“Dad, Mom only has my best interest at heart.”
Both of my parents laughed at that.
I saw all three of them head our way. Mark’s dad was the first to speak.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dawson, I’m so sorry you had to come get your son this morning. David, may I ask where you stayed last night?”
“I got one of the valets to take me to a motel. Luckily I had enough cash on me to get a room.”
I could see all three of them go stiff at the news. Mark looked like he was going to be sick. Mark’s dad put his hand out, and Mark gave him his wallet. There was a wad of cash inside it. I never saw a high school kid with that much money.
His dad counted out stacks of money. Mark had about $500 on him.
“Okay, David, will a $100 cover the room cost?” his Dad asked.
I just nodded. It actually cost me $60, but I wasn’t arguing.
“Mr. Dawson, you have gas, food and you and your wife’s time. Here’s $250.”
He turned to his son.
“That leaves $150 for bus fare back to your mom’s.”
I could see tears forming in Mark’s eyes. He ran out of the diner before he really started to cry. His dad followed him out. Jennie pulled up a seat and joined us. Our waitress hurried up and served us. She looked nervous, and I’m sure she was waiting on Jennie to erupt. She also had Jennie’s tab, which she slid onto the table and then made herself scarce.
My mom wasn’t fazed.
“So, Tami suckered you into going on a date with David.”
My mother caught Jennie off guard, and she laughed. It was what we all needed. You could feel the tension leaving the diner.
“Actually, I think David was the one who got suckered. The first thing I asked him to do was to hit on my sister.”
Mom arched her eyebrows.
“Really? I bet he did it, too.”
“You would win that bet. He was smooth. He had her now ex-boyfriend so flustered he didn’t even make it to the appetizers. Hell, he had me so flustered that when he told me that kissing him would clear my head, I believed him.”
It was my dad’s turn to laugh.
“Oh, God, he did not.”
“Oh, yeah, he did. Then he said something like ‘Well, it was worth a try.’ When I see Tami, I’m going to have to tell her he’s not a ‘stupid boy.’ He makes the girls around him stupid. I can’t believe I fell for it.”
“Quit your whining. I didn’t hear any complaints,” I said, needing to defend myself.
“I’m not complaining about the kissing. I’m kicking myself for falling for your charm.”
“Your charm was always safe with me.”
My mom smacked me.
“Quit hitting on her. I like this one. You will be nice, or you’ll answer to me.”
It was Jennie’s turn to pop her eyebrows.
“I don’t know if you realize what high praise you just received. I can’t remember my mom ever saying she liked one of my or my brother’s girlfriends. And just so you know, my brother’s a slut, so we’re talking a lot of girls,” I smirked.
My dad nodded. Jennie took it in stride.
“So, you’re not mad at me?”
I thought about what I’d learned about Mark and decided I wasn’t mad at her, but that didn’t mean I was dating for a while.
“No, but you did get me to swear off dating for now.”
Both my mom and dad rolled their eyes. Jennie got pensive and we took a break in the conversation to eat.
“Would it be okay if I drove David home?” Jennie asked when we were done and ready to go.
My mom broke out in a huge smile.
“I was hoping you were going to offer. I didn’t want to be around him while he pouted. He can be such a baby.”
For whatever reason, Mom liked her. I stood up and took Jennie’s hand in mine. We went to the cashier, and she paid her bill. Dad followed suit. When we got outside, Mark and his dad were sitting on a bench. I walked up to them.
“Come on. We’ll give you a ride home,” I offered.
Jennie looked like she wanted to object but deferred to my judgment. When we got into the car, I pulled my phone out.
“I better call Tami. I told her not to lynch you, but she doesn’t always listen to me.”
Jennie eyes got big.
“Thanks. She likes you a lot, and I’d be dead meat if she thought I’d hurt you.”
I dialed and she picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, I’m with Jennie. You can call off the dogs.”
“Why, what happened?”
“Her driver’s son thought it would be a good idea to tell her that I’d gone off with another girl. He also thought it was perfectly fine to leave a fifteen-year-old boy to the elements in 40-degree weather.”
“That’s not true!” Mark yelled.
I turned on him.
“I didn’t say a damn thing that wasn’t true, you self-centered piece of shit! Everyone involved with this has been man or woman enough to admit his or her role in it but the kingpin of this debacle. Who, by the way, is sulking in the back seat, acting as if he were ten years old and got caught. Someday you’ll learn to take responsibility for your actions.”
Mark decided to go for broke and took a swing at me. I was ready and leaned back, which caused him to miss. His dad didn’t. Mark had blood gushing out of his nose.
“You have embarrassed me for the last time.”
We pulled up to the Wesleyan estate, and Jennie dropped them off at the back of the garage. Mark was glaring at everyone when he got out of the car. As soon as they were out, Jennie drove us out of town. I suddenly realized that Tami was still on the phone.
“Sorry about that.”
“Oh, no, I’ve never heard you get that pissed. Did you hit him?”
“No, his dad did.”
“Let me talk to Jennie.”
“On speaker?”
“No, ‘stupid boy,’ I want to get the scoop.”
I handed Jennie the phone.
“Yes. Uh huh. No, a perfect gentleman. He tricked me. Oh, yes.” She looked at me and smiled. “Okay, I’ll see you tonight.”
She checked to make sure I wasn’t mad.
“Okay, you’re not yelling at me, so I’ll take that as a good sign,” I said.
“Can you tell me the condom story now, please?”
“I thought I did a pretty good job of not having to tell it last night.”
“Yes, you were very slick at changing the subject, but I’m dying here. I was pretty pissed last night when I thought you went off with my sister’s friend. I was actually mad I didn’t get to hear the story. That’s only part of it,” she said as she looked sad. “I owe you an explanation. I’ve had a string of guys abandon me. I finally realized that the common element was Mark. He’s been running them off. When I saw you this morning, I was sure you were just like the rest. I’d half-decided to give Mark a chance, even though I’m not attracted to him.”
“Let’s compare notes to see who’s had it worse. My first date told me she wasn’t allowed to go out until she was sixteen. My first girlfriend insisted that we weren’t together. To prove her point, she dumped me in front of a couple hundred of my classmates. Then I went out with two seniors who thought it would be just fine to sneak around and spend the weekend with their ex-boyfriends. The capper was trying to get me to meet with them so they could explain why I was being unreasonable while the guys were in the car with them. Then finally, I got set up on a date over an hour from home, and my date walks out and leaves me to figure out how to get home on my own.”
“Okay, you win. I just had them leave. I never had anyone go out of their way to hurt me.”
“Man, I’m just feeling sorry for myself. I decided last night that I needed to take a break and figure out what there is about me that makes it okay to treat me like that. It’s sad that I’m such a wimp that I’ve forgiven all of them. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a character flaw. I don’t know anyone else that would put up with that stuff and basically say everything’s okay.”
“David, I really am sorry. I should have gone back into the dance and confirmed you were gone. I feel bad asking you to forgive me.”