Southeastern Pennsylvania approximately fifty miles due west of Philadelphia, and Dari and Butch had made up their minds they would be attending Penn State if Dari received the football scholarship he was after. The entire town encompassed about fifteen square miles and held twenty thousand people, more or less. If it weren’t for the Trenton Steel Mill, the town would probably go down the tubes, although it was founded in the early 1800’s by a German emigrant named Dieter Spees. Darian Wilks and Butch Simmons were born there, grew up there, and attended the same schools together. Lifelong buddies, it seemed, knowing the town like the backs of their hands.

Dari looked to his right, and his eyes lit up. Hot damn! His luck was on that night for sure. The blue Merc had left the line of cruisers and pulled into the Big Boy Drive-in. And Darian pushed his luck and pulled in directly beside it. Two girls in the car were yelling their orders to the curb girl and Darian was trying to look past Butch to get a gander at the blonde that was driving. She wasn’t in the car. Where the hell did she go? Then he realized that one of the pony tails was missing, too. Must have gone to the bathroom. Girls never went to the bathroom alone. He swore that girls were born with the tendency to pee in pairs.

A bored looking curb girl came up to his side of the car, pad and pencil poised, and Butch was pulling out all the stops trying to get something going with the teased up hair girl. She was kinda pretty. The best looking one in the car besides the driver. Darian told the curb girl they’d just have a couple of Cokes and she didn’t write down anything, but stuck her pencil back in her pony tail, made a ‘harrumph’ sound, and went back inside. Not a good tip from two Cokes.

Tapping his fingers on the wheel to “Peggy Sue” he saw her. The blonde and the pony tail were walking out the door of the place and Darian thought he’d died and gone to heaven. She had to be an angel because no girl could be that pretty. Besides the hair, she had a face that looked tanned, and was talking to the pony tail girl with a mouth that was perfect. Her teeth were perfect. Straight and pearly white. Her eyes were perfect, slightly tilted upward and almond shaped. And her body was something to behold in brown slacks and a tan sweater. Darian sat up straighter as she looked straight at him, then lowered her head and went to the Merc, climbing into the driver’s seat. She didn’t look at him again, but turned and was talking to the girls in the car. What was with her? He wasn’t ugly or nothin’. Damn! She had to know he was interested by the way he was lookin’ at her!

Butch was still tryin’ to get the teased up girl to go out with him, and with a giggle she gave him her phone number. Darian could see that Butch was pretty pleased with himself that he’d gotten that far. The curb girl brought their Cokes and Darian was attempting to see past Butch out the window at the blonde. Darian exclaimed “Shit!” handed one to Butch, set his up on the dash, and got out of the car.

“Where ya goin’, Dari?”

“Be right back. Hang loose.” He’d never get anywhere with the girl if he just sat in the car, staring.

Darian had never been so nervous when meeting a girl, but this one was special. Different—-and he didn’t know why. She must go over to North High because he’d never seen her before. The others he had classes with, or had seen around, but not this girl. He walked up and spoke to the back of her head.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. I’m Darian Wilks. You go over at North, or are you new here?” He stood with his four fingers stuck in the pockets of his jeans, staring at the blonde hair.

She didn’t turn around and look at him, but did turn toward the windshield and answered. “I moved here last week. Why do you want to know?”

Because you’re the end of my dream, a vision come to life, everything I ever wanted. Instead he said, “Just curious. Hadn’t seen you before and thought I might at least introduce myself.”

Finally she turned to him and his breath caught. “That’s very nice of you, Darian. Like I said, I just moved here and I don’t know anyone yet. I’ll be enrolling in South High on Monday.”

“Good,” he stated, letting go of his breath. “That’s where I go, too. Would you like to go for a walk with me?” Darian asked her, without thinking of the consequences if he left his dad’s new car with Butch. But he’d really like to talk with this girl. Get to know her.

“Uhmm. I don’t think so, Darian. I have to be getting home as soon as we finish eating. Have to have the car back.”

“Uh, yeah. Me too. It is late.” He turned his head from side to side, looking at nothing in particular. “I guess I’ll see you Monday at school, then.” He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stand there and talk to her all night just so he could look at her.

