When the last bit dribbled out Nina removed her hand and looked at it. "Wow." She said. "That was very sexy Bill. Can we do that again sometime?"
"You bet." I agreed, basking in the afterglow.
It took a few minutes to clean ourselves up. There was a hopeless stain on my dress pants that would require a dry cleaner to remove but Nina had somehow managed to only wrinkle her dress and run her pantyhose in one spot.
It was high on her thigh, probably a result of my hand being in there and her mother would most likely not notice it.
When we were composed we kissed each other one more time and carried the blanket back to my car. From across the river the sound of the kegger continued. I smiled as I thought that I'd just had much more fun than most of them would have and that I wouldn't wake up with a hangover as a result.
We talked of inconsequential things on the drive home, both of us still glowing from the experience we had just shared, both of us realizing that things were moving forward in our relationship. I gave her a long, luxuriant kiss goodnight at her front door, not even caring that her mother was probably watching, and then watched her until she was safely inside.
I drove home to a darkened house, my parents already in bed. I went directly to bed, smiling as I fell asleep.
Chapter 13
Graduation night came at last. We put on our dress clothes and then covered them with gowns. We put stupid looking hats on our heads and filed into the school auditorium where our parents were assembled. We listened to a bunch of boring speeches by the principal, a guest speaker, and the school valedictorian, Carrie Founder, who had an appointment with a good-looking loser and an overdose of anti-depressants in her future. She rattled on and on so long that she began receiving catcalls from her bored peers. At last we filed across the stage where the principal read our names from a little card that we each discreetly slipped to him and he then handed us a fake roll of paper with a ribbon attached to it. Our real diplomas, we were promised, would come in the mail in a week or so. Flashbulbs exploded from the audience like strobe lights.
Nina, Mike, and I hung together through all of this, passing the occasional comment under our breaths, Nina and I holding hands for much of the night. We got our fake diplomas and returned to our seats, watching, catatonic, as the rest of our class marched through one by one. Why are these so-called "great memories" that people go on and on about; graduations, weddings, bar mitzvahs, so damn dull while you're actually sitting through them? Most of the students, myself included, were looking forward to what came AFTER the ceremony.
The school was of course sponsoring a graduation party. It was to be at a local community center and was touted as a fun-filled celebration with dancing, music, and food in a safe, alcohol-free environment. Of course no one but the geekiest planned to be there although many had claimed to their parents that was where they were going. The REAL party was to be at the falls where three kegs were being brought in for the occasion. Marijuana sales had also gone through the roof in the proceeding two days.
When the ceremony was over everyone headed out to the parking lot. Hundreds of students and parents hugged each other, slapped each other on the back, shook hands, posed for the obligatory pictures, and generally congratulated each other on surviving the Spokane Public School System with their lives and sanity intact. Then the parents began to drift to their cars, leaving the students to their own devices. Of course the memory of Lisa Sanchez's untimely death on the previous graduation night was strong among the parents. Admonishments to be careful, and not to drink and drive, and other worried comments echoed through the parking lot followed by the reassurances of those that thought themselves immortal.
Even my Dad, knowing what he did about me, was worried.
"You'll be okay tonight Bill?" He asked as we stood next to his car.
"You bet Dad." I told him. "I'm going to be the designated driver tonight. I'll get everyone home safe."
He nodded slowly and then climbed into the car, Mom beside him. They drove off and I returned to Nina, who was standing with her own parents.
"Congratulations Bill." Jack told me, holding out his hand. I shook it and then received a surprise when Mary, repeating his words, actually stepped forward and hugged me.
"Thank you." I told both of them, giving Mary my best hug before she released me.
"Where are you two going tonight?" Jack asked next.
"Oh, just to a party." Nina replied vaguely.
Jack gave her a knowing look. "And will there be drinking at this party?" He asked.
Nina hesitated and was probably about to give him a pathetic lie. Nina was not a very good liar, particularly to her parents. But I jumped in.
"There certainly will be." I said.
Nina looked sharply at me, her expression disbelief. Jack and Mary also seemed surprised.
"It's graduation night." I went on. "I believe that the law states you MUST drink on graduation night. But have no fear. I'm driving and I take that very seriously. I'll get Nina home safely, I promise."
"You're not going to drink?" Jack asked, skeptical.
"Maybe a beer or two at the beginning." I answered. "But I'll be sober when it's time to come home. I promise."
"I'll hold you to that." Jack told me, his eyes boring into me. "Remember what I told you about my daughter. She's the only one I got."
"And remember what I told you about your daughter." I shot back. "She'll be safe with me. Won't you Nina?"
"Of course." She said softly, watching the exchange and realizing it was taking place on a level she was not a part of.
Jack and Mary finally climbed in their car and drove off. Nina and I went to find Mike, who was explaining to his parents how he was going to the school sponsored party where no alcohol was allowed. His parents were reassured by this and were smiling as they entered their own car. When they were gone we all looked at each other.
"Let's go." I said.
"Fuckin aye!" Mike put in happily.
We climbed into my car and headed for the falls.
I must say that it was very eerie being at the party. You see, I'd attended it before when I'd graduated the first time in my previous life. The only differences were the presence of Mike, who had not graduated before, and Nina, who had not been a member of the party-group before. Aside from that, everything was the same. Everything.
The kegs were scattered throughout the parking lot as they had been before, lines of people, still dressed in their dress clothes winding their way to the tap to fill their cups. The same cooperative effort with the car stereos had occurred, with everyone agreeing to tune them to the local rock station and not to play any tapes. The music of Van Halen, Foreigner, Dio, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osborne, and others marched by and I was almost able to predict which song was coming next. The conversations were the same and though I hadn't memorized them on my first trip through, hearing them as I went by it was uncanny how much my subconscious had absorbed seventeen years before. It was a little like being in the middle of a dream, one of those dreams you have of prior events in your life, but never had the sensation of deja vu been so strong.
Nina, Mike and I paid our money and had our hands stamped. I quickly drank down three beers, giving myself a pleasant, non-dangerous buzz. The alcohol was able to dampen the sensation a little but not completely. It was very disquieting.