“Okay, see ya.” And she turned back around as if he weren’t standing there.

Darian felt he had gotten nowhere. She was nice, wasn’t rude, but dismissed him as if he’d been nobody and would forget in ten minutes that he even spoke to her. Come to think of it, she hadn’t smiled one time. What was with her?

He walked back around and got into his dad’s pride and joy, started it up and backed out of the drive-in with Butch hanging out the window yelling to the girl that he’d call her.

“Hey man! What’s your hurry? Didn’t get anywhere with Miss Sweetheart, huh?” And he lit a cigarette and took a drink of his Coke.

“Watch the cig, man. My dad finds out I’ve been smokin’ in his car, I’m dead meat. And no, she wouldn’t give me the time of day. She must have a boyfriend or something. She acted about as crazy about me as I would a June bug. Maybe she thinks she’s hot shit and won’t have anything to do with lowly scum like us. That ain’t no piece of shit she’s driving.”

“Yeah. But Jenny’s goin’ out with me. Maybe I can get her to bring a friend and we can go see a movie or somethin’. I got her number, man. I wonder how she got with that girl in the first place if she’s new here. I was listenin’. I heard her say she was new.”

“Yeah. Want me to drop you off at home? I gotta go right by there,” he said to Butch, still disappointed that the blonde didn’t even seem to want to flirt with him. And come to think of it, she hadn’t even told him who she was.

“Would you believe she didn’t even tell me her name, Butch? Now why wouldn’t she do that? You walk up to somebody, you say ‘Hi, my name’s Darian’, and you’d think they’d at least tell you their name. She didn’t.”

“She’s stuck up, Dari. I’m tellin’ you, man. A girl looks like that’s gotta be stuck up. Forget about her. I’ll have Jenny bring another girl when we go out and you can go with us. At least you’ll be goin’ somewhere instead of bein’ in your dad’s shop. I’ll see if I can set it up for tomorrow afternoon. The shop’s closed and at least you won’t be in there working on that car of yours. Talk about a piece of shit! And you’ll have to work every night next week.”

“Don’t call my car a POS, man! I’m puttin’ in the rings and pistons now. A little body work,” and with that Butch snickered and Dari hit him on the arm. “I’ll get it, man. It’s just gonna take some time. At least I’ve got a car.” Everybody knew that Dari had been working on that wrecked ’56 Crown Victoria for over a year.

It took some doing on Butch’s part, but Dari finally agreed to go to the movies the next day if Jenny could find him a date. He sure wasn’t going to go with them if he had to go stag and since seeing the girl in the Merc he couldn’t think of a single girl he’d want to take out. Darian dropped Butch off at his house and went home, still thinking about the girl and her long blonde hair. He couldn’t get her off his mind even if she hadn’t been very friendly to him and didn’t give him any hope at all. But the girl was a total knockout. What would she be doing out on a Saturday night without a date? Then he remembered that she’d said she’d only moved there in the last week. She hadn’t had a chance to meet anybody. But somehow she’d managed to meet the girls who’d been riding around with her. His younger sister, Jocelyn, had told him once that girls didn’t need an introduction. They were just naturally drawn to each other and could be friends in five minutes. Maybe she was right.

Darian was tore up by the girl and the way she’d acted. She didn’t seem to want to meet a guy. Or was it just him that she didn’t go for? But Butch hadn’t gotten any of her attention, either, and Butch attracted girls like flies, he just couldn’t seem to hold onto them. Old Butch liked to play the field too much. He hadn’t found one yet he really wanted to go steady with and girls were clingy. Even if you weren’t going steady with them, they could get hostile if you went out with someone else.

When Dari pulled the car into the garage, he sat and listened to the radio for a few minutes, his mind still on the girl in the Merc. “Canadian Sunset” came on and that didn’t help his mood any. “Once, I was alone. So lonely, and then. You came out of nowhere like the sun up from the hills.” He listened to the words of the song, his mood worsening. Why wouldn’t she talk to him? Butch was probably right. With the way that girl was stacked; she was more than likely stuck up as hell.

He switched off the ignition, took his jacket and fanned the air inside then sniffed a few times. No stale smoke odors assaulted his nose. He would get away with it this time, he thought, as he went to close the garage doors